John Mercer (scientist)
Encyclopedia
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...
dye and fabric chemist
Chemist
A chemist is a scientist trained in the study of chemistry. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties such as density and acidity. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms...
and fabric printer born in Great Harwood
Great Harwood
Great Harwood is a small town in the Hyndburn district of Lancashire, England, north-east of Blackburn.-History:Great Harwood is a town with a industrial heritage. The Mercer Hall Leisure Centre in Queen Street and the town clock pay tribute to John Mercer , the 'father' of Great Harwood, who...
, 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...
. In 1844 he developed a process for treating cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, mercerisation, that improves many of its qualities for use in fabrics.
John Mercer never went to school, he learned basic reading and writing from his neighbour. He was very fond of dyeing.
With the help of a chemistry textbook he taught himself the basics of the dyeing process. He continued to experiment, until he discovered Antimony orange. Later on he developed the mercerisation process and was admitted to 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"...
, the Philosophical Society and the Chemical Society
Chemical Society
The Chemical Society was formed in 1841 as a result of increased interest in scientific matters....
.
In 1814 he married Mary Wolstenholme; together they had six children. His wife died in 1859 and he afterwards became a juror to the second Great Exhibition in 1862, and a justice of the peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
in Lancashire, continuing to give lectures at Clayton-le-Moors
Clayton-le-Moors
Clayton-le-Moors is a township in Hyndburn in Lancashire, England. The town is locally referred to as 'Clayton'. To the west lies Rishton, to the north Great Harwood, and two miles to the south, Accrington. Clayton-le-Moors is situated on the A680 road alongside the M65 motorway.-Description:It is...
and supporting local Anglican and Methodist churches.
The 1861 census records him as a 70-year old "Chymist", living with his son John and 12 others at 29 Burlington Hotel. (Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
was next door, at No. 30). Mercer died at home in 1866 and buried in St Bartholemew's church. Funds for his commemoration were provided by his daughter Maria and a clock tower was unveiled in Great Harwood in 1903, as well as the Mercer Hall. Mercer's cottage at Oakenshaw was donated to be a museum and park.
A full list is as follows:
- William Shuttleworth 52 Town Clerk of Liverpool
- John Mercer 70 Chymist
- John Mercer Junior 35 Manufacturer
- Thomas L Price 34 Calico Printer
- Thomas Gorton 50 Merchant
- Thomas Slatter 45 Civil Engineer
- John Westmoreland 37 West India Merchant
- James Gray 30 Ireland
- Robert Milne 36 Civil Engineer
- Georgiana Milne 27
- Emily J. Ashbrook 70 Viscountess
- Eliza Hodder 48 Private Servant
- Eugene M. Ferrara 37 Private Servant
External sources
- Biography and pictures about John Mercer
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- E. A. Parnell, The life and labours of John Mercer (1886)
- R. S. Crossley, Accrington: captains of industry (1930)
- A. Nieto-Galan, ‘Calico printing and chemical knowledge in Lancashire in the early 19th century: the life and "colours" of John Mercer’, Annals of Science, 54 (1997), 1–28
- A. W. Baldwin, ‘Mercer and mercerization’, Endeavour, 3 (1944), 138–43