In the history of trade there is nothing so remarkable as the rapid and immense increase of the British cotton manufacture during the last thirty years of the eighteenth century. Two nearly contemporaneous discoveries concurred to produce that increase: the invention of machinery for spinning; and the improvement, we might almost say completion, of the steam-engine by James Watt. To his eminent merits we have borne our testimony in the first volume of this work; and scarcely less important, though less imposing, have been the services of the ingenious men who contrived to spin thread without the use of the human hand. We do not hesitate to take Arkwright as the representative of those who wrought this great revolution in our manufacturing system, for though recent evidence has refuted his claim to the invention, properly speaking, of spinning by machinery, he was the first person who rendered that invention profitable.

By the year 1760, the manufacture of cotton goods, which had been increasing slowly from the beginning of the century, had attained considerable importance. In 1764, the declared value of British cotton goods exported was upwards of 200,000l., having increased tenfold within forty or fifty years. At this period the demand for them exceeded the supply, in consequence of the difficulty of obtaining a sufficient quantity of yarn for weaving. The one-thread spinning-wheel, now nearly banished from our cottages, was then the sole source from which spun-yarn could be obtained; and the trades of spinning and weaving were commonly united in a humble manner—the man wove, while his wife and daughters spun. If this domestic supply was insufficient, the weaver had often to waste time and labour in collecting materials for his daily work. Mr. Guest states, that “it was no uncommon thing for a weaver to walk three or four miles in a morning, and call on five or six spinners, before he could collect weft to serve him for the remainder of the day; and when he wished to weave a piece in a shorter time than usual, a new ribbon or a gown was necessary to quicken the exertions of the spinner.” This check existing on the industry of the weaver, it is no wonder that mechanical ingenuity was tasked to invent a quicker way of spinning. The principle of the first plan by which this was effected may be easily explained. Suppose a ribbon placed between two horizontal cylinders which are in contact with each other; if the cylinders are made to revolve, it is evident that they will draw the ribbon onwards in the direction of their motion. Again, if the foremost end of it be presented to a second pair of similar revolving cylinders, it will be drawn through these also. If both pairs revolve with exactly the same velocity, it will pass through them unaltered; but if the second pair revolve with greater velocity than the first, there will be a certain strain on the intermediate ribbon, which, if extensible, will be stretched in the same degree that the velocity of the second pair of rollers exceeds that of the first. Now cotton, after being cleaned and carded, comes from the card in fleecy rolls, the fibres of which are laid parallel, and so made fit to spin. To reduce these to thread or yarn takes more than one operation: the first brings the cardings into thick, loosely twisted threads, called rovings; the subsequent ones reduce the rovings into yarn fit for the loom. It is evident that both the cardings and rovings are fitted by their texture for the process of extension by rollers described above; and that they would be drawn out twofold, fourfold, or in any greater or less degree, proportionate to the difference of velocity between the first and second pair of rollers. From the second pair the thread is delivered to a spindle, which gives the due degree of twist; and it is finally wound on a bobbin: the whole being set in motion by the same mechanical power. It is evident that many spindles might be attached to, and many threads spun by, the same combination of rollers. Arkwright claimed the merit of this invention. It is proved, however, by the undeniable evidence of an existing patent, printed by Mr. Baines in his History of the Cotton Manufacture, that this principle of spinning by rollers was patented so early as the year 1738, by a foreigner named Lewis Paul; the real inventor was John Wyatt, of Birmingham. In their hands however, though the invention did not absolutely fail, it did not so succeed as to be brought into general use, or even to become profitable to the inventors. Simple and obvious as the principle appears when once laid down, great difficulties were to be overcome in forming this stretched cotton into a useful thread; as may be conceived from reflecting on the great rapidity with which, to make spinning profitable, parts of the machine must move, the perfect regularity of motion requisite, and the slightness of the strain which a few untwisted filaments of cotton will bear. For the apparently trivial object of producing a uniform line of fine yarn, the utmost efforts of mechanical ingenuity have been called forth, and some of the most beautiful, delicate, and powerful machinery in existence has been constructed. It was in overcoming these difficulties that the talent or perseverance of Paul and Wyatt failed; the merit of conquering them, and giving birth to a new system of manufacture, belongs to Arkwright. We quote the following notice of his early life from Mr. Baines:—

“Richard Arkwright rose by the force of his natural talents from a very humble condition in society. He was born at Preston, December 23, 1732, of poor parents. Being the youngest of thirteen children, his parents could only afford to give him an education of the humblest kind, and he was scarcely able to write. He was brought up to the trade of a barber, at Kirkham and Preston, and established himself in that business at Bolton, in 1760. Having become possessed of a chemical process for dyeing human hair, which in that day, when wigs were universal, was of considerable value, he travelled about collecting hair, and again disposing of it when dyed. In 1761, he married a wife from Leigh, and the connexions he thus formed in that town are supposed to have afterwards brought him acquainted with Highs’s experiments in making spinning machines. He himself manifested a strong bent for experiments in mechanics, which he is stated to have followed with so much devotedness as to have neglected his business and injured his circumstances. His natural disposition was ardent, enterprising, and stubbornly persevering; his mind was as coarse as it was bold and active, and his manners were rough and unpleasing.”

In the course of his travels in 1767, he fell in with a clockmaker, named Kay, at Warrington, whom he employed as a workman in prosecuting some of his mechanical experiments. Kay, according to his own account, gave Arkwright some description of a machine contrived by one Highs, for spinning by rollers. It is certain that from thenceforward Arkwright abandoned his former pursuits, and applied himself, in conjunction with Kay, to the construction of a spinning machine. One Smalley, a liquor-merchant of Preston, assisted him with money; and the two, fearing lest they might be endangered by a riotous spirit which had been directed against machinery in Lancashire, went to settle at Nottingham. There Arkwright obtained an introduction to Messrs. Need and Strutt, two gentlemen largely engaged in the stocking manufactory, who appreciated his talents, and entered into partnership with him. What became of Mr. Smalley we do not hear. Arkwright took out a patent for his invention, which was enrolled, July 15, 1769. The partners erected a mill near Nottingham, which was turned by horse-power: but this was soon superseded by a much larger establishment at Cromford in Derbyshire, on the river Derwent, in which water-power was applied for the first time to the purpose of spinning; and from that circumstance Arkwright’s machine was called the water-frame.

As the difficulty of meeting the weavers’ demand for yarn had led to the invention of machines for spinning, so the rapid manufacture of yarn rendered it indispensable to facilitate the prior operations in preparing the raw material. Men’s minds had been turned to this object for some time. The operation of carding, whether wool or cotton, was at first done with hand-cards of small size. The first improvement was the invention of stock-cards, one of which was fixed, and the other held in the hand, or afterwards suspended from above, so that the workman could manage a much larger card, and prepare more cotton in a given time. The next and main improvement was placing cards lengthways upon a cylinder, which worked within a concave half cylinder of the same diameter. This process was patented by Paul in 1748. But he derived no profit from this, any more than from his former patent; and it was not until after the improvements in spinning that the method of carding by cylinders was brought into use. Arkwright was not the first to revive it, but he had a great share in perfecting the carding machinery when it had been revived. The raw cotton being carded, an extension, or rather a new application, of the principle of spinning by rollers converted the cardings into rovings, which again were made into yarn fit for the loom by the water-frame, or, as it is now called in an improved form, the throstle. Arkwright took out his second patent, December 16, 1775; this included the carding machine, drawing-frame, and roving-frame, a series of engines by which the cotton, from its raw state, was rendered fit for the last process of spinning. We shall not attempt to explain the construction of these elaborate machines, which can hardly be rendered intelligible even by the help of numerous plates.

The process of turning cotton-wool into thread by machinery was thus completed. Before we follow its effects upon Arkwright’s fortunes, it is proper to say a few words concerning other improvements. About, or somewhat earlier than, the time when Arkwright’s attention was first turned to spinning, a weaver named James Hargreaves, of Stand Hill, near Blackburn, invented a machine by which, according to the terms of the patent, sixteen or more threads might be spun by one person at the same time. This is the machine so well known under the name of the spinning-jenny. Hargreaves’ patent was invaded, and invalidated on technical grounds; so that his machine came rapidly into general use, and for spinning the weft was preferred to Arkwright’s water-frame, from which it was entirely different in principle. Samuel Crompton, an ingenious weaver resident near Bolton, between the years 1774 and 1779, tried to unite the principles of both, and produced a machine which, on that account, he called a mule. This, under different improved forms, is the machine now generally used in spinning; but the water-frame, or throstle, is still found to answer best for some kinds of work^[11]. But to return to the fortunes of Arkwright: the series of machines which he invented or improved gave an amazing impulse to the cotton trade. “Weavers could now obtain an unlimited quantity of yarn at a reasonable price; manufacturers could use warps of cotton, which were much cheaper than the linen warps formerly used. Cotton fabrics could be sold lower than had ever before been known. The demand for them consequently increased. The shuttle flew with fresh energy, and the weavers earned immoderately high wages. Spinning-mills were erected to supply the requisite quantity of yarn. The fame of Arkwright resounded through the land, and capitalists flocked to him to buy his patent machines, or permission to use them.” * * *

“The factory system in England takes its rise from this period. Hitherto the cotton manufacture had been carried on almost entirely in the houses of the workmen: the hand or stock-cards, the spinning-wheel, and the loom, required no larger apartment than that of a cottage. A spinning-jenny of small size might also be used in a cottage, and in many instances was so used; when the number of spindles was considerably increased, adjacent workshops were used. But the water-frame, the carding-engine, and the other machines which Arkwright brought out in a finished state, required both more space than could be found in a cottage, and more power than could be applied by the human arm. Their weight also made it necessary to place them in strongly-built mills, and they could not be advantageously turned by any power then known but that of water.”

“The use of machinery was accompanied by a greater division of labour than existed in the primitive state of the manufacture; the material went through many more processes, and of course the loss of time and the risk of waste would have been much increased, if its removal from house to house at every stage of the manufacture had been necessary. It became obvious that there were several important advantages in carrying on the numerous operations of an extensive manufacture in the same building. Where water-power was required, it was economy to build one mill, and put up one water-wheel, rather than several. This arrangement also enabled the master-spinner himself to superintend every stage of the manufacture; it gave him a greater security against the wasteful or fraudulent consumption of the material; it saved time in the transference of the work from hand to hand; and it prevented the extreme inconvenience which would have resulted from the failure of one class of workmen to perform their part, when several other classes of workmen were dependent upon them. Another circumstance which made it advantageous to have a large number of machines in one manufactory was, that mechanics must be employed on the spot to construct and repair the machinery, and that their time could not be fully occupied with only a few machines.”

“All these considerations drove the cotton-spinners to that important change in the economy of English manufactures, the introduction of the factory system; and when that system had once been adopted, such were its pecuniary advantages that mercantile competition would have rendered it impossible, even had it been desirable, to abandon it.” (Baines, ‘History of Cotton Manufacture,’ pages 183, 185.)

It was not to be expected that Arkwright would enjoy undisturbed so valuable a monopoly as that which he had created, and many persons infringed his patents, in the belief that he was not the real owner of the inventions which he claimed. An attempt was made in 1772 to set aside his first patent for the water-frame; but this failed, and he retained the enjoyment of that patent unquestioned till the expiration of the fourteen years. To preserve his second patent, for the carding, drawing, and roving machines, he brought several actions against master-spinners, one of which, against Colonel Mordaunt, was tried in 1781, and a verdict was obtained for the defendant, setting aside the patent. Arkwright for some time did not contest this decision. But in 1785, he made another attempt to establish his second patent before a court of law; and in the first instance obtained a verdict in his own favour, but on the cause being reheard, the patent was finally declared invalid.

Notwithstanding this defeat, Arkwright rapidly acquired a very large fortune, through the magnitude of his concerns, and his industry, penetration, and skill in business. On the dissolution of his partnership with the Messrs. Strutt about 1783, the extensive works at Cromford fell to his share. In 1786, he was High Sheriff of Derbyshire, and was knighted, on occasion of presenting an address to the King. We find no other record worth notice of the last years of his life. He died, August 3, 1792, in his sixtieth year.

Arkwright’s originality and honesty as an inventor have been violently impugned by Mr. Guest, in his History of the Cotton Manufacture. The arguments on the other side may be seen in the Edinburgh Review, No. 91, to which Guest published a reply. Mr. Baines’s History of the Cotton Manufacture, which we have chiefly followed and largely quoted from in this account, contains the latest and fullest account which we have seen of Arkwright’s character and history. There appears to have been some alloy of selfishness and disingenuousness in his disposition, some ground for the statement of counsel in the trial of 1785: “It is a notorious story in the manufacturing counties; all men that have seen Mr. Arkwright in a state of opulence have shaken their heads, and thought of these poor men, Highs and Kay, and have thought, too, that they were entitled to some participation of the profits.” Still it becomes us to speak with gentleness of the faults of a person to whose talents, nationally speaking, we owe so much: and there is much to be said in extenuation of them, in consideration of the lowness of his original calling, of the self-complacency and sensitive jealousy common to almost all schemers, and the fascination of wealth when it flows largely and unexpectedly upon a man bred in extreme poverty. As an inventor Arkwright’s merit is undeniable. Mr. Baines, who seems to have judged calmly and impartially, assigns to him the high praise, that “in improving and perfecting mechanical inventions, in exactly adapting them to the purposes for which they were intended, in arranging a comprehensive system of manufacturing, and in conducting vast and complicated concerns, he displayed a bold and fertile mind, and consummate judgment, which, when his want of education, and the influence of an employment so extremely unfavourable to mental expansion as that of his previous life, are considered, must have excited the astonishment of mankind. But the marvellous and ‘unbounded invention,’ which he claimed for himself and which has been too readily accorded to him—the creative faculty which devised all that admirable mechanism, so entirely new in its principles, and characteristic of the first order of mechanical genius—which has given a new spring to the industry of the world, and within half a century has reared up the most extensive manufacture ever known—this did not belong to Arkwright.” * * * * * * *

“The most marked traits in the character of Arkwright were his wonderful ardour, energy, and perseverance. He commonly laboured in his multifarious concerns from five o’clock in the morning till nine at night; and when considerably more than fifty years of age, feeling that the defects of his education placed him under great difficulty and inconvenience in conducting his correspondence, and in the general management of his business, he encroached upon his sleep, in order to gain an hour each day to learn English grammar, and another hour to improve his writing and orthography! He was impatient of whatever interfered with his favourite pursuits; and the fact is too strikingly characteristic not to be mentioned, that he separated from his wife not many years after his marriage, because she, convinced that he would starve his family by scheming when he should have been shaving, broke some of his experimental models of machinery. Arkwright was a severe economist of time; and, that he might not waste a moment, he generally travelled with four horses, and at a very rapid speed. His concerns in Derbyshire, Lancashire, and Scotland, were so extensive and numerous as to show at once his astonishing power of transacting business, and his all-grasping spirit. In many of these he had partners, but he generally managed in such a way that, whoever lost, he himself was a gainer. So unbounded was his confidence in the success of his machinery, and in the national wealth to be produced by it, that he would make light of discussions on taxation, and say that he would pay the national debt! His speculative schemes were vast and daring; he contemplated entering into the most extensive mercantile transactions, and buying up all the cotton in the world, in order to make an enormous profit by the monopoly; and from the extravagance of some of these designs, his judicious friends were of opinion that, if he had tried to put them in practice, he might have overset the whole fabric of his prosperity.”