Bennet Woodcroft FRS (20 December 1803 – 7 February 1879) was an English

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...

 textile manufacturer, industrial archaeologist, pioneer of marine propulsion, a leading figure in patent reform and the first clerk to the commissioners of patents.

Career

Woodcroft was born in Heaton Norris

Heaton Norris

Heaton Norris is now a mainly residential area of Stockport, England bordering on Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor. Formerly it was the name of the parish, that included Heaton Chapel, Heaton Mersey and Heaton Moor and was in Lancashire....

, Lancashire

Lancashire

Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...

. He was the founder of the Patent Office Library, now part of the British Library

British Library

The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...

, and of the Patent Museum, whose collections are now in the Science Museum.

Woodcroft patented fundamental improvements in textile machinery and ship propulsion, and this in turn led to an absorbing interest in the history of the patent procedure. As a result of a reorganization of the British Patent Office in 1852, he became Superintendent of Specifications. This gave him the opportunity to develop a private collection of historical machinery.

When the South Kensington Museum was being planned in the mid-1850s, the Patent Office, through Woodcroft, was invited to assemble a collection of industrial devices for display. When the Museum opened in 1857, the building incorporated a separate Patent Office Museum and Woodcroft remained its driving force until his retirement in 1876.

A born collector Woodcroft, displayed a passion for securing notable items of historical machinery. 1862 was a particularly fruitful year, when due to his efforts, his museum secured ‘Puffing Billy’ the world’s oldest surviving steam railway locomotive (1814), Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ (1829), which set the design standard for locomotives, and the engine of Henry Bell’s ‘Comet’ (1812), the first steamship to be operated commercially in Europe.

A letter to his subordinate at South Kensington typifies his single-minded approach: ‘Get the Comet engine in all its filth’ he commanded, emphasising the urgency of the quest. The Patent Office Museum also acquired several examples of stationary steam engine, including a Boulton and Watt beam engine which was the oldest surviving of its type in the world.

Without Woodcroft it is doubtful that some of the most important artefacts of the first industrial revolution would have ever been preserved.

Later life

Woodcroft was later Professor of Machinery at University College London

University College London

University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...

.
Woodcroft died in 1879 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery

Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...

, London.http://www.brompton.org/Residents.htm

Personal life

He married Agnes Bertha Sawyer (7 September 1833 – 10 March 1903) in Hampstead in the September Quarter of 1866. She was born in Bosworth, Leicestershire.

He would have been 63 and she 33. They had no children. On the 1871 census they lived alone with servants, on the 1881 census she is widowed living with the cook only.

Legacy

His portrait is in the National Portrait Gallery.