Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Horrocks, John

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1397037Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 27 — Horrocks, John1891William Arthur Jobson Archbold

HORROCKS, JOHN (1768–1804), manufacturer, the second son of a quaker, was born at The Birches, a small family property in the village of Edgeworth, near Bolton, Lancashire, in 1768. In 1786 he went to Preston, and erected a mill for cotton-spinning by machinery, successfully dealing with the prejudices of the workpeople, and employing the Horrocks power-loom, the invention of a relative. Shortly afterwards, being successful in a competition ordered by the East India Company for the sole manufacture of cotton goods to be exported to India, he altered his machinery, and became a manufacturer of muslin. He succeeded so well that he constructed other factories, and his elder brother Samuel and a workman named Miller entered into partnership with him. In 1802 he was returned to parliament in the conservative interest, with Lord Stanley, for the borough of Preston, and was consulted by William Pitt on commercial matters. He built for his residence a large stone house, Penwortham Lodge, near Preston. Dying of brain fever when in London, on 1 March 1804, he was buried in Penwortham churchyard. His fortune amounted to 750,000l. He married a Miss Lomax in 1787, and left two sons, Peter and John, who carried on his business. A pillar was afterwards erected to his memory at Preston.

Horrocks, John Ainsworth (1818–1846), grandson of the above, landed near Adelaide, South Australia, in 1839, and founded Penwortham village, seventy-five miles north of Adelaide. He was killed by the explosion of his gun in 1846, while exploring the head of Spencer's Gulf. Mount Horrocks and Horrocks' Pass were named after him.

[Private information; Heaton's Australian Dictionary of Dates.]

W. A. J. A.