John Whitehurst
Encyclopedia
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
(10 April 1713 – 18 February 1788), of Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, was a clockmaker and scientist, and made significant early contributions to geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
. He was an influential member of the Lunar Society
Lunar Society
The Lunar Society of Birmingham was a 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 in Birmingham, England. At first called the Lunar Circle,...
.
Life and work
Whitehurst was born in CongletonCongleton
Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Dane, to the west of the Macclesfield Canal and 21 miles south of Manchester. It has a population of 25,750.-History:The first settlements in...
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
, to a clockmaker
Clockmaker
A clockmaker is an artisan who makes and 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 repairing clocks and watches...
, 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. At the age of twenty-one, the son visited Dublin to inspect a clock of curious construction of which he had heard. In 1722 he invented the "pulsation engine" (now called a Pulser pump
Pulser pump
A pulser pump is a device that uses gravity to pump water to a higher elevation. It has no moving parts.The Hydraulic ram, a hydraulic device is based on the principles running this device...
), a water-raising device that was the precursor of the hydraulic ram
Hydraulic ram
A hydraulic ram, or hydram, is a cyclic water pump powered by hydropower. It functions as a hydraulic transformer that takes in water at one "hydraulic head" and flow-rate, and outputs water at a higher hydraulic-head and lower flow-rate...
.
About 1736 Whitehurst entered into business for himself at Derby, 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 in reward was enrolled as a burgess on 6 September 1737. He also made thermometers, barometers, and other philosophical instruments, and interested himself in contriving waterworks. He was consulted in almost every undertaking in Derbyshire 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
Royal Mint
The Royal Mint is the body permitted to manufacture, or mint, coins in the United Kingdom. The Mint originated over 1,100 years ago, but since 2009 it operates as Royal Mint Ltd, a company which has an exclusive contract with HM Treasury to supply all coinage for the UK...
in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. In 1775, on the passage of the act for the better regulation oí 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. Whitehurst moved to London, where the rest of his life was passed in scientific pursuits, and where his house in Colt Court, Fleet Street, (formerly the abode of James Ferguson) was visited by other distinguished scientists.
In 1778 Whitehurst published his theory on geological strata in An Inquiry into the Original State and Formation of the Earth. The original design of this work, which he began to prepare while living at Derby, was 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
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
, and in 1783 he was sent to examine the Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway
The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles northeast of the town of Bushmills...
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 1787 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 forty-two times a minute is eighty inches, while that of one oscillating twice as many times is twenty inches. The difference between these two lengths would therefore be exactly five feet. He found, however, 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 roughly, however, 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.
On 9 January 1745 Whitehurst married Elizabeth Gretton, daughter of George Gretton, rector of Trusley
Trusley
Trusley is a parish and small village in South Derbyshire.The manor was given to Henry de Ferrers together with many villages in Derbyshire for his contribution to the Norman Conquest. More recently the hall and manor house have been the homes of the Coke family...
and Dalbury
Dalbury Lees
Dalbury Lees is a parish in south Derbyshire. It is about six miles from both Burton-on-Trent and Derby and just under four miles from Egginton. The parish contains the villages of Dalbury and Lees which are just under apart from one another...
in Derbyshire. After Whitehurst died in 1788 at his house in Bolt Court, Fleet Street, he was buried beside his wife in St. Andrew's burying-ground in Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road
Gray's Inn Road, formerly Gray's Inn Lane, is a major road in central London, in the London Borough of Camden. It is named after Gray's Inn, one of the main Inns of Court. The road starts in Holborn, near Chancery Lane tube station and the boundaries of the City of London and the London Borough...
. There were no surviving children.
It has been suggested that Whitehurst is the model for Joseph Wright's picture of a philosopher lecturing on the orrery
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery
A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery, or the full title, A Philosopher giving a Lecture on the Orrery in which a lamp is put in place of the Sun, is a painting by Joseph Wright of Derby depicting a lecturer giving a demonstration of an orrery to a small audience...
.