When Sir Joseph Whitworth founded an engineering scholarship in 1868, Britain boasted the world's largest economy, supported by powerful, innovative and skilled manufacturing and engineering industries.

The son of a congregational minister, Sir Joseph left his Stockport home at 14 to become an apprentice to a Derbyshire cotton-spinner. By the age of 30 he had founded his own machine tool business. He was devoted to improving skills in the industry. One of his most important innovations was to develop a machine capable of measuring to an accuracy of one hundred-thousandth of an inch.