Origins & Early Life

Thomas Newcomen (; February 1664 – 5 August 1729) was an English inventor, creator of the atmospheric engine in 1712, Baptist preacher by calling and ironmonger by trade. He was born in Dartmouth, in Devon, England, to a merchant family and baptized at St. Saviour's Church on 28 February 1664. In those days, flooding in coal and tin mines was a major problem.

Pivotal Works & Achievements

Newcomen was soon engaged in trying to improve ways to pump out the water from such mines. His ironmonger's business specialised in designing, manufacturing and selling tools for the mining industry. Thomas Newcomen was a lay preacher and a teaching elder in the local Baptist church. After 1710, he became the pastor of a local group of Baptists. His father had been one of a group who brought the well-known Puritan minister John Flavel to Dartmouth.

Enduring Legacy & Impact

Later one of Newcomen's business contacts in London, Edward Wallin, was another Baptist minister who had connections with the well-known Doctor John Gill of Horsleydown, Southwark. Newcomen's connection with the Baptist church at Bromsgrove materially aided the spread of his steam engine, as the engineers Jonathan Hornblower Sr. and his son were involved in the...

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