Josep Bonaplata i Corriol (1795 - Bunyol, 2 June 1843) was a Catalan industrial entrepreneur known for introducing the steam engine into Catalonia and Spain. His parents, Ramon Bonaplata and Teresa Corriol, were textile manufacturers, principally of chintz, and he had three brothers, Salvador, Ramon and Narcís. Youth and trip to England Josep Bonaplata worked at the family factory until his father retired and the business was inherited by his older brother, Salvador. In 1828 Josep and his friend Joan Vilaregut then started a cotton textile factory in Sallent, with mechanical looms that were hydro-powered by the Llobregat river. In 1829, in an attempt to modernise his business, he was given permission by the Spanish government to import an English steam engine. Bonaplata travelled to Britain with Joan Rull and a man named Camps to learn about the textile industry in Lancashire and to buy the necessary machinery from the Boulton & Watt manufactory in Birmingham. In London, he received authorisation to import a steam engine from the Spanish ambassador Francisco Cea Bermúdez. Bonaplata and Rull returned to Catalonia in July 1830, but Camps stayed in Manchester to continue learning about the machinery, in particular Richard Roberts' self-acting spinning mule, which Bonaplata planned to produce under licence. Industrial entrepreneur On 30 September 1831 Bonaplata formed the firm Bonaplata, Rull, Vilaregut i Cia with his three brothers, his friend Joan Vilaregut, and his new partner Joan Rull. The company was capitalized with 1.600.000 reales. The Bonaplata Factory (also known as El Vapor) was in Carrer Tallers in Barcelona's Raval neighborhood, and it had two activities: in 1832 an iron foundry was installed with a workshop for making mechanical looms, and in November 1833 the mechanical weaving and spinning manufactory opened. This was the first factory in Spain to use a steam engine to power machinery. Its value and social impact was immediately recognised, as it employed roughly 700 people, and it inspired the modernisation of the economy. However, the factory was assaulted and burned on the night of 4 and 5 August 1835 by Luddite gangs known as Bullangues The losses from the disaster were put at 2.696.625 reales. Bonaplata sued the Spanish government for failing to stop the riot. Initially, the government tried to elude responsibility, but then asked the Cortes Generales (parliament) for permission to pay a compensation. On 1 April 1837, Josep Bonaplata appeared before the Cortes and