- Humphrey Gainsborough
Humphrey Gainsborough (1718 –
23 August 1776 ), anon-conformist minister,engineer andinventor .Humphrey Gainsborough was
pastor to the Independent Church inHenley-on-Thames ,England . He was the brother of the artistThomas Gainsborough . He invented thedrill plough (1766), winning a prize of £60 from theRoyal Society for his efforts. He also invented thetide mill (1761), which allowed amill wheel to rotate in either direction, winning a £50 prize from the Society for the Encouragement of Arts inLondon . In addition, he designed a self-ventilating fish wagon (1762).Gainsborough designed
Conway's Bridge , built in 1763 at Park Place close to Henley, an interesting rustic arched stone structure that still carries traffic on the road betweenWargrave and Henley today. In 1768, he improved the slope on the road up the steep White Hill to the east of Henley, straightening it in the process.In the 1760s, Gainsborough showed a model of a condensing
steam engine toJames Watt .Fact|date=February 2007 Watt had been working independently on improvements to the Newcomen "atmospheric engine" and subsequentlypatent ed these in 1769. He perhaps included some of — and at least built on — Gainsborough's ideas. Gainsborough is thus probably less well-known than he might have been.The lock,
weir andfootbridge atMarsh Lock , just upstream from Henley on theRiver Thames , were designed by Gainsborough, together with other early locks fromSonning toMaidenhead (1772–1773).A
blue plaque in Gainsborough's honour can be found in the town of Henley itself on the gates of the Manse, the house where he lived next to the Christ Church United Reform Church. Inside he designed an earlysecurity chain and plate on one of the outside doors, allowing the door to be partially opened, that is still there now. Similar designs are used on many people's front doors today.Epitaph
Philip Thicknesse wrote in "The Gentleman's Magazine " in 1785:… one of the most ingenious men that ever lived, and one of the best that ever died … Perhaps of all the mechanical geniuses this or any nation has produced. Mr Gainsborough was the first.
References
* Boston, Philippa, " [http://www.thisislimitededition.co.uk/item.asp?category=History&ID=43 Opening Pandora's box] ", [http://www.thisislimitededition.co.uk/ Oxfordshire Limited Edition] .
* Kendal, Roger, Bowen, Jane and Wortley, Laura, "Genius & Gentility: Henley in the Age of Enlightenment".River and Rowing Museum , 2002. See "The Reverend Humphrey Gainsborough", pages 20–31.
* Tyler, David, Humphrey Gainsborough, 1718–1776: Cleric, Engineer and Inventor. "Trans. Newcomen Soc.", 76:51–81, 2006. Read to theNewcomen Society at the Science Museum,London , 12 October 2005.
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