John Hick (MP)

John Hick, Esq., JP
May 1861 by Francis Grant RA (1803–1878)
Born	2 July 1815 Bolton
Died	2 February 1894 (1894-02-03) (aged 78) Whalley, Lancashire
Nationality	British
Occupation	Civil and Mechanical engineer Politician Company director

John Hick JP DL MP FRSA (2 July 1815 – 2 February 1894) was a wealthy English industrialist, art collector and Conservative Party politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1880.

He is associated with the improvement of steam-engines for cotton mills and the work of his firm Hick, Hargreaves and Co. universal in countries where fibre was spun or fabrics woven.

Hick was the eldest son of Benjamin Hick (1790–1842), a civil and mechanical engineer responsible for improvements to the steam-engine, and his wife Elizabeth Routledge (1783–1826), daughter of William Routledge of Elvington Yorkshire. Elizabeth's brother and Hick's uncle, Joshua Routledge (1773–1829) also an engineer living in Bolton, designed the Engineer's Improved Slide Rule and patented improvements to the Rotary Steam Engine.

Educated at a private school near Alderley, Cheshire and Bolton Grammar School where he received a commercial and classical education, Hick entered Benjamin Hick's Soho Works from school and from a young age, management of the Bolton engineering firm Benjamin Hick and Son with his father. Following Benjamin Hick's death in 1842, Hick became senior partner in the family business, later Hick, Hargreaves, & Co and a member of the Institute of Civil Engineers in 1845.