Jedediah Strutt is the fourth (and last) of the statues above the shop which was the original Boots the Chemist in Derby, and he actually was born in Derbyshire; to be precise, in South Normanton, in 1726. His parents were farmers, but Strutt is yet another son of Derbyshire who is famous because of his association with the textile trade; being the first to refine a frame capable of making a ribbed stocking.
For a while, his frame was in use at the Derby Silk Mill, preparing silk thread to be made up into cloth, but in 1771, Strutt formed a partnership with Samuel Need and Richard Arkwright to build a cotton mill in Cromford, which combined the technologies of the Strutt Derby Rib with the Arkwright Water Frame.
Following this success, Strutt went on to build mills along the Derwent Valley; in Belper in 1778 and Milford in 1782, both accompanied by a row of substantial houses for his workers; just one of the reasons he was considered to be a good employer. Over time, Strutt built a total of eight mills in Belper and the village grew to a population of 10,000 , becoming the second largest town in the county after Derby.
Strutt died in 1797 and is buried in a vault under the Unitarian Chapel he had built in Belper.
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