vi WORK AT MANCHESTER 129 



Mr. Thomas Parker, the works director of the large elec- 

 trical company at Bushbury, contractors for the Liverpool 

 Overhead Railway, has had a remarkable career. He is a 

 man whom Smiles would love to portray. He is distinctly a 

 self-made man, being born in Shropshire of humble parentage 

 about fifty years ago. He had little schooling, for at the age 

 of nine he was put to work at the Coalbrookdale Foundry. 

 Leaving Shropshire he went to work in the Potteries, and 

 subsequently at Manchester. Professor (now Sir Henry) 

 Roscoe was then in the habit of lecturing at the Hulme Town 

 Hall, and young Parker, attending these lectures, acquired 

 much electrical knowledge. In course of time he was ap- 

 pointed to an important post in the old works at Coalbrook- 

 dale, and whilst there, he invented the Parker- Weston steam 

 pump. In 1882 he entered into partnership with a manu- 

 facturer of tips and horse-shoes, and the now well-known 

 firm of Elwell Parker was established. At the commence- 

 ment of the partnership Elwell-Parker employed but three 

 individuals ; business, however, increased so rapidly that a 

 large electrical company was formed, and Mr. Parker became 

 manager of its extensive works at Bushbury, Wolverhampton. 



Of all the popular scientific lecturers of the time, 

 Huxley and Tyndall were certainly the most dis- 

 tinguished, both being great but in different ways. 

 Huxley's lucid method and finished style are familiar 

 to all the world. Tyndall was no less taking as 

 a popular writer and speaker, and to illustrate his 

 method of adapting himself to all ages and classes I 

 quote the introductory passages of his lecture on 

 " Crystalline and Molecular Forces," which he gave 

 at the Penny Science Lectures. His great endeavour 

 was at the outset to rivet the attention of the audience 

 by some story or some striking experiment before he 

 entered into the subject matter of his discourse. On 

 the occasion I refer to there were 3,700 people present. 

 Tyndall began his lecture by saying : 



A few years ago I paid a visit to a large school in the 

 country, and was asked by the Principal to give a lesson to 

 one of his classes. I agreed to do so provided he would let 

 me have the youngest boys in his school. To this he willingly 



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