"An Artful Woman:" Murder at the Mill
Oh, have I found a story for you this week.
Hey, fantastic human 👋🏻
Well, I hope you’re sitting comfortably because - holy moly - have I got a juicy tale for ye.
First up, let’s set the scene:
So, generally speaking, historians accept 1760 as the starting date for the Industrial Revolution. But remember that there isn’t a “revolution” in the typical sense, it’s a process.
And in the same way that you wouldn’t just randomly run a marathon, industrialisation didn’t just happen. To stick with our marathon analogy, there was a training period. A prolonged warm-up, if you will. We call this “proto-industrialisation.” (I know, it’s not a catchy term, but I don’t make the rules).
During this ‘warm-up', the first factories in Britain emerged. These weren’t factories of the kind that you and I would recognise today. They were workshops, really. It wasn’t until 1721 that Britain’s (and indeed the world’s) first ‘modern’ factory, opened its doors, and that’s where our story takes place.
The Lombe Brothers
So, let’s meet John and Thomas Lombe. It was these two men who opened the first factory - Lombe’s Silk Mill - in Derby in 1721.
John Lombe is of particular interest to us. Born around 1693 in Norwich, the details of his early life are sketchy at best, but we do know that John was a silk spinner by trade and that he visited “Italy” sometime around 1716. Now, let’s be specific here. It’s not “Italy” as we understand it today. Lombe visited Piedmont, which is part of Italy today but, back then, was part of the Kingdom of Sicily. (Which was under Spanish colonial rule from 1700-1720).
Anway, things get juicy here because some sources say he was working in Piedmont while others say he went to conduct some industrial espionage that got him into trouble 👇 OOH!
Now, let’s get back to it.
At that time, the silk industry in this region was seriously ahead of the game. It dominated silk production in Europe and had mechanised the silk spinning process as early as the 15th century. This was a BIG DEAL.
When John Lombe saw how these spinners worked, he wanted a piece of it for himself. He persuaded several (male) spinners to return to England with him where he and his brother, Thomas, patented three machines and began building a factory.
The brothers spent a whopping £30,000 on their factory, AKA Lombe’s Silk Mill. It took five years to complete but there was nothing else like it in Britain. It was a multi-storey building with huge, tall windows and had a massive workforce of 300 people. (Sadly, many of these workers were children). Lombe’s was kitted out with the latest technology. Its silk-spinning machines were powered by a waterwheel underneath the building.
Right, so it’s time for a happy ending, yeah?
Errr …
”An Artful Woman.”
So, it would seem that our friend, John Lombe, was from being a reputable gentleman. If you thought that those Piedmontese spinners were happy for him to return to England with drawings of their machines, you thought wrong. They were furious and - so our story goes - wanted revenge!
And revenge, dear reader, came from … well, it depends on who you believe. Some say the highest echelons of Piedmontese silk manufacturing. Others say it was none other than the King of Sardinia himself, a chap called Charles Emanuele III of Savoy. He would tolerate no threat to his region’s silk dominance, it was said. Either way, the next step was to find an assassin to kill John Lombe. She (yes, a woman!) is remembered only as “an artful woman.” OOH.
It was likely in 1719 that she arrived on British shores and headed to Derby. She was able to convince two of Lombe’s Piedmontese workers to help her poison John Lombe. Probably to avoid detection, she administered small doses to John. He died in 1722 after several years of “lingering in great agony.”
And what of our “artful woman?” Well, sources say she was questioned by local authorities but released without charge. John Lombe’s unexpected death left Thomas to run the business solo. In 1732, the Lombe machine patents expired. Thomas sold some of the equipment (to manufacturers in Italy!!!) and established several other mills in Stockport and Macclesfield. On his death in 1739, Lombe’s mill found a new owner.
Although the original building was destroyed in the 19th century, it was rebuilt and now houses the Museum of Making.
Sardinia & Silk
Let me leave you with a final dollop of women’s history.
Sardinia has a rich and long history of silk production. On the island of Sant’Antioco, women silk workers have produced byssus, or sea silk, for over 1000 years. Byssus production is a matrilineal industry, which I love. In all that time, Sardinian women have never written down their methods, so no John Lombes muscled in on their niche industry. You can read more about them here.
Until next time,
Kaye x