Benjamin Hick (1 August 1790 – 9 September 1842) was an English civil and mechanical engineer, art collector and patron[7] whose improvements to the steam engine and invention of scientific tools were held in high esteem by the engineering profession;[1] some of Hick's improvements became public property without claiming the patent rights he was entitled to or without their source being known.[8]
Hick's aptitude for mechanics and passion for drawing led to an apprentiship in 1804 (age 14) as a draughtsman with Fenton, Murray and Wood[1] at the Round Foundry in Holbeck. The company made steam engines, textile and other machinery; here he was entrusted with the installation of several large steam engines[8] and offered a partnership when his apprenticeship expired.[1] The offer was declined and Hick moved instead to Bolton in 1810[8] to work for Smalley, Thwaites and Company[12] as manager[1] of Rothwell's Union Foundry on Blackhorse Street.[13]
His brother John Hick also trained as an engineer, in 1808 John left Fenton, Murray & Wood to take up the position of "book-keeper and traveller" for John Sturges and Co. at the Bowling Iron Works near Bradford.[14][15]
In July 1820 Hick joined other leading industrialists Isaac Dobson, Thomas Hardcastle and Peter Rothwell together with engineer and brother-in-law, Joshua Routledge[11][16] to form the Bolton Gaslight and Coke Company,[17] providing gas for public buildings, street lamps and industrial lighting. With the inevitable fire risk of naked flame, the Great Bolton Trustees and a number of mill owners bought horse-drawn fire engines; Hick became a Trustee of Great Bolton during the early 1820s, he was an Anglican and prominent member of Bolton's Pitt Club, formed 1809 as a "political organisation composed of the admirers of William Pitt", that helped Hick move amongst the middle class social elite of the time.[18][19]
The Dobsons (Isaac and Benjamin), Hick, Rothwell, John Kennedy and others were members of a "prosecution" club (formed 1801), meeting at the Black Horse pub in Bolton, that in 1824 secured an annuity for the inventor and fellow member Samuel Crompton, who also frequented the Inn.[19][20][21] Hick joined the Institution of Civil Engineers in the same year,[8] proposed by Joshua Field, Joseph Farey and James Jones.[22] Also with Rothwell and the Dobsons, Hick was a prominent member of the Black Horse Club, that met "to discuss not only business matters but the most interesting topics affecting that period".[19][20]
Together with many other leading figures from the Bolton area, including those from the Black Horse Club, Hick was a promoter and with Peter Rothwell[19][23] an original shareholder of the Bolton and Leigh Railway that opened 1 August 1828 with the naming of the locomotive Lancashire Witch by Mrs Hulton, wife of the vilified William HultonJP, High Sheriff of Lancashire and collier.[24]Robert Stephenson was driver of the engine he designed and built[25] with chief engineer George Stephenson,[26] who was a passenger with the other guests.[27] Following the occasion that gathered crowds of 40–50 thousand people, in October 1828, Hick and Rothwell received Robert Peel, then home secretary, as a guest at their foundry.[28]
By 1821 Hick was managing partner of the Union Foundry, that later became Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell;[8][39] the company listed in Baines' directory as supplying steam engines, hydraulic presses, weighing machines, gas light apparatus, mill machinery, sugar mills and constructors of fire proof buildings.[40] After Peter Rothwell's death 2 August 1824, the firm continued with Peter Rothwell Jr (1792–1849) as Rothwell, Hick & Co.[41] They made stationary steam engines, (a number of which were featured by John Farey in the second volume of his Treatise on the Steam Engine, 1827) as well as general engineering products including cast irondockyardcranes.[14]
In 1824 when the prodigious and forward looking Swiss engineer Johann Georg Bodmer (anglicised to John George Bodmer) developed his patterns and textile machinery near Bolton he made use of the Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell workshops.[14] Here in the late 1820s with the co-operation of an Italian merchant, Philip Novelli and H. & E. Ashworth, (Henry (1794–1880) and Edmund (1800–1881) Ashworth), they began a project of advanced concept at Egerton Mill[42] to include a spectacular waterwheel[43][44] of 62 feet diameter by 12 feet wide[45] and 110–140 horsepower, completed by Fairbairn and Lillie[46] when Bodmer returned to Europe as a result of ill-health. To aid in the construction it is claimed that Bodmer devised the travelling crane; the Egerton wheel became a tourist destination during the 1830s and 1840s, it was one of the largest in the United Kingdom attracting visits from industrialists and politicians.[47]Benjamin Disraeli was a visitor to the Ashworth mills in 1843.[48][49] By the 1830s Hick had become a highly valued friend of Bodmer, on one occasion arbitrating a patent dispute.[50]
Hick also formed a close friendship with engineer and artist James Nasmyth, in his autobiography Nasmyth refers to Hick as a "most admirable man... whose judgment in all matters connected with engineering and mechanical construction was held in the very highest regard... ingenious", he "contrived and constructed... one of the most powerful hydraulic presses" in existence. Hick was inventor of the self tightening collar, used universally in hydraulic presses.[51]
According to Nasmyth, Hick and William Fairbairn were among the most "intelligent and cultivated persons in Lancashire".[52] Hick was an accomplished draughtsman and it is stated that he introduced almost a new era of elegance and design for the exterior forms of steam engines and larger works.[53]
Hick's talent and reputation as a draughtsman lead to requests for his design of public buildings in Bolton:[1] the Dispensary (1825), Nelson Square (demolished); Cloth Hall, Market Street (demolished); Gas Works (demolished), Water Works[1] and possibly Little Bolton Town Hall (1826) in Little Bolton.[6][57][58] Little Bolton Town Hall on All Saints Street,[59] and Waterworks cottage (1824), Belmont[60] remain today. The Dispensary is referred to in Pevsner'sSouth Lancashire: The Industrial and Commercial South.[61]Thomas Allen's, Lancashire Illustrated, from Original Drawings. considers, "The gas and waterworks also are eminently deserving of notice. Bolton will long retain memorials of its numerous obligations to the superior genius, public exertions and enterprising spirit of Mr. Benjamin Hick".[62] Hick designed a Gas Pillar and presented it for the opening of Bolton's New Market Place (1826), claimed to be the finest uncovered market in the country; about November 1859 his son John Hick gifted a circular "cattle fountain" round the base,[63] both gaslight and trough remained a feature of the square until 1925,[64][65] the pillar described in 1825 as "a piece of elegant and classical workmanship" and "justly the admiration of persons of taste".[66] Rothwell, Hick and Rothwell contributed elaborate iron work screens with anthemion patterns to Preston Corn Exchange (1822–24).[67]
Hick designed a heating system for Richard Lane'sThe Oaks (demolished), an imposing Ionic villa conceived in 1838, and home of Quaker, Henry Ashworth.[68] Hick's grandson, also Benjamin Hick (1845–1882)[69] was architect of changes made to Lane's Exchange and Library (1825–29), New Market Place (renamed Victoria Square in 1897)[70] about 1871,[71] his grandfather was among the 80 shareholders of all political and religious persuasions.[39]
In 1814 Benjamin Hick married Elizabeth Routledge (1783–1826) sister of his companion, Joshua Routledge (1773–1829), an engineer and ironmonger living in Bolton, and former manager for Fenton, Murray and Wood.[72] Hick's father-in-law, William Routledge, was a blacksmith and Wesleyan lay minister[73] at Elvington, a village about 8 miles south-east of York in Yorkshire. Joshua Routledge's sons were also engineers; William (1812–1882), a driver of the locomotive Phoenix at the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway 1828, in 1852 master engineer at New Bridge Brass Foundry and partner in Routledge & Ommanney, Salford.[74]
Henry (1817–1884), manager of Bolton brass founders J. and W. Kirkham in 1882.[17][75][76][77]
Benjamin Hick had five children, two sons John (1815–1894) and Benjamin (1818–1845)[78] who he trained as engineers; on 10 April 1833[54] they set up their own manufactory, B. Hick and Sons, at the Soho Foundry, Crook Street, Bolton. The firm built the locomotive Soho bought by carrierJohn Hargreaves with six first class carriages for the Bolton and Leigh Railway,[79] and soon became well known as suppliers to British and foreign railway companies.[41] Three years later Hick's first child and eldest daughter Mary (1813–1878) married John Hargreaves Jr (1800–1874),[30] manufacturer and operator of the Bolton & Leigh and Leigh & Kenyon Junction railways.[41]
After Elizabeth's death he married Hannah Elizabeth Goodyer (c.1791–1862) in 1827 at St Mary's church, Lambeth.[80] Hannah was a daughter of Landon Goodyer who held a position of responsibility in a Fire Office,[81] and sister of Frederick Goodyer who was to become a highly regarded Metropolitan Police Officer under Home Secretary, Robert Peel. The first daughter by Hick's second wife married the second and only surviving son of Johann Georg Bodmer (1786–1864),[82][83][84] his youngest daughter married the fourth son of James Bodmer.[85]
A man of "acknowledged taste[8] and judgment"; Hick's private collection built over a period of 30 years "valuable, well known and much admired", comprised works of the Italian, Flemish, Dutch and British Masters. He was regarded as "one of the most liberal of the provincial patrons of Art", generous in his support of the British school, in particular a friend of Henry Liverseege who painted several works for Hick, and "on terms of intimacy" with many artists. The collection consisted of antiques, bronzes, engravings by George Thomas Doo, John Henry Robinson and foreign engravers, marbles, paintings and watercolour drawings.
Having the "greatest reverence for Works of Art and Books", Hick's intention was to establish a Public Picture Gallery in Bolton, with "the conviction that such Works of Art would tend to greatly improve the taste and cultivate the better feeling of the rising generation". He obtained designs for the project, but did not live to see them through. As a boy he looked forward to becoming an Artist.[1]
Black Dwarf by Henry Liverseege,[93] mezzotint by J.P. Quilley, 1833. The Black Dwarf was a satirical radical journal published January 1817 – 1824 shortly after Walter Scott's The Black Dwarf in December 1816.
The Inquiry by Henry Liverseege,[97] mezzotint by J.P. Quilley, 1833.
A City of Ancient Greece. With the return of a victorious armamentengraving by J. W. Appleton after William Linton, published by Edward and William Finden, 1847.[92][93]
Friends of Hick from Lancashire: Robert Barlow, Joseph Beckton, Robert Daglish Jr., Jonathan Hardcastle, John Moore, John Mawdsley, Peter Rothwell and Thomas Lever Rushton formed a committee to see through the production of an engraving from Hick's portrait by George Patten. The picture was entrusted to John Grundy and Henry Cousins undertook the work in mezzotint; proofs were then published at a moderate price,[112] examples can be found today in various museum collections.[113][114][115]
Hick was well respected, despite his family's wish the funeral be "strictly private", more than 500 people "including a great number of influential gentlemen of the neighbourhood", attended his grave; employees of B. Hick & Son gathered nearly £200 for a memorial and despite offers of assistance "resolved unanimously to keep this honour for themselves".[53] Benjamin Hick's memorial in Bolton Parish Church reads:
This monument is erected by a general subscription of his Workmen,
in remembrance of his Christian character
and to record virtues so rare, for future imitation;
that he, though dead, may live again
in the spirit, action, and conduct of those,
who, guided by his character, and stimulated by his example,
will learn to love their neighbour as themselves
and to do good to all men.
He was an affectionate husband,
a kind father, and a sincere friend;
alike distinguished by eminent ability,
and uniform integrity;
genius, in whatever art or science displayed,
even found in him a liberal patron;
He was benefactor to this town,
where his worth will be long appreciated;
and his loss deeply deplored.[1][8][116]
^ abcdefghijkHick, John (1893). Catalogue of the Principle Paintings, Drawings, Books, Bronzes, &c., at Mytton Hall, The Residence of John Hick, Esq. Ede, Dearberg & Co 40 Queen Street City.
^ abHick, Benjamin (1836). Newton, William (ed.). "for improvements in locomotive steam-carriages". Newton's London Journal of Arts and Sciences. Conjoined. VII. University of Michigan: Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper: 265–271. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^Townend, Peter (March 2016). "The first three cylinder locomotive". Steamindex. 5 (50). Railway Archive (Lightmoor Press).
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^"Highfield Chapel, Huddersfield". The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chronicle. 21. University of Chicago: Thomas Ward and Co., Paternoster Row: 458. 1843. Retrieved 18 March 2015.
^ abRedfern, Diane. "Benjamin Hick". Diane Redfern Ancestry & Family History. dianeredfern.ca. Archived from the original on 7 October 2014. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
^Redfern, Diane. "William Routledge citations". Diane Redfern Ancestry & Family History. dianeredfern.ca. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^ abUnknown (January 1888). "The Inventor of the Slide Rule. Stray Notes from the Journal and Diary of Joshua Routledge, Bolton". Bolton Journal.
^Taylor, Peter. A Divided Middle Class: Bolton 1790–1850. pp. 9–10, 12.
^ abcdP. W. Pilling, Hick Hargreaves and Co., The History of an Engineering Firm c. 1833 – 1939, a Study with Special Reference to Technological Change and Markets (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1985). pp. 8, 12.
^George W. Daniels; George Unwin (1920). "Concerning the Affairs of Samuel Crompton". The Early English Cotton Industry with some Unpublished Letters of Samuel Crompton. Manchester: Longmans, Green. p. 159. Retrieved 30 March 2015.
^Membership records. Institution of Civil Engineers.
^ abRedfern, Diane. "Mary Hick". Diane Redfern Ancestry & Family History. dianeredfern.ca. Archived from the original on 27 November 2015. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
^"Thomas Lever Rushton". Links in a Chain – the Mayors of Bolton. Bolton Council. Retrieved 27 January 2014.
^P. W. Pilling, Hick Hargreaves and Co., The History of an Engineering Firm c. 1833 – 1939, a Study with Special Reference to Technological Change and Markets (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1985). pp. 87–90, 95.
^Carolina Castaldi; Alessandro Nuvolari (November 2003). Technological Revolutions and Economic Growth: The "Age of Steam" Reconsidered(PDF). Conference in honour of Keith Pavitt: "What do we know about innovation?". Eindhoven University of Technology. pp. 18–19. Archived from the original(PDF) on 22 August 2016. Retrieved 7 July 2016 – via University of Sussex.
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^"The Parish of Christ Church, Walmsley". Lancashire OnLine Parish Clerk Project. Bolton & District Family History Society, 1984. FHL film #1656927, part of Item 13. Retrieved 29 December 2012.
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^ abSkeat, W. O.; Marshall, John (1974). Catalogue: Hick hargreaves Exhibition of early locomotive drawings. Rockliff Bros. Ltd., Long Lane, Liverpool L9 7BE.
^Linford, Simon. "The Project". Little Bolton Town Hall. Linford: Developing Heritage. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
^Macdonald, Steve. "The New Market Square (1826–1871)". A History of Bolton's Markets. Bolton Environment Education Project. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^"Around the Town Hall, Victoria Square". Bolton Pictures from a bygone age. Archived from the original on 7 September 2017. Retrieved 7 September 2017. The ornate gas lamp and the circular trough surrounding its base were removed in 1925 because their presence would have detracted from the effectiveness of the War Memorial's setting and they were considered a menace to traffic.
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^"Register of the Members in the Wesleyan Society from 1787 to the Year 1791". Yorkshire: Borthwick Institute for Historical Research, University of York. MRC 1/1-5.
^Redfern, Diane. "William Routledge citations". Diane Redfern Ancestry & Family History. dianeredfern.ca. Archived from the original on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 2 October 2014.
^Barton, B. T. (1883). "Historical Gleanings of Bolton and District. The Routledge Family". Daily Chronicle: 124–125.
^Barton, B. T. (1883). "Historical Gleanings of Bolton and District. Further Particulars of the Routledge Family". Daily Chronicle: 137–138.
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^Lewis, David (2003). Nevell, Dr. Michael (ed.). "Hick, Hargreaves & Co, Engineers, Soho Foundry, Bolton, 1833 – 2002". Industrial Archaeology Northwest. 1 (3). CBA North West Industrial Archaeology Panel: 18. ISSN1479-5345.
^Redfern, Diane. "Hannah Elizabeth Goodyer". Diane Redfern Ancestry & Family History. dianeredfern.ca. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 20 October 2015.
^ abcdefghijCave, Edward, ed. (1843). "Sales of Pictures". The Gentleman's Magazine. Vol. XIX. London: William Pickering; John Bowyer Nichols and Son. pp. 507–508. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
^ abcdeButterworth, Walter (1920). "Henry Leverseege - the Ancoats artist". Papers of the Manchester Literary Club. XLVI. Robarts - University of Toronto: Sherratt & Hughes Manchester: 34 Cross Street: 7, 17. Retrieved 5 May 2015.
^Urban, Sylvanus, ed. (June 1842). "Works of Sir David Wilkie". The Gentleman's Magazine. XVII.: 638. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
^P. W. Pilling, Hick Hargreaves and Co., The History of an Engineering Firm c. 1833 – 1939, a Study with Special Reference to Technological Change and Markets (Unpublished Doctoral Thesis, University of Liverpool, 1985). p. 475.
^"Sale by Auction". The Literary Gazette and Journal of Belles Lettres, Arts, Sciences &c. 1843 (1357): 46. 21 January 1843. Retrieved 2 May 2015.
^Darcy, C. P. (1976). The encouragement of the fine arts in Lancashire 1760–1860. Manchester: The Chetham Society, Manchester University Press. p. 143. ISBN978-0-7190-1330-0.
^James, Richard (August 1952). "Two Paintings by John Martin". The Burlington Magazine. Vol. 94, no. 593. p. 234. JSTOR870983.
^"Obituary". The Art-Union. 5: 9–10. 1 January 1843. Retrieved 23 January 2014.
^The British Museum. "Collections Online". Portrait of Benjamin Hick. Trustees of the British Museum. Retrieved 20 March 2014.
^Royal Museums Greenwich. "The Collection". Benjamin Hick, Esqre (of Bolton in Lancashire and Soho Ironworks). National Maritime Museum. Retrieved 20 March 2014.