William Colbourne Cambridge was a Market Lavington man for a short period of his life during the 1830s and 1840s. During that time he was an agricultural engineer, iron founder and innovative inventor.
Today we feature extracts from an article in this publication.
Wiltshire Notes and Queries 1893-1895
This was information collated some fifty years after Mr Cambridge had his iron foundry and works in Market Lavington. One article in the magazine is about Wiltshire patentees and was compiled by Richard B. Prosser
The start of the article on Wiltshire patents
We can see that about 80 patents were issued to Wiltshire people between 1624 and 1852 – and one of them was to a Market Lavington man.
Locations for Wiltshire patents with one in Market Lavington
This patent was for William Cambridge’s clod crusher roller and other items.
William Cambridge's clod crusher gets the honours for Market Lavington
We recently featured a Cambridge roller under restoration. You can see this roller by clicking here.
You can see more of William Cambridge’s inventiveness here.
However, one other patent featured in this article. Earlier this year we featured an item about Thomas Chandler’s liquid manure drill, which referred to Thomas Chandler of Market Lavington. We were unable to trace Thomas to Market Lavington – he came from Stockton, a little village in the Wylie Valley, although his wife came from West Lavington. This article refers to Thomas of Stockton.
Information on Thomas Chandler's liquid manure drill
We have received further information on Thomas Chandler (thanks to Rick for that) which suggests extensive farming interests and the possibility of a farm in the Lavington area.
Market Lavington Museum 