Editing Benjamin Huntsman

{{short description|English inventor and manufacturer of cast or crucible steel}}
{{for|the English cricketer and colliery owner|Benjamin Huntsman (cricketer)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}}
{{Use British English|date=June 2024}}
[[File:BenjaminHuntsmanTribute.jpg|right|thumb|A tribute set of figures to Huntsman.]]
'''Benjamin Huntsman''' (4 June 1704{{snd}}20 June 1776)<ref>{{cite ODNB |title=Huntsman, Benjamin |first=David |last=Hey |id=14247}}</ref> was an [[England|English]] inventor and manufacturer of cast or [[crucible steel]].<ref>[[Samuel Smiles]], [https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=fnpLnwNTD9cC&hl=en ''Industrial Biography''] (1879) p. 99</ref>

==Biography==
[[File:Tomb of Benjamin Huntsman.jpg|thumb|Benjamin Huntsman's tomb, in the graveyard of [[Attercliffe Chapel]]]]
Huntsman was born the fourth child of William and Mary (née Nainby) Huntsman, a [[Quaker]] farming couple, in [[Epworth, England|Epworth]], [[Lincolnshire]]. Some sources suggest that his parents were German immigrants,<ref>[[Samuel Smiles]], ''Industrial Biography'' (1879), p. 103</ref> but it seems that they were both born in Lincolnshire.<ref>[http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=greenthumbs&id=I13560 Rootsweb]</ref>

Huntsman started business as a clock, lock and tool maker in [[Doncaster]], Yorkshire. His reputation enabled him to also practice surgery in an experimental fashion and he was also consulted as an [[oculist]].<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Huntsman, Benjamin |volume=13 |page=955}}</ref>

Huntsman experimented in steel manufacture, first at Doncaster.  Then, in 1740, he moved to [[Handsworth, South Yorkshire|Handsworth]], near Sheffield. Eventually, after many experiments, Huntsman was able to make satisfactory [[Crucible steel|cast steel]], in clay pot [[crucible]]s, each holding about {{convert|34|lb}} of [[Cementation process|blistered steel]]. A [[Flux (metallurgy)|flux]] was added, and they were covered and heated by means of [[Coke (fuel)|coke]] for about three hours.  The molten steel was then poured into moulds and the crucibles reused. The first object to contain Crucible Cast Steel, was a longcase clock, made by Huntsman. It is on display in the [[Enid Hattersley]] Gallery at [[Kelham Island Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web|date=2021|title=Benjamin Huntsman Clock {{!}} Sheffield Industrial Museums Trust|url=http://www.simt.co.uk/kelham-island-museum/what-to-see/main-museum-enid-hattersley-gallery/benjamin-huntsman-clock|access-date=5 January 2021|website=www.simt.co.uk}}</ref> The local [[cutlery]] manufacturers refused to buy Huntsman's cast steel, as it was harder than the German steel they were accustomed to using. For a long time, Huntsman exported his whole output to [[France]].<ref name="EB1911"/>

The growing competition of imported French [[cutlery]] made from Huntsman's cast-steel alarmed the Sheffield cutlers, who, after trying unsuccessfully to get the export of the steel prohibited by the British government, were compelled to use it in the interests of self-preservation. Huntsman had not patented his process, and his secret was discovered by a Sheffield iron-founder called Walker.<ref name="EB1911"/>   Walker, according to legend, entered Huntsman's works in the disguise of a starving beggar asking to sleep by a fire for the night.<ref>{{DNB Cite|wstitle=Huntsman, Benjamin}}</ref>

In 1770, Huntsman moved his enterprise to Worksop Road in [[Attercliffe]], where he prospered until his death in 1776 and was laid to rest with a commemorative tomb in the [[Attercliffe Chapel|Hilltop Cemetery]], [[Attercliffe Common]]. The business was taken over by his son, William Huntsman (1733–1809).<ref name="EB1911"/>

At [[Sheffield]]'s [[Northern General Hospital]] one of the original main buildings is named after him, and in the city centre is a [[Wetherspoons]] pub called ''The Benjamin Huntsman''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sheffieldpub.co.uk/pubs/city-centre/benjamin-huntsman/|title= Pub Guide| access-date= 22 January 2010}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://www.donny.co.uk/Doncaster/news/index.php3?ID=464 Famous Doncastrians]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Huntsman, Benjamin}}
[[Category:1704 births]]
[[Category:1776 deaths]]
[[Category:English inventors]]
[[Category:History of Sheffield]]
[[Category:People from Epworth, Lincolnshire]]
[[Category:English Quakers]]
[[Category:Foundrymen]]
[[Category:People of the Industrial Revolution]]
[[Category:People from Darnall]]