Industrial Biography

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While the family lived at Moy, none of the boys were put to school.
They could not be spared from the farm and the household. Those of
them that could not work afield were wanted to help to nurse the
younger children at home. But Andrew Fairbairn possessed a great
treasure in his wife, who was a woman of much energy of character,
setting before her children an example of patient industry, thrift,
discreetness, and piety, which could not fail to exercise a powerful
influence upon them in after-life; and this, of itself, was an
education which probably far more than compensated for the boys' loss
of school-culture during their life at Moy. Mrs. Fairbairn span and
made all the children's clothes, as well as the blankets and
sheeting; and, while in the Highlands, she not only made her own and
her daughters' dresses, and her sons' jackets and trowsers, but her
husband's coats and waistcoats; besides helping her neighbours to cut
out their clothing for family wear.

One of William's duties at home was to nurse his younger brother
Peter, then a delicate child under two years old; and to relieve
himself of the labour of carrying him about, he began the
construction of a little waggon in which to wheel him. This was,
however, a work of some difficulty, as all the tools he possessed
were only a knife, a gimlet, and an old saw. With these implements, a
piece of thin board, and a few nails, he nevertheless contrived to
make a tolerably serviceable waggon-body. His chief difficulty
consisted in making the wheels, which he contrived to surmount by
cutting sections from the stem of a small alder-tree, and with a
red-hot poker he bored the requisite holes in their centres to
receive the axle. The waggon was then mounted on its four wheels, and
to the great joy of its maker was found to answer its purpose
admirably. In it he wheeled his little brother--afterwards well known
as Sir Peter Fairbairn, mayor of Leeds -- in various directions about
the farm, and sometimes to a considerable distance from it; and the
vehicle was regarded on the whole as a decided success. His father
encouraged him in his little feats of construction of a similar kind,
and he proceeded to make and rig miniature boats and ships, and then
miniature wind and water mills, in which last art he acquired such
expertness that he had sometimes five or six mills going at a time.
The machinery was all made with a knife, the water-spouts being
formed by the bark of a tree, and the millstones represented by round
discs of the same material. Such were the first constructive efforts
of the future millwright and engineer.

When the family removed to Allengrange in 1801, the boys were sent to
school at Munlachy, about a mile and a half distant from the farm.
The school was attended by about forty barefooted boys in tartan
kilt's, and about twenty girls, all of the poorer class. The
schoolmaster was one Donald Frazer, a good teacher, but a severe
disciplinarian. Under him, William made some progress in reading,
writing, and arithmetic; and though he himself has often lamented the
meagreness of his school instruction, it is clear, from what he has
since been enabled to accomplish, that these early lessons were
enough at all events to set him fairly on the road of self-culture,
and proved the fruitful seed of much valuable intellectual labour, as
well as of many excellent practical books.

After two years' trial of his new situation, which was by no means
satisfactory, Andrew Fairbairn determined again to remove southward
with his family; and, selling off everything, they set sail from
Cromarty for Leith in June, 1803. Having seen his wife and children
temporarily settled at Kelso, he looked out for a situation, and
shortly after proceeded to undertake the management of Sir William
Ingleby's farm at Ripley in Yorkshire. Meanwhile William was placed
for three months under the charge of his uncle William, the parish
schoolmaster of Galashiels, for the purpose of receiving instruction
in book-keeping and land-surveying, from which he derived
considerable benefit. He could not, however, remain longer at school;
for being of the age of fourteen, it was thought necessary that he
should be set to work without further delay. His first employment was
on the fine new bridge at Kelso, then in course of construction after
the designs of Mr. Rennie; but in helping one day to carry a
handbarrow-load of stone, his strength proving insufficient, he gave
way under it, and the stones fell upon him, one of them inflicting a
serious wound on his leg, which kept him a cripple for months. In the
mean time his father, being dissatisfied with his prospects at
Ripley, accepted the appointment of manager of the Percy Main
Colliery Company's farm in the neighbourhood of Newcastle-on-Tyne,
whither he proceeded with his family towards the end of 1803, William
joining them in the following February, when the wound in his leg had
sufficiently healed to enable him to travel.

Percy Main is situated within two miles of North Shields, and is one
of the largest collieries in that district. William was immediately
set to work at the colliery, his first employment being to lead coals
from behind the screen to the pitmen's houses. His Scotch accent, and
perhaps his awkwardness, exposed him to much annoyance from the "pit
lads," who were a very rough and profligate set; and as boxing was a
favourite pastime among them, our youth had to fight his way to their
respect, passing through a campaign of no less than seventeen pitched
battles. He was several times on the point of abandoning the work
altogether, rather than undergo the buffetings and insults to which
he was almost a daily martyr, when a protracted contest with one of
the noted boxers of the colliery, in which he proved the victor, at
length relieved him from further persecution.

In the following year, at the age of sixteen, he was articled as an
engineer for five years to the owners of Percy Main, and was placed
under the charge of Mr. Robinson, the engine-wright of the colliery.
His wages as apprentice were 8s. a week; but by working over-hours,
making wooden wedges used in pit-work, and blocking out segments of
solid oak required for walling the sides of the mine, he considerably
increased his earnings, which enabled him to add to the gross income
of the family, who were still struggling with the difficulties of
small means and increasing expenses. When not engaged upon over-work
in the evenings, he occupied himself in self-education. He drew up a
scheme of daily study with this object, to which he endeavoured to
adhere as closely as possible,-- devoting the evenings of Mondays to
mensuration and arithmetic; Tuesdays to history and poetry;
Wednesdays to recreation, novels, and romances; Thursdays to algebra
and mathematics; Fridays to Euclid and trigonometry; Saturdays to
recreation; and Sundays to church, Milton, and recreation. He was
enabled to extend the range of his reading by the help of the North
Shields Subscription Library, to which his father entered him a
subscriber. Portions of his spare time were also occasionally devoted
to mechanical construction, in which he cultivated the useful art of
handling tools. One of his first attempts was the contrivance of a
piece of machinery worked by a weight and a pendulum, that should at
the same time serve for a timepiece and an orrery; but his want of
means, as well as of time, prevented him prosecuting this contrivance
to completion. He was more successful with the construction of a
fiddle, on which he was ambitious to become a performer. It must have
been a tolerable instrument, for a professional player offered him
20s. for it. But though he succeeded in making a fiddle, and for some
time persevered in the attempt to play upon it, he did not succeed in
producing any satisfactory melody, and at length gave up the attempt,
convinced that nature had not intended him for a musician.*
[footnote...
Long after, when married and settled at Manchester, the fiddle, which
had been carefully preserved, was taken down from the shelf for the
amusement of the children; but though they were well enough pleased
with it, the instrument was never brought from its place without
creating alarm in the mind of their mother lest anybody should hear
it. At length a dancing-master, who was giving lessons in the
neighbourhood, borrowed the fiddle, and, to the great relief of the
family, it was never returned. Many years later Mr.Fairbairn was
present at the starting of a cotton mill at Wesserling in Alsace
belonging to Messrs. Gros, Deval, and Co., for which his Manchester
firm had provided the mill-work and water-wheel (the first erected in
France on the suspension principle, when the event was followed by an
entertainment. During dinner Mr. Fairbairn had been explaining to M.
Gros, who spoke a little English, the nature of home-brewed beer,
which he much admired, having tasted it when in England. The dinner
was followed by music, in the performance of which the host himself
took part; and on Mr. Fairbairn's admiring his execution on the
violin, M. Gros asked him if he played. "A little," was the almost
unconscious reply. "Then you must have the goodness to play some,"
and the instrument was in a moment placed in his hands, amidst urgent
requests from all sides that he should play. There was no
alternative; so he proceeded to perform one of his best tunes--"The
Keel Row." The company listened with amazement, until the performer's
career was suddenly cut short by the host exclaiming at the top of
his voice, "Stop, stop, Monsieur, by gar that be HOME-BREWED MUSIC!"
...]

In due course of time our young engineer was removed from the
workshop, and appointed to take charge of the pumps of the mine and
the steam-engine by which they were kept in work. This employment was
more to his taste, gave him better "insight," and afforded him
greater opportunities for improvement. The work was, however, very
trying, and at times severe, especially in winter, the engineer being
liable to be drenched with water every time that he descended the
shaft to regulate the working of the pumps; but, thanks to a stout
constitution, he bore through these exposures without injury, though
others sank under them. At this period he had the advantage of
occasional days of leisure, to which he was entitled by reason of his
nightwork; and during such leisure he usually applied himself to
reading and study.

It was about this time that William Fairbairn made the acquaintance
of George Stephenson, while the latter was employed in working the
ballast-engine at Willington Quay. He greatly admired George as a
workman, and was accustomed in the summer evenings to go over to the
Quay occasionally and take charge of George's engine, to enable him
to earn a few shillings extra by heaving ballast out of the collier
vessels. Stephenson's zeal in the pursuit of mechanical knowledge
probably was not without its influence in stimulating William
Fairbairn himself to carry on so diligently the work of self-culture.
But little could the latter have dreamt, while serving his
apprenticeship at Percy Main, that his friend George Stephenson, the
brakesman, should yet be recognised as among the greatest engineers
of his age, and that he himself should have the opportunity, in his
capacity of President of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at
Newcastle, of making public acknowledgment of the opportunities for
education which he had enjoyed in that neighbourhood in his early
years.*
[footnote...
"Although not a native of Newcastle," he then said, "he owed almost
everything to Newcastle. He got the rudiments of his education there,
such as it was; and that was (something like that of his revered
predecessor George Stephenson) at a colliery. He was brought up as an
engineer at the Percy Main Colliery. He was there seven years; and if
it had not been for the opportunities he then enjoyed, together with
the use of the library at North Shields, he believed he would not
have been there to address them. Being self-taught, but with some
little ambition, and a determination to improve himself, he was now
enabled to stand before them with some pretensions to mechanical
knowledge, and the persuasion that he had been a useful contributor
to practical science and objects connected with mechanical
engineering."--Meeting of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers at
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1858.
...]

Having finished his five years' apprenticeship at Percy Main, by
which time he had reached his twenty-first year, William Fairbairn
shortly after determined to go forth into the world in search of
experience. At Newcastle he found employment as a millwright for a
few weeks, during which he worked at the erection of a sawmill in the
Close. From thence he went to Bedlington at an advanced wage. He
remained there for six months, during which he was so fortunate as to
make the acquaintance of Miss Mar, who five years after, when his
wanderings had ceased, became his wife. On the completion of the job
on which he had been employed, our engineer prepared to make another
change. Work was difficult to be had in the North, and, joined by a
comrade, he resolved to try his fortune in London. Adopting the
cheapest route, he took passage by a Shields collier, in which he
sailed for the Thames on the 11th of December, 1811. It was then
war-time, and the vessel was very short-handed, the crew consisting
only of three old men and three boys, with the skipper and mate; so
that the vessel was no sooner fairly at sea than both the passenger
youths had to lend a hand in working her, and this continued for the
greater part of the voyage. The weather was very rough, and in
consequence of the captain's anxiety to avoid privateers he hugged
the shore too close, and when navigating the inside passage of the
Swin, between Yarmouth and the Nore, the vessel very narrowly escaped
shipwreck. After beating about along shore, the captain half drunk
the greater part of the time, the vessel at last reached the Thames
with loss of spars and an anchor, after a tedious voyage of fourteen
days.

On arriving off Blackwall the captain went ashore ostensibly in
search of the Coal Exchange, taking our young engineer with him. The
former was still under the influence of drink; and though he failed
to reach the Exchange that night, he succeeded in reaching a public
house in Wapping, beyond which he could not be got. At ten o'clock
the two started on their return to the ship; but the captain took the
opportunity of the darkness to separate from his companion, and did
not reach the ship until next morning. It afterwards came out that he
had been taken up and lodged in the watch-house. The youth, left
alone in the streets of the strange city, felt himself in an awkward
dilemma. He asked the next watchman he met to recommend him to a
lodging, on which the man took him to a house in New Gravel Lane,
where he succeeded in finding accommodation. What was his horror next
morning to learn that a whole family--the Williamsons--had been
murdered in the very next house during the night! Making the best of
his way back to the ship, he found that his comrade, who had suffered
dreadfully from sea-sickness during the voyage, had nearly recovered,
and was able to accompany him into the City in search of work. They
had between them a sum of only about eight pounds, so that it was
necessary for them to take immediate steps to obtain employment.

They thought themselves fortunate in getting the promise of a job
from Mr. Rennie, the celebrated engineer, whose works were situated
at the south end of Blackfriars Bridge. Mr. Rennie sent the two young
men to his foreman, with the request that he should set them to work.
The foreman referred them to the secretary of the Millwrights'
Society, the shop being filled with Union men, who set their
shoulders together to exclude those of their own grade, however
skilled, who could not produce evidence that they had complied with
the rules of the trade. Describing his first experience of London
Unionists, nearly half a century later, before an assembly of working
men at Derby, Mr. Fairbairn said, "When I first entered London, a
young man from the country had no chance whatever of success, in
consequence of the trade guilds and unions. I had no difficulty in
finding employment, but before I could begin work I had to run the
gauntlet of the trade societies; and after dancing attendance for
nearly six weeks, with very little money in my pocket, and having to
'box Harry' all the time, I was ultimately declared illegitimate, and
sent adrift to seek my fortune elsewhere. There were then three
millwright societies in London: one called the Old Society, another
the New Society, and a third the Independent Society. These societies
were not founded for the protection of the trade, but for the
maintenance of high wages, and for the exclusion of all those who
could not assert their claims to work in London and other corporate
towns. Laws of a most arbitrary character were enforced, and they
were governed by cliques of self-appointed officers, who never failed
to take care of their own interests."*
[footnote...
Useful Information for Engineers, 2nd series, 1860, p. 211.
...]

Their first application for leave to work in London having thus
disastrously ended, the two youths determined to try their fortune in
the country, and with aching hearts they started next morning before
daylight. Their hopes had been suddenly crushed, their slender funds
were nearly exhausted, and they scarce knew where to turn. But they
set their faces bravely northward, and pushed along the high road,
through slush and snow, as far as Hertford, which they reached after
nearly eight hours' walking, on the moderate fare during their
journey of a penny roll and a pint of ale each. Though wet to the
skin, they immediately sought out a master millwright, and applied
for work. He said he had no job vacant at present; but, seeing their
sorry plight, he had compassion upon them, and said, "Though I cannot
give you employment, you seem to be two nice lads;" and he concluded
by offering Fairbairn a half-crown. But his proud spirit revolted at
taking money which he had not earned; and he declined the proffered
gift with thanks, saying he was sorry they could not have work. He
then turned away from the door, on which his companion, mortified by
his refusal to accept the half-crown at a time when they were reduced
almost to their last penny, broke out in bitter remonstrances and
regrets. Weary, wet, and disheartened, the two turned into Hertford
churchyard, and rested for a while upon a tombstone, Fairbairn's
companion relieving himself by a good cry, and occasional angry
outbursts of "Why didn't you take the half-crown?" "Come, come, man!"
said Fairbairn, "it's of no use crying; cheer up; let's try another
road; something must soon cast up." They rose, and set out again, but
when they reached the bridge, the dispirited youth again broke down;
and, leaning his back against the parapet, said, "I winna gang a bit
further; let's get back to London." Against this Fairbairn
remonstrated, saying "It's of no use lamenting; we must try what we
can do here; if the worst comes to the worst, we can 'list; you are a
strong chap--they'll soon take you; and as for me, I'll join too; I
think I could fight a bit." After this council of war, the pair
determined to find lodgings in the town for the night, and begin
their search for work anew on the morrow.

Next day, when passing along one of the back streets of Hertford,
they came to a wheelwright's shop, where they made the usual
enquiries. The wheelwright, said that he did not think there was any
job to be had in the town; but if the two young men pushed on to
Cheshunt, he thought they might find work at a windmill which was
under contract to be finished in three weeks, and where the
millwright wanted hands. Here was a glimpse of hope at last; and the
strength and spirits of both revived in an instant. They set out
immediately; walked the seven miles to Cheshunt; succeeded in
obtaining the expected employment; worked at the job a fortnight; and
entered London again with nearly three pounds in their pockets.

Our young millwright at length succeeded in obtaining regular
employment in the metropolis at good wages. He worked first at
Grundy's Patent Ropery at Shadwell, and afterwards at Mr. Penn's of
Greenwich, gaining much valuable insight, and sedulously improving
his mind by study in his leisure hours. Among the acquaintances he
then made was an enthusiastic projector of the name of Hall, who had
taken out one patent for making hemp from bean-stalks, and
contemplated taking out another for effecting spade tillage by steam.
The young engineer was invited to make the requisite model, which he
did, and it cost him both time and money, which the out-at-elbows
projector was unable to repay; and all that came of the project was
the exhibition of the model at the Society of Arts and before the
Board of Agriculture, in whose collection it is probably still to be
found. Another more successful machine constructed By Mr. Fairbairn
about the same time was a sausage-chopping machine, which he
contrived and made for a pork-butcher for 33l. It was the first order
he had ever had on his own account; and, as the machine when made did
its work admirably, he was naturally very proud of it. The machine
was provided with a fly-wheel and double crank, with connecting rods
which worked a cross head. It contained a dozen knives crossing each
other at right angles in such a way as to enable them to mince or
divide the meat on a revolving block. Another part of the apparatus
accomplished the filling of the sausages in a very expert manner, to
the entire satisfaction of the pork-butcher.

As work was scarce in London at the time, and our engineer was bent
on gathering further experience in his trade, he determined to make a
tour in the South of England and South Wales; and set out from London
in April 1813 with 7l. in his pocket. After visiting Bath and Frome,
he settled to work for six weeks at Bathgate; after which he
travelled by Bradford and Trowbridge --- always on foot--to Bristol.
From thence he travelled through South Wales, spending a few days
each at Newport, Llandaff, and Cardiff, where he took ship for
Dublin. By the time he reached Ireland his means were all but
exhausted, only three-halfpence remaining in his pocket; but, being
young, hopeful, skilful, and industrious, he was light of heart, and
looked cheerfully forward. The next day he succeeded in finding
employment at Mr. Robinson's, of the Phoenix Foundry, where he was
put to work at once upon a set of patterns for some nail-machinery.
Mr. Robinson was a man of spirit and enterprise, and, seeing the
quantities of English machine-made nails imported into Ireland, he
was desirous of giving Irish industry the benefit of the manufacture.
The construction of the nail-making machinery occupied Mr. Fairbairn
the entire summer; and on its completion he set sail in the month of
October for Liverpool. It may be added, that, notwithstanding the
expense incurred by Mr. Robinson in setting up the new
nail-machinery, his workmen threatened him with a strike if he
ventured to use it. As he could not brave the opposition of the
Unionists, then all-powerful in Dublin, the machinery was never set
to work; the nail-making trade left Ireland, never to return; and the
Irish market was thenceforward supplied entirely with English-made
nails. The Dublin iron-manufacture was ruined in the same way; not
through any local disadvantages, but solely by the prohibitory
regulations enforced by the workmen of the Trades Unions.

Arrived at Liverpool, after a voyage of two days--which was then
considered a fair passage--our engineer proceeded to Manchester,
which had already become the principal centre of manufacturing
operations in the North of England. As we have already seen in the
memoirs of Nasmyth, Roberts, and Whitworth, Manchester offered great
attractions for highly-skilled mechanics; and it was as fortunate for
Manchester as for William Fairbairn himself that he settled down
there as a working millwright in the year 1814, bringing with him no
capital, but an abundance of energy, skill, and practical experience
in his trade. Afterwards describing the characteristics of the
millwright of that time, Mr, Fairbairn said--"In those days a good
millwright was a man of large resources; he was generally well
educated, and could draw out his own designs and work at the lathe;
he had a knowledge of mill machinery, pumps, and cranes, and could
turn his hand to the bench or the forge with equal adroitness and
facility. If hard pressed, as was frequently the case in country
places far from towns, he could devise for himself expedients which
enabled him to meet special requirements, and to complete his work
without assistance. This was the class of men with whom I associated
in early life--proud of their calling, fertile in resources, and
aware of their value in a country where the industrial arts were
rapidly developing."*
[footnote...
Lecture at Derby--Useful Information for Engineers, 2nd series, p.
212.
...]

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