EDMUND

See also:

• EDMUND CARTWRIGHT (1743–1823)
• CARTWRIGHT, JOHN (1740–1824)
• CARTWRIGHT, PETER (1785–1872)
• CARTWRIGHT, SIR RICHARD JOHN (1835– )
• CARTWRIGHT, THOMAS (c. 1535–1603)
• CARTWRIGHT, WILLIAM (1611–1643)

CARTWRIGHT (1743–1823)  , English inventor, younger brother of Major John Cartwright (q.v.), was born at Marnham, Nottinghamshire, on the 24th of April 1743, and educated at Wakefield grammar school . He began his academical studies at University College, Oxford, and in 1764 he was elected to a fellowship at Magdalen . In 1770 he published Armine and Elviia, a legendary poem, which was followed in 1779 by The Prince of Peace . In 1779 he was presented to the rectory of -;oadby Marwood, Leicestershire, to which in 1786 was added a prebend in the cathedral of Lincoln . He took the degree of D.D. at Oxford in 18o6 . He would probably have passed an obscure life as a country clergyman had not his attention been accidentally turned in 1784 to the possibility of applying machinery to weaving . The result was that he invented a power-loom, for which he took out a patent in 1785; it was a rude contrivance, though it was improved by subsequent patents in 1786 and 1787, and gradually developed into the modern power-loom . Removing to 'Doncaster in 1785, he started a weaving and spinning factory; it did not, however, prove a financial success, and in 1793 he had to surrender it to his creditors . A mill at Manchester, in which a number of his machines were installed, was wilfully destroyed by fire in 1791 . In 1789 he patented a wool-combing machine, for which he took out further patents in 1790 and 1792; it effected large economies in the cost of manufacture, but its financial results were not more satisfactory to its inventor than those of the power-loom, even though in 18or parliament extended the patent for fourteen years . In 1807 a memorial was presented to the government urging the benefits that had been conferred on the country by the power-loom, and the House of Commons voted him £1o,000 in 1809 . He then purchased a small farm at Hollander, near Sevenoaks, Kent, where he spent the rest of his life .

He died at

Hastings on the 30th of October 1823 . Other inventions of Cartwright's included a cordelier or machine for making rope (1992), and an engine working with alcohol (1797), together with various agricultural implements .