George Perry (1719 – 3 February 1771) was an English engineer, ironmaster, merchant, draughtsman and cartographer. South West Prospect of Coalbrook Dale

Biography

Perry was a native of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

and was related to Micajah Perry,

Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional pow ...

in 1747. His family was well known in the area and Perry was "intended for the church". However Perry joined the iron works at

Coalbrookdale Coalbrookdale is a village in the Ironbridge Gorge in Shropshire, England, containing a settlement of great significance in the history of iron ore smelting. It lies within the civil parish called the Gorge. This is where iron ore was first s ...

, where he worked with John Wilkinson. While there, he made successful trials for boring

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

from solid iron.Henry Smithers, ''Liverpool, its commerce, statistics, and institutions''
pp. 419-420
/ref> With Thomas Smith of Derby he designed views of Coalbrookdale which were engraved by

François Vivares François Vivares (Saint-Jean-du-Bruel 11 July 1709 – 28 November 1780 London) was a French landscape-engraver, active in England. Life He was born in France at Saint-Jean-du-Bruel, near Montpellier, on 11 July 1709, and brought up in Ge ...

. These are among the earliest industrial landscapes. Perry later became the first manager of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

's Phoenix Foundry. A man of many talents, outside his work as an iron founder and merchant his energy was directed towards many diffuse interests, such as map-making, the history of Liverpool, and the writing of poetry.John Hussey, 'The Magnificent Map', in ''Cruisers, Cotton and Confederates: Liverpool Waterfront in the Days of the Confederacy'' (2008)
p. 197
/ref> Perry was an early promoter of the benefits of new canals. In 1758, shortly after the opening of the early

Sankey Canal The Sankey Canal in North West England, initially known as the Sankey Brook Navigation and later the St Helens Canal, is a former industrial canal, which when opened in 1757 was England's first of the Industrial revolution, and the first moder ...

, Perry wrote an article which appeared in ''

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine ...

'' in which he proposed the construction of an "inland water conveyance from London to

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

Worcester Worcester may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England ** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament * Worcester Park, London, Engla ...

and

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, or from Liverpool to Hull". In 1758 Perry founded a Liverpool branch of the

Ironbridge Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, a ...

foundry, later to become the Fawcett, Preston Engineering Company, although initially simply a warehouse. In 1765, Perry married Lydia Ann Lacroy (or ''De La Croix''), who was of a family of

Huguenots The Huguenots ( , also , ) were a religious group of French Protestants who held to the Reformed, or Calvinist, tradition of Protestantism. The term, which may be derived from the name of a Swiss political leader, the Genevan burgomaster Be ...

. The street in which his foundry stood was named in her honour Lydia Ann Street. With

Peter Perez Burdett Peter Perez Burdett (c. 1734 – 9 September 1793) was an 18th-century cartographer, surveyor, artist, and draughtsman originally from Eastwood in Essex where he inherited a small estate and chose the name ''Perez'' from the birth surname ...

Perry had planned a map of Liverpool, together with a history and views by Michael Angelo Rooker, though the latter project did not all come together in its initial conception before his death. In 1769, assisted by William Yates, Perry produced his masterpiece as a cartographer, a large map entitled 'The New and Accurate Plan of the Town and Port of Leverpool'. In 2008 this was on public display at the

Walker Art Gallery The Walker Art Gallery is an art gallery in Liverpool, which houses one of the largest art collections in England outside London. It is part of the National Museums Liverpool group. History of the Gallery The Walker Art Gallery's collection ...

and proved to be a centre of attention. Perry died on 3 February 1771 at the age of 52 and was buried at

Toxteth Unitarian Chapel Toxteth Unitarian Chapel is in Park Road, Dingle, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. Since the 1830s it has been known as The Ancient Chapel of Toxteth. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade I listed bu ...

. On a wall of the chapel is a memorial tablet, reading The foundry business was taken over by Joseph Rathbone of the

Rathbone family The Rathbone family of Liverpool, England, were a family of nonconformist merchants and ship-owners who were known to engage in philanthropy and public service. The family origins trace back to Gawsworth, near Macclesfield, where the first Will ...

, who had married a daughter of

Abraham Darby II Abraham Darby, in his lifetime called Abraham Darby the Younger, referred to for convenience as Abraham Darby II (12 May 1711 – 31 March 1763) was the second man of that name in an English Quaker family that played an important role in the early ...

, the owner of the Coalbrookdale operation. ''An Essay towards the History of Leverpool'' (1773) by William Enfield was based on Perry’s collections, and has been called the first history of Liverpool.''The Arian Movement''
p. 74
/ref>

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Perry, George 1719 births 1771 deaths Engineers from Liverpool English cartographers British ironmasters People from Somerset 18th-century cartographers 18th-century English people