He was born at Chilvers Coton near Nuneaton, Warwickshire and worked in the neighbouring village of Griff.
[1] His interest in the working of the Griff engine brought him into contact with J. T. Desaguliers and contributed details and illustrations of hydraulic machines for the second volume of the latter's Course of Experimental Philosophy, eventually published in 1744.
This is the earliest illustration of a mill where a single waterwheel drove more than one set of machinery.
[2] His outstanding county map of Warwickshire was one of the first soundly based on trigonometrical survey methods.
A remarkably wide range of features is depicted on the map, reflecting the whole life and economy of the county: Parish churches, chapels, depopulated places, seats of nobility, chases, parks, king's houses, monasteries, castles, Roman ways, etc.