Joseph Clement was born in Westmoreland in 1779.[56] His father was a weaver, a man of little education but of mental ability, a great lover of nature and something of a mechanic. Joseph Clement himself had only the merest elements of reading and writing. He started in life as a thatcher and slater, but picked up the rudiments of mechanics at the village blacksmith shop. Being grateful to the blacksmith, he repaid him by making for him a lathe which was a pretty creditable machine. On this he himself made flutes and fifes for sale and also a microscope for his father to use in his nature studies. As early as 1804 he began to work on screw cutting and made a set of die-stocks, although he had never seen any. He worked in several small country shops, then in Carlisle and in Glasgow, where he took lessons in drawing from a Peter Nicholson and became one of the most skillful draftsmen in England. Later he went to Aberdeen and was earning three guineas ($15) a week designing and fitting up power looms. By the end of 1813 he had saved £100. With this he went to London, meaning sooner or later to set up for himself. He first worked for an Alexander Galloway, a ward politician and tradesman who owned a small shop. Galloway was a slovenly manager and left things to run themselves. When Clement started in he found the tools so poor that he could not do good work with them, and immediately set to work truing them up, to the surprise of his shopmates who had settled down to the slipshod standards of the shop. Seeing that Clement was capable of the highest grade work, one of his shopmates told him to go to Bramah’s where such workmanship would be appreciated. [56] The best information on Clement comes from Smiles’ “Industrial Biography,” Chap. XIII. He saw Bramah and engaged to work for him for a month on trial. The result was so satisfactory that he signed an agreement for five years, dated April 1, 1814, under which he became chief draftsman and superintendent of the Pimlico works. Clement threw himself eagerly into the new work and took great satisfaction in the high quality of work which was the standard in Bramah’s establishment. Bramah was greatly pleased with him and told him, “If I had secured your services five years since I would now have been a richer man by many thousands of pounds.” Bramah died, however, within a year and his two sons returning from college took charge of the business. They soon became jealous of Clement’s influence and by mutual consent the agreement signed with their father was terminated. Clement immediately went to Maudslay & Field’s as chief draftsman and assisted in the development of the early marine engines which they were building at that time. In 1817 he started in for himself in a small shop in Newington, with a capital of £500 and his work there until his death in 1844 is of great importance. [Illustration: FIGURE 18. MATTHEW MURRAY] [Illustration: FIGURE 19. RICHARD ROBERTS]