I enjoyed the greatest affluence, I should not then hesitate a moment,
but comply with whatever you will desire; but my consciousness of my
own inferiority in points of fortune as well as anything else, makes
me extremely fearful that you should find cause to repent, when it is
too late; if this should be the case, what I must suffer from what in
me is the least occasion of pain to you, is not for me to say; but be
this as it will, you are and ever will be entitled to the best wishes
of your most humble servant
“E. Woollat.
“My service to your father I wish I better deserved his good opinion.”
Many letters afterwards pass between the happy pair; but their course
of true love runs very smoothly until all is made ready. At the
beginning of September, we find Miss Woollatt coming down from London
to Blackwell to be married. It would certainly have seemed more natural
that she should be married from her father’s house, but that did not
seem to be either possible or advisable under changed circumstances,
as her father had married again, and the step-mother, as is often the
case, seemed to stand rather in the way of the children being at home.
We now, therefore, see Jedediah Strutt happily settled at Blackwell,
apparently ready to remain steadfast to farming, and married to the
excellent and most industrious woman of his affections. It must have
been, however, about the time his first child, William, was born, that
a change came over the scene, and that Jedediah’s strong taste for
mechanics obliged him to think of other things besides his farm.
His brother-in-law, William Woollatt, who had been assisting his father
in the hosiery trade, and till the second marriage had been living at
Findern, knowing Strutt’s bent for mechanics, desired his assistance in
connection with an object which he had at heart, viz., the invention of
a machine for making ribbed hose.
It will be best and most fitting here to give Mr. Felkin’s account of
this invention.[132]
[132] _History of Machine-wrought Hosiery_, by W. Felkin, p. 88.
“Mr. William Woollatt was at that time, 1750, a hosier in Derby.
His attention was directed to the question of how these ribbed hose
could be made, and he brought under the special attention of his
brother-in-law, Mr. Jedediah Strutt, who, though an agriculturist,
had he knew been from his youth engaged in mechanical pursuits as
an occupation of his mind and hands during his leisure time. The
reference thus made proved to be a most successful one. The important
results could not have been at first anticipated, nor even during the
lifetime of Mr. Strutt were they fully understood. But they have been
such as to have given him a just prominence amongst the inventors of
that age, and to require the more extended personal account about to
be given. The very simplicity of the plan he devised and of the mode
of its application to the machine of Lee 170 years after its invention
added to the fact that no historian of the trade wrote during the
next fifty years preclude any very minute details of the obstacles
he encountered. Such an account now would be very interesting, if it
had been forthcoming. Great difficulties there must have been, for
the constructive powers of mechanics in the stocking trade had not a
hundred years ago been employed as they have been since; mainly as
the effect of this effort of Strutt’s genius.... It was now that he,
by Mr. Woollatt’s representations of the difficulty and importance of
the matter then occupying the frame-work knitting world, was induced
to make himself practically acquainted with the principles and the
movements of a stocking frame; probably the most if not the only very
complex machine he had ever seen; and this with the idea no doubt at
first but a remote one of so dealing with it as to cause it to produce
what had hitherto been thought to be beyond its powers. A clergyman
had invented it, why should not a farmer increase its capacity for
usefulness? After much labour, time, and expense, he succeeded
admirably in this by making an addition to it, or rather placing in
front of it so as to work in unison and harmony with it a distinct
apparatus or machine; thus between them to produce the ribbed web of
looped fabric; and not as popularly stated by finding out the defects
of Lee’s frame and devoting himself to its improvement.
... The principle of Strutt’s Derby rib machine remains unaltered;
its operation has been simplified, however, by its subordination to
automatic movement, as will be at once seen on examination of power
hosiery frames lately constructed.”
From this time, though he did not leave his farm at Blackwell at once,
Strutt’s mind was evidently entirely occupied with his invention, and
with the consideration of the best way of making use of it. Strutt’s
means were, we can imagine, very small, and therefore his only plan
was to try and get some other manufacturer of hosiery to take him as a
partner, and share the advantage of his mechanical skill and invention.
We believe there are no letters of Strutt’s to be found relating to
his invention of the Derby rib machine, but in 1757 he was evidently
making great efforts to start in a hosiery business.
Early in that year, Mrs. Strutt went up to London to see her kind old
master, and to inquire whether he could be persuaded to advance them or
lend them some of the necessary capital for starting in business. She
was, we believe, successful in this object, and we know that the next
child was christened George _Benson_. The account of her journey up to
town gives a rather good idea of the difficulty of travelling in those
days, especially for the humbler classes, who could not afford the
coach, but had to go by the waggon.
Jedediah Strutt took his wife to Derby, evidently on a pillion behind
him on horseback, and from there she proceeded in the stage waggon. In
this their progress must have been very slow, as she writes about the
journey that at Glyn, six miles from Leicester, “I was so sick I was
not able to travel further, but staid behind the waggon more than an
hour, and then walked five miles before I came up with it.”
In this and the following year the necessary patents were taken
out, and a great many of the leading hosiery manufacturers in the
neighbourhood of Nottingham were approached, and several visits to
London had to be paid. The first business Jedediah Strutt started was
with hosiers of the name of Bloodworth and Herford. This arrangement,
though terminated happily by all parties, did not last long, and the
two brothers-in-law ultimately persuaded Mr. Need, a most respectable
hosier, to join them, the firm being styled Need, Strutt and Woollatt.
They had works both at Derby and Nottingham. It can be readily
understood that immersed as he was in this business, Strutt had found
it impossible to continue to reside on the farm at Blackwell, which
place he must have left about 1759, when he took his family to reside
in Derby.
Before we leave the village of Blackwell, it ought to be mentioned that
the farmhouse where Strutt resided is still known, and that when one
of his great-grandsons visited the place only a few years ago, he was
at once taken up to a long, low garret in the roof, where it is the
current tradition of the place his great-grandfather had 150 years ago
worked his hosiery frame and invented the Derby rib machine.
It may also be of a little interest to some of our readers to be told
that one of the Strutt family was able to acquire quite recently a
cradle made by Jedediah for his first child, William. This cradle, it
appears, had been acquired or bought when Strutt left Blackwell by his
friend Haslam, the blacksmith at Tibshelf (a neighbouring village), who
had probably assisted Strutt in making his machine. It has since that
time rocked four generations of the Haslam family. The cradle is of
oak, and it is needless to say, like many other works of Strutt’s, of
very strong and solid construction.
The hosiery manufacture of Need, Strutt and Woollatt must have been
very successful, or they would not in such a few years have been able
to gain the position they did. Strutt must have been the manager or
moving spirit of the establishments both in Derby and Nottingham. It
is interesting to learn that in the latter town, in which we believe
he never resided, he received in the year 1762 the compliment of being
made a freeman.
It was, we believe, in or about the year 1770 that Richard Arkwright,
knowing, of course, what the demand for cotton yarn was for hosiery
making in Derby and Nottingham, came to Nottingham in the hope of
finding someone to help him in starting cotton mills, by which he
could reap the fruits of his recent invention, the Spinning Jenny.
Messrs. Wright, the bankers, not being prepared to find all the
necessary capital, advised Arkwright to apply to the successful hosiery
manufacturers, Messrs. Need, Strutt and Woollatt. This advice was at
once acted on, and in a very short time the firm of Messrs. Arkwright,
Strutt and Need was formed.
Cotton mills, driven by horse power, were at once started at
Nottingham, and a few years later mills were built at Cromford, where
advantage was taken of the fine water power of the river Derwent.
Strutt was now a very busy man, as he was not only part proprietor of
large hosiery works and of large cotton spinning works, but he was also
starting in Derby calico or weaving works. It was he, we are told, who
was the first person to start the manufacture of calico all of cotton,
that is to say, not of linen warp and cotton weft. This change, though
it may seem to us a small one, created a revolution in the calico
trade, and all the Lancashire manufacturers were up in arms against it.
In the end an Act of Parliament, after much trouble had been taken, was
passed, by which certain prohibitions and discriminating duties were
repealed, and the new process declared to be both lawful and laudable.
The following letter from Lord Howe,[133] the celebrated admiral, who
had no doubt been helping to steer this measure through the House of
Commons, is perhaps of sufficient interest to insert:—
[133] Lord Howe was not created an English peer until after this date.
“Grafton Street
“August 16th 1785
“Lord Howe presents his compliments with many thanks for the piece of
the new manufacture he has received from Messrs. Need & Strutt. He is
very much flattered by that instance of their gallantry to Lady Howe
who accepts it with equal acknowledgment, as he deems it an evidence
of their obliging prejudice in his favour, tho’ conscious at the same
time that the success of their application to Parliament was solely
ascribable to the reasonableness and justice of their pretensions.
Lady Howe will have a particular satisfaction in making the
circumstances known, hoping that the elegance of the pattern and the
perfection of the work will incite all her acquaintance to encourage
so great an improvement in the British manufactures.”
In the year 1780, Strutt and Arkwright severed their business
connection, Arkwright retaining the works at Cromford, and Strutt
building works at Belper and at Milford on land that had been recently
acquired. These works, as well as those at Cromford, continue to be
carried on as cotton mills in spite of the enormous development of the
cotton trade in Lancashire.
It is interesting, too, to know that Samuel Sclater, known in America
as the “father” of the cotton spinning industry in that country, came
from Belper, and was actually apprenticed for seven years to Jedediah
Strutt while he was living at Milford. Samuel Sclater’s life was
written in America nearly eighty years ago, and contains a view of
the Belper mills, and the portrait and one or two interesting little
anecdotes of his old master, Jedediah Strutt.
We must now say a few words about Strutt’s domestic and family life in
the latter part of his career. In 1773 he had the misfortune to lose
his wife, a loss that was irreparable to him, as she had been not only
a devoted helpmate and companion to him, but a most excellent mother to
their children. She died while with him on one of his many journeys to
London which he made about this time. She is buried in Bunhill Fields.
We give here an extract from one of Jedediah’s letters to his children
after their mother’s death:—
“At present I feel so bewildered and so lost so wanting, some how or
other so but half myself that I can scarce believe things to be in
the manner they are indeed it is impossible for me to describe or
you to imagine how I feel. I doubt not every repetition of this kind
will affect you but it will wear off especially in minds young as
yours are. Other objects will make their impressions but you I trust
will never forget your dear mother who loved you so well I hope you
will always retain much of her goodness of temper disposition and
affection; that you will imitate the example she has set you of virtue
of goodness of benevolence and kindness for they are most amiable
virtues and that you will study the same sentiments of sobriety
temperance diligence frugality industry and economy that you observed
in her. Your own recollection will bring to your minds so many things
that were to be found in her worth your attention that I need not here
enumerate them.”
The bereaved husband, owing to his business in London, and perhaps
also to his own feelings, did not return to his family till November.
The children, of whom William, the eldest, was only seventeen years of
age, by their letters at any rate show how well they had been brought
up. Having only one servant, a great deal of the work in the house had
to be done by them, and we have proof also that both William and his
sisters were making themselves of use in some of the office work of
their father’s business. It is interesting, too, to find how careful
their parents were in impressing upon them the importance of learning
French, and to note even in their letters what trouble they took to
obtain proficiency in that language.
In the letter to his son, from which we are about to make a few
extracts, we can see how Jedediah felt the disadvantage of the rather
humble and imperfect education and of the illiterate society he had
had in early life, and was determined if possible to do his utmost to
prevent his children suffering in the way he had suffered.
“London August 4th 1774
“My dear Billy
“Some time ago I happened to see some of the letters wrote by the Earl
of Chesterfield to his son which pleased me so much that I determined
to buy the book and on perusing it find it so full of good sense,
good language and just observations that I am charmed with it. The
late Lord Chesterfield was a nobleman of the first rank, had all the
advantages of a learned and polite education joined to a ready wit and
good understanding. He had seen and conversed and been employed in
most of the countries in Europe; indeed he had spent a life of many
years in the most polished and refined company that were anywhere
to be met with; to all of which great advantages he added the most
diligent the most careful and most just observation.”
[Illustration: Jedediah Strutt.
(_From Original Painting by Joseph Wright, c. 1785._)]
After explaining Lord Chesterfield’s and his son’s position in the
world, Jedediah Strutt continues:—
“I need not tell you that you are not to be a nobleman, nor prime
minister, but you may possibly be a tradesman of some eminence and
as such you will necessarily have connection with mankind and with
the world and that will make it absolutely necessary to know them
both and you may be assured if you add to the little learning and
improvement you have hitherto had, the manners, the air, the genteel
address and polite behaviour of a gentleman you will abundantly find
your account in it in all and every transaction of your future
life when you come to do business in the world.... You may believe
me in this for I now feel the want of them (accomplishments) by dear
experience. If I would I could describe the awkward figure one makes,
the confusion and the embarrassment one is thrown into on certain
occasions from the want of not knowing how to behave and the want of
assurance to put what one does know into practice. I look on it now
as a real misfortune that in the beginning of my life I had not sense
nor judgment enough of my own nor any friend that was able or kind
enough to point out to me the necessity of an easy agreeable or polite
behaviour. Indeed so foolish was I that I looked on dancing and dress
the knowing how to sit or attend or move gracefully and properly as
trifles not worthy the least expense of time or money and much below
the notice of a wise man. I observe in you a good deal of the same
temper and disposition with regard to these things that I myself had
when I was your age but if you will believe me as the best friend you
have in the world they are wrong notions and must be eradicated and
changed for those of a different nature if ever you mean to shine in
any character in life whatever.”
After reading this letter of advice of the father to his son, it is
interesting to know that the son, if he did not occupy any public
position, did shine as an eminent scientific man, who numbered amongst
his friends all the greatest scientists and philanthropists of his day,
and was himself a member of the Royal Society.
Very little more remains to be told of Jedediah Strutt’s life. He
married a second time about the year 1780 or 1781, Anne, the widow
of George Daniels, of Belper, and daughter of George Cantrell, of
Kniveton. This marriage, we learn from one or two letters, did not give
satisfaction to his daughters and other members of his family, nearly
all of whom were, however, married about that time or a little later.
Jedediah Strutt passed the end of his life at Milford House, which he
had himself built. He did not die there, but at Exeter House, Derby, in
the year 1797. He lies buried in the Unitarian Chapel at Belper.
We may perhaps be excused here for quoting what Mr. Felkin says about
Mr. Strutt:—
“An intellect singularly clear and cool was combined in him with the
faculty of devising inventions and improvements which he carried
into effect with unwearied energy of mind and purpose, impressing
themselves on the entire conduct of his establishments as they
increased in magnitude. His tenacity of principle and moral fortitude
resulted from his confidence that his determinations were founded upon
truth. His convictions in regard to general views of society were
equally strong. His political and religious opinions were adopted
because he thought them sound and conclusive to the happiness of
mankind.”
Mr. Strutt seems to have been singularly void of ambition for worldly
distinction; he was only ambitious of the blessing that follows duty
done.
Although the practice of writing your own epitaph cannot be exactly
commended, the writer of this brief memoir may perhaps be excused
for inserting in it the words found a few years ago amongst Jedediah
Strutt’s papers, and in his own handwriting:—
“Here rests in peace J. S—— who without fortune family or friends
raised to himself a fortune family and name in the world; without
having wit, had a good share of plain common sense; without
much genius, enjoyed the more substantial blessing of a sound
understanding; with but little personal pride, despised a mean or base
action; with no ostentation for religious tenets and ceremonies, he
led a life of honesty and virtue, not knowing what would befall him
after death, he died resigned in full confidence that if there be a
future state of retribution it will be to reward the virtuous and the
good.
“This I think my true character.
“J. Strutt.”
INDEX
_Abbey Square Sketch Book, The_, 212
Abbot’s Chair, The, 301
Abney Common, 197
—— James, 30
—— Manor, 183, 199
—— Moor, 50, 80, 304
Addy, S. O., 242
—— on Derbyshire Folk-Lore, 346–70
—— on Offerton Hall, 192–9
Addy’s _Household Tales_, 358
Ælfritha, 115
Æthelbald, 114, 115
Agincourt, Battle of, 14, 103
Aldulph, 116
Aldwark, 113
Alfred the Great, 5, 76, 117.
Algar, Earl of Mercia, 121
Alkmonton Hospital Chapel, 212, 251
Allestree, 214, 215, 249, 251
Allestry, Roger, 330, 337;
William, 330
Almayne Rivettes, 18
Alselin, Ralph, 7
_Anastatic Drawing Society’s Volume_, 256, 271
Andrew, W. J., 70
—— Prebendary, 214, 278, 279
_Anglo-Saxon Chronicle_, 4, 114
_Annals of Hyde_, 174
Anne of Denmark, 180
Arbor Low Stone Circle, 74, 75–8, 79, 80, 81, 86, 87
_Archæological Journal, The_, 119
Archers, 13
Archery, 323
Arkwright, Richard, 379, 380
—— Strutt and Need, Messrs., 379
Armada, The, 21
Armfield, 297, 298
Armfield, Robert, 297
Arrows, 18
Arrow-heads, 46, 47
Ash, Edward, 190
Ashbourne, 11, 34–5, 208–9, 210, 212, 232, 234–9, 249, 251–2
_Ashbourne, History of_, 326
Ashmole, Elias, 106
Ashover, 219–20, 226, 232, 248, 250, 252–3
Ashton, Isabella, 171;
Peter, 171
Assize of Arms, 18
Aston, 232
Athelstan, 6
_Athenæum, The_, 296
Auby, Thomas, 169
Avebury, 87
Babington, Anthony, 20, 152, 154;
Roland, 17;
Thomas, 253
Badow, 122
Bagshawe, Henry, 282
Bagshaw’s _Gazetteer of Derbyshire_, 368
Baine, Ralph, Bishop of Lichfield, 126
Bakelow Barrow, 59
Bakewell, 6, 97, 101, 104–7, 208, 210, 212, 215–16, 231–2, 236–8, 248,
253–4, 299
Ballidon Moor, 60
Balliol, John, 12
Bamford Moor, 80
Bar Brook, The, 80, 82
Barber, Miss, 365
—— Mr., 175
Bardolf, William de, 12
Baring-Gould, Rev. S., 357, 359
Barlborough, 139, 141–2, 316, 317, 324
Barley, Robert, 16
Barnack, 118
Barons, Rising of the, 8, 9
Barrows, 41
Barrow-upon-Trent, 232
Basingwork, The Abbot of, 301
Baslow Moor, 50, 82
Bassano, Francis, 120, 211, 270, 277
Bateman, Thomas, 44–5, 54, 59, 78, 109, 216
Beamont, Edward, 94
Beauchief Abbey, 16, 202
“Bed-churl,” 364
Bede, 4, 77
Beeston, 249
Beighton, 249
Belers, Thomas, 147
Belper, 254, 380, 381
Belvoir MSS., 22
Bemrose, Sir Henry, 327
Bennett, Gervase, 129;
Robert, 129
Beresford, James, 268;
Thomas, 15, 268
Berfurt, 116
Bernake, Gervase de, 100
Bertulph, 116
Bess of Hardwick, 23
Bigsby’s _History of Repton_, 122
Bills, 18
Birch, Walter de Gray, 116
Birgwurd Cross, The, 301
Birley Hill, 317
Black Edge, The, 165
Blackwell, 373, 376, 377
Blanc-Smith, G. le, 360
—— Wingfield Manor House, 146–63
Blore, Mr., 104, 105, 149, 161
Bodley, Mr., 257, 263
_Boldon Buke_, 193
Bolehill, 45
Bolsover, 250, 254, 324;
Castle, 8, 25, 27, 133, 136–9, 316
Bonnell, Mrs., 178
Bothe, William, 241
Bourbon, John, Duke of, 15
Bow Stone, 299
Bowden, 167, 168
Bower, Margaret de, 103;
Sir Thurston de, 103
Bowles, C. E. B., Bradshaw and the Bradshawes, 164–91
Boyleston, 29
Brackenfield, 254–5
Bradbourne, Humphrey, 19
Bradburne, John, 16
Bradshaw and the Bradshawes, 164–91
Bradshaw Hall, 133, 164–91, 294;
John, 332;
the Regicide, 31, 174
Bradshaw Family, 164–91
Bradwell, 361, 362, 365–369
—— Mr. Robert, 362–364, 368, 369
Brailsford, 7, 249
—— Henry de, 11
Brampton, York, 190
Brandreth, James, 36
Brand’s _Observations on Popular Antiquities_, 346
Brassington Moor Stone Circle, 80
Breadsall, 218, 219, 226, 232, 236, 240, 256–7
Brede Place, Sussex, 226
Bretby, 121, 122
Bretton, 182
Brewster, Thomas, 127
Brigstock, 118
_British Barrows_, 54, 55, 69
Brixworth Crypt, 119
Broad Marshes, The, 166
Bronze Age, The, 42
—— Barrows, 48–64
Bronze Implements, 56–8
Brough, 2
Brounker, Sir Henry, 23
Broxhill, 317, 323
Brydges’ _Restituta_, 353
Buckingham, Duke of, 23
Bull Ring Stone Circle, The, 75, 78–80, 88
Bullock, William, 129
Bunhill Fields, 381
Bupton Manor, 6
Burdett, Sir Francis, 30, 129;
Sir Robert, 130
Burgh, The Roman Town, 348
Burial Customs, 367–8
—— Mounds, 39, 41, 42
“Buries, The,” 117
Burton Bridge, 90, 94
Burton-on-Trent, Abbot of, 6
Butler, Humphrey, 16
Buxton, 1, 2, 20
Cadster Stone Circle, 82, 85
Cairns, 40, 41, 49
Calke, 121, 122, 144
—— Canons of, 121
Camps, 39
“Candle-rents,” 239
Cantrell, George, 383
Canute, 116
Carnarvon, Earl, 126
Cassy, Sir John, 292
Castleton, 2, 8, 243, 283, 285, 347, 348, 350, 362–3, 365, 367, 369
Cattermole, George, 211
Cave-dwellers, 364
Cave-remains, 39
Cavendish Family, 31–3, 137, 138, 199, 315
Chaddesden, 205, 206, 226, 232, 257–8
Chamberlain, The Right Hon. Joseph, 371
Chambers’s _Popular Rhymes of Scotland_, 351
Champion Cross, The, 303
Chapel-en-le-Frith, 82, 286–7
Charles I., 24–26, 289
Charles, Invasion of Derbyshire in 1745 by Prince, 31, 33–5
Charlesworth, 301
Charnells, Thomas, 129
Chatsworth, 6, 20, 27, 32, 133, 139, 150
Chaworth, Sir Thomas de, 202;
Sir William, 15
Chelmorton, 45, 205, 212, 213, 215, 291