Exactly 300 years since Derby’s Silk Mill gates first opened, the Lombe brothers’ daring legacy inspires a modern wardrobe of bespoke finery - to die for.
In the late 17th century, Huguenot silk weavers fled religious persecution in France and settled in the Spitalfields district of London.
At the dawn of the 18th century, in a tale woven from threads of faith, espionage, and mortality, the Lombe family brought silk production to Britain. It was an audacious act of industrial larceny that would prefigure the Industrial Revolution by half a century, and in the process, elevate their name into both legend and lament.
William Hogarth’s 1747 engraving depicting silk weaving in Spitalfields.
Thomas Lombe, born in Norwich in 1685, was the son of a worsted weaver. By fortune and foresight, he became London’s most celebrated silk merchant, selling the fine fabrics produced by Huguenot weavers - their production limited by the supply of silk yarn imported from Italy. His younger half-brother John - ingenious, fearless, and mechanically gifted - ventured into the very heart of Piedmont, disguised as a humble labourer. By candlelight, he sketched the secrets of Italy’s closely guarded silk-throwing machines, knowing discovery meant death. His return to England was nothing short of a cloak-and-dagger escape, pursued by brigands at sea, carrying with him a chest of stolen drawings and the future of English industry.
John Lombe sketching Piedmontese silk machinery by candlelight, an act of daring espionage that transformed Britain’s silk industry.
From these designs rose the great Derby Silk Mill in 1722—the first British factory powered by an inanimate force, a waterwheel turning near 100,000 wheels and movements in perfect unison. Here, under one roof, hundreds toiled in the rhythm of mechanised production. Half a century before the name Industrial Revolution was coined, the Lombes had already lit its fuse.
Lombe's Silk Mill on the River Derwent, Derby.
But triumph came at a cost. In 1722, the same year the mill opened, John Lombe died suddenly - reportedly poisoned on the orders of Victor Amadeus II, King of Sardinia, enraged that his nation’s prized monopoly had been undone by English hands. The assassin was never proven, though rumours of an Italian woman arriving in Derby persist. John was just 29.
Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy and later King of Sardinia, who allegedly ordered the assassination of John Lombe in retaliation for his industrial espionage.
Thomas pressed on, knighted for his achievements, celebrated in commerce and civic life. His daughter would marry into the peerage, her husband's portrait painted by Sir Joshua Reynolds swathed in silk, emblematic of a dynasty spun from peril and ambition.
James Maitland, 7th Earl of Lauderdale, son-in-law of Sir Thomas Lombe, portrayed in resplendent silk robes by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
When his patent expired, the Lombe monopoly unravelled. Silk factories multiplied across England, until the industry itself succumbed to foreign competition in the mid-19th century. The Derby mill, once the envy of Europe, fell into decline, survived a fire, and was eventually reborn as a museum: a relic, but never forgotten.
A late 19th-century photograph of the Derby Silk Mill, the pioneering factory that introduced mechanised silk production to Britain
What does endure are the gates: forged in 1725 by Robert Bakewell, wrought with scrolls, garlands, and a grotesque that stares down the centuries as both protector and memento mori. Through those gates once passed a workforce who knew that silk was not merely a fabric but a symbol—of refinement, of ambition, and sometimes, of risk worth dying for.
The wrought-iron gates of Lombe’s Mill, crafted by Robert Bakewell in 1725, adorned with gilded flourishes and the intertwined initials of John and Thomas Lombe.
Three centuries later, the Lombe name is revived, not as an industrial enterprise, but as a sartorial statement: a bespoke wardrobe “to die for.” It honours the courage, ingenuity, and sacrifice of those who defied kings and crossed borders so that Britain might weave its own destiny in silk.
The foundation of Lombe's wardrobe To Die For
Hand Crafted Tailoring
Soft construction and perfect form
Each hand-tailored garment is cut from cloth woven in the world’s finest mills, enriched with rare fibres such as vicuña, cashmere, linen, superfine wool, and, of course, silk.
Hand Sewn Shirts
Impeccable detail
Every shirt is a sartorial study in precision, cut from a hand-drawn pattern and finished with embroidered buttonholes, rolled hems, and discreet refinements throughout.
Silk Accessories
Delicate prints and hand-rolled edges
Naturally, the Lombe wardrobe could not be complete without the addition of the finest pure silk pocket squares and neckties, all individually made to the customer's exacting specification.