John Cockerill

John Cockerill (August 3, 1790 - June 9, 1840) was a British entrepreneur, the founder of the company Cockerill-Sambre. He was born at Haslingden, in England, and followed in the footsteps of his father, William Cockerill, in the construction of machines to card and spin wool.

During a depression in the machine building business, in 1797 he moved to continental Europe with his father William. Despite legislation preventing the export of spinning technology, he joined in partnership with a local Belgian wool merchant and built a spinning machine for him.

After having had much success in the development of spinning machines, in 1817 John Cockerill and his brother James bought the castle of Seraing. That area had many economic advantages, as it was located at the edge of the Meuse, it was a carboniferous area, and it had a large working population. At the time, iron factories were not very productive and William I of the Netherlands charged John Cockerill with the development of the iron and steel industry.

The first improvement was the construction of a blast furnace using coke instead of charcoal.

In 1834, Belgium wanted to create a railway network, in order to circumvent the blockade of the river Scheldt by the Dutch. The Cockerill workshops then delivered rails, engines and railway material.

In 1838, John Cockerill reached the top of his career. He set up a truly independent industrial complex, equipped with a blast furnace and a foundry. It manufactured iron, furnaces, rolling mills, forging mills, and was located near coal mines and a port, allowing him to transport his products.

At this time, his company suffered a financial crisis. John Cockerill was wounded in an accident and potential investors saw a risk. The company needed capital in order to be able to expand, but raising it proved to be impossible.

Discouraged, John Cockerill died of typhoid in 1840 during a business trip to Warsaw. There is a statue of him in Seraing, and a copy on Luxembourg Square of Brussels.