Timeline 

Timeline of the Lombe, Strutt, Arkwright and Evans families - 
18th century entrepreneurs in Unesco’s Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.

1685      Thomas Lombe born 5 September    

1693      John Lombe born 

1702-7  Thomas Cotchett’s Silk mill built on the river Derwent in Derby

1707     Thomas Lombe made Freeman of the City of London and admitted to the
             Mercers’ Company

c.1714   John Lombe visited Italy

c.1715   Thomas Lombe commenced his silk mill enterprise in Derby

1718      14-year patent taken out by Thomas Lombe to protect silk machines. 

             Calico Act passed by Parliament (one of several)

1722        Death of John Lombe, 20 November

1723       Bakewell’s iron gates made for the Derby silk mill

1723        Thomas Evans born

1723      Suicide of Henry Lombe

1726      Daniel Defoe related story of George Sorocold falling into mill-race.

             Jedidiah Strutt born (This spelling is that used by Strutt himself.
             Most modern works have adopted the spelling ‘Jedediah’ as used by his
             grandson.)

             Thomas Lombe unsuccessfully applied for a renewal of his silk mill patents.
             Parliament granted him £14,000 as compensation and models were lodged 
             in the Tower of London.

1732       Richard Arkwright born in Preston, Lancashire.

                 Birth of artist Joseph Wright of Derby, known as Wright of Derby 
              (Portrait artist of J. Strutt and R. Arkwright c. 1789/90)

1736       Peter Nightingale born

1739       Death of Sir Thomas Lombe 3 January [worth around £120,000]

1740       Jedidiah Strutt apprenticed to wheelwright Ralph Massey in Findern

1745       Bonnie Prince Charles, the Young Pretender resided in Exeter House,
              Derby. [House later bought by Jed Strutt]

1747       Strutt’s apprenticeship ended. He moved to Loughborough near
              Leicester and corresponded with Elizabeth Woollat

1748       Lewis Paul – carding machine

1750       Bowman and Roper idea for improving knitting frame

1751       Robert Bage married Elizabeth Woolley 3 August at Mackworth

1752       Papermaker Charles Woolley Bage born

1754       Jedidiah Strutt inherited his uncle’s farm stock in Blackwell near 
              Alfreton, Derbyshire

1755       Richard Arkwright married Patience Holt 31 March

               Jedidiah Strutt married Elizabeth Woollat 25 September at Blackwell.

             Richard Arkwright Junior born

1756       William Woollat shown Roper’s machine from which Strutt 
              developed his Derby Rib Attachment.

              William Strutt born

1758       Elizabeth Strutt born (daughter of Jedidiah and Elizabeth)

                 Derby Rib Attachment patent No. 722 granted

1759       Patent No 734 for Derby Rib Attachment

1760       Martha Strutt born

1761       Richard Arkwright married Margaret Biggens.

                George Benson Strutt born

1762       Susanna [Susan] Arkwright born 20 December

1764       James Hargreaves invented the Spinning Jenny

1765       Joseph Strutt born

1768       Richard Arkwright and John Kay, a clockmaker, left Preston for 
              Nottingham and set up a small horse-powered mill, financed by 
              Ichabod and John Wright, bankers

1769       Water frame patent granted on 15 July to Richard Arkwright, 
              who then set up new partnership with Samuel Need and Jedidiah Strutt

1770       Firestove patent for Jedidiah and brother Joseph Strutt

1774       Mrs Elizabeth Strutt died– buried in Bunhill Fields, London

1775       First sod cut for Belper South Mill

1777       Derby Mercury advertisement for the sale of forge and mills at New Mills [Milford]

1778       Belper Mill in production

               First Arkwright licensee John Gardom, 

1779       Samuel Crompton - invented the spinning ‘Mule’

1780       Susanna Arkwright married Charles Hurt.

             Richard Arkwright Junior married Mary Simpson of Bonsall

1781       Friendship of William Strutt and Erasmus Darwin begins.

                 Derby Philosophical Society founded 1783.

                Arkwright Mill at Rocester, Staffordshire

1781/2    Jedidiah Strutt married Anne Daniels (nee Cantrell and widow of 
              George Daniels of Belper

1783       Samuel Slater of Belper signed Apprenticeship Indenture
                 8 January with Jed Strutt

1785       New Lanark construction started – Arkwright in Scotland.

                Elizabeth Strutt married William Evans

1786       Sir Richard Arkwright knighted by George III 22 December:
              started building Willersley Castle and bought  8 Adam Street, London

1788       Thomas Paine patented iron bridge.

                Fire destroyed first Darley Abbey Mill – rebuilding began immediately.

                Greyhound Inn built by Arkwright at Cromford.

                Belper Unitarian Chapel: central section built.

1791       Martha Strutt married Samuel Fox.

                Sunday School in attic of Darley Abbey Mill

1792       Richard Arkwright died

1793       Boulton / William Strutt correspondence about use of hollow pots 
              to fireproof buildings

1795       William Strutt / Bage correspondence about iron-framed buildings

1796       Samuel Taylor Coleridge visited Evans family in Darley Abbey.

              Death of William Evans.

                Bage’s Flax Mill, Shrewsbury

1797       Death of Jedidiah Strutt and internment at Belper Unitarian Chapel.

               Elizabeth Evans [nee Strutt] married Walter Evans

1803       Belper North Mill destroyed by fire