Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 02.djvu/98

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Arkwright
86
Armin

with the socialistic experiments of Robert Owen; but if he entered into partnership with Dale this was dissolved after the adverse decision in reference to the patent. Several additional mills were, however, erected by him both in Derbyshire and Lancashire, and, notwithstanding a distressing asthmatic affection, he continued to the last actively interested in their management and the introduction of improvements. In 1790 he erected Boulton and Watt's steam engine in his mill at Nottingham. In 1786 Arkwright received the honour of knighthood from George III on the occasion of presenting him with a congratulatory address from the wapentake of Wirksworth on his escape from assassination by Margaret Nicholson. In the following year Arkwright was chosen high sheriff of Derbshire. He purchased the manor of Cromford in 1789, and shortly afterwards obtained the grant of a market for the town. He had begun the erection of a church, and also of Willersley Castle for his own residence, when a complication of disorders resulted in his death 3 Aug. 1792.

Carlyle, forming his opinion from the well-known portrait of Arkwright, describes him as ‘a plain, almost gross, bag-cheeked, pot-bellied Lancashire man, with an air of painful reflection, yet also of copious free digestion.’ Arkwright possessed an energy which would scarcely allow him a moment's rest. He generally laboured ‘in his multifarious concerns from five o'clock in the morning till nine at night,’ and utilised all his time to the best possible advantage. Bad or careless work roused his stern wrath. For the success of his schemes he was ready to endure any personal inconvenience and suffer the severest sacrifices. From the beginning he was so sanguine of the vast results that would follow his inventions ‘that he would make light of discussions on taxation and would say that he would pay the national debt’ (Baines, Cotton Manufacture, p. 196).

[Case of Richard Arkwright and Company in 1782; Reports of Trials, 17 Feb. 1785 and 25 June 1785; Guest's Compendious History of the Cotton Manufacture (1823), and British Cotton Manufacture (1828); Baines's History of Lancashire, and History of Cotton Manufacture; Ure's Cotton Manufacture of Great Britain, and Philosophy of Cotton Manufacture; Edinburgh Review, vol. xlvi.; Quarterly Review, vol. cvii.; Aikin's General Biography, i. 389–92; Beauties of England and Wales, iii. 512–24, and ix. 278–82; Kennedy's Rise and Progress of the Cotton Trade, in Memoirs of Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, 1819; Histories of Preston, by Whittle, vol. ii. (1837), and by Hardwick (1857); Smiles's Self-Help; Espinasse's Lancashire Worthies, vol. i. (1874).]

T. F. H.


ARKWRIGHT, RICHARD (1755–1813), only son of Sir Richard Arkwright by his first wife, Patience Holt, was born at Bolton, 19 Dec. 1755. He was brought up to his father's business, and received from him a mill at Bakewell. On his father's death he removed to Willersley. Possessing good business talents and habits of great punctuality, he carried on the extensive concerns which he inherited, with thorough success, and at his death was probably the richest commoner in England. He was specially careful of the health of his workpeople, and introduced into his mills improved methods of warming and ventilating. From the Horticultural Society he received a medal for a new method of cultivating grapes. In 1780 he married Mary, daughter of Adam Simpson of Bonsall, by whom he had six sons and five daughters. He died at Willersley on 23 April 1843.

[Gent. Mag. new series, xix. 655-7; Annual Register, lxxxv. 252-3.]

T. F. H.


ARLINGTON, Earl of. [See Bennet.]


ARMIN, ROBERT (fl. 1610), actor and dramatist, was living in 1610. From a chapter in 'Tarlton's Jests and News out of Purgatory,' 1611, headed 'How Tarlton made Armin his adopted son to succeed him,' we learn that Armin was apprenticed to a goldsmith in Lombard Street; that he became acquainted with Richard Tarlton, the famous performer of clowns and jesters in Queen Elizabeth's time; that Tarlton prophesied that Armin should be his successor in clown's parts; and that Armin, from his regard for Tarlton, frequented the plays in which he acted and perhaps acquired something of his humour. Afterwards Armin was able to display his own abilities as an actor at the Globe Theatre on the Bankside. Tarlton died in 1588. If his pupil Armin was then seventeen or so, he was born about 1570, and must have been an actor of some position when, in 1603, James I. granted his patent to the players, wherein the name of Armin comes last but one. He is supposed to be the Robert Armin who was the author of 'A Brief Resolution of the Right Religion,' printed in 1590, and of other publications, and who was described in 'Pierce's Supererogation,' 1593, as one of 'the common pamphleteers of London.' The name of Robert Armin is also attached to a publication in 1604, entitled 'A True Discourse of the practices of Elizabeth Caldwell and others to poison her husband.' Armin was probably a member of the company of actors performing under the patronage of Lord Chandos. He is believed to have joined the Lord Cham-