He was a partner in the firm of Fawcett, Preston and Company, which supplied the steam engines for a number of ships, including the paddle steamer William Fawcett, described as the first ship operated by what would become the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Company (P&O).
Fawcett was an apprentice engineer at the Phoenix Foundry in Liverpool, which was owned by the Darbys of Coalbrookdale and managed by his father-in-law.
Fawcett, Littledales produced its first marine steam engine in 1817, which was installed in the Mersey ferry Etna.
The firm exported stationary steam engines to sugar plantations in Louisiana in the early 1820s.
[1][6][7] Fawcett, Preston exported marine steam engines to Canada and the United States.