Richard Arkwright

Sir Richard Arkwright (1732–1792) was an English inventor and industrialist of the early Industrial Revolution, born at Preston. Starting as a barber and wig-maker, he used income from a waterproof wig dye to fund his machinery work. He turned to cotton spinning, and in 1769 he patented the spinning frame, later called the water frame, which produced strong warp thread.

In 1771 he built a water-powered mill at Cromford in Derbyshire, combining mechanised carding and spinning and creating the model for the factory system. His patents were overturned in court in 1785, but he was knighted in 1786 and died in 1792.