Born December 3, 1753. Died June 26, 1827.

Few men, perhaps, have ever conferred so great a benefit on their country and reaped so little profit for themselves as Samuel Crompton, inventor of the Spinning Mule. He was born at Firwood, in the township of Tonge near Bolton, where his parents occupied a farm, and spent their leisure hours according to the custom of the period—in the operations of carding, spinning, and weaving. Soon after the birth of Samuel, the Cromptons removed to a cottage near Lower Wood in the same township, and afterwards, when their child was five years old, to a portion of the neighbouring ancient mansion called Hall-in-the-Wood. Almost immediately after this last removal Samuel's father died, at the early age of thirty seven, and he was left to be brought up under the care of his mother, a prudent and virtuous woman, who took care that her son should have the benefit of all available means of education. Samuel first attended the school of Mr. Lever in Church Street, Bolton, but was very early removed to the school of William Barlow, a master well known at that time for his success as a teacher of writing, arithmetic, and the higher branches of mathematics.

From the exigencies of her situation, Mrs. Crompton was compelled to take advantage of her son's assistance, as soon as she possibly could, and there is little doubt that Samuel's legs must have been accustomed to the loom almost as soon as they were long enough to touch the treddles. Little, however, is known of his early life until the year 1769. He was then sixteen years old, and continued to reside with his mother, occupied during the day at the loom and spending his evenings at a school in Bolton, where he advanced his knowledge of algebra, mathematics, and trigonometry. For some years previous to this period there had been a greatly increased demand for all kinds of cotton goods, particularly for imitations of the fine muslins imported from India; and many attempts were made by the manufacturers in Lancashire and Scotland to produce similar fabrics, but without success, for the handspun yarn of this country could not compete with the delicate filaments produced by Hindoo fingers. Still, the demand for fine cottons of various kinds was so considerable, that the weavers, for the sake of high wages, were stimulated to make great exertions. But they were continually impeded by the scarcity of yarn for weft, which often kept them idle half their time, or compelled them to collect it in small quantities from the cottages round about.

Another important cause of this scarcity had been the invention of the fly-shuttle, by Kay of Bury, in 1738, which by doubling the speed of the weaver's operations, had destroyed the arrangement which, up to that time, existed between the quantity of yarn spun and the weavers' demand for it. This natural balance, the fly-shuttle suddenly disturbed, and, notwithstanding the great efforts of others, it was not again adjusted until after Crompton's invention was in full operation. Such was the weavers' state of starvation for yarn, when, in 1767, Hargreaves invented the jenny, which enabled a number of threads to be spun at the same time.

It was on one of these machines with eight spindles, that Samuel Crompton was in the habit of spinning the yarn which he afterwards wove into quilting, and he continued thus occupied for the five following years. During this period, being debarred from company and accustomed to solitude, he began to show a taste for music; to gratify which he was led to the first trial of his mechanical skill in making a violin, upon which he commenced learning to play. With this musical friend Crompton would beguile many a long winter night, or during the summer evenings wander contemplatively among the green lanes, or by the margin of the pleasant brook that swept round the romantic old residence of Hall-in-the-Wood. He had, however, little leisure in general to spend with his favourite instrument; the necessities of his situation compelled him to perform daily a certain amount of weaving, and he only succeeded in performing this at the expense of much time lost in mending the ever breaking ends of the yarn spun on Hargreave's machine, which was of a very soft nature, and quite unfitted for warps or for the muslins so much in demand.

During this same period Arkwright had risen to eminence, by adopting and carrying into practice the ideas of Highs,[13] and one Kay a clockmaker, and had constructed his water-frame, which by means of rollers produced thread of a very superior texture and firmness. It remained, however, for Crompton to combine in his machine the improvements of Hargreaves and Arkwright, and hence was derived the name given to it of the Spinning-Mule.

Crompton commenced the construction of this machine, which for many years was known by the name of the 'Hall-i'-th'-Wood Wheels,' in the year 1774. His first spinning-mule was constructed chiefly in wood, by the aid of a scanty supply of tools which had been left by his father, who, enthusiastically fond of music, had shortly before his death commenced making an organ. With the help of these tools, and the assistance which a small wayside smithy afforded him, Samuel Crompton completed that invention which, from the extended benefits it has conferred upon our commerce, entitles him to rank amongst the greatest inventors Britain has ever produced. The important part of his invention was the spindle carriage, and the principle of there being no strain upon the thread until it was completed. This was accomplished by causing the carriage with the spindles to recede by the movement of the hand and knee, just as the rollers delivered out the elongated thread in a soft state, so that it would allow of a considerable stretch, before the thread had to encounter the stress of winding upon the spindle. "This," as the late Mr. Kennedy of Manchester truly said, "was the corner stone of his invention."

When Crompton was on the eve of completing his first mule, about the year 1779, the Blackburn spinners and weavers, who had previously driven Hargreaves from his home, again commenced their riotous proceedings, and began to destroy all the jennys round about, which had more than twenty spindles. Crompton, fearful lest his new machine should meet with a similar fate, took it to pieces and kept it hid in a loft above the ceiling of his room during several weeks. In the course of the same year, however, the Hall-i'-th'-Wood Wheel was completed, and the yarn spun on it proved fit for the manufacture of muslins of an extremely fine and delicate texture.

Shortly before this, Crompton had married Mary Pimlott, the daughter of a gentleman residing at New Keys Hall, near Warrington. After his marriage he lived in a cottage attached to the old Hall, though he still continued to occupy part of the mansion, in one of whose large rooms he now operated upon the mule with the utmost secrecy and with perfect success, startling the manufacturing world by the production of yarn which both in fineness and firmness had hitherto been unattainable. This seems to have been the happiest portion of Crompton's life. He was then twenty-seven years of age, and the acknowledged inventor of a machine which, from the first hour of its operation, altered the entire system of cotton manufacture in this country. Its merit was universally acknowledged by all engaged in the trade who had an opportunity to examine the yarn spun on it, or the fabrics made from that yarn; but paradoxical as it may appear, the very perfection of his principle of spinning, was in a measure instrumental in depriving him of the harvest for which he had so laboriously worked.

The demand for his yarn became so extensive and urgent, that the old Hall was literally besieged by manufacturers and others from the surrounding districts—many of whom came to purchase yarn, but many more to try and penetrate the mystery of the new wheel, and to discover if possible the principle of its operations. All kinds of stratagems were practised in order to obtain admission to the house; and one inquisitive adventurer is said to have ensconced himself for some days in the cockloft, where he watched Samuel at work through a gimlet-hole pierced through the ceiling.

Crompton, at length wearied out, and seeing the utter impossibility of retaining his secret, or of spinning upon the machine with the undisturbed secrecy he desired, yielded to the urgent solicitations, and liberal but deceitful promises of numerous manufacturers, and surrendered to them not only the secret of the principle upon which he spun the much prized yarn, but likewise the machine itself. This he did on the faith of an agreement drawn up by themselves, in which they promised to subscribe certain sums as a reward for his improvement in spinning. No sooner, however, was the mule given up to the public than the subscriptions entirely ceased, and many of those who had previously put down their names evaded or refused payment; some actually denounced Crompton as an impostor, and when he respectfully put before them their own written agreement, asked him how he dared to come on such an errand!

The gross sum of money realized by this subscription amounted to between 50 and 100l. Mr. Crompton himself says:—"I received as much by way of subscription as built me a new machine, with only four spindles more than the one I had given up—the old one having forty-eight, and the new one fifty-two spindles." This shameful treatment rested in Crompton's memory through life, and to the morbid distrust of his fellow-men, which it engendered, may be ascribed many of the misfortunes which attended his succeeding life.

About the year 1785 Mr. Crompton removed from the 'Hall-in-the-Wood' to a farmhouse at Oldhams, in the township of Sharples, about two miles from Bolton. Here he farmed several acres of land, and kept three or four cows; while in the upper story of the house was erected his spinning mule, upon which he continued to spin with as much privacy as possible. He was, nevertheless, still troubled by many curious visitors, who were desirous of seeing the improvements he was supposed to have made on it. Among others he received two visits from the first Sir Robert Peel, then an eminent though untitled manufacturer, who came with the hope of inducing Crompton to join his establishment, and on his second visit made him an offer of partnership. It is much to be regretted that this offer was declined, as Mr. Peel's enterprising business character was exactly that most suited for supporting Crompton's great inventive genius. Had these two men continued as partners at this particular time, the successful development of the cotton trade would have been hastened by at least twenty years, while a large and well deserved fortune might have been secured to Crompton and his children.

Excelling all other spinners in the quality and fineness of his yarn, Crompton continued to obtain a high price for all he could produce, but his production was restricted to the work of his own hands, (an increasing family having deprived him of the aid of his wife); for whenever he commenced to teach any new hands to assist him in his work, no matter how strictly they were bound to serve him by honour, by gratitude, or by law, as soon as they acquired a little knowledge and experience under his tuition, they were invariably seduced from his service by his wealthy competitors; so that he was ultimately compelled to renounce the use of his mules, and betake himself to his original occupation of weaving, or at least to spin only such yarn as he could employ in his own looms as a small manufacturer.

In 1800 some gentlemen of Manchester, among whom ought to be mentioned Mr. George Lee and Mr. Kennedy, sensible that Mr. Crompton had been illused and neglected, agreed, without his knowledge, to promote a subscription on such a scale as would result in a substantial reward for his labours. But this scheme, although generous and noble in its intention, in a great measure failed. Before it could be carried out, the country suffered severe distress from a failure in the crops; in addition to this the horrors of the French Revolution approached their crisis; war broke out, and trade was all but extinguished. Ultimately, all that could be realized amounted to about 450l., and this was handed over to Crompton to enable him to increase his operations in spinning and weaving.

In October, 1807, Mr. Crompton, in the hopes of gaining the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, wrote a letter to him, but unfortunately addressed it to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Society of Arts, and it is probable that Sir Joseph never read the letter, but transmitted it to the Society to which it was addressed; in any case, no notice was taken of this letter, and Crompton's too morbidly sensitive mind thus received an additional wound.

Two or three years after this, his family circumstances became very precarious, and in the undefined hope of yet obtaining some recompense for his labours which might better his position, Crompton, in the year 1811, commenced a statistical investigation into the results of his invention. For this purpose he visited the various manufacturing districts of Great Britain, and, from the information he obtained, calculated that between four and five millions of mule spindles were then in actual use. But this estimate was afterwards found to be much too low, as it did not include any of the numerous mules used in the manufacture of woollen yarn.

A story is told of Mr. Crompton, that, when at Glasgow engaged in collecting this information, he was invited to a complimentary dinner, but his courage was unable to carry him through so formidable an ordeal; and so when the time came for going, to use his own words, "rather than face up, I first hid myself and then fairly bolted from the city."

Mr. Crompton laid the result of his investigation before some kind friends[14] at Manchester, who undertook to draw up a memorial to Parliament on his behalf. But in this matter Crompton's continued ill-fortune was singularly displayed. When the time came for the grant to be proposed to Parliament (May 11, 1812), Mr. Percival, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had intended proposing 20,000l. as the sum to be awarded, was assassinated while entering the lobby of the House of Commons. Crompton's petition was consequently postponed, and ultimately 5000l. was all that was awarded to the Inventor of the Spinning-Mule; and thus, after having haunted the lobby of the House of Commons for five wearisome months, Samuel Crompton went back to Bolton with this shadow of a national reward.

Late in life Mr. Crompton's family became dispersed, and as old age crept on he became less and less fitted for business, and now for the first time sank into actual poverty.

A noble effort was, however, made by some of the inhabitants of Bolton to rescue him from his distressing position, and by their efforts an annuity of 63l. per annum was secured to him for the remainder of his life.

In the year 1827 Samuel Crompton's melancholy life came to an end. He died at his house in King Street, Great Bolton, aged seventy-three, of no particular complaint, but by the gradual decay of nature. His body was placed in a grave near the centre of the parish churchyard, underneath a flagstone with the following inscription:—"Beneath this stone are interred the mortal remains of Samuel Crompton, of Bolton, late of Hall-i'-th'-Wood, in the township of Tonge, inventor of the spinning machine called the Mule; who departed this life the 26th day of June, 1827, aged seventy-two years."[15]—The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton, &c., by Gilbert J. French, F.S.A., &c. Manchester and London, 1860.