A BLACKSMITH BARON.
Apropos of the death of the Hon. Wm. Strutt, Lord Belper's heir, the Chronicle tells the singular story of the peerage. The first Lord Belper was a blacksmith, and gave Arkwright ' much help with his inventions. When Arkwright made his first spinning frame he found to his cbagr rin that the threads twisted. He went as usual to the blacksmith, who remarked that he could soon alter the defect. But the smith, having a keen eye to business, said he would only effect the remedy on condition of receiving half the profits of the new invention for the space of ten years. After a long discussion Arkwright consented to this, and an agreement was drawn up. Whereupon the blacksmith took his hand out of his pocket, rubbed it over one of the cylinders of the machine, and coolly said, "That's all it wants." He had simply chalked his hand, and had created a rough surface where Arkwright had two smooth ones. That blacksmith eventually became first Baron Belper.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 157, 31 December 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)
Word Count
171A BLACKSMITH BARON. Evening Post, Volume LVI, Issue 157, 31 December 1898, Page 3 (Supplement)
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