Dennis Williams
Gone but not forgotten
William Murdock
was one of the great triumvirate of industrial heroes who helped to thrust Birmingham on to the world stage as a manufacturing town of international repute. The other two were Matthew Boulton and James Watt. Although he never became their partner, Murdock played a crucial role in the development of the steam engine and in powering Britain into industrial supremacy. A Scot like Watt, this supreme engineer and inventor was born in 1754 in Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. He was one of seven children and his father, John was a miller and millwright. His name was then spelled Murdoch but over time it became Murdock. William's mother, Anne, was sister of the agent for the Boswell estates, which the mill served. James Boswell himself visited Boulton and Watt's celebrated Soho works in March 1776, and his tales of that wondrous place may have inspired the young Murdock the next year to head for Birmingham, then one of the most exciting places in the world - a place where the new world was in the making.
Broad and over six feet tall, Murdock was of a practical tum and had a passion for solving mechanical problems. Within months he became Boulton and Watt's principal pattern maker and an assistant engine erector and in less than two years he was erecting an engine on his own. In fact this was only Boulton and Watt's fourth such engine. Thenceforth Murdock made improvements to Watt's design, especially whilst he was responsible for Boulton and Watt's engines in the tin mines of Cornwall. Murdock spent twenty years there from1779 and Boulton and Watt began to realise they had 'the most active man and best engine erector' they had seen.
With an ability to concentrate on a variety of ideas, Murdoch not only solved the difficulties with the working of the steam engines but also he turned his mind to producing a steam engine which could draw carriages. He successfully made a model which ran around his room at Redruth - but he did not pursue his breakthrough. Like Watt he was a shy and modest man and was not pushed by the drive which had motivated Boulton .
It was also in Cornwall that Murdoch began experimenting with lighting gases given off from the burning of coal, peat, wood and other flammable substances. Soon he focused only on trying to illuminate various coals and carried on his investigations with an iron retort and tinned and copper tubes through which the gas was carried after it had been purified by washing it with water. Along the tubes were openings through which the gas could be burned, so as to determine which coal produced the best and most economical light. Within a short time Murdoch had successfully illuminated his house and offices with gas and had devised a portable lantern. This was supplied with gas from a bladder, which he placed under his arm like a bagpipe - the gas itself being discharged through the stem of an old tobacco pipe.
Returning to Birmingham in 1798, Murdoch continued his experiments and in his own words 'constructed an apparatus upon a large scale, which during many successive nights was applied to the lighting of their principal building, and various new methods were practiced, of washing and purifying the gas'. A year later, on 30 September, the Soho Works were the first in the land to be lit by gas. Then in 1802, to celebrate the Treaty of Amiens which brought a short truce in the French wars, Murdoch astounded the people of Birmingham by illuminating the front of the Soho Manufactory with gas .
It must have been exhilarating to witness a wonderful new form of power, one which would propel industry and make light that was more brilliant than that given off by oil, candles or rushes? Thousands are said to have flocked to the premises and were awe struck by the spectacle. On the roof of the Soho House shone a magnificent star composed of various different lamps, while the centre window of the dwelling was adorned with a stunning glass transparency of a woman offering a thanksgiving for peace. The factory itself was illuminated with over 2,600 coloured lamps forming GR (George Rex) and the word peace - above which was a star of 'exquisite brilliancy'. The magnificent scene was completed by a transparency representing a dove as the emblem of peace and a beehive decorated with flowers.
There is no doubt that Murdoch was second only to Watt as an inspired inventor and mechanical genius. Yet, his discovery of gas was not exploited commercially by his employers. Perhaps by the dawn of the nineteenth century Boulton and Watt had lost the vigour of their middle age and no longer were forced into new avenues by their desire for improvement and their never ending quest for better things. Gas was to become a major source of power - but its exploitation was to come from outside Soho. Murdoch never resented this fact. He was devoted to his employers and outlived both of them, dying on 15 November 1839. In his obituary in Aris's Birmingham Gazette he was described as having 'a strong and muscular frame' to which he 'united great activity and dexterity, and much energy and capacity of exertion.' He was buried at St Mary's Church, Handsworth and alongside his 'loved employers'. He had lived in Sycamore Hill, hence off Queens Head Road. Murdoch's talents and contributions to world history have been little acknowledged. They should be better appreciated.
Row of cottages at Soho Foundry, Handsworth (now W & T Avery Ltd), including number 13 where William Murdock lived for a while. He had originally come to join Matthew Boulton in the Soho Manufactory in 1777, and returned in 1797 the year after Soho Foundry opened. Later he was able to have Sycamore House (also known as Sycamore Hill), in Queens Head Road, built for him. Thanks to Handsworth Historical Society
was one of the great triumvirate of industrial heroes who helped to thrust Birmingham on to the world stage as a manufacturing town of international repute. The other two were Matthew Boulton and James Watt. Although he never became their partner, Murdock played a crucial role in the development of the steam engine and in powering Britain into industrial supremacy. A Scot like Watt, this supreme engineer and inventor was born in 1754 in Old Cumnock, Ayrshire. He was one of seven children and his father, John was a miller and millwright. His name was then spelled Murdoch but over time it became Murdock. William's mother, Anne, was sister of the agent for the Boswell estates, which the mill served. James Boswell himself visited Boulton and Watt's celebrated Soho works in March 1776, and his tales of that wondrous place may have inspired the young Murdock the next year to head for Birmingham, then one of the most exciting places in the world - a place where the new world was in the making.
Broad and over six feet tall, Murdock was of a practical tum and had a passion for solving mechanical problems. Within months he became Boulton and Watt's principal pattern maker and an assistant engine erector and in less than two years he was erecting an engine on his own. In fact this was only Boulton and Watt's fourth such engine. Thenceforth Murdock made improvements to Watt's design, especially whilst he was responsible for Boulton and Watt's engines in the tin mines of Cornwall. Murdock spent twenty years there from1779 and Boulton and Watt began to realise they had 'the most active man and best engine erector' they had seen.
With an ability to concentrate on a variety of ideas, Murdoch not only solved the difficulties with the working of the steam engines but also he turned his mind to producing a steam engine which could draw carriages. He successfully made a model which ran around his room at Redruth - but he did not pursue his breakthrough. Like Watt he was a shy and modest man and was not pushed by the drive which had motivated Boulton .
It was also in Cornwall that Murdoch began experimenting with lighting gases given off from the burning of coal, peat, wood and other flammable substances. Soon he focused only on trying to illuminate various coals and carried on his investigations with an iron retort and tinned and copper tubes through which the gas was carried after it had been purified by washing it with water. Along the tubes were openings through which the gas could be burned, so as to determine which coal produced the best and most economical light. Within a short time Murdoch had successfully illuminated his house and offices with gas and had devised a portable lantern. This was supplied with gas from a bladder, which he placed under his arm like a bagpipe - the gas itself being discharged through the stem of an old tobacco pipe.
Returning to Birmingham in 1798, Murdoch continued his experiments and in his own words 'constructed an apparatus upon a large scale, which during many successive nights was applied to the lighting of their principal building, and various new methods were practiced, of washing and purifying the gas'. A year later, on 30 September, the Soho Works were the first in the land to be lit by gas. Then in 1802, to celebrate the Treaty of Amiens which brought a short truce in the French wars, Murdoch astounded the people of Birmingham by illuminating the front of the Soho Manufactory with gas .
It must have been exhilarating to witness a wonderful new form of power, one which would propel industry and make light that was more brilliant than that given off by oil, candles or rushes? Thousands are said to have flocked to the premises and were awe struck by the spectacle. On the roof of the Soho House shone a magnificent star composed of various different lamps, while the centre window of the dwelling was adorned with a stunning glass transparency of a woman offering a thanksgiving for peace. The factory itself was illuminated with over 2,600 coloured lamps forming GR (George Rex) and the word peace - above which was a star of 'exquisite brilliancy'. The magnificent scene was completed by a transparency representing a dove as the emblem of peace and a beehive decorated with flowers.
There is no doubt that Murdoch was second only to Watt as an inspired inventor and mechanical genius. Yet, his discovery of gas was not exploited commercially by his employers. Perhaps by the dawn of the nineteenth century Boulton and Watt had lost the vigour of their middle age and no longer were forced into new avenues by their desire for improvement and their never ending quest for better things. Gas was to become a major source of power - but its exploitation was to come from outside Soho. Murdoch never resented this fact. He was devoted to his employers and outlived both of them, dying on 15 November 1839. In his obituary in Aris's Birmingham Gazette he was described as having 'a strong and muscular frame' to which he 'united great activity and dexterity, and much energy and capacity of exertion.' He was buried at St Mary's Church, Handsworth and alongside his 'loved employers'. He had lived in Sycamore Hill, hence off Queens Head Road. Murdoch's talents and contributions to world history have been little acknowledged. They should be better appreciated.
Row of cottages at Soho Foundry, Handsworth (now W & T Avery Ltd), including number 13 where William Murdock lived for a while. He had originally come to join Matthew Boulton in the Soho Manufactory in 1777, and returned in 1797 the year after Soho Foundry opened. Later he was able to have Sycamore House (also known as Sycamore Hill), in Queens Head Road, built for him. Thanks to Handsworth Historical Society
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