Cartwright's power-loom was afterwards taken in hand and greatly
improved by other ingenious persons--mechanics and weavers. "The names
of many clever mechanics," says a writer in the _Quarterly Review_, "who
contributed to advance it, step by step, through failure and
disappointment, have long been forgotten. Some broke their hearts over
their projects when apparently on the eve of success. No one was more
indefatigable in his endeavours to overcome the difficulties of the
contrivance than William Radcliffe, a manufacturer at Mellor, near
Manchester, whose invention of the dressing-machine was an important
step in advance. With the assistance of an ingenious young weaver in his
employment, named Johnson, he also brought out the dandy-loom, which
effects almost all that can be done for the hand-loom as to motion.
Radcliffe was not, however, successful as a manufacturer; he exhausted
his means in experiments, of which his contemporaries and successors
were to derive the benefit; and after expending immense labour, and a
considerable fortune in his improvements, he died in poverty in
Manchester only a few years ago."
To the Peel family the cotton manufacture is greatly indebted for its
progress. Robert Peel, the founder of the family, developed the plan of
printing calico, and his successors perfected it in a variety of ways.
While occupied as a small farmer near Blackburn, he gave a great deal of
attention to the subject, and made a great many experiments. One day,
when sketching a pattern on the back of a pewter dinner-plate, the idea
occurred to him, that if colour were rubbed upon the design an
impression might be printed off it upon calico. He tested the plan at
once. Filling in the pattern with colour on the back of the plate, and
placing a piece of calico over it, he passed it through a mangle, and
was delighted with seeing the calico come out duly printed. This was his
first essay in calico-printing; and he soon worked out the idea,
patented it, and starting as a calico-printer, succeeded so well, that
he gave up the farm and devoted himself entirely to that business. His
sons succeeded him; and the Peel family, divided into numerous firms,
became one of the chief pillars of the cotton manufacture.
To such perfection has calico-printing now been brought, that a mile of
calico can be printed in an hour, or three cotton dresses in a minute;
and so extensive is the production of that article, that one firm
alone--that of Hoyle--turns out in a year more than 10,000 miles of it,
or more than sufficient to measure the diameter of our planet.
It was a favourite saying of old Sir Robert Peel, in regard to the
importance of commercial wealth in a national point of view, "that the
gains of individuals were small compared with the national gains arising
from trade;" and there can be no doubt that the success of the cotton
trade has contributed essentially to the present affluence and
prosperity of the United Kingdom. It has placed cheap and comfortable
clothing within the reach of all, and provided well-paid employment for
multitudes of people; and the growth of population to which it has led,
and consequent increase in the consumption of the various necessaries
and luxuries of life, have given a stimulus to all the other branches of
industry and commerce. From one of the most miserable provinces in the
land, Lancashire has grown to be one of the most prosperous. Within a
hundred and fifty years the population has increased tenfold, and land
has risen to fifty times its value for agricultural, and seventy times
for manufacturing purposes. From an insignificant country town and a
little fishing village have sprung Manchester and Liverpool; and many
other towns throughout the country owe their existence to the same
source. These are the great monuments to the achievements of Arkwright,
Crompton, Peel, and the other captains of industry who wrought this
mighty change, and the best trophies of their genius and enterprise.
The Railway and the Locomotive.
I.--"THE FLYING COACH."
II.--THE STEPHENSONS: FATHER AND SON.
III.--THE GROWTH OF RAILWAYS.