MONDAY marks the day of the 200th anniversary of the death of John 'King Cotton' Horrocks, the man who helped shape Preston as a leading heavyweight during the industrial age.

His entrepreneurship helped put Preston on the map as a thriving cotton manufacturing town and his business stretched for miles around, netting a local workforce of hundreds.

These days Horrockses factories are just a memory of Preston's industrial past, with many of the huge buildings demolished or standing derelict, like Centenery Mill, New Hall Lane, set to be transformed into luxury apartments.

But many older people will recall working at the mill, following their parents and grandparents onto the workshop floor.

One former Horrockses worker, Jean Purdy, 73, recalls: "The sense of camaraderie was amazing at Horrockses."

"I remember the sound of the shuttles going back and forth," said Jean, of Cromwell Road, Preston, who worked there in the 1950s. "It was so noisy we had to meimo everything to each other because you couldn't even have a conversation with a person stood next to you."

Though many Prestonians know little about Mr Horrocks himself, his mill legacy will last forever.

Born in Bolton in 1768, one of a family of 18 children, he grew up learning about the cotton industry.

In time he built up an extensive network of handloom weavers and before long he was visiting Preston regularly, where he did business with the first cotton mill owner of the town, John Watson.

He soon grew tired of working for a meagre wage, and in 1791 he started his own business by renting a small room at Turk's Head Yard, off Fishergate, making muslin.

By the Guild Year 1802 he had built his empire with numerous factories and rows of cottages of the workers. Preston's population doubled from 6,000 as workers flocked to the town.

He was so popular in Preston that in 1802 he was elected unopposed as the town's representative in parliament.

He was fulfilling his parliamentarian duties in London when he died suddenly, aged 36, in 1804, from inflammation of the lungs.

"It was the best job I've ever had, I would be straight back if it opened again," added former employee, Mrs Pat Woodcock, 64, of Sunbury Avenue, Preston.