What is the Derby Silk Mill?
Q: What is the Derby Silk Mill?
A: The Derby Silk Mill is a museum of industry in Derby, England. It was formerly known as the Derby Industrial Museum and is housed in a historic former silk mill which is part of Derwent Valley Mills.
Q: Who built Britain's first mill?
A: George Sorocold built Britain’s first mill beside the River Derwent between 1717 and 1721. This mill was built to produce silk threads using machines powered by a water wheel.
Q: How did John Lombe acquire the design for these machines?
A: John Lombe copied the design for the machines used for spinning large quantities of silk when he was working within the Italian Silk Industry, which may be an example of industrial espionage.
Q: What happened to John Lombe?
A: John Lombe unnaturally died in 1722 and it was believed that he was killed with poison by an Italian as revenge for stealing trade secrets.
Q: Who leased the building and machinery after Sir Thomas Lombe Knt.?
A: Richard Wilson junior of Leeds leased the building and machinery from Dame Elizabeth after Sir Thomas Lombe Knt., paying £2,800 for 64 years of lease.
Q: What made Lombes' silk mill successful? A: Lombes' silk mill was successful due to its use of circular spinning machines (also known as 'throwing machines'), single source of power (water), organized workers (200-400) and total process from raw silk to fine quality thread - making it regarded as the first successful use of factory system in Britain.
Q: When did fire break out at the Silk Mill? A: Fire broke out at The Silk Mill on 5 December 1910 at 5.00 am, caused by a nearby flour mill belonging to Sowter Brothers catching alight which spread to The Silk Mill causing much damage including falling walls into river Derwent before being rebuilt with three stories instead five originally had
