Peel & Williams's Phoenix Foundry, Manchester, 1814. Engineering works like this were practical training grounds for growing numbers of young engineers.
Image: Science Museum/SSPL
Making machines
Who built early industrial machines?
In the 1800s, prospering industry needed engineers and machine-builders capable of constructing everything from machine tools and power looms to steam engines and factories. This engineering network began in part among the early millwrights.
A millwright was a 'jack of all trades, who could... work at the lathe, the anvil or the carpenter's bench'.
Find out more about the rise of the machine-makers and how they worked for Boulton and Watt.
