Page "Henry Maudslay" Paragraph 1

Maudslay's father, also named Henry, served as a wheelwright in the Royal Engineers.

After being wounded in action he became a storekeeper at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, London.

There he married a young widow, Margaret Laundy and they had seven children, among which young Henry was the fifth.

Henry ’ s father died in 1780.

Like many boys of his era, Henry began his work in manufacturing quite young ; by the age of 12, he was a " powder monkey ", one of the boys employed in filling cartridges at the Arsenal.

After two years, he was transferred to a carpenter ’ s shop followed by a blacksmith ’ s forge, where at the age of fifteen he began training as a blacksmith.

He seems to have specialised in the lighter, more complex kind of forge work.