Michael Alcock (1714-1785)
Michael Alcock (1714-1785)
Michael Alcock emigrated from Birmingham, and settled in La Charité-sur-Loire in 1756, establishing a manufactory of hardware in that town.[1]
Described as 'a principal figure in the Industrial Revolution in France.' He had had a button-making business in Birmingham, and moved to France, first settling in Saint-Omer, before moving to La Charité-sur-Loire.[2]
In the 1760s Alcock modernised the St. Etienne ironworks with the help of skilled workmen that his wife had recruited in England.[3]
Alcock has been described by J. R. Harris as a man of whim and mood, distrustful, quarrelsome, frequently depressed and even violent, while his sons were 'much more sensible and temperate than their father', and John Holker backed them in running a new works at Roanne.[4]
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ [1] Victoria & Albert Museum - Marie Alcock (1740-1824)/
- ↑ 'Science and Technology in the Industrial Revolution' by A. E. Musson & Eric Robinson, Manchester University Press, 1969
- ↑ [2] 'The Rate and Direction of Invention in the British Industrial Revolution: Incentives and Institutions' by Ralf R. Meisenzahl and Joel Mokyr
- ↑ 'John Holker: a Lancashire Jacobite in French Industry' by J. R. HARRIS, Transactions of the Newcomen Society Vol. 64 , Iss. 1,1992, p.137