Claim: Mason Pearson, who was called by a Yorkshireman in the mid 1860s to come to work at the British Steam Brush Works, in the East End of London, invented the "pneumatic" rubber-cushion hairbrush.
Evidence: In the mid 1860s a Yorkshireman called Mason Pearson came to work at the British Steam Brush Works, in the East End of London. In 1885 he invented the "pneumatic" rubber-cushion hairbrush which became the company's primary product and is still on sale, little changed from the original design.