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Jane Horrocks discovers her industrious ancestors

09 February 2006

Coinciding with the Industrial Revolution theme in this week´s penultimate episode of Who Do You Think You Are? The National Archives are celebrating Britain´s enduring legacy on the modern world through the exhibition Inventors and Inventions: Patents, Protest and Power in the Industrial Revolution.

Actress Jane Horrocks (Absolutely Fabulous and more recently Little Voice) delves into her ancestors´ Lancashire roots during the mid-1800s, exploring the effect of the introduction of the telegraph and the cotton industry on family life.

Inventors and Inventions Patents, Protest and Power features a range of famous patents, plans, paintings, artefacts and photographs from The National Archives including:

Agriculture
Richard Arkwright´s Patent Specification for the Spinning Frame;
Edmund Cartwright and his Specification for Loom for Weaving;
James Hargreaves with his Specification for Spinning, Drawing, and Twisting Cotton.

Communications
Charles Wheatstone and William Fothergill Cooke with a ABC Telegraph Transmitter from 1840;
A map of the telegraph network in Britain from 1848, produced by The Electric Telegraph Company.
Wheatstone and Cooke´s Patent Specification for Improvements in Giving Signals.

Curator of the exhibition, Sue Laurence, said:

"We used material housed here at The National Archives which is relevant to inventors and inventions.

"One of the things the archives is responsible for are patents. We´ve focused on the Industrial Revolution and inventions that are going to inspire."

Among other items and inventors within the exhibition are:
Public health and sanitation
Joseph Bramah´s Patent Specification for his Water Closet.
Transport
George and Robert Stephenson´s various Specifications for Improvements to Locomotive Engines;
Isambard Kingdom Brunel with photographs and artefacts.