David Dale

David Dale (1739–1806) was a leading Scottish industrialist, merchant and philanthropist during the Scottish Enlightenment period at the end of the eighteenth century.

He is a successful entrepreneur in a number of areas, most notably in the cotton-spinning industry and is the founder of the world famous cotton mills in New Lanark, where he provides social and educational conditions far in advance of anything available anywhere else in the UK.

New Lanark attracts visitors from all over the world.

Dale’s daughter (Caroline) marries Robert Owen in 1799 and by 1800, Dale has sold the mills to a group of businessmen led by Robert Owen.

Owen (often described as Utopian Socialist) sees New Lanark as a testing ground for what he calls his New Social System–an experiment in communitarian living, where education is the key to character formation.

He manages New Lanark for nearly twenty-five years, and the community continues to attract visitors from across the globe.

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