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162:. For three years Peter continued at Percy Main, until, at the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed to a millwright and engineer in Newcastle. He walked every day from Percy Main to Newcastle. During his apprenticeship he made the acquaintance of Henry Houldsworth of Glasgow, a mechanic and constructor of cotton machinery, under whom he was placed as foreman, ultimately being appointed traveller to the firm.
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gave an impetus to this branch of the business. Fairbairn constructed large machines, utilised at
Woolwich and Enfield, for the purposes of cutting, twisting, boring, and tearing iron and steel: cannon-rifling machines, milling machines, planing and slotting machines, and others. His foundry had
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In 1836 Peter
Fairbairn was elected to the Leeds town council, on which he sat until 1842, resigning in that year on account of the increasing demands of his business. In 1854 he was elected an alderman, and, after being appointed a magistrate, was mayor in 1857–8 and 1858–9.
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In 1821 he left
Houldsworth to take a situation on the continent. In France he stayed a year, acquiring technical knowledge; and after a period in the Manchester establishment of his brother William accepted a partnership with his former employer, Houldsworth.
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Fairbairn was married twice; his first wife, by whom he had one son and two daughters, being
Margaret, daughter of Mr. Robert Kennedy of Glasgow, died in 1843. In 1855 he married Rachel Anne, fourth daughter of Robert William Brandling, of
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In 1828 he left
Glasgow and began business in Leeds as a machine maker. He had no capital; but Leeds was then in the first flush of its manufacturing prosperity.
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was opened by Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert during his mayoralty, and Fairbairn, who distinguished himself as a host, received the honour of knighthood.
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Fairbairn had already devoted attention to flax-spinning machinery, which had been developed in Leeds by
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visited Leeds. He presented to the town hall a statue of the queen by
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Other inventions included machines for preparing and spinning
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become a major concern before his death, on 4 January 1861.
126:(1799–1861) was a Scottish engineer, inventor, and mayor of
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Statue of Sir Peter
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