James Brindley

James Brindley (1716 – 27 September 1772) was an English engineer. He was born in Tunstead, Derbyshire, and lived much of his life in Leek, Staffordshire, becoming one of the most notable engineers of the 18th Century.

Born in the Peak District, which in those days was extremely isolated, Brindley received little formal education, but was educated at home by his mother. At age 17, encouraged by his mother, he was apprenticed to a millwright in exceptional skill and ability. Puddle clay was used extensively in UK canal construction in the period starting shortly after his death. Starting about 1840 puddle clay was used more widely as the water-retaining element (or core) within earthfill dams, particularly in the Pennines.

Master canal engineer Brindley's reputation spread rapidly and he was soon commissioned to construct more canals. He extended the Bridgewater to Runcorn, connecting it to his next major work, the Trent and Mersey Canal. At this time Brindley had never built a lock and he first built an experimental lock in the grounds of Turnhurst, a house he had bought near the summit, and this determined the design of the narrow canal lock which characterised most of the canals in the Midlands, with a single upper gate and double mitre lower gates. He was buried on 30 September, just nine days after the completion of his Birmingham Canal, at St. James in Newchapel in Staffordshire, England. The commemorative plaque (1956) at the church shows his date of death as 25 September. The inscription on his grave reads "James Brindley, of Turnhurst, engineer, was interred 30 September 1772, aged 56."

Brindley's widow remarried in 1775 (Robert Williamson, one of Brindley's assistants) and lived until 1799.

Brindley's death was noted in the Chester Courant of 1 December 1772 in the form of an epitaph:

JAMES BRINDLEY lies amongst these Rocks, He made Canals, Bridges, and Locks, To convey Water; he made Tunnels For Barges, Boats, and Air-Vessels; He erected several Banks, Mills, Pumps, Machines, with Wheels and Cranks; He was famous t'invent Engines, Calculated for working Mines; He knew Water, its Weight and Strength, Turn'd Brooks, made Soughs to a great Length; While he used the Miners' Blast, He stopp'd Currents from running too fast; There ne'er was paid such Attention As he did to Navigation. But while busy with Pit or Well, His Spirits sunk below Level; And, when too late, his Doctor found, Water sent him to the Ground.

He is remembered in Birmingham by Brindley Drive (on the site of former canal yards), the Brindleyplace mixed-use development and a pub, The James Brindley (both being canal-side features), and the James Brindley Academy for children in Birmingham's hospitals and with other special needs, there is also a residential building built over the canal that is called Brindley House; in Leek with the James Brindley Mill; and by numerous other streets in the areas in which he worked. Within the grounds of James Brindley Primary School at Parr Fold Avenue, Walkden, is a wooden barge once used for the transportation of coal from local mines. There is a statue of him (leaning over his desk) by James Walter Butler (bronze, 18 September 1998) located in the canal basin by Leicester Row, Coventry, and another by Colin Melbourne (bronze, 20 July 1990) in Lower Bedford Street, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, at the junction of the Trent and Mersey Canal with the Caldon Canal, opposite Etruria Industrial Museum. He is commemorated in Runcorn by the Brindley Arts Centre, which opened in the autumn of 2004. There is also James Brindley Science College (previously James Brindley High School) in Chell, Stoke-on-Trent, and also, the Brindley's Lock pub on Silverstone Crescent, Stoke-on-Trent.

The well in the village of Wormhill is dedicated to Brindley. Wormhill is in the same Parish as Tunstead where he was born.