Jonathan Hornblower (30 October 1717 – 7 December 1780) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

pioneer of

steam power A steam engine is a heat engine that performs mechanical work using steam as its working fluid. The steam engine uses the force produced by steam pressure to push a piston back and forth inside a cylinder. This pushing force can be trans ...

, the son of

Joseph Hornblower Joseph Hornblower (1696? – 1762) was an English engineer, a pioneer of steam power. Biography Joseph Hornblower was born in 1696 in Staffordshire, England. In 1725 he was engaged to install a Newcomen engine at Wheal Rose, near Truro. He se ...

and brother of

Josiah Hornblower Josiah Hornblower (February 23, 1729 – January 21, 1809) was an English engineer and statesman in Belleville, New Jersey. He was a delegate for New Jersey in the Continental Congress in 1785 and 1786. Personal life Josiah was born in S ...

, two fellow steam pioneers. Jonathan was born in Staffordshire on 30 October 1717, the eldest of the four children of steam pioneer Joseph and Rebecca (née Haywood) Hornblower. Joseph Hornblower was an installer of Newcomen steam engines in the Cornish mines and taught his children the same trade. Jonathan eventually took over from his father around 1740 and moved to live and work in Cornwall, where he built and installed

Newcomen engine The atmospheric engine was invented by Thomas Newcomen in 1712, and is often referred to as the Newcomen fire engine (see below) or simply as a Newcomen engine. The engine was operated by condensing steam drawn into the cylinder, thereby creati ...

s at several mines. He married Ann Carter of

Broseley Broseley is a market town in Shropshire, England, with a population of 4,929 at the 2011 Census and an estimate of 5,022 in 2019. The River Severn flows to its north and east. The first The Iron Bridge, iron bridge in the world was built in 17 ...

, Shropshire, a lawyer's daughter, on 16 July 1743 and fathered thirteen children, all given biblical names beginning with J. Both

Jabez Carter Hornblower Jabez Carter Hornblower (21 May 1744 – 14 July 1814) was an English pioneer of steam power, and the son of Jonathan Hornblower. Early life Hornblower was born in Broseley, Shropshire, England. He was the eldest child of steam engineer Jonatha ...

and Jonathan Hornblower Jnr were to continue the family's steam engineering tradition, assisted by the fact that

Thomas Newcomen Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor who created the atmospheric engine, the first practical fuel-burning engine in 1712. He was an ironmonger by trade and a Baptist lay preacher by calling. He ...

was like the Hornblowers active in Baptist church life. Jonathan Snr died in Cornwall on 7 December 1780.

External links

The First American Steam Engine
*Richard L. Hills, 'Hornblower, Jonathan (1717–1780)’,

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, 200
accessed 16 Oct 2007
1717 births 1780 deaths Engineers from Cornwall British steam engine engineers People from Staffordshire 18th-century British engineers {{England-engineer-stub