Samuel
Slater was born in Belper, Derbyshire, in 1768. Apprenticed
to Jerediah Strutt he gained a detailed
knowledge of the latest textile machinery.
The British government passed legislation making it illegal for textile
machinery to be exported. Skilled engineers will also forbidden to
leave the country but Slater, using a false name, emigrated
to the United States in 1789.
Slater had a photographic memory and he soon got to work building
the latest textile machines. In 1793 he helped establish America's
first cotton factory at Pawtucket, Rhode
Island. It was a great success and Samuel Slater was a wealthy man
when he died in 1835.
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