Thomas Highs
Thomas Highs was born in Leigh, Lancashire during the year 1718. He lived most of his life within this same town. His initial trade involved making reeds for looms. A reed is a comb-like strip attached to the batten of a loom. This component keeps warp threads apart from one another. It also helps weavers pack weft threads tightly on newly-woven cloth. Highs married Sarah Moss at Leigh Parish Church on the 23rd of February 1747. Five years after that wedding he turned his attention to cotton-spinning machinery. Between 1763 and 1764 he worked to produce a spinning engine with John Kay. Kay was a clockmaker who lived as a close neighbour to Highs.
John Kay was a clockmaker residing just a few miles away in Warrington. Highs gave Kay a wooden model of his rollers. He asked Kay to make a working metal version of the device. Kay completed the task before returning to live in his native home. Richard Arkwright met Kay during business travels across England. Arkwright gained Kay's confidence over a drink in a public house. He persuaded Kay to hand over the secrets of Highs machines. The machine produced stronger thread than the jenny could manage. This thread became suitable for use as warp material. The second set of rollers rotated five times faster than the first. The thread stretched to exactly five times its original length before receiving a vital twist.
Richard Guest wrote A History of Cotton Manufacture in 1823. He claimed Thomas Highs was the actual inventor of Hargreaves spinning jenny. Guest also asserted Highs invented Arkwright rollers. This feature defined the water frame used by Arkwright. Baines published History of Lancashire Vol 1 and Vol 2 later. McCullough quoted these histories within the Edinburgh Review. Guest self-published a 233-page book titled The British Cotton Manufactures. He accused Baines and McCullough of plagiarism in that volume. Baines discussed Guest conjecture in an extensive footnote. He dismissed Richard Guest claims regarding invention rights. These histories have been used during the intervening 170 years as sources for new definitive interpretations. The court tested whether Highs truly created these items.
Highs testified against Sir Richard Arkwright at the February 1785 trial. His evidence claimed he had made fluted rollers himself. No mention was made by him of the spinning jenny during testimony. It appeared as a statement of fact in Arkwright submission. Hargreaves had invented it according to court records. Highs, Kay, Kay wife and widow James Hargreaves all testified together. They stated Arkwright had stolen their inventions from them. Arkwright patents were laid aside following this judgment. A June 1785 case judged the argument of not being original. Four counts challenged the patents taken out in 1775. They included prejudice to subjects and lack of novelty. The patents were also deemed insufficiently described legally. This determination occurred after seeing his patents restored temporarily four years prior.
About 1767 or 1768 Highs moved to Bradshawgate in Leigh. He kept a special room to house roller-frame in secret. He constructed a jenny with spindles placed in a circle. The drum or wheel stood in an unoccupied house next door. Market-street housed the Anchor public house nearby. About 1769 he took hanks of twist spun upon this new machine. He went to Board of Trade in Manchester seeking investors. His efforts secured no success that year. Undaunted he removed from Leigh to Camp Street in Manchester during 1770 or 1771. He constructed a double-jenny there with twenty-eight spindles on each side. Manufacturers subscribed two hundred guineas as a reward for ingenuity. His son Thomas Highs showed the machine publicly in Manchester Exchange in 1772. It was about ten years old at that time.
In 1781 Highs returned to Manchester still making machines. He worked until about the year 1790 when stroke struck him. The illness debilitated his physical abilities significantly. William Drinkwater rescued him from destitution through charity. Drinkwater was a cotton spinner of Manchester who held him in high regard. He gave Highs a guinea per month regularly. Five guineas arrived every the 24th of June and every the 24th of December throughout life. When Highs died Drinkwater paid for decent burial costs. Thomas Highs died on the 13th of December 1803 aged eighty-four years. He was buried in vault belonging to minister in New Jerusalem Chapel Manchester. Samuel Crompton lived nearby in Bolton-le-Moors between 1773 and 1776. They shared membership in same tightly-knit Swedenborgian religious sect.
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Common questions
When was Thomas Highs born and where did he live?
Thomas Highs was born in Leigh, Lancashire during the year 1718. He lived most of his life within this same town.
Who helped Thomas Highs build his spinning engine between 1763 and 1764?
John Kay was a clockmaker who lived as a close neighbour to Highs. They worked together to produce a spinning engine with rollers that rotated five times faster than the first set.
What happened at the February 1785 trial involving Thomas Highs and Richard Arkwright?
Highs testified against Sir Richard Arkwright claiming he had made fluted rollers himself. The court laid aside Arkwright patents following this judgment after four counts challenged their originality and legal description.
Where did Thomas Highs move about 1769 and what machine did he construct there?
About 1769 Thomas Highs moved to Camp Street in Manchester during 1770 or 1771. He constructed a double-jenny there with twenty-eight spindles on each side.
When did Thomas Highs die and how was he buried?
Thomas Highs died on the 13th of December 1803 aged eighty-four years. He was buried in vault belonging to minister in New Jerusalem Chapel Manchester.