Richard Arkwright
        As a young man, he was a son of a tailor. Money was not there for him to be able to attend school so his cousin Ellen taught him how to read and write.  He began working as an apprentice barber and it was only after the death of his first wife that he became an entrepreneur. His second marriage to Margaret Biggins in 1761 brought a small income that enabled him to expand his barber's business. He acquired a secret method for dyeing hair and travelled around the country purchasing human hair for use in the manufacture of wigs. During this time he was often in contact with weavers and spinners and when the fashion for wearing wigs declined, he looked to mechanical inventions in the field of textiles to make his fortune. Arkwright made improvements that produced a stronger yarn and required less physical labour. His new carding machine was patented in 1775.He was the father of the modern factory system and his inventions such as the water frame, a spinning machine that had a capacity of several hundred spindles and used waterpower; it therefore required a larger and more specialized mill, and this was a beginning to the industrial revolution.