Samuel Oldknow

Samuel Oldknow (1756–1828) was an English cotton manufacturer.

Samuel Oldknow Jnr, the eldest son of Samuel Oldknow Sr and Margery Foster, was born 5 October 1756 in Anderton, near Chorley, Lancashire, and died 18 September 1828 at Mellor Lodge, Derbyshire. He had an younger sister named Elizabeth (1758-1762) [according to the grave at Rivington Unitarian Chapel] and a brother, Thomas (c.1755/56-1791 d.aged 35 according to the grave at Mellor Parish Church). Oldknow was educated at the local Rivington Grammar School and later served as an apprentices in his uncle’s draper’s shop in Nottingham. His family were members of the Rivington Unitarian Chapel, where his father was interred in 1759 at the age of 25. Following the death of his father, Oldknow's mother Margery continued to live with the children at Roscoe Lowe Farm, one of the properties she had inherited from her father Thomas Foster a local yeoman. Margery later (in 1770) married John Clayton, a farmer, with whom she had three children: Margery, Samuel and John. Oldknow never married; he was at one point in his life engaged to marry the daughter (and heiress) of Peter Drinkwater a textile manufacturer of Manchester, who in 1794 had bought the Manor of Prestwich. The engagement was called off as his business declined and Oldknow died a bachelor.

Oldknow continued to have close connections to Rivington. In 1779 he purchased a number of spinning mules (also known as Hall i' th' Wood wheels, invented by Samuel Crompton of Bolton) suitable for use in the manufacture of muslin. He obtained finance of £1,000 from Abraham Crompton, Esq of Chorley Hall with whom he had both church and seemingly some family connection. By 1781 Oldknow had entered into partnership with his brother, Thomas, and he returned to live at Anderton in 1782, expanding into the manufacture of cotton goods. The Oldknow brothers' fabrics became favoured in London, where they formed a business agreement with the merchant Samuel Salte; this was the start of his rise to great success.

Oldknow used the putting-out system of production in Anderton near Rivington, whereby raw cotton was distributed to spinners and yarn to weavers who worked in their homes and workshops. The finished cloth was then returned to Oldknow's warehouse for checking and payment. This system was not suited to muslin manufacturing due to production levels and he was forced to purchase yarn from spinners who had taken advantage of mechanised production, such as Richard Arkwright

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