John Cockerill (3 August 1790 – 9 June 1840) was a British entrepreneur, the founder of the company
Cockerill-SambreCockerill-Sambre is a Belgian steel manufactor located in Seraing , on the Meuse River, and in Charleroi, on the shore of the Sambre River...
. He was born at
HaslingdenHaslingden is a small town in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels', though the town is in fact set on a high and windy hill. In the early 20th century Haslingden had the status of a municipal borough, but following local...
, in England, and followed in the footsteps of his father,
William CockerillWilliam Cockerill was a British entrepreneur who settled in France. By using some of British industrial inventions , he built one of the greatest companies in Europe dealing in textiles, steam engines, iron, mining, cannons, bridge materials, locomotives, and more.He was a Lancashire man who...
, in the construction of machines to card and spin
woolWool is a fibrous protein derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles. The wool is taken from animals in the Caprinae family, principally sheep, but the hair of certain species of other mammals including: goats, llamas, and rabbits may also be called wool...
.
During a depression in the machine building business, in 1797 he moved to continental Europe with his father William. Despite legislation preventing the export of
spinningSpinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibers are twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fiber was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff...
technology, he joined in partnership with a local Belgian wool merchant and built a spinning machine for him.
After having had much success in the development of spinning machines, in 1817 John Cockerill and his brother James bought the castle of
SeraingSeraing is a Walloon municipality of Belgium in Province of Liege. The municipality of Seraing includes the old communes of Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, and Ougrée. With Liège, Herstal, Saint-Nicolas, Ans, and Flémalle it forms the greater Liège agglomeration...
.
John Cockerill (3 August 1790 – 9 June 1840) was a British entrepreneur, the founder of the company
Cockerill-SambreCockerill-Sambre is a Belgian steel manufactor located in Seraing , on the Meuse River, and in Charleroi, on the shore of the Sambre River...
. He was born at
HaslingdenHaslingden is a small town in the Rossendale Valley in Lancashire, England. It is north of Manchester. The name means 'valley of the hazels', though the town is in fact set on a high and windy hill. In the early 20th century Haslingden had the status of a municipal borough, but following local...
, in England, and followed in the footsteps of his father,
William CockerillWilliam Cockerill was a British entrepreneur who settled in France. By using some of British industrial inventions , he built one of the greatest companies in Europe dealing in textiles, steam engines, iron, mining, cannons, bridge materials, locomotives, and more.He was a Lancashire man who...
, in the construction of machines to card and spin
woolWool is a fibrous protein derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles. The wool is taken from animals in the Caprinae family, principally sheep, but the hair of certain species of other mammals including: goats, llamas, and rabbits may also be called wool...
.
During a depression in the machine building business, in 1797 he moved to continental Europe with his father William. Despite legislation preventing the export of
spinningSpinning is an ancient textile art in which plant, animal or synthetic fibers are twisted together to form yarn. For thousands of years, fiber was spun by hand using simple tools, the spindle and distaff...
technology, he joined in partnership with a local Belgian wool merchant and built a spinning machine for him.
After having had much success in the development of spinning machines, in 1817 John Cockerill and his brother James bought the castle of
SeraingSeraing is a Walloon municipality of Belgium in Province of Liege. The municipality of Seraing includes the old communes of Boncelles, Jemeppe-sur-Meuse, and Ougrée. With Liège, Herstal, Saint-Nicolas, Ans, and Flémalle it forms the greater Liège agglomeration...
. That area had many economic advantages, as it was located at the edge of the
MeuseMeuse is a department in northeast France, named after the Meuse River.-History:Meuse is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on March 4, 1790...
, it was a
carboniferousThe Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that extends from the end of the Devonian period, about 359.2 ± 2.5 Ma , to the beginning of the Permian period, about 299.0 ± 0.8 Ma ....
area, and it had a large working population. At the time,
ironIron is a metallic chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. Iron is a group 8 and period 4 element and is therefore classified as a transition metal. Iron and iron alloys are by far the most common metals and the most common ferromagnetic materials in everyday use...
factories were not very productive and
William I of the NetherlandsWilliam I Frederick, born Willem Frederik Prins van Oranje-Nassau , was a Prince of Orange and the first King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg....
charged John Cockerill with the development of the iron and steel industry.
The first improvement was the construction of a
blast furnaceA blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions take place...
using
cokeCoke is the solid carbonaceous material derived from destructive distillation of low-ash, low-sulfur bituminous coal. Cokes from coal are grey, hard, and porous.-Production:Coke is usually produced from coal; the process is called coking....
instead of
charcoalCharcoal is the blackish residue consisting of impure carbon obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood, sugar, bone char, or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
.
In 1834, Belgium wanted to create a railway network, in order to circumvent the blockade of the river
ScheldtThe Scheldt is a 350 km long river in northern France, western Belgium and the southwestern part of the Netherlands...
by the Dutch. The Cockerill workshops then delivered rails, engines and railway material.
In 1838, John Cockerill reached the top of his career. He set up a truly independent industrial complex, equipped with a blast furnace and a
foundryA foundry is a factory that produces metal castings from either ferrous or non-ferrous alloys. Metals are turned into parts by melting them into a liquid, pouring the metal in a mold, and removing the mold material or casting after the metal has solidified as it cools. The most common metal...
. It manufactured iron,
furnaceA furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven. The earliest furnace was excavated at Balakot, a site of the Indus Valley Civilization, dating back to its mature phase...
s,
rolling millA rolling mill is a machine or factory for shaping metal by passing it between a pair of work rolls.Rolling mills are often incorporated into integrated steelworks, but also exist as separate plants and can be used for other metals, and other materials....
s, forging mills, and was located near coal mines and a port, allowing him to transport his products.
At this time, his company suffered a financial crisis. John Cockerill was wounded in an accident and potential investors saw a risk. The company needed capital in order to be able to expand, but raising it proved to be impossible.
Discouraged, John Cockerill died of typhoid in 1840 during a business trip to
WarsawWarsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River roughly from both the Baltic Sea coast and the Carpathian Mountains. Its population as of 2009 was estimated at 1,709,781, and the Warsaw metropolitan area at approximately 2,785,000...
. There is a statue of him in Seraing, and a copy on
Luxembourg SquareThe Place du Luxembourg or Luxemburgplein is a square in the European Quarter of Brussels .-Design and locals:...
in
BrusselsBrussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the de facto capital city of the European Union and the largest urban area in Belgium...
.