Lombe's Mill
He engaged Sorocold to build a new larger mill on the site of the old one in Derby. Lombe's Mill was completed in 1722, the year of John's death. John died suddenly. According to legend, the King of Sardinia, having heard of the success of the Lombe’s undertaking, instructed a female assassin to travel to England to kill the brothers. He is suspected to have been poisoned by a "suspicious" woman, presumably from Italy, who had appeared shortly before his death.
Thomas Lombe was knighted in 1727. In 1732 the patent expired and his request for an extension was turned down. It was arguably the first successful powered continuous production unit in the world; a prototype for Richard Arkwright's later cotton mill at Cromford and the Derwent Valley Mills which marked the beginning of the factory system.
In recognition of his achievement he was given a grant of £14,000 to prepare a model of his machine which was displayed in the Tower of London for the benefit of other aspiring manufacturers. He died in 1739 and the building was sold to Samuel Lloyd and William Wilson. It continued to spin silk until 1890 when it partly collapsed.
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“The worth of a State, in the long run, is the worth of the individuals composing it ... a State which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes—will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished.”
—John Stuart Mill (1806–1873)