Title
Letter from Thomas Smith to Francis Trevithick Regarding First Application of Steam Engine to Threshing
Reference
TREVF/4/114
Production date
26-03-1870 - 26-03-1870
Creator
- Trevithick, FrancisBiographyBiography
Francis Trevithick (1812–1877) (also known to as Frank) was the eldest surviving son of Richard Trevithick (1771–1833) and Jane Harvey, engineer and inventor of the high pressure steam engine. In 1842 he was appointed the Resident Engineer on the Grand Junction Railway between Birmingham and Crewe and in 1841 became Locomotive Superintendent at the Grand Junction Railway’s works at Edge Hill. In 1843 he was transferred to Crewe Works, London and North Western Railway as Locomotive Superintendent, (Northern Division). In 1857 the North and North-Eastern Division were combined, Francis was forced to resign and was succeeded by John Ramsbottom. He went on to become factor of the Trehidy estates, Cornwall of which his grandfather had been the mineral agent in the eighteenth century. He died in Cornwall on 27 October 1877.
Francis Trevithick was married to Mary Ewart (1819-1889) and had four children: Richard, Robert, Francis and Jane. He published a bibliography of his father called 'Life of Richard Trevithick' in 1872.
Scope and Content
Thomas Smith reports that Smith’s grandfather, John Jasper, was one of the first to apply the steam engine to threshing in around 1790. Smith also refers to an engine that may have been made by Andrew Vivian. (1 sheet/2pp.)
Extent
1 sheet
Level of description
ITEM
Repository name
National Railway Museum, York
Associated people and organisations
- Vivian, AndrewBiographyBiography
Andrew Vivian (1759-1842) was a Cornish mechanical engineer, inventor, and mine captain of the famous Dolcoath Mine in Cornwall. Andrew Vivian was born in 1759 at Vellansaundry as the second son of John Vivian and his wife Anne. His younger brother was Henry Vivian. Andrew was the cousin of engineer Richard Trevithick (1771 - 1833), the inventor of high pressure steam engines.
In 1790 Andrew Vivian was in business of supplying candles, leather and other mining requirements. In 1795 he became the manager of Stray Park Mine near Camborne. He persuaded the shareholders of Dolcoath Mine to re-open the mine in 1798 with Richard Trevithick. In 1801 Richard Trevithick completed his first full-sized road locomotive in Camborne, demonstrating it to the public on Christmas Eve with Vivian at the controls. In March 1802 Vivian financed the production of the first steam carriage and was granted a joint patent for high pressure engines for stationary and locomotive use in partnership with his cousin Richard Trevithick. A second locomotive was tried in Camborne and at the beginning of 1803 in London. In May 1805 Vivian sold his patent. He retired in 1806 from Dolcoath Mine and by 1811 he was the manager of Wheal Abraham mine.
Vivian had at least two sons, who died in 1805 and 1809. Andrew Vivian died in 1842.
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