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Bronze portrait statue on granite pedestal, all on stepped base. On the lhs of the pedestal is a bronze relief showing Hall-I'-th'-Wood, the home of Crompton where he invented the mule. On the rhs of the pedestal is a bronze of the young Crompton working out calculations in front of his invention, the mule. Also featured is a violin which he made and played in a local orchestra.

Interest in Samuel Crompton began to be revived in January 1859, when the president of the Bolton Mechanics Institution, Gilbert French, who had researched and written a biography of Crompton, presented a paper on the life of the inventor. French admitted that most of the people of Bolton only remembered Crompton as "somewhat obscurely connected with the improvement of spinning machinery, by an invention which he completed at the Hall-I'-th'-Wood." It was hardly recognised, he said, that Crompton's mule had "given a wonderful impulse to the industry, and consequently to the wealth of this district, causing the insignificant villages of Lancashire to attain the importance of large towns."(1) Two years later Crompton was commemorated by the addition of a monumental granite stone to his grave in St Peter's Churchyard, the money being raised from workers at the engineering firm, Dobson and Barlow. However, this was regarded as an inadequate remembrance and a petition was circulated in favour of a greater memorial. This was taken up by the successive mayors, and in particular by J. R. Wolfenden, who was the first to suggest the erection of a statue. French was unable to attend the inauguration owing to illness, but was nevertheless recognised as the man who "laid the foundation of this great movement."(1-Gdn, 25/9/62) Despite this accolade, French does not seem to have been a member of the memorial committee.(2-BC) A public meeting was held on 29 August 1859 under the presidency of the mayor which formally adopted the statue scheme. Instead of mounting a competition for designs, the committee chose William Calder Marshall to execute the commission. He made alternative models, one of Crompton seated and another standing, the former being chosen as best for the Nelson square site.(2 BC 27/962) Subscriptions were opened in September 1859 and by 1862 amounted to £1,910 with the final cost of the whole project being some £1,200.(2 BC) The figure of Crompton was electro-cast by Elkington of Birmingham using a recently invented process which allowed the figure to be made of a uniform thickness throughout. Another advantage was that the casting could reproduce faithfully the smallest detail without having to treat the finished bronze for "scale." It was also far less expensive than previous methods.(2-BC) The unveiling of Bolton's first statue was a red-letter day in the town. The procession included members of the cotton trades' unions, the military, police and postal workers, friendly socieities, schoolchildren, no fewer than 27 brass bands, as well as the usual civic dignitaries and churchmen. Several crafts were represented by men working at benches mounted on lorries. Monument cost £2,000 1927 Crompton centenary.

Samuel Crompton (1753-1827), inventor of the spinning mule, was born at Firwood Fold near Bolton, the son of farmer and cotton spinner George Crompton. When Crompton was five his father died and at ten he was apprenticed for a year to learn weaving. He then worked as a weaver and spinner at the family home, Hall-I'-th'-Wood near Bolton. The introduction of James Hargreaves' Spinning Jenny into Crompton's business after 1769 and the problems he encountered attempting to produce fine quality yarns on it led him to experiment with his own machine. From 1774 to 1779, when he finally produced a prototype of the spinning mule, (so called because it was a "cross" between Arkwright's water frame and Hargreave's machine) Crompton worked at modifying the Jenny, financing his experiments by playing the violin in a Bolton theatre. However, he was unable to obtain a patent for his mule because of the restrictive patents on draw rollers (an integral part of the spinning mule) held by Arkwright. As a result he followed the usual practice of exhibiting his machine in return for a public subscription from interested parties. Done properly, this method could raise as much as £200. However instead of exhibiting at the Manchester Exchange, as was customary, Crompton trusted that manufacturers would come to Hall-I'-th'-Wood to view the machine. The subscription which followed was disappointing, and Crompton's mule was launched into the world, and the factories of his competitors, in return for £72. By his own admission unsuited to the everyday cares of business, Crompton's pioneering fabric designs were also pirated by more successful and less scrupulous rivals. The remainder of his life was devoted to running a small textile workshop in Bolton and mounting successive campaigns for official recognition of his contribution to national prosperity. Between 1807 and 1812 Crompton lobbied parliament for a grant, eventually receiving £5,000. His businesses declined and although local subscriptions in Manchester and the provision of an annuity saved him from complete destitution, he ended his life in relative poverty. He died on 26 June 1827 and was buried in the Parish Churchyard.

circa

raw year

Condition

At risk

Inscriptions

Signatures

Statue

Copper bronze

243cm high

Pedestal

Portland stone

275cm high x 216cm wide x 280cm deep

Base

Granite

Bird guano

Small amount on figure

Biological growth

Algae on four sides of pedestal

Metallic staining

Statue stained

None

None