Jonathan Scarth was a partner in one of Manchester"s early steam powered cotton mills in the late 18th century, and was an entrepreneur of the English Industrial Revolution.
Background
Jonathan Scarth was born in Whitby, Yorkshire, England, the son of Thomas Scarth, a Quaker ship owner. (His father did not remain a Quaker however, having been disowned by the Society in 1781 for refusing to sail his ships without guns for protection). With funds from his father Thomas and brother-in-law Robert Moorsom, Jonathan, Richard Percival Moulson and Robert Owen (later to become the "father of English socialism") formed the Chorlton Twist Company to set up a state of the art steam powered cotton mill at Chorlton near Manchester.
Career
The 31 inch cylinder was cast and bored by John Wilkinson, and the machine weighed 99,000 pounds. James Watt Junior. wrote to Robert Owen that it was "one of the most perfect that ever passed through our hands". Trouble started in 1796 just as the factory was starting production.
The fear of French invasion caused an international cr squeeze.
Creditors could not borrow funds to pay. Undeterred, he and Marshall, with Benjamin Naylor, James Byfield and Theodore Rupp set up another cotton spinning company, "Scarth Marshall Rupp and Company" That company purchased a slightly smaller steam engine from Boulton and Watt, however it wound up in August 1801.
In late 1807 Jonathan was declared bankrupt. Jonathan recovered financially to the point that he was living on "independent means" at the time of his death in Shropshire on 14 December 1850.