John Hick (politician)
John Hick JP DL (2 July 1815 – 2 February 1894) was a wealthy[1] English industrialist, art collector and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1880,[2][3] he is associated with the improvement of steam-engines for cotton mills and the work of his firm Hick, Hargreaves and Co. universal in countries where fibre was spun or fabrics woven.[4]
This article is about the UK Member of Parliament. For the philosopher and theologian, see John Hick.
John Hick
2 July 1815
2 February 1894 (aged 78)
British
Civil and Mechanical engineer
Steel manufacturer
Politician
Company director
Family[edit]
Hick was the eldest son of Benjamin Hick (1790–1842), a civil and mechanical engineer[5] responsible for improvements to the steam-engine,[6] and his wife Elizabeth Routledge (1783–1826), daughter of William Routledge of Elvington Yorkshire.[2] Elizabeth's brother and Hick's uncle, Joshua Routledge (1773–1829) also an engineer living in Bolton, designed the Engineer's Improved Slide Rule and patented improvements to the Rotary steam engine.[7][8][9][10]
Education and early career[edit]
Educated at a private school near Alderley, Cheshire and Bolton Grammar School[11] where he received a commercial and classical education, Hick entered Benjamin Hick's Soho Works from school and from a young age, management of the Bolton engineering firm Benjamin Hick and Son with his father. Following Benjamin Hick's death in 1842, Hick became senior partner in the family business, later Hick, Hargreaves, & Co and a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers[2] in 1845.[4][12][13]
He was Church Warden for James Slade[14] and warden for St Peter's church Belmont, Lancashire between 1862 and 1874,[15] Governor of Bolton Grammar School,[2] Town councillor for nine years from 1844,[3] a member of the Society of Arts,[2] founder member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers from 1847 until 1852,[13] member of the London Association of Foreman Engineers and Draughtsman,[16] National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales,[17] Justice of the Peace for the Borough of Bolton and Salford Hundred,[12] liberal patron of the fine arts[2] and a director of the London and North Western Railway[12] under the chairmanship of Sir Richard Moon and Lord Stalbridge, from 1871 until his death.[18]
In 1839, age 23, while working for B. Hick and Son, John Hick Jr as he was referred to at the time, was awarded the silver medal by the Society of Arts for his novel invention of an expanding mandrel for turning lathes, it was an adaptation of a principle developed by Marc Brunel for pulley block manufacture at Portsmouth and received the praise of three eminent engineers; Bryan Donkin, Joshua Field and John Rennie.[19]
During 1842, Hick was awarded a second silver medal by the Society of Arts for his invention of an Elliptograph; conceived in 1840,[20] the device provided a simple and accurate solution for the drawing ellipsoid forms of various proportions. Hick received further praise from James Nasmyth, William Fairbairn, Joseph Whitworth, and amongst others, Charles Holtzapffel, Chairman of the Committee of Mechanics. Models of both devices were placed in the Society's repository.[19][21]
Hick contributed a paper to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers in 1849 on a friction clutch for connecting and disconnecting the driving power with shafts and machinery.[13] A B. Hick and Son, 1:12 scale patent model of disconnecting apparatus, for screw propellers, c. 1855 is held in the Science Museum marine engines collection.[22]
Marriage[edit]
John Hick married Margaret Bashall (1824–1872), eldest daughter of industrialist William Bashall, partner in Bashall & Boardman of Farington Lodge, near Preston on 24 June 1846,[2][23][24] they raised four daughters.[2]
Following Margaret Hick's death in 1872,[25] Hick married the sister of his son-in-law, Rebecca Maria Ashworth (1838–1908),[26] eldest daughter of Edmund Ashworth JP (1800–1881) of Egerton Hall on 16 December 1874 at Holy Trinity Church, Clapham;[26] the couple were married by Margaret Hick's cousin and brother-in-law Reverend William Bashall (1830–1902), Vicar of Deane, Lancashire,[27] by special licence from the Archbishop of Canterbury, Archibald Tait.[28] Edmund Ashworth was a cotton manufacturer, proprietor of E. Ashworth & Sons and Egerton Mill, founder member of the Anti-Corn Law League with his brother Henry Ashworth (1794–1880)[29] JP, in association with John Bright and Richard Cobden (Henry Ashworth's brother-in-law), and supporter of reforming, anti-slavery and peace organisations.[30] The Ashworths are both thought to have been Oswald Millbank in Benjamin Disraeli's novel Coningsby.[31][32][33][34][35] The two families (Hick and Ashworth) were linked by marriage in 1868 when Hick's first child and eldest daughter Margaret (1847–1929) married Edmund Ashworth Jr (1833–1901).[36][37] The "highly respected" Reverend Bashall retired[27] to the position of curate at St Barnabas church, Addison Road, Kensington from about 1876[27][38][39] remaining in the area until his death, 1902.[40][41]
Pollution trial[edit]
After leaving parliament Hick and Lt-Col. Ralph John Aspinall JP, DL, campaigned against the pollution and poisoning of salmon and trout in the River Ribble and its tributaries by local industry;[12] Hick raised the issue of pollution in the Ribble during the third reading of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act 1876 (39 & 40 Vict. c. 75).[107] Aspinall and Hick fought a publicised and successful legal battle in the Court of Chancery against the cotton mills of Mitchell and Carlisle during July 1880 leading to a landmark judgement that set a precedent for controlling environmental pollution.[108]
The river ran close to Mytton Hall where landlord Aspinall held the fishing rights and John Hick was lessee from 1874.[109] The trial was presided over by the Vice-Chancellor of England, Sir James Bacon.[110][111] In December 1880 Hick and Aspinall received presentations at Mytton Hall from the local angling community in recognition of "...their services in preventing pollution to the River Ribble and its tributaries".[112]
Science Museum[edit]
During 1887 Hick was a member of the mechanical collections committee chaired by John Slagg, MP with other experts and politicians; Sir William Armstrong, Sir Joseph Bazelgette, James Brunlees, Edward Cowper, Professor T. M. Goodeve, Sir Charles Gregory, James Howard, MP, Charles Manby, John Hinde Palmer, Sir Edward Reed, MP and Sir Bernhard Samuelson, MP established with several committees for the purpose of advising a central committee appointed by the Treasury to investigate the forming of a Science Museum and National Gallery of Portraits in South Kensington, situated between the Natural History Museum and what was to be the Imperial Institute.[113]