Richard Arkwright junior

Richard Arkwright junior (19 December 1755 – 23 April 1843), the son of Sir Richard Arkwright of Cromford, Derbyshire, was the financier (creditor) of Samuel Oldknow of Marple and Mellor and a personal friend. His son Captain Arkwright married Francis Kemble, daughter of the theatre manager Stephen Kemble.

Richard Arkwright junior was born in Bolton. His mother, Patience Holt, died when he was only a few months old, and his father, Sir Richard Arkwright, raised him on his own until he was six, then married Margaret Biggensin, with whom he had a daughter, Susan. The couple divorced a few years later, but Richard Arkwright senior tried to follow the education of his children.

Sir Richard had earlier patented the water frame, a roller-spinning machine powered by water, that turned textile spinning into a factory industry and in so doing founded the factory system of manufacture.

Richard Arkwright junior followed in his father’s footsteps, and he developed the factory system even further. He was an outstanding organiser of labour and machinery processing, ambitious, forceful and persevering.

The wealth of Arkwright, much greater than that of his father, was not only due to the textile industry. After his father died, much of the legacy was bequeathed to his daughter born of his second marriage, her grandchildren and various charities, while the rest, including a number of factories, was bequeathed to son Richard. He decided to invest in real estate and banks, and began to sell some factories to invest in government securities and real estate. This saved him from bankruptcy when a major economic depression descended upon Great Britain, after the defeat of Napoleon.

In 1804 he became a partner in the bank of John Toplis, and when the latter died in 1829, he took full possession of the company and financed local lords, contractors and governmental plans: like his father, he financed important works in the public transportation sector and railways, including the Cromford Canal. At his death his fortune amounted to over three million pounds, which made him the richest British man from the bourgeoisie.

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