Ironmaster: The Life and Times of John Wilkinson

by Richard Unwin

John Wilkinson was an Eighteenth Century Ironmaster and pioneer in the early Iron Industry that was to begin the period known as The Industrial Revolution. Known to his contemporaries as “Iron Mad Wilkinson” he produced the components for the steam engine of James Watt, which would not have worked without Wilkinson’s expertise. Wilkinson was one of the principal subscribers to the project that built the world’s first Iron Bridge, in Shropshire and his gun casting technique revolutionised gun making for the Royal Navy. A religious Dissenter at a time when such were viewed with great suspicion, he nevertheless created iron making businesses that traded successfully in England and on the continent of Europe.

60 pages, Paperback

Published August 14, 2015