Chartered Surveyors Derby Derbyshire

Approximate Population: 236,300

Derby and Derbyshire were centres of Britain’s Industrial Revolution. In 1717, Derby was the site of the first water powered silk mill in Britain, built by John Lombe and George Sorocold, after Lombe had reputedly stolen the secrets of silk-throwing from Piedmont in what is now Italy (he is alleged to have been poisoned by Piedmontese as revenge in 1722).

In 1759, Jedediah Strutt patented and built a machine called the Derby Rib Attachment that revolutionised the manufacture of hose. This attachment was used on the Rev. Lee’s Framework Knitting Machine; it was placed in front of – and worked in unison with – Lee’s Frame, to produce ribbed hose (stockings). The partners were Jedediah Strutt, William Woollatt (who had been joined in 1758 by) John Bloodworth and Thomas Stafford, all leading hosiers in Derby.

The patent was obtained in January 1759. After three years, Bloodworth and Stafford were paid off, and Samuel Need – a hosier of Nottingham – joined the partnership. The firm was known as Need, Strutt & Woollatt. The patent expired in 1773, though the partnership continued until 1781 when Need died.

Messrs. Wright, the bankers of Nottingham, recommended that Richard Arkwright apply to Strutt & Need for finance for his cotton spinning mill. The first mill opened in Nottingham in 1770 and was driven by horses. In 1771 Richard Arkwright, Samuel Need and Jedediah Strutt built the world’s first water-powered cotton spinning mill at Cromford, Derbyshire, developing a form of power that was to be a catalyst for the Industrial Revolution.

Chartered Surveyors Derby Derbyshire