Born Aug. 22, 1771. Died Feb. 14, 1831.

This distinguished mechanical engineer was descended from an eminent Lancashire family, who trace back their origin as far as the year 1200. His father in early life enlisted in the Royal Artillery at Norwich, and afterwards became store-keeper at the Royal Dockyard of Woolwich, where his son Henry was born and spent his boyhood, acquiring in the dockyard the first rudiments of that mechanical knowledge which has since made him so justly celebrated.

After being employed for two years as a 'powder monkey' in the dockyard, that is, in making and filling cartridges, Maudslay was placed, at the age of fourteen, in the carpenter's shop. He however infinitely preferred the blacksmith's shop, availing himself of every opportunity to escape from his proper place, and steal off to the smithy. His propensity was in fact so strong that it was thought better to yield to it, and he was accordingly removed there in his fifteenth year. He now made rapid progress, and soon became so expert a smith and metal-worker as to attract considerable notice. Even in after life, when at the head of the well-known firm which he founded, nothing pleased him more than to set to work upon a difficult piece of forging and to overcome the difficulties which it presented, which few could do so well as he. The reputation which Maudslay acquired here, led to his introduction and ultimate employment by Bramah, who was at that time engaged in constructing his celebrated lock.

One of the chief obstacles which Bramah had to contend with in getting his lock into general use, was, the difficulty he experienced in having it manufactured with sufficient precision and at such a price as to render it an article of successful commerce. Maudslay's[23] ability as a workman and sound mechanical knowledge was of great service to Bramah in this particular; the most difficult and delicate jobs were entrusted to him, and among others he constructed the identical lock, the picking of which so severely tested the skill and ability of Mr. Hobbs in the year 1851. He also, according to the testimony of Mr. J. Nasmyth, supplied Bramah with the key to the practical success of the hydraulic press, viz., the self-tightening leather collar.[24]

About the year 1797 Maudslay commenced business on his own account in Wells Street, Oxford Street, removing a few years afterwards to Margaret Street, Cavendish Square. Here he matured and carried out many improvements in tools connected with the mechanical arts, bringing into general notice and use planing machines and the slide rest. So great was the prejudice felt against this last named important adjunct of a lathe, that on the first introduction of the slide rest to the engineers of the period, it was received with great disfavour, and called by one in derision the 'Go Cart.' Maudslay also directed his attention to the subject of screw cutting. Previous to his time the tools used for making screws were of the most rude and inexact kind: each manufacturing establishment made them after their own fashion, and no system was observed as to the pitch. Every bolt and nut was a speciality in itself; and to such an extent was this carried that all bolts and their corresponding nuts had to be marked, any mixing of them together causing endless trouble and confusion. Maudslay changed all this—he brought screw-cutting into a proper system, and laid the foundation of all that has since been done in this important branch of machine-construction, and many of those who afterwards became eminent in this particular branch of manufacture, acquired their first knowledge of the subject in his employ.[25] While residing in Margaret Street he became acquainted with Sir Isambard (then Mr.) Brunel, who was in the habit of bringing drawings of small pieces of machinery for him to construct: this attracted Maudslay's attention, and at last he one day exclaimed to Sir Isambard, "Ah! I see what you are thinking of—you want machinery for making blocks:" this so pleased Brunei, that he became more open of communication, and in the subsequent completion of the beautiful block machinery afterwards erected at Portsmouth Dockyard, Mr. Brunel derived great advantage from the sound mechanical knowledge of Maudslay. The friendship commenced thus was never afterwards shaken, and when Brunel began the Thames Tunnel, he consulted his old friend relative to the construction of the shield, as it was termed, under shelter of which the excavation beneath the bed of the river, and the brickwork for forming the Tunnel were proceeded with.

In the year 1807 Maudslay took out a patent for improvements in the steam-engine, by which he much simplified its parts and secured greater directness of action. His new engine was called the Pyramidal, from its form, and was the first move towards direct acting engines. In 1810, finding his business getting too extensive for his premises in Margaret Street, he removed to the more capacious ones in Westminster Road, Lambeth. Here he for many years carried on a large business, embracing the manufacture of all kinds of machinery, but more particularly of marine engines, to the construction and improvement of which he early directed his attention, foreseeing how important a branch of industry they would eventually become; and it may be interesting to record, that the engines (24 H. P.) of the 'Regent,' the first steamboat which ran between London and Margate, were made at this yard in the year 1816.

Mr. Maudslay held for several years the contract for supplying the Royal Navy with ship tanks, and this led to his making improved machinery for punching and shearing the iron plates used in their manufacture, reducing the cost of preparing the plates for receiving the rivets from seven shillings, to ninepence, per Tank.

Mr. Maudslay has been described by his friend Mr. James Nasmyth as the very beau-ideal of an honest, upright, straightforward, hardworking intelligent Englishman: he died in his 60th year from a severe cold which he had caught on his way home from a visit to France, and was buried in Woolwich churchyard, in a vault he had caused to be constructed there; the monument and tablet erected to his memory were of cast iron, and were made from a design of his own. Maudslay married when twenty years old Sarah Tindel, by whom he had four sons and three daughters, of whom now survive only one daughter, and one son Thomas Henry Maudslay.—From particulars communicated by members of the present firm of Maudslay, Sons and Field.—Smile's Industrial Biography. London, 1863.