John Whitehurst
FRS (10 April 1713 – 18 February 1788), born in
Cheshire
Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...
, England, was a clockmaker and scientist, and made significant early contributions to geology. He was an influential member of the
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a British dinner club and informal learned society of prominent figures in the Midlands Enlightenment, including industrialists, natural philosophers and intellectuals, who met regularly between 1765 and 1813 ...
.
Life and work
Whitehurst was born in
Congleton
Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482.
Top ...
, Cheshire, to a
clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and/or repairs clocks. Since almost all clocks are now factory-made, most modern clockmakers only repair clocks. Modern clockmakers may be employed by jewellers, antique shops, and places devoted strictly to ...
, the elder John Whitehurst. Receiving only a slight formal education, the younger Whitehurst was taught clockmaking by his father, who also encouraged the boy's pursuit of knowledge. In 1734, at the age of twenty-one, Whitehurst visited
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
to inspect a clock of curious construction of which he had heard.
Career
About 1736, Whitehurst entered into business for himself at
Derby
Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...
, where he soon obtained great employment, distinguishing himself by constructing several ingenious pieces of mechanism. Besides other works, he made the clock for the town hall, and on 6 September 1737, he was enrolled as a
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in reward. He also made thermometers, barometers, and other philosophical instruments, and interested himself in contriving waterworks. He was consulted in almost every undertaking in
Derbyshire
Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...
and in the neighbouring counties in which skill in mechanics, pneumatics, and hydraulics was required.
In 1774, Whitehurst obtained a post at the
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the United Kingdom's oldest company and the official maker of British coins.
Operating under the legal name The Royal Mint Limited, it is a limited company that is wholly owned by His Majesty's Treasury and is under an exclus ...
in London. In 1775, on the passage of the act for the better regulation of the gold coinage, without any solicitation on his part, he was appointed stamper of the money-weights on the recommendation of the
Duke of Newcastle
Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Marquess of Newcastle ...
. Whitehurst moved to London, where he passed the rest of his life in scientific pursuits. other distinguished scientists visited his house in Colt Court, Fleet Street, formerly the abode of
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.
In 1772 - aged 59 years- he invented the "pulsation engine" (not to be mixed up with a
Pulser pump
A pulser pump is a gas lift device that uses gravity to pump water to a higher elevation. It has no moving parts.
Operation
A pulser pump makes use of water that flows through pipes and an air chamber from an upper reservoir to a lower reservoir. ...
), a water-raising device which was the precursor of the
hydraulic ram
A hydraulic ram, or hydram, is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one "hydraulic head" (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate. The device uses the water hammer ef ...
.
In 1778, Whitehurst published his theory on geological strata in ''An Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth''. He had begun this while living at Derby, originally intending to facilitate the discovery of valuable minerals beneath the Earth's surface. He pursued his researches with so much ardour, that "the exposure he incurred" tended to impair his health.
On 13 May 1779, Whitehurst was elected a fellow of the
Royal Society
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
.
In 1783, he was sent to examine the
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...
and the volcanic remains in the north of Ireland, embodying his observations in the second edition of his ''Inquiry''.
About 1784 he contrived a system of ventilation for St. Thomas's Hospital.
In 1786, Whitehurst was elected as a member to the
American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
.
In 1787, age 74, a year before his death, he published ''An Attempt towards obtaining invariable Measures of Length, Capacity, and Weight, from the Mensuration of Time'' (London). Whitehurst wanted to study the shape of the earth by measuring differences in gravitation. For this, he studied heavy pendulums in different locations. He measured the length of the pendulum, the frequency of its oscillation and the length of the path its head was moving. He compared these to theoretical values he calculated assuming the globe is spherical. Starting on the assumption that the length of a second pendulum in the latitude of London was 39.2 inches, he deduced that the length of one oscillating 42 times a minute is 80 inches, while that of one oscillating twice as many times is 20 inches. The difference between these two lengths would therefore be exactly 5 feet. He found upon experiment that the actual difference was only 59.892 inches owing to the real length of the pendulum, oscillating once a second, being 39.125 inches. He obtained rough data, from which the true lengths of pendulums, the spaces through which heavy bodies fall in a given time, and many other particulars relating to the force of gravitation and the true figure of the earth could be deduced.
Personal life
On 9 January 1745, Whitehurst married Elizabeth Gretton, daughter of George Gretton, rector of
Trusley
Trusley is a parish and small village in South Derbyshire. As the civil parish population is only minimal details are included in the civil parish of Dalbury Lees.
The manor was given to Henry de Ferrers together with many villages in Derbyshire ...
and
Dalbury in Derbyshire.
In 1788 Whitehurst died, 75 years old, at his house in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, and was buried beside his wife in St Andrew's burying-ground in
Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road (or Grays Inn Road) is an important road in the Bloomsbury district of Central London, in the London Borough of Camden. The road begins at the City of London boundary, where it bisects High Holborn, and ends at King's Cross and ...
. There were no surviving children.
It has been suggested that Whitehurst is the model for
Joseph Wright of Derby's picture of ''
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery'' in the
Derby Museum and Art Gallery.
Selected writings
* 2nd ed. (1786).
*
See also
*
Hydraulic ram
A hydraulic ram, or hydram, is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It takes in water at one "hydraulic head" (pressure) and flow rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic head and lower flow rate. The device uses the water hammer ef ...
*
Pulser pump
A pulser pump is a gas lift device that uses gravity to pump water to a higher elevation. It has no moving parts.
Operation
A pulser pump makes use of water that flows through pipes and an air chamber from an upper reservoir to a lower reservoir. ...
*
Whitehurst & Son sundial (1812)
References
Further reading
*
*
*
*
*
External links
A Portrait of John Whitehurst''An inquiry into the original state and formation of the earth''(1778) - full digital facsimile at
Linda Hall Library
The Linda Hall Library is a privately endowed American library of science, engineering and technology located in Kansas City, Missouri, sitting "majestically on a urban arboretum." It is the "largest independently funded public library of scien ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Whitehurst, John
1713 births
1788 deaths
People from Congleton
English geologists
English inventors
English clockmakers
Fellows of the Royal Society
Members of the Lunar Society of Birmingham
Collections of Derby Museum and Art Gallery
People associated with Derby Museum and Art Gallery
Members of the American Philosophical Society