View source for Edmund Cartwright

{{short description|British inventor (1743–1823)}}
{{EngvarB|date=August 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2014}}
{{Infobox person

|image         = Edmund Cartwright, printer's sample for the World's Inventors souvenir album (A25) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes MET DP838817.jpg
|caption       = Edmund Cartwright
|birth_date    = 24 April 1743 (N.S.)
|birth_place   = [[Marnham, Nottinghamshire|Marnham]], [[Nottinghamshire]], [[England]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1823|10|30|1743|04|24}} 
|death_place   = [[Hastings]], [[Sussex]], England
|death_cause   = 
|resting_place = [[Battle, East Sussex|Battle]], Sussex
|resting_place_coordinates = 
|nationality   = English
|other_names   = 
|known_for     =[[Power loom]]
|education     = Oxford University
|employer      = 
|occupation    = Clergyman, inventor
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|signature     = Cartwright_Edmund_signature.jpg
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}}
'''Edmund Cartwright''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MA|FSA}} (24 April 1743{{snd}}30 October 1823) was an English inventor.<ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|first=David|last=Hunt|title=Cartwright, Edmund (1743–1823)|id=4813}}</ref> He graduated from [[Oxford University]] and went on to invent the [[power loom]]. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother of [[Major John Cartwright]], a political reformer and radical, and [[George Cartwright (trader)|George Cartwright]], explorer of Labrador.

==Life==
He was the fourth son of William Cartwright and his wife Anne née Cartwright, born at [[Marnham, Nottinghamshire]].<ref name="ODNB"/> He was educated at [[Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield]]. He matriculated in 1760 at [[University College, Oxford]], where he had studied under-age from 1757. He graduated B.A. in 1764, M.A. in 1766, elected a [[Fellow (college)|Fellow]] of [[Magdalen College, Oxford]] in 1764.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{alox2|title=Cartwright, Edmund}}</ref><ref name="MIT">{{cite web| url=http://lemelson.mit.edu/resources/edmund-cartwright | title=Edmund Cartwright | work=Lemelson-MIT | publisher=[[MIT]] | access-date=18 October 2016 }}</ref> He was awarded the degree of [[Doctor of Divinity|DD]] in 1806.<ref name="EB1911">{{Cite EB1911|wstitle=Cartwright, Edmund|volume=5|page=435}}</ref>

Ordained deacon in the [[Church of England]] in 1765, and priest in 1767, Cartwright was appointed rector of [[Kilvington]] in 1767. With other livings, in 1779 he became also rector of [[Goadby Marwood]], [[Leicestershire]], and in 1783, he was elected a [[prebendary]] at [[Lincoln Cathedral]].<ref>{{CCEd |type=person |id=9850 |name=Andrewes, Lancelot |year1=1765 |year2=1824 |accessed=5 September 2023 }}</ref>

For a time Cartwright served as chaplain to the [[John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford|Duke of Bedford]] at [[Woburn Abbey]] and acted as tutor to the Duke's son, the future Prime Minister [[John Russell, 1st Earl Russell|Lord John Russell]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Scherer|first=Paul |title=Lord John Russell: A Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0xuWohqz3gC|year=1999|publisher=Susquehanna University Press|page=5|isbn=9781575910215 }}</ref> Following the award of the parliamentary grant, Cartwright purchased a small farm in [[Kent]], where he spent the rest of his life.<ref name="EB1911"/>

Edmund Cartwright died in <!-- [[Littlehampton]], --> [[Sussex]] after a lingering illness<ref name="GM">{{cite journal| last=Cave | first=Edward | author-link=Edward Cave | title=Obituary: Rev. Edmund Cartwright|journal=Gentleman's Magazine, and Historical Chronicle | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8_dfAAAAcAAJ | year=1833 | publisher=Edward Cave | page=374}}</ref> and was buried at [[Battle, East Sussex|Battle]].<ref name="MS">{{cite book | author = Strickland, Mary | title = A Memoir of the Life, Writings, and Inventions, of Edmund Cartwright, D.D. FRS, Inventor of the Power Loom, Etc. Etc. | year = 1843 | publisher = Saunders and Otley | location = London | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CbQ3AAAAMAAJ&q=Edmund+Cartwright | access-date = 21 April 2008}}</ref>

==Power loom==
Cartwright designed his first [[power loom]] in 1784 and patented it in 1785, after some contact with textile men from Manchester; its value was only in [[proof of concept]], but the type of design continued into the 20th century. Subsequent research and development work by others is now given much of the credit for a practical powered loom.<ref name="ODNB"/> In 1809 Cartwright obtained a grant of £10,000 from Parliament for his invention.<ref name="EB1911" />

In 1789, Cartwright patented another loom which served as the model for later inventors to work upon. For a mechanically driven loom to become a commercial success, either one person would have to be able to attend to more than one machine, or each machine must have a greater productive capacity than one manually controlled. He added improvements, including a positive let-off motion, [[Warp (weaving)|warp]] and [[weft]] stop motions, and sizing the warp while the loom was in action. He commenced to manufacture fabrics in [[Doncaster]] using these looms, and discovered many of their shortcomings. He attempted to remedy these in a number of ways: by introducing a crank and eccentric wheels to actuate its batten differentially, by improving the picking mechanism, by means of a device for stopping the loom when a [[Shuttle (weaving)|shuttle]] failed to enter a shuttle box, by preventing a shuttle from rebounding when in a box, and by stretching the cloth with temples that acted automatically. His mill was repossessed by creditors in 1793.<ref name="EB1911" />

In 1792, Cartwright obtained his final patent for weaving machinery; this provided his loom with multiple shuttle boxes for weaving checks and cross stripes.<ref name="EB1911" /> All his efforts were unavailing, however; it became apparent that no mechanism, however perfect, could succeed so long as warps continued to be sized while a loom was stationary. His plans for sizing them while a loom was in operation, and before being placed in a loom, failed. These problems were resolved in 1803, by [[William Radcliffe]] and his assistant Thomas Johnson, by their inventions of the [[beam warper]], and the [[dressing sizing machine]].

In 1790 [[Robert Grimshaw]] of [[Gorton]], [[Manchester]] erected a weaving factory at [[Deansgate|Knott Mill]] which he intended to fill with 500 of Cartwright's power looms, but with only 30 in place the factory was burnt down, probably as an act of arson inspired by the fears of [[hand loom]] [[weaver (occupation)|weaver]]s. The prospect of success was not sufficiently promising to induce its re-erection.

In May 1821, Cartwright was elected a [[Fellow of the Royal Society]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www2.royalsociety.org/DServe/dserve.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=1&dsqSearch=%28Surname%3D%27cartwright%27%29 |title=Library and Archive Catalogue |publisher=[[Royal Society]] |access-date=21 December 2010 }}{{dead link|date=December 2016 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==Other inventions==
[[File:Cartwright Edmund ropemaking.jpg|thumb|Ropemaking machine of Edmund Cartwright]]

Cartwright patented a [[wool combing machine]] in 1789 and a cordelier (machine for making rope) in 1792. He also designed a steam engine that used alcohol instead of water.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Works==
Cartwright had [[John Langhorne (poet)|John Langhorne]] as a tutor, and developed as a minor poet. He published the poem ''Armine and Elvira'' in 1770, which was followed by ''The Prince of Peace'' in 1779, directed against the [[American Revolutionary War]].<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite book | author = Cartwright, Edmund | title = Armine and Elvira: A Legendary Tale | year = 1772 | publisher = John Murray | location = London | edition = 3 | url = https://archive.org/details/armineandelvira00cartgoog | quote = Edmund Cartwright. }}</ref> His ''Sonnets to Eminent Men'' (1783) included an [[ode]] to [[Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham]], a conspicuous supporter of American independence.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cartwright |first1=Edmund |title=Sonnets to eminent men. And an ode to the Earl of Effingham. [By Edmund Cartwright.] |date=1783 |publisher=J. Murray; T. Becket |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9xRhAAAAcAAJ |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Koch |first1=Christine Marie |title=Salzburger Migrants and Communal Memory in Georgia |date=4 January 2020 |publisher=LIT Verlag Münster |isbn=978-3-643-91299-2 |page=102 note 508 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8FIlEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA102 |language=en}}</ref>

==Family==
Cartwright married in 1772, Alice Whitaker, daughter of Alderman Richard Whitaker of Doncaster, who died in 1785.<ref name="ODNB"/> Their second daughter [[Mrs Markham|Elizabeth]] (1780–1837) married the [[John Penrose (clergyman)|Reverend John Penrose]] and wrote books under the pseudonym "Mrs Markham".<ref>{{cite ODNB|id=21889|first=Rosemary |last=Mitchell|title=Penrose [née Cartwright], Elizabeth [pseud. Mrs Markham] (1780–1837)}}</ref> Their daughter Mary married Henry Eustatius Strickland, a younger son of [[Sir George Strickland, 5th Baronet]], and was mother of [[Hugh Edwin Strickland]].<ref>{{cite news |title=The Late H. E. Strickland, Esq. |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002217/18580731/080/0005 |work=Tewkesbury Register |date=31 July 1858|page=5}}</ref> She was her father's biographer, publishing ''A Memoir of the Life, Writings, and Inventions, of Edmund Cartwright, D.D. FRS'' (1843) which incorporated a memoir by Cartwright.<ref name="MS"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wood |first1=Henry Trueman |title=The Royal Society of Arts. VII.—The Officials. The Transactions. The Council. The Charter. (1761-1847) |journal=Journal of the Royal Society of Arts |date=1912 |volume=60 |issue=3098 |pages=532 |jstor=41340109 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41340109 |issn=0035-9114}}</ref>

Their son the Rev. Edmund Cartwright (1773–1833) was a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the [[Society of Antiquaries of London]].<ref>{{alox2|title=Cartwright, Rev. Edmund}}</ref> The youngest child of the marriage was [[Frances Dorothy Cartwright]], poet and biographer of her uncle the radical Major John Cartwright.<ref>{{cite ODNB|first=Rosemary|last=Mitchell|title=Cartwright, Frances Dorothy (1780–1863)}}</ref>

Cartwright married secondly, in 1790, Susannah Kearney, daughter of John Kearney. He was survived by her and the four children above from his first marriage.<ref name="ODNB"/>
Growing up he also had many siblings, including the famous John Cartwright.

==See also==
* [[Timeline of clothing and textiles technology]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
{{Commons category}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20040705075752/http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/cartwrighto.htm ''"Edmund Cartwright and the power loom"''] – at Cotton Times
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051029210715/http://www.grimshaworigin.org/WebPages/ArkCartw.htm ''"Richard Arkwright and Edmund Cartwright: Inventors of Important Textile Manufacturing Machines"''] – at Grimshaw Origins

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cartwright, Edmund}}
[[Category:1743 births]]
[[Category:1823 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Bassetlaw District]]
[[Category:People educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of Magdalen College, Oxford]]
[[Category:English inventors]]
[[Category:Textile engineers]]
[[Category:People of the Industrial Revolution]]
[[Category:English Anglicans]]
[[Category:English male poets]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:English businesspeople|Industrialists]]
[[Category:British industrialists]]