Richard Arkwright

Richard Arkwright, the “Father of the Industrial Revolution”, died on this day 217 years ago. He started his working life as a barber and wig maker, but he became an entrepreneur with an interest in cotton-spinning machinery. He obtained a patent for a spinning frame and a subsequent patent for a carding machine, and he set up a mill initially powered by horses but subsequently converted to water power. His spinning frame subsequently became known as a water frame.

It was claimed that Arkwright was not the true inventor of the patented inventions, for which he was charging substantial royalties, and ultimately both patents were held invalid. Ultimately the inventions were relatively unimportant; it was the factory system established by Arkwright which made a lasting contribution to prosperity in Britain and around the world. The factories enabled productivity of each worker to increase many times.

Around the year 1800 the average income of people in the wealthiest countries in the world was no higher than the average income of people in the poorest countries today. However, since 1800 there has been a wealth explosion in the West attributable to continuous increases in productivity resulting from entrepreneurial innovation. Arkwright is one of the early participants in the process of continuous productivity improvement.