Sir Thomas Lombe (5 September 1685 – 8 January 1739) was an English merchant and developer of machinery 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 ...

Early life

He was born the eldest son of Henry Lombe, 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 of

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 ...

, who died in 1695, leaving his older sons Thomas and John under the care of his executors, while the younger sons Benjamin and John were to be brought up by their mother, Henry Lombe's second wife. In the early years of the 18th century Lombe found his way to London, where he was apprenticed to Samuel Totton, a mercer, and was admitted to the freedom of the

Mercers' Company The Worshipful Company of Mercers is the premier Livery Company of the City of London and ranks first in the order of precedence of the Companies. It is the first of the Great Twelve City Livery Companies. Although of even older origin, the c ...

in 1707. In the same year he became a freeman of the city of London, and he eventually established himself as a merchant.

Silk manufacturer

In 1718 Lombe obtained a patent (No. 422) for "three sorts of engines never before made or used in Great Britaine, one to winde the finest raw silk, another to spin, and the other to twist the finest Italian raw silk into organzine in great perfection, which was never before done in this country." Lombe employed his half-brother

John Lombe John Lombe (1693 in Norwich – November 20, 1722 in Derby) was a silk spinner in the 18th century Derby, England. Biography Lombe was born in Norwich in approximately 1693, the son of a worsted weaver. He was a younger half-brother of Thoma ...

to learn Italian silk processes. The Lombes set up a new mill at

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 ...

in 1719, on an island in the River Derwent, adjacent to a disused mill that had belonged to Thomas Cotchett and was built by

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 ...

. It eventually became a lucrative concern, known as

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 ...

. The patent expired in 1732, when Lombe petitioned Parliament for an extension, opposed by cotton and worsted spinners. The bill was thrown out, but subsequently an act rewarded Lombe with £14,000, one of the conditions being that he should deposit models of his machinery in a public institution. Models were placed in the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, which is sep ...

Public life, and death

Lombe was an alderman of Bassishaw ward in the city of London, and was chosen

sheriff of London Two sheriffs are elected annually for the City of London by the Liverymen of the City livery companies. Today's sheriffs have only nominal duties, but the historical officeholders had important judicial responsibilities. They have attended the ju ...

in 1727. He was knighted on 8 July of the same year, when he attended at court to present a congratulatory address from the city to George II on his accession. He died on 8 January 1739 at his house in

Old Jewry Old Jewry is a one-way street in the City of London, the historic and financial centre of London. It is located within Coleman Street ward and links Poultry to Gresham Street. The street now contains mainly offices for financial companies. The ...

Legacy

Lombe's Mill was sold to Samuel Lloyd and William Wilson, after Thomas Lombe's death. It continued to spin silk until 1890, when it partly collapsed. In the 1740s Charles Roe built mills based on Lombe's, in Macclesfield. A description of Lombe's machinery was in ''

Rees's Cyclopædia Rees's ''Cyclopædia'', in full ''The Cyclopædia; or, Universal Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, and Literature'' was an important 19th-century British encyclopaedia edited by Rev. Abraham Rees (1743–1825), a Presbyterian minister and scholar w ...

''.

Family

Lombe married Elizabeth Turner. He left a fortune of £120,000, bequeathed equally to his widow and his two daughters, Hannah and Mary Turner. His daughter Mary Turner married on 24 April 1749,

James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale (25 January 1718 – 17 August 1789), and was one of the sixteen representative peers for Scotland in the House of Lords. Life James Maitland was born the eldest son of Charles Maitland, 6th Earl of Laud ...

. Hannah married in 1740 Sir Robert Clifton, 5th Baronet, Member of Parliament for . Lady Lombe died on 18 November 1753.

Notes

;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Lombe, Thomas 1685 births 1739 deaths English merchants