Wolseley, Frederick York (1837-1899), an Australian sheep farmer, invented the shearing machine. He experimented with models of his machine from 1867 to 1883, but his first three patents were not successful. In 1883, John Howard, a trained mechanic from the United Kingdom, worked on the third model and greatly improved its performance. Together, Wolseley and Howard formed the Wolseley Shearing Machine Company.
Wolseley was born on March 16, 1837, in Kingston, near Dublin, Ireland. He immigrated to Australia in 1854. There, he worked as an assistant manager at a sheep station (ranch). In 1876, he bought a sheep property at Walgett, in New South Wales. Wolseley died on Jan. 8, 1899.
