Philippe Henri de Girard

Background

Girard was born on February 1, 1775 in Lourmarin, France, to a wealthy aristocratic family.

Education

As a child Girard was sent by his parents to some of the most notable French schools of the era. However, in the effect of the French Revolution, his family was forced to flee France and young Philippe had to abandon his studies in order to help his family earn money for living.

Career

In May 1810 Napoleon I tried to stop English cotton fabrics entering the continent of Europe and offered a reward of one million francs to any inventor who could devise the best machinery for the spinning of flax yarn. After only a short period Philippe de Girard took out a French patent for important inventions for both dry and wet methods of spinning flax. He was not awarded the prize money and failed to gain the recognition he felt was deserved. He had been counting on the prize money to pay the expenses of his invention, and he got into serious financial difficulties. So he accepted, when in 1815 he was invited by the Austrian government to establish a spinning mill in Hirtenberg near Vienna, which employed his spinning frames. However, it failed to prove a commercial success. In 1817 Girard returned to France with a prototype of his spinning machinery ready, but the internal situation of France after the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte prevented the new French authorities from payment of the debts and eventually Girard sold his patent to England. His inventions were patented in England in 1814, by Horace Hall (possibly a pseudonym). It would not have been easy for a French man to introduce a new development into England at this point in history. It never really caught on. Several years afterwards the situation in France improved and Girard started the first modern textile factory in Lille. Initially the business was a failure and Girard almost went bankrupt. In 1818 he built a steamer to run on the Danube. In 1825, at the invitation of the emperor Alexander I of Russia, he went to Poland, and erected near Warsaw a flax manufactory, round which grew up a village which received the name of Żyrardów. He did not return to Paris till 1844, where he still found some of his old creditors ready to press their claims, and he died in that city on the 26th of August 1845. After his death, his work was recognised and his descendants were rewarded with a small pension by the French Emperor.

Achievements

• Girard was the inventor of the first flax spinning frame in 1810. He was also the uncredited inventor of food preservation using tin cans.