Samuel Greg

Samuel Greg (March 26, 1758 – June 4, 1834) was a British entrepreneur and pioneer of the factory system at Quarry Bank Mill.

He was born in Belfast, Ireland as the second son of a successful merchant. At the age of eight, he went to live with his uncle, Robert Hyde, at Ardwick Hall, Manchester. His two uncles, Robert and Nathaniel, were linen merchants and, after completing his education at Harrow School, Samuel joined the business in 1778. He was a utilitarian.

By 1782, when Robert Hyde died, Nathaniel's alcoholism had rendered him incapable of taking a full part in the business and Greg took over the enterprise. Seeing the opportunities for manufacturing opened up by the Industrial Revolution, he founded the Quarry Bank cotton spinning mill at the village of Styal on the River Bollin in Cheshire. Greg was quick to adopt any innovation in the rapidly developing technologies of manufacturing and a partnership with Peter Ewart enabled him to exploit novel developments in water and steam power.

Already a wealthy man, in 1789, he married Hannah Lightbody, a prominent Unitarian, and set up a family home at thirty-five King Street, Manchester. She bore him seven daughters and six sons, among them Robert Hyde Greg, William Rathbone Greg and the younger Samuel Greg. In 1796, the family added Quarry Bank House in Styal while retaining their town house. Greg was active in Manchester's cultural life as a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society.

Greg built up a workers' colony of modest but salubrious housing on the Styal estate, not out of any philanthropy but as an essential element in his vision of the efficient factory system. However, his wife Hannah's religious and social views influenced his approach to the workers' welfare.

In 1832, Greg was attacked by a stag in the grounds of Quarry Bank Mill. The injury led to his retirement. By this time, Quarry Bank had become the largest spinning and weaving business in the UK. Greg never recovered from the attack and died two years later.

Samuel Greg, the second son of Thomas Greg and Elizabeth Hyde, was born in Belfast in 1758. Samuel's father was a successful merchant and shipowner. His mother's family were also wealthy business people. Her brother, Robert Hyde, was a merchant based in Manchester. He imported linen yarns from Ireland and used weavers in Lancashire to turn it into cloth. The finished cloth was either sold locally or exported to America.

After a private education, Samuel Greg joined Robert Hyde's company in Manchester. In 1780, Hyde became a junior partner in his uncle's company. Two years later, Robert Hyde died, and Greg took over the firm. It was now a substantial business with the stock of cloth valued at £26,000.

By 1783 it became clear to Greg that his business needed an increasing quantity of good quality yarn. To guarantee this supply of yarn he decided to build his own textile mill. He chose a deep, wooded valley near Styal as the site of his first mill. One reason for this decision was that the River Bollin provided Greg with the power to drive his machinery.

Greg was a merchant and lacked technical expertise and employed Matthew Fawkner, to run Quarry Bank Mill when it opened in 1784. The mill had cost £3,000 to build and at first Greg employed 150 men to spin coarse yarn on water frames. The machines were powered by a water-mill of about 20 horse power.

In Manchester most of the textile merchants were Nonconformists. Most of Samuel's friends came from this group and in 1789 he married Hannah Light, the daughter of Adam Lightbody, a Unitarian cotton merchant. Hannah shared her father's religious beliefs, and her liberal and humanitarian views had a considerable impact on her husband.