B. R. Faunthorpe Papers relating to Joseph Whitworth

Date range: 1857-1966 (bulk 1960s)

Medium: Archive

Papers collected by Commander Bertram R. Faunthorpe for a planned biography of the engineer and industrialist Sir Joseph Whitworth (1803-1887).

Sir Joseph Whitworth was one of the greatest commercial engineers of the Victorian age, responsible for numerous innovations in many fields including armaments and machine tools. He invented a method of manufacturing truly plane surfaces, conceived and developed a micrometer which was accurate to two-millionths of an inch and, perhaps most significantly, devised a uniform system of screw threads.

Although Faunthorpe undertook a substantial amount of research, the biography was never completed. The collection is mainly research notes and correspondence relating to Faunthorpe's research. This includes material on firearms and screw threads, the history of the engineering industry, contemporary inventors and engineers, copies of articles by or about Whitworth, photographs, and papers relating to Whitworth's estate at Stancliffe in Darley Dale, Derbyshire. The latter include an estates account book (farm and quarry stock) and the letter-books of Whitworth's estate manager, Joseph Dawson.

Further information:

Catalogue available online via ELGAR.

Location:

• The John Rylands Library, Deansgate  [Map]
• Find out how to use the reading rooms in the John Rylands Research Institute and Library