Ralph Wedgwood (1766–1837) was an English inventor and member of the

Wedgwood Wedgwood is an English fine china, porcelain and luxury accessories manufacturer that was founded on 1 May 1759 by the potter and entrepreneur Josiah Wedgwood and was first incorporated in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. It was rap ...

family of potters. His most notable invention was the earliest form of

carbon paper Carbon paper (originally carbonic paper) consists of sheets of paper which create one or more copies simultaneously with the creation of an original document when inscribed by a typewriter or ballpoint pen. History In 1801, Pellegrino Tur ...

, a method of creating duplicate paper documents, which he called "stylographic writer" or Noctograph. He obtained a patent for the invention in 1806. Wedgwood was born in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. ...

, Staffordshire. He was the eldest son of the potter Thomas Wedgwood II (1734–1788) and his wife Elizabeth Taylor. He married three times and was widowed twice. His first marriage was to Mary Yeomans in 1790, and they had two children, Mary and Ralph, but he was widowed in 1795. He remarried Sarah Taylor; they had a son Samuel (1800–1863), but she, too, died in 1807. In 1808, he married for a third time, to Mary Anne Copeland, and they had three children: Trianne, Maria and William. His third wife survived him and died in 1867. Ralph was the cousin and business partner of Josiah Wedgwood. Funding for Ralph's inventions were provided by Josiah's eldest son,

Josiah Wedgwood II Josiah Wedgwood II (3 April 1769 – 12 July 1843), the son of the English potter Josiah Wedgwood, continued his father's firm and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Stoke-upon-Trent from 1832 to 1835. He was an abolitionist, and detested ...

References

* 1766 births 1837 deaths English inventors English potters {{England-engineer-stub