William Cockerill was born in Haslingden, Lancashire in 1759, but little is known about his early life. He initially worked as a blacksmith in England and was said to be exceptionally skilled as a mechanical engineer and model maker. He was probably married in this period, but enjoyed little commercial success. In 1794, Cockerill settled in Saint Petersburg in the Russian Empire, having been recommended to the Empress Catherine the Great as a skilled craftsman. His prospects of advancement collapsed after Catherine's death in 1796 and her successor, Paul I, had him imprisoned after he failed to complete a model on time. Cockerill escaped to the Kingdom of Sweden where he was employed as an engineer, constructing locks on a canal. However, civil engineering did not suit him. Having heard of the wool industry around Liège which had recently been occupied by France, Cockerill decided that his prospects would be better there as a machine-maker even though the French Revolutionary Wars were still ongoing. He travelled to Hamburg where he offered to return to England rather than help the French if he was awarded a pension in exchange. However, he heard nothing and after six months arrived in the Low Countries where he travelled to Amsterdam and then the pays de Liège.
Belgium
Cockerill began work inVerviers, near Liège, in 1799. His work involved manufacturing machines for the spinning and carding of wool for the firm Simonis et Biolley, run by Iwan Simonis and his sister Marie Anne Simonis. He then brought his family from England and settled in Belgium. The region was part of the French Republic during the French Revolutionary Wars, but this did not affect Cockerill's economic fortunes. He was joined in 1802 by James Holden who initially worked for him as an assistant and later set up his own business. In 1807 Cockerill moved to the city of Liège and set up a machine building factory there with his three sons. In 1807 he was awarded the légion d'honneur by Napoleon for his services to manufacturing.. He became a French citizen in 1810 and, in 1813, imported a Watt steam engine. Cockerill's success grew during the Napoleonic blockade when Continental Europe was effectively cut off from English industrial products. His factory became famous, with half its machines exported to France. William Cockerill became tremendously rich and retired in 1813, passing his business to his son John Cockerill. William Cockerill died at in Aachen, Prussia in 1832.
Children
William Cockerill had three sons: William, Charles James, and John. He also had a daughter, Nancy, who married James Hodson.
