Thomas Newcomen

Comparatively little is known of Newcomen's later life. After 1715 the engine affairs were conducted through an unincorporated company, the 'Proprietors of the Invention for Raising Water by Fire'. Its secretary and treasurer was John Meres, clerk to the Society of Apothecaries in London. That society formed a company which had a monopoly on supplying medicines to the Navy providing a close link with Savery, whose will he witnessed. The Committee of the Proprietors also included Edward Wallin, a Baptist of Swedish descent; and pastor of a church at Maze Pond, Southwark. Newcomen died at Wallin's house in 1729, and was buried at Bunhill Fields burial ground on the outskirts of the City of London: the exact site of his grave is unknown.

By 1733 about 125 Newcomen engines, operating under Savery's patent (extended by statute so that it did not expire until 1733), had been installed by Newcomen and others in most of the important mining districts of Britain and on the Continent of Europe: draining coal mines in the Black Country, Warwickshire and near Newcastle upon Tyne; at tin and copper mines in Cornwall; and in lead mines in Flintshire and Derbyshire, amongst other places.

In 1964 the Newcomen Society of London arranged for a Newcomen engine at Hawkesbury Junction, Warwickshire to be transferred to Dartmouth, where it can be seen working using a hydraulic arrangement instead of the steam boiler. According to Dr. Cyril Boucher of the Newcomen Society, this Newcomen Memorial Engine dates from about 1725, with new valve gear and other parts added later.

On 23 February 2012 the Royal Mail released a stamp featuring Newcomen's atmospheric steam engine as part its "Britons of Distinction" series.

Perhaps the last Newcomen-style engine to be used commercially – and the last still remaining on its original site – is at the Elsecar Heritage Centre, near Barnsley in South Yorkshire. It was restored to working condition between 2012 and 2015, the refurbished engine was unveiled by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, in May 2016. Another Newcomen engine that can be shown working is the modern replica engine at the Black Country Museum in Dudley, West Midlands. The Newcomen Memorial Engine at Dartmouth can be seen moving, but is worked by hydraulics.