The Men who Invented Britain

The book is a collection of inter-linked essays, each dealing with a significant figure in the emergence of Britain as an industrial powerhouse in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries. It is illustrated with drawings, patents, early historic images and John Hannavy''s acclaimed original contemporary photography of the machines and buildings which were key components in that history.

The engineers are explored chronologically with links backwards and forwards to show who and what influenced them, and their influences on those who followed them. Many of them worked towards the same outcomes ? either together, in parallel, or sequentially ? and all left their marks on today''s Britain.

Walking in the footsteps of Samuel Smiles, this profusely illustrated book covers around 250 years, from James Brindley''s early canal-building through John Smeaton''s Eddystone Lighthouse, James Watt''s steam engines, James Nasmyth''s steam hammer, Isambard Kingdom Brunel''