Thomas Warren

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Thomas Warren (fl. 1727 – 1767) was an English bookseller, printer, publisher and businessman.

Warren was an influential figure in Birmingham at a time when it was a hotbed of creative activity, opening a bookshop in High Street, Birmingham around 1727.[1] From here he founded and published the Birmingham Journal - the town's first known newspaper;[2] he edited and published Samuel Johnson's first book - a translation of Jerónimo Lobo’s Voyage to Abyssinia;[3] and he financed the cotton mill established by John Wyatt and Lewis Paul in 1741.[4] This was the world's first mechanised cotton-spinning factory, and was to pave the way for Richard Arkwright's later transformation of the cotton industry during the Industrial Revolution.[5]

The Paul-Wyatt cotton mill was not a financial success, however, and Warren was declared bankrupt in 1743.[1]

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Fleeman, J.D. (2000-03-02). A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson: 1731-59 Vol 1. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 3. ISBN 0198122691. 
  2. ^ Johnson in Birmingham. Revolutionary Players of Industry and Innovation. Museums, Libraries and Archives - West Midlands. Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  3. ^ Johnson Collection. Birmingham City Council (2007-12-19). Retrieved on 2008-01-05.
  4. ^ James Thomson (2004). "Invention in the Industrial Revolution: the case of cotton", in Leandro Prados de la Escosura: Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: Britain and Its European Rivals, 1688-1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 135. ISBN 0521793041. Retrieved on 2007-12-29. 
  5. ^ Wadsworth, Alfred P.; De Lacy Mann, Julia (1931). "The First Cotton Spinning Factories", The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600-1780. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 431-447.