Richard Arkwright, Founder of the Factory System

Thomas 'Oldham' Barlow 1829 - 1889

Summary

A bust-length portrait of Richard Arkwright (1732-92). Arkwright, a Lancashire entrepreneur, invented a spinning machine, and developed the factory system in which to use it. Arkwright is a stout gentleman with a short, curled wig. He wears a coat and buttoned waistcoat, and glares seriously at the viewer. The portrait is contained within an oval, and has a facsimile of the sitter's signature to the bottom right. It is part of a portfolio of portraits of inventors of textile machinery. The print retains the mount that it was given in January 1925, by Edward Gleadhill, the foreman of the Horsfall Museum, an educational museum in Ancoats, Manchester.