William Radcliffe (1761?, in Mellor, Derbyshire – 20 May 1842, in StockportDavid J. Jeremy
"Radcliffe, William (1761?–1842)"
''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 9 July 2008) was a British inventor and author of the essay ''Origin of the New System of Manufacture, Commonly Called Power loom Weaving''.

Biography

Radcliffe came from a modest family which had made the transition from farming to weaving. His father taught him about carding and spinning. In 1785, he purchased several spinning machines that had been developed by

James Hargreaves James Hargreaves ( 1720 – 22 April 1778) was an English weaver, carpenter and inventor who lived and worked in Lancashire, England. He was one of three men responsible for the mechanisation of spinning: Hargreaves is credited with inventing ...

. Hargreaves machines, called the

spinning jenny The spinning jenny is a multi- spindle spinning frame, and was one of the key developments in the industrialization of textile manufacturing during the early Industrial Revolution. It was invented in 1764 or 1765 by James Hargreaves in Sta ...

, were the first wholly successful improvement on the traditional

spinning wheel A spinning wheel is a device for spinning thread or yarn from fibres. It was fundamental to the cotton textile industry prior to the Industrial Revolution. It laid the foundations for later machinery such as the spinning jenny and spinning f ...

. Its advantage was to multiply many times the amount of

yarn Yarn is a long continuous length of interlocked fibres, used in sewing, crocheting, knitting, weaving, embroidery, ropemaking, and the production of textiles. Thread is a type of yarn intended for sewing by hand or machine. Modern manu ...

that could be spun by a single operator. This development and others such as weavers being able to rely on uninterrupted supplies of yarn led to spinning being concentrated in factories.

Powerloom weaving

In 1789, Radcliffe opened a large cotton weaving factory at Mellor, in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. He streamlined the process by inventing a machine to improve the quality of cloth. In 1804 he invented a ratchet wheel that moved the cloth forward automatically. Radcliffe also contributed to the debate amongst entrepreneurs on what constituted profits in a

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit. Central characteristics of capitalism include capital accumulation, competitive markets, price system, priva ...

system. In a letter dated 1 May 1804, which was never sent but later published in an 1811 book called ''Letters on the Evils of the Exportation of Cotton Yarns'', Radcliffe said he regarded profit as being made up of two parts: interest on money and a sort of entrepreneurial wage. In 1828, he wrote the essay ''Origin of the New System of Manufacture, Commonly Called Power loom Weaving'', later reprinted in

J. F. C. Harrison John Fletcher Clews Harrison (28 February 1921 – 8 January 2018), usually cited as J. F. C. Harrison, was a British academic who was Professor of History at the University of Sussex and author of books on history, particularly relating to Victor ...

's ''Society and Politics in England, 1780-1960'' (New York: Harper & Row, 1965).

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *''Capital and the Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution'', by Seymour Shapiro, 1967, Cornell University, printed in the U.S. by Kingsport Press. *''The Industrial Revolution in Britain: Triumph or Disaster?'' By Philip A. M. Taylor, 1958, in the U.S. by D.C. Heath and Company. *''The First Industrial Revolution'', edited by

Peter Mathias Peter Mathias, (10 January 1928 – 1 March 2016) was a British economic historian and the former Chichele Professor of Economic History at the University of Oxford. His research focused on the history of industry, business, and technology, ...

and John A. Davis, 1989, in Great Britain by Basil Blackwell Ltd. *''The First Industrial Revolution'', by

Phyllis Deane Phyllis Mary Deane FBA (13 October 1918 – 28 July 2012) was a British economic historian and a historian of economic thought. She served as Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge from 1981 to 1983. Life and career Deane ...

, The First Industrial Revolution, 1965 in Great Britain, by the Cambridge University Press. *''The Industrial Revolution'' by Arnold Toynbee, 1956, in the U.S. by The Beacon Press *''British Economic Growth during the Industrial Revolution'' by N.F.R. Crafts, 1985, in Great Britain by Oxford University Press.

External links

William Radcliffe on Spartacus Educational

Portrait of William Radcliffe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Radcliffe, William Weaving families People of the Industrial Revolution Textile workers English inventors 1761 births 1842 deaths People from Mellor, Greater Manchester

Biography

Powerloom weaving

See also

References

External links