Charles Berwick Curtis (18 March 1795 – 26 October 1876) was a manufacturer of

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). ...

who was also deputy chairman of a life insurance company.

Early life and family

Curtis was born on 18 March 1795 at

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

, Middlesex, the son of

Sir William Curtis, 1st Baronet Sir William Curtis, Bt. (25 January 1752 – 18 January 1829) was an English businessman, banker and politician. Although he had a long political and business career (the two significantly intertwined), he was probably best known for the banq ...

and Anne Constable. He married Henrietta Pearson on 30 November 1822. Curtis had several children. His son, Spencer Henry Curtis (1833–1913), was a successful merchant associated with companies that traded with the West Indies."Mr. Spencer H. Curtis", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 27 February 1913.

British Newspaper Archive The British Newspaper Archive web site provides access to searchable digitized archives of British and Irish newspapers. It was launched in November 2011. History The British Library Newspapers section was based in Colindale in north London, u ...

. Retrieved 4 September 2015. Latterly, Curtis was resident at 105

Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main part of Belgravia ...

, London.

Career

Curtis was a manufacturer of gunpowder who traded as Curtis's and Harvey. The firm started at Hounslow in 1820 with backing from Sir William Curtis. In 1841, Curtis obtained a patent, ''Particulars of a Method or Methods, by Self-acting Apparatus to be used on Railways, for obviating collisions between successive trains, etc'' which was published by Stewart & Murray of London in that year. He was also deputy chairman of the United Kingdom Life Assurance Company. He was a member of the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

.1842 Institution of Civil Engineers.
''Grace's Guide to British Industrial History'', 15 October 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2015.

Death

Curtis died 26 October 1876.

References

1795 births 1876 deaths British industrialists Charles Berwick 19th-century British businesspeople {{UK-engineer-stub