Benjamin Hick

Who was Benjamin Hick?

Benjamin Hick was a civil and mechanical engineer. He was born at Huddersfield in 1790 and apprenticed 1804 as a draughtsman with Fenton, Murray and Wood at the Round Foundry, the well known makers of steam engines, textile machines and other machinery; here he was entrusted with the installation of steam engines and offered a partnership when his apprenticeship expired. The offer was declined and Hick moved in 1810 to Bolton and Smalley, Thwaites and Co. at Rothwell's Union Foundry, Blackhorse Street. He had a brother John Hick also trained as an engineer, who worked at the Bowling iron works near Bradford.

In July 1820 Hick joined other leading industrialists Isaac Dobson, Thomas Hardcastle, and Peter Rothwell, and engineer Joshua Routledge to form the Bolton Gaslight and Coke Company to provide gas for public buildings, street lamps and industrial lighting.