James Brindley, an English engineer known for his work on the construction of the Bridgewater Canal and other canals of major economic importance.

This volume, first published in 1990, commemorates one of the most notable economic historians of his age. Professor W.H. Chaloner taught in the History Department of the University of Manchester from 1945 to 1981. He preferred the article to the book as the most appropriate vehicle of publishing the results of his research. From 1938 to 1983 he wrote over 120 articles and prefaces, most of which appeared in historical journals and in the transactions of learned societies. These essays collected here cover a long period of time, from the Industrial Revolution to problems of the inter-war years in the twentieth century. They deal with a very wide range of topics, for Professor Chaloner was an authority on business, urban, transport, social and agricultural history.

James Brindley was of humble birth, from a remote part of Britain, and received little or no education. Yet by sheer innate ability, he rose to be consulted and admired by the highest in the land. His first achievements were in harnessing wind and water to grind corn, to grind the flints needed in ever increasing quantities in the pottery industry and to drain mines. He also successfully constructed steam engines for the latter purpose. The turning point came when he joined the duke of Bridgewater and John Gilbert in constructing the Worlsey Canal to Manchester, Britain's first arterial canal. Its resounding success led to the construction of four thousand miles of inland waterways, largely by James Brindley, assistants trained by him and their successors, so that every town of size was on or near to a canal. James Brindley well deserved the title of 'Father of the British Waterways'.