Edmund Cartwright

Edmund Cartwright married early in his life, at the age of 19 to Elizabeth McMac. The couple was blessed with a daughter Elizabeth who went on to become an author, writing books under the pseudonym of Mrs Markham.

He breathed his last on October 30, 1823, in Hastings, Sussex.

Edmund Cartwright was born on April 24, 1743 in Marnham, Nottingham. He was the son of a large landowner. He had two brothers, John Cartwright, a naval officer and political reformer, and George Cartwright, an English army officer.

Edmund Cartwright attained his preliminary education from Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. Later, he enrolled at the University College, Oxford.

Following his studies, Cartwright took up the position of a clergyman for the Church of England. In 1779, he was promoted to the position of a rector of the church at Goadby Marwood in Leicestershire.

In 1784, Cartwright first visited Sir Richard Arkwright’s cotton-spinning mills at Cromford, Derbyshire. Inspired by the weaving machine, he sought out to construct a similar machine that would improve the speed and quality of weaving.

Cartwright’s proposal of an automated weaving machine was jeered at by people for they thought that such a complicated process would be impossible to automate. However, he was undeterred by the comments and began working on the machine.

In 1784, he designed his first crude power loom with the help of a blacksmith and carpenter. Following year, he got the patent for the machine. However, the machine worked poorly at this stage, primarily due to his inexperience.

He initiated a weaving and spinning factory in Doncaster, Yorkshire. However, his ignorance at the subject reduced the factory to merely a testing site for new inventions.

Cartwright in his short career invented the power loom, which was instrumental in turning the fate of the handloom weaving industry. It was due to his invention that automated machines for textile manufactures became a reality. Though none of his patented machines were super successfully, they did however lay the foundation for future development and upgradation.