- Jedediah Strutt
Infobox Person
name = Jedediah Strutt
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caption = Jedediah Strutt, portrait byJoseph Wright of Derby . Courtesy of the Wright Gallery
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birth_date = 1726
birth_place =South Normanton ,Derbyshire ,England
death_date =May 7 1797
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nationality = English
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occupation = hosier then cotton spinner
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footnotes =Jedediah Strutt (1726 –
7 May 1797 ) was a hosier andcotton spinner fromBelper ,England .Strutt and his brother-in-law William Woollat developed an attachment to the
stocking frame that allowed the production of ribbedstocking s. Their machine became known as the Derby Rib machine, and the stockings it produced quickly became popular.Early life
He was born in
South Normanton nearAlfreton inDerbyshire into a farming family in 1726.In 1740 he became an apprentice
wheelwright inFindern . In 1754 he inherited a small stock of animals from an uncle and married Elizabeth Woolatt in 1755 inDerbyshire , who encouraged him greatly in his ventures. He moved to Blackwell where he had inherited a farm from one of his uncles and, in addition developed a business carryingcoal fromDenby toBelper andDerby .The Derby Rib
Strutt's brother-in-law, William Woolat, employed one Mr. Roper of Locko who had produced an idea for an attachment to the
stocking frame to knit ribbed stockings. He had made one or two specimens which he showed to his friends, though he lacked the interest (and the capital) to develop his idea. Woolatt conferred with Strutt, who sold a horse and paid Roper £5 for his invention. Strutt and Woolatt turned the device into a viable machine and took out a patent in 1759.Their machine became known as the
Derby Rib machine, and the stockings it produced quickly became popular. Cotton was cheaper than silk and more comfortable than wool but demand was far exceeding supply.Cotton mills
Strutt and another spinner, Samuel Need, were introduced to
Richard Arkwright who had arrived inNottingham in about 1768, and set up his spinning frame there using horse-power to run the mill, but this was an unsatsfactory power source. InDerby ,John Lombe had built a successfulsilk spinning mill using water power. Strutt and Need joined Arkwright in the building of acotton mill atCromford , using what was hecneforth called Arkwright'swater frame . This was the first of its kind in the world, marking the beginning of theIndustrial Revolution .Strutt bought land in 1777 for his first mill in
Belper , which at that time was a hamlet of framework knitters and nail makers. In 1781 he bought the old forge at Makeney by Milford Bridge from Walter Mather. Belper opened in 1778 and Milford in 1782. For each he built long rows of substantial worker's houses and both are now part of theDerwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site .In time there would be eight Strutt mills at Belper which would grow to a population of 10,000 by the mid-nineteenth century and be the second largest town in the county.
Jedediah died in 1797 and is buried in the Unitarian Chapel in Field Row, Belper.
Family
Strutt was the second son of William Strutt of
South Normanton and Martha Statham ofShottle ,Derbyshire , England. In 1755, he married Elizabeth Woollatt. They had five children before Elizabeth's death inLondon in 1774. In 1781, Strutt married again, to Ann Cantrell, the widow of George Daniels ofBelper . There were no children from this marriage.Jedediah and Elizabeth's children were:
*William (1756–1830), who married Barbara Evans, daughter of Thomas Evans (by his second wife), and who invented theBelper stove . Their son was the Liberal politicianEdward Strutt, 1st Baron Belper .
*Elizabeth (1758–1836), who married William Evans, son of Thomas Evans (by his first wife).
*Martha (1760–1783), who married Samuel Fox.
*George Benson (1761–1841), who married Catherine Radford, daughter of Anthony Radford of Holbrook.
*Joseph Strutt (1765–1844), who married Isabella Douglas, daughter of Archibold Douglas.ee also
*
Baron Belper References
*Cooper, B., (1983) "Transformation of a Valley: The Derbyshire Derwent" Heinemann, republished 1991 Cromford: Scarthin Books
*R. S. Fitton and A. P. Wadsworth, "The Strutts and the Arkwrights 1758-1830: a study of the early factory system" (1958).External links
* [http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXstrutt.htm Biography of Jedediah Strutt]
* [http://www.derbyuk.net/famous_derbeians20.html Jedediah Strutt - a pioneer of the cotton spinning industry in Derbyshire]Persondata
NAME=Strutt, Jedediah
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=English hosier andcotton spinner
DATE OF BIRTH=1726
PLACE OF BIRTH=South Normanton ,Alfreton ,Derbyshire ,England
DATE OF DEATH=7 May 1797
PLACE OF DEATH=
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