It is obvious Arkright had a huge impact by the figures showing import and export of cotton. At the new factory systems’ peak time between 1780 and 1840 cotton goods exported increased to an all time high of £5, 406, 501 worth. This meant that Britain became a big player in the import/export business because of Arkright textile production.
There is much speculation to whether Richard Arkright really was the first to discover the new machine he used in his factories and whether or not he used other peoples designs without their permission also water power was used in Derbyshire even before Arkright was born so it is unsure whether he should gain so much credit for this but a conclusion to the question of Richard Arkright’s title of “father of the factory system” being worthy is that he does deserve the title as it is not about machines or the first factory but him creating the whole system, he was determined and had more “business like approach” than inventors who just sold on there inventions and his new system was quoted as “a new industrial community to change the face of society for ever” and “played a central role in the industrial revolution” and he was obviously successful in his work as he expanded his mills elsewhere including Yorkshire and Manchester. Therefore this means he deserves the title he earned and was known for.
Question 2 –
Cromford was a small, relatively unknown hamlet until the arrival of Richard Arkright. In 1761 when the cottage system was still in place the population of Cromford was just 250 people but there was an increase when Arkright built his first mill to a population of 840, and it continued rising throughout Arkrights prime business time to 1842 when the mill were coming to an end and the population was 1410. When Richard Arkright introduced his new system more workers were needed and so he built more homes to accommodate them and encourage them to come and work for him. He also made improvements to the village and the population increased to fill all the work available in the factories. Also workers were forced to move into the village when Arkright demolished their original housing. The improvements to the village include:-
* creating north street houses which were of a good standard for the time and gave the workers an incentive to work in his factories.
* he built a pub as a luxury for his workers but also because he had good business sense and he knew the workers would drink and he could not stop them so why not make a profit from it.
* Big changes to the village include the ponds Arkright produced to keep the water wheels moving to power the mills, he built three in all but the largest is in the centre of the village.
* Of course the biggest physical changes he made to the village include building the mills themselves.
* Before Arkright came to the village of Cromford the only work and way of earning money was lead mining (which does not look very appealing).
And farming, and of course cotton production through the cottage system. Arkright was all that existed of laws or organization in the village so he basically was the last word in all that went on. He had a ‘lock-up’ where petty criminals but mainly drunks would be kept for the night.
His system may of included low wages but also big perks. For example Arkright made sure the workers were not hungry by creating a pigery and allotments near the homes, and a market came to town to offer a variety of good to the villagers. Often a pig would be offered as a Christmas bonus to his workers.
Jedediah Strutt (Arkrights business partner and investor and the beginning of his build up) were good employers, (the struts also owned factories locally and employed similar methods which included building houses for workers etc.) and conditions were excellent compared to other factories where workers were treated as slaves. Arkright did not make his employees work on Sundays and kept it free for a day of rest and prayer. He did employ more and more children because they were cheaper and found it easier to climb between the narrow machinery. But he did try to have standards, he didn’t employ children under the age of ten or before they could read or children from the parish out of respect, but with so much pressure from parents to get the children into the mills to earn extra money he was soon employing children from a very young age and often with no literacy skills. There were many injuries but these were just accepted as part of the job. The houses Strutt and Arkright produced were of a good standard for the period of time (the fact they are still in use today shows this) especially in comparison to the lead mine manager whose small, one story house was above the animal coop.
He built many luxuries and facilities for the workers to use and more importantly to him to spend their money in. he had a token system (“trucking”) which meant workers were paid in tokens which could only be in places he owned, which again shows his business sense and determination for profit.
When writing about the factory life in Arkrights time we have to remember that his life in Cromford would have been very different from that of one of his workers but overall, their lives were changed for the better and in one big, revolutionising way by the introduction of the new system and the new “go to work” way of life. He also made a better way of life by getting people out of the mines and creating amenities and a whole new village.
Question 3-
We can build up lots of information through research about what life was like in Cromford between 1770- 1840. The photographs of the sites at Cromford all help to build up an accurate image of life between that period, and the written and visual sources both back each other up and help give the full picture. Even without the photographs the written sources would still be useful as they are still information about Arkright and the period of time.
From all of the sources I had available to me the one I found most useful was the ‘Arkright – cotton king or spin doctor’ article as it had lots of useful quotes and points to make about Arkrights position in the factory system so this helped me most to arrive at my final answer and provide some of the evidence I used to back it up.
