EDMUND CARTWRIGHT, D.D., F.R.S., &c.
Born April 24, 1743. Died October 30, 1823.
Dr. Cartwright, whose invention of the power-loom may be considered as one of the valuable elements of our national manufacturing superiority, was born at Marnham in Nottinghamshire, and was the youngest of three brothers, all of whom were remarkable men.[9] He was educated under Dr. Clarke, at the Grammar School of Wakefield, and had he been permitted to follow the bent of his own inclination in the choice of a profession, would have preferred the navy; but two of his brothers being already designed for that service, it was thought advisable that Edmund should enter the Church. Dr. Cartwright began his academical studies at University College, Oxford, where he was entered at fourteen years of age, and during the vacations was placed under the private tuition of Dr. Langhorne, the editor of 'Plutarch's Lives.'
In process of time he became distinguished for his literary abilities, and was elected a Fellow of Magdalen College. He likewise evinced a considerable taste for poetry, and published in 1770 a legendary tale, entitled 'Armine and Elvira,' which went through seven editions in little more than a year, and was greatly admired for its pathos and elegant simplicity. Some years subsequent to this, Cartwright wrote 'The Prince of Peace,' published in 1779, and was also for several years a principal contributor to the 'Monthly Review.'
In the year 1772 he married the daughter of Richard Whittaker, Esq., of Doncaster, and after his marriage resided first at Marnham, and afterwards at Brampton in Derbyshire, to the perpetual curacy of which he was presented by the Dean of Lincoln, Dr. Cust. It was while attending to his clerical duties at this latter place, that Cartwright discovered the application of yeast as a remedy for typhus fever. In 1779 he was presented to the living of Goadby Marwood in Leicestershire, and continued to reside there until the summer of 1796, when he removed with his family[10] to London, as being a situation more favourable for the cultivation of the scientific pursuits in which he had by that time become engrossed.
Dr. Cartwright had attained the mature age of forty, before his attention was drawn towards the subject of weaving, by the following accidental occurrence:—In the summer of 1784, he happened to be on a visit at Matlock, in Derbyshire, and in the company of some gentlemen from Manchester. The conversation turned upon Arkwright's spinning machinery; and fears were expressed by one of the company, that, in consequence of the recent improvements, so much cotton would soon be spun, that hands would not be found to weave it. To this the doctor replied, that the only remedy for such an evil would be to apply the power of machinery to weaving as well as spinning. The discussion which ensued upon the practicability of doing this, made such an impression on Cartwright's mind, that on returning home he determined to try and see what he could do.
His first attempts, as might be supposed, were very clumsy, but he at length succeeded in constructing a machine (for which he took out a patent in 1785), which, although rude and cumbersome in its action, was yet capable of weaving a piece of cloth. Up to this time he had never turned his mind to anything mechanical, either in theory or practice, and his invention was consequently susceptible of great improvement. To accomplish this, he now examined with care the contrivances already in use among the weavers, and availing himself of their general principles, produced in the year 1787 a far more complete and valuable machine, since known as the power-loom.
Shortly after he had brought his loom to perfection, a manufacturer who had called upon him to see it at work, after expressing his admiration at the ingenuity displayed in it, remarked, that wonderful as was Dr. Cartwright's skill, there was one thing that would effectually baffle him, and that was, the weaving of patterns in checks, or, in other words, the combining in the same web a pattern or fancy figure with the crossing colours which constitute the check. The doctor made no reply to this at the time; but some weeks afterwards, on receiving a second visit from the same person, he showed him a piece of muslin, of the description mentioned, beautifully executed by machinery, which so astonished the man, that he roundly declared his conviction that some more than human agency must have been called in on the occasion.[11]