He worked in a variety of menial jobs and married aged nineteen but managed to teach himself something of French, Latin, mathematics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, botany, and geology.
His appetite for learning reduced Detrosier to dire financial straits by 1821 and he was only rescued by the patronage of John Shuttleworth, who found him a more secure and responsible job as a clerk and salesman.
He had lectured on science at Swedenborgian Sunday Schools since he was sixteen and he now travelled widely advocating adult education for working class people.
[2] John Doherty sought his help in establishing trade unions but Detrosier was no socialist, believing that democracy posed real dangers unless individual moral development preceded political freedom.
[1] Detrosier lectured on meteorology and pneumatics at the London Mechanics' Institute but was dismissed when he acted as interpreter for Gregorio Fontana and Gioacchino Prati's campaign in England in 1833.