Arkwright

Arkwright, Sir Richard, Knt., was born at Preston in 1732. He started in life as a barber, but, in conjunction with Kay, a clockmaker at Warrington, invented, about 1768, a machine for carding cotton, so as to adapt it for being dealt with by the spinning jenny of Hargreaves. The two inventions revolutionised the manufacture of cotton goods. He patented his spinning-frame in 1769, and entering into partnership with Mr. Smalley, started in business at Preston. This attempt was unsuccessful, so he moved to Nottingham, where he employed horse-power to work his machinery. A little later he combined with two capitalists, Mr. Strutt and Mr. Need, to start a mill at Cromford, near Matlock, using the water of the Derwent for motive power. Here in the course of twenty years he amassed a large fortune, though his patent was set aside by the Court of King's Bench in 1789; and here he died in 1792, after receiving the honour of knighthood, not so much for his inventive genius as for a loyal address to George III.