CROMPTON. 35 



the rocket has been much improved and modified, and has become 

 an essential part of every armament, not in England alone, but 

 universally. 



Sir William Congreve was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 in the year 1811. In 1812 he became a Member of Parliament for 

 Gatton, and in 1820 and 1826 for Plymouth. He succeeded his 

 father as baronet in 1814. Besides the above important invention, 

 Sir William wrote and published in 1812 an ' Elementary Treatise 

 on the Mounting of Naval Ordnance,' and in 1815 ' A Description of 

 the Hydro-Pneumatic Lock.' During the course of the same year 

 he obtained a patent for a new. mode of manufacturing gunpowder. 

 This invention consisted, first, of a machine for producing as perfect 

 a mixture as possible of the ingredients ; and, secondly, of an im- 

 proved mode of passing the mill-cake under the press, and a new 

 granulating machine. In 1819 a patent was granted to him for an 

 improved mode of inlaying or combining different metals, and another 

 for certain improvements in the manufacture of bank-note paper for 

 the prevention of forgery. 



The last public service performed by Sir William was the drawing 

 up and publishing, in 1823, a very interesting report on the gaslight 

 establishments of the metropolis. In 1826, he became mixed up in 

 the speculative mania which prevailed at that period, and was 

 ultimately compelled to seek refuge on the continent at Toulouse, 

 where he shortly afterwards died at the age of fifty-six. Annual 

 Register, 1828. 



SAMUEL CROMPTON. 



Born December 3, 1753. Died June 26, 1827. 



Few men, perhaps, have ever conferred so great a benefit on their 

 country and reaped so little profit for themselves as Samuel Cromp- 

 ton, inventor of the Spinning Mule. He was born at Firwood, in 

 the township of Tonge near Bolton, where his parents occupied a 

 farm, and spent their leisure hours according to the custom of the 

 period in the operations of carding, spinning, and weaving. Soon 

 after the birth of Samuel, the Cromptons removed to a cottage near 

 Lower Wood in the same township, and afterwards, when their 

 child was five years old, to a portion of the neighbouring ancient 

 mansion called Hall-in-the-Wood. Almost immediately after this 

 last removal Samuel's father died, at the early age of thirty seven, 

 and he was left to be brought up under the care of his mother, a 

 prudent and virtuous woman, who took care that her son should 

 have the benefit of all available means of education. Samuel first 



