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Abstract
Three hundred years after the first successful Newcomen engine was installed, the few available facts about the inventor’s life and family are collected here, mainly from previous papers in the Newcomen Society Transactions, the forerunner of this Journal. Newcomen’s trade as an ironmonger and his strong Nonconformist faith directed his energies into transforming the mining industry at the start of the Industrial Revolution. Some conjectures are made as to his relationship with other engine builders, general engineers and scientists of the age.
I acknowledge the help, encouragement and contributions I received from John Allen, Michael Bailey, Ian Broom, Philip Hosken, Susan Howard and Prof. Hugh Torrens.
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Notes on contributors
Brian Corfield
Brian Corfield is a retired industrial pharmacist and spent many years in the pharmaceutical industry in various roles including, process development and engineering, hazard and operability study management, IT project management and lastly as a senior quality assurance manager in R & D and global IT services. He is a member of the Newcomen Society and Trevithick Society and works as a volunteer at the Anson Engine Museum in Poynton, Cheshire, recommissioning steam engines. Following retirement, he set about investigating the distaff side of his family history to discover that he was a direct descendant of Joseph Hornblower who was an associate of Thomas Newcomen and very likely involved in the erecting of the first Newcomen engine at Dudley in 1712. Brian’s many and varied interests range from astronomy to beekeeping and include inter alia, model engineering, sailing and family history.
Correspondence to: Brian Corfield. Email: [email protected]