Henry Maudslay
Entrepreneur
Inventor of the first modern machine tools who helped speed up the coming of the Industrial Revolution.
He started his own tool shop after a dispute with his employer, making a better screw-cutting lathe, among other machines.
He created machines that greatly cut down the human labor needed to make ships.
His father worked in Britain's Royal Engineer Corps.
His great-grandson founded the Maudslay Motor Company, becoming the U.K.'s version of Henry Ford.