Aspdin, Joseph

SUBJECT AREA: Architecture and building

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b. 1778 Leeds, England

d. 20 March 1855 Wakefield (?), England

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English pioneer in the development of the cement industry.

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Joseph Aspdin was the eldest of the six children of Thomas Aspdin, a bricklayer. He became interested in making advanced cements for rendering brickwork and, on 21 October 1824, patented a calcined mixture of limestone, clay and water that he called Portland Cement because he thought it resembled Portland Stone in colour.

Aspdin established his first cement works at Kirkgate in Wakefield in 1825: this was demolished in 1838 due to railway development, and a new works was established in the town in 1843. A year later Joseph Aspdin retired and handed the business over to his elder son James. Meanwhile, William, a younger son of Joseph, had also entered the business of manufacturing cement. Born in Leeds on 23 September 1815, he joined his father's firm at the age of 14, but left in 1841 to set up his own firm at Rotherhithe, London. There he manufactured an improved cement that was better and stronger than Parker's Roman Cement, probably because it contained a higher proportion of clinkered material. Further improvements were made during the following years and new factories were established, first at Northfleet in Kent and later at Gateshead on the south bank of the River Tyne (1853). It is interesting that Sir Marc Brunel later preferred to use William Aspdin's cement in the Thames railway tunnel construction because of its greater strength (see Frost) . William Aspdin died at Itzehoe in Germany in 1864.

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Further Reading

A.J.Francis, 1977, The Cement Industry 1796–1914: A History, David \& Charles.

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