The Last Great Cornish Engineer, William West of Tredenham
Description
John Manley, SB, 197pp
William West was a leading member of that generation of Cornish Engineers following Trevithick and Woolf who brought the Cornish engine to the acme of its performance in in the local mines and far beyond. West's connections with Thomas Wicksteed saw Cornish engines pumping the bulk of London's water. West built engimnes at his own St Blazey Foundry and is said to have receted more engines than any other Cornish engineer. The only biography of West published to date was a short hagiographical Sketch, published just after his death. John Manley's new life contains the text of the Sketch with a Commentary and a mass of new information