James Kay of Turton Tower: Inventor and Flax Spinner (1774-1857)

This is the story of James Kay's invention of a novel wet spinning system for flax in 1825, which was taken up by Irish spinners and enabled the Irish linen Industry to become of global importance in the late19th and early 20th centuries. In England, his patent was invalidated by John Marshall of Leeds following a series of lawsuits during the 1835-41 period. In so doing, Marshall, one of the richest and most powerful "textile barons" of his time, destroyed Kay's reputation in England to the effect that his name has all but disappeared from the list of 19th century textile industrial entrepreneurs. James Kay did, however, become sufficiently wealthy from his invention to enable him to buy and refurbish Turton Tower to the state that may be seen to this day, but his industrial contribution and story has never been told. His invention, which enabled very fine linen yarns to be produced by steam driven machinery, may be compared to Samuel Crompton's more well-known and famous cotton spinning mule, which was invented over 40 years earlier in the late 1770s. Just as the mule drove the early 19th century Industrial Revolution so Kay's wet spinning invention provided the impetus for the growth of the Irish linen industry in the second half of the 19th century. His wet spinning process is still the basis of modern spinning of fine linen yarns, although this industry is now concentrated in Russia and China