Born at Preston, Lancashire; bred to the trade of a barber; took interest in the machinery of cotton-spinning; with the help of a clockmaker, invented the spinning frame; was mobbed for threatening thereby to shorten labour and curtail wages, and had to flee; fell in with Mr. Strutt of Derby, who entered into partnership with him; prospered in business and died worth half a million. "French Revolutions were a-brewing; to resist the same in any way, Imperial Caesars were impotent without the cotton and cloth of England; and it was this man," says Carlyle, "that had to give to England the power of cotton" (1732-1792).