John Wilkinson
John Graham
The speaker at the meeting of Kendal Rotary on 14th October was one of their own members, John Graham. Who gave a presentation detailing the life and career of "Iron-Mad" Wilkinson (1728 – 14 July 1808) an English industrialist who pioneered the manufacture of cast iron and the use of cast-iron goods during the Industrial Revolution. John was born in Little Clifton, Bridgefoot, Cumberland (now part of Cumbria). He was the inventor of a precision boring machine that could bore cast iron cylinders, such as cannon barrels and piston cylinders used in the steam engines of James Watt. He also developed a blowing device for blast furnaces that allowed higher temperatures, increasing their efficiency, and helped sponsor the first iron bridge in Coalbrookdale. An unsung hero of the Industrial age, he died on 14 July 1808 and there is an iron obelisk commemorating him in Lindale-in-Cartmel.
