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James Hargreaves The Tip of the Spear of the Industrial Revolution

A talk and demonstration of the Spinning Jenny.

A guided walk around the weavers' cottages of Stanhill Village.

Three hundred years ago, in 1720, a man was born in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, who would change the world forever. His invention, the Spinning Jenny, has been described as ‘the tip of the spear of the industrial revolution.’

The invention of the Spinning Jenny can now be seen as one of the leading events of the 18th century and Stanhill Village near Accrington was where it happened. Cotton weaving in the 18th century was cottage based. The life of the handloom weaver and their families was hard. They worked long hours and often mixed their textile work with other occupations such as farming. However, they also enjoyed a degree of independence and control over their lives that was soon to be taken away from them. In pursuit of improvements in the simple spinning and weaving technology available to them, the more enterprising handloom weavers experimented with different methods. Hargreaves introduced better and quicker methods of carding, a process which involved disentangling raw cotton and laying them out in rolls for spinning. Robert ‘Parsley’ Peel, a local farmer, cotton manufacturer and calico printer, supported Hargreaves in his work. The really groundbreaking moment took place in 1764 when Hargreaves produced the first Spinning Jenny. Legend has it that during a period of play at dinnertime the family’s traditional single spindle spinning wheel was knocked over. Hargreaves suddenly realised that a horizontal wheel would enable more than one vertical spindle to be operated. His first machine had eight vertical spindles, dramatically increasing the output of weft to the handloom. From this early prototype bigger machines were developed and improved with later models having 120 spindles. This required its relocation into mills. The factory system had arrived.

As production expanded the livelihoods of the traditional cotton spinners were threatened. Rebellions by handloom weavers took place, the first in 1768 when a group marched into Stanhill Village, smashed Hargreaves’ machine and subsequently a further twenty plus Jennies that were stored at Peel’s factory nearby at Brookside. Hargreaves moved to Nottingham where he ran a mill factory with Thomas James.

Unrest persisted into the 19th century as handloom weaving was gradually superseded by mass production.

The Spinning Jenny.

Further developments to the Spinning Jenny took place with the invention of Arkwright’s Water Frame that created a stronger yarn and Crompton’s ‘spinning mule’ in 1810. Sadly Hargreaves was unable to capitalise on his genius. His belated patent application was denied when it was revealed that he had produced and sold too many machines before filing. Although he enjoyed modest success in Nottingham his estate upon his death in 1778 was only worth around £63,000 in today’s money. Meanwhile Robert Peel’s son went on to found a textile empire that was valued at nearly £170 million. His grandson inherited a sizeable portion of this estate and went on to become Prime Minister and founder of the first official Metropolitan police force. The British industrial revolution had many parents – coal, transport and an investment culture included. However, the invention of the Spinning Jenny provided the spark that lit that revolution and Accrington was at the heart of it.

JAMES HARGREAVES PRODUCED THE FIRST SPINNING JENNY IN 1764

Today the Stanhill Village Heritage Project celebrates the work of Hargreaves through its heritage trail, walks and talks and a You Tube video. For a closer look at Hargreaves and the Spinning Jenny visit the website at www.stanhillvillage.co.uk/history/

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The smashing of a Spinning Jenny.