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37-654: The British and Foreign Unitarian Association was founded on 26 May 1825, at a meeting chaired by Thomas Gibson, father of Thomas Field Gibson . This was the same day as the American Unitarian Association was formed. (The AUA is one of two bodies that merged in 1961 to form the Unitarian Universalist Association .) The History of Essex Hall , written in 1959 by Mortimer Rowe, the Secretary (i.e. chief executive) of

74-400: A clockmaker, returned to Preston, renting rooms in a house on Stoneygate (now called Arkwright House ), where they worked on a spinning machine. In 1769 Arkwright patented the spinning frame , a machine which produced twisted threads (initially for warps only), using wooden and metal cylinders rather than human fingers. This machine, initially powered by horses (see below ), greatly reduced

111-1099: A laceman and banker) was associated with Sir Richard Arkwright ’s commercialisation of mechanised cotton spinning through his brother-in-law Samuel Need. Gibson's schooling was with Unitarian ministers John Potticary in Blackheath (where Benjamin Disraeli was a classmate) and James Tayler (father of John James Tayler ) in Nottingham . In adulthood he resided in Bloomsbury ; Hanger Lane, Wood Green ; Elm House in Walthamstow (the birthplace of William Morris ); Westbourne Terrace, Paddington ; 10 Broadwater Down, Royal Tunbridge Wells ; and finally in Fitzjohn's Avenue , Hampstead . He married twice: to Mary Anne Pett and then to Eliza Cogan, daughter of Unitarian schoolmaster Eliezer Cogan , and his only child, Mary Anne,

148-738: A library, savings bank and benevolent fund, as well as pastoral visits to those in need. Gibson was on the Council of the Government School of Design (now the Royal College of Arts ) established in 1837 and spearheaded the early creation of a branch school of design in Spitalfields that achieved valuable results. He was then appointed to the Royal Commission of The Great Exhibition of 1851. In subsequent years he

185-463: A memorial to the passing of the Dissenters' Chapels Act in 1844 and is now the home of Dr Williams's Library . Richard Arkwright This is an accepted version of this page Sir Richard Arkwright (23 December 1732 – 3 August 1792) was an English inventor and a leading entrepreneur during the early Industrial Revolution . He is credited as the driving force behind the development of

222-466: A son, Richard Arkwright Junior , who was born the same year. Patience died in 1756, and then in 1761 Arkwright, aged 29, married Margaret Biggins. They had three children, of whom only Susannah survived to adulthood. At some time after the death of his first wife, Arkwright became interested in the development of carding and spinning machinery to replace hand labour in the conversion of raw cotton to thread for weaving. In 1768, Arkwright and John Kay ,

259-566: The Industrial Revolution – particularly in Spitalfields where his business was centred. He also made important contributions to geology. He was born to Thomas Gibson Snr and Charlotte née Field (who was Sir Francis Ronalds ' aunt) at 2 Canonbury Place Islington – his maternal grandparents and an aunt and uncle were living at No 6 and No 3 Canonbury Place respectively. His paternal grandfather (another Thomas Gibson –

296-606: The Isle of Wight , he found the type specimen of an important extinct plant species at Luccombe Chine in 1856–57. Studied by Joseph Dalton Hooker , Director of the Kew Gardens , John Morris , the geology professor at University College London , and Unitarian scholar James Yates , it was then characterised by William Carruthers of the Natural History Museum , and later named Cycadeoidea gibsoniana after

333-771: The Unitarian Relief Act (Trinity Act) or The Unitarian Toleration Bill —did not grant them full civil rights while the oppressive Corporation Act and Test Act remained. The Association for the Protection of the Civil Rights of Unitarians was established in 1819. Thomas Field Gibson Thomas Field Gibson FGS (3 March 1803 – 12 December 1889) was a Unitarian silk manufacturer and philanthropist. He supported several novel initiatives to enhance British manufacturing quality and international trade while improving life for working people during

370-410: The roving , before applying a twist via a bobbin-and-flyer mechanism. It could make cotton thread thin and strong enough for the warp threads of cloth . Arkwright and John Smalley of Preston set up a small horse-driven factory at Nottingham . To obtain capital for expansion, Arkwright formed a partnership with Jedediah Strutt and Samuel Need, wealthy nonconformist hosiery manufacturers. In 1771,

407-469: The spinning frame , known as the water frame after it was adapted to use water power ; and he patented a rotary carding engine to convert raw cotton to 'cotton lap' prior to spinning. He was the first to develop factories housing both mechanised carding and spinning operations. Arkwright's achievement was to combine power, machinery, semi-skilled labour and the new raw material of cotton to create mass-produced yarn . His organisational skills earned him

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444-856: The Association included Sir John Bowring , till 1832, then Edward Tagart . It took about 150 years from the Great Ejection of 1662 to the passage of the Doctrine of the Trinity Act 1813 , which granted toleration for Unitarian worship; the so-called Act of Toleration 1689 had only worked to the favour of those Protestant dissenters who accepted the Trinity . This victory for Unitarians—largely pushed forward in Parliament by William Smith , and thus known sometimes under his name, or as

481-548: The Association. He also served on the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers that directed the early work of engineer Joseph Bazalgette towards developing an integrated sewerage and drainage system across London. Gibson was in addition "a patron of geology", being elected a fellow of the Geological Society of London in 1847 and serving on its Council. Staying at his beach house at Sandown on

518-640: The Distribution of Books. The earliest notable publication was Thomas Belsham 's The New Testament in an Improved Version Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation (1808), which was continued by the British and Foreign Unitarian Association. At the end of 1826 the Association acquired the Monthly Repository magazine, formerly edited by Robert Aspland . The Association contracted

555-580: The French historian Gaston Bonet-Maury to write a history of French radical Protestantism . In March 1876 Robert Spears resigned from the Association in objection to proposals to publish the works of Theodore Parker . Spears started the Christian Life as a rival magazine to the London Inquirer , becoming the voice of conservative late Biblical Unitarianism with Samuel Sharpe , till

592-596: The General Assembly for its first twenty years, claims this was entirely coincidental. Under the impetus of Theophilus Lindsey , the first minister of the Essex Street Chapel , and his colleague John Disney , in 1791 the "first organized denominational Unitarian society" was formed, with the cumbersome name of The Unitarian Society for promoting Christian Knowledge and the Practice of Virtue by

629-706: The Industrial Revolution. In 1777 Arkwright leased the Haarlem Mill in Wirksworth, Derbyshire, where he installed the first steam engine to be used in a cotton mill (this was used to replenish the millpond that drove the mill's waterwheel rather than to drive the machinery directly ). He was invited to Scotland , where he assisted David Dale in establishing cotton mills at New Lanark . A large mill of Arkwright's at Birkacre in Lancashire,

666-649: The Spitalfields Mechanics' Institution in early 1825, not long after the London Mechanics' Institution (now Birkbeck College ) was opened, and Gibson served on its Committee. Not being a success, it was reoriented into the Eastern Literary and Scientific Institution, and Gibson was still its patron in the mid-1840s. Father and son also helped open and support a mission in Spitalfields with day and evening schools, adult education,

703-774: The accolade "father of the modern industrial factory system," notably through the methods developed in his mill at Cromford , Derbyshire (now preserved as part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site). Richard Arkwright was born in Preston , Lancashire , England on 23 December 1732, the youngest of seven surviving children. His father, Thomas, was a tailor and a Preston Guild burgess . Richard's parents, Sarah and Thomas, could not afford to send him to school and instead arranged for him to be taught to read and write by his cousin Ellen. He

740-414: The cost of cotton-spinning, and would lead to major changes in the textile industry. Lewis Paul had invented a machine for carding in 1748. Arkwright made improvements to this machine and in 1775 took out a patent for a new carding engine, which converted raw cotton to a continuous skein prior to spinning. The machine used a succession of uneven rollers rotating at increasingly higher speeds to draw out

777-475: The end of his tenure, nearly two-thirds of the 1,150 employees were children. He allowed employees a week's holiday a year, on condition that they did not travel beyond the town. After establishing the mill at Cromford, Arkwright returned to Lancashire and took up a lease of the Birkacre mill at Chorley , which was to become a catalyst for the town's growth into one of the most important industrialised towns of

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814-619: The finder. Gibson also presented a paper to the Geological Society on the Iguanodon femur he found on the island. Like his extended family, Gibson held Unitarian beliefs. His father chaired the meeting on 26 May 1825 at which the British and Foreign Unitarian Association was formed to provide national co-ordination of Unitarian issues and both he and Gibson Snr presided at the annual meeting at different times. Gibson Snr

851-612: The labour needed for the scale of operations which Arkwright was planning. He therefore brought in workers from outside the locality, building a cluster of cottages near the mill to house them (he also built the Greyhound public house, which still stands in Cromford market square). Stuart Fisher states that the workers' homes are now considered to be "the first factory housing development in the world". Arkwright instigated novel and highly disciplined working arrangements at Cromford. Work

888-479: The partners built the world's first water-powered mill at Cromford , which covered both carding and spinning operations and employed 200 people. In 1776 Arkwright built a second, larger mill at Cromford and, soon afterwards, mills at Bakewell , Wirksworth and elsewhere (see below ). His success as a businessman and innovator was widely recognized in his own time. The spinning frame was a large advance over Hargreaves 's spinning jenny , in that very little training

925-629: The period, Gibson believed in laissez-faire capitalism. He was an active member of the Anti-Corn Law League and supported Richard Cobden again in negotiating the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty in Paris, both of which had the goal of reducing import duties and promoting international trade. Education, and in particular practical education of the artisans in his area, was of considerable interest to him. His father founded

962-605: The two publications were merged in July 1929, and ran for a short time as The Inquirer and Christian Life . Another magazine, the Unitarian Herald , ran from 1861 to 1889. The Unitarian Fund "for the Promotion of Unitarianism by means of Popular Preaching" was founded in 1806, largely by laypeople. It gave money to congregations that needed it and employed Richard Wright as an itinerant missionary. Foreign Secretaries of

999-769: Was a Juror at the Exposition Universelle (1855) and a British Commissioner at the International Exposition (1867) , both held in Paris, and was awarded a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour . He also helped organise the Annual International Exhibitions held in London in the 1870s. Gibson was in addition a long-serving Councillor and benefactor of University College London and University College Hospital . Gibson

1036-783: Was a founding Director of the Metropolitan Association for Improving the Dwellings of the Industrious Classes , an early housing association that built affordable and sanitary accommodation for rent. The second complex constructed by the Association was at Spitalfields and was open for viewing as part of the Great Exhibition. Gibson Gardens , completed in 1880 in Stoke Newington , was named in honour of Gibson's extended contributions to

1073-576: Was also part of the group that successfully lobbied Parliament in 1828 to repeal the Sacramental Test Act that prevented Nonconformists from holding public office, and chaired the controversial meeting of the committee of the South Place Chapel in 1834 that accepted the resignation of their minister William Johnson Fox – Fox had formed a close relationship with his ward Eliza Flower and separated from his wife. Gibson

1110-480: Was apprenticed to a Mr Nicholson, a barber at the nearby town of Kirkham , and began his working life as a barber and wig-maker, setting up a shop at Churchgate in Bolton in the early 1760s. It was here that he invented a waterproof dye for use on the fashionable periwigs of the time, the income from which later funded his prototype cotton machinery. Arkwright married his first wife, Patience Holt, in 1755. They had

1147-712: Was born the week before her mother and namesake died. Gibson became a freeman of the Weavers' Company and took over his father's silk manufacturing business in 1829. From his warehouse in Spital Square, work was put out to several hundred weaving families in the Spitalfields area. He also employed weavers in Halstead , Essex and was a partner in the Depot silk throwing mill in Derby . Like other industrialists of

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1184-495: Was destroyed in the anti-machinery riots of 1779. Aggressive and self-sufficient, Arkwright was a difficult man to work with. He bought out all his partners and went on to build factories at Manchester , Matlock Bath , New Lanark (in partnership with David Dale) and elsewhere. Unlike many entrepreneurs of the time who were nonconformist, he was a member of the Church of England . Arkwright served as High Sheriff of Derbyshire and

1221-399: Was finally settled against him on the grounds that his specifications were deficient: the court had also heard assertions that the spinning frame was actually the invention of Arkwright's employee John Kay , or of Thomas Highs , Kay's previous employer. With the expansion of the mill at Cromford, it soon became apparent that the existing population of the town would be inadequate to provide

1258-409: Was knighted in 1786. He also built Willersley Castle , now a Grade II* listed building , in 1791; after a fire in 1792, it was rebuilt and occupied by his son Richard Arkwright junior starting in 1796. Arkwright died at Rock House, Cromford, on 3 August 1792, aged 59, leaving a fortune of £500,000. He was buried at St Giles' Church, Matlock . His remains were later moved to the family chapel near

1295-659: Was on the South Place chapel committee as well. He and his father were joint executors for the renowned Unitarian minister Thomas Belsham . Gibson helped his friend and third cousin Edwin Wilkins Field as a trustee of the Hibbert Trust for the first 25 years of its existence; its purpose was to support Nonconformist scholarship. He was also on Wilkin Field's committee that built University Hall as

1332-488: Was organised in two 13-hour shifts per day, including an overlap for the change of shift. Bells rang at 5 am and 5 pm and the gates were shut precisely at 6 am and 6 p.m.: anyone who was late was excluded from work for the rest of the day and lost an extra day's pay. Arkwright encouraged weavers with large families to move to Cromford. Whole families were employed, including large numbers of children as young as seven (subsequently increased to ten); and towards

1369-497: Was required to operate the machinery, which produced a strong yarn suitable for warp threads. To strengthen his position in relation to his many competitors and emulators, Arkwright obtained a "grand patent" in 1775, which he hoped would consolidate his position within the fast-growing cotton industry. Public opinion, however, was bitterly hostile to exclusive patents, and in 1781 Arkwright initiated legal proceedings to assert his rights. The case dragged on in court until 1785, when it

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