Joseph Bramah (1748 - 1814)

Born 13 Apr 1748 in Stainborough, Yorkshire, England

Ancestors

Husband of Mary (Lawton) Bramah — married 7 Nov 1779 in St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, Camden, London, England

Descendants

Died 9 Dec 1814 at age 66 in Pimlico, London, England

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Biography

Joseph Bramah was born in Yorkshire, England.

Joseph Bramah, engineer and inventor, was born on 2 April 1749 at Stainborough Lane Farm, near Barnsley, Yorkshire. He was the second son in the family of three sons and two daughters of Joseph Bramah and Mary Denton. On 12 May 1749 he was christened at All Saints Church, Silkstone, Yorkshire.^[1] The church now has two marble memoriall plaques to Joseph Bramah on the south wall.

Joseph received a basic education at the local school in Silkstone and was then apprenticed to a local carpenter, Thomas Allott of Stainborough Fold. It is said that at the age of 23, Joseph walked to London to seek his fortune. When he arrived he found employment as a cabinet-maker.

Joseph married Mary Lawton, daughter of Francis Lawton of Mapplewell, near Barnsley, on 7 November 1779 at St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, Camden, London.^[2] They had obtained a marriage licence on 5 November 1779.^[3] Witnesses at the wedding were Hannah Brammah and Ann Ward. Joseph and Mary went on to have four sons and a daughter.

At some point Joseph found work fitting water closets. He found the system being used was unsatisfactory, and in order to make it more reliable he replaced the usual slide valve with a hinged flap valve which reduced the risk of the system freezing in cold weather. A patent for his new invention was obtained in 1778. He started to manufacture them in a Denmark Street workshop. By 1797 nearly six thousand of them had been made, and production continued well into the nineteenth century. One of his original toilets is still working in Osborne House, Queen Victoria's home on the Isle of Wight.

He is probably best know for the Bramah Lock. He became interested in locks after attending some lectures on technical aspects of locks. He designed his own, and received a patent for it in 1784. The locks produced by his company were famed for their resistance to lock picking and tampering. In 1790 the company displayed a "Challenge Lock" in the window of their London shop mounted on a board bearing the inscription 'The artist who can make an instrument that will pick or open this lock shall receive 200 guineas the moment it is produced'. The lock was mentioned in the writings of Charles Dickens and remained unpicked for more than 60 years.

Joseph Bramah's most important invention was the hydraulic press. The press, with its ingenious self-tightening collar to prevent fluid loss, could convert a small force into a much larger one by using the pressure created by the compression of a liquid in a cylinder of the machine. It had many industrial applications and still does today. At the time Bramah was bringing this concept to fruition, the field of hydraulic engineering was an almost unknown science. Along with William George Armstrong, he is considered to be one of the two fathers of hydraulic engineering.. The hydraulic press is still known as the Bramah Press after its inventor.

Throughout his career he produced a number of minor inventions. Among these were a beer engine (1797); a planing machine (1802); a paper-making machine (1805); a banknote numbering and dating machine (1806), of which at least thirty were purchased by the Bank of England; an early but not very practical form of fountain pen (1809); and also an unusual machine (1809) for producing multiple pen nibs from a single quill.

Bramah died at Pimlico on 9 December 1814 after catching a cold which turned to pneumonia. He was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's, Paddington, on 16 December 1714.^[4]

Research Note

Most websites, including Wikipedia and the Oxford Dictionary of Biography, state that Joseph Bramah and Mary Lawton married in 1783, but none of them give a source for that fact. In addition I have been unable to find a source of a Joseph Bramah and Mary Lawton marrying in 1783 on Family Search, Ancestry or Findmypast. All searched 12 May 2019. I have therefore concluded that Joseph and Mary married by licence on 7 November 1779 at St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, Camden, London.^[2][3]

Sources

1. ↑ "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NRS4-R56 : 11 February 2018, Joseph Bramma, 12 May 1749); citing , index based upon data collected by the Genealogical Society of Utah, Salt Lake City; FHL microfilm 98,538.
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1} London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; Reference Number: P82/GIS/A/03 (www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 May 2019)
3. ↑ ^{3.0 3.1} Dioceses of England & Wales. Faculty Office Marriage Licences. Society of Genealogists (www.findmypast.co.uk : accessed 12 May 2019)
4. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVGH-B795 : 13 December 2015), Joseph Bramah, ; Burial, Paddington, City of Westminster, Greater London, England, St Mary Paddington Green Churchyard; citing record ID 115798117

Also see:

• Bramah [Bramma], Joseph Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• Joseph Bramah Wikipedia
• The Joseph Bramah, Barnsley Wetherspoon