caption death_date death_place religion birth_place nationality birth_date image article_title name occupation
c. 1820 by unknown artist 8 february 1829 warsaw , poland methodist -lrb- anglican -rrb- riccall , yorkshire british 27 april 1773 file , inventor2.jpg : joshua routledge -lrb- 1773-1829 -rrb- , engineer joshua routledge
 joshua routledge engineer ironmonger
joshua routledge

joshua routledge -lrb- 1773 -- 1829 -rrb- was an engineer and inventor during the late 18th and early 19th centuries when the industrial revolution was in full swing .
mechanical engineering as a profession was on the rise , and the advent of the steam age opened up viable career alternatives for many young englishmen who , like joshua routledge , had grown up in an agriculture-based society .
born on 27 april 1773 and baptised on the 29th in riccall yorkshire .
joshua routledge was third of ten children .
generations of routledges had been established as yeoman farmers and weavers in riccall , a village about 9 miles -lrb- 14 km -rrb- south of the city of york .
sometime before 1778 , joshua 's parents , william -lrb- 1744 -- 1822 -rrb- and sarah bell -lrb- 1745 -- 1819 -rrb- , moved the family a short distance to elvington , 7 miles -lrb- 11 km -rrb- southeast of york .
apart from a few details , little is known of their time in elvington .
joshua 's father was a blacksmith by trade , but he seems to have been pious by nature .
the industrial revolution allowed the advancement of all sorts of radical new ideas in tandem with mechanical innovations .
religious , political , and social reformers took to the highways and byways spreading discontent with the status quo , john wesley being one religious reformer whose message took hold in yorkshire .
his brand of fervent evangelical methodism encouraged lay preachers , which appealed very much to the working classes .
evidently , the routledges of elvington , including joshua , were receptive to wesley 's teachings .
they joined the movement as active members of the york circuit , and according to an account by j. d. greenhalgh published in 1882 , william routledge was among a list of `` wesleyan methodist ministers admitted ... in the year 1800 . ''
