1733 - began a seven-year apprenticeship with Abraham Bennett, a millwright and wheelwright at Sutton near Macclesfield. 1742 - moved to Mill Street, Leek, and set up as a millwright on his own account, following the death of Bennett. 1750 - set up a second workshop at Burslem, in property leased from the Wedgwood family. 1758 - patented a minor and ultimately unsuccessful improvement to atmospheric engine boiler design. Owing to an interest in canals, he was hired to survey a canal to link Liverpool and the Mersey with the potteries and the Trent. 1760 - in partnership with brother John, his future brother-in-law Hugh Henshall, and John and Thomas Gilbert, he purchased the Turnhurst estate in Staffordshire, including the Golden Hill colliery. 1770 - surveyed the Thames, favouring a canal from Sonning to Mortlake as the best option for a proposed canal, but also making proposals to improve the existing river navigation.