The rather portly and illiterate father of 13 children, James Hargreaves made his living as a hand loom weaver in Blackburn. In the 18th century, this job was one of the ‘cottage industries’ practised from home that formed the basis of England’s famous woollen cloth-making economy, along with wool carding and spinning. 

In this labour-intensive business it took three carders to prepare the wool for one spinner and perhaps three spinners to provide enough thread for one weaver. As such, it was the business of the whole family and for many rural communities, particularly in the North West, this craft, along with farming a few acres of land, provided their entire income and was the mainstay of a centuries-old economy. 

It was a business that, if not hugely lucrative, was regular and employed large numbers of people; thus, attempts in the 17th century to introduce cotton from India had been fiercely resisted by the woollen cloth-making areas, leading to government...