Arkwright didn’t need skilled workers (working at the mills did not need special expertise) – he needed cheap workers. The Cromford area lacked working people needed for the mill. He knew that to attract workers into Cromford, he would have to treat them well. He did this by treating them well, providing them with quality housing, shops, markets, a hotel, a chapel and a school within Cromford. Arkwright was not typical of a factory owner – he won workers’ trust and loyalty (this was the only way to persuade them to work for him). More workers came, labour was divided, greatly improving efficiency and increasing profits. They helped to develop Cromford because Arkwright had to allow for a large work force and built a large factory.
Arkwright’s success was also due to choice of sites. He and Strutt opened a cotton spinning mill in Nottingham, famous for stocking-making. This was important because it gave him a big market to work towards. Then in 1771, Arkwright and Strutt opened a mill in Cromford, where the whole mill was water-powered. This site was important because he could expand the factory and town, and increase profits without having to waste money on horse power.
Arkwright set up a horse-powered factory in Nottingham which didn’t require skilled operators. However, Arkwright wanted a continually powered factory that still would not need skilled operators. In December 1771, Arkwright opened the Cromford mill, where there was a cheap, continual power available – water. He leased the right to use water from the River Derwent. Water power helped Arkwright to increase the amount of spinning done per day considerably without employing expensive skilled workers, horses or ‘old-fashioned’ spinning machines.
Arkwright was inspired to invent the ‘spinning-frame’ when he heard about the shortage of yarn since the invention of the ‘flying-shuttle’ in 1733. There was plenty of cotton being imported, but spinners couldn’t make yarn to weavers’ demand. He saw the importance of speeding up the process of spinning yarn (and the large site at Cromford was the perfect place to do this). In the 1760s, Arkwright began to work on an invention that might help, and by 1768, his invention was finished.
Arkwright’s technology was much better than previous inventions used in cotton spinning. It was powered by horses and water. Though it could not produce high-quality thread like the ‘spinning-jenny’, the thickness and strength of the thread was improved. Arkwright’s ‘spinning-frame’ made a huge difference because, unlike the ‘jenny’, it could be brought from the home to the factory where it could carry out larger scale spinning. Without this technology, Cromford could have never been developed.
Arkwright’s development of Cromford was successful because it already had many advantages. The site had access to water (from derelict mines and the River Derwent) – important for factory power. Cromford was large, providing him with space to build a working community. It was easier to develop Cromford as it already had a number of required features.
I conclude that the Cromford site was successfully developed by Arkwright because of the amount of capital invested in the site and the loyalty of his workers. Arkwright spent the capital effectively to obtain efficient power and cheap labour, and he was able to invest money into the site and continually improve it. Arkwright won workers’ trust and loyalty, and they helped to develop Cromford into a profitable industrial town.
