Thomas Pearsall
c.1759-1825
Son of John Pearsall (1716-1777), and grandson of John Pearsall (1683-1762) who established an iron and steel works at Willsbridge Mill c.1716. In 1811 Thomas Pearsall took out Patent 3503 for 'A Method of Constructing Ironworks for Certain parts of Buildings'. Pearsall, with John Winwood, achieved initial success, and in 1813 supplied ironwork to John Rennie for the roofs of the rum sheds at the West India Docks. These were failures and had to be replaced by stronger structures. This led to Pearsall's bankruptcy.[1]