John Heathcoat

John Heathcoat (7 August 1783 – 18 January 1861) was an English inventor and politician. During his apprenticeship he made an improvement to the warp-weighted loom, so as to produce mitts of a lace-like appearance. He set up his own business in Hathern but then set up a new factory in Loughborough. After this new factory was attacked by former Luddites in 1816, who were based in Nottingham, he moved the business to Tiverton in Devon where it became most successful and established the Tiverton lace-making industry.