James Hargreaves

James Hargreaves (c. 1720 – 22 April 1778)[2] was an English weaver, carpenter[citation needed] and inventor who lived and worked in Lancashire, England.

Opposition to the machine caused Hargreaves to leave for Nottingham, where the cotton hosiery industry benefited from the increased provision of suitable yarn.

In Nottingham Hargreaves made jennies for a man named Shipley, and on 12 June 1770, he was granted a patent, which provided the basis for legal action (later withdrawn) against the Lancashire manufacturers who had begun using it.

With a partner, Thomas James, Hargreaves ran a small mill in Hockley and lived in an adjacent house.

False claims were being made about Hargreaves as early as 1828, when Richard Guest, writing in the Edinburgh Review in 1828,[7] introduced several errors, and a distorted view of his life and contributions has persisted ever since.