Henry Maudslay

His father served as a Wheelwright[?] in the Royal Engineers[?] but was wounded in action so became a storekeeper at the Woolwich Arsenal[?], London, where Henry was born. Henry egan filling cartridges when aged 12. He then transferred to a woodworking shop followed by a smithy.

He got such a good reputation for his skill that Joseph Bramah[?] (hydraulic press[?] inventor) called for his services in making machines. Henry was good at putting other people's ideas into practice rather than an inventor himself. In 1791 married Bramah's housemaid Sarah Tindale. Six years later as Bramah's right-hand man and father of 3, Henry asked for a raise in wages but was refused.

He then set up his own precision workshop and made a series of precision screw-cutting lathes and became the pacesetter. He also made a series of shaping machines for the Navy under Sir Marc Isambard Brunel[?]. He applied the ideas of interchangeable parts including nuts and bolts (before that all nuts and bolts were made as matching pairs only). Many outstanding engineers trained in his workshop incl Sir Joseph Whitworth[?] and James Nasmyth. He specialised in marine steam engines. He also designed a micrometer ten-times more accurate than contemporary ones.