Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 63.djvu/204

 Portrait Gallery of London. A portrait is in the Royal Institute of British Architects, together with three drawings by him of Fonthill Abbey.

The eldest son, (1775–1850?), architect, born in 1775, was educated at Westminster and Christ Church, Oxford, where he matriculated on 24 April 1795, and remained there till 1797, taking no degree. After studying for a time with his father he visited the continent, and, returning in 1802, became private secretary to Sir Arthur Wellesley, accompanying him to Ireland and India. He afterwards re-entered his profession, and soon, from his father's great name and influence, had ample work. In 1811 he commenced the rebuilding of Drury Lane Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire on 24 Feb. 1809, and published ‘Observations on the Principles of the Design for the Theatre now building in Drury Lane,’ 1811, 1812, 8vo. With his brother Philip he altered Apsley House for the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and he designed Crockford's Club House, St. James's Street, in 1827. He also built in the same year, in conjunction with his brother Philip, Londonderry House, Park Lane, and Wynyard, Durham, for the Marquis of Londonderry; and in 1830–33 he erected the Duke of York's column at a cost of 25,000l. On the death of his father in 1813 he succeeded him as surveyor to Westminster Abbey, and held the post till 1827. In 1814 he restored the rose window of the south transept. He retired from practice and died about 1850, it is said in Camden Town. There is a portrait of him in the ‘European Magazine,’ 1812, engraved by T. Blood, after S. Drummond, A.R.A.

[Dict. of Architecture, viii. 80; Sandby's Hist. of the Royal Academy, i. 226; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Royal Academy Cat.; Gent. Mag. 1813, ii. 296; Chester's Westminster Abbey Register, p. 485.]  WYATT, JOHN (1700–1766), inventor, eldest son of John and Jane Wyatt (born Jackson) of Thickbroom in the parish of Weeford, near Lichfield, was born in April 1700, and educated at Lichfield school. His family was connected with that of Sarah Ford, Dr. Johnson's mother. He worked for some time in his native village as a carpenter, until, in 1730, his mind was diverted by a plan which he conceived for a machine to make files. He sought pecuniary help from another Birmingham inventor, Lewis Paul [q. v.], but the difficulties involved in perfecting the machine soon led to its abandonment. Wyatt was already engaged in a new and more profitable sphere of invention. The discovery of the fly-shuttle in 1733 had greatly increased the demand for yarn, and suggested the need of a machine to perform the operation of spinning. The earliest hint of the construction of such a machine is contained in a letter from Wyatt to one of his brothers, written about 1733, in which he says he intends residing in or near Birmingham, as he has ‘a gymcrack there of some consequence.’ He was unable, however, to carry out his idea without additional mechanical assistance; this he obtained from Lewis Paul, who in June 1738 took out a patent (No. 562) embodying for the first time the all-important principle of spinning by rollers revolving at different velocities. A company, including the names of Edward Cave [q. v.] and Dr. James, was formed to apply the invention at a cotton mill, Upper Priory, Birmingham. Two hanks of the cotton thus spun are preserved in the Birmingham Reference Library, and attached to them is an inscription in Wyatt's own hand testifying that they were spun without hands about 1744, the motive power being ‘two or more asses walking round an axis’ and the superintendent, John Wyatt. The concern nevertheless languished and eventually died, owing partly to defects in Wyatt and Paul's machinery, which, though highly ingenious, was far inferior in efficiency to that brought to perfection by (Sir) Richard Arkwright [q. v.] in 1769, and partly to the heavy cost of freight and the difficulties of transport in the then condition of the country roads.

His spinning speculations having failed, Wyatt turned for work to the Soho foundry, which was established in 1762. While employed there, he invented and perfected the compound lever weighing machine. Five-ton weighing machines constructed by him were set up at Birmingham, Liverpool, Chester, Hereford, Gloucester, and Lichfield (a model of this last is at South Kensington). The machine is similar in its outlines to those now used by most of the railway companies. Wyatt died on 29 Nov. 1766, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Philip's, Birmingham. He was followed to the grave by Matthew Boulton [q. v.], who is said to have upbraided Wyatt's sons for not asserting their father's inventions, and John Baskerville [q. v.] His tombstone has recently been set erect and reinscribed. Wyatt was twice married, and by his second wife left four daughters and two sons—Charles, who took out several patents between 1790 and 1817;