The centenary mill engine, 1909. The Romance of Cotton: Cottage to Great Factory. We illustrate [one] of the many outward and visible signs of the great industry that is carried on at Messrs. Horrockses, Crewdson and Co.s, a firm that can claim high place in the romance of cotton. In 1791 John Horrocks set aside his stone-masons hammer and became a cotton-manufacturer, buying and carding the cotton himself. In ten years he had seven mills. Three years later, when he died, he was M.P. for Preston and had a fortune of ?150,000. From "Illustrated London News", 1909.