John Fowler - Encyclopedia

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES

JOHN FOWLER (1826-1864), English inventor, was born at Melksham, Wilts, on the 11th of July 1826. He learned practical engineering at Middlesborough-on-Tees, and about 1850 invented a mechanical system for the drainage of land. In 1852 he began experiments in steam cultivation, and in 1858 the Royal Agricultural Society awarded him the prize of £50o which it had offered for a steam-cultivator that should be an economic substitute for the plough or the spade. In 1860 he founded at Hunslet, Leeds, the firm of Fowler & Co., manufacturers of agricultural machinery, traction engines, &c. He died at Ackworth, Yorkshire, on the 4th of December 1864.