1743-1823

English Inventor

Edmund Cartwright was the inventor of a mechanical weaving loom that could be operated by horses, a waterwheel, or a steam engine. By 1791 this machine could be operated by an unskilled person (usually a child), who could weave three and half times the amount of material on a power loom in the time a skilled weaver using traditional methods could. This invention revolutionized the emerging textile industry in England.

The son of a wealthy landowner, Cartwright was born in Nottingham, England, in 1743. Because his family was rich, he was able to attend prestigious schools, eventually graduating from University College, Oxford. After completing his schooling he became rector of the church at Goadby Marwood in Leicestershire. Although he was employed in a profession he enjoyed, Cartwright had an interest in the inventions happening in the emerging textile industry.

In 1784 Cartwright visited a factory owned...