Thomas Warren

For other people named Thomas Warren, see Thomas Warren (disambiguation).

Thomas Warren (fl. 1727–1767) was an English bookseller, printer, publisher and businessman.

Warren was an influential figure in Birmingham at a time when it was a hotbed of creative activity, opening a bookshop in High Street, Birmingham around 1727.^[1] From here he founded and published the Birmingham Journal – the town's first known newspaper;^[2] he edited and published Samuel Johnson's first book – a translation of Jerónimo Lobo’s Voyage to Abyssinia^[3]—and with Joshua Kirton sold Francis Godwin's The Man in the Moone.^[4] He also financed the cotton mill established by John Wyatt and Lewis Paul in 1741.^[5] This was the world's first mechanised cotton-spinning factory, and was to pave the way for Richard Arkwright's later transformation of the cotton industry during the Industrial Revolution.^[6]

The Paul-Wyatt cotton mill was not a financial success, however, and Warren declared bankruptcy in 1743.^[1]

References

1. Fleeman, J.D. (2 March 2000). A Bibliography of the Works of Samuel Johnson: 1731–59 Vol 1 (PDF). Oxford: Clarendon Press. p. 3. ISBN 0-19-812269-1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 May 2011.
2. "Johnson in Birmingham". Revolutionary Players of Industry and Innovation. Museums, Libraries and Archives – West Midlands. Archived from the original on 22 March 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
3. "Johnson Collection". Birmingham City Council. 19 December 2007. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
4. Lawton, H. W. (1931), "Bishop Godwin's Man in the Moone", The Review of English Studies, 7 (25): 23–55, doi:10.1093/res/os-vii.25.23, JSTOR 508383
5. James Thomson (2004). "Invention in the Industrial Revolution: the case of cotton". In Leandro Prados de la Escosura (ed.). Exceptionalism and Industrialisation: Britain and Its European Rivals, 1688–1815. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 0-521-79304-1. Retrieved 29 December 2007.
6. Wadsworth, Alfred P.; De Lacy Mann, Julia (1931). "The First Cotton Spinning Factories". The Cotton Trade and Industrial Lancashire, 1600–1780. Manchester: Manchester University Press. pp. 431–447.