Peter Ewart

Who was Peter Ewart?

Peter Ewart was a British engineer who was influential in developing the technologies of turbines and theories of thermodynamics.

He was son of the Church of Scotland minister of Troqueer near Dumfries, and was one of eleven children. His brother Joseph Ewart became British ambassador to Prussia; John, a doctor, became Chief Inspector of East India Company hospitals in India; and William, father of William Ewart. was business partner of Sir John Gladstone, father of William Ewart Gladstone, whose godfather he was and whom he was named after.

After graduating from the University of Edinburgh, he was apprenticed to millwright John Rennie. His work with water wheels led him to work with Matthew Boulton and James Watt for whom by 1790 he was agent in Manchester. At the same time as acting as agent he was also trading on his own account as a millwright, enabling him to provide the complementary shafts, gears and other necessities to harness the power of the Boulton & Watt steam engines.

In 1792, frustrated in administering the immature and, as yet, unreliable machinery, he left Boulton and Watt to work in partnership with Samuel Oldknow in a cotton bleaching and calico printing venture. He anticipated this being a profitable concern but the partnership was dissolved within a year and he returned to engineering. In 1798 he went into partnership with Samuel Greg, installing an innovative water wheel at Greg's Quarry Bank Mill on the River Bollin in Cheshire. As a standby, he installed a Watt steam engine.