William Brunton

He studied mechanics in his father's watch and clock making shop, and engineering under his grandfather William Brunton (16 July 1706 – 22 March 1787), who was a colliery viewer in the neighborhood.

(His grandfathers death certificate states that William Brunton was actually a portioner in Dalkeith, not a colliery viewer) In 1790 he commenced work in the fitting shops of the cotton mills at New Lanark built by David Dale and Sir Richard Arkwright.

Leaving Soho in 1808 he joined the Butterley Works of Benjamin Outram and William Jessop, and being deputed to represent his master in many important missions he made the acquaintance of John Rennie, Thomas Telford, and other eminent engineers.

In 1815 he returned to Birmingham, having become a partner in and the mechanical manager of the Eagle Foundry, where he remained ten years, during which time he designed and executed a great variety of important works.

As a mechanical engineer his works were various and important; many of them were in the adaptation of original and ingenious modes of reducing and manufacturing metals, and the improvement of the machinery connected therewith.

In the introduction of steam navigation he had a large share; he made some of the original engines used on the Humber and the Trent, and some of the earliest on the Mersey, including those for the vessel which first plied on the Liverpool ferries in 1814.