John Lombe (1693 in Norwich – November 20, 1722 in Derby) was a

silk Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...

spinner Technology *Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Med ...

in the 18th century

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby g ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Biography

Lombe was born in

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

in approximately 1693, the son of a

worsted Worsted ( or ) is a high-quality type of wool yarn, the fabric made from this yarn, and a yarn weight category. The name derives from Worstead, a village in the English county of Norfolk. That village, together with North Walsham and Aylsham ...

weaver. He was a younger half-brother of Thomas Lombe who, after John's death, would go on to amass a fortune as a silk merchant in Norwich and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In the early 18th century, the centre for producing silk stockings by framework knitting had moved to the Midlands from London and the demand for spun silk was outstripping supply. Lombe had obtained employment at an abortive silk mill built in

George Sorocold George Sorocold (c. 1668 – c. 1738) was an English civil engineer of the eighteenth century notable for pioneering work on water supplies and hydraulic power systems around Great Britain. Biography Sorocold was born in Lancashire in 1666, t ...

for the silk spinner Thomas Cotchett of Derby, built on the River Derwent. The

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

had been using power spinning since the early 15th century, with a description published by

Vittorio Zonca Vittorio Zonca (1568–1603) was an Italian engineer and writer. He wrote the ''Theater of machines'', which was published in Padua in 1607 four years after his death. Some of his plates were translated into Chinese by Johann Schreck and publ ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

had sketched a similar model, but Zonca's was more complete; it is unknown if there was contact. Lombe was sent by his brother Thomas to investigate the Italian machines spinning organzine thread (raw silk warp threads used for weaving fine silk cloth). William Hutton gave an account of Lombe's time in Italy, in his ''History of Derby''. In 1718, Thomas Lombe was able to obtain a patent for

silk throwing Silk throwing is the industrial process wherein silk that has been reeled into skeins, is cleaned, receives a twist and is wound onto bobbins. The yarn is now twisted together with threads, in a process known as ''doubling''. Colloquially silk thr ...

machinery, granted for fourteen years. John Lombe died suddenly, in 1722. According to legend, the King of Sardinia, having heard of the success of the Lombe’s undertaking, instructed a female assassin to travel to England to kill the brothers. A '' bas relief'' sculpture of John Lombe is on Derby's

Exeter Bridge Exeter Bridge is a bridge in the centre of Derby spanning the River Derwent 200 metres south of the more modern Cathedral Green Footbridge. History Derby's original Exeter Bridge started life as a timber footbridge built by the Binghams of Exe ...

Lombe's Mill

The Lombes engaged Sorocold to build a new and larger mill on the site of the old one in Derby:

Lombe's Mill Lombe's Mill was the first successful silk throwing mill in Britain. It was built on an island on the River Derwent in Derby. It was built after John Lombe visited Piedmont in 1717 and returned to England with details of the Italian silk throwi ...

was completed in 1722, the year of John Lombe's death.

References

*Cooper, B., (1983) ''Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent'' Heinemann, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books {{DEFAULTSORT:Lombe, John 1693 births 1722 deaths Businesspeople from Norwich People of the Industrial Revolution British textile industry businesspeople Silk People from Derby