time, he is entitled to
a prominent place in this series of memoirs.

Joseph Bramah was born in 1748 at the village of Stainborough, near
Barnsley in Yorkshire, where his father rented a small farm under Lord
Strafford. Joseph was the eldest of five children, and was early
destined to follow the plough. After receiving a small amount of
education at the village school, he was set to work upon the farm.
From an early period he showed signs of constructive skill. When a
mere boy, he occupied his leisure hours in making musical instruments,
and he succeeded in executing some creditable pieces of work with very
imperfect tools. A violin, which he made out of a solid block of wood,
was long preserved as a curiosity. He was so fortunate as to make a
friend of the village blacksmith, whose smithy he was in the practice
of frequenting. The smith was an ingenious workman, and, having taken
a liking for the boy, he made sundry tools for him out of old files and
razor blades; and with these his fiddle and other pieces of work were
mainly executed.

Joseph might have remained a ploughman for life, but for an accident
which happened to his right ankle at the age of 16, which unfitted him
for farm-work. While confined at home disabled he spent his time in
carving and making things in wood; and then it occurred to him that,
though he could not now be a ploughman, he might be a mechanic. When
sufficiently recovered, he was accordingly put apprentice to one
Allott, the village carpenter, under whom he soon became an expert
workman. He could make ploughs, window-frames, or fiddles, with equal
dexterity. He also made violoncellos, and was so fortunate as to sell
one of his making for three guineas, which is still reckoned a good
instrument. He doubtless felt within him the promptings of ambition,
such as every good workman feels, and at all events entertained the
desire of rising in his trade. When his time was out, he accordingly
resolved to seek work in London, whither he made the journey on foot.
He soon found work at a cabinet-maker's, and remained with him for some
time, after which he set up business in a very small way on his own
account. An accident which happened to him in the course of his daily
work, again proved his helper, by affording him a degree of leisure
which he at once proceeded to turn to some useful account. Part of his
business consisted in putting up water-closets, after a method invented
or improve