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Richard
Arkwright the
youngest of thirteen children was born in Preston
in 1732. Richard's parents were very poor and could not afford to
send him to school and instead arranged for him to be taught to read
and write by his cousin Ellen.
Richard became a barber's apprentice. However, he was an ambitious
young man and had a strong desire to run his own company. In 1762
Arkwright started a wig-making business. This involved him travelling
the country collecting people's discarded hair.
While on his travels, Arkwright heard about the attempts being made
to produce new machines for the textile industry. Arkwright also met
John Kay, a clockmaker from Warrington, who had been busy for some
time trying to produce a new spinning-machine with another man, Thomas
Highs of Leigh. Kay and Highs had run out of money and had been forced
to abandon the project.
Arkwright was impressed by Kay and offered to employ him to make this
new machine. Arkwright also recruited other local craftsman to help,
and it was not long before the team produced the Spinning-Frame.
Arkwright's machine involved three sets of paired rollers that turned
at different speeds. While these rollers produced yarn of the correct
thickness, a set of spindles twisted the fibres firmly together. The
machine was able to produce a thread that was far stronger than that
made by the Spinning-Jenny produced by
James Hargreaves.
In 1769 Arkwright went to Ichabod Wright, a banker from Nottingham,
in search of funds to expand his business. Wright introduced Arkwright
to Jedediah Strutt and Samuel Need. Strutt
and Need were impressed with Arkwright's water-frame and agreed to
form a partnership.
Arkwright's Spinning-Frame was too large
to be operated by hand and so the men had to find another method of
working the machine. After experimenting with horses, it was decided
to employ the power of the water-wheel. In 1771 the three men set
up a large factory next to the River Derwent in Cromford, Derbyshire.
Arkwright's machine now became known as the Water-Frame.
The invention of the Spinning Jenny and
the Spinning Frame caused an increase in
demand for cardings and rovings. Lewis Paul had invented a machine
for carding in 1748. Richard Arkwright made improvements in this machine
and in 1775 took out a patent for a new Carding
Engine.
In Cromford there were not enough local people
to supply Arkwright with the workers he needed. After building a large
number of cottages close to the factory, he imported workers from
all over Derbyshire. Arkwright preferred weavers with large families.
While the women and children worked in his spinning-factory, the weavers
worked at home turning the yarn into cloth.
When Samuel Need died on 14th April, 1781. Arkwright and Jedediah
Strutt decided to dissolve their partnership. Strutt was disturbed
by Arkwright's plans to build mills in Manchester,
Winkworth, Matlock Bath and Bakewell. Strutt believed that Arkwright
was expanding too fast and without the support of Need, his long-time
partner, he was unwilling to take the risk of further investments.
Arkwright'stextile factories were very profitable. He now built factories
in Lancashire, Staffordshire and Scotland. In these factories he used
the new steam-engine that had recently been developed by James
Watt and Matthew Boulton. When businessmen
heard about Arkwright's success, they sent spies to find out what
was going on in his factories. In exchange for money, some of Arkwright's
employees were willing to explain how the factory was organised. Businessmen
then used this information to build their own water-powered textile
factories.
Richard Arkwright's employees worked from six in the morning to seven
at night. Although some of the factory owners employed children as
young as five, Arkwright's policy was to wait until they reached the
age of six. Two-thirds of Arkwright's 1,900 workers were children.
Like most factory owners, Arkwright was unwilling to employ people
over the age of forty.
Richard Arkwright died
in 1792. The Gentleman's Magazine
claimed that on his death, Arkwright was worth over £500,000.
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