The role of an English skilled tradesman in the transatlantic diffusion of early steamboat and railway technology

Speaker:  Dr Robb Robinson, University of Hull

Dr Robinson examines the diffusion of transport innovations in Britain, France and North America from the perspective of the life and career of an individual skilled workman who plied his trade in some key places at some significant times in the story of early steam transport. A study in labour mobility and flexibility, William Harmon’s career took him from the banks of the Humber estuary, to the Charenton Iron Works near Paris, the Westpoint Foundry in New York State, the Great Lakes and on to opening up of Oregon. 

About the speaker

 Dr Robb Robinson is a British Commission for Maritime History Trustee and Honorary Research Fellow of the Blaydes Maritime Centre, University of Hull. He has published widely on the fishing industry and the maritime history of the Great War from the perspective of smaller vessels as well as on the impact that people originating in East Yorkshire have made in various parts of the world. 

This King's Maritime History Seminar will be held online and in-person. For those joining online, the Zoom link will be sent by email two days before the event.