John Cockerill (industrialist)
| John Cockerill | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 3 August 1790 Haslingden, Lancs, England |
| Died |
9 June 1840 (aged 49) Warsaw, Congress Poland |
| Citizenship | British, later Belgian |
| Occupation | Industrialist |
John Cockerill (3 August 1790 – 9 June 1840) was a Belgian (born British) entrepreneur. Born at Haslingden, Lancashire, England, he was brought by his father William Cockerill to Belgium where he continued the family tradition of building wool processing machinery. He founded an ironworks and a mechanical engineering company John Cockerill & Cie. (English: John Cockerill & Company)
At the age of twelve John Cockerill was brought to Verviers, Belgium, by his father William Cockerill who was successful as a machine builder there. In 1807, aged 17, he and his brother Charles James took over the management of a factory in Liege. His father William retired in 1813 leaving the management of his business to his sons.
In September 1813 he married Jeanne Frédérique Pastor, the same day her sister Caroline married Charles James Cockerill.
After the victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, the Prussian Minister of Finance, Peter Beuth, invited the Cockerill brothers to set up a woollens factory in Berlin.
In 1814 the brothers bought the former palace of the Prince Bishops of Liege at Seraing. The chateau became the plant headquarters and the ground behind it the factory site (founded 1817); it was to become a vertically integrated iron foundry and machine manufacturing factory. William I of the Netherlands was joint owner of the plant. A machine manufacturing plant was added in 1819, and in 1826 (begun 1823) a coke fired blast furnace. By 1840 the plant had sixteen steam engines producing total power 900 hp (670 kW) in continual work and employed 3000 persons.
In 1823 his brother Charles James retired, having been bought out by John in 1822. After the Belgian Revolution of 1830 the new Kingdom of Belgium claimed the property of William I, and in 1835 John Cockerill made himself the sole owner of the works. He also was a founder of the Bank de Belgique, in 1835.
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