John Stephen Woolrich
John Stephen Woolrich (1820-1850)
Born in Lichfield in late 1820, the second son of John Woolrich (c.1791–1843) and his wife Mary Woolrich (formerly Egginton).
In August 1842 he was granted patent number 9431 for the use of a magneto-electrical machine (instead of batteries) in electroplating, and the use of gold sulphite and silver sulphite as electrolytes. Elkington and Co took out a licence, and Woolrich later relicensed the patent himself to use in his own Magneto-Plating and Gilding Works in Great Charles Street, Birmingham.
In 1849 was listed as a "chemist & magneto-plater & gilder", residing at 12 James Street.
He died young in early 1850, aged only 29.
The Woolrich Electrical Generator, now in Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum, is described as the earliest electrical generator used in an industrial process. It was constructed in February 1844 at the Magneto Works of Thomas Prime and Son, Birmingham, and was used by the firm of Elkingtons for commercial electroplating.
The generator stood for some time in the chapel of Aston Hall, accompanied by a plaque bearing the following inscription:-
This machine, founded upon Faraday's great discovery of Induction, was invented by the late John Stephen Woolrich of Birmingham. It was constructed by Messrs. Prime & Son in 1844, and was worked by them for many years, until superseded by machines of improved construction and greater power. It is the FIRST magnetic machine that ever deposited silver, gold or copper, and it is the forerunner of all the magnificent dynamo machines that have since been invented. Professor Faraday, on the occasion of the meeting of the British Association in Birmingham, paid a visit, together with some of his scientific friends, to Messrs. Prime & Son's Works, purposely to see the application of this great discovery in practical operation, and expressed his intense delight at witnessing his discovery so early and extensively applied and so successfully carried into practical use. To Birmingham belongs the honour not only of introducing electro-plate, the use of which has been extended to every civilised nation, but also the honour of first adopting Faraday's great discovery of obtaining electricity from magnetism, — a discovery that has influenced science and art to an enormous extent.
All the above information is condensed from the excellent Wikipedia entry