Wedgwood

from Creating Modern Capitalism

Josiah Wedgwood was born in 1730, the thirteenth and last child of Mary and Thomas Wedgwood. The British Statesman William Gladstone said in 1863, looking back over the early years of the First Industrial Revolution, "Wedgwood was the greatest man who ever, in any age, or in any country...applied himself to the important work of uniting art with industry."
When he was 9, his father died. Cash became short, and Josiah left school.
Smallpox broke out, infecting the 12 year old Josiah. The disease left Josiah's face pockmarked and his right knee weak and unreliable. Often he could not walk without crutches or a cane. Pain dogged him. Later in 1768, his right knee collapsed and it was amputated, without anesthetic, while Josiah remained conscious.
In 1759, Wedgwood established himself as an independent potter. He was 28. He seems to have been short of money. He was six months late paying rent for the pottery works, and almost a quarter of the total rent was paid in goods.
Wedgwood was Charles Darwin's grandfather. The Wedgwood family fortune then helped underwrite Darwin's famous voyage aborad the Beagle, which was a critical part of his research for The Origin of Species.