Editing Richard Arkwright (section)

==Life and family==
[[File:Susannah Arkwright, mrs Charles Hurt (1762–1835) and her daughter Mary Anne, by Joseph Wright of Derby.jpg|thumb|left|Susannah Arkwright, Mrs Charles Hurt (1762–1835), and her daughter Mary Anne (painting by [[Joseph Wright of Derby]])]]
Richard Arkwright was born in [[Preston, Lancashire|Preston]], [[Lancashire]], England on 23 December 1732, the youngest of seven surviving children<!--{{efn-lr|Thirteen children were born but the others died in infancy}}-->. His father, Thomas, was a tailor and a [[Preston Guild]] [[Burgess (title)|burgess]]. Richard's parents, Sarah and Thomas, could not afford to send him to school and instead arranged for him to be taught to read and write by his cousin Ellen. He was apprenticed to a Mr Nicholson, a barber at the nearby town of [[Kirkham, Lancashire|Kirkham]], and began his working life as a barber and wig-maker, setting up a shop at Churchgate in [[Bolton]] in the early 1760s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smiles |first1=Samuel |title=Self Help: With Illustrations of Character and Conduct |year=1861 |publisher=Ticknor and Fields |location=Boston |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_P5EWAAAAYAAJ/page/n56 47] |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_P5EWAAAAYAAJ |quote=self help samuel smiles. |access-date=2018-12-21}}</ref> It was here that he invented a waterproof dye for use on the fashionable [[wig|periwigs]] of the time, the income from which later funded his prototype cotton machinery.

Arkwright married his first wife, Patience Holt, in 1755. They had a son, [[Richard Arkwright Junior]], who was born the same year. Patience died in 1756, and then in 1761 Arkwright, aged 29, married Margaret Biggins. They had three children, of whom only Susannah survived to adulthood. At some time after the death of his first wife, Arkwright became interested in the development of [[carding]] and [[spinning (textiles)|spinning]] machinery to replace hand labour in the conversion of raw cotton to thread for weaving.

===Spinning frame===
In 1768, Arkwright and [[John Kay (spinning frame)|John Kay]], a clockmaker,<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Origins of Engineering in Lancashire |first1=A. E. |last1=Musson |first2=E. |last2= Robinson |journal=The Journal of Economic History |volume=20 |issue=2 |date=June 1960 |pages=209–233 |jstor=2114855 |publisher=Cambridge University Press; Economic History Association|doi=10.1017/S0022050700110435 |s2cid=154008652 }}</ref> returned to Preston, renting rooms in a house on Stoneygate (now called [[Arkwright House, Preston|Arkwright House]]), where they worked on a spinning machine. In 1769 Arkwright patented the [[spinning frame]], a machine which produced twisted threads (initially for [[warp (weaving)|warp]]s only), using wooden and metal cylinders rather than human fingers. This machine, initially powered by horses (see [[#Cromford Mill|below]]), greatly reduced the cost of cotton-spinning, and would lead to major changes in the textile industry.

===Carding engine===
[[Lewis Paul]] had invented a machine for [[carding]] in 1748. Arkwright made improvements to this machine and in 1775 took out a patent for a new carding engine, which converted raw cotton to a continuous skein prior to spinning.<ref name="Povijest 12">{{cite book |editor1=[[Ivo Goldstein]]  |editor2= Kristina Milković |editor3= Enrico Craveto |location= [[Zagreb]] |date=n.d. |orig-date=2008 |title=Povijest 12: kolonijalizam i građanske revolucije |publisher=[[Europapress holding]] |page=67 |translator=Ana Bedurina |language= hr |isbn=978-953-300-046-6 }}</ref>
The machine used a succession of uneven rollers rotating at increasingly higher speeds to draw out the [[roving]], before applying a twist via a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism. It could make cotton [[yarn|thread]] thin and strong enough for the warp threads of [[Textile|cloth]].

===Cromford Mill===
Arkwright and John Smalley of Preston set up a small horse-driven factory at [[Nottingham]]. To obtain capital for expansion, Arkwright formed a partnership with [[Jedediah Strutt]] and Samuel Need, wealthy [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]] hosiery manufacturers. In 1771, the partners built the world's first water-powered mill at [[Cromford Mill|Cromford]], which covered both carding and spinning operations and employed 200 people.

[[File:Arkright's Mill - Cromford 29-04-06.jpg|thumb|Arkwright's mill at Cromford]]
In 1776 Arkwright built a second, larger mill at Cromford and, soon afterwards, mills at [[Bakewell]], [[Wirksworth]] and elsewhere (see [[#Factories and the factory system|below]]). His success as a businessman and innovator was widely recognized in his own time. The spinning frame was a large advance over [[James Hargreaves|Hargreaves]]'s [[spinning jenny]], in that very little training was required to operate the machinery, which produced a strong yarn suitable for [[Warp (weaving)|warp]] threads.

===Grand Patent===
To strengthen his position in relation to his many competitors and emulators, Arkwright obtained a "grand patent" in 1775, which he hoped would consolidate his position within the fast-growing cotton industry. Public opinion, however, was bitterly hostile to exclusive patents, and in 1781 Arkwright initiated legal proceedings to assert his rights. The case dragged on in court until 1785, when it was finally settled against him on the grounds that his specifications were deficient: the court had also heard assertions that the spinning frame was actually the invention of Arkwright's employee [[John Kay (spinning frame)|John Kay]], or of [[Thomas Highs]], Kay's previous employer.{{Citation needed|date=August 2014}}

===Factories and the factory system===
[[File:Masson Mills and Willersley Castle, Cromford - geograph.org.uk - 1194578.jpg|thumb|[[Masson Mill]] on the River Derwent, and Arkwright's house [[Willersley Castle]], completed only after his death.]]
With the expansion of the mill at Cromford, it soon became apparent that the existing population of the town would be inadequate to provide the labour needed for the scale of operations which Arkwright was planning. He therefore brought in workers from outside the locality, building a cluster of cottages near the mill to house them (he also built the Greyhound public house, which still stands in Cromford market square). Stuart Fisher states that the workers' homes are now considered to be "the first factory housing development in the world".<ref>
{{cite book |last=Fisher |first=Stuart |date=12 January 2017 |title=The Canals of Britain: The Comprehensive Guide |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nFh5DQAAQBAJ&q=Arkwright%2C+built+in+cromford&pg=PA77 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |page=77|isbn=978-1-4729-4002-5 }}</ref>

Arkwright instigated novel and highly disciplined working arrangements at Cromford. Work was organised in two 13-hour shifts per day, including an overlap for the change of shift.{{citation needed|date=April 2022}} Bells rang at 5&nbsp;am and 5&nbsp;pm and the gates were shut precisely at 6&nbsp;am and 6&nbsp;p.m.: anyone who was late was excluded from work for the rest of the day and lost an extra day's pay. Arkwright encouraged weavers with large families to move to Cromford. Whole families were employed, including large numbers of children as young as seven (subsequently increased to ten); and towards the end of his tenure, nearly two-thirds of the 1,150 employees were children.{{Citation needed|date=August 2018}} He allowed employees a week's holiday a year, on condition that they did not travel beyond the town.

After establishing the mill at Cromford, Arkwright returned to Lancashire and took up a lease of the Birkacre mill at [[Chorley]], which was to become a catalyst for the town's growth into one of the most important industrialised towns of the Industrial Revolution.
In 1777 Arkwright leased the [[Haarlem Mill]] in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, where he installed the first [[steam engine]] to be used in a cotton mill (this was used to replenish the millpond that drove the mill's [[waterwheel]] rather than to drive the machinery directly{{sfn|Fitton|1989|p=57}}{{sfn|Tann|1979|p=248}}).
He was invited to [[Scotland]], where he assisted [[David Dale]] in establishing cotton mills at [[New Lanark]]. A large mill of Arkwright's at Birkacre in Lancashire, was destroyed in the anti-machinery riots of 1779.

===Later life===
Aggressive and self-sufficient, Arkwright was a difficult man to work with. He bought out all his partners and went on to build factories at [[Manchester]], [[Matlock Bath]], New Lanark (in partnership with David Dale) and elsewhere. He was a member of the [[Church of England]], unlike many entrepreneurs of the time, who were often nonconformist.

Arkwright served as [[High Sheriff of Derbyshire]] and was knighted in 1786.<ref>{{cite book | title =The Forging of the Modern State: Early Industrial Britain | first =Eric | last =Evans | year =1983 | publisher =Longman Group | page =[https://archive.org/details/forgingofmoderns00evan/page/112 112] | url =https://archive.org/details/forgingofmoderns00evan/page/112 | isbn =0-582-48970-9 | url-access =registration }}</ref>

He also built [[Willersley Castle]], now a [[Grade II* listed building]], in 1791; after a fire in 1792, it was rebuilt and occupied by his son [[Richard Arkwright junior]] starting in 1796.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.countrylife.co.uk/property/a-castle-that-might-just-pay-for-itself-has-come-to-the-market-in-one-of-englands-most-beautiful-areas-217901 |title=A castle that might just pay for itself has come to the market in one of England's most beautiful areas |first=Toby |last=Keel |date=24 August 2020 |magazine=Country Life |access-date=30 August 2020}}</ref> Arkwright died at Rock House, Cromford, on 3 August 1792, aged 59, leaving a fortune of £500,000. He was buried at [[St Giles' Church, Matlock]]. His remains were later moved to the family chapel near the castle, now [[St Mary's Church, Cromford]].<ref>{{cite web | title = Famous People of Derbyshire | url = http://www.visitderbyshire.co.uk/about_famouspeople.ihtml#richard_arkwright |website=Visit Derbyshire| access-date = 2008-04-21}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | title = Richard Arkwright | url = http://www.thornber.net/cheshire/ideasmen/arkwright.html | access-date = 2008-04-21 |last1=Thornber |first1=Craig }}</ref>
<!-- This material does not add to what is said elsewhere.
==Achievements==
[[File:arkwright-water-frame.jpg|thumb|right|An Arkwright water frame that was made in 1775.]]
Arkwright was the driver in terms of organisation and finance in the development of both the spinning frame and the carding machine, although critical technical contributions were made by others. Thus his main contribution was not so much the inventions per se, as the highly disciplined and profitable factory system he set up at Cromford, which was widely emulated. -->