Edmund Cartwright

Edmund Cartwright (24 April 174330 October 1823) was an English inventor. He graduated from Oxford University and went on to invent the power loom. Married to local Elizabeth McMac at 19, he was the brother of Major John Cartwright, a political reformer and radical, and George Cartwright, explorer of Labrador. Life He was the fourth son of William Cartwright and his wife Anne née Cartwright, born at Marnham, Nottinghamshire. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth Grammar School, Wakefield. He matriculated in 1760 at University College, Oxford, where he had studied under-age from 1757. He graduated B.A. in 1764, M.A. in 1766, elected a Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1764. He was awarded the degree of DD in 1806. Ordained deacon in the Church of England in 1765, and priest in 1767, Cartwright was appointed rector of Kilvington in 1767. With other livings, in 1779 he became also rector of Goadby Marwood, Leicestershire, and in 1783, he was elected a prebendary at Lincoln Cathedral. For a time Cartwright served as chaplain to the Duke of Bedford at Woburn Abbey and acted as tutor to the Duke's son, the future Prime Minister Lord John Russell. Following the award of the parliamentary grant, Cartwright purchased a small farm in Kent, where he spent the rest of his life.