Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Lombe, Thomas
LOMBE, Sir THOMAS (1685–1739), introducer of silk-throwing machinery into England, eldest son of Henry Lombe, worsted weaver, of Norwich, was born on 5 Sept. 1685. The father died in 1695, leaving his sons Thomas and John under the care of his executors, while the younger sons Benjamin and John were to be brought up by their mother, Henry Lombe's second wife. The family seems to have been settled in Norwich from a very early period, and the name occurs continually in local records. In the early part of the eighteenth century Lombe found his way to London, where he was apprenticed to Samuel Totton, mercer, and was admitted to the freedom of the Mercers' Company in 1707. In the same year he became a freeman of the city of London, and he eventually established himself as a merchant. In 1718 he obtained a patent (No. 422) for 'a new invention of three sorts of engines never before made or used in Great Britaine, one to winde the finest raw silk, another to spin, and the other to twist the finest Italian raw silk into organzine in great perfection, which was never before done in this country.' A specification of the patent was duly enrolled, in conformity with the conditions of the letters patent, in the petty bag office, but the roll was lost, and was only discovered in 1867, when the specification was printed by the commissioners of patents for the first time. Lombe says: 'I declare that by constant application and endeavours for severall years past, and employing a great many agents and workmen both here and in foreigne parts, I have at very great expense and hazards found out, discovered, and brought into this country the art of making the three capital engines' mentioned in the title of his patent. The description of the machinery is not very clear, and is interspersed with numerous Italian technical terms, the use of which the inventor justifies by alleging that there were no English words to denote the various details of silk-throwing machinery. The principal agent employed by Lombe was his halfbrother John (see below), who, it is said, went to Italy, then the principal seat of the silk manufacture, and made himself thoroughly familiar with the various processes. This journey has been represented as a romantic enterprise full of danger, and necessitating the adoption of stratagems and disguises for its accomplishment. The Italians were said to have jealously guarded the secret of the manufacture, but it seems to have escaped notice that a very complete description of the Italian silk-throwing machinery was published as early as 1607 at Padua by V. Zonca in his 'Novo Teatro di machine,' further editions of which appeared in 1621 and 1656. The book contains engravings which show the construction of the machinery in great detail, and to an expert Zonca's book is much more satisfactory than Lombe's specification. In 1692, moreover, a number of persons had unsuccessfully petitioned for leave to be incorporated into a company for the purpose of introducing the Italian machinery and starting a manufactory in this country (Home Office Petition Entry Book, 1680-93, p. 293). But, notwithstanding, the Lombes are entitled to the credit of having introduced into this country a new and important trade.
They set up a mill at Derby in 1719 (5 Geo. I, c. 8; Cunningham, English Industry, ii. 350) on an island in the river Derwent soon after the grant of the patent, and eventually it became a prosperous concern. Boswell records a visit to the mill in September 1777 (Hill, Boswell, iii. 164). The building, now known as the Old Silk Mill, is still in existence, and is used for its original purpose.
Lombe's patent was granted for fourteen years, and naturally expired in 1732, but on 28 Jan. of that year he petitioned parliament for an extension, alleging that he had been put to great expense in training workmen, and that, the Sardinian authorities had prohibited the importation of raw silk, so that a supply had to be obtained elsewhere. The petition was referred to a committee, and evidence was produced showing that the machinery had rendered the manufacturers of this country independent of Italy for the supply of organzine, and that the price had been greatly reduced. There was a considerable opposition to the petition on the part of the cotton and worsted spinners, who were desirous of using certain parts of Lombe's machinery for making yarn, but had been prevented by threats of actions for infringement. The facts are set out in 'The Case of the Manufacturers of Woollen, Linen, Mohair, and Cotton Yarn … with respect to … a Bill for preserving and encouraging a new Invention in England by Sir Thomas Lombe.' The debate on the bill is reported at some length in 'Parliamentary History,' 1732, p. 924, and is of considerable interest, being the first instance of an application to parliament to prolong a patent beyond the fourteen years' limit fixed by the statute of monopolies. The petitions and evidence are given in the 'Commons' Journal,' xxi. 782, 795, 840, &c. The bill was thrown out, but eventually an act (5 George II, cap. 8) was passed granting a reward of 14,000l. to the inventor, one of the conditions being that he should deposit models of his machinery in some public institution. Models were accordingly placed in the Tower, and they are mentioned in 'An Improved History of the Tower' (published, without any author's name, in 1815), but have long since disappeared. A good description of Lombe's machinery, with drawings, is given in Rees's 'Cyclopædia,' art. 'Silk.'
Lombe was an alderman of Bassishaw ward in the city of London, and was chosen sheriff in 1727. He was knighted on 8 July of the same year, when he attended at court to present a congratulatory address from the city to George II on his accession.
He died on 8 Jan. 1739 at his house in Old Jewry, leaving a fortune of 120,000l. (Gent. Mag. 1739, p. 47), which was bequeathed in equal shares to his widow and his two daughters, Hannah and Mary Turner. In his will he desires his widow 'at the conclusion of the Darby concerns to reward the principal servants there as she shall think fit to the value of 500l. or 600l.' His daughter Mary Turner married on 24 April 1749, James, seventh earl of Lauderdale. Hannah married in 1740 Sir Robert Clifton, bart., M.P. for East Retford. Lady Lombe died on 18 Nov. 1753 (ib. 1753, p. 541).
John Lombe (1693?–1722), Sir Thomas's half-brother, born probably at Norwich about 1693, was employed by the latter to proceed to Italy and make himself acquainted with the processes of silk-throwing. He was referred to by Alderman Perry in his speech in the House of Commons when Sir Thomas Lombe's petition was being discussed as one 'whose head is extremely well turned for the mechanics.' According to the only authority (William Hutton, Hist. of Derby, pp. 191–209), John returned from Italy about 1717, bringing with him some Italian workmen to assist him in starting the new factory. Hutton goes on to say that the silk-throwers of Piedmont were so enraged at Lombe's success, and at the deception which had been practised upon them by the faithless Englishman, that they despatched a woman to Derby to gain Lombe's confidence, and to administer a slow poison. In this she was successful, and her victim, after lingering for two or three years in great agony, is said by Hutton to have died on 16 March 1722, and to have been buried with great pomp at All Saints' Church, Derby, on the 22nd of the same month, when thousands of people attended the funeral. Hutton worked as a boy in the Old Silk Mill, but he was not an eye-witness of these events, which took place before he was born, and his story must be received with caution. The registers of All Saints record the burial of John Lombe on 28 Nov. 1722, and an endorsement on his will at Somerset House gives the date of his death as 20 Nov. Hutton's story did not appear until 1791. Sir Thomas Lombe makes no allusion to his brother's death in his petition to parliament for the renewal of his patent. John Lombe's will was proved in London in July 1724.
[Authorities cited in text; Edinb. Rev. xliii. 78; Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ix. 380; Zamboni's Monografia dei Setificio Veronese, 1855, p. 35; Betham's Baronetage, iv. 142 (pedigree), and the wills of Henry, John, Thomas, and Lady Elizabeth Lombe, in Somerset House. Smiles, in his Men of Invention and Industry, pp. 107–20, seems to have chiefly followed Hutton and an article in the Mechanics' Magazine 17 May 1867, which is inaccurate in some particulars; information from the vicar of All Saints, Derby.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.185
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
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