Edmund Cartwright

NAME Edmund Cartwright

WHAT FAMOUS FOR Edmund Cartwright is most famous for inventing the power loom, which revolutionized the textile industry by automating the process of weaving cloth.

BIRTH Edmund Cartwright was born in 1743 in Marnham, Nottinghamshire, England.

FAMILY BACKGROUND Edmund was the brother of Major John Cartwright, a well-known political reformer and radical, and George Cartwright, an explorer of Labrador. The Cartwright family was notable for their contributions to politics, exploration, and innovation.

CHILDHOOD Edmund Cartwright grew up in a family In a comfortable environment as the son of a landowner. that valued education and intellectual pursuits.

EDUCATION Edmund Cartwright received his early education at Wakefield Grammar School. He later attended Oxford University, where he pursued studies that laid the foundation for his diverse intellectual interests.

CAREER RECORD Cartwright initially pursued a career in the Church, becoming the rector of the parish of Goadby Marwood in Leicestershire. Here's his resume:

Clergyman: Rector of Goadby Marwood, Leicestershire (1779), Prebendary of Lincoln Cathedral (1786)

Inventor: Patented the power loom in 1785, established a weaving and spinning factory in Doncaster (1785), later invented a wool-combing machine and other agricultural implements.

APPEARANCE Details about Edmund Cartwright’s physical appearance are scarce, and contemporary descriptions are not well-documented. The picture below was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

By Allen & Ginter 

FASHION Given his profession as a clergyman, Cartwright's fashion would have been conservative and in line with the clerical attire of the time.

CHARACTER Cartwright was known for his intellectual curiosity and persistence. His ability to move from theology to mechanical invention speaks to his versatility and innovative spirit.

SENSE OF HUMOUR Cartwright's diverse interests suggest a person of broad and engaging intellect.

RELATIONSHIPS Cartwright was part of a distinguished family, with close ties to his brothers John and George, who were also prominent figures in their respective fields.

Edmund Cartwright married twice. His first wife was Alice Whitaker, daughter of Alderman Richard Whitaker of Doncaster. They wed in 1772, and she passed away in 1785.

From this marriage, Cartwright had four children. Their second daughter, Elizabeth (1780-1837), married Reverend John Penrose and wrote under the pseudonym "Mrs Markham". Another daughter, Mary, married Henry Eustatius Strickland, a descendant of the Strickland Baronets. Mary also authored a biography of her father, A Memoir of the Life, Writings, and Inventions, of Edmund Cartwright, D.D. FRS (1843), which included a memoir by Cartwright himself.

The couple's eldest son, Reverend Edmund Cartwright (1773-1833), followed in his father's academic footsteps, becoming a Fellow of the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries of London. Their youngest child, Frances Dorothy Cartwright, was a poet and biographer of her uncle, the radical Major John Cartwright.

Following the death of his first wife, Cartwright remarried in 1790 to Susannah Kearney, daughter of John Kearney. He was survived by her and his four children from his first marriage.

MONEY AND FAME Despite his significant contributions to industry, Cartwright did not achieve financial success from his inventions. His Doncaster factory went belly up in 1793, repossessed by creditors.

In 1809, Cartwright received a grant of £10,000 from the government, thanks to the lobbying efforts of Lancashire firms who recognized the value of his innovations. He used this money to purchase a farm in Kent.

FOOD AND DRINK  As a clergyman and landowner, his diet likely consisted of typical English fare of the time.

MUSIC AND ARTS Cartwright's inventive mind and intellectual background suggest an appreciation for cultural pursuits.

LITERATURE As an educated man who attended Oxford, Cartwright was well-versed in the literature of his time.

Edmund Cartwright displayed a talent for writing poetry. He was tutored by John Langhorne and produced several works. His first published poem, "Armine and Elvira," appeared in 1770.  Cartwright's literary output also included "Sonnets to Eminent Men" (1783), which featured an ode dedicated to Thomas Howard, 3rd Earl of Effingham, a notable supporter of American independence.

NATURE After receiving his government grant, Cartwright purchased a farm in Kent, indicating an appreciation for the rural lifestyle and possibly a connection to nature through agriculture.

HOBBIES AND SPORTS Cartwright’s main hobbies seemed to center around his intellectual pursuits and inventions. 

SCIENCE AND MATHS Cartwright’s inventions show a strong grasp of mechanical science and mathematics, particularly in his understanding of the principles needed to develop complex machinery like the power loom and wool-combing machine.

INVENTIONS Edmund Cartwright started out as a perfectly respectable clergyman, minding his own business and shepherding souls in a quiet corner of Leicestershire. It’s hard to imagine this fellow, probably with a rather nice frock coat as the spark that would ignite the Industrial Revolution. But there you have it.

After a fateful visit to Richard Arkwright’s cotton-spinning factory in Cromford, a place that must have looked like something out of a mad scientist’s dream, Cartwright was bitten by the bug of mechanization. He chucked his prayer book aside and started tinkering with looms.

His first power loom was about as useful as a chocolate teapot, but it was a start. To this end, he added various improvements—positive let-off motions, warp and weft stop motions, and even a mechanism for sizing the warp while the loom was still running. He set up shop in Doncaster to manufacture fabric using his machines, only to discover that they were far from perfect. Undeterred, Cartwright tweaked and tinkered, introducing crank and eccentric wheels, improving the picking mechanism, and adding devices to prevent the shuttle from misbehaving, whether by failing to enter its box or by rebounding when it did. He even invented automatic temples to stretch the cloth.

In 1792, he obtained one last patent, this time for a loom equipped with multiple shuttle boxes—ideal for weaving checks and cross stripes. Yet, despite all his ingenuity, one stubborn problem remained: no loom, however cleverly designed, could truly succeed until the warps could be sized while the machine was in motion. Cartwright's attempts to solve this problem ultimately floundered, and it wasn’t until 1803 that others—William Radcliffe and his assistant Thomas Johnson—cracked it with their beam warper and dressing sizing machine.

Adding to his résumé of near-misses, in 1790, a certain Robert Grimshaw of Gorton, Manchester, was so taken with Cartwright’s loom that he built a weaving factory at Knott Mill, planning to install 500 of them. Unfortunately, with only 30 looms in place, the factory was burnt to the ground, likely by disgruntled handloom weavers who saw the writing on the wall and didn’t much care for what it said. 

In the end, Cartwright was a bit like that guy who invents the first car but can’t figure out how to make it go in a straight line. He laid the groundwork, but others had to come along and make it work. Still, without his initial burst of madcap invention, the world might look very different today.

Looms weren’t Cartwright’s only foray into mechanical invention. In 1789, he patented a wool combing machine, and in 1792, he came up with something called a cordelier, a contraption for making rope. He even designed a steam engine that ran on alcohol instead of water—because, really, why not? Despite his many inventions, Cartwright’s life was more of a series of valiant efforts than outright successes, but one can’t help but admire the sheer determination of the man.

PHILOSOPHY & THEOLOGY Originally a clergyman, Cartwright’s philosophical and theological beliefs were shaped by his education and career in the Church. His transition to invention indicates a practical application of his intellectual pursuits.

POLITICS Although Cartwright himself was not overtly political, his brother John was a prominent political reformer, and Edmund’s inventions had significant social and economic impacts, influencing the course of the Industrial Revolution.

MILITARY RECORD Cartwright did not have a military career, but his brother John was a Major, and George explored territories in Labrador, hinting at a family involved in diverse forms of service.

Edmund Cartwright's 1779 poem "The Prince of Peace," criticized the American Revolutionary War.

HEALTH AND PHYSICAL FITNESS Specific details are not documented but Cartwright lived to the age of 80, indicating he enjoyed good health for most of his life .

HOMES Cartwright lived in various locations throughout his life, including his birthplace in Marnham, his rectory in Goadby Marwood, and later on a farm in Kent, purchased with the grant he received.

TRAVEL Cartwright’s notable travel included his visit to Cromford in 1784, which inspired his invention of the power loom. 

DEATH Edmund Cartwright died in Hastings, Sussex on October 30, 1823 after a lingering illness. He was buried in Battle. 

APPEARANCES IN MEDIA Cartwright's life and inventions have been mentioned in historical accounts of the Industrial Revolution, but he has not been a prominent figure in popular media.

ACHIEVEMENTS Cartwright’s most significant achievements include the invention of the power loom, the wool-combing machine, and his contributions to agricultural machinery. His work played a crucial role in the mechanization of the textile industry, laying the groundwork for the Industrial Revolution.

In May 1821, Cartwright was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society