Home | John Urpeth Rastrick - family | Site Map | About this site | Site Index

John Urpeth Rastrick
John Rastrick (1738-1826)

John Rastrick (1738-1826) was John Urpeth Rastrick's father. He described himself, in a trade circular, as "Engineer, mill-wright, pump and patent churn maker."

He had addresses in London in 1798 at 15, Charing Cross and later at 18, George Street.
In 1808 he retired to Morpeth.
He died there on June 8th, 1826, aged 88 and was buried in St Mary's Parish Churchyard.

Work

The "Imperial barrell churn" was patented on 8th August, 1777. Patent no 1166.

He made claims to have invented a thrashing machine, but the details are unclear.

There is a portrait of him which has a note on the back saying he "conceived and executed a plan" to build a cast iron bridge over the River Wear at Sunderland. This was built in 1796, credited to Rowland Burdon. John Rastrick's role in the construction of the bridge is unclear, if he was involved, it was not to any great extent.

Thomas Bewick

Thomas Bewick (1753-1828), the engraver and naturalist, was a friend of John Rastrick.

"I was also often visited by poor old Mr. John Rastrick, of Morpeth, who, in his day, was, by many men of judgment, accounted one of the most able and ingenious engineers in the kingdom."
- Memorial Edition of Thomas Bewick's Works by Thomas Bewick, Austin Dobson - Wood-engraving, English - 1887, p246

"Bewick had a soft spot for eccentrics, like the local inventor John Rastrick, a mechanical genius who talked constantly about all his ideas, with the result that they were constantly pirated."
- Nature's Engraver - A life of Thomas Bewick, Jenny Uglow, London, Faber and Faber, 2006.

Sources

Dickinson, H.W. and Lee, Arthur, The Rastricks - Civil Engineers, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, iv, 1923-4

Skempton, A. W., A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland. Vol.1, 1500-1830, London, Thomas Telford, 2002. ISBN 072772939X

Links

Portrait (Science & Society Picture Library). This is also in Dickinson, H.W. and Lee, Arthur, The Rastricks - Civil Engineers, Transactions of the Newcomen Society, iv, 1923-4

Thomas Bewick (Wikipedia)