Clockmaker from Congleton, Cheshire
John Whitehurst lived in Derby from 1736 to 1780. He was one of the foremost scientists of his day, father of modern geology and founder member of the Lunar Society along with Erasmus Darwin, Josiah Wedgewood, James Watt and others.
As a clock maker and engineer, Whitehurst's innovations included the round dial long case clock, a standardisation of parts and the manufacture of components to very high tolerances. He also made compasses, waywisers,timers for pottery kilns, pyrometers and barometers. Whitehurst's most important achievement was in geology. In 1763 he sent Benjamin Franklin ( an occasional visitor to his Derby house ), an outline of his theory on the origin and formation of the earth, later published. The second edition (pub 1786) included a section on the strata of Derbyshire.
Extract from http://www.derbyuk.net/whitehurst.html
Independenty living at Whitehurst in 1841