Charles Hurt

"When Richard Arkwright first arrived in Cromford it is more than likely that the local gentry paid him very little heed. The local gentry at that time, within the immediate vicinity of Cromford, were the Nightingales at Lea and the Hurts at Alderwasley. The Nightingales themselves had risen from humble origins, the Hurts were rather more well established. Thus we can see that in that area the Hurts were the senior family. Arkwright's sucess in a short space of time inspired him to become ambitious to join in the ranks of the exalted few. What better way than to wed his daughter into the top flight. We do not know if their marriage was the outcome of a natural romance or whether the whole thing was engineered by their respective fathers. Whichever, the marriage suited everyone concerned. Francis Hurt saw his younger son married into money and for Richard Arkwright it opened the door to acceptability. It may not have been by sheer coincidence that seven years after the wedding in 1780, Arhwright was appointed High Sherrif of Derbyshire. Charles Hurt himself held that same post ten years later in 1797. He ran a lead works and a smelting business and acquired a reputation as an expert in the construction of soughs. In 1797 Boben, a miner, was rescued after being trapped underground for eight days by rock and earth falls, largely because Hurt insisted that he still had a chance of survival. He was also friendly with many of the eminent intellectuals of the day and had a vast library of books on astronomy, mathematics, Natural history, the classics and European literature.

from "The Hurts of Derbyshire" p 28 by Derek Wain