Derby History

Derby became a city in the year of the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations, 1977 but has been an important centre for nearly 2,000 years. There was a Roman fort at Derby for three hundred years from the 2nd century AD and remnants of the military highways still exist at places such as Rykneld Street. By Norman times the settlement had evolved into a thriving market town and at the beginning of the 13th century King John granted Derby a 15-mile monopoly on wool dyeing and the town acquired its first trade.

Throughout the Middle Ages Derby evolved as a manufacturing centre, primarily producing cloth, soap and beer but in 1718 the first effective silk making mill was opened after John Lombe stole the secret of manufacturing high quality silk from some Italians. The mill in Full Street is now a museum and covers all aspects of Derby’s industrial heritage.

Nearly forty years later Derby acquired another industry when Andrew Planche and William Duesbury formed a partnership with the objective of creating the highest quality china. They received the patronage of King George III and in 1890 Queen Victoria declared that the brand should be known as Royal Crown Derby.

The arrival of the Midland’s Railway in the 19th century meant railway workshops sprang up around the town and Derby was networked with the rest of the country. In 1907 Rolls Royce opened a factory and Sir Henry Royce’s statue stands in the Arboretum, which was the country’s first ever-public garden.