GOVERNMENT OP INDIA

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGY

CENTRAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL
LIBRARY

D .G .A .

79.

SHIP AN D GOOD-WILL O F TH E PEOPLE OF THE

UNITED
INDIA.

STATES

TOWARDS

THE

PEOPLE

OF

A SH O RT H IS T O R Y OF W O O L
AND ITS M A N U F A C T U R E

A SHORT H I S T O R Y
OF WOOL
AND
ITS M A N U F A C T U R E
( M A I N L Y IN E N G L A N D )

BY

E. L I P S O N

*/ thanke God, and ever shall,

It is the Sheep* hath payed fo r a ll.'

HARVARD

U N IV E R S IT Y

PRESS

CA M BR ID G E, MASSACHUSETTS

953

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P R I N T E D IN G R E A T B R I T A I N

Contents
.

r-,

PART I

*% .

WOOL A N D SHEEP

CHAPTER

PACE

INTRODUCTION

II

ENGLISH WOOL

10

MERINO AND CROSSBRED W O O L

36

III

< 0

P A R T II

WOOL M A N U F A C T U R E S
v 5
v

IV
V
VI
VII
VIII

E A R L Y HISTORY

49

ORGANIZATION

63

STATE CONTROL

97

PROCESSES AND INVENTIONS

118

THE NINETEENTH AND TW ENTIETH OENTURIES

152

Appendix g e o g r a p h i c a l d i s t r i b u t i o n

179
193
195

B IB LIO G R A PH IC A L NOTE
INDEX

Preface
P art II incorporates m aterial draw n from m y
History o f the Woollen and Worsted Industries (first
published in 1921), together with numerous changes
and additions.
January

1953

E. l i p s o n

PART I

W OOL AND

SHEEP

CH APTER ONE

Introduction
fibres which h ave been utilized through
the ages to clothc m ans b o d y, wool the coat o f the sheep
occupies a unique position. It is not alone :hc oldest b u t also
one which has been continuously and universally used. In the
B iblical story o f the C reation the keeper o f sheep shares with
the grow er o f corn the task o f satisfying the most prim itive
and enduring o f hum an needs; and from the infan cy o f the
race dow n to the advanced civilization o f our ow n d a y wool
has retained the p eculiar qualities which account for its
prim acy over other textile raw m aterials in tem perate lands.
I t is spun into thread w ith ease, it is light and d u rab le, its
serrations (scales) and elasticity enable cloth to be m ade which
absorbs m oisture and preserves heat. It is used for numerous
purposes for apparel (garments w oven and knitted) as well
as for furnishing fabrics o f all kinds including floor coverings
(carpets and rugs), curtains, blankets and tapestries. T h e part
w hich w ool has played in the national eccnom y o f England
entitles it to be considered one o f the pillars o f the state: its
im portance in world econom y is reflected in the status which
it has enjoyed from early times as one o f the major com m odities
o f international trade. A report o f the United States tariff
commission in 1921 pointed out th at the subjcct o f w ool has
a great m an y ram ifications. It touches international p olicy in
regard to the control o f raw materials. It involves domestic
p olicy w ith respect to the use o f our natural resources, to
the relations between producers, m iddlem en and consum ers,'
and to the developm ent o f co-operative methods. It is related
to m any agricultural questions use o f the soil, m anagem ent
o f livestock, choice o f crops. It also has a vital relation to the
consumers interests.
A n outstanding feature o f wool is its immense variety o f
types: indeed it is com puted that they comprise several
am ong th e te x t ile

W O O L A N D S HE E P

thousands. D urin g the first world w ar under the British govern

m ents purchase schcm c wool experts classified A ustralian wool
into approxim ately 850 types; during the scccnd world w ar the
list was increased to 1500 (and 950 types o f N ew Z ealan d wool).
In the U n ited States the standard samples kept a t the customs
houses for testing the qualities o f im ported wool am ounted to
381. In p racticc a m uch sm aller quan tity o f grades, w ell under
a hundred, suffices for norm al trade requirements. T h e varia
tions in the character o f w ool arc due to different causes. O ne is
the breed o f sheep: the num ber o f breeds runs into three figures.
A com m on classification o f these breeds comprises merino,
crossbred, English long w ool, and native unim proved.1 O ther
factors are clim ate, pasturage and skilful farm ing (for instance,
care in the selection o f breed.2) T h e ch ie f qualities o f w ool are
fine, m edium , and coarse: the first tw o (reckoned to b e fourfifths o f the annual w orld output) are used for w earin g apparel
and the coarse (one-fifth) for carpets and rugs. T h e finest wool
is produced by m erino breeds; the m edium wool b y crossbreds
o f w hich the fleece holds a m iddle place between the finer
merinos and the coarser E nglish lon g w o o l; and the carp et wool
b y native unim proved breeds. W ith in these m ain divisions
there is an infinite range o f sorts; even individual sheep m ay
yield several sorts* in the sam e fleece. T h e classification o f these
w ool types is based p rim arily on fineness and length o f fibre as
w ell as on soundness, han dle, elasticity, clean condition, colour,
felting properties.3
T h e vast diversity in grades o f w ool provides opportunity for
the exercise o f skill in blending the different fibres, and gives
scope for the creative powers o f the craftsman even in the
1 Historically crossbreds are crosses between merino and .inglish breeds. But the
term is also applied to what have now become pure breeds in their own right.
They arc lc33 than Gos (see note 3).
1 The price o f over 4,000 guineas has been paid at a Sydney auction for a ram;
rams have been sold privately for 5,000 guineas each.
* Fineness applies essentially to the spinning quality of the wool. It is designated
by the count o f the yam , i.e. the number of hanks to which one pound of wool
can be spun. A hank of worsted yarn is 560 yards long; a hank (or skein) o f woollen
yarn is 256 yards long. I f 10 hanks o f worsted yarn weigh one pound, then the
wool is classified as number 10 (or 10s) or 10 count; and accordingly the numerical
term io s denotes that the length o f a pound o f worsted yarn is 5,600 yards. 1116
finer the wool, the higher is the count or spinning capacity: thus the quality of
merino wool is 6os and upwards. In contrast with the English system o f numerical

INTRODUCTION

initial stages o f m anufacture. O n the other hand the standard

ization o f the wool textile industry is not p racticab le to the
same degree as in other textile industries. M o reo ver it is
officially stated that the largo num ber o f grades com plicates
the m arketing o f the raw w ool and has prevented the adoption
o f the techniques developed for stabilizing prices in other indus
tries using prim ary com m odities. In the absence o f suitable
standards it becomes difficult to organize a futures m arket; and
w hile the latter existed in A ntw erp an d still exists in N e w Y ork,
it has been litd e used b y the British wool textile in du stry. T h e
significance o f a wide range o f fluctuating prices m ay be gauged
from the fact that norm ally clean virgin wool accounted for
about one-third o f the total cost o f cloth .1
Estimates o f the w orlds sheep population and w ool produc
tion arc unreliable; furtherm ore a large proportion o f sheep
yield cither no wool or inferior w ool ur.suited for apparel
fabrics. H ow ever these estimates afford a general idea o f the
statistical tren d : in norm al years the worlds num ber o f sheep
is placed at over 750 m illions,2 and the worlds ou tp ut o f wool
at about 4,000 million pounds an n u ally.3 O f these totals the
British C om m onw ealth claim s the lions share, for it possesses
approxim ately one-third o f the sheep, grows nearly one-half o f
the wool, and furnishes the bulk o f the exportable surplus.
W ithin the past hundred years the northern hem isphere has
been displaced b y the southern as the leading source o f wool
supply, though the form er remains the leading consumer.
Sheep a rc raised in every quarter o f the globe especially
terms, the American system is a blood classification (e.g. half-blood, quarter-blood,
etc.). The latter now signifies not the proportion of merino blood but the quality
of wool formerly found in sheep o f onc-half (or one-quarter, etc.) merino^ blood.
The length o f staple (fibre) varies greatly. It may range up to 5 inches (merino and
crossbrcd) and up to 15 inches or more (long wool). Soundness (strength) denote!
ability to stand the strain of manufacture. Handle denote softness o f feel. Elasticity
denotes ability to return to normal length after stretching. Clean condition denotes
freedom from impurities.
1 Raw wool wa3 estimated to account for 10-15 PC*
o f the total cost o f a
wool suit or overcoat. The phenomenal rise in the price of wool after the sccond
world war affected these proportions.
* 1939 752 m.; 1950 715 m.
* , 939 3>94? m- Jb.; 1950 3,835 m. lb. On a clean basis (see p. 6) the worlds
annual wool clip is estimated at about 2,000 m. lb.

W O O L AND SHEEP

A ustralia, N ew Zealand, U nion o f South Africa, A rgentina,

U ru gu ay, Russia, India, T u rkey, Spain, China, U nited States
and G reat B ritain the first five arc the ch ief exportin g coun
tries,1 w hile the last tw o alone figure in the front rank as both
producers and m anufacturers o f wool. H en ce there is a marked
contrast betw een the restricted area o f cotton-grow ing and the
almost illim itable field o f w ool-grow ing. Nevertheless w ool pro
duction has only expanded b y one-third in the past h a lf century,
although the standard o f livin g and the w orlds population
h ave considerably advanced. In nearly all countries the
indications are th at the num ber o f sheep has passed its m eri
dian. Indeed the deficiency in the output o f v/ool w ould have
been m uch m ore conspicuous but for a notable increase in the
w eight of-the fleece due to im proved breeding.2 T o m eet the
shortage w oollen m anufacturers have recourse to other fibres
anim al, vegetab le and synthetic w hich arc blended with
wool. These substitutes arc m ohair (hair o f A ngora goat bred in
T u rk e y , U n ited States and U nion o f South A frica), alpaca
(hair o f a lp aca found in Peru and B olivia), cashmere (hair o f
cashm cre goat in K ash m ir, T ib e t and China), cam el, silk,
cotton, rayo n ; in addition re-w orked w ool3 is used in substan
tial quantities. T h e trend a w a y from fabrics o f pure virgin wool
was acceleratcd b y the desire to produce cheaper w earing
apparel.
O n e im portant factor w hich has served to limit the grow th
and even to diminish the num bers- -o f the sheep population is
the curtailm ent o f the area availab le for raising sheep. W e can
tracc several stages in the evolution o f sheep husbandry. In the
pioneer stage, or open range system, the flocks w ere free to
roam over unfenccd and unoccupicd lan d which was public
dom ain w ide stretches o f territory utilized only for pastoral
purposes. T h e draw back h ere was th at it led to congestion: too
1 In 1948 they accounted for 60% o f world output and 94% of world exports.
T he percentage naturally varies, e.g. it was 85% of world exports in 1950. The
United States, the United Kingdom and the Continent of Europe imported 95%
o f world imports in iq^o.
1 In New South Wales the weight o f the fleece doubled 1876-1935. T h e total
Australian clip was nearly doubled 1891-1926 although the number of sheep wa*
stationary.
s Shoddy and mungo.

INTRODUCTION

m an y sheep were grazed and over-stocking caused serious

deterioration o f the pastures. In the sccond stage larg e private
estates (ranches), carved out o f the p u b lic land, w ere bough t or
leased from the state b y the flockmastcre, w ho w ere thereby
enabled to adopt scientific methods o f breeding and to exercise
skill in the art o f flock m anagem ent. Ranches are to b e found
in A ustralia, South A m erica and in the west o f the U nited
States. In Australia and N ew Zealand the great sheep runs or
stations are divided into several paddocks, w h ich preserve
natural conditions b u t w ithin fcnccs; and the sheep can be
m oved from one to another. T h e practice saves lab ou r because
fewer shepherds are needed i f sheep lands are fenced; .it
increases the w eight and improves the q uality.of the sheep; and
it is m ore productive o f lam bs.
T h e third stage emerges w hen the pressure o f population
necessitates the most econom ical use o f the resources o f the
land, and the soil is exploited prim arily to raise crops. T h e
result is a further contraction o f the open range system ,1 since
the public dom ain is closely settled w ith homesteaders who
devote themselves to intensive cultivation. Sim ilarly in course
o f time vast estates tend to be broken up into sm all farms,
either com pulsorily to satisfy the hunger for land or volun
tarily ow ing to taxation. O n ce this stage arrives sheep hus
bandry is no longer pursued for its ow n sake; it becom es part
and parcel o f a mixed farm ing econom y in which the raising
o f crops takes precedence over the raising of sheep. T h e transi
tion from public ranges (in the U nited States) and private
ranchcs (in Australia and South A m erica) to the sm all farms
characteristic o f Europe has already m ade considerable head
w ay under the spur o f agricultural settlement and im m igration.
T h e conscqucnccs arc reflected in th e diminished size o f the
flocks w hich were form erly o f great m agnitude. T h u s a genera
tion ago A ustralia had eighteen flocks exceeding 100,000 sheep
apiece, and flocks o f 10,000 and over accounted for h a lf the
total num ber. T h e fact that the tendency has set in towards
relatively sm all flocks raised a t a higher cost must heighten the
price o f wool, while the pre-occupation o f the farm er with
1 The creation of national forests, however, provides opportunities for grazing.

W O O L AND S H E E P

crops and m eat is likely to affect adversely the p reparation o f

the w ool for the m arket. T h e reservoirs o f wool ch eap ly pro
duced and carefully prepared are shrinking, and the search for
substitutes w ill be accelerated.
W e must now turn from the production o f wool to m arketing.
W ool is sold m ainly in the form o f fleece w ool.1 T h e first and
finest clip is termed lam b s or hogs w ool and subsequent clips
are know n as flccce wool. In its n atu ral condition, w hen it is
sheared either b y hand or m achines, the flcccs is grease w ool;
after the elim ination o f im purities (anim al grease, soil and other
extraneous m atter) it is scoured or clean wool. I f sheep are
washed previous to shearing, a p art o f the foreign substances
em bedded in the fleece w ill be extracted ; but m anufacturers
are said to prefer to b u y w ool in the grease because the latter
hinders the w ool from felting. M ach in ery is now used for
scouring w ool, and the decrease in w eight thereby effected is
called shrinkage. T h e extent o f shrinkage which w ool under
goes in the process o f cleansing varies enormously according to
the type o f wool. T h e loss o f w eight m ay be as low as one-diird
(or less) o r as high as tw o-thirds (or m ore) that is, a hundred
pounds o f raw w ool m a y yield under thirty pounds o f clean
w ool. T h e shrinkage is m uch higher in merino w o o l2 than
in English long wool. T h e rapid expansion o f the m arket in
the nineteenth century w as the principal factor in in d u cin g the
breeders to ofFer their w ool for sale in a form acceptable to the
buyers. A ustralia was the pioneer in im proving m arketing
methods. E very w hole fleece before it leaves the shearing shed
at the sheep station is first skirted b y rem oving the inferior
parts around the edges; next it is classed (graded) m ain ly on the
basis o f fineness and length o f staple; an d then it is p acked in
the bale assigned to its class. Subsequently, frequently at the
m ill but sometimes b y the w ool m erchant, the individual fleece
is sorted (divided) into a variety o f qualities or sorts w hich m ay
1 Flcccc wool is dipped from the sheep. Skin wool is removed from the skin of
slaughtered animals.
* A writer in 1719 stated that the waste in Spanish wool en svin, when it was well
washed, was commonly 53 per cent.

INTRODUCTION

exceed a dozen in num ber.1 In the eighteenth century D y e r in

his poem The Fleece (1757) w rote:
In the same fleece diversity o f wool
Grows interm ingled, and excites the care
O f curious skill to sort the scvral kinds.
Sell and repent but sell/ T h e grow ers slogan w as born o f
the experience o f wide fluctuations in the prices o f w ool. From
year to year prices m ay va ry considerably.4 T h e reason for this
instability is that in the farm ing industry (unlike the m anu
facturing industries) supply cannot be readily adjusted to
dem and; the num ber o f sheep cannot b e rapidly augm ented
or dim inished; and so the w ool clip m ay not reflect the actual
requirem ents at the m om ent o f the consuming countries. For
the disposal o f the clip the grow er has the choice o f several
channels o f m arketing. l i e can sell to speculative buyers or to
m ill agents; he can utilize the services o f brokers; he can p lace it
in the hands o f a co-operative association. Private sales a rc the
oldest m ethod: the w ool m erchant, form erly know n as the
wool stapler, was the p ivot o f the com m ercial organization o f
the wool trade in E ngland for m an y hundreds o f years. In
some countries this m ethod still prevails, not?.bly in th e U nited
States where wool is m ostly sold b y private treaty either b y the
1 Luccock, a wool stapler, in his book on Wool (1805) affirmed that wool in
England was sometimes broken up into seventeen sorts and in Spain into three
sorts.
* Taking ig i4 as 100 the wholesale price index (United Kingdom Board of
Trade) of wool between the two world wars was 198 (1924), 116 (*929), 56 (1932),
113 (1937), 80 (1938). The spectacular rise in priccs aftci the second world war
was one of the astonishing phenomena of the post-war epoch. Civilian demands
stimulated by a better distribution o f incomes and by the need to replenish depicted
wardrobes, combined with stock-piling for military purposrs, increased wool con
sumption several hundred million pounds above the pre-war level. Production
lagged behind; and the new level o f consumption was only made possible because
stocks of raw wool had been accumulated during the war. These stocks, known as
Joint-Organization stocks, amounted at the end o f the war to 10J million bales
(a bale is approximately 300 lb .); and they were marketed in five years (1946-51)
alongside or die current clip. T he trend o f prices, when free auctions were resumed
in 1946 after war-time control lapsed, was as follows. Taxing the pre-war years
1034-8 as 100, the wholesale price index o f wool was 170 (1946), 200 (1947),
261 (1948), 320 (1949), 671 (1950). 'Then with the exhaustion o f the surplus
stocks and a wave of panic buying wool priccs soared to diaay heights, reaching
their peak in March 1951 when the index figure was 1,476. (To take a specific
instance: in September 1046 merino 64s were 42d. per lb. and in M arch 1951 they
fetched 34d. per lb.) Then came a sudden turn o f the wheel: in July 1951 the
index figure fell to 716, iu. less than one-half o f the March level.

W O O L A N D SHF.EP

individual producer or through co-operative associations o f

growers. Sim ilarly South A m erica adheres to the practice o f
private sales. T h e alternative system o f open com petitive
bidding a t public auctions is the distinctive feature o f the wool
m arket in the British C om m onw ealth E ngland, A ustralia,
N ew Zealan d and South A frica. T h e clips arc offered for sale
on the producers b eh alf by brokerage houses and co-operative
associations. T h e advantages claim ed for auction sales a rc firstly
th at they afford purchasers a w ider ch o icc o f clip s; secondly a
com petitive spirit is in d u ccd in the growers to produce wool
w hich in quality, gradin g and appearance w ill brin g them
crcd it; thirdly higher prices arc ensured b y the presence of
m an y buyers, and a glu t can be avoided or m itigated by
arrangem ents betw een the associations o f producers and
brokers lim iting the am ount p u t on the m arket in an y month.
T h e draw back is that the selling brokers, w ho handle the wool
on a commission basis, acq u ire a m easure o f control over
the pastoral industry since they are accustom ed to finance
the wool grow er; they ad van cc loans on the security o f the
clip and supply the sheep stations w ith their varied require
ments.
T h e holding o f public auctions originated in the early nine
teenth century in London, w here th ey continue to be held to
this day. H ere is a description o f a L ondon auction in 1 9 1 1.
T h e sale takes p lacc in one large room in the wool exchange
on Colem an Street. Selling begins at 4 oclock. T h e room is
constructed sim ilar to an am phitheatre. T h e m om ent the first
lot is called out [the densely packed audience] burst forth in one
w ild chorus o f yells and howls. T h e next num ber [is sounded]
and im m ediately a dozen or m ore excited bidders leap to their
feet and so on. E xcitem ent on the Stock E xch ange is tame
com pared w ith it. A n A ustralian said: *W c call our w ool sales
in Sydney the dog fight, b u t this is the w orlds m enagerie
turned loose. * W hile London retains its status as a leading
w orld m arket for w ool as m ight be expected in a country
whose consum ption o f this raw m aterial has approached a
thousand m illion pounds yet the bulk o f the A ustralian clip
is no longer shipped to E n glan d for sale at public auctions.

INTRODUCTION

Instead the auction sales arc held in A ustralia and a rc fre

quented b y buyers from m an y countries. T h e chan ge over
began a century ago; and London was gradually superseded
as the prin cipal m arket for the disposal o f the w ool raised
in the Em pire because the oversea growers w ere spared
the charges paid as freight, insurance, storage an d dock
dues; m oreover, when the clip was shipped to London,
several months elapsed before the growers received full
paym ent.
T h e disposal o f the hom e clip raised in E ngland form erly
reflected, as m ight be expected, a variety o f practices. Some
producers sold direct to m erchants as they had done fo r hun
dreds o f years. Some sold direct to m anufacturers this w as less
frequent since m anufacturers generally preferred to rely on
m iddlem en w ho could provide the sorts or qualities specifically
required b y the mills, although the best spinners bough t and
sorted their ow n wool in order to avoid the m ixin g in of
inferior grades. A n d lastly some em ployed brokers w ho
m ight sell the clip privately to m erchants and m anufacturers
or offer it b y auction. T h e bulk o f the wool was apparently
sold at country fairs either privately or m ore com m only by
auction.
In consequence o f recent changes in the system o f m arketing,
all British w ool is now sold under the N ational Farm ers U nion
W ool M arketing Schem e.1 Sheep farmers register w ith the
governm ent and undertake to accept a fixed price for their
wool, w hich is then sold b y auction. W hen auction prices con
siderably exceed the fixed annual price, provision is m ad e for
returning the excess profits to the farmers.
1 T he British Wool Marketing Board is responsible for marketing Britains home
grown wool.

CH APTER TW O

English Wool
f o r m a n y c e . n t u r i e s Englishm en cherished the conviction
th a t English wool was the best in the w orld. T h e tradition went
b ack to early times w hen the wool produced in this country
enjoyed imm ense repute. T h u s Dionysius Pcricgctcs, a geo
grapher o f antiquity, stated th at the fleece o f the sheep w as so
soft and fine th at it was spun until it was com parable to a
spiders w eb . M o re than a thousand years later the E lizabethan
antiquary, L om bard , affirm ed that the exceeding fineness o f
the fleece passeth all other in Europe a t this d a y. A n d D rydcn
w rote:

T h o u gh Jasons F leece was fam d>o f old,

T h e British w ool is grow ing gold ;
N o mines can m ore o f w ealth supply.
I t keeps the peasant from the cold,
A n d takes for kings the T y ria n dye.
T h e esteem in w hich it w as held is enshrined in the W oolsack,
the seat o f our wise learned ju d ges/ for in the national econom y
wool boasted pride o f place. It was our ch ie f raw m aterial, the
indispensable basis o f ou r greatest industry, and the most
h igh ly prized o f our products in other countries. E very class in
the com m unity, w hether landlord, farm er, m anufacturer or
artisan, had an interest in w ool; and it provided a fertile field
for econom ic controversy.
T h e history o f wool production in E ngland throughout the
greater p art o f the m iddle ages is a story o f ordered grow th, in
w hich there was no m arked encroachm ent o f pasture-farm ing
upon corn-growing. D ow n to the fifteenth century the tradi
tional balance between the tw o branches o f husbandry rem ained
unim paired. T h e sheep farm er kept to rem ote regions or to the
w aste that was no m ans property. T h e Cistercians, w ho were
10

ENGLISH WOOL

II

pre-em inent am ong the pioneers o f w ool-grow ing at the tim e

o f R ich ard I s captivity th ey devoted a years w ool to his
ransom established themselves in secluded and sparselyinhabited districts. Then as the m iddle ages drew to a close,
u nder the im p act o f an increasing dem and for raw m aterial,
the sheep industry expanded rap idly and was directly re
sponsible for an agrarian revolution the substitution o f woolgrow ing for corn-growing.
M a n y factors combined to bring about this m om entous
developm ent. T h e pursuit o f tillage was not alw ays an attractive
proposition, because the export o f corn was forbidden w hen
prices were high and the cost o f agricultural labour h ad risen
considerably. W h ile tillage was thus h eavily handicapped,
English wool readily found a m arket at hom e and abroad.
Form erly the bulk o f the wool grow n in E ngland was exported
as raw m aterial unto a m ore ingenious nation to be w orked
u p b y the famous looms o f Bruges, Ypres and G hent. B ut after
the m iddle o f the fourteenth century the native cloth m an u
factu re m ade great strides and created a corresponding dem and
for w ool on the p art o f the English clothiers for the first condi
tion o f a flourishing industry is an am ple supply o f raw m aterial.
T h e profit derived by graziers from the grow ing o f w ool
tem pted landlords and farmers to convert arable land into
pasture, and sheep were regarded as the most profitablest
cattle that any m an can h av e. T h e foot o f the sheep, m en
said, turns sand into gold. H ence strong inducements existed
in favour o f sheep-farming; its profits w ere higher and its
expenses in labour costs w ere low er than those o f tillage. T h ere
was m ore profit, said a contem porary w riter, b y grazing o f ten
acres to the occupier alone than is in tillage o f tw en ty; and it
was natural that the farm er had no jo y to set his plough in the
ground. Sometimes indeed the woollen m anufacturer him self
becam e a sheep farmer. O ne famous clothier o f the fifteenth
century, John T am e, kept large flocks o f sheep at Fairford and
the w ool produced there was w orked up in his w eaving sheds at
Cirencester. In fact the rise o f the textile industries, w h ile it
contributed to the depopulation o f the countryside w henever
grassland superseded cornfields, served to provide some openings

12

W O O L AND SHEEP

for those cut adrift from the soil. In any case the agrarian
changes afford striking p ro o f o f the progress o f the cloth trade,
and reveal its influence in diverting the energies o f the rural
com m unity into channels w hich m ight best satisfy the needs
and requirements o f the textile industries.
T h e grow th o f sheep-farm ing in E ngland was a continuous
m ovem ent from the late fifteenth to the late eighteenth century,
but its pinnaclc was rcachcd under the E arly Tudors. It w as the
most im portant event in the social history o f the sixteenth
century and filled the m inds o f statesmen, prcachcrs and
writers to an extent w hich only finds an adequate p arallel in
the religious changes contem poraneous w ith it. It was the
them e o f countless sermons, pam phlets, ballads and acts o f
parliam ent, and awakened a storm th at swept over the land
like a hurricane.1 T h e im m ense q uan tity o f sheep called forth
on every side indignant protests. G od gave the earth to m en to
inhabit, said T yn d alc, and not unto sheep. A poet, Bastard,
w ro te :
Sheep have eaten up ou r m eadows and our downs,
O u r corn, our w ood, w hole villages and towns.
I t attracted the m arked attention o f foreigners. T h ey h ave,
observed a V enetian (c. 1500), an enormous num ber o f sheep.
Polydore V ergil in a description o f E ngland w ent so far as to
assert that o f Englishm en m ore arc graziers and m asters o f
cattle than husbandm en or labourers in tilling o f the field. It
was suggested that for the abundant store o f (locks so increasing
everywhere the w hole realm m ight rightly be called Sh ep pey.
Even the towns had com m ons on w hich w ere pastured sheep
belonging to the inhabitants, and the herdsm an was a m uni
cip al officer. T h e developm ent o f pasturage at the expense o f
tillage aroused the m ore concern because it involved depopula
tion o f villages. W here, cried L atim er in a sermon preached
before E dw ard V I , have been a great m an y householders and
inhabitants, there is now b u t a shepherd and his d og. Sir
1 While contemporary descriptions could be applied to particular localities,
the statistical evidence conveys a different impression of the extent to which the
kingdom as a whole was affected.

ENGLISH W OO L

13

Thom as Mor$, in a famous passage in Utopia, denounced sheep

as devourers o f m en.5 T h e y unpeople towns and villages,
turning the best inhabited places into solitudes; tenants are
turned out o f their possessions and either beg or rob. O n e
shepherd can look after a flock w hich w ill stock an extent o f
ground that w ould require m an y hands i f it were to be ploughed
and reaped. A ballad o f the tim e ran:
T h e towns go down, the land decays;
G reat men m aketh nowadays
a sheep-cote in the church;
Com m ons to close and keep;
Poor folk for bread cry and w e e p ;
Tow ns pulled dow n to pasture sheep;
this is the new guise!
T h e social unrest evoked b y the spread o f sheep-farm ing
w ith its attendant consequences the eviction o f the peasantry
from their ancestral holdings, the curtailm ent o f agricultural
em ploym ent and the usurpation o f the village comm ons
found vent in riots and insurrections in an age that did not
easily brook invasion o f its traditional w ay o f life w hether
religious or econom ic. N o governm ent could view w ith in
difference the disintegrating forces w hich m enaced a seem ingly
static society. M oreover it was considered essential to foster the
prosperity o f the yeom anry from whose ranks were recruited
the defenders o f the realm : for that do w e reckon that shep
herds be but ill archers. T h e apprehension was widespread
that, i f the depopulation o f the countryside went on unchecked,
there would com e to pass a m ere solitude and utter desolation
to the whole realm furnished only w ith sheep and shepherds
instead o f good men, w hereby it m ight be a prey to our enemies
th at first w ould set upon it. A ccordin gly a num ber o f statutes
w ere passed in restraint o f sheep-farming, enjoining th at cu l
tivated land converted into pasture should be restored to
tillage. Nevertheless, while not altogether ineffective, they
w ere powerless to stem the current o f agrarian changes. M en
w ho w ere bent on defying the law found evasion easy. I t was
futile to curtail the num ber o f sheep w hich a grazier m ight

14

W O O L AND SIIEEP

keep, w hen some to colour the m ultitude o f their sheep father

them on their children, kinsfolk and servants. T h e penalties
against the conversion o f arable into pasture could apparently
be evaded b y the simple expedient o f driving a single furrow
across the field. A contem porary w riter recognized th at legal
dcviccs w ere inadequate. It w ere hard to m ake a law therein,
so m an y as h ave profit b y that m atter resisting it. A n d i f such
a law w ere m ade yet m en w ould defraud the law . H is remedy
was to increase the profit o f corn-grow ing and dim inish that o f
w ool-grow ing b y perm itting the export o f corn and prohibiting
the export o f w ool. O therw ise the pasture shall ever encroach
upon the tillage, for all the laws that ever can be m ade to the
contrary.
T h e w ool produced in E ngland was far from uniform in
quality; it differed greatly according to the districts w here it
was raised. N o less than fifty-one grades are enum erated in a
fifteenth-century list (1454); the best cam e from parts o f Shrop
shire and Leom inster (in Herefordshire) and the Cotswolds.
H ence to m eet the requirem ents both o f th e home and foreign
markets a com plex mechanism was e vo lve d ; and the w ool trade
thus played the leading role in developing a com m ercial system
w hich reproduced in essentials the features o f an advanced
economy. First, then, as to the hom e m arket. T h e m anufacturer,
unless he ow ned bis ow n flock, obtained his supply o f raw
m aterial in one o f three ways direct from the growers or
through the agen cy o f m iddlem en or from the yarn makers.
T h e rich* clothier purchased his w ool in the fleece from the
farmers in the w ool counties. T h e m eaner clothier relied upon
the m iddlem en. T h e p ractice o f the poor clothier was to buy
the spun yarn.
H atred o f the m iddlem en was deep-rooted; and the wool
dealers, w ho bought wool from the grow ers and w ith greedy
and covetous minds (to use the picturesque phrase o f the
statute-book) sold it a t enhanced prices to customers, cam e
under the lash o f condem nation w hich was visited upon all who
sought to m anipulate supplies and force u p prices. C om plaint
was also m ad e that the m iddlem en b uyin g w ool o f several

ENGLISH WOOL

15

counties and sorts as northern and western, pasture and fallow,

sell the sam e m ingled and com pounded to ;he clothier who
not discovering nor able to single or separate again th e different
wools m akes u p a bad and ill-conditioned cloth, th at m ixed
w ool not w orking alike in regard o f its different qualities.
Nevertheless, despite the criticisms levelled against the wool
dealers, it is evident th at they served a useful purpose in the
econom y o f the wool textile industry. T h e y linked up the m anu
facturing districts with their sources o f supply. T h e short staple
grow n in Norfolk, for exam ple, was consumed in Y orkshire;
the long staple grow n in Lincolnshire and Leicestershire was
worked up in N orw ich ; w hile H alifax m en occupy fine wool
most out o f Lincolnshire, and their coarse wool they sell to men
o f R ochdale. 1 M oreover the growers could not afford to sell
wool in sm all quantities to the poorer clothier and allow long
credit. T h e m iddlem en also enabled the clothier to b uy his
wool ready sorted. A single fleece often contained several sorts
o f wool perhaps a dozen or m ore; and it was the business o f
the wool dealers to separate the various species to suit cach
kind o f cloth. T h is m ade it possible for the clothier to b u y the
precise quan tity and q u ality needed, an d relieved him o f the
obligation to purchase a w hole fleece o f which certain parts
m ight be useless to him. H ence the b uyin g and sorting o f wool
becam e a specialized function, the im portance o f w hich is
shown in the statem ent (m ade in an act o f parliam ent in 1554)
th at the perfect and prin cipal ground o f cloth-m aking is the
true sorting o f wools. L astly, the fact that the m iddlem en
could dispose o f the different qualities o f wool to different
m anufacturers m ust have tended to reduce the average price o f
wool. It was, therefore, not altogether w ithout justification
th a t the w ool stapler was described2 as the sheet anch or o f
G reat Britain.
Law s in restraint o f w ool dealers w ere enacted in the four
teenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. A s early as 1390 it
was ordered th at no Englishm an buy an y w ool other than
1 The Privy Council was informed in 1621 that fine wool was taken to Worcester
and Somersetshire, coarsc wool to Suffolk and Norfolk, and the worst wool to
Yorkshire, Lancashire and North Wales.

* In *747-

i6

W O O L AND SHEEP

m anufacturers and m erchant exporters, and the prohibition was

repeated at intervals. E ventu ally it was found that com plicated
econom ic problem s could not be solved b y simple ethical rules,
the attem pt to elim inate the m iddlem an being bound to fail in
the absence o f an y other m achinery to c a rry on his functions;
and in the early seventeenth century internal free trade in wool
was established and restrictions on w ool dealers w ere swept
aw ay. T h e agitation against w ool broggcrs was renewed after
the R evolu tion b u t Parliam ent declined to intervene: the
grower m ight sell his w ool to any ch ap m an [dealer] he shall
think fit to d eal w ith. T h e refusal indicated that the legislature,
in this direction as in others, was throw ing to the winds the
cherished econom ic traditions w hich had inspired the indus
trial and com m ercial legislation o f an earlier cpoch.
W e turn n ow to the foreign m arket. In the m iddle ages wool
E nglands golden fleece/ and (as the poet G ow er called it1)
the goddess o f m erchants was the staple article o f export
and the m ain source o f custom s-rcvenue to which it contributed
no less than three-fourths in the year 14.21. Even in the tenth
century w ool was raised for sale a b ro a d ; w hile in later centuries
it becam e the indispensable raw m aterial o f the great m anu
facturing citics o f Flanders and Italy. T h e author o f a pam phlet
written in the fifteenth century, entitled On Englands Com
mercial Policy, voiced the com m on opinion that no coun try was
able to dispense w ith English w ool; hence it provided the means
b y w hich w e m ight rule and govern all C hristian kings.
E dw ard I I I in p articular had know n how to use E nglish wool
as a b ait to d ra w the large industrial towns o f Flanders from
their allegiance to the French king, and the m ere threat to
w ithhold supplies sufficed to hum ble the proud com m ons o f
Bruges, Y p rcs and G hent.
T h e average cost o f a sack o f w ool in the Cotswolds was
eight p oun ds;2 in addition there was a very h eavy export d u ty;
1 He apostrophizes it as the beautiful, the white, the delightful one. T he love
o f you stings and binds, so that the hearts o f those who make merchandise of you
arc not able to disengage themselves from you.
2 This was in the fifteenth century. Wool was exported in two forms shorn
wool (sold by the sack of 364 lb.) and wool-fells (sheepskins with the wool on them.)

ENGLISH WOOL

17

accordingly the price overseas m ounted high. N one the less

large quantities o f English w ool w ere sent to the Continent.
D uring the last quarter o f the thirteenth century and for twothirds o f the fourteenth century the n u m b er of sacks shipped by
English and alien m erchants exceeded 32,000. Subsequently
the am ount began to diminish rap idly: in the latter p art o f the
fourteenth century it was reduced b y m ore than a third. T h e
decline and fall o f E n glan ds export trad e ir. wool are revealed
in the follow ing striking figures. T h e num ber o f sacks averaged
19,300 in 1392-5, and 13,600 in 14.10-15, and 8,000 in 1446-59;
a slight recovery occurred near the end o f Edw ard I V s reign
when it rose to 9,000; during the first tw elve years o f
H enry V I I I s reign it was 8,600 and then it sank b elow 5,000.
T h e dow nw ard trend continued until the S tu art dynasty
ascended the throne, w hen the seal was put on this crucial
transform ation b y an em bargo on th e shipm ent o f w ool. T h e
counterpart o f the shrinkage in the foreign consum ption o f
E nglands raw m aterials was the gro w th in the foreign con
sumption o f her m anufactures.1
T h e export trade in w ool in the m iddle ages was already
organized on the lines o f an advanced com m ercial system. T h e
grower m ight sell the clip to foreign buyers, or to staplers who
resold it to aliens abroad, or to w oolm en who disposed o f it at
home either to staplers or to aliens.
T h e first stage, w here the grow er cam e into direct contact
w ith foreign buyers (chiefly from the N etherlands and Italy),
was general in the thirteenth century and it had not lapsed in
the fifteenth century. T h e Italian m erchants were accustomed to
buy up the w hole clip o f a m onastic house and to m ake con
tracts for a term o f years. T h e natu re o f the arrangem ent is
illustrated b y a contract for the exclusive purchase o f the wool
crops o f a Benedictine nunnery in C leveland, Yorkshire. T he
prioress o f A rd e n was attached to answ er to Coppus Cotenni
on a plea th at she do render to him ten pounds w hich she owes
to him and unjustly detains; and w hereupon the said Coppus
proffered a certain w riting w hich he says is the deed o f M ar
garet (a form er prioress), acknow ledging that the prioress and
See Part II.

i8

W O O L AND SHEEP

convent o f A rd en have sold to Coppus and his fellows, m er

chants o f the society o f the Friscobaldi o f Florence, all the wool
[of the house o f A rden for 1291] and for nine years next follow
in g fully com pleted, nam ely, every sack for eleven marks and
a h alf.1 A n d the aforesaid wool shall be well prepared and
weighed according to the use and custom o f the house aforesaid
w ithout cooked and black guard, grey scab, clackcd and all
vile fleeces.2 A n d that the aforesaid m erchants shall p a y to the
said prioress and convent in hand as earnest money ten pounds
o f good sterlings, w hereof the aforesaid ten pounds in the last
year shall be fu lly allowed to the sam e m erchants. A n d the
aforesaid, m erchants shall p a y to them in hand as earnest
m oney ten pounds every year [within an appointed term], and
the w hole residue in consideration o f the aforesaid wool the
said m erchants shall p a y to the said prioress and convent at
the issue and delivery o f the wool aforesaid. A n d th ey shall find
sarplcr-m akcrs and packers o f the said w ool at their expense.
A n d the said prioress and convent at their expense shall carry
the said wool to T h o rp to the wool-house o f Byland [a Cister
cian nunnery in C leveland, Yorkshire] at the feast o f the
N ativity o f S. Jo h n the Baptist [1291], and so from year to
y e a r until the ten years shall b e fully com pleted. A n d for this
th ey bind themselves and their successors and all their goods.
D ated at A rd e n [1284].
T h e export o f wool entered upon its second stage w hen the
staplers, w ho w ere native m erchants engaged in oversea trade,
bccam c the interm ediaries between the grow ers and the foreign
buyers. T h e third stage was reached w hen the woolm en,
engaged in hom e trade, were interposed between the growers
on one side and the exporters (staplers and aliens) on the other.
T h e growers disposed o f the clip to the w oolm en, w ho resold iu
to the exporters. Econom ic stages, how ever, overlap; and both
staplers and aliens continued to b u y direct from the growers
as well as from the w oolm en. E ven tu ally the w oolm en drew
most o f the business into their own hands, for th ey offered
m an y advantages over the growers. T h e y spared the exporters
1 A m ark=* 13s. 4c!.

* This means the removal o f the inferior parts and o f the refuse.

ENGLISH W OOL

*9

the trouble o f distant jo u rn eys; they m ad e the m echanism o f

com m erce m ore flexible since it was their function to furnish
the exact quantities and qualities required by their customers;
and they conceded long credit. Transactions throughout were
conducted on a credit basis. T h e w oolm en gave cred it to the
staplers, w ho in turn gave credit to alien dealers though a
portion o f the purchase price often a third fell due im m edi
ately; even the growers sometimes allow ed credit to the wool
m en, w hile at other times the purchasers paid them a substantial
sum in advan ce and the residue on delivery. T h e relations
between growers, woolm en and staplers, are depicted in a trans
action (1482) involving the Gelys a fifteenth-century firm o f
m erchant exporters. A w oolm an, w ho had contracted to supply
the Celys w ith wool at a stipulated price, discovered that he
had m isjudged the m arket and could not b u y a t the price
which he h ad an ticip a ted ; m oreover the growers w ere requiring
him to p a y read y m oney. H is letter to the staplers reads thus:
Sir, I m ade a bargain with you at th a t season, the w hich I
would I had slept the whiles, for . . . I trusted that I should
not a [have] bought their w ool above 13s. 3d. a tod, and now
I cannot b u y their w ool under 14s. and 13s. 6d. a tod; the
price is, th at I b u y at, above that I sold you right m u c h ; and to
reckon the refuse I shall lose b y m y troth a noble or 10s. in
every sarpler. A n d , as m y troth help m e, and they must have
ready m oney b y and b y th ey that w ere wont to leave in my
hand most p art o f their m oney now th ey must needs h ave all
their m oney. A n d now I m ust trust to your courtesy, and I
p ray you consider this w ell as ye m a y have m y service, for I
must trust to yo u that I m ay have the 200 that ye said I should
not have till N ovem ber. I p ray as heartily as I can that ye
m ake it read y w ithin fourteen days after M ichaelm as, or else I
am h o d y sham ed.
A fter the wool had been purchased, it was taken from the
interior to the coast on pack-horses; then it was p u t on board
different ships as a m easure o f security, w hereby m erchants ran
less risk o f losing the total consignment. W hen the w ool reached
Calais, it was the com m on practice fo r the oversea buyers to
p a y a certain sum in cash and give bills for the rest. T h e date

20

W O O L A N D S HE E P

a t w hich the hills fell due (that is, the period o f the credit) was
a m atter for b argain in g; an d interest was charged b y the device
o f varyin g the rate o f exch an ge.1 T h e discounting o f bills by
assigning or transferring them was also usual, so that the
trade custom o f circulating bills from one creditor to another is
a t least five hundred years old. T h e stapler, on receiving his
m oney, was confronted w ith the problem o f bringing it home.
T h ere w ere three alternative methods one was to carry back
gold and silver; the second was to buy goods abroad and im port
them into E n glan d ; the third was to purchase a bill o f exchange
draw n upon a m erchant im porter in L on don and p a ya b le in
English m oney. T h e governm ent vainly endeavoured to confine
the staplers to the first course alone. T h e Partition O rdin an ce
issued in 1429 laid dow n th at no credit was to be allow ed ; that
the seller o f wool abroad must receive full paym ent in gold and
silver at the tim e o f the transaction; an d th a t one-third was to
be taken to the m int at C alais for coining into English m oney
(at one tim e m ore silver w as minted in C alais than in London).
T h e O rdinance rem ained in operation for the space o f fourteen
years.
T h e w hole structure o f the export trade in wool cam e to rest
in the later m iddle ages upon the institution know n as the
staple. T h e history o f the English staple is largely the history o f
English com m erce in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
T h e staple was a depot w here traders deposited their w ares; it
was a continuous m art at w hich com m odities w ere bough t and
sold, ju st as the fair was a periodical m art. T h e underlying
principle o f the staple system which u ltim ately was a creation
o f the state rather than a p rivate enterprise, though its control
was vested in the hands o f a chartered com p any know n as the
M erchants o f the Staple was to regulate the stream o f com
m erce and force it into defined channels. T h e staple served as
a centre o f distribution to w hich m erchandise was carried in
the first instance and there exposed for sale. W hen it exercised
a m onopoly an d was m ade com pulsory for traders it prevented
free trade, b u t was recom m ended to the governm ent b y certain
1 T he rate at which foreign currencies were exchanged into English money
could be adjusted to cover interest.

ENGLISH WOOL

21

fiscal and political advantages. Its prim ary purpose was to

facilitate the collection o f the customs-revenue. I t was devised
as part o f the financial m achinery b o th to prevent evasion o f
toll on the p a rt o f those w ho conveyed English w ool abroad
furtim et occulte, and to gu ard against the fraudulent m alp rac
tices o f collectors who w ere accuscd o f grave offences in the
discharge o f their duties. A t the same tim e it w as m ade easier
to enforce a recognized standard o f q uality b y bringing the
exported goods under the direct control and supervision o f the
royal officials. T h e staple also served a political purpose as an
instrument o f diplom acy b y which to conciliate friends and
intim idate enemies. Foreign courts intrigued for its possession
and it was eagerly sought after by F ran ce, H olland, Flanders,
Artois and B rabant. E ventually, after Calais becam e an
English outpost, the staple was established there and for two
centuries rem ained the ch ie f centre o f our oversea trade in wool.
O ccasionally this oversea trade was interrupted w hen an
em bargo w as placed b y the governm ent on the export o f a
highly prized com m odity. A s far back as the thirteenth century
it was ordered th at the w ool o f the co u n try should be worked
up in .E n glan d and not sold to foreigners; and a m em ber o f
parliam ent declared in 1621 that at least thirty statutes had
revived the prohibition. B ut the em bargo was usually short
lived; and even when nom inally in force it was evaded b y the
purchase o f licences, granted for revenue purposes, allowing
raw m aterials to be sent ou t o f the country. T h e grow th o f the
woollen and worsted industries, how ever, enlarged the home
m arket for English w ool and caused a natural shrinkage o f the
export trade which was described in 1601 as alm ost wholly
decayed. A fter the loss o f Calais the staplers still carried on
operations yet they no longer enjoyed an assured p lace of
residence5 ab ro ad ; and the system o f licences and h eavy duties
handicapped legitim ate exporters, w hile it encouraged an
illicit trade w hich b rough t in no revenue. T h e fact th at the
normal and revenue-producing channels of the trade were
thus drying u p facilitated an orientation o f policy; an d in the
seventeenth century the transportation o f wool beyond the sea

22

W O O L AND SHEEP

was forbidden not as a tem porary expedient but as a perm anent

feature o f the com m crcial system know n in history as the
m ercantile system. Jam es 1 upon inform ation o f the setting
u p o f clothing and drapery in the U nited Provinces, and the
exportation o f great quantities o f wool into those p arts issued
several proclam ations for the restraining o f the wool o f this
realm from exportation. T h e y w ere repeated by Charles I and
C rom w ell and em bodied in an a c t o f parliam ent at the R estora
tion. Thus the industrial revolution o f the fifteenth century,
which had been due to the grow th o f w ool textiles,1 was followed
in its turn b y a com m crcial revolution in the seventeenth
century. T h e m anufacturers, w ho fought against free trade in
raw m aterials, had now proved strong enough to overcom e the
opposition o f the landed interest and force their wishes upon
the governm ent. H cnceforth for tw o centuries it was the
avow ed aim o f a thorough-going p o licy o f protection to keep
native w ool w ithin the country. This reflected a m om entous
chan ge in econom ic statesmanship.
In spite o f all its efforts to check the export o f w ool, rein
forced by naval and m ilitary support, the governm ent was
unable to repress a clandestine and illicit trade w hich sprang
up im m ediately. A m on g other places the people o f Favcrsham
are said to have grow n monstrous rich b y that w icked trad e;
and K en t and Sussex seemed at one period a sm ugglers
paradise. T h e smugglers brought back w ith them cargoes o f
silk, lace and liquors. T h e ir methods are described in a num ber
o f pamphlets w ritten b y W illia m C arter, for over a q uarter o f
a century their indefatigable adversary. First, in R om ney
M arsh in K e n t w here the greatest p art o f rough w ool is ex
ported from E ngland, p ut aboard French shallops b y night,
ten or tw enty m en w ell arm ed to guard it; some other parts
there are as in Sussex, H am pshire and Essex, the sam e methods
m ay be used b u t not so conveniently. T h e same for com bed
wool from C an terb u ry; they w ill carry it ten or fifteen miles
at night towards the sea w ith the like gu ard as before. A s a
m easure o f precaution w hile the wool was afloat, it w as pressed
into barrels w ith screws, and then the barrels w ere washed
1 See Part II.

ENGLISH WOOL

23

over w ith brine-w ater in order that they m ight pass for beef
or herrings. These barrels are not put on board in ports where
they are liab le to be exam ined, but conveyed into creeks from
whence th ey a rc shipped off. 1 A cco rd in g to one statement
(1703), w ool in its raw state was w orth in Ireland fourpence
per pound and com bed w ool tenpence: in France the first was
sold for half-a-crown a pound, the second for five and sixpence
or six shillings "so that the tem ptation is really almost too
great to be withstood especially b y such who only measure
their consciences b y their gain . This estimate o f the profits
m ade in the sm uggling trade, if not exaggerated, points to
exceptional circum stances though in tim e o f w ar the risks o f
the enterprise were alw ays enhanced. A m ore m oderate
calculation represented the profit at threepence a pound on
English w ool, which am ounted to 50 o r 60 per cent, in regard
to the capital em ployed in th at illicit trad e.
T h e w ool smugglers w ere called owlers. T h eir desperate
character w as shown in the hardihood w ith which they attacked
the coast-guardsmen, w ho w ere often obliged as it w ere to
stand still and see the w ool carried o ff before their faces, not
daring to m eddle none dare meddle- w ith them w ithout five
files o f soldiers. T h e severity o f the penalties did not deter
those who boasted that i f a gallows w as set up every quarter
o f a mile, yet they w ould carry the wool o ff; and th ey readily
risked their necks for tw elvepence a day.* T h e sym pathies o f
the local population, w ho in some places w ere almost all
engaged in the ow ling-trade, were never in doubt; the m uni
cipal authorities declined to assist th e officers appointed to
prevent the export o f w o o l; and the latter for the paym ent of
whose salaries o r even the expenses involved in seizing and
prosecuting offenders no provision was apparently m ad e other
than the fines inflicted on smugglers w ho were caught becam e
negligent and corrupt. T h e repression o f smuggling in these
difficult circum stances proved hazardous in the extrem e. This
is illustrated b y an exciting incident in w hich W illiam Carter
was concerned at R om ney M arsh in 1688. H aving procured
1 Another device was to manufacture woollen goods fraudulently, so that the
wool was easily unravelled.

24

W O OL AND SHEEP

the necessary warrants he repaired to R o m n ey M arsh w here he

seized eight or ten men w ho w ere carryin g the wool on horses
backs to be shipped, and desired the m ayor o f R om ney to
com m it them . T h e m ayor, wishing no d o u b t to live a peaceful
life am ong his neighbours, adm itted them to bail. C arter and
his assistants retired to L yd d but that tow n was m ade too hot
to hold them they w ere attacked at night; adopting the
advice o f the m ayors son [whom they afterwards suspected to
be in league w ith the smugglers], the next day D ecem ber 13
cam e towards R ye. T h e y w ere pursued b y some fifty arm ed
horsemen till they got to C am b er Point; so fast w ere they
followed th at they could not get their horses over Guildford
F erry ; but, luckily, some ships boats gave them assistance so
th at the riders got safe into the town w hich had been put into
m uch fear. O n another occasion W illia m C arter arrested a
smuggler a t Folkestone, b u t the women o f the town cam e ou t o f
their houses and gathered up stones upon the beach, which
they flung ab o u t m y ears so violently th at having no help I
was forced to quit m y prisoner h ard ly escaping m yself.
T h e sm uggling o f wool attracted considerable attention; and
a proclam ation issued b y Jam es II denounced those w ho by
open Ibrce and violence w ith arm ed com panies o f m en con
veyed wool beyond the seas. A fter the R evolu tion fresh legisla
tion was enactcd. T h e severity o f the penalty was m odified
(1696) in order not to deter the prosecution o f offenders; and
ships were appointed (1698) constantly to cruise on the coasts
o f E ngland and Ireland to seize vessels exporting w ool; two
years later the A d m iralty reported th a t th ey had not taken
a single vessel w hile they had lost tw o o f their ow n and
expected to lose others, and the cost involved am ounted to
2,400 a m onth. T h e clothiers com plained in 1701 that not
withstanding this kingdom is at great charges in m aintaining
vessels and m en to prevent the exportation o f wool, yet within
these two years m any thousand packs o f wool have been
exported into France and other foreign parts. T h e governm ent,
unable to devise any rem edy, transferred the responsibility to
P arliam ent; and the speech from the throne (1702) recom
m ended the legislature to find tim e to consider o f some better

ENGLISH WOOL

25

and more effectual m ethod to prevent the exportation o f wool,

and to im prove that m anufacture w hich is o f great consequcncc
to the whole kingdom . M a n y schemes were propounded for
preventing the transportation o f wool. T h e favourite expedient,
mooted early in the seventeenth century and w idely canvassed
in the next century, was to establish official registers to keep
sight o f all wool from its being shorn till it was com pletely
m anufactured. A local scheme was p u t into operation b y the
act o f 1698 w hich instituted a registry in K e n t and Sussex. It
provided th at all owners o f w ool in these counties w ithin ten
miles o f the sea shall be obliged to g iv e an exact accou nt in
writing, w ithin three days after the shearing thereof/ o f the
num ber and the w eight o f the fleeces and the nam e o f the
person to w hom it is disposed and the place to w hich it is
carried. A proposal for a national schem e was rejected b y the
Commissioners for T rad e and Plantations in 1732 on the ground
that it w ould be very expensive and in vo lve a m ultiplicity o f
accounts. Nevertheless a few years later the idea was revived;
and in response to a petition from the lord mayor, alderm en
and comm ons o f London expressing unspeakable g rie f at so
great and cryin g an evil, the H ouse o f Commons passed a
resolution (1741) declaring that a p u b lic register o f the wool
grow n in G rea t Britain and Ireland is the m ost effectual method
for preventing the exportation thereof to foreign parts. No
m achinery, however, w as instituted for the purpose and
smuggling w ent on unchecked. Long experience hath dem on
strated, it was observed (1680), that the mere prohibiting o f
the exportation o f wool is but a cobw eb. Adarr. Sm ith a century
later rem arked: It is exported, it is w ell known, in great
quantities.
It is a striking testim ony to the im portance o f the wool
textile industry that the law forbidding the export o f wool
rem ained on the statute-book m ore th an a hundred and fifty
years. O ne result was to create a rivalry o f interests between
agriculture and industry, which in one form or another has
ever since been a feature o f our econom ic system. T h e m anu
facturers dem and for cheap raw m aterials and ch eap food
brought them into conflict w ith the farm ers over the first in the

26

W O O L AND SHEEP

seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and over the second in

the nineteenth century. H ence they found it necessary to
exercise the utmost vigilan ce in w ard in g o ff attacks upon a
privilege w h ich had been wrested from the rulers o f the state in
the teeth o f bitter opposition on the p a rt o f the landed interest.
T h e graziers raised a violent agitation against th eir confine
m ent to the hom e m arket, and an interm inable argum ent was
carried on in an unceasing stream o f pam phlets and broad
sheets.
T h e em bargo on w ool originated in the desire to ensure
abundant supplies for the native clothiers w ho claim ed a
natural righ t to m onopolize the use o f native products. Y e t
jealousy o f continental rivals, rather th an any apprehension
o f a scarcity, becam e the dom inating m otive that inspired the
determ ination to exclude them from the English w ool m arket.
Jam es P s proclam ation o f 1614, w hich inaugurated the change
in com m ercial policy, was intended to check the grow th o f the
D utch w oollen industry, so that w e m a y not b e killed with
arrows from our own q u iv e r; and later, French com petition
cam e to be greatly dreaded ow ing to the cheapness o f French
labour. T w o propositions w ere accepted as axiom atic. O n e was
that trade depressions w ere caused or aggravated b y the export
o f wool w hereby the strangers wheel is set goin g. T h e other
was that foreign com petition could be extinguished b y refusing
to supply other countries w ith raw m aterials. A ccord in gly the
discussion centred on the question w hether English wool was
indispensable for the continental textile industries. It was
sometimes m aintained th at there is not a piece o f broadcloth
or new drap ery m ade in France w ithout the help o f our wool,
one pack o f the latter being w orked u p w ith tw o o f their own.
Spanish w ool, though fine, was short and required an adm ixture
o f English or Irish w ool to m ake line thin cloth: other kinds o f
w ool, G erm an or French, w ere so coarse th at the cloth was not
m erchandisable unless m ixed w ith British woof. T h e long
staple o r com bing wool, in particular, was claim ed to be
absolutely necessary in some o f the French m anufactures. T h e
prohibition o f wool was therefore defended on econom ic and
political grounds alike. I f w e m anufactured all our wool, ran

ENGLISH W O O L

27

the econom ic argum ent, w e should h av e the m arkets o f the

know n w orld to ourselves and a t our ow n price. I f w e cut o ff
France from supplies o f English and Irish wool, ran the
political argum ent, our national enem y would be unable to
carry on her m anufactures since bricks can n ot be m ade w ithout
straw, and w e should be saved from falling a sacrifice to
universal m onarchy and arbitrary power.* O u r Fathers
bravely pulled down the exorbitant p o w er of F ran ce at the
expense o f their blood and their treasure, b u t never thought o f
the w ay to give her a m ore deadly wound than she could
receive b y the loss o f ten battles and tw ice as m an y towns.
T h e export o f wool, protested the m anufacturers, w ould be an
unparalleled disaster: it w ould chan ge the current o f their
wealth, destroy their industry and enterprise, deprive the poor
o f their em ploym ent, add to the poor rates, and dim inish the
rental o f the lan d . E re the next generation,* cried a panicstricken Cheshire W eaver after recounting the fata l conse
quences attending the sm uggling o f w ool, England w ill be no
m ore.
T h e advocates o f free trade on their p a rt endeavoured to
show the folly o f a system in w h ich wool, the coveted vineyard,
was w atched writh as m uch care and jealousy as the G olden
A pples o f the Hcspcridcs.* T h e policy o f protection was de
nounced as an evil legacy o f the G reat R ebellion; it was the
w ork o f the C om m onw ealth party, w hich had been assisted in
the Civil W ars b y great num bers o f th e wool-workm en who
liked m uch better to rob and plunder for half-a-crown a day
than toil a t a m d an ch o ly w ork for sixpence a d a y, and which
prohibited the export o f w ool in order to encourage and reward
them and to w eaken the gentry. T h e em bargo on wool
was condem ned b y the wool growers on three grounds it was
unnecessary; it served to defeat its ow n ends; and it was
injurious to the landed interest.
T h e leading exponent o f the argum ent th at free trade in w'ool
w ould not h arm the English m anufacturers was J o h n Sm ith
whose book,1 though written with a polem ical purpose, is a
valuable storehouse o f historical m aterial. O f this w ork it was
1 Chronicon Rustuum-ComnurciaU: Or Memoirs o f Wool (1747).

28

W O O L AND SHEEP

said by an agriculturist th at it ought to be printed in letters o f

gold .' T h e author sought to com bat the notion th at foreign
nations could not carry on their textile industries w ithout
British w ool. E ngland and Ireland, he affirm ed, did not possess
the vaunted superiority in w o o l: we therefore gained no benefit
from prohibiting its transportation. Sm ith was not the first to
em ploy this argum ent: more than a ccn tury earlier M isscldcn
had denied th at foreign m anufacturers could not m ake cloth
w ithout our wool. T h e tradition th at English w ool was the
best in the w orld had acquired almost the sanctity o f a dogm a;
yet the only kind o f wool sometimes adm itted b y the free
traders to b e p eculiar to E ngland was com bing wool.
I f any wool peculiar to our isle
Is g iv n b y nature, *tis the com bers lock;
T h e soft, the snow -w hite and the long-grow n flake.
M oreover the best English cloth now contained a large ad
m ixture o f Spanish w o o l; and our dependence on Spain deprived
us o f our form er m onopoly and placed us on the sam e footing
as other countries.
In the next place the em bargo on w ool depressed its price in
E ngland, and the low price encouraged illicit trading since the
unnatural artificial cheapness o f the raw m aterials at home
m ade it worth while to sm uggle them abroad. T h e fact that
w ool here w as kept b elow the natural va lu e served as an
advantage, in the nature o f a prem ium , to the exporter o f
woollen goods; yet a t the sam e tim e it afforded equally a
prem ium for the runnage o f w ool. T h is in a w ord , said Sm ith,
is the m ainspring o f the ow ling trade. A s Sir Josiah Child
pointed o u t: T h e y th at can give the best price for a com
m odity shall never fail to h ave it.
T h ere rem ained the final plea th at it was the d u ty o f the
nation to preserve the lan ded class, the masters and pro
prietors o f the foundation o f all the w ealth in this nation, who
m aintained great families, bore the burden o f taxation, and
filled all the m agistracies and public offices. T h e spoliation o f
the landed interest was deem ed the m ore indefensible because
it was the most considerable national interest an d w ool was

ENGLISH WOOL

29

its principal support. It was therefore on the ground o f in

equity that the wool growers denounced the oppression which
the grazier suffers under this iniquitous system o f m onopoly.
T h e y asked: I f he that com bs, dyes, w eaves, works, or exports
wool, thrives w hy should he that grows it be impoverished?
W h y must the grazier be the only sufferer, where all other
dealers in w ool are gainers b y it.? T h e m anufacturers replied
that the w elfare o f the landed and industrial interests m utually
depend- on each other. T h e value o f land depended on trade
inasmuch as a prosperous trade increased the dem and for
agricultural produce such as corn, beef, m utton, etc.; hence
the farmers w ere compensated in other directions i f their wool
sold at a low er p rice at hom e than it w ould fetch abroad.
Sm ith retorted th at the em bargo on the export trade in wool
m ight benefit the export trade in cloth, b u t it certainly created
a m onopoly against the gro w er; and w hether thus robbing
Peter to enrich P au l is o f any real p u b lic benefit? th at is the
point to be considered. A rth u r Y o u n g was conspicuous for the
vigour w ith w h ich he repudiated the alleged identity o f in
terests between agriculture and industry: L e t us hear no m ore
from woolm en o f the prosperity o f lan d and m anufactures
being the sam e. H e bitterly deplored th a t the gentlem en o f
the landed interest have quietly laid themse'.ves dow n to be
fleeced b y the woolm en, like their sh eep ; and he roundly
declared that the sweets o f a m onopoly o f their raw m aterials
had m ade the woollen m anufacturers indolent and devoid o f
the ardour o f enterprise o r the spirit o f invention. In spite o f
their arguments the efforts o f growers to secure a lim ited
export o f w ool proved unsuccessful; and in 1788 the penalties
w ere m ade even m ore stringent than before am idst great
rejoicings in the industrial areas w here the bells were set ringing.
T h e severity o f the penalties imposed a t one period or another
called forth A d a m Sm iths acid reflection th at the laws, which
the clam our o f our m erchants and m anufacturers has extorted
from the legislature for the support o f their own absurd and
oppressing monopolies, [m ay be said] like ths laws o f D raco
to be all written in blood.

30

W O O L AND SHEEP

W e h ave seen that for tw o centuries it w as a leading principle

o f English econom ic p o licy to prevent the transportation o f
w ool ab road: but after the N apoleonic wars a new departure
ushered in another revolutionary change. M en o f vision, seeking
to break dow n artificial com m ercial barriers and establish free
trade, lent a w illing car to the plea o f the farmers that, as they
w ere not allow ed to export their wool to foreign m arkets, they
ought in com pensation to enjoy the m onopoly o f the home
m arket. A ccord in gly the m anufacturers w ere offered the choice
o f the free export o f native w ool o r a h eavy duty on im ported
w ool. E ach alternative was eq ually distasteful to them. T h ey
still persisted in their b elief that should foreigners be able to
procure English wool to m ix with th at o f their ow n growth,
the exportation o f w oollen goods from this coun try would
im m ediately cease. Nevertheless th ey could not reconcile
themselves to a tax on im ported w ool o f w hich they now used
large quantities. Experim ents w ere tried in the hope o f pro
ducing w ool in the British Isles as fine as th e wool o f Spain, and
G eorge I I I im ported from Spain several ram s and ewes o f the
notable N cgrctti breed. In addition sheep o f the m erino breed
were introduced here; b u t the agriculturists w ere disappointed
in their efforts to raise wool equal in fineness to Spanish or
Saxon w ool, and so they pressed upon the governm ent the
taxation o f foreign w ool. T h e increase in the grow th o f wool o f
the Spanish race upon the Continent calls im periously, they
declared, for some parliam entary interference to protect our
w ool grow ers from being driven out o f o u r own m arket. T h e
agitation bore fruit (1819) in the im position o f a h eavy duty on
im ported wool. T h e governm ent soon offered to repeal the ta x 1
i f no opposition were m ade to the export o f British w ool; and
the m anufacturers, im paled on the horns o f a dilem m a, yielded
to force o f circum stances (1824).
This com plete reversal o f our com m ercial p olicy was
accom panied by, and indcod was larg ely the result of, changes
in the sources o f ou r w ool supply. T h e dom inating factor
in the situation was the increasing dependence o f English
1 American historians hold that this was to offset the protection given to woollen
manufacturers in the United States under the tariff o f 1824.

ENGLISH W O O L

31

m anufacturers upon w ool grow n abroad. In the second h a lf o f

the eighteenth ccntury w e im ported approxim ately 2^ million
pounds o f w ool, at the beginning o f the nineteenth century
8 m ., at the m iddle 74 m ., before the first world w ar about
500 m., before the second up to 700 m . T h e sources from which
these vast quantities w ere obtained are worth noticing. A t
first the m ain source was Spain, whose wool was brough t to
our shores at least as early as the fourteenth ccn tury and was
described in the seventeenth century as o f im portant concern
m ent.' It am ounted to 5J m . in 1802 and to 8$ m. in 1818
the high-w ater m ark o f the Spanish su p p ly which fell to 3 ! m.
in 1820, to i .m . in 1830 and to \ m. in 1850. A n oth er source
was G erm any from w hich w e drew 3 m . in 1815 and 26 m.
in 1830; the figure dropped to 22 m. in 1840 and to 9 m. in
1850. T h e most im portant source in the nineteenth and
twentieth centuries was neither Spain nor G erm any b u t A us
tralia. In 1820 she sent us 100,000 p oun ds; a decade later the
volum e h ad increased tw entyfold and tw o decades later a
hundredfold; in 1850 it was 39 m. and in 1913 (w ith N ew
Zealand) it was 446 m . E ven tu ally som ething like four-fifths o f
gross imports cam e from the Em pire.
E ngland is not only a principal m arket for wool b u t she is
herself a lead in g exporter. A fter it was legalized in the third
decade o f the nineteenth century (1824) the export trade in
hom e-grown w ool steadily expanded though at a slower rate. In
1820 about 35,000 pounds had been conveyed ab road; the
am ount rose to 143,000 (1826), i f m. (1828), 4 m. (1832), 12 m.
(1850), 33 m. (1938).1 O f the various agricultural products
w hich in form er ages w e shipped abroad (corn, butter, cheese
and the rest), w ool remains as it has done for a thousand
years except w hen it w as lega lly prohibited in the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries almost the sole and certainly the
most considerable. H ow ever the m ajor portion o f the home
clip, w hich fluctuates w ithin a wide ran ge above and below 110
m illion pounds an n u ally,2 is retained for domestic purposes.
1 Greasy basis (i.e. unscoured). O n a clean basis it wus xo m. lb. in 1038. There
are wide variations in different years. British wool is largely used for carpets
and rugs.
* Greasy basis. In 1951 it had fallen to 90 in. lb. (approximate).

W O O L AND SHEEP

T h u s E ngland, like the U nited States, is at once a large pro

ducer as w ell as a large im porter o f w ool. T h e tw o countries
share the distinction th at they grow as w ell as m anufacture
wool on an extensive scale, yet now both rely m ainly on
im ported wool.
T h e increasing dependence o f the woollen and worsted
industries upon im ported w ool, and the rem oval o f the em bargo
on the export o f hom e-grown wool, w ere closely connected
w ith an epoch-m aking ch an ge in the ch aracter o f English sheep.
T h e breeding o f larger sheep in p la ce o f the ancient small
breed produced a deterioration in the q u ality o f native wool.
A s late as the sixteenth ccntury the V en etian envoy had
claim ed th at Spanish w ool cannot b e com pared [with
E nglands] very fine and most excellent w ool. A t the end o f
the next ccn tury the position was reversed, and it cam e to be
generally recognized that English w ool was no longer superior
to Spanish w ool we m ust subm it to Spain in the utmost
curiosity o f fineness. It was said: So long as Englishm en
are fond o f fat m utton they must not expect to grow fine
w ool.
This notable developm ent received a m arked im pulse from
the renowned experim ents o f R o b ert Bakew ell, who in the latter
p art o f the eighteenth ccn tury set to w ork to breed sheep for
the m eat m arket.1 A lth ou gh Bakew ell was a great pioneer in the
technique o f stock breeding he was not the first in the field.
Even in the thirteenth ccn tury rams w ere introduced from one
p art o f the country to another in order to im prove local breeds;
and the ch an ging o f ram s o f late years attracted the attention
o f a w riter in 1739. T h e im provem ents effected in the native
sheep w ere not only d u e to careful selection for breeding
purposes; other factors w ere better care o f the flock, superior
m anagem ent o f the pastures, feeding o f root crops and clover
w hich solved the problem o f w inter diet. A wool stapler (Luccock) w ritin g in 1805 rem arked: T h e re arc not m an y counties
which can boast o f such rapid im provem ent in its fleece as
1 An eighteenth-century geologist, who was a namesake of Robert Bakewell, was
once asked whether he was related to die Mr. Bakewell who invented sheep.

ENGLISH WOOL

33

Norfolk has witnessed. E ven in living m em ory its wool was

kem py, rough and thin. But the introduction o f a new m ode of
husbandry furnished a larger supply o f food. W ool has risen to
m ore than seven times its form er v a lu e .1 R obert Bakcwell
( 1725-95) concentrated his energies on lo n g wool sheep, the O ld
Leicestcrs large rough animals n ow in his hands turned
into N ew Leicestcrs w hich spread their blood more w id ely than
any other breed. A nother im prover, J o h n Ellm an (1753-1832),
devoted his efforts to short w ool sheep, the Southdow ns which
sent out colonics that are gradually producing an alteration
in the short w oollcd sheep o f the surrounding counties (Luccock). Both Bakcwell and Ellman w ould doubtless have
endorsed the view expressed in a later generation that the pro
duction o f im proved breeds o f sheep was a work o f hum an
skill w orthy o f being classed w ith the great inventions. W hile
the attention p aid to the carcass was rew arded w ith m utton of
choice q uality, the wool stapler was com plaining th at we are
too indifferent respecting the fleece. T h e momentous change
had been accom plished: the English breeder had grow n more
interested in the flesh o f the sheep than in the wool.
A t the present day E ngland continues to send abroad w o o l:
in addition she now sends sheep. She excels in the production
o f m utton breeds, and m any thousands o f pedigree sheep have
served as crossing sires to transmit their blood in numerous
parts o f the globe. I t is not, indeed, gen erally recognized that
the British Isles have not only exported m en all over the world
but also sheep.
For E n glan ds pre-em inence in h er ow n pastoral sphere
there are substantial reasons. T h e report o f the U nited States
T a r iff Board stated in 1912: English breeds are the product of
a cool and equable clim ate; the highly specialized product o f a
land w here rich grasses or succulent forage arc never lack in g ;
the product o f a system o f close h an dlin g such as has no real
counterpart upon the farm s and ranches o f our ow n country;
a class o f anim als the pride and boast o f a race o f men with
w hom the art o f careful shepherding is hereditary. Bred locally
1 The sharp rise in price was also due to the inflation o f .currency during the
Napoleonic wars.

34

W O O L AND SHEEP

for generations with certain variations o f type, each apparently

is best adapted in its pure-bred form to some p articular soil or
elevation th at claims it for its own.*1 T h e report added that
alm ost every county had its own p eculiar breed. Several cen
turies ago it was rem arked that in every shire in E ngland there
is variety o f sorts and priccs according to the pastures; and we
noticed ab ove that a fifteenth-century docum ent listed over
fifty grades. T h e w ide range o f elevation (high lan d can be
utilized for grazing), soil and clim atic conditions favoured the
production o f types suited to the locality. H ence the existence
o f m ore than a score and a h a lf breeds and innum erable crossbrcds w ith some corresponding variation in the w ool. H ow ever
w e can distinguish three m ain species long wool, short wool
and m ountain. T h e long w ool spccics include the Leicester,
Lincoln, Cotswolds and K en t. T h e Leicester, w hich is am ong
the oldest o f im proved breeds, has been w idely used for crossing
w ith other breeds; w hile the Lincoln is the largest sheep in
E ngland i f not in the w orld. T h e short w ool species com prise in
p articular the downs. T h e Southdow n (form erly callcd the
Sussex down) gained renow n for producing the finest fleece in
this country, and its m utton is the standard o f the w orld. T h e
Southdow n, together w ith the D orset dow n, H am pshire down,
O xford dow n, Shropshire and Suffolk, are the m utton sheep
o f the world par excellence'' (these phrases com e from an official
A m erican report). T h e y thus constitute the dual purpose sheep
which is n ow the predom inant aim o f breeders, the com bination
o f fine texture wool w ith high grade m utton. T h e m ountain
species are h ard y sheep in Scotland, W ales and certain English
counties, w h ich yield flesh o f good quality.
E ngland carries m ore sheep in proportion to her size than any
other industrialized nation; and she is surpassed only b y N ew
Zealand in the density o f sheep per square m ile, and b y barely
m ore than half-a-dozen other countries in the total num ber o f
sheep w hich norm ally docs not fall m uch short o f thirty m illions.2
1 A Dictionary o f Commerce (1742) attributed the fineness of English wool to
excellent pastures and fine short grass, coupled with mild winters which made it
possible to keep sheep in the fields all the year round.
* An eighteenth-century estimate (1774) for England was 10 or 12 rn. In 1939
the United Kingdom had 27 m. It fell considerably during the second world war.
In 1951 it was 20 in. Many pastures have been ploughed up.

ENGLISH W OOL

35

T h e existence o f a considerable sheep industry in a highly

industrialized region is explained b y the character o f English
agriculture. T h e system o f m ixed farm ing or convertible hus
bandry the com bination o f arable cultivation and production
o f livestock ensures the u biquity o f the sheep. T h e latter,
indeed, occup y a vital p lace in our agrarian econom y. T h e y are
especially valu ab le for preserving the fertility o f light and sandy
soil b y treading it dow n and m anuring it. This indispensable
consolidation and ferdlizing m ake possible heavier an d better
harvests o f grain crops. Land which is no longer virgin, and for
hundreds o f years has yielded food, needs to repair the loss o f
essential substances. T h e practice o f foldin g sheep goes back to
the m iddle ages. T h e tenure o f fold-sokc, b y w hich a tenant
was bound to do suit at his lords fold, appears frequently in
D om esday Book. It was in general the m ark o f a free status
w hen a m an was fold-worthy, that is, he could send his cattle
to his ow n fold or to th at o f the village. Y e t fold service even
on the p a rt o f freem en was not unknown. Thus the abbot of
Kingesw ood was bound to find a fold o f over tw o hundred
sheep upon the land o f the lord o f Berkeley from M a y to
Novem ber.

CH APTER TH REE

Merino and Crossbred Wool

e n g l i s i i s h e e p o f the m utton type constitute one o f the two
m ain breeds w hich have spread their blood the world over; the
other is the Spanish m erinos, whose fleece inherited the prestige
form erly enjoyed by the ancient sm all breed' o f English
sheep.
It is generally believed th at merinos take their nam e from
a M oorish tribe the Bcni-M crines, w hich brought them to
Spain from N orth A frica in the second h a lf o f the twelfth
century, although the nam e itself was not com m only applied
until five hundred years later. T h e rigou r o f the w inter in the
northern uplands o f Spain gave rise to the annual m igrations
o f sheep. Branded with the m ark o f their owner and under
their ow n herdsmen, they trekked to the southern plains in
Septem ber and retraced their steps in A p ril. T h e distance was
often considerable: some covered four to five hundred miles in
their journey southwards to pastures n ew , b u t others less than
half. A lo n g the sheep-walks specially p rovided for them they
m ight traverse fifteen or eighteen miles a d a y though across the
open country only five or six miles. L am b s were born after
they reached the southern plains, and the wool clippin g took
p lace in the course o f their return. It was these m igratory flocks
w hich D on Q u ixo te encountered in one o f the best known
episodes o f the dismal knight o f L a M an ch a. T h e fact that
cach jo u r n e y m ight occu p y a w hole m onth kept the sheep
h ard y and in good condition and increased the fineness o f the
wool.
A t an early period there originated the p ractice o f holding
gatherings o f the sheep owners and herdsm en in the locality to
consider m atters o f comm on interest, for instance, hiring shep
herds, fixing wages and determ ining the ownership o f stray
animals. T h ese assemblies w ere the local mestas and out
o f them developed a pow erful national organization which

36

ME R I NO A N D C R O S S B R E D W O O L

37

controlled the pastoral industry o f Spain. In 1273 Alfonso the

Learned incorporated all o f the shepherds o f C astile in one
H onourable Assem bly o f the M csta o f the Shepherds, which
he endowed w ith a charter. Its sphere was restricted to the
kingdom o f C astile until the late seventeenth century w hen it
was extended to A ragon. For over five hundred years this
famous gild w ielded authority over the m erino flocks o f Spain,
w hich com prised between two and a h a lf and three million
head o f sheep. It was concerned exclusively with the wool not
with the flesh o f the anim al. Like the m ediaeval gilds o f England
it acted on b eh alf o f its members although it controlled pro
duction it ow ned neither herds nor pastures; although it con
trolled m arketing it did not engage in selling. It endured down
to 1836 w hen it was transformed into a S lo ck O w ners Associa
tion. T h e m igratory sheep still persist in Spain yet for distant
pastures th ey no longer m arch on foot but (tempora mutaniur)
travel by rail.
T h e im portance attached to the pastoral industry in Spain
is shown b y a rem ark m ad e early in the seventeendi century:
T h ere is 110 grandee o f Spain who has so m any judges and.
sheriffs to defend him as has the sheep.* In the later middle
ages the existence o f an international trade in Spanish wool
had already becom e an im portant factor in European economy.
Its export abroad finds a p lace in English customs accounts (for
exam ple in 1303), and it helped to sustain the commons of
Flanders w hen they w ere deprived o f English w ool. W hile
Spain, unlike E ngland, perm itted the export o f w ool, she pro
hibited the export o f sheep; b u t the em bargo was partially
lifted in the eighteenth century. M erinos were introduced
into Sweden in the first h alf; into Saxony, H ungary, Francc,
England, S outh A frica and A ustralia in the second h alf; subsequendy into Russia, the U nited States and South A m erica.
Thus, like English sheep, merinos becam e cosmopolitan
animals extensively distributed over the face o f the globe. Y e t
to-day pure merinos arc not to be found in E ngland, F ran cc or
G erm any; they have been crossed w ith the indigenous stocks.
A writer in 1805 rem arked: A few spirited individuals have
combined w ith various English breeds the blood o f the Spanish

38

W O O L AND SHEEP

race and by th at means obtained a staple hitherto unequalled

am ong English wools, yet those flocks are sm all and w idely
dispersed. M erin o wool is still raised in one E uropean country,
Spain, b u t in q u a lity it has been surpassed b y countries o f
the southern hemisphere. T h e proportion o f m erino wool
on the eve o f the second world w a r w as as high as 95 per
cent, o f total production in South A frica, 85 per cent, in
A ustralia, and 50 p er cent, in the U nited States.1 T h e nu
m erical preponderance o f m erino w ool2 in areas w hich con
centrate on p roducing the finest wool rather than on flesh is
due to its superior fineness, softness, strength, elasticity and
felting properties.
T h e m erino sheep is h ard y and thrives in inhospitable and
d ry districts (it is apparently unsuitcd for the moist clim ate o f
England). It is essentially a wooP sheep w ith a dense fine fleece,
and the flesh is less p alatable than that o f a m utton sheep.
A ccordingly in the last decade o f the nineteenth ccntury began
the trend towards a 'd u al purpose anim al w hich m igh t serve
both for the tab le and for apparel. This is achieved b y crossing
the small lean m erinos w ith the large fat English breeds suited
to the purpose. T h e offsprings o f the m atin g are know n as
crossbreds,3 w hich m ingle the blood o f two historic strains that
independently o r in com bination continue to dom inate the
w ool production o f the w orld as they have done for m an y ccnturics. T h e h igh ly im portant m ovem ent in w hich crossbreds
are displacing m erinos has proceeded furthest in N ew Zealand
and South A m erica. T h e y constitute outstanding exam ples o f
regions w hich h ave ceased to concentrate prim arily on wool
in order to com bine wool w ith m eat.4 Crossbred w ool on the
eve o f the second world w ar accounted for 98 p er cent, o f the
N ew Zealand clip , 88 per cent, o f the A rgen tin e clip, 87 per
1 The first two percentages have markedly declined.

1 It is estimated that approximately one-third o f the total world clip is classed

as merino wool.
* T he term crossbred is also applied to sheep whose wool has the quality termed
crossbred, namely, the medium type.
* T he growth o f crossbred wool was also stimulated by a change of fashion when
fine worsteds supplanted fine broadcloth. The increased demand for smooth
worsteds could now be met owing to improvements in combing machinery.
Henceforth the latter could use wool of shorter staple and was no longer restricted
to long wool, <}f which the supply was limited.

MERINO AND CROSSBRED W O O L

39

cent, o f the U ru g u ay clip, and 50 per cent, o f the U nited States

clip .1
W e must now skctch in outline the history o f these two
fam ous breeds merinos and crossbrcds in countries far
rem ote from Europe, w here they have prospered and m ulti
plied exceedingly in response to the ever-grow ing needs o f the
hum an race for apparel and food.
In the eighteenth ccn tury the belief h ad been widespread
th at the sources o f our wool supply were strictly limited. Indeed
i t was advanced as an argum ent against the introduction o f
m achinery th at it is not possible to increase the raw m aterial
beyond the present quantity. T h e growth o f wool is definite*
hence there was no possibility o f an extension o f woollen m anu
factures to com pensate operatives for the loss o f em ploym ent
in the m anual processes. T h e potentialities o f the southern
hemisphere in the field o f wool production w ere virtu ally
unknown at the end o f the eighteenth century, although a few
m en had a vision o f the future. W hen the first fleet sailed from
E ngland for N e w South W ales in 1787 it took in some sheep at
the C ap e o f G ood H o p e : these w ere native sheep valuable only
for m utton. T h e early experiences o f the colonists did not prove
encouraging. In 1788 G overnor Phillip had the m ortification
to learn th at five ewes and a lam b had been destroyed at a
farm , supposed to have been killed b y dogs belonging to the
natives. This to the happy inhabitants o f G reat Britain m ay
appear a circum stance too trivial to record, b u t to the founders
o f a new colony it w ould be o f m agnitude sufficient to be b y
them deemed a public calam ity. T h e next year C aptain
W aterhouse was sent from A ustralia b y the authorities to
purchase m erinos in South A frica im ported there originally
from E urope; he brought back twenty-nine. A pioneer sheep
breeder, C ap tain Joh n M acA rth ur, visited E ngland in 1803,
and returned w ith half-a-dozen sheep from G eorge I l l s flock
o f pure merinos. H e endeavoured to interest the m otherland in
the prospects o f A ustralia as a w ool-producing country and
carricd with him specimens o f w ool; four years later the first
1 In 1948 the percentages were respectively 97, 84, 87, 50.

40

W O O L AND SHEEP

consignment o f w ool was shipped to London from Botany B ay

near Sydney, and the tc u n botany thus cam e to be applied to
fine wools.
T h e sheep industry in A ustralia expanded w ith astonishing
rapidity. T h e cry w ent u p : T u t everything in four feet. T h e
sheep population, reinforced b y im portations direct from
Europe, grew in four years (1789-93) from 29 to 526, in the
next four years to 2,457, an^ in tllc ncxt six Ycars 10
T h en it soared: in the m iddle o f the nineteenth century it
num bered 17 m illions, at the end o f the century 70 millions,
on the eve o f the second world w ar 111 millions or one-seventh
o f the w orlds total num ber o f sheep.1 T h e predom inant breed
is the m erino w hich form erly accounted for six-sevenths o f her
wool production (over one-half o f the w orlds m erino wool). In
recent ycars, how ever, the q uan tity o f crossbred wool has
increased from one-seventh to two-sevenths. A ustralia has not
only becom e the lead in g country in the size o f her sheep popula
tion but her output o f w ool is on a scale o f corresponding
m agnitude. A m odest clip o f 20,000 pounds in 1800 assumed
the gigantic proportions o f 500 m illion p o u n d s a century later
and over a thousand m illions in our own day2 no less than onefourth o f the world supply. T h is prodigious expansion was due
to an increase in the head o f sheep as w ell as in the w eight o f
the fleece. Exports kep t pace w ith production since nearly the
w hole o f the clip was shipped abroad: they constituted about
two-fifths o f total exports in values.3
T h e pre-em inence enjoyed b y A ustralia in the w orlds
pastoral industry m ay be attributed to a variety o f reasons.
O ne is the existence o f vast plains not suited for intensive cu l
tivation ow ing to low rainfall but w ell adapted for sheepfarm ing, Som e sheep stations are a great distance from the
railroad and the w ool is transported thither p acked on the
backs o f camels and horses, in bullock and oxen carts, and in
m otor trucks. A nother reason is the m ild winters. T h e third
1 In 194a the peak o f 125 m. was reached. O wing to drought the number fell
in 1947 to 96 m. Early in 1951 it had recovered to nearly 116 m. (The high-wutcr
mark reached in the nineteenth ccntury was 106 rn. in 1891.)
* It averaged 995 in. lb. in 1934-38; t , m m. lb. in 1950.
* In 1938.

MERINO AND CROSSBRED W O O L

41

is the breeding o f large sheep carryin g a heavy fleece w hich, in

the w ords o f the A ustralian flockm aster, w ill fill the bale [of
wool] and fatten the bank b alance. T h e fourth is the im proved
m ethod o f m arketing the efficiency with w h ich the fleece is
prepared for public auction b y skirting and classing: im portant
processes which w ere m entioned above. T h e careful attention
to m arket requirem ents owes m uch to the influence o f the
brokerage houses w hich handle the w ool at the selling end, and
also to official encouragem ent o f rcscarch and technical
institutions for train in g experts. L asd y A u stralia benefited in
the great era o f expansion the nineteenth cen tu ry b y th e
low (virtually nom inal) rents for leased land used as sheep runs,
by ligh t taxation, and b y the cheap labour o f the aborigines.
A ustralia leads the world in the production o f w ool: she is
surpassed b y N ew Zealand in the production o f m utton. A
handful o f sheep w ere brought to N ew Z ealan d b y C ap tain
Cook. T h e y died; and m y hopes o f stocking this country w ith
a breed o f sheep w ere blasted in a m om ent. T h en in the
nineteenth century merinos w ere introduced from N ew South
W ales, and they survived to becom e the nucleus o f flourishing
flocks w hich eventually exceeded 30 m illions.1 I n the eighties
occurred a dram atic transform ation w hen the experim ent o f
shipping frozen m utton proved successful. N e w Zealan d,
hitherto concerned only w ith grow ing wool, g av e herself up to
raising sheep prim arily for the sake o f the flesh; and accord
in gly she im ported English breeds o f long w ool to cross w ith
m erinos. T h e product was the crossbred, a large sheep w ith an
im proved carcass though the w ool is m edium in quality.
Crossbreds the outstanding exam ple is the C orriedale have
com pletely eclipsed merinos w h ich furnished 90 per cent, o f
the total clip in 1882 and 2 per cent, fifty years later. T h e output
o f w ool has quintupled in the past tw o generations.2 Exports
constituted one-fifth o f total exports in values.3
A rgen tin a has followed in the footsteps o f N e w Zealand in
givin g precedence to the requirem ents o f an expan ding m eat
m arket abroad. In contrast w ith N ew Zealand, however, her

1 *939 3<* m.;

1950 34 m.
* 1880 69 m. lb.; 1950 390 m. lb. (In 1934-38 it averaged 300 m. lb.)
* In 1938.
D

42

W O O L A N D S HE E P

farm ers are concerned not w ith m utton but w ith beef (as w ell
as w ith cereals); hence her sheep population has registered a
momentous decrease. In the nineties she had eighty m illion
sheep; a quarter o f a ccntury later the num ber had been halved
and it has not since shown an y significant a d va n ce.1 Investi
gators arc convinced that sheep-breeding in A rgen tin a is now
on the decline;* sheep arc being driven out to m ake room for
im m igrants; extensive pastoral ranchos arc being split up into
farm s; and grassland is being laid dow n to tillage and ploughed
up b y settlers on the soil. W ool production has also tended to
diminish* though not to a corresponding extent because o f the
increased w eight o f the ficccc. A rgen tin a still ranks high am ong
wool-producing and w ool-exporting countries. Nevertheless
the trend in her national econom y is clearly evinced in the fact
th at exports constituted only one-tenth3 (and sometimes even
less) o f total exports in values. A noth er South A m erican state
U ru g u ay, with a sheep population o f about tw enty millions,
has not displayed the same tendency to abandon sheepfarm ing. It is believed that she must remain pre-em inently a
lan d o f native grasses interspersed w ith cultivated land. W ool
production, in m arked contrast w ith A rgen tin a, has nearly
doubled since the beginning o f the present ccn tu ry ;4 and
exports constituted nearly h a lf o f total exports in values.5 Both
countries share a preference for crossbreds. M erinos were intro
duced early in the nineteenth century and crossed w ith native
sheep and subsequently with English breeds. T h e proportion
o f m erino wool in the total clip o f these tw o countries w ithin
recent years has fluctuated between a sixth and an eighth.
A ltogeth er A rgen tin a and U ru g u ay producc ab out nine-tcntlis
o f South A m erican w ool.8
T h e fourth great w ool-producing region o f the southern
hemisphere, the U n io n o f South A frica, falls in to line w ith
A ustralia in establishing the suprem acy o f the m erino breed
1 *939 46 in.; 1950 47 m.
* 1900 440 in. lb.; 1950 415 m. lb.
* In 1938.
4 1900 88 m. lb .; 1950 163 m. lb. T he number o f sheep rose to nearly
23 m. in 1950.
4 In 1938.
* Wool is also produced in the Falkland Islands.

MERINO AND CR OSSBRED W O O L

43

which furnishes nine-tenths or m ore o f the c lip some o f it

exh ibiting very fine quality. T h e early D u tch colonists w ho
settled in the C ap e in the seventeenth century found a n ative
stock, the so-called fat-tailed sheep, non-w oolled h airy
anim als useful only for m utton; m uch later m erinos w ere
brough t from Europe. For tw o centuries the sheep industry
languished. Its b ackw ard condition w as ap p a ren tly due in
p art to the trekking o f Boer farm ers northw ards, and in p art
to inbreeding o f flocks on secluded sheep runs w hich caused
deterioration o f the fleece in q u ality and q uan tity. Progress
becam e rapid in the present centu ry; the num ber o f sheep was
q uadrupled in the first three decades, and in spite o f a subse
quent decline it rem ained over three times as h ig h .1 W ool pro
duction soared from a m illion pounds a hundred years a go to
over 300 millions in recent times.2 Exports did not la g beh in d;
they constituted one-third o f total exports in valu es.3 T h e
potentialities o f the sheep industry in South A fric a have not
yet reached their lim it; and in this respect she affords apparently
an exception to d ie general trend.
T h e United States occupies a position e x a ctly half-w ay
betw een countries predom in an tly m erino and those p re
dom inantly crossbred, for 50 per cent, o f her sheep fall into each
category. T h e opening decades o f the nineteenth centu ry
witnessed the introduction o f m erinos, w hich in the west have
continued a famous practice o f their forebears the annual
m igration from sum m er to w inter pastures in vo lvin g a trek o f
one to three hundred miles. A t first sheep husbandry was
located in the eastern sta te s, but in the forties it invaded the
m iddle west w here w ool could be produced m ore cheaply, and
in the seventies it reached the far west. B road ly speaking
merinos are the dom inant type in the west, w hile in the east they
have been crossed w ith English m utton breeds in order to
im prove the flesh. T h e distinction betw een east and west
corresponds to another distinction between farm states and
1 In 1904 12 m.; 1931 50 m.; 1939 39 xn. These totals included about
5 m. non-woolled. (In 1950 the total was 32 m.)
* 1929 300 m. lb.; but in 1934-38 it averaged 261 m. lb. and in 1950 it was
only 225 m. lb.
In 1938.

44

W O O L A N D S HE E P

range states. In the former conditions resem ble those which

prevail in E ngland, Flocks are generally sm all, th ey are part o f
a m ixed econom y, and their function is to fertilize the soil on
w hich crops arc raised and to produce m arket lam bs: w ool is
secondary. In the latter w here two-thirds o f the wool (called
range or territorial wool) arc grow n the flocks arc large, and
they pasture on land w hich is not cultivated an d is thrown open
to free grazing. T h e num ber o f sheep increased between the
tw o world w ars b y a third and the total exceeded 50 m illions;
then it registered a dcclinc o f over a th ird .1 Dom estic wool
production, w hich had reached 450 m illion pounds, fell almost
proportionately. T h e U nited States thus takes rank as one o f
the great w ool-producing countries o f the w orld but in a vital
respect she is exceptional: in m arked contrast w ith h er raw
cotton she has virtu ally2 no m arkets abroad for her ra w w ool
w hich is consumed in her ow n mills.
T h e U nited States, like E ngland, is not only a large pro
du cer o f w ool; she is also a large im porter. O n the eve o f the
second w orld w ar h er imports w ere m ainly the carpet q u ali
ties; she no longer drew from other countries, to the same extent
as form erly, the w ool used for apparel fabrics the latter being
chiefly hom e-grown. Since 1939 w ool consum ption has risen
considerably and the increase is reflected in the scale o f
her im ports,3 especially wool o f apparel q u ality now greatly in
excess o f the native clip. In turn E ngland, A rgen tin a and A us
tralia have held the leading position am ong the sources laid
under contribution. A lthough the U nited States is dependent
upon external supplies ow ing to the in adeq uacy o f the domestic
output for her m anufacturing needs, she has pursued a policy
towards im ports w hich is in m arked contrast w ith E nglands
p olicy for over a hundred years. T h e cost o f w ool production
is higher in the U nited States than elsewhere; and in response
to the dem and o f the farmers for protection foreign w ool
cam e to be burdened with duties. T h e first ta riff was levied
1 *939 5* m.; *947 38 m .; 1950 30 m. Domestic wool production (which
averaged 451 m. lb. in 1934-38) fell in 1950 to 264 m. lb.
J She exported 0-3 m. ib. in pre-war years, and 6-7 m. lb. in 1Q50.
3 Imports were in 1939 242 m. lb.; in 1950 686 m. lb. Hence her dominating
position in the post-war world market as the largest consumer of wool.

ME R I NO A N D C R O S S B R E D W O O L

45

in 1816 and it has been repeatedly changed in the course o f

nearly a century and a half. In an effort to harm onize their
conflicting interests a convention o f growers and m anufac
turers was held after the C ivil W ar in 18G5 at Syracuse, where
the follow ing resolutions w ere fram ed: T h e w oollen industry
is especially com m ended for developing the agricultural and
m echanical resources o f the nation. T h e m utuality o f the in
terests o f the wool producers and wool m anufacturers o f the
U nited States is established b y the closest o f com m ercial bonds,
th at o f demand and supply. A s the two branches involve
largely the labour o f the country [they should b e given] equal
protection [against] the accum ulated capital and lo w wages o f
other countries. [Each should be developed], thus furnishing
m arkets at home for the products o f both interests. N otw ith
standing, the breach proved too strong to b e bridged b y
paper resolutions; the duty imposed in 1867 exceeded 50 per
cent, o f the value o f the im ported w ool; it w as detrim ental to
the m anufacturers, and dissensions betw een th em and the
growers soon revived. A n English w riter had rem arked in the
eighteenth ccntury: T h e landed and trading interests arc
eternally jarrin g and jealous o f each others advantages. A
sim ilar situation w as reproduced in the U nited States between
the producers and consumers o f ra w wool.
F in a lly a word m a y b e added on two countries w hich figure
prom inently in the m anufacture o f w ool textiles. In France
before the French R evolution m erino sheep w ere settled on
an experim ental governm ent farm at R am bouillet, w hich has
given its name to a famous breed. O n the eve o f the second
world w ar France had ten m illion sheep; nevertheless she has
not escaped the m odern trend o f giving precedence to m utton
over w ool. H er ow n domestic production w as insufficient for
her industrial needs and she becam e an im porter on a con
siderable scale. Ja p an is in an exceptional position because she
developed into an im portant m anufacturing coun try, although
she has to rely on foreign sources for almost all the w ool con
sumed in her factories since dom estic production is negligible.
H er imports, draw n p repon d erate^ from A ustralia, m ultiplied
tw enty-five times betw een the tw o w orld w ars.1
1 T h ey averaged before the first world w ar 10 m. lb.: in 1935 244 m. lb.

PART

WOOL

II

MANUFACTURES

CH APTER FOUR

Early History
a r t s o f spinning and w eav in g rank a m on g the most
prim itive o f the industrial arts.1 T h e fancy o f a later age
ascribed their origin to our prim eval parents. D rap ery is
unquestionably so ancient as to h ave the honour o f being the
im m ediate succcssor o f the fig-leaves. A n d th ough w e arc not
quite certain that our grea t first father began it w ith in his fair
Eden, y e t w c arc assured that E ves spinistry and A d a m s spade
set to w ork together. T h e tradition o f the w eavers connected
them w ith N aam ah:
th e

T h a t N aam ah, sister was to T u b a l Cain,

First usd this A rt, the Scripture doth m ake plain.
T h e history o f the woollen and worsted industries in
m ediaeval and m odern Europe starts w ith tw o g rea t m an u
facturing seats the L o w Countries and Florence. Flanders
exported cloth to Ita ly during the R om an occu p ation ; in the
twelfth century j t becam e, together w ith B rabant, a land o f
w eavers and fullers the industry reaching its p eak in the
early p a rt o f the fourteenth century. T h e superiority o f the
fabrics w oven on Flem ish looms is reflected in the appeal o f
the O x fo rd Parliam ent (1258) to the English nation not to
seek over-precious garm ents im ported from a b road in place o f
native m anufactures. T h e cloths o f Flanders and B rabant w ere
also bough t b y F lorence in the rough state, an d they w ere
finished b y the fam ous gild o f cloth-finishers, arte di calimala.
A n o th er Florentine gild, arte della laria, com prised the clothm akcrs. Industry on the Continent was organized on the lines
o f the dom estic system in E ngland. T h e m aterial was given out
1 There are Biblical references to spinning, weaving, fulling and dyeing. The
virtuous woman seekcth wool and flax. She laycth her hands to the spindle and
her hands hold the distaff. M y days arc swifter than a weavers shuttle.* And the
staff o f his spear was like a weavers beam. T he highway o f the Fullers Field.
'Cloth o f scarlet.

WOOL MANUFACTURES

to wage-earners who delivered the m anufactured p roduct. In

the L ow Countries*thcsc wage-earners earned the contem p
tuous soubriquet o f blue nails, and their relations w ith their
capitalist employers w ere m arred b y great acrim ony; we
already h ear o f strikes in the first h a lf o f the thirteenth ccntury.
Both the L o w Countries and Florence alike w ere dependent
on im ported wool, m ainly English, and this proved a prim ary
cause o f their swift decline. E ngland grew conscious o f the fact
that she excelled in the q u ality o f her w ool w hich was indispens
able to other countries, and she set to w ork to build up an
industry o f her own w hich w ould absorb the native supply. T h e
success which attended h er efforts is strikingly exhibited in the
fate w hich overtook h er competitors, even though they had
recourse to Spanish w ool in lieu o f E nglish w ool. E ngland
wrested the lead in the w eaving craft; and especially the towns
o f Flanders, once a workshop o f the m ediaeval w orld, found
themselves eclipsed. Bruges, which in the thirteenth century
claim ed m an y thousands o f looms, wa5 sorely pressed and failed
to m aintain its form er prosperity. Y p rcs w ith a population in
1408 o f over eighty thousand inhabitants and three to four
thousand eloth-workers a substantial figure for a m ediaeval
tow n had sunk in i486 to less than six thousand inhabitants
and barely a score or tw o cloth factories. R epeated attempts
w ere m ade to exclude E nglish cloth from the L ow Countries:
notwithstanding at the end o f the m iddle ages the greatest wool
producer in Europe was firm ly established as also the greatest
wool m anufacturer. T h e rom ance o f trade records few achieve
ments m ore astonishing than this industrial revolution o f the
fifteenth ccntury, in w hich E ngland outstripped her form idable
rivals and found a m arket for her cloth in every know n quarter
o f the globe obtaining control o f her ow n m arket and ousting
her competitors from the m arkets o f other countries. T h e story
o f this achievem ent will be traced in the follow ing pages.
For seven hundred years the English woollen and worsted
industries w ere pre-em inently the staple m anufacture o f the
realm . T h e prestige which they enjoyed dow n to the Industrial
R evolu tion, when they w ere surpassed in im portance b y the

E A R L Y HISTORY

51

cotton industry, is reflected in the encom ium bestowed upon

them. A fifteenth-century P arliam ent declared th at the m aking
o f cloth w ithin all parts o f the realm is the greatest occupation
and livin g o f the poor com m ons o f this lan d . In the seventeenth
century the antiquary C am den described English cloth as one
o f the pillars o f the state; C h ie f Justice C oke term ed it the
worthiest and richest com m odity o f this k in g d o m ; Bacon
callcd it this great w heel o f the realm ; and the V enetian
ambassador w rote hom e in 1610 that it form ed the c h ie f wealth
o f this nation. A w riter durin g die C ivil W a r asserted th at the
most substantial and staple com m odity that ou r country
affords for the m aintenance o f trade is cloth , and h e explained
the origin o f the W oolsack as intended to p u t our ju d g es in the
H ouse o f Lords in m ind o f preserving and a d va n cin g the trade
and m anufactory o f w ool. A petition o f the House o f Com m ons
at the Restoration pronounccd wool textiles to be th e principal
foundation upon w hich the foreign com m ercc o f this kingdom
m ovcth. A n act o f parliam ent after the R evolu tion extolled
them as the greatest and most profitable com m odity o f this
kingdom on which die v a lu e o f lands and the trade o f the nation
do chiefly depend. T h e volum e o f eulogy continued in the
follow ing century w ith unabated force. In praising the richest
and most valuable m anufacture in the w orld/ D a n iel Defoe
w rote (1724): N oth ing can answer all the ends o f dress but
good English broadcloth, fine cam lets, druggets, serges and
such like. These [other countries] m ust have, an d w ith these
none b u t E ngland can supply them . B e their cou n try hot or
cold, torrid or frigid, tis the same thing, near the E qu in ox or
near the Pole, the E nglish woollen m anufacture clothes them
a ll; here it covers them w arm from the freezing b reath o f the
northern bear, and there it shades them and keeps them cool
from the searching beam s o f a perpendicular sun. L e t no m an
w onder th a t the woollen m anufacture is arrived to such a
m agnitude w hen in a w ord it m ay b e said to clothe the w orld.
E ven as late as 1782 a w riter is found to protest against the
cotton m ills lately ercctcd in the neighbourhood o f M anchester,
and to u tter the w arn in g th at i f these m ills w ere suffered to
destroy ou r woollen and stuff [worsted] m anufactures they

52

WOOL MANUFACTURES

w ill prove the most fatal discoveries ever m ade in O ld

E ngland.
A m on g the industries o f England the m aking o f cloth has
several claims to its pre-em inence. Firstly, it was the prem ier
English industry from the twelfth to the nineteenth century.
T o quote a petition laid before Parliam ent in 1800, it was
our earliest, most extensive and most valu ab le m anufacture.*
T h ere arc m any m ore people em ployed, said a w riter in
1683, and m ore profit m ade and m oney im ported b y this
m anufactory [of cloth] alone than b y all the other m anufac
tories o f E ngland jo in ed together. A parliam entary report on
trade draw n u p in the reign o f W illiam I I I estimated th at after
the Restoration woollen goods accounted for near two-thirds
o f the general exports. T h e English through all the w orld,
w rote a correspondent in 1672, are counted the most ingenious
in cloth. I t was, therefore, ju stly described as the m aster-whecl
o f trade; and Englishm en proudly boasted that w e clothed
h a lf o f Europe b y our English cloth, m akin g the Continent
almost E n glan ds servant since it w ore E nglands liv ery . Its
p lace in the national econom y is also indicated b y the com pu
tation w hich statisticians m ade near the end o f the seventeenth
century th at the annual value o f wool textiles was nearly as
high as th at o f arable produce and higher than d ie rent o f
agricultural land.
Secondly, the raw m aterial was m ain ly raised at hom e the
im port o f foreign wool being inconsiderable until the nineteenth
century and native wool was generally reputed to be the
best in Europe. T h e m utu al dependence o f industry and
tillage inspired the prayer o f the historian Fuller th at the
plough m ay go along and the wheel around so th at being fed
b y the one and clothed b y the other there m ay be, b y G o d s
blessing, no danger o f starvation in our n atio n ; b u t his vision
o f an ordered com m onw ealth, in w hich the m anufacturer and
the farm er co-operated harm oniously, was not fulfilled. T h e
English m akers o f cloth enjoyed untold advantage over their
com petitors abroad in their ability to draw freely upon do
m estic sources for their ra w m aterial, but w hen they sough t to
exclude alien buyers from the English wool m arket th ey cam e

E A R L Y HISTORY

53

into sharp collision w ith the English graziers. T h u s the fortunes

o f the woollen m anufacture w ere closely interw oven w ith those
o f agriculture, and the rivalry o f these two great industries
fills an im portant ch ap ter in English econom ic history. In the
nineteenth century the conflict betw een the lan ded and com
m ercial interests was fought ou t o ver the question o f cheap
food; in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the conflict
was over cheap raw m aterials. T h e prohibition o f the export
o f native w ool coupled w ith the unrestricted im p ort o f foreign
wool these w ere the cardinal problem s o f econom ic con
troversy debated in innum erable pam phlets and broadsheets.
Even m ore fundam ental w as the fact that, the progress of the
textile industry seemed to divert the national energies from
tillage into other and m ore unstable channels a trend viewed
w ith apprehension b y those early economists w ho preferred to
see the prosperity o f E n glan d broad-based on lan d rath er than
on the shifting foundations o f industry. W e h ave too great a
clothing com m onw ealth, said a m em ber o f parliam en t in 1614;
and T h om as M un in England's Treasure by Forraign Trade voiced
the general uneasiness w hen he w rote: C loth ing is the greatest
wealth and best em ploym ent o f the poor o f this kingdom , yet
nevertheless w e m ay p eradventurc em ploy ourselves w ith better
safety, plen ty and profit in using m ore tillage and fishing than
to trust so w holly to the m aking o f cloth ; for in times o f
w ar or b y other occasions, i f some foreign princes should
prohibit the use thereof in their dom inions, it m ig h t suddenly
cause m uch poverty and dangerous uproars especially b y our
poor people when they should be deprived o f th eir ordinary
m aintenance.
T h ird ly , the cloth m anufacture passed through every stage
o f industrial organization: thus its history illustrates with
peculiar clearness the different phases o f English industrial
developm ent. N o other industry affords better m aterial for
studying the grow th and decay o f the various econom ic
organisms which have taken root in English soil at one period
or another the gild system where the w orker owns both the
instruments o f production and the raw m aterial; the domestic
system w here he owns the instruments b u t not the m aterial;

54

WOOL MANUFACTURES

and the factory system w here he owns neither the instruments

nor the m aterial.
Fourthly, w ool textiles w ere the first industry to be subjected
to national control and uniform regulation. T h e favourite child
o f the legislature, they w ere hedged round on every side with
innum erable statutes b y w a y o f guards and fences. A s A dam
Sm ith rem arked: O u r woollen m anufacturers have been m ore
successful than an y other class o f w orkm en in persuading the
legislature th at the prosperity o f the nation depends upon the
success and extension o f their p articular business. Tow ards
the end o f the eighteenth ccn tury an abstract was published o f
laws relating to the growers o f wool and to the m anufacturers
of, and dealers in, all sorts o f woollen com m odities. It con
tained the titles o f over three hundred laws then on the statute
book. These law s regulated the clipping o f sheep, the p ack in g of
w ool, the length, breadth, w eight and true m aking o f cloth,
the use o f m aterials in dyeing, the m ethods o f fulling and
C entering, and the nature o f the instrum ents for row in g and
shearing. It is not surprising, then, to find a commission report
in g as early as 1622 th at the laws n ow in force concerning the
m aking and dressing o f cloth are so m any and by the m ultitude
o f them arc so intricate that it is very hard to resolve w h at the
law is. N o t only did the governm ent create for the protection
o f the textile industry an elaborate codc o f restrictive legislation
w hich survived from the m iddle ages to the nineteenth ccntury,
but its foreign policy and especially the encouragem ent o f
voyages o f discovery w as largely inspired b y the desire to
open up new markets abroad.
Fifthly, cloth-m aking was the most widespread o f all English
industries. A lth ou gh certain parts o f the realm w ere pre
em inently the m anufacturing districts o f England, there was
p robably not a town, village or ham let throughout the length
and breadth o f the country which was not associated at some
tim e or other w ith the production o f cloth. Spinning was a
cottage em ploym ent everyw here carried on by wom en and
children, nothing m ore b ein g required than a spindle and dis
ta ff or w h ee l; and w eaving, sim ilarly, was a household occupa
tion. It was the universal ch aracter o f the industry w h ich gave

E A R L Y HISTORY

55

it peculiar significance, since in its developm ent w ere bound up

the national fortunes and the interests o f every section o f the
com m unity.
Finally, the social influence exerted b y the textile arts is
displayed in the extent to w hich the English lan gu age has been
enriched b y words and phrases connected in their origin w ith
the m anufacture o f cloth. N o industry has left m ore traces in
popular literature1 and on popular speech. Such phrases as
dyed in the w ool, to spin a yarn, the thread o f a discourse,
weavers o f long tales, a w eb o f sophistry, unravellin g a
m ystery, tangled skein, on tenterhooks, betray at once their
source. W e still speak o f fine-drawn theories and hom e-spun
youths. M a n y personal names betoken the original occupation
o f some ancestor for exam ple, D yer, Fuller, Lister, T ailor,
T u cker, W alker, W eaver, and W ebster; and lo ca l nom en
clature has preserved names like R ack-closcs, E ast-Stretch,
T u ckin g -M ill Field, w h ich refer to fulling and tentering cloth.
M oreover the close identification o f w om en with spinning is
reflected in the use o f the word spinster to denote a n un
m arried woman.
W e find occasional references to spinning and w eav in g in this
country even in very early times. In R o m an B ritain there is
said to h ave been an im perial w eavin g m an ufactory at
W inchester. In A nglo-Saxon E ngland the m other o f K in g
Alfred is represented as skilled in spinning w ool; and the
chronicler Fabyan tells us that E d w ard the E ld er scttc his
sonnes to scole and his daughters he sette to w oll werke,
takyng exam ple o f C harlys the C onquestour. It is even possible
that English woollen fabrics w ere being exported to the C on
tinent already in the eighth century, for ou r earliest com m ercial
treaty the famous letter o f Charles the G reat to O fla , king o f
M ercia (796) contains this passage: O u r subjects m ake
request concerning the size o f the cloaks, that you w ill have
them m ade o f the same pattern as used to com e to us in old
1 Shakespeare uses frequent metaphors taken from spinning and weaving. 'The
web of our life is of a mingled yara, good and ill together. Life is a shuttle/
Their thread o f life is spun. Ill-weavd ambition, how much art thou shrunk!

56

WOOL MANUFACTURES

times. H ow ever the authentic history o f the English wool textile

industries properly begins after the N orm an Conquest, when
w c find gilds o f weavers established under H enry I in London,
W inchester, O xford, L in coln and H untingdon. This shows that
an organized w eaving craft was conducted in the twelfth
ccntury as a trade and not m erely as a household occupation
for domestic use. About the sam e tim e large quantities o f woad
w ere im ported for purposes o f dyeing. N o t only was cloth
m anufactured for the hom e m arket in numerous parts o f the
country during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries but m any
local varieties were exported. T h e cloths o f Stamford found a
m arket at V en ice as early as 1265, and they gained a European
reputation since it was considered worth w hile to im itate them
at M ilan. O th er varieties sent abroad comprised those o f Y ork,
Beverley, Coggcshall, Colchester, Lincoln, M aldon and Sudbury.
Th ese finer English cloths were also bought for the kings
w ardrobe, and the purchases m ade on the royal b eh a lf furnish
inform ation as to the relative values o f the different fabrics.
T h u s in 1182 the sheriff o f Lincolnshire purchased cloth at the
rate o f 6s. 8d. for an e ll1 o f scarlet, 3s. for green say, is. 8d. for
g rey say, and 3s. for an ell o f blanket erroneously supposed to
have been nam ed after its first m aker, Thom as B lanket, who
actually lived a ccntury and a h alf later.
T h e first notable event in the progress o f the cloth m an ufac
ture occurred in the y e a r 1258, when the O xford Parliam ent
gave articulate expression to the grow ing desire o f English
rulers to foster the native industry. It prohibited the export o f
wool, and ordered that the wool o f the country should be
worked up in England and not sold to foreigners and th at every
one should use woollen cloth m ade w ithin the coun try. Those
w ho hankered after the m ore delicate fabrics w oven in the
looms o f Flanders w ere bidden not to seek over-precious
garm ents. T h is measure, w hich foreshadowed a protective
policy, does not seem to h ave been successful. T h e governm ent
found it impossible for an y length o f tim e to prevent the export
o f wool, for it was anxious on political grounds to keep on
friendly terms w ith the Flem ish people. In the m iddle ages
* An ell is 45 inchcs.

E A R L Y HISTORY

57

E ngland was the enem y o f F ran ce; and Flanders, w h ich was
the gate into France, could be a valuable ally and a dangerous
foe inasm uch as her coast confronted our own. A ccord in gly
another schem e was set on foot. T h e attem pt to starve ou t (he
com petition o f the Flemish m anufacturers, b y refusing to supply
them with raw m aterial, was bound to fail not only because it
excitcd intense ill-feeling against us but because the Flem ings
endeavoured to secure supplies o f w ool from other countries.
It appeared a better p lan to m eet the rivalry o f Flanders by
im proving the quality o f dom estic production. In form er times
die basis o f industrial life was not m achinery but craftsmanship,
and thus skilled labour was the most im portant asset in building
up a m ediaeval industry. H cn cc the only w ay in w h ich a native
cloth m anufacture could be successfully fostered was b y indu c
in g foreign craftsmcn to settle in the realm and im p art their
technical know ledge and skill to native artisans.
T h e design o f introducing alien w eavers into E n glan d was
actually present to the m inds o f English rulers in the thirteenth
century, though the p roject did not bear fruit until the four
teenth century when E d w ard II I em barked upon the experi
m ent w hich helped to transform the econom ic life o f E ngland.
H is reign was a great lan dm ark in the history o f English wool
textiles, y e t to understand his w ork aright w e m ust b ear in
m ind that E dw ard was not the founder o f the industry. T h e
art o f w eaving was w ell established here as far b a ck as the
twelfth century, and E d w a rd s w ork w as not to create a new
m anufacture but to revive an old one w hich was decayin g. This
was accom plished by b r ir jin g over Flem ish w eavers into
England. T h ere was great unrest in the L o w Countries ow ing
to various political and econom ic causes, and the Flem ings
therefore lent a ready car to die solicitations o f E nglish agents
w ho invited them to settle here. In 1331 E dw ard granted letters
o f protection to John K e m p e o f Flanders, w eaver o f woollen
cloths/ and to the m en, servants and apprentices w hom he
brought w ith him to exercise his craft in E n glan d ; at the same
tim e sim ilar letters w ere offered to all workers o f cloth w ho came
from over the sea to p ly their trade or m istery w ith in die
realm . In 1337 an act o f parliam ent prom ised lavish favours

58

WOOL MANUFACTURES

and fair treating to alien settlers. A ll the cloth-workcrs o f

strange' lands/ recitcd the act, o f whatsoever country th ey be,
w hich w ill com e into E ngland, Ireland, W ales and Scotland
w ithin the kings pow er shall come safely and surely and shall
be in the kings protection and safe conduct to dw ell in the
sam e lands choosing w here they w ill; and to the intent th at the
said cloth-workcrs shall h ave the greater w ill to com e and dwell
here, our sovereign lord the king w ill grant them franchises as
m any and such as m ay suffice them / A s a result o f this invita
tion there was a large influx o f alien w eavers, dyers and fullers
w ho cam e not only from Flanders but from Zeeland and
Brabant. T h e y took up their residence in the large towns
London, Y ork, W inchester, N orw ich, Bristol and A b in gd on
and also scattered themselves over the countryside.
A n old historian, the w orthy Fuller, describes the coming
o f the strangers in quaint and exaggerated terms. T h e king and
state began now to grow sensible o f the great gain the N ether
lands got b y our English w ool; in m em ory w hereof the duke
o f Burgundy not long after instituted the O rder o f the G olden
Fleece wherein indeed the fleece was ours, the golden theirs,
so vast their em olum ent b y the trade o f clothing. O u r king
therefore resolved, i f possible, to reducc the trade o f his own
country w ho as yet w ere ignorant o f that art, as know ing no
m ore w hat to do w ith their w ool than the sheep that w ear it (as
to any artificial and curious d ra p e ry ); their best clothes then
being no better than friezes, such their coarseness for w an t o f
skill in the m aking. T h e intercourse now being great betw ixt
the English and the N etherlands unsuspected emissaries were
em ployed by our king into those countries, w ho brought them
selves into fam iliarity w ith those D utchm en as w ere absolute
masters o f their trade but not masters o f themselves, as either
journeym en or apprentices. These bem oaned the slavishncss o f
these poor servants w hom their masters used rather like heathen
than Christians, yea, rather like horses than men. E arly u p and
late in bed and all d a y h ard w ork and harder fare (a few her
rings and m ouldy cheese), and all to enrich the churls their
masters w ithout any profit to themselves. But how h ap p y these
should be i f they would but come into E ngland bringing their

E A R L Y HISTORY

59

m istery w ith them and w hich would provide them w elcom e in

all places. H ere they should feed on b e e f and m utton. H appy
the yeom ans house into w hich one o f these D utch m en did
enter bringing industry and wealth along w ith them. S u ch who
cam e in strangers w ithin their doors soon after w ent ou t bride
grooms and returned sons-in-law, having m arried the daughters
o f their landlords who first entertained them ; yea, the yeomen
in whose houses they harboured soon proceeded gentlem en
gaining great worship to themselves, arm s and worship to their
estates. F uller adds th at the strangers w ere 'sprinkled every
w here, giving as the reason the kings apprehension lest on
discontent th ey m ight em brace a general resolution to return.
H ow ever w elcom e the im m igrant w eavers m ay h ave been in
country districts, their presence in towns was very distasteful to
their industrial com petitors; for w hile they proved am enable
to the civic authorities, they refused to subm it to the control o f
the native weavers or enter their gild. T h e English artisans
resented the rivalry o f the newcomers, w ho set at defian ce their
m onopoly and refused to contribute towards the annual dues
w hich the w eavers gilds ow ed the C row n. T h e king intervened
on b eh alf o f the alien craftsm en and ordered that th ey should
not be com pelled to jo in the w eavers gild; but the friction
between denizens and aliens did not d ie dow n, and even in the
fifteenth century the foreign weavers com plained th at they
w ere grievously persecuted and harassed b y the native
weavers.
T h e experim ent o f E dw ard II I was attended w ith com plete
success. T h e presence o f foreign captains o f industry in this
country co-operated w ith other factors the protective m eas
ures o f the governm ent and the natural forces o f recovery and
expansion to bring about an industrial revival w hich extended
even to districts where no alien setdem ent is recorded. A ided
b y these com bined influences, the English clodi-m akers in the
words o f an old writer (1613) grew so perfect in this mistery
th a t it is at this instant the glory o f our traffic and m aintenance
o f our poor, m any hundred thousands depending w holly on the
same, ch ief pillar to our princes revenue, the life o f our
m erchant, the living o f our clothier, N o t only did E dw ard

6o

WOOL MANUFACTURES

encourage the settlement o f aliens, he also took steps to protect

the native industry from foreign com petition and to ensure an
adequate supply o f raw m aterial. O n the one hand he forbade
the im port o f m anufactured cloth; on the other he prohibited
the export o f hom e-grown wool. It is true that neither E dw ard
nor his successors adhered very strictly to a protectionist policy.
T h e y w ere too deeply engrossed in foreign diplom acy to
pursue w ith any consistency a planned econom y, and their
industrial projects were easily sacrificcd to their political
ambitions and dreams o f aggrandizem ent on the Continent.
O n e o f the charges against the Lancastrian governm ent was
th at wool had course and passage out o f the realm , wherefore
all strangers take but little rew ard to b uy our English cloth but
m ake it them selves; and the Y orkist dynasty sought to gain
popularity b y reverting to a system o f protection. T h u s in the
m iddle ages the latter was only fitfully m aintained, and we
have to w ait until the seventeenth century for its definite
adoption.
W hen the measures o f E dw ard I I I are taken in conjunction
w ith those o f his predecessors, there seems no valid reason to
deny him the credit for an enlightened outlook consciously
inspired b y the desire to stim ulate the grow th o f a native cloth
m anufacture. In any event they helped to prepare the d a y for
E nglands transformation from a land o f agricultural labourers
into a land o f industrial artisans. E ven in his own lifetim e his
measures w ere rewarded w ith surprising success. A p ro o f o f the
advance m ade during his reign is that woollen fabrics were
being exported in sufficient quantity to m ake it w orth w hile to
impose customs duties upon them. In spite o f their protests the
exporters o f cloth had little ground for com plaint in com parison
w ith the exporters o f w ool, for the latter paid a duty o f 33 per
cent, and the former under 2 per cent. T h e second h a lf o f the
fourteenth ccntury witnessed, indeed, a rem arkable expansion
o f the textile industry. In the space o f fifty years the production
o f broadcloth in England for sale was m ore than trebled and the
export o f broadcloth was m ultiplied no less than ninefold.
O th er statistics show how abundantly this grow th w as m ain
tained in the early decades o f the sixteenth century the export

E A R L Y HISTORY

6l

o f broadcloth becam c tw entyfold apart from the increase in

kcrsics and worsteds. M oreover, while thirty thousand sacks o f
wool were sent abroad an n u ally in the fourteenth ccn tury, the
num ber had fallen to five thousand in the sixteenth ccn tury.
These figures afford eloquent testim ony to the progress o f a
revolution w hich was converting E ngland into an industrial
country, whose staple export was no longer raw w ool but
m anufactured wool.
T h e second great landm ark in the history o f English wool
textiles was the im m igration o f D utch and W alloon w eavers
in the sixteenth ccntury, ju st as the influx o f Flem ish w eavers
in the fourteenth ccntury constitutes the first. T h e cru elty of
Spanish rule in the N etherlands caused a large exodus o f the
most skilful and industrious section o f the population. T h e
exiles were welcomed b y the English governm ent both as
religious refugees and as a valu ab le accession to the econom ic
resources o f the country, since they established a new branch
o f w ool textiles. This was the m anufacture o f the finer fabrics
know n as the new draperies, m any o f which w ere either
unknown here or were beyond the technical skill o f native
workers. A v e ry curious list is given: bays, arras, says, tapestry,
m okadocs, stamcnts, carsays and other outlandish com m odi
tie s/1 It surpasseth m y skill, confessed Fuller, to nam e the
several stuffs m ade o f worsted. H e added: T h e nim ble woof,
its artificial dancing in several postures ab out th e standing
w arp, produceth infinite varieties in this kind. A n old English
rhym e ran:
Hops, Reform ation, Days, and Beer
C am e into E ngland all in a year.
T h e strangers settled in a num ber o f towns N orw ich whose
prosperity now increased b y leaps and bounds, L ondon , C a n
terbury, Colchester, R y e , Sandw ich, Southam pton, Stam ford
and Y arm outh . In spite o f the benefits arising from their
1 Bays: originally a cloth of fine and light texture. Arras: a rich tapestry fabric.
Says: a cloth of fine texture resembling serge (a mixture of worsted and woollen).
Mokadas: a kind of cloth. Staments: a coarse worried. Carsays: an obsolete form of
kersey, a narrow woollen doth. These terms may not have always retained their
original significance.

62

W O O L MANUFACTURES

presence there was great difficulty in adjusting the relations

between the aliens and the local inhabitants. T h e blind attach
m ent o f the native weavers to their ow n narrow interests,
coupled w ith their jealousy o f foreign competitors and their
dislike o f innovations, m ade them look w ith hostile eyes upon
the introduction o f the new draperies: slight and vain com
modities, as they term ed them, wherein the com m on people
delight. In the course o f tim e the refugees were absorbed into
the mass o f the population, and the national life was enriched
and strengthened by the infusion o f fresh blood. In recounting
the various factors which h ave helped to build up the industrial
suprem acy o f our country, w e must not forget the debt o f
gratitude which E ngland owes to the strangers w ithin her
gates, whose technical skill and know ledge o f the industrial
arts enabled her to wrest the secrets o f the woollen m anufacture
from h er rivals and becom e the workshop o f the world.

C H A P T E R F IV E

Organization
w e

h a ve

now

to s p e a k a b o u t th e m e n

ca rd ed a n d com bed an d

and

w om en w ho

spun t h e w o o l , w o v e a t t h e lo o m s , a n d

f u lle d a n d d r e s s e d a n d d y e d t h e c lo t h .

T h e fundam ental interest o f the English woollen m anufacture

lies in the fact that it has passed through every stage o f indus
trial organization: the gild system, the dom estic system , and
the factory system. In the order o f historical sequence the gild
system must be described first. U nder the gild system, as w e shall
interpret it, the various classes o f textile artisans ow ned both
the m aterial on which th ey worked and the instrum ents o f
production. T h e y w ere independent craftsmen w ho sold not
their lab o u r but the p roduct o f their labour, a distinction o f
vital econom ic significance. T h u s the spinners b ou gh t the wool
and sold the yarn; the w eavers bought the yarn and sold the
cloth; the fullers bought the cloth raw and sold it fulled; the
shearmen bough t the cloth fulled and sold it dressed; die dyers
bought cither wool o r cloth and sold it dyed. T h is form o f
organization was rudim entary, but it gave birth to the most
rem arkable institution o f m ediaeval industrial life nam ely the
craft gild.
T h e craft gild m ay be defined as a body o f skilled workers,
w ho dw elt as a rule w ithin the w alls o f the sam e tow n and
carried on the same occupation. It was essentially an urban
institution adapted to the period extending from the twelfth to
the sixteenth ccntury w hen the m anufacture o f cloth was carried
on m ainly in towns. H ere the different groups o f weavers,
fullers, shearm en and dyers w ere organized in g ild s; and in
their cap acity as gildsm en th ey enjoyed various rights and were
burdened w ith various obligations. T h e gild com prised three
classes o f m embers the masters, the journeym en , and the
apprentices. It was usually necessary to pass through all d ie three
grades o f m embership: the apprentice becam e a jou rn eym an ,
63

64

W O O L MANUFACTURES

the journeym an rose to the status o f a master. T h e length

o f apprenticeship varied but the period o f seven years w as
generally recognized as the proper term in w hich the appren
tice could acquire sufficient cunning. W eavers as a rule w ere
not allow ed to receive apprentices under the age o f fourteen,
for a younger boy w as not considered strong enough to work a
loom. A fter com pleting his term o f training the apprentice was
free to bccom c a journeym an or w agc-carncr, and seek em ploy
m ent as a hired workm an. U sually he rem ained w ith his master
for another year though he was now paid wages, yet every
journeym an looked forw ard to the d a y when lie w ould cease to
be a journeym an and w ould take his p lace am ong the masters
o f the gild as a fully qualified craftsman. T w o or three years at
least necessarily elapsed before the journeym an was in a position
to claim entry into the inner circle o f the gild, and the interval
afforded a breathing-space in w hich he could accum ulate
sufficient capital to set up in his ow n workshop. H ow ever
capital played as a rule a subordinate p art in m ediaeval indus
try, and his tools and technical skill w ere the resources upon
which the master craftsm an was content to rely to gain a
livelihood. His wooden loom could be m ade with his ow n hands,
and he had no difficulty in obtaining a supply o f wool on credit.
In the early days o f the woollen m anufacture and in the W est
R idin g o f Yorkshire dow n to the nineteenth century no
impassable g u lf separated the m aster from the w orkm an, and
the masters themselves m ight be artisans recruited from the
ranks o f the labouring class.
T h e functions o f the craft gilds were in the m ain fourfold:
the control o f industry, the perform ance o f religious and social
duties, the relief o f the poor, and the m aintenance o f good rela
tions between the gild brethren.
T h e industrial ordinances fram ed b y the gild w ere designed
to protect the consum er against defective wares and the pro
ducer against the com petition o f untrained workm en. T h e rules
in force am ong the w eavers o f Bristol w ill serve as an illustration
they fixed the w idth o f the cloth and directed that i f the
threads arc deficient in the cloth o r are too far apart, w hich the .
weavers called tcsed, that cloth and the instrum ent on which it

ORGANIZATION

65

is worked ought to be burn t. T h e same penalty w as inflicted

when the cloth was m ade o f w oollen thread called thrums, 1 or
i f it w ere worse in the m iddle than at the ends. N ow adays a
m anufacturer m ay sell his cloth good or bad as he pleases, but
the gild assumed responsibility for the w ork turned out b y
its m embers and the m ain task o f the gild authorities was the
inspection o f workshops. D efective wares were confiscated and
the m aker was fined or placed in the pillory or even, as a last
resource, expelled from the gild. In m ediaeval times m en con
ceived industry in the ligh t o f a public service carried on Tor
the com m on profit in the interests o f the com m unity as a w hole;
and the ordinances o f the gilds repeatedly insisted that dis
honest workm anship brought discredit upon the industry and
those engaged in it. A n yon e who suffered from the incom petency
o f a w orkm an sought redress from the gild authorities. A t
N ottingham one R o b e rt M cllers, bellfounder, a t the feast o f
Christm as gave to W illia m Nicholson a piece o f w hite kersey
to be fulled, sheared and scoured, and rcdelivered to the same
R ob ert M cllers w ithin three weeks then next follow ing; in
which p iece o f kersey a fault o f workm anship w as discovered;
w hereupon John Sainton and R o b ert Strclley, then being
wardens and masters o f the w hole craft o f fullers w ithin the
town o f N ottingham , surveyed th at fault an d thereupon
decided that the aforesaid W illiam N icholson should lose his
w hole w ork upon the aforesaid p iece o f kersey and should
receive nothing for his labou r. In addition w ages and prices
were often regulated. Instead o f allow ing a m aster to p a y wages
and ch arge prices as he listed, m any gilds fixed the rem unera
tion o f the artisan and determ ined the prices o f com m odities.
A m on g the London shearm en, for exam ple, w henever a master
em ployed a stranger it w as the d u ty o f the gild authorities to
see the foreigner w ork and conscientiously set his salary
betw een his master and him and there to be b ou n d four years
in covenant. W ages here depended upon the c a p a c ity o f the
w agc-carner, and w e also observe the long period o f engage
ment. T h e gildsm an w h o set the brethren at defiance was
roughly handled. T h e dyers gild at C o ven try undertook to
1 The unwoven ends of the warp.

66

WO O L MANUFACTURES

work only at ccrtain rates, and when a num ber o f dyers refused
to be bound by these rates the gild hired W elshm en and Irish
men to w aylay and kill them . This drastic treatm ent o f black
legs represented the m ediaeval form o f picketing.
In the m iddle ages religion played a very considerable part
in the lives o f the people. E very gild had a patron saint upon
whose altars it was w ont to m aintain lights: the tutelary saint
. o f the wool-combers was Bishop Blaize, the reputed founder o f
their craft, in whose honour processions were held even in the
nineteenth century. In addition to the perform ance o f their
religious duties, the gilds exhibited plays and pageants as p art
o f their contribution to the social life o f the com m unity. In these
pageants w ere portrayed Biblical incidents at N orw ich, for
instance, the M ercers, D rapers and Haberdashers presented the
Creation o f the W orld; the Shearm en, Fullers and W oollen
W eavers depicted A b e l and C a in ; the W orsted W eavers the
H oly Ghost.
In the cap acity o f friendly societies the gilds provided for
the support o f their poorer members. I n old age or sickness the
poverty-stricken brethren enjoyed an allow ance from the
comm on box, and gildsm cn w ere expected to leave legacies for
the purpose. Thus the weavers o f G loucester received a bequest
o f forty pounds to be distributed annually am ong the poor who
were to return the loan at the end o f the year. M on ey was also
bequeathed to succour youn g men that w ere m inded to clothm akin g; and philanthropists used their w ealth to give a start
in life to poor young m en w ho were lent sums o f m oney, often
without interest. T h e most notable was Sir T h om as W hite,
founder o f St. John's C ollege at O xford, w ho owed his fortune
to the cloth trade and perpetuated his m em ory in tw enty-four
towns b y his endowments.
A nother purpose o f the gilds was to settle all disputes be
tween their members, and no craftsman was perm itted to sue a
fellow-gildsman in a court o f law w ithout the leave o f the gild
authorities. T h e rule was intended to strengthen the feeling
o f solidarity am ong the brethren, to prom ote perfect love and
charity* am ong those w ho w ere bound together b y tics o f
social and economic interests. T h e sam e principle u nderlay the

ORGANIZATION

67

injunction that no one must seek an unfair ad van tage over his
fellow s; it was strictly forbidden to entice a servant a w a y from
his m aster or a custom er from a dealer. T h e L ondon shearmen
even ordered that i f one m aster h a d three jou rn eym en and
another had none, the wardens shall go to him th at hath the
said journeym en and shall take o f them such as th e goodm an
o f the house m ay best forbear, and deliver him to him that
hath none and hath need to have.
M em bership o f the gilds was com pulsory on the skilled opera
tives in an industry, and the obligations extended to women.
T h e em ploym ent o f w om en workers has alw ays been a m arked
feature o f the w oollen m anufacture. T h e y served as woolsortcrs and wool-packcrs, carders and spinners, w eavers and
dyers. O ne-fourth o f the cloth w oven in Y o rk at th e end o f the
fourteenth century was the w ork o f w om en; an d th ey were
enrolled as apprentices and adm itted to the m em bership o f
the crafts. A large portion o f the cloth m ade a t W akefield in
1396 was m anufactured in E m m a E arles w ea v in g sheds,
whilst am ong the pilgrim s in C h au cers Prologue w as a wife o f
Bath w ho m ade cloths:
O f cloth-m aking she had such an h au nt
She passed them o f Y p res and o f G h e n t.1
T h e wool-packers o f Southam pton, whose duty it was to pack
the w ool for transport, seem to have been entirely w om en and
they afford a rare exam p le o f a w om ens industrial gild. T h ey
were organized as a com pany o f w om an artisans and were
governed b y two wardens elected b y the wom en from their
ow n ranks. A m on g their ordinances was the injunction that
the m embers were not to bawle nor scold oon w ith anither.
A s regards wool-sorting a statute o f 1554 declared that the
experience thereof consisteth only in wom en, as clothiers
wives and their women servants. W om en are found, in fact, in
every branch o f wool textiles. A t the end o f the sixteenth cen
tury one R achel T h ie rry applied for the m onopoly o f pressing
all serges m ade in H am pshire. T h e application was strongly
resisted b y the m unicipal authorities o f Southam pton w ho
1 Haunt =*u5e, practicc. Passed= surpassed.

68

W O O L MANUFACTURES

asserted th at the wom an T h ierry is very poor and beggarly,

idle, a prattling gossip unfit to undertake a m atter o f so great a
charge. She is very untrustw orthy and we should hold them
worse than m ad that w ould hazard or com m it their goods into
her hands. A n d to conclude: she is generally held am ongst us
an unfit w om an to dwell in a well-governed com m onw ealth.
In the course o f tim e an agitation sprang up against the
em ploym ent o f women workers. It was attacked in the fifteenth
ccntury on the ground that they com peted with m en, who
were said to deserve the ch ie f consideration since they did the
king service in his wars and in the dcfcncc o f this his la n d ; it
was also alleged that w om en w ere not o f sufficient p ow er to
w eave certain kinds o f cloth. W eavers w ere forbidden, there
fore, to em ploy wom en except those w ho were now getting
their livelihood from w eaving. As a rule a wom an was allowed
to exercise her husbands craft after his death and even em ploy
journeym en and apprentices.
T h e sccond form o f industrial organization opened up a new
and momentous stage in econom ic evolution. T h is was the
domestic system in w hich the m aterial was owned, not b y the
workers themselves, but b y a class o f employers w ho united all
branches o f the m anufacture under a single control. T h e
master craftsman o f the gild system, w ho com bined trading and
handicraft functions and disposed freely o f his wares to con
sumers, yielded place to the small m aster o f the domestic
system who was confined to the purely m anual functions and
depended henceforth on an em ployer for the provision o f
materials. H e was, in short, transformed into a w agc-earner
p aid b y the piece, although the w ork was still carried on at
hom e (as under the gild system) and he was em ployed b y m ore
than one master. T h e dom estic system must be distinguished
from the factory system the third form o f industrial organiza
tion since factory workers own neither the.m aterial as under
the gild system, nor the instruments o f production as under the
domestic system ; and th ey are assembled under an em ployers
roof, subjected to the discipline o f the factory, and confined to
the service o f one master. T h e domestic system, however,

ORGANIZATION

69

resembled the factory system in one vital respect: it was

organized on a capitalist basis, and the control o f industry was
vested in the hands o f the employers o f labour w h o stood
(except in Yorkshire) outside the ranks o f the m anual craftsmen.
In the gild system, on the other hand, the control o f industry
la y in the hands o f the m anual workers themselves w h o exer
cised it through the m edium o f an assem bly, a council an d their
own clcclcd officials.
It is a p opular error to date capitalism from the era o f the
Industrial R evolu tion. Capitalism existed in the w oollen and
worsted industries four ccnturics prior to the introduction o f
m achinery, and there w as a w age-earning class engaged in m ak
in g cloth at least as early as the fourteenth ccntury. T h e growth
o f capitalism in wool textiles depended prim arily upon the
operation o f tw o factors: the extent o f the m arket and the divi
sion o f labour. A local m arket m ay easily be supplied by
independent bodies of craftsm en, but a national or international
m arket dem ands a m ore com plex structure; again, w here the
division o f labour is sm all, the possibilities o f co-operation
am ong the various classes o f artisans are greater. T h e w orking
o f these tw o factors explains the evolution o f the textile industry
on capitalist lines. A n ever-w idening m arket and a correspond
ing increase in production called for an intricate organization
and also m ade the investm ent o f capital a profitable venture;
w hile the variety o f processes involved in the p reparation and
m anufacture o f cloth seemed to necessitate centralized control
under an entrepreneur. C lo th passed through m an y hands; and
it was thus inevitable th at the com bers, spinners, weavers,
fullers, shearm en and dyers should becom c dependent upon
the clothiers as the cap italist em ployers w ere term ed. O ne
w riter asserts th at from the wool grow er to the consum er a
piece o f broadcloth passes through a hundred different hands,
and there are near the sam e num ber o f hands depen dent on
the woollen m anufacturer though not actu a lly concerned in it.
T h ese figures seem rhetorical. A m ore sober estimate gives the
num ber o f persons em ployed on a single p iccc o f cloth as four
teen; this includes the spinners, weavers, burlers, fullers and
shearmen, b u t not wool growers, dyers, makers o f loom s and

70

WOOL MANUFACTURES

spinning wheels, transport workers, and others connected

directly or indirectly w ith the cloth trade. W ithout attem pting
any precise calculations it is enough to state that the division o f
labour was considerable. N ow it is manifest th at the best
results in any industry arc attained where the different bodies
o f artisans engaged in it are brought to devote themselves to
particular processes under the guidance o f a controlling
authority. Division o f lab o u r is the indispensable basis o f
econom ic progress, for technical perfection is only achieved by
.. concentration on details doing one thing a t a tim e and doing
it well. T h e author o f Considerations on the East India Trade ( 1701)
anticipated A d am Sm ith in the stress w hich he laid upon the
im portance o f the division o f labou r: T h e m ore variety o f
artists to every m anufacture the less is left to the skill o f single
persons; the greater the order and regularity o f every w ork the
same must needs be done in less time, the labour m ust be less,
and consequently the p rice o f labour less though wages should
not be abated. T h u s a piece o f cloth is m ade b y m an y artists;
one cards and spins, another makes the loom, another weaves,
another dyes, another dresses the cloth ; and thus to proper
artists proper parts o f the w ork are still assigned; the weaver
must needs be m ore skilful and expeditious at w eaving i f that
shall be his constant and w hole em ploym ent, than i f the same
w eaver is also to card and spin and m ake the loom and weave
and dress and dye the cloth. So the spinner, the fuller, the dyer
or cloth-worker must needs be more skilful and expeditious at
his proper business w h ich shall be his w hole and constant
em ploym ent, than any m an can be at the same w ork whose
skill shall be puzzled and confounded w ith variety o f other
business. T h e parliam entary com m ittee w hich fram ed the
famous Report on the. State o f the Woollen Manufacture o f England
(1806) attributed the acknow ledged excellence, and till o f late
superiority, o f the cloths o f the west o f E ngland to the great
skill which cach class o f workm en in the west country acquired
in keeping to its proper line and perform ing its own p articular
operations.
T h e domestic system assumed different forms in the west

ORGANIZATION

71

and in the north o f E ngland. W e shall exam ine first the

structure o f industrial society in the west country.
In the foreground o f the picture stands the capitalist
(clothier). H e was the p ivo t o f the textile industry and in his
hands w as concentrated the w hole control. O n e w riter even
com pared him with the sun inasm uch as he scattered life and
its supports to everyone around him . A nother described his
occupation as one o f surpassing charity, for cloth ing not only
our own nation but foreign countries and above all getting so
m an y poor folks on w ork in carding, spinning and such like hand
m aids o f their trade, as they surm ount those w ho relieve
beggars at their gates. T h e position o f the clothier a t the very
centre o f the cloth trade enabled him to supervise and direct
every stage o f production. H e was responsible, in fact, fo r the
w hole series o f processes from the tim e when the wool was
picked, w ashed, carded and spun, until it was w oven, fulled
and perfected into cloth .1
W h at w ere the functions o f the clothier? T h e west country
clothier (unlike the Yorkshire clothier) was not a m anufacturer
in the literal sense in w h ich the w ord was used before the
Industrial R evolution nam ely, a m an w ho works w ith his
own hands. T h e actual m anufacturers w ere the w eavers and
Qther operatives, while the clothiers assumed the functions o f
the entrepreneur that is, they directed the industry and left
to others the execution o f its details. M ost clothiers p robably
never learnt the regular trade o f a w eaver; indeed, w e find
m en entering the occupation late in life after essaying other
callings. T h e west country clothier was in short an em ployer
not a m anual worker. N or was he a m anufacturer in the m odern
sense. T h e m odern m anufacturer is first and foremost an indus
trial capitalist. H e carries on the industry under his ow n roof,
and makes it his function to study and perfect in detail the
w hole business o f production. T h e cloth ier was a trading
rather than an industrial capitalist; he w as p rim arily concerned
1 The clothier, although the most important, was not the only capitalist employer
in the woollen industry. There was a class of market spinners, w ho 'set many
spinners on work and sold the yarn without working it up into cloth. Similarly
in the worsted industry there was a class o f master wool-combers, who owned wool
and employed combers and spinners to convert it into thread, which they after
wards sold.

7*

WOOL MANUFACTURES

with buying and selling; he bought the raw m aterial and he

sold the finished product; the actual details o f cloth-m aking
w ere left to spinners, weavers and shearmen. W hether the
w eaver did the task him self or em ployed assistants, w hether he
used one kind o f loom or another, did not m atter to the clothier.
H e did not go round the w eavers homes and see how the work
was being done; he exam ined the w ork only w hen it was
brought back. H ow ever w e cannot describe the clothier as
m erely a m erchant whose province was nothing m ore than the
sale o f goods, for he was also an em ployer o f the various groups
o f artisans who handled his m aterial. In b rief we m ust avoid
the use o f m odern terms and m odern analogies.
T h e advent o f a capitalist class o f clothiers can be traced as
remotely as the fourteenth ccntury, and it developed in im port
ance as the m iddle ages drew to a close. T h e captains o f
industry w hom E dw ard I I I invited to England w ere clearly
not simple artisans but capitalists. Joh n K cm p e took with
him from Flanders m en, servants and apprentices; and the
workers o f wools and cloths w ho cam e from other parts had
their m en and their servants. A t Bristol w c even get glimpses
o f the beginnings o f a factory system. Thom as Blanket, after
wards b a iliff o f the town, and other burgesses set up looms
for w eaving cloth and em ployed in their ow n establishments
weavers and other w orkm en. T h is was in the y e a r 1339,
though the attem pt to concentrate hired workmen under one
roof was doubtless exceptional at this early period. In the
closing years o f the fourteenth ccntury the large m anufacturers
were apparently restricted to a few centres, but the rapid
extension o f the woollen m anufacture soon brought in its wake
a grow ing body o f capitalist em ployers. T h e y originated in
various ways. Som e w ere p robably dealers in wool w h o caused
the raw m aterial to be worked up into cloth and then disposed
o f it in the m arket. O thers w ere shearmen w ho em ployed w ork
men in all the earlier processes o f carding, spinning, w eaving,
fulling and dyeing. O thers w ere recruited from artisans engaged
in the subordinate branches, such as weavers, fullers and dyers.
A s a rule the clothiers m ust have been men o f substantial
position in com m and o f capital. It is apparent that the business

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73

w hich th ey conducted was not considered to in vo lve social

inferiority, for we read o f a m ayor o f C an terbu ry w h o 'took
upon him the occupation o f m aking o f cloths and lived like a
gentlem an; and in the west country the clothier w as ca lle d the'
gentlem an clothier.
T h e extent to w hich textile workers had becom e dependent
upon an em ployer was sign ally shown in 1525 w hen C ardinal
W olscy endeavoured to raise w ar taxes. T h e clothiers o f
Suffolk, under pressure from the m inister, subm itted to the
im position but were left w ithout m oney to p a y the w ages of
their workfolk. T h ey w ere forced to dismiss their carders and
spinners, w eavers and fullers, and a revolt against the govern
m ent was only narrow ly averted. T h e story is told in Ilolin sh ed : T h e duke o f Suffolk, sitting in commission a b o u t the
subsidy in Suffolk, persuaded b y courteous means the rich
clothiers to assent thereto; b u t when th ey cam e hom e and went
about to discharge and p u t from them their spinners, carders,
fullers, w eavers and other artificers w hich they kep t in work
aforetime, the people began to assemble in com panies. T h e
incident serves, in part at a n y rate, to explain w hy th e T u d o r
m onarchy disliked the developm ent o f the capitalist system.
U p o n the discretion and foresight o f a lim ited group o f m en had
now com e to depend the w elfare and even the existence o f the
great body o f the industrial population.
M an y rich clothiers w orked their w a y up in life from very
sm all beginnings. O ne o f the leading clothiers o f the sixteenth
century was Peter Blundell w ho deserves to rank as one o f the
W orthies o f D evon. H e was born at T iverto n in the y e a r 1520,
and his parents w ere so poor that as a b o y he was ob liged to
run on errands and do other little services for the com m on
carriers in order to support himself. As he grew older he tended
their horses, and the fidelity w ith w h ich he perform ed his
duties gained him the goodw ill o f his employers. W ith m uch
care he saved a little m oney, bought a p iece o f kersey cloth and
sent it to L ondon b y one o f the carriers w ho ch arged him
nothing for the carriage, sold it to great advantage, and m ade
him a faithful return. T h e profits from this kersey an d other
savings enabled him to purchase others which he sent and sold

WO O L MANUFACTURES

74

in like m anner. In a short time he was able to b u y as m any

kersies as w ould load one horse w ith w h ich he w ent him self to
London, where he was em ployed some tim e b y the agents in
the kersey trade. H e rem ained in London till he had acquired
wealth sufficient to start his ow n m anufacture o f kersies,
w hen he returned to T iverton and established a business. H e
built up a large enterprise; and w hen he died, eighty-one years
old, he left a fortune o f 40,000 which then represented an
immense am ount. A great part o f his fortune was devoted to
charitable bequests. H e rem em bered the saying o f W illiam o f
W ykeham w ho founded a school at W inchester and a college at
O xford in the fourteenth ccntury T h o u gh I am not m yself a
scholar, I will be the means o f m aking m ore scholars than any
scholar in E ngland an d in em ulation o f his renow ned pre
decessor he founded the F ree G ram m ar School w hich Defoe a
century later praised as the beauty o f Tiverton.*
T h e most famous clothier o f the sixteenth century was John
W inchcom be fam iliarly known as Jack o f N ew bury, whom
Fuller acclaim ed as the most considerable clothier (without
fancy and fiction) E ngland ever beheld. M an y legends have
gathered round his nam e yet he was undoubtedly an historical
figure. His w ill is still preserved in w hich he bequeathed forty
pounds to N ew bury parish church and legacies to his servants,
and his epitaph is shown in N ew bury church o f w h ich he built
the tower. In the Journal to Sulla the author o f Gulliver's Travels
describes a visit to the notable St. Joh n, afterwards Lord
Bolingbroke, who had m arried one o f W inchcom bcs descend
ants. H is lad y is descended from J a c k N ew bury o f whom
books and ballads are w ritten ; and there is an old picture o f
him in the house. In The Pleasant History o f John Winchcombe
the prosperity o f the great clothier is depicted b y Thom as
D eloney in glow ing term s:

W ith in one room being large and long

T h ere stood tw o hundred Loom s full strong.
T w o hundred m en the truth is so
W rought in these Looms all in a row.
B y every one a p retty boy

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75

Sate m aking quills w ith m ickle jo y.

A n d in another p lace hard b y
A n hundred w om en m errily
W ere carding hard w ith jo y fu l cheer
W h o singing sate w ith voices clear.
A n d in a cham ber close beside
T w o hundred m aidens did abide
In petticoats o f Stam m cll red
A n d m ilk-white kerchcrs on their head.
Th ese pretty m aids did never lin [cease work]
B ut in that p la ce all d a y did spin.
T h e n to another room cam e they
W here children w ere in poor array
A n d everyone sate picking w ool
T h e finest from the coarse to cull.
W ithin another p la ce likewise
F u ll fifty proper m en he spies
A n d these w ere Shearm en everyone
W hose skill and cun ning there was shown.
A n d hard b y them there did rem ain
F ull fourscore Row ers taking pain.
A Dye-house likewise had he then
W herein he kep t full forty m en.
A n d likewise in his Fulling M ill
Full tw enty persons kept he still.
T h e reputation which his cloth obtained m ay be gau g ed from
the advice o f the English envoy at A n tw erp to the Protector
Somerset to send over a thousand o f W in ch com bes kersics in
discharge o f a debt. E ven at the end o f the seventeenth century
J a c k o f N ew b u ry was the ch ie f figure in the p a gea n t o f the
cloth-workers o f London.
Joh n W inchcom be w as not the only clothier in the sixteenth
century w ho set up a m anufactory and gathered servants and
looms under one roof. It is probable th at the agrarian changes,
which turned vast num bers o f labourers adrift from the soil,
furnished the recruits w hom clothiers w ith some cap ita l at
their com m and were able to utilize. T h e monasteries were

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W O O L MANUFACTURES

occasionally converted in to factories. T h u s W illiam Stumpe,

a clothier o f M alm esbury, rented O sney A b b e y in 1546 and
undertook to em ploy as m any as tw o thousand workm en who
w'ere to labour continually in cloth-m aking for the succour of
the city o f O xford. Stum pe had also taken over M alm esbury
A b b ey; and Lcland, the antiquary, gives the follow ing descrip
tion. T h e w hole lodgings o f the A b b e y be now longing to one
Stum pe, an exceeding rich clothier that bought them o f the
king. A t this present tim e every corner o f the vast houses o f
ofTicc that belonged to the A b bey be full o f looms to weave
cloth in. T h ere be m ade now every year in the tow n three
thousand cloths. A noth er clothier, who sought to obtain pos
session o f the A b b ey o f A bin gdon, was T u ckar a eloth-m aker
o f Burford. O n e o f T h om as C rom w ells agents w rote to his
master in 1538 that the town o f A bingdon was likely to dccay
unless the p'eople were set to w ork to drape cloth / T u c k a r had
promised that he would expend a hundred marks a week in
wages to eloth-makers o f the tow n during his life on condition
that he was allowed to rent the lands and fulling mills o f the
A bbey. H e is a just m an both in word and deed, and daily
employs five hundred of the king's subjects. I f he had card in g and
spinning he would em ploy m any m ore. W ith C rom w ells
favour he w ould set the inhabitants o f A bin gdon to work, if
they will work, so that they would gain m ore wages in a few
years com ing than in tw enty years past. W eekly need constrains
him to send to A bin gdon his cart laden with wool to be carded
and spun, and likewise he sends to Stroudw atcr [Gloucester
shire].* T hom as Crom w ell was doubtless w ell disposed towards
the woollen industry; his father was a fuller and shearm an, he
him self was m arried to the daughter o f a shearm an, an d at one
time he even carried on the business o f finishing cloths.
O th er famous clothiers w ere the Springs o f L avenh am , the
Tam es o f Fairford and Thom as D olm an o f N ew bury. W hen
D olm an gave up cloth-m aking the weavers o f N ew bury
lam en ted :
Ix>rd have m ercy upon us m iserable sinners,
Thom as D olm an has built a new house and
turned a w a y all his spinners.

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77

Thom as Spring, surnam cd the rich clothier, bequeathed 200

to finish Lavenharn steeple and m oney for a thousand
masses he died on the eve o f the R eform ation and his
daughter m arried a son o f the earl o f O xford. J o h n T am e,
who lived in the reign o f E dw ard I V , built up a large cloth
m anufacture at Cirencester and kept vast flocks o f sheep at
Fairford, prospering so w ell that he becam e owner o f several
landed estates. His son, Edm und T am e, received a visit from
H en ry V I I I b y w hom he was knighted; he becam e lord o f the
m anor o f Fairford and was three times high sheriff o f G louces
tershire. Fairford, observes L cland, never flourished before the
com ing o f the Tam es unto it. His remarks on B ath are worth
quoting to show the influence which the elothiers w ere exercis
in g upon the destinies o f the towns in w hich they w ere estab
lished. T h e town hath o f a long tim e since been continually
most m aintained b y m ak in g o f cloth. T h ere w ere [within
living m emory] three clothiers at one tim e thus nam ed, Style,
K e n t and C hapm an, b y w hom the tow n o f Bath then flourished.
Since the death o f them it h ath som ewhat decayed. L a stly we
m ay m ention three big clothiers who lived in the north country
early in the sixteenth ccn tu ry C uth b ert o f K en d al, H odgkins
o f H alifax and M artin Brian o f M anchester each o f w hom kept
a great num ber o f servants a t work, spinners, carders, weavers,
fullers, dyers and shearmen, etc. to the great adm iration o f all
th at cam e into their houses to behold them.*
T h e m ovem ent towards a factory system, a lrea d y fore
shadowed in the career o f T h om as Blanket, was frow ned upon
b y the T u d o r m onarchy w hich was uneasy at the opportunity
it seemed to afford for u n ru ly spirits to collect together in one
place and stir up rioting and disorder. H ence the W eavers
A c t o f P hilip and M a ry (1555) recitcd th at the w eavers o f this
realm have com plained th a t the rich and w ealth y clothiers do
in m any w ays oppress th em ; some b y setting up an d keeping
in their houses diverse loom s, and keeping and m aintaining
them by journeym en and persons unskilful, to the d eca y o f a
great num ber o f artificers w hich w ere brough t up in the science
o f w eaving, their families and households; some b y engrossing
[accum ulation] o f looms into their hands and possession, and

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

letting them out at such unreasonable rents as the poor artificers

arc not able to m aintain themselves; some also by givin g m uch
less wages and hire for the w eaving and workm anship o f cloth
than in times past. It therefore forbade clothiers w ho dw elt
outside a city to keep m ore than one loom , or woollen weavers
outside a city m ore than two looms. T h is m easure did not
afTed urban centres and its operation was restricted to country
districts, although in the eastern counties attem pts w ere m ade
to lim it the num ber o f looms even in towns. T h e efforts to
check the developm ent o f a capitalist class proved unsuccessful;
but the factory system failed to m aintain itself in the face o f
strong social antipathy, the opposition o f the governm ent, and
the absencc o f any vital econom ic necessity for the concentra
tion o f workm en under a factory roof. O ccasionally, in the latter
p art o f the eighteenth century, some substantial clothiers in
the west country and in Yorkshire em ployed m en in their
own w eaving sheds and so created a m iniature factory. T h e
advantages o f the system w ere threefold. I t enabled the em
ployer to supervise in person the processes o f m anufacture; it
prevented delay in the return o f the work, w hich w as w ont to
occur w hen a w eaver w ove in his ow n hom e for different
masters; and it rendered m ore difficult an y em bezzlem ent o f
the raw m aterial. Nevertheless the expense o f building huge
w eaving sheds, coupled w ith the strenuous resistance o f the
weavers, checked the grow th o f a factory system until the intro
duction o f m achinery m ad e it an econom ic necessity. T h e
shearmen, however, generally worked in their em ployers shop
instead o f their own homes, and thus they stood outside the
domestic system o f industry.
T h e clothiers often conducted business operations on a wide
scale. E ven in the fourteenth century there w ere b ig employers
o f labour, and in the T u d o r epoch men like John W inchcom be
and W illiam Stum pe w ere prom inent. In the seventeenth
ccntury a m em ber o f parliam ent told the House o f Com m ons
(1614) that he and his p artn er m aintained above three thousand
workm en; and in the eighteenth century D aniel D efoe relates
that, as he was inform ed a t Bradford in W iltshire, it was no
extraordinary thing to h ave clothiers in th at coun try worth

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79

from ten thousand to forty thousand pounds a m an, an d m any

o f the great families w ho n ow pass for gentry in those counties
have been originally raised from and built by this truly noble
m anufacture. T h e num ber o f persons em ployed b y a clothier
naturally varied considerably. Som e clothiers utilized 150 or
even 200 weavers, but not all the w eavers on an em ployers
books w orked for him alone. In addition to the w eavers the
clothier kep t in his service a large num ber o f carders, spinners,
burlcrs, shearmen and others; thus a w ealthy cloth ier m ight
em ploy altogether as m an y as 800 persons or m ore. I t is
evident, then, that the capitalist em ployer was alrea d y the
outstanding figure in the textile industry lon g before the
Industrial R evolution/
For the disposal o f his goods the clothier, unless he was a
m erchant exporter, relied upon agents at Blackw ell I l a l l who
were called factors. These factors fulfilled the sam e function in
the final stages o f the cloth trade w hich the w ool staplers served
in the early stages. T h e y w ere m iddlem en w ho thrust them
selves betw een the m anufacturers and their custom ers (the
drapers or wholesale dealers). T h e factors w ere b itterly de
nounced as parasites on the industry. Intended origin ally to
assist the w est country clothiers and Yorkshire m erchants in
selling their cloth in L o n d o n for neither could afford the
tim e to jo u rn e y to the m etropolis and rem ain there until the
cloth was sold they raised themselves to be the c h ie f masters
o f the cloth ing trade. T h e y becam e indispensable because they
not only disposed o f the cloth in the L ondon m arket, but ad
vanced the clothier m oney on w hich interest was p a id so long
as the goods lay on their hands unsold. T h e root o f the m ischief
w as the lo n g credit w hich the clothiers w ere forced to give to
the drapers, the standard rule being six months and even nine,
tw elve and fifteen; this m ad e them dependent on the factors
for advances. A s a result o f h an dlin g large funds and m onopo
lizin g the sale o f cloth the factors grew rich. T h e y started alm ost
from nothing no more b ein g required to set up a factor than
an ink-box and two quires o f p aper and accum ulated fortunes
o f five and ten thousand pounds and some o f them fo rty and
fifty thousand pounds a m an . W hile th clothiers, it w as said,

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

lived poorly and got little or nothing the m erchants lived

splendidly and laid up m oney. A cco rd in gly it is not surprising
to find the econom ic literature o f the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries filled w ith denunciations o f the factors. A pam phlet
written in the form o f a p la y 1 purported to show the con
tem ptuous m anner in w hich the factors, once the agents and
servants o f the clothiers, now treated their form er masters. In
one o f the scenes the factors and clothiers dine together in a
tavern. T h e factors sit ap art at the head o f the room, and after
the dinner they propose th at everyone should p a y an equal
share o f the reckoning. T h e clothiers w illin gly agree b u t m ake
the discovery that the factors had reserved for their ow n table
the most expensive wines and viands; and the scene ends in
great disorder.
T h e principal groups am ong the m anual w orkers were
weavers, spinners, wool-com bcrs, and cloth-finishcrs.
T h e w eavers in the west country w ere not independent pro
ducers; they worked for hire on m aterial supplied b y the
capitalist. T h e y contracted w ith the clothier to w eave the yarn
which he delivered to them into cloth o f a ccrtain size; they
carried it to their homes and did the w ork under their ow n roofs;
when the cloth was w oven they took it back to their em ployer
and received the price o f their work. T h is is essentially the wage
system since they had no property in the goods they m anu
factured. Y e t though th ey did not own the m aterial they
usually owned their looms. T h e p rice o f a loom varied some
cost two, three or four guineas, others even m ore; or a w eaver
m ight construct a loom w ith his ow n hands. T h e W eavers
A c t o f 1555 lim ited those w ho lived outside the old urban
seats o f industry to tw o looms, but the restriction was not
generally observed. Som e w eavers kept as m an y as five or six
looms under their roofs, chiefly w hen they had large families.
A s a rule they did not confine themselves to one m aster; they
took work from several at once. T h e system had its advantages
from the point o f view o f the operatives; i f trade w ere dull with
one clothier they m ight find w ork w ith another; th ey could
pick and choose w hat kind o f w ork th ey pleased; and it
1 Tht Beaux Merchant, A Comedy. By a Clothitr (? J . Blanch), 1714.

ORGANIZATION

8l

heightened their feeling o f independence to h ave m ore than

one string to their bow . T o the em ployer the p ractice was
inconvenient; the return o f the w ork was sometim es delayed
for weeks; and whenever trade was brisk he had no sta ff o f
workm en upon whose services he could rely exclusively.
W eavin g was not confined to m en. A s w e saw a b ove, women
played an im portant p a rt in w eaving ju st as they did in other
branches. It was their recognized p ro v in ce :
By day the w eb and loom
A n d hom ely household talk shall be her d o o m .1
T h e em ploym ent o f w om en was attacked in the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries; and indeed at one m an ufacturin g centre
(Cullom pton in Devonshire) they w ere not allow ed to learn
w eaving dow n to 1825; b u t as a rule their lab o u r w as not
suppressed and some wom en earned b y w eaving as m uch as
men. A t T row bridge and Bradford in W iltshire in the eight
eenth century two w eavers out o f every five w ere w om en . In
the north o f E ngland also wom en and girls follow ed the
occu p atio n ; it was usual, in any case, for the wife o f a w eaver
to assist her husband in w orking the broad loom.
T h e w eavers earnings varied at different epochs an d in
different parts o f the country.' In the year o f the A rm a d a (1588)
a Y orkshire w eaver received barely fivepcnce a day, an d a cen
tury later his wages h ad scarcely increased in spite o f the great
rise in prices due to the influx o f A m erican silver. In the
eighteenth ccntury w eavers in general m ade seven to ten
shillings a week. T h e real value o f this sum, th at is the pur
chasing p ow er o f m oney, m ay be m easured b y the follow ing
prices at Leeds in 1770 ten to eleven ounces o f oatb read (the
favourite food) could be bough t for id .; eighteen to nineteen
ounces o f b utter for 8 d .; cheese was 4d. per p oun d; m utton,
b e e f and pork 4d. per p oun d; veal 2$d. p er p oun d; m ilk $d.
per pint in summer and id . or id. in w in ter; house ren t was
40s. a year and firing 20s.
A verage earnings w ere affected b y the am ount o f unem ploy
ment. ^Vcavcrs were not em ployed a ll the year ro u n d ; there
1 Dryden.

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82

w ere alw ays periods w hen m any w ere out o f work. In a trade
depression some em ployers m ight continue to give o u t yarn to
weavers and prepare their cloth in anticipation o f a revival of
trade, but others w aited for orders. In the west coun try it was
not unknown for a w eaver to be unem ployed seventeen weeks
together, and an unem ployed artisan usually fared ill. In
harvest tim e he m ight earn two m eals and a shilling a d a y in
the fields. Still the harvest comes but once a year; an d as the
textile workers in the west o f E ngland ow ned very little land
they w ere often em ployed, when out o f w ork, in lab ou r on the
roads or forced to break stones and wheel h eavy loads. Even
w here rural em ploym ent was available the w eaver w ould not
find it a satisfactory substitute for w eaving. R u ral occupations
were poorly rem unerated and the w eaver, livin g a sedentary
life, was not adapted physically for an outdoor existence;
m oreover hard toil roughened his hands m aking him less fit
for w eaving a fact overlooked b y those w ho la y stress upon
the opportunities for rural em ploym ent enjoyed b y textile
artisans prior to the Industrial R evolution.
T h e law o f apprenticeship had becom e obsolete b y the
eighteenth century, and few attempts w ere m ade to enforce it
in courts o f law . T h e m ajority o f clothiers p robably never heard
o f the E lizabethan Statute o f A pprentices, and did not know
that they could be punished for em ploying a w orkm an w ho had
not served a legal apprenticeship. Y e t although the eighteenthcentury w eaver did not trouble him self about the technicalities
o f the law o f apprenticeship, there was a well-understood
difference betw een a lega l and an illegal workm an. A legal
workman was a man w ho served round about seven years at
a trade before he set u p for himself. H e need not b e regularly
indentured, provided he was taught b y someone w ho kn ew his
business. N ot only the legal b u t also the social ch aracter o f
apprenticeship underw ent a change. Instead o f the apprentice
residing w ith his m aster as in the olden days it becam e an
increasing practice, except in the case o f parish apprentices, to
p a y the boy wages in lieu o f board and lodging. A contract
( 1714), in w hich an apprentice bound him self to a G loucester
shire w eaver for four and a quarter years, stipulated th at lie

ORGANIZATION

should find him self in food, drink, lodgin g and ap parel and
m ight go hom e every S atu rd ay to M on d ay; his w ages w ere to
be out o f every shilling m ade b y his m aster 2 id . in the first year,
3d. the second and third years, 4d. the fourth year. T h is form
o f apprenticeship was sometimes known as colting and closely
resembled the journeym an system.
W hen the term o f train in g was com pleted the apprentice
becam e a journeym an. T h e num ber o f journeym en em ployed
b y a m aster w eaver depended upon his num ber o f looms.
Before K a y invented the fly shuttle tw o persons w ere required
to work the broad loom, the m aster w eaver and a jou rn eym an ,
b u t often the w eavers w ife or daughter or an apprentice
supplied the place o f a jou rn eym an . In form er tim es the
jou rn eym an was engaged for fixed periods, and the S tatu te o f
Apprentices (1563) m ade com pulsory an engagem ent for twelve
m onths; yet in the eighteenth century the jo u rn eym an m igh t be
engaged only to make a single piece o f cloth. T h e m ethod o f p a y
ment was one-third o f the p rice received b y the m aster w eaver from
the clothier. In addition to his piece-rate earnings the jo u rn ey
m an received small beer, lodging and firing w here he had no
hom e o f his own. It was callcd his privilege and w as v a lu e d at
a shilling a week. A ltogeth er in the west country a jou rn eym an
in constant em ploym ent earned, exclusive o f his p rivilege,
about a shilling a day and he worked fourteen or fifteen hours
daily. A fter he had acquired b y his industry a loom o f his own,
he was then able to set up as a m aster weaver.
T h e spinning o f yarn was generally the w ork o f w om en and
children. It was peculiarly a fem ale occupation, as is show n b y
th e w ord spinster now applied to an unm arried w om an . T h e
Book o f Proverbs praises the virtuous w om an as one who
seekcth w ool and flax and worketh w illin gly w ith her hands:
she layeth her hands to the spindle and her hands h old the
distaff. A n old English rhym e represents the division o f labour
am ong our prim eval parent* in the w ell-know n coup let:
W hen A d a m delvd and E ve span
W ho was then a gentlem an?1
1 Cf. Goneril in King Liar: I must changc arms at home and give the distaff
into my husbands hands.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

P liny relates that a t the nuptials o f a R om an m aiden a distaff

dressed w ith w ool and a spindle trim m ed w ith thread w ere car
ried in the procession, presum ably to p u t her in m ind o f a
housewifes duties; and L an glan d s exhortation in Piers the
Plowman shows that spinning was regarded in the m iddle ages
as the natural em ploym ent o f w om en:
W ives and w idow s: wool and flax spinncth,
M akcth cloth I counsel you, and kenneth so
your daughters.
Children were taught to spin from their earliest years. In
m ediaeval houses an apartm ent was sometimes reserved as a
fam ily spinning room. O ften the work was carried on in the
open air. O n sunny days women and children w ould betake
themselves w ith their spinning wheels to some chosen spot and
there pursue their labours; even as late as the nineteenth ccn
tury girls w ere to be found in the H ighlands o f Scotland herding
on the hillside busily spinning w ith their distaffs. Spinning
occupied all the leisure m oments o f those engaged in it; the
hours w ere extrem ely long though the w ork was light. A
tradition o f north G erm any contains a w arn in g against spinning
on Saturday evening. It tells o f a w om an w ho appeared after
h er death to a fellow-culprit, displaying her burning h an d with
the words:
See w hat I in H ell have won
Because on S aturday I spun.
In this country one day in the C alend ar o f Saints was nam ed
St. D istaffs D a y. It was the m orrow after T w elfth D a y that
is, Jan u ary 7 and it closed the season o f Christmas festivities:
P ard y work and p a rtly play
Y o u must on St. D ista ffs D ay.
From the plough soon free your team,
Th en come hom e and fother them. ,
I f the maids a-spinning go,
Burn the flax and fire the tow.
B ring in pails o f w ater then,
L e t die maids be wash the men.

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85

G ive St. D ista ff all the right,

T h e n bid Christm as sport good-night.
A n d next m orn in g everyone
T o his ow n vo catio n .1

i.

Sometimes the spinners w orked on their ow n; th ey bought

the raw m aterial, spun it in to yarn, and then carried it to the
m arket for sale. A s a rule they w orked for hire on their em
ployers m aterial their em ployers being either clothiers,
m aster Wool-combcrs, o r m arket spinners (that is, y arn m akers).
T h e spinners were scattered over the w hole countryside, and
spinning houses or pack-houscs w ere established in the
villages for the distribution o f the w ool. T h e v illa g e shop
frequently served as the pack-house, and the w ool w as con
veyed to it b y carriers or p ack m en ; hither the spinners
repaired for their m aterial and returned it after it w as spun
into yarn. Spinning was thus essentially a cottage industry, and
clothiers w ere able to d ra w for their sup p ly o f la b o u r upon a
very extensive area. T h e worsted industry o f the N orfolk towns,
for instance, was fed w ith yarn not only b y the eastern counties
Suffolk, C am bridge, Bedford and H ertford b u t also b y
Yorkshire and W estm orland.
H and-spinning had tw o serious draw backs. T h e spinner
often lacked the requisite technical skill; the yarn w as there
fore neither uniform in q u a lity nor firm enough to stand the
strain o f the loom ; and the cloth, as a result, was uneven in
texture. I t w as not unknown for ten hands to be engaged on
a single chain (warp), and since it w as spun irreg u la rly the
thread was constantly breakin g; a considerable p o rtio n o f the
w eavers tim e, in fact, was spent in rep airin g broken threads.
T h e difficulty o f exercising p roper supervision over the spinners
was heightened by the system u nder w h ich the y arn w as collec
ted. T h e y brought the y arn to the pack-housc in small
quantities and were p aid b y instalm ent; fraudulent or in differ
ent spinners w ere thereby enabled to deliver in ferio r w ork
w ithout detection b y the clothiers to w hom the y a rn was
sent at intervals in large quantities. T o rem edy the spinners
1 H crric k .

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

deficiencies in technical skill it was proposed to set up spinning

schools, w here children could be taught the art o f spinning by
experienced teachers. In E ngland spinning schools were
established in some localities as p art o f the organization o f
poor relief, and here poor children w ere taught b y spinning
dam es. T h e second draw back o f hand-spinning was the in
adequacy o f the supply. In spite o f the m ultitude o f spinners
th ey were unable to furnish weavers w ith the requisite am ount
o f yarn. T h ere are not hands enough in E ngland, it was said
in 1718, to spin all the wool that m ust be used in ou r m anu
factures. It is estimated th at one loom gave w ork to h a lf a
dozen spinners or more, an d the progress o f the textile industry
was checked b y a yarn fam ine. In farm ing districts the spinning
was largely done in the w inter, and here the w eavers were
gravely handicapped durin g the sum mer months. M u ch o f
their time was consumed in w aiting for work. T h e difficulties
arising from the shortage o f yarn w ere aggravated after K a y s
invention o f the fly shuttle in 1733 increased the productive
pow er o f the weaver. M oreover the interm ittent nature o f the
supply forccd the makers, in the words o f a contem porary
writer, to calculate for a larger profit. T h e adoption o f
m achinery in spinning towards the end o f the eighteenth
century was stimulated b y vivid experience o f the shortcomings
o f the old hand-yarn m anufacture.
T h e spinners were poorly paid for their toil. In the seventeenth
and eighteenth centuries E nglands greatest industry rested on
the basis o f sweated labour. A ccordin g to A rthu r Y o u n g women
at Leeds earned 2s. 6d. or 3s. a w eek; girls thirteen or fourteen
years old is. 8d.; boys o f eight or nine 2|d. a day h a b o y o f six
id . a day. In most cases, no doubt, the earnings, o f a spinner
w ere intended to serve as an addition to the fam ily bud get and
not as h er only source o f income. T h e p ay is not m u ch , said
a Lancashire woman, but it helps to boil the pot. A wom an,
as Fitzherbert wrote in the sixteenth century, can not get her
liv in g honestly w ith spinning on the distaff but it stoppcth a
gap . N one the less m an y had to depend upon their scanty
earnings for their daily subsistence; and even the m eagre
pittance gained b y a spinner, after w orking tw elve hours a day,

ORGANIZATION

8?

was liable to be reduced under various pretexts such as the

dulness o f trade or the custom o f the trade. A n o th er device
o f capitalist exploitation was to use false weights in w eighing
ou t the m aterial to spinners. This was a legacy o f m ediaeval
times w hich is alluded to in Piers the Plowman:
M y wife was a w eaver, w oollen cloth she m a d e;
S h e spake to h er spinsters to spin it soft;
But the pound w eigh t that she paid b y w eighed
a q uarter m ore
T h a n m y own balance did when I w eighed fair.
T h e fact that the spinners w ere unorganized m ad e them
powerless to resist industrial oppression.
T w o other classes o f artisans engaged in the w oollen industry
m erit attention: the w ool-com bcrs and the cloth-finishers. T h e
wool-com bcrs were in a b etter position than the w eavers. T h eir
numbers w ere lim ited and their w ork was m ore h ig h ly rem u
nerated. T h e y w ere not tied to a p articu lar locality an d were
accustom ed to travel ab out the country from p lace to p lace in
scarch o f em ploym ent. O n e reason for their rovin g life was
th at a large num ber w ere single m en; and w hen w ork was
scarce in their native tow n, they w ere not com pelled to accept
low wages to save themselves from starvation. D u rin g their
wanderings they were kept b y the institution to w h ich they
belonged; for the com bers union preferred to support its
m embers in idleness rather than subm it to a reduction o f wages.
W hen a w ool-com ber set out on his journeys he received from
his clu b a certificate w h ich testified th at he was a m em b er o f
the union, had behaved him self w ell and was an honest m an.
T h e certificate entided him to relief from every w ool-com bers
society affiliated to his branch, and enabled him to travel the
kingdom round, be caressed at each club, and not spend a
farthing o f his own or strike one stroke o f w ork. 1 A n y o n e con
victed o f fraud forfeited his claim to the certificate and the
privileges w hich it conferred.
T h e cloth-finishers w ere also know n as cloth-workers, clothdressers, shearm en, and croppers. T h e distinctive featu re o f this
1 Cf. The Song o f the Rambling Wool-Combers, who lived regardless o f your pity.'

88

WOOL MANUFACTURES

class was that their work was not performed at hom e as in the
ease o f carders, spinners and weavers, b u t was done in a w ork
shop. H ence their industry in the eighteenth century was not
a cottage industry; they w orked together in large bodies, three
men and one boy being engaged on a piccc o f cloth. T h e clothfinishcrs w ere em ployed in different ways. Sometimes a num ber
o f clothicrs had their cloths dressed at the sam e shop, w here a
master dresser (as he w as called) w orked for them on comm is
sion and kept as m any as forty or fifty men and boys. A t other
times the clothiers em ployed cloth-finishers under their own
roofs. T h e story o f J a ck o f N ew bury represents the establish
m ent o f the great clothier as housing shearm en, rowers, fullers
and dyers; and in Yorkshire the m erchants, who bough t the
cloth in an unfinished state from the clothicrs, often assumed
direct responsibility for the final processes o f the m anufacture.
T h e attem pt o f the clothicrs and m erchants to seize into their
hands all the branches o f the cloth m anufacture w as strenu
ously resisted b y the m aster dressers and dyers.
T h e old domestic system o f industry is often painted in very
vivid colours: I t is attractive, no doubt, to contem plate the
artisan w orking in his own home, in the midst o f his fam ily, a
free agent, not subject to the discipline o f the factory bell, but
at liberty to work or to p la y as the inclination seized him. In
reality the domestic system, as it existed in the west, had grave
defects.
T o begin with, the hours o f labour w ere very long. In the
m iddle o f the eighteenth century fourteen hours, including
meals, constituted a norm al w orking d a y ; w hile some weavers
worked as m uch as fifteen or sixteen hours a day. A W iltshire
w eaver told a parliam entary comm ittee, which w as investi
gating the conditions o f the woollen industry in 1803, th at in
winter w e w ork as m uch b y the candle as b y daylight. I have
worked from five to seven at night in w inter and from four to
nine in sum mer that is, fourteen hours a day in winter,
seventeen in summer. M oreover the w eavers often lived a long
w ay from the clothiers house: some had several miles to w alk
in fetching and returning the work. T h is wasted a great deal o f

ORGANIZATION

89

the w eavers time, especially since he served m ore th an one

em ployer.
In the eyes o f the em ployers the w orst defect o f the dom estic
system w as the em bezzlem ent o f the raw m aterial. A t all
periods com plaints w ere general th at carders and spinners and
weavers appropriated the w ool given ou t to them . D etection
was difficult and the numerous law s against em bezzlem ent
failed to check the practice. In Scotland spinners o r weavers
w ho defrauded their em ployers w ere ordered to b e kep t in
prison till the m arket day, and there to stand in tim e o f the
m arket tw o hours with a p aper m entioning their fau lt in great
letters/ A popular Scottish rhym e depicts the evil end o f
w eavers w ho had been hanged for stealing y a r n :
A s I gaed u p the G anongate
A n d through the N cthcr-bow ,
Four and tw enty weavers
W ere singing in a tow.
T h e to w gae a crack,
T h e w eavers gae a girn.
Fie, let m e dow n again,
Ill never steal a pirn.
I ll ne er steal a pirn,
H I neer steal a pow.
O h fie, let m e dow n again,
I ll steal n ac m air frae y o u .1
O n e reason for the prevalence o f em bezzlem ent is to b e found
in the low w ages paid b y the clothier. T h ose w ho w ith difficulty
kept body and soul together b y w orking excessively lon g hours,
spinning w ool or w eaving cloth, w ere tem pted to eke ou t their
m iserable pittance b y m ethods to w hich they m ay often have
been driven b y sheer pressure o f w ant.
A universal trait o f the dom estic system throughout the coun
try was the em ploym ent o f children. In form er tim es child
labour was considered a good thing. D a n iel Defoe records w ith
1 C W = w e n t. Tow halter. 'C af=gavc. (?>=cry of pain. Pim= a quill on which
yam was wound. Pew =*(?) crab. }fat mair no more.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

pride d ia l in his day (1724) there was not a child in T au nton

or the neighbourhood above five years old but, i f it was not
neglected b y its parents and untaught, could earn its own
bread.* U nder the dom estic system children were p u t to work
as soon as they were able to render an y kind o f service, and it
was rem arked upon w hen children o f six w ere id le. T h e
younger folk assisted th eir elders in various ways. T h e y fetched
the bobbins, they w ound or quilled the spun yarn, they helped
the w eaver to prepare the loom for w eaving, they learnt the
preparatory processes like w illcying, carding, scribbling and
stubbing; and as they grew older they w ere able to spin and to
w eave it was alleged to be very com m on for boys and girls to
acquire the art o f w eavin g b y the tim e they were tw elve years
old. In some cases a ch ild m ight go to school and w ork in the
m orning and evening. T h e daily earnings o f children were
usually small. Those w ho w ere four to eight years o f age
earned a penny at quilling, from eight to twelve th ey earned
twopence to fourpcnce at spinning, and from thirteen to four
teen cightpcnce at w eavin g; but the rates o f w ages varied
considerably in different parts o f the country. As a rule children
worked under the eyes o f their parents, and in so far as the
latter avoided exhausting toil the evils o f child lab ou r would
be m itigated. Y e t in earlier centuries children w ere not always
treated hum anely b y their parents. O n e w ho was brought up
under the domestic system declared that the days o f his child
hood were really the days o f infant slavery. T h e creatures,
he said, were set to w ork as soon as they could craw l and their
parents w ere the hardest o f taskmasters. O n the w hole it
would appear that children were em ployed at an earlier age
and for less wages than the m ajority o f children em ployed in
factories. In any case the use o f child labour was-not d u e to the
introduction o f m achinery, and it was only the creation o f the
factory system which m ade it possible in the nineteenth century
to abolish it.
W hen we pass from the west to the north o f E ngland w e are
confronted w ith a w idely different kind o f industrial society.
T h e domestic m anufacturers o f Yorkshire, as the clothiers

ORGANIZATION

9*

there were called, resembled neither the clothiers nor the m aster
weavers o f the west country they differed from the latter
because they owned not only their looms b u t also the m aterial
upon which they w orked; th ey differed from the form er because
they w ere prim arily m an u al craftsmen rather than entre
preneurs. N one the 1m they w ere not w agc-carners. T h e y
bought the wool from the dealers and in their ow n houses,
assisted b y their wives, children and journeym en , th ey worked
it up through all the different stages an d finally sold the m an u
factured cloth in the open m arket. T h e num ber o f loom s owned
by a dom estic m anufacturer varied according to circum stances;
at the end o f the eighteenth century most clothicrs h ad tw o and
some three or more. T h e Yorkshire clothier, unlike the west
country clothier, was him self a w orkm an and w ove in the loom.
H e was usually helped b y his fam ily, sometimes also b y appren
tices and journeym en. O n an average he p robably em ployed
at least ten persons.
T h e fam ily life o f the W est R id in g clothier is p ortrayed in
a colloquial poem descriptive o f the M anners o f the C lothicrs
written ab out 1730. A t the evening m eal the m aster o f the
house gives instructions to his wife, apprentices and jo u rn ey
m en regarding the w ork o f the m orrow :
Lads, w'ork hard I pray,
C loth m un be p earked1 next m arket day,
A n d T o m m un go to-morn to tspinners,
A n d W ill m un seek about for tswingcrs,
A n d Jack to-m orn b y tim e be rising
A n d go to tsizing mill for sizing.2
A n d get yo u r w eb and w arp in g done
T h a t ye m ay get it into tloom .
J o go give m y horse some corn,
For I design for tW^olds to-m orn.3
So m ind and clean m y boots and shoon,
For Ill be up i tm orn right soon.
M a ry theres wool tak thee and dye it.
1 Pearked^perched (i.e. tested for faults).
* Sizing^- saturating the warp with paste.
a The purpose of hxs journey is to buy wool.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

His wife objects that she has her house-work to d o: T o bake

and swing and blend and milk, and bairns to school to send,
as well as washing up m orn, noon, and ncct. But the husband
retorts:
A ll things m un aside be laid,
W h en we w an t help about our trade.
T h e young folk a rc then left to themselves and they sit round
the fire telling talcs and m erry jokes.
T ill ten gives w arning b y the clock,
T h en up they start to bed they run.
A t five o clock the n ext m orning they com m cncc again the
d ays round.
T h e institution o f apprenticeship survived longer, in its
traditional form, in the north o f E ngland than in the west. T h e
Yorkshire clothier needed a thorough training in the various
branches of the w oollen industry for though a m an was gen
erally em ployed on one operation, w henever it was necessary
he could turn his hand to others as occasion m igh t require.
It was unusual for an apprentice to set up as a master
im m ediately lie was out o f his tim e; as a rule he becam e a
journeym an. Sometimes the 'journeym an was hired b y the
year, in which case he worked the custom ary hours and
received as wages eight to ten pounds annually in addition to
his board ; b u t paym ent b y piece-work was m ore comm on.
A striking feature of industrial conditions in Y orkshire was the
good feeling existing between domestic m anufacturers and
their workmen. I n a trade depression the form er rarely dis
missed their hands. O u r m en and m asters, a witness told a
p arliam entary committee, are in general so join ed together in
sentim ent and, if I m ay b e adm itted to use the term , love to
each other th at they do not wish to be separ ated i f they can
help it. W e alw ays consider the masters and journeym en as one
and our interests are recip rocal. T h e Yorkshire clothier prided
him self upon the fact th at it was alm ost a thing unknow n to
discharge a w orkm an for w ant o f em ploym ent. W in ter or
summer, bad trad e or good, w e go on straight forwards w hether

ORGANIZATION

93

the stock was sold or left on their hands. I h ave been with
domestic m anufacturers w hen they w ere short o f w o rk , said a
journeym an, and they used to see about a jo b for m e an d i f one
couldnt be got I was continued. O n the other han d, w hen a
clothier h ad extra orders, w e ask another m aster perhaps
w hether he w ill spare us such a m an to w eave for us.
T h e outstanding m erit o f the Yorkshire dom estic system,
apart from the friendly relations betw een masters an d men,
was the opportunity afforded to every w orkm an o f rising in the
world. In the north o f E ngland it was not difficult for any
w agc-carn er in the w oollen industry to becom e a m aster. E very
journeym an who was careful and persevering w orked w ith the
id ea o f saving up m oney b y good econom y/ and th en setting
up on his ow n as soon as he could. W hen I only got ten shillings
a w eek/ said a successful clothier w ho b egan w ith one loom
and ended w ith twenty-one, I saved one ou t o f it. T h e w orking
clothier needed little c a p ita l; his utensils w ere eith er home
m ade or ch eap ly b ou gh t; an d the ra w m aterial w as readily
obtained on credit.
A noth er elem ent in the industrial society o f the north w as a
class o f m erchants to w hom the domestic m anufacturers sold
their cloth in an unfinished state. In the m iddle ages cloth
w as alw ays exposed for sale in a p u b lic p lace on fixed days of
the week, and it was an offence against the law to b u y or sell
cloth privately. W hen com m odities w ere disposed o f secretly
the owner o f the m arket w en t w ithout his tolls, and th e public
sale o f cloth also facilitated the work o f inspectors (aulnagers)
whose d u ty it was to see th at the m akers h ad observed the
statutory regulations as to size and q uality. In L on d on the
famous centre o f the cloth trade w as B lackw ell H a ll, and in
other towns a site was reserved for the sale o f cloth; for exam ple,
in the north the T h u rsd ay m arket o f Y o rk , in the cast the
W orsted Seld o f N orw ich, in the west the T o u k e r Street
m arket o f Bristol, am ong m an y others. In general, a p art from
Blackw ell H all, the system o f public cloth markets retain ed its
im portance only in Y orkshire. T h e ch ie f was Leeds w here it
was held originally upon the bridge o f the river an d late r in
the H igh Street. V ivid accounts o f this m arket have com e dow n

94-

w ool

MANUFACTURES

to us and they all dwell upon the same features: the long rows
o f stalls covered w ith cloth, the m anufacturers ranged behind
their stands, the m erchants passing along and m aking purchases
in profound silence/ the bell ringing at the end o f an h our to
indicate the close o f the m arket. In the eighteenth century
several cloth halls were erected in Y orkshire towns to take the
p lace o f the open m arket at H alifax in 1700, at W akefield in
1710, at Leeds in 17 11. A s industry developed m ore halls
m ight be ncccssary; a second w hite cloth h all was opened at
Leeds in 1755 and a third in 1775, w hile a h all for coloured
cloth was built in 1756. N one but those w ho had been appren
ticed or legally brought u p w ere allow ed to purchase stands in
the official halls; and those w ho w ere not law ful clothiers used to
assemble in Potters Field, w hcn cc originated yet another hall
bearing the significant title o f T o m Paine hall.
T h e cloth exposed for sale in the Y orkshire m arkets was
bought in the rough state, fulled but undressed. T h e m erchant
him self assumed responsibility for the final processes o f clothm aking; and the cloth was dressed in his ow n workshop or
com m itted to a master dresser. H ere it underw ent the various
processes known as cloth-w'orking raising and cropping the
nap until a smooth finish had been im parted to the surface.
T h e Yorkshire m erchant was thus in a lim ited sense a m anu
facturer, an industrialist as w ell as a trading capitalist: u lti
m ately he was destined to usurp the p lacc o f the domestic
clothier com pletely, and bccom e master o f the w hole scries o f
operations from carding and spinning to fulling and dressing.
T h e oversea trade in cloth was in the hands o f m erchant
exporters, w ho were required to belong to a chartered com p any
that enjoyed a com plete m onopoly o f traffic in the territorial
sphere assigned to it. T h e ideal o f m ediaeval com m erce, which
lasted beyond the m iddle ages, was *a well-ordered and ruled
trade in w hich production was lim ited, prices were high and
stable, and commodities w ere well w rought. T h e M erch ant
Adventurers, w ho shipped cloth to northern Europe, prided
themselves on the fact th at they did keep up the p rice o f our
com m odities abroad b y avoiding an over-glut, whereas w hen

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95

trade is free m an y sellers w ill m ake w ares cheap and o f less

estimation.* T h e system o f chartered com panies had certain
advantages it prevented excessive com petition am ong m er
chants, which flooded the m arket w ith goods and lowered prices
to the benefit o f oversea buyers; it also enabled the governm ent
to control trade and advance the interests o f the state as they
w ere then understood. Its great draw back was that it retarded
the expansion o f foreign com m erce, it curtailed com petition
and checked enterprise. T h u s the M erchant A dventurers did
not perm it a m em ber to export m ore than four hundred cloths
d u rin g the first three years o f m em bership; subsequently the
num ber rose annually b y fifty, so th at in his fifteenth year
he was able to export a thousand cloths. T h e enemies o f the
com panies w ere the interlopers, w ho w ere outside th eir fellow
ship yet interm eddled w ith their business. T h e y appealed to
the traditional liberty o f Englishm en and defied the com p anies
m onopoly. T h e centre o f the interlopers was the w est o f
E ngland, w here the clothiers resented the claim o f L on d on to
handle the shipm ent o f their cloth. T h e best m ethod o f pushing
oversea trade developed into a thorny subject o f controversy:
b u t after the R evolution o f 1G88 the interlopers trium phed.
A n act for encouraging the woollen m anufacture allow ed all
persons to send cloth abroad freely, a saving clause reserving the
m onopoly o f four com panies only the L evant, E astland,
Russia, and African.
*M erchant exporters h ad com m ercial agents in all p arts o f
the w orld; and w e get interesting glimpses o f the duties these
factors (as th ey were called) w ere expected to perform in a
series o f instructions draw n up about the year 1582 for the
guidance o f an English factor in T u rkey. T h e w riter assumes
as an axiom that o f the m an y things th at tend to the com m on
benefit o f the state no one th in g is greater than cloth in g. H e
proceeds: T h is realm yieldeth the most fine wool, the most soft,
the most du rab le in cloth, [and] there is no com m odity o f this
realm that m a y set so m an y poor subjects on work as this doth,
th a t doth bring in so m uch treasure an d so m uch enrich the
m erchant and so m uch em ploy the n a v y o f this realm , as this
com m odity o f our wool doth. A m p le and full vent [sale] o f this

g6

WO O L MANUFACTURES

noble and rich com m odity is it that the com m onw ealth o f this
realm doth require. A fter this exordium the factor is told how
he m ay best serve his country. Forasm uch as it is reported that
the woollen cloths dyed in T u rk e y be most excellently dyed,
you shall send home unto this realm certain pieces o f shred to
be brought to the Dyers* H all there to be showed; p a rtly to
rem ove out o f their heads the loo great opinion th ey have
conceived o f their own cunning, and p artly to m ove them for
sham e to endeavour to learn m ore know ledge. T o am end the
dyeing o f E ngland learn to know all the m aterials and sub
stances that the Turks use in dyeing, be they herbs, plants,
berries or m ineral matter. I f you shall find that they m ake any
cloth o f any kind not m ade in this realm , that is there o f great
use, then brin g o f the sam e into this realm some mowsters
[samples] th at our people m a y fall into the trade and p repare
the same for T u rkey. For the m ore kinds o f cloth we can devise
to make, the more am ple vent o f our com m odity we shall have,
and the m ore sale o f the labour o f our poor subjects th at else
for lack o f labour becom e idle and burdensome to the com m on
w eal. A n d in E ngland w e arc in our cloth ing trade to fram e
ourselves according to the desires o f foreign nations, be it that
th ey desire thick or thin, broad or narrow, long or short, w hite
or black. T h u s, concludes the writer, m ay you help to drive
idleness, the m other o f most m ischief, out o f the realm and win
you perpetual fam e and the p rayer o f the poor, which is m ore
w orth than all the gold o f Peru and o f all the W est Indies.

CH APTER SIX

State Control
a n d w o r s t e d industries from their infan cy
w ere the subject o f state regulation. A s the staple p ro d u ct o f
the realm their prosperity w as alw ays considered a m atter o f the
greatest national im portance. T h e clothiers succeeded, in the
w ords o f A d a m Sm ith, in convin cing the wisdom o f the nation
th at the safety o f the com m onw ealth depends upon the pros
p erity o f their particular m anufacture. T h e latter w as petted
and favoured (in Huskissons phrase) b y the legislature w h ich
lavished upon it the most unrem itting care and attention, and
created for its protection an elaborate code o f industrial and
com m ercial legislation. W e shall describe first the com m ercial
regulations, and it will be seen how every interest in the coun try
was rendered subservient to the assumed needs o f the cloth
trad e; how agriculture and com m erce w ere shackled, Irelan d
and the colonies ham pered in their developm ent, in order that
the woollen m anufacturer m ight have an adequate sup p ly o f
ra w m aterial and the undisputed possession o f m arkets at hom e
and abroad.
O f the various links in the chain o f protection designed for
the safeguarding o f wool textiles the m ost im portant w as the
prohibition o f the export o f wool. This, as w e h ave shown
ab o ve,1 was a perm anent feature o f E n glan d s econom ic p olicy
fo r tw o hundred years: it lasted from the ea rly seventeenth to
the early nineteenth century. T h e em bargo on wool w as com
bined in the eighteenth centu ry w ith an em bargo on the
em igration o f skilled artisans. In earlier ages E ngland reaped
great benefit from the settlem ent o f aliens, and she w as now
anxious to prevent other nations using her technical skill to
build up their own industries. In the troubled reign o f C harles I
textile workers in Norfolk and Suffolk sought refuge in H ollan d
from religious persecution, and m ore em igrated d u rin g the
TH E W O O LLEN

1 Part I.
97

98

WOOL MANUFACTURES

C iv il W ar p robably ow ing to w ant o f em ploym ent. W hile some

w ent under compulsion, others were enticed abroad: H olland,
Germ any, France, Portugal and Spain in p articular encouraged
the settlement o f English artificers. A n act o f 1719 endeavoured
to check the m ovem ent b y im posing heavy penalties on those
w ho induced workm en to leave the country and teach the arts
o f cloth-m aking in foreign lands. Divers ill-disposed persons,
as w ell foreigners as subjects o f this kingdom b y confederacy
w ith foreigners, have o f late draw n a w a y and transported
several artificers and m anufacturers o f and in w ool out
o f his m ajestys dominions into foreign countries, b y enter
ing into contracts w ith them to give greater wages and
advantages than they have or can reasonably cxpcct w ithin
this kingdom , and b y m aking them large promises. T h e
penalties did not serve as a deterrent and the outcry persisted
th at foreigners decoy our m anufacturers. T h e restraints on
em igration, w hich lasted dow n to 1825, w ere supplem ented
b y an em bargo on the export o f tools which was not fin ally
rem oved until 1843.
T o confine English raw m aterial and English textile workers
to E ngland was only one p a rt o f the system o f p rotection : the
other p art was to confine the English people to English m an u
factures b y enforcing the consum ption o f domestic products.
T h e use o f native cloth was therefore enjoined on all as a
patriotic duty. A s far back as the thirteenth ccn tury the nation
was urged not to seek over-precious garm ents but to rest con
tent w ith home-spun garments. A strong agitation in favour o f
the com pulsory w earing o f cloth m ade w ithin the realm sprang
up in the seventeenth century. Just as Q ueen E lizabeth
established a com pulsory L e n t on ccrtain days in the w eek in
order to foster the fishing trade, so her successor endeavoured
to com pel his subjects to w ear native instead o f foreign textiles.
A bill for the better vending o f the cloth o f this kingdom was
introduced into Parliam ent in 1621 but m et with some opposi
tion. It is hard, said a m em ber, to m ake a la w w hereby we
shall not know our wives from our cham berm aids. Others
how ever approved the m easure, and suggested the addition o f a
clause that none under the degree o f a baron should m ourn in

STATE CONTROL

99

anythin g but cloth . A fter the Restoration the agitation was

renewed. T h e Flannel Act* in 1667 enacted that the dead
must be buried in woollen cloth forcing the dead, as A rth u r
Y o u n g said, to consume w h at the liv in g were inadequate to
purchase.
Since the living w ould not bear it,
T h e y should, when dead, be forcd to w ear it.
T h e follow ing year (1668) the H ouse o f Com m ons presented an
address to the king praying him to encourage the w earin g o f
dom estic m anufactures b y his ow n exam ple and his q u een s.
R ecogn izin g th at practice is better than precept, it was also
resolved that the House begin themselves to show a good
exam ple herein to the nation. A subsequent resolution (1678)
enjoined all persons w hatsoever to w ear no garm ent, stockings
or other sort o f apparel but w h at is m ad e o f sheeps w ool only
from the Feast o f A ll Saints to the Feast o f the A nnunciation o f
O u r L ad y inclusive. These efforts to prom ote the com pulsory
use o f native cloth were renew ed after the R evolution. In 1698
the House o f Com m ons ordered the insertion o f a clause that
all m agistrates, judges, students o f the universities an d all
professors o f the comm on and civil law do w ear gowns m ad e o f
the woollen m anufacture. In short, as a pam phleteer w rote
at the beginning o f the eighteenth ccntury, both the L iv in g
and the D ead must be w rapt in woollen, indeed no oth er law
is w anted but only one that our perukes should b e m ad e
o f wool.*
T h e w oollen m anufacturers, w ho claim ed by prescription
and possession a m onopoly o f their industry, regarded the
dom estic m arket as their n atu ral preserve. T h e y sought there
fore to prevent the im portation o f goods m ade abroad w h ich
com peted w ith comm odities produced at hom e. Successful in
th eir efforts to exclude foreign wool textiles, they proceeded
to carry on a cam paign against all foreign textiles w h ich
m igh t serve as a substitute for English woollen fabrics.
T h e p op ularity o f Indian silks and muslins caused great alarm
lest they should become the general w ear and eat u p our
m anufactures.

IOO

WOOL MANUFACTURES

O u r Ladies all w ere set a gadding,

A lte r these T oys they ran a m adding.
A n d like g ay Peacocks proudly strut it
W hen in our Streets along they foot it.
I question not/ said one w riter, but we shall have cotton cloth
and knaves to m ake it a fashion and fools enough to w ear it.
T h e use o f cotton, it was com plaincd, put all degrees and orders
o f wom an-kind into disorder and confusion since the lad y
cannot well be known from her cham berm aid. T h e general
fan cy o f the people, wrote Defoe, runs upon East Ind ia goods
to th at degree that the chints and painted calicoes w hich before
w ere only m ade use o f for carpets, quilts, etc. and to clothe
children and ordinary people, becam e now the dress o f our
ladies; and such is the pow er o f a m ode as w e saw our persons
o f quality dressed in Indian carpets w hich b u t a few years
before their cham berm aids w ould have thought too ordinary
for them ; the chints were advanced from lyin g upon their
floors to their backs; from the footcloth to the petticoat; and
even the queen herself at this tim e was pleased to appear in
C h in a and Jap an , I mean C h in a silks and calico. N or w as this
all but it crept into our houses and bedcham bers; curtains,
cushions, chairs and at the last beds themselves were nothing
but calicoes or Indian stuffs; and in short alm ost everything that
used to be m ade o f wool o r silk, relating either to the dress o f
the women or the furniture o f our houses, was supplied b y the
Ind ian trade. T h e English w orkm an, it was said, could not
com pete with Eastern labour because the people in In d ia are
such slaves as to w ork for less than a penny a d a y whereas ours
here will not work under a shilling.
T h e duel between the woollen m anufacturers and the p ow er
ful East India C om pany ended in the trium ph o f the form er.
Y ield in g to the agitation Parliam ent in 1700 forbade the use o f
w rought silks m ade in India, Persia or C hina, as w ell as o f
calicoes painted, dyed, printed or stained there. T h e exclusion
o f Ind ian silks and printed calicoes had an unexpected result, for
it encouraged the English cotton m anufacturers to seize their
opportunity to capture the m arket from w hich their In d ian

STATE CONTROL

IOI

com petitors had been expelled. A s i f this nation was never to

w an t a set o f m en to undo h e r/ com plained the in d ign an t
weavers, no sooner were the E ast In d ia chints and p rinted
calicoes prohibited from abroad but some o f B ritains un
n atu ral children, whom w e call drapers, set all their arts to
w ork to evad e the law o f prohibition, to em ploy p eo p le to
m im ic the m ore ingenious Indians and to legitim ate the griev
an ce b y m akin g it a m anufacture. A ppeals were m ad e to
w om en to discard the new fashions. T h e w eavers raised a great
clam our and attacked in the open streets those w ho w ore
cotton dresses the calico m adam s or calico Piets as they
w ere called even tearing the clothes o ff their backs. P arlia
m en t was forced to pass another act (1721) condem ning the
use o f printed painted calicoes, since the w earing and using [of
calicoes] docs m anifestly tend to the grea t detrim ent o f the
w oollen and silk m anufactures o f this kingdom . In this w ay
the infant cotton industry was sacrificed to the woollen industry
in order that nothing m ight im pair the prosperity o f the lead in g
m anufacture o f the realm .1
In their efforts to secure the undisputed control o f the
dom estic m arket the elothiers found themselves involved in
controversies not only over the East In d ia trade b u t over
Irelan d and the colonics. T h e Irish farmers had been forbidden
in 1667 to export cattle to E ngland so th at the English farm er
should have no com petitor in the home m arket; they therefore
turned their attention to grazing. A s a result wool and m eat
becam e plentiful and cheap, an d this abundance o f ra w m a t
erial coupled w ith cheapness o f livin g attracted artisans from
the west o f E ngland. Irish com petition was dreaded o w in g to
the low p ricc o f labou r; and the clothiers, alarm ed at the new
developm ent, m ade strong protests that Ireland was under
m in in g their trade. Both Houses o f Parliam ent petitioned the
kin g that the w ealth and p ow er o f this kingdom do in a great
m easure depend on the preserving the w oollen m anufacture
as m uch as is possible entire to this realm , and it becom es us
1 Subsequently the Manchester A ct (1736) expressly permitted the use of
printed fustians made of linen and cotton, provided the warp was entirely linen
yarn.

102

WOOL MANUFACTURES

like our ancestors to be jealo u s o f the establishment an d the

increase th crof elsewhere/ T h e outcry bore fruit in the act o f
1699 which prohibited the export o f Irish w ool textiles cxccp t
to England. T h u s the Irish w oollen fabrics, in the w ords o f
A rth u r Y o u n g, w ere destroyed b y one o f the most infam ous
statutes that ever disgraced a legislature. A generation after
its enactm ent it was said to have laid the foundations o f all the
misfortunes o f both kingdoms. I t drove abroad all our [i.e.
Irish] woollen m anufacturers w ho set up in different countries,
and so ran the current opinion it taught our neighbours to
steal from us a m anufacture w e entirely engrossed before. A
w riter pointed out that the English persecution in trade, in
causing an exodus o f Irelan ds most industrious sons, had the
sam e effect as the French persecution in religion. H e showed the
fallacy o f the argum ent on w hich the suppression o f the Irish
woollen industry had been based. Assum ing th at Ireland did
w ork cheaper than Yorkshire or Lancashire, w ould it h urt the
British Em pire m ore than it hurts her th at Y orkshire or
Lancashire should work cheaper than D evonshire or C ornw all?
C a n any m an o f open understanding consider Ireland h ut in
the light o f four or five great counties added to E ngland
advantageously for w ater carriage cut b y a large navigable
river? T o com pensate Ireland for the injury done to her woollen
m anufacture, she was prom ised countenance, favour and
protection for her linen m anufacture that it m ight bccom e
the general trade o f th a t country as effectually as the
w oollen m anufacture is and must be o f E ngland . T h e
English plantations in A m erica were treated in a sim ilar w ay,
for one clause o f the act o f 1699 ordered that no wool,
woollen yarn, cloth, serge, bays, kersies, says, friezes, druggets,
cloth-serges, shalloons, or any other drapery, stu ff or woollen
m anufactures whatsoever should be exported from the
colonics or even transported from one colony to another.
T h e purpose o f the restriction was to safeguard the English
woollen trade w ith the A m erican colonics, w hich was
considerable inasmuch as it accounted for one-half the
value o f the total exports o f English m anufactures to the
plantations.

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103

T h e policy o f protection w as designed to give the w oollen

m anufacturers the sole m onopoly o f the hom e m arket. Its
application to the foreign m arket raised a controversy w h ich
lasted for nearly three centuries. T h e root o f the trouble la y in
the cleavage o f interests betw een the trading and industrial
capitalists. T h e m erchant exporters dem anded the rig h t to
ship cloth abroad in a raw state, undyed and unfm inished.
T h e ir claim brought them into sharp collision w ith the clothfinishcrs w ho im portuned the governm ent incessantly. Y e t
though the export o f w hite cloth was repeatedly forbidden b y
statute, the prohibition proved ineffective. A cco rd in g ly
attem pts were m ade to foster a native dyeing industry. T h e
most famous was A lderm an C ockaynes unhappy p roject/
w hereby all cloth was to be dyed and dressed at hom e before
being allowed to leave the kingdom . Jam es I granted him (1614)
a patent for dyeing coupled w ith an em bargo on the tran
shipm ent o f cloth in an unfinished state. W h en the M erch a n t
A dventurers pronounced the schem e unw orkable, their p riv i
leges w ere suspended. T h e effects o f this ill-starred ven ture
soon becam e m anifest. T h e clothiers com plained that their cloth
la y on their hands unsold; the cloth-finishers protested that
th ey w ere in a worse plight than before. T h e scheme w as per
force abandoned (16 17) in spite o f B acons counsel to b low a
horn to let the Flemings kn ow your m ajesty w ill not g iv e over
the chase and the king confessed th at tim e discovereth
m an y inabilities which can not first be seen. T h e question
cam e again to the front after the R evolu tion w hen, in order to
rem ove any doubts as to the exact legal position, the ex p o rt o f
w hite cloth was expressly sanctioned b y la w in 1707. A lth o u gh
divided on the question o f the export o f w hite cloth, m an u fac
turers and m erchants alike recognized the im portance o f
pushing the w oollen trade overseas, and in this their efforts
w ere w arm ly seconded b y the governm ent. H enry V I I , in
particular, concluded numerous com m ercial treaties intended
to provide an outlet for w ool textiles. T h e most m em orable was
the M agnus Intercursus (1496), w hich ensured a free m arket
for the sale o f English cloth in the Netherlands. Indeed one
reason w hy the Tudors encouraged voyages o f discovery was

104

W O O L MANUFACTURES

to find new markets for our woollen fabrics. A nother notable

treaty was the famous M ethuen T re a ty m ade with Portugal in
1 703, which permitted the entry o f English goods on condition
that the wines o f Portugal w ere adm itted into E ngland at twothirds o f the duty levied on French wines. T h e preserving our
looms and the rents o f G rea t Britain, contended The British
Merchant, was o f greater consequence to the nation than
gratifying our palates w ith French w ine.
W hile the policy o f the governm ent was m ainly concerned
w ith advancing the interests o f the producer, yet at least on
one occasion it intervened on b eh alf o f the consum er. A
fifteenth-century statute (1489) fixed the retail prices o f cloth:
Forasm uch as drapers, tailors and other in the city o f London
and other places w ithin this realm , that use to sell woollen
cloth at retail b y the yard , sell a yard o f cloth at excessive price
h aving unreasonable lucre to the great hurt and im poverish
m ent o f the kin gs liege people, buyers o f the sam e, against
equity and good conscience/ the m axim um retail price o f cloth
grained was fixed at 16s. a broad yard and out o f the grain
at 1 is. a yard.
T h e protective policy o f the state, inspired b y the purpose
o f safeguarding native m anufacturers from foreign com petition,
was m aintained dow n to the nineteenth ccn tury w hen th e 31
principles o f laissez-faire w ere applied to com m erce as they had
already been applied to industry in the eighteenth century. In
1824 the export o f wool was legalized; the following year the
duty on im ported cloth was reduced from 50 to 15 p er cent, and
subsequently abolished. In thus w ithdraw ing the protection
w hich wool textiles had enjoyed for m an y centuries, the state
abandoned the most tenacious doctrine o f its form er econom ic
creed.1 T h e m anufacturers predicted th at the export o f wool
would extinguish the export trade in cloth. T h e prophecy was
signally falsified. A lth ou gh under free trade they were no longer
sheltered from external rivalry, their oversea trade was not
destroyed. O w in g to the perfection o f the m achinery and the
skill o f the m anufacturers w ho were now forced to rely upon
1 The growth of the English wool textile industry under free trade is reflected
in the immense increase in wool consumption.

STATE CONTROL

105

their ow n ingenuity, w oollen exports expanded in spite o f the

com petition o f the cotton industry.
State control o f the w oollen and worsted industries was not
confined to the com m ercial sphere: it was also m anifested in
tw o other spheres the processes o f m anufacture and general
labour conditions.
In the dom ain o f production the m inutest rules w ere framed
prescribing the quality o f the m aterials, the use o f m echanical
appliances and the form o f the finished article. N ow adays a
m anufacturer is free to m ake cloth as he pleases lo n g or short,
fine or coarse. In earlier times an intricate netw ork o f national
regulations was devised in order to standardize the m akin g o f
cloth, th at is, to establish a uniform standard o f q u a lity and
dimensions. In respect o f q uality it was forbidden to m ingle
different kinds o f w ool in the same cloth for exam p le, to use
lam bs w ool or flocks (the refuse o f wool) w ith o rd in a ry sorts o f
w ool o r to em ploy oth er fraudulent m ethods o f m anufacture.
T h e nature o f these m alpractices is disclosed in the com plaint
o f a sixteenth-century P arliam ent th at clothiers stud y rather
to m ake m an y than to m ake good cloths [and] instead o f sub
stantial m aking o f cloth do practise sleight and slender m aking
some b y m ingling o f yarns o f diverse spinnings in one cloth ;
some by m ingling fell w ool and lam b s wool, or either o f them,
w ith fleece w ool; some b y putting too little stuff; some b y
taking them out o f the m ill before th ey b e full th ick cd ; some
b y overstretching them upon the tenter and then stop p in g with
flocks such breaks as shall b e m ade b y means thereof; finally
b y using so m any subtle sleights [tricks] and untruths as when
the cloths so m ade b e p u t in the w ater to try them , they rise
out o f the same neither in length nor breadth as th ey ought to
do. Despite a stream o f repressive enactm ents the legislature
failed to extirpate the abuses. T h e y still flourished in the seven
teenth century, when J o h n M a y (an aulnagers deputy)
enum erated in detail the deceits practised in his d a y : the
m ixing o f different sorts o f w ool w h ich m ake the cloth uneven,
as w ell as the frauds perpetrated in w eaving, fulling, d yein g and
finishing such as u tilizin g a coarser yarn for the m id dle than
K

io6

WOOL MANUFACTURES

the ends o f the cloth, *w hich is so far as is com m only the m er

chant or buyer looks into them .
T h e system o f statutory dimensions w as dictated p artly in
the interests o f consumers and p artly to prevent traders de
frauding the customs b y exporting cloth o f excessive length.
Inaugurated as early as the twelfth century and em bodied in
M agn a Garta, it was in existence as late as the eighteenth
ccntury. In practice the assize o f cloth was larg ely a dead
letter notwithstanding the appointm ent o f state officials known
as aulnagcrs, whose functions w ere to test the measurements
and q u a lity o f every piece o f cloth, affixing a seal when the
cloth was sound or confiscating it when defective, and thereby
ensuring uniform ity o f length, breadth, w eight and goodness.
Furtherm ore it was found difficult to stam p out the custom o f
stretching cloth unduly, w hich was lia b le to produce unfortu
nate effects. I f a gentlem an m ake a livery for his m an, in the
first shower o f rain it m ay fit his p age for bigness! A n act o f
parliam ent even sought to prohibit the use o f tenter-frames on
w hich cloth, after being fulled, was stretched in the open air
to dry: but in the face o f the opposition o f the m anufacturers
this unpopular m easure proved short-lived.1
T h e p o licy o f industrial supervision harm onized w ith the
age-old tradition that the national econom y should be orderly
governed. But in the later seventeenth century economists
w ere beginning to proclaim the doctrine o f lalsstz-faire that
industry has its first foundation in liberty. T h e p olicy o f
standardizing industry was severely condem ned by an em inent
authority S ir Josiah C h ild : A ll our laws th at oblige ou r people
to the m aking o f strong substantial (and as we call it loyal)
cloth o f a certain length, breadth and w eight i f they w ere duly
p u t into execution w ould in m y opinion do m ore h urt than
good because the hum ours and fashions o f the w orld change,
and at some times in some places (as now in most) slight, cheap
ligh t cloth w ill sell m ore plentifully and better than th at which
is heavier, stronger and truer w rought; and i f we intend to have
the trade o f the world w e must im itate the D utch, w ho make
the worst as w ell as the .best o f all m anufactures, that w e m ay
1 1598-1624.

STATE CONTROL

IO 7

be in a cap acity of serving all m arkets and all hum ours. He

recom m ended that clothicrs should b e left a t lib erty to m ake
w hat cloth and stuffs they please, h o w th ey w ill, w h ere and
w hen they will, o f any length or sizes.
T h e R evolution o f 1688 was followed, in this as in other
directions, b y a com plete relaxation o f industrial restraints.
A s the w orthy makers o f those good laws are n ow asleep, it
was com plained in 1691, so arc their laws too and every m an
m ay m ake his cloth at his ow n ch oice. T h e au ln agc survived
only as an instrument o f extortion very burdensom e to the
subject and a great hindrance to the woollen trad e and its
officials did not trouble themselves ab ou t the size and q uality
o f the cloth but were contcnt m erely to enforce p aym en t o f the
fees. T h e m anufacturers themselves affixed the seals on their
cloths w ithout subm itting them for inspection. T h e original
design o f the institution was entirely lost sight o f w hen the
makers assumed an uncontrolled lib erty to m ake b ad cloth o f
w h at m aterials they will;* and in 1724. the aulnage expired. A
few years later (1738) Parliam ent openly discarded th e system
o f standard measurements in Yorkshire in the case o f narrow
w oollen cloths and in 1765 in the case o f broad w oollen cloths.
A t the opening o f the nineteenth centu ry a cloth ier told a
parliam entary com m ittee th at at this tim e we m ake goods to
suit every custom er and every clim e. T h e attem pt to standard
ize wool textiles was thus necessarily abandoned. It w as m ani
festly impossible to m anufacture cloths according to statutory
measurements in view o f the variety o f fabrics exported abroad
to meet the tastes o f foreign buyers; nor was it considered im
perative to prevent the straining and stretching o f cloth,
because the m anufacturer was the one most interested in
m aintaining the credit o f his cloth and therefore the most
concerned not to stretch or strain it injuriously; w hile, lastly,
the use o f various ingredients forbidden b y law w as now re
quired ow in g to im provem ents in the art o f dyeing. T h e argu
m ent in short was that, how ever essential statutory control
m ight h ave been in earlier times to give cred it to the industry
b y preventing abuses, com petition could henceforth b e trusted
to secure this end. T h e - interest o f the seller, ran the current

108

W OOL MANUFACTURES

m axim o f trade, is sufficient security to the buyer for fair

dealing. 1
T h e industrial code regulating the general conditions o f
labour em braced wages, technical training and unem ploy
ment.
T h e grievance o f low wages was as old as the capitalist system
itself. In the sixteenth ccn tury the Suffolk and Essex weavers
attributed their destitute state to a conspiracy o f the rich men
[the clothiers] to hold and p a y one price for w eaving o f cloths,
and a price which was not enough to support their families
even b y w orking day and night, holy days and w ork days.
In 1621 a m em ber o f parliam ent com plained in the House o f
Commons that clothiers give not the poor com petent wages
threepence a d a y and no m ore to divers. A fam ous ballad,
w hich is said to have been chanted about the streets in the time
o f Charles II, recited in rude rhym es the grievances o f the
workers in cloth against their employers. It is entitled The
Clothier's Delight, Or the Rich Men's Joy and The Poor Mens
Sorrow, Where is exprest the craftiness and subtility o f many clothiers
by beating down their workmen's wages. T h e opening verses run as
follows:
O f all sorts o f callings that in E ngland be,
T here is none that livcth so gallant as w e;
O u r trading maintains us as brave as a K night,
W e live at our pleasure and take ou r delight;
W e hcapeth up riches and treasure great store,
W hich w e get by griping and grinding the poor.
A n d this is a w ay for to fill u p our purse,
A lthough w e do g et it w ith m any a curse.
1 In the eighteenth century a curious legend was industriously circulated
conccming an elaborate fraud perpetrated on the Russian government. In I724
an able merchant did declare to the House o f Commons the abuses [in English
cloth] he himself had experienced, and that he had been concerned in clothing
the army of Russia with the Yorkshire cloth, but that the cloth was so ill-managed
that by one shower of rain upon a day of review the clothing of the whole army
shrunk to such a degree that it brought discredit upon the cloth and lost the trade
absolute. T he story was repeated at intervals in the eighteenth and nineteenth
centuries, connccted with various historical personages, ar.d lost nothing in the
re-telling.

STATE CONTROL

109

T h rough out the w hole kingdom , in country and town,

T h ere is no danger o f ou r trade going dow n;
So long as the C om ber can w ork w ith his com b,
A n d also the W eaver w ork with his lom b;
T h e T u c k e r and Spinner th at spins all the year,
W e w ill m ake them to earn their wages full dear.
A n d this is a way for to fill up ou r purse,
A lth ou gh w e do get it w ith m an y a curse.
In form er ages we usd to give
So th at our workfolks like farmers did live;
But the times arc altered, w e will m ake them kn ow
A ll we can for to brin g them all under ou r bow ;
W e w ill m ake [them] to w ork hard for sixpence a day,
T h o u gh a shilling they deserve i f they had their ju s t pay.
A n d this is a w ay for to fill up ou r purse,
A lth o u gh we do get it w ith m an y a curse.
T h e famous Statute o f Apprentices (1563) ordered the justices
o f the peace in every cou n ty and c ity at the an n u al easter
sessions to rate and ap p o in t the w ages o f labourers and
artificers. T h ere was some room for d ou b t w hether it applied
to textile workers, and in 1597 the m agistrates were em pow ered
to rate wages o f any labourers, w eavers, spinsters and w ork
m en or w orkw om en w hatsoever. T h e act o f 1597 w as confinned in 1604 with tw o significant additions a ju stice who
was also a clothier was not allow ed to be a rater o f w ages for
a n y artisan th at dependeth upon the m aking o f cloth;* and
penalties w ere imposed upon an y em ployer who p a id less than
the authorized wages. T h e a ct o f 1604 was thus the first m in i
m um w age act on the E nglish statute-book. T h e system o f
assessment o f wages was evid en d y pojA ilar am ong the w eavers
an d spinners w ho pressed for its enforcem ent. T h e justices
doubtless lacked the necessary technical qualifications for
fram ing com plicated piece-lists; and these were often drafted
b y a jo in t com m ittee o f clothiers and w eavers, an d subm itted
to the justices for ratification. A notew orthy instance o f state
intervention, for the general good o f the w hole com m onw ealth/
w as the issue o f a proclam ation in 1636 ordering th at in view

1 10

WOOL MANUFACTURES

o f the increase in the reel-stafF *a fifth or sixth p a rt longer

than had been accustom ed the wages o f spinners w ere to be
increased after the rate o f twopence in the shilling m ore than
heretofore they have had p a id unto them , and all labourers and
other artificers em ployed about the trade o f clothing and yarnm aking should have the like increase o f wages.
Connected with low wages was a practice w hich persisted
for m an y centuries, nam ely, the paym ent o f truck wages.
Combers, spinners and w eavers w ere often obliged b y their
employers to take most o f their wages in provisions or goods
w hich w ere rated at extravagant priccs. Som e clothiers forced
their weavers to become their tenants and to p a y high rents for
their houses whether they occupied them or not; and others
m ade them b u y their bread and other necessities at particular
shops. A nother device was to defer the paym ent o f w ages until
th ey amounted to a considerable sum, and then com pel the work
people to take promissory notes payable at a future d ate; this not
only drove the workmen into debt but th ey h ad to forfeit p art o f
their earnings in order to get the notes discounted. T h e workers
kept up a ceaseless stream o f protests against these abuses, and for
centuries the legislature enacted laws against them.
T h e intervention o f the state was also dem anded on b eh alf
o f unem ployed artisans. U nem ploym ent is not a m odern
phenom enon: in the cloth m anufacture it is as old as the six
teenth century. Shakespeare alludes to it in King Henry V III:
U p on these taxations
T h e clothiers all, not able to m aintain
T h e m any to them longing, have p ut off
T h e spinsters, carders, fullers, w eavers; who,
U nfit for other life, com pelPd b y hunger
A nd laek o f other means, in desperate m anner
D arin g the event to the teeth, are all in uproar
A n d danger serves am ong them.
%U nem ploym ent was caused b y seasonal fluctuations an d defi
ciency o f water-power as w ell as b y wars and tariffs for instance
in the seventeenth century France, H olland and Sweden
adopted a protectionist p o licy to encourage their ow n industries.

STATE CONTROL

III

T h e intervention o f the governm ent under the T u d o rs and

E arly Stuarts took various forms. First, it sought to secure
continuity o f em ploym ent through lo n g engagem ents. In the
m iddle ages it was not unknow n to engage textile w orkers for
three or four years; a n d the Statute o f A ppren tices (1563)
required a m inim um o f one y e a r (sometimes even in the eight
eenth century they w ere hired in Y orkshire for tw elve m onths).
Second, it insisted that elothiers should not turn th eir em
ployees adrift in periods o f depression and th at m erchants
should take unsold cloth o ff the m anufacturers hands. It
repeatedly laid down the principle th at those w ho g ain ed by
their trade in prosperous times were not at lib erty to discard
it in times o f stress. A n early exam ple o f the pressure b rough t
to bear b y the governm ent upon clothiers and m erchants alike
occurrcd in 1528 when the trade in Flanders was interrupted
b y the outbreak o f w ar. T h e clothiers w ere urged to k eep their
workfolk in em ploym ent, but they declared th at th ey cou ld not
hold out m ore than tw o or three weeks unless the m erchants
continued to b u y as usual. W olscy sum m oned the m erchants
before him and thus addressed them : Sirs, the king is inform ed
th at you use not yourselves like m erchants but like graziers and
artificers; for when the clothiers do d a ily brin g cloths to your
m arket for your ease to their great cost and there b e read y to
sell them, yo u o f your wiifulncss w ill not b u y them as yo u have
been accustom ed to do. W h a t m anner o f men be you? I tell
you that the kin g straitly com m andeth yo u to b u y th eir cloths
as beforetim e you have been accustom ed to do, u pon pain o f
his high displeasure.
O ne o f the most m em orable depressions in the annals o f the
English textile industries began in 1620 and lasted four to five
years. Exports declined b y one-third; the price o f w o o l fell;
clothiers, even those reputed the w ealthiest, w ere b ro u g h t to
the verge o f b ankruptcy; and unem ploym ent was w idespread.
In one W iltshire town forty-four loom s stood idle fo r h a lf a
year by w h ich means eigh t hundred persons, tw en ty at the
least for each loom 1 in w eaving, spinning and spooling, are now
* Estimates o f the number o f persons to whom each loom gave employment
are conflicting.

1 12

WOOL MANUFACTURES

m iserably distressed for w an t o f em ploym ent. T h e distress was

general throughout the kingdom : T h e w hole com m onw ealth
suffcreth, said a royal cdict. M an y thousands o f spinners,
weavers, fullers and eloth-workers were affectcd and disturb
ances seemed likely. W e m uch fear, w rote the justices o f
Gloucestershire to the P rivy Council, that the peace hereof
w ill be very shortly endangered notwithstanding all the
vigilance w e use or can use to the contrary since w orkm en do
w ander, beg and steal and arc in case to starve as their faces
(to our great griefs) do m anifest. T h e unem ployed w ent in
groups to the houses o f the rich dem anding food and money,
and seized provisions in the m arket-place. T h e P rivy C ouncil
actively bestirred itself. It issued a circular letter to the justices
o f the clothing counties, enjoining them to call the clothicrs
together and require the latter to keep their workfolk in em
ploym ent. In some cases the justices w ere able to report that
the employers were fully alive to their responsibilities. T h e
clothiers here do yet continue to keep their poor in w ork as in
former times they have done, although it hath been to their
great losses; and so they are contented to do as lon g as they
m ay occupy their trade w ithout undoing o f themselves. M oney
was borrowed to p ay w ages; and it was recorded that one W ill
Bennett, a very ancient and good clothier, doth offer to live by
brown bread and w ater rather than his great num ber o f poor
people should w ant work i f lie had means to keep them in w ork.
O th er measures were taken to deal with the situation. M er
chants w ere ordered to b uy up as m uch cloth as possible, and
w ool dealers to sell wool a t m oderate prices; clothiers were
protected from the im portunity o f their creditors; the justices
were instructed to raise a fund, w here necessary, to p u t the
unem ployed on work. F in a lly in 1622 a commission, composed
o f twelve persons, was set up to ascertain the causes o f and
remedies for the decay o f trade; and tw o representatives o f the
clothicrs o f each clothing county w ere summoned to London
to give evidence before it. T h is commission, the first o f its kind
to m ake a detailed investigation o f the causes o f unem ploym ent,
drew up a comprehensive report reflecting the diversity o f
opinions expressed by the different interests consulted. T h e

STATE

CONTROL

"3

c h ic f causes were alleged to b e the m aking o f cloth in foreign

parts, the h eavy duties levied on exported cloth, the m onopoly
o f the M erch an t A dventurers, the w a r in G erm an y, the too
littic use o f w earing cloth at hom e and the too m u ch ' o f silks
and foreign stuffs. T h e incidents w e h av e cited do n o t stand
alone, and it was in fact a recognized p ractice for w orkpeople
out o f em ploym ent to solicit the intervention o f ju d g e s o f the
high courts or the local m agistrates.
T h e responsibility for the technical training o f w eavers and
shearmen had rested in the m iddle ages w ith th e gilds. T h e
custom o f seven years apprenticeship was general. I t was
enforced b y statute as e a rly as 1495 *n
casc
shearm en
o f N orw ich and in 1552 for the weavers o f broad w oollen cloths;
eventually in 1563 it w as m ade com pulsory on all artisans.
T h ere w ere also legal restrictions as to the num ber o f ap pren
tices whom a m aster m igh t keep. T h u s the a ct o f 1497 forbade
worsted w eavers to em ploy m ore th an tw o apprentices at
a time, and the Statute o f A pprentices (1563) com pelled
every master in the cloth-m aking industry w ho h a d three
apprentices to take on a journeym an. Th ese law s, w hile
intended to protect the jo u rn eym an from the com petition o f
cheap labour and to ensure th at the cloth was not sp oilt b y the
inferior workm anship o f half-trained assistants, set lim its to
the grow th o f industrial capitalism ; and the latter in addition
was kept in check by restrictions on the n u m b er o f looms
perm itted to each weaver.
T h e C ivil W a r profoundly affected the econom ic life o f the
country. It destroyed the p ow er o f the absolute m on arch y, and
this reacted upon labour conditions. T h e industrial legislation
o f the sixteenth ccntury was allow ed to fall into disuse. T h e
R evolution o f 1688 com pleted the process o f disintegration, and
Parliam ent cam e directly u nder the influence o f the capitalist
class w hich now dem anded its liberation from th e shackles
o f state control. T h e system o f w age assessment died o u t and in
1757 it w as legally discarded in the prem ier indu stry o f the
country, w hereby the principles o f laissez-faire received legisla
tive sanction h a lf a cen tu ry before th ey w ere adop ted as the
authoritative basis o f state action. A s regards unem ploym ent

ii4

WOOL MANUFACTURES

the government, after the Revolution, no longer required the

clothiers to keep their m en em ployed in times o f trade depres
sion and distress was relieved through the m achinery o f the
poor law. Furtherm ore industrial capitalism claim ed the right
not only to m ake its own contract with labour concerning wages
and length o f service w ithout interference, but also to draw
freely on an unlim ited supply o f labour w hether trained
or not. T h e survival o f apprenticeship after the R evolution
becam e a m atter o f local custom rather than slate com
pulsion, for Parliam ent openly abandoned any pretence at
enforcement.
T h e changed attitude o f the state towards the wages problem
and the technical training o f workmen was one o f the factors in
the rise o f trade unionism. C apital and labour were no longer
controlled b y an external authority, and were set free to
determine the general conditions o f em ploym ent accordin g to
their respective strength. T h e workers in wool found th a t they
must depend upon their own efforts for the m aintenance o f
the standard o f life; and the Revolution, w hich brought to a
final close the era o f benevolent autocracy, was soon followed
b y an outburst o f trade union activity.
T h e combinations form ed am ong textile artisans in the
eighteenth century were the forerunners o f the great trade
unions o f the nineteenth ccntury. T h e ostensible purpose o f
these associations was to serve as benefit clubs for the relief o f
the sick. In Gloucestershire, for instance, the m embers o f a
club paid twopence a w eek and received six shillings a week
in times o f sickness. H ow ever benefit clubs easily develop into
trade societies, for when m en who are engaged in the same
occupation meet together at regular intervals they in evitab ly
begin to discuss trade grievances. O u r know ledge o f the early
trade union m ovement is derived m ainly from the accounts given
b y the employers, which are naturally biased. In one town
(Tiverton), it was alleged, the wool-com bcrs and w eavers have
com bined and formed themselves into clubs and unlaw ful
assemblies, and have taken on themselves an arbitrary pow er
to ascertain their wages in their respective businesses and trades;

STATE CONTROL

Ir5

b y m eans w hereof m any tum ultuous and riotous m eetings arid

outrages h ave been b y them frequently had and com m itted
not only on their masters b u t also on their fellow -labourers who
refused to jo in with them in such their practices b y breaking
into houses, spoiling o f w ool, and cu ttin g and destroyin g the
pieces in the looms and the utensils o f trade. O n th eir side the
weavers set forth the grea t hardships they labour u nder from
their masters b y p ayin g their wages in goods and setting ex
travagant priccs on such goods. P arliam ent appointed a com
m ittee to hold an inquiry. O ne witness deposed th a t the
weavers h ad m any clubs in the west o f E n glan d w here th ey m ade
by-laws constituting officers, arranging places o f m eetin g at
w hich ensigns and flags w ere openly displayed, fixin g wages,
and m aking allowances to unem ployed w orkm en on travel.
Another affirm ed th at parties o f w eavers w ent round the
w eavers homes dem anding m oney for the support o f those
com m itted to prison in the rcccnt riots; and th at a n y who
did not p a y their contributions or w orked at low er rates than
others w ere liable to h av e their looms c u t and their w ork
stolen.
A s a result o f the representations m ad e b y the em ployers,
an act was passed in 1726 w hich forbade under p en a lty o f im
prisonm ent all com binations o f w eavers and w ool-com bers
form ed w ith the objcct o f regulating the industry and im proving
the conditions o f lab o u r; an d brcach o f contract, q u ittin g an
em ployers service before the expiration o f the period for w hich
the w orkm an had been hired, was m ad e a crim inal offence.
T h e act was intended b y its authors to stifle the trad e union
m ovem ent at its birth: nevertheless it was not a p u re ly one
sided m easure since it contained provisions for the better
paym ent o f w ages. W hile the state refused to reco gn ize the
righ t o f w orking men to com bine together for the protection
and advancem ent o f th eir econom ic interests, it still accepted
in principle at least the d u ty o f safeguarding the econom ic
w elfare o f the industrial masses. T h e real criticism again st the
act o f 1726 is that it did not affect eq u ally both sections o f the
industrial com m unity. T h e em ployers rem ained free to exercise
a right w hich was refused to w orking m en; and th e clothiers

i i

WOOL MANUFACTURES

(as A dam Sm ith expressly tells us) entered into com binations
always conducted with the utmost silence and secrecy, in
order to m aintain their com m on interests.
T h e wool-combers w ere also organized in unions, and their
relations w ith the employers were far from friendly. A worsted
manufacturer o f Nottingham shire declared in 1794 th at the
m anufacturers are entirely at the m ercy o f their com bcrs and
must p ay them w hatever wages they dem and, p articularly
when trade is in a flourishing slate, insomuch that i f a m anu
facturer displeases one w ool-com bcr all the others cither quit
his service entirely or until he appeases the oflcndcd m em ber,
and no other wool-com bcr w ill work for him so long as he
continues under the displeasure o f any o f the members o f their
society.
T h e organization o f the eloth-finishers first emerges into
prominence at the end o f the eighteenth century; and an
interesting account o f the Yorkshire union, the C roppers
Society corresponding to the Cloth-Drcssers Society in the
west o f E ngland is given in the Report on the State o f the Woollen
Manufacture (1806). It appears that there has existed for some
tim e an institution or society am ong the woollen m anufacturers
consisting chiefly o f cloth-workers. In each o f the principal
m anufacturing towns there appears to be a society com posed o f
deputies chosen from the several shops o f w orkm en; from each
o f which town societies one or more deputies are chosen to form
w hat is called the central com m ittee, w hich meets as occasion
requires at some place suitable to the local convenience o f all
parties. T h e powers o f the ccntral comm ittee appear to pervade
the whole institution; and any determ ination or m easure it
m ay adopt m ay be com m unicated w ith ease throughout the
whole body o f manufacturers. E very w orkm an on his becom ing
a member o f the society receives a certain card or ticket on
w hich is an em blem atical engraving, the sam e both in the north
and the west o f England, th at b y producing his ticket he m ay
a t once show he belongs to the society. T h e same rules and
regulations appear to be in force throughout the w hole district;
and there is die utmost reason to believe that no clotli-w orkcr
w ould be suffered to carry on his trade othenvise than in solitude

STATE CONTROL

IX7

w ho should refuse to subm it to the obligations an d rules o f

the society. A stated w eekly contribution, greater or less accord
ing to existing circum stanccs, is required from every m em ber
and o f course the sum raised in this w a y m a y be an d in fact has
been very considerable. It appears th a t from the fund liberal
w eekly allowances have been m ade to w hole shops o f w orkm en
w ho have turned out, as it is callcd i.e. w ho h av e illegally
com bined to q uit the scrvicc o f some particular m aster w ho has
bccom c obnoxious to them, and thereby to force h im into a
com pliancc w ith their terms. It likewise appeal's th at the society
w hich b y em bracing only the w orkm en in the woollen
m anufacture throughout so large a district must b oth from its
num bers and its pecuniary resources have b ccom c a very
powerful body had form ed a sort o f confederacy, ccm entcd
as it appears b y m utual contributions and p aym ents, with
various oth er classes o f artificers now ise connected w ith the
woollen trad e; and th at these connections and the effects o f
them w ere not confincd to the cloth ing district b u t th at they
extended to various parts o f E ngland, and (your com m ittee
have reason to believe) into Scotland also. T h e objccts o f
this com bination am ong cloth-finishers w ere fourfold: to
raise wages, prescribe the a g e at w hich apprentices should be
taken, regulate the num ber o f apprentices in accordance
w ith the num ber o f journ eym en , and resist the introduction o f
m achinery.

CH APTER SEVEN

Processes and Inventions

the inventions which revolutionized
the woollen and worsted industries, we must gain some notion
o f the m ain technical processes involved in the preparation and
m anufacture o f cloth. T h e different stages o f cloth-m aking arc
described in a poem p rinted in .*641i1
in o r d e r t o understand

A s first, the Parter th at doth neatly cull

T h e finer from the coarser sort o f wool.
T h e D yer then in order next doth stand
W ith sweating brow and a laborious hand.
W ith oil they then aspcrgc it, w hich being done,
T h e careful hands o f M ixers round it run.
T h e Stock-carder his arms doth hard em ploy
(Rem em bering F rid ay is our M arket D ay).
T h en K n cc-card cr doth (without control)
Q u ickly convert it to a lesser roll.
W hich done, the Spinster doth in hand it take
A n d o f tw o hundred rolls one thread doth m ake.
T h e W eaver next doth warp and w eave the ch ain
W hilst Puss his cat stands m ew ing for a skein.
But he laborious with his hands and heels
Forgets his cat and cries: Com e boy with quills.
Being filld the B raycr doth it m undify
From oil and dirt that in the same doth he.
T h e Burler then (yea thousands in this place)
T h e thick-set weed w ith nimble hand doth chase.
T h e F uller then close b y his stock doth stand
A n d w ill not once shake M orpheus b y the hand.
T h e R ow er next his arms lifts up on high.
A n d near him sings the Shearm an m errily.
1 R. Watts, The Young Man's Looking Glas;.

P R O C ES S E S A N D I N V E N T I O N S

IX9

T h e D raw er, last, th at m any faults cbth hide

(W hom m erchant nor the w eaver can abide).
Y e t he is one in m ost cloths stops more holes
T h a n there be stairs to the top o f Pauls.
T h e first process was wool-sorting. T h e perfect an d p rin cip al
ground o f cloth-m aking, declared a statute o f 1554, is the true
sorting o f wools. T h e long wool had to be d ivid ed from the
short w ool, and the different qualities there m ig h t b e more
than a dozen sorts in a single fleece carefully separated.
In the same fleece diversity o f wool
G row s interm ingled, and excites the care
O f curious skill to sort the scvral kinds.
N im b ly with h abitu al speed
T h e y sever lock from lock, and long and short
A n d soft and rigid p ile in scvral heaps.1
A fter bein g sorted the w ool was scoured to dissolve the grease.
T h e operation was done in a stream. T h e short w o o l was p u t
in baskets, and the w ater was drained through the baskets
leaving the wool behind, w hich was dried in lofts or in the sun.
T h e long wool was washed w ith tw o poles, having crooks at one
end, w hich w ere twisted reverse w ays squeezing the w ater out
like w ringing a tow el. T h e w ool had to be eleansed from
m iscellaneous im purities; in unwashed wool foreign m atter
m ade up a very considerable p art o f the w eight.2 A lso the far
mers often branded the sheep w ith p itch and ta r ; this was
detrim ental to the w ool w hich also suffered from excessive
m arking. T h e m anufacturers w ere therefore obliged to w aste an
appreciable quantity o f wool in clip p in g o ff the dam aged parts.
A nother abuse was the fraudulent w in d in g o f w ool, stigm atised
as *a crim e o f ancient d a te . As ea rly as 1532 it w as enacted
that no person should w in d w ithin an y flcccc clay, lead, stones,
tail, deceitful locks, cotts, eals, com ber, lam bs w ool or any
other th ing w hereby the fleece m ight be more w eig h ty to the
deceit and loss o f the buyer. In some parcels o f w ool onefifteenth o f the weight was lost owing to m alpractices in m arking
1 Dyer, The Fleece (1757).

1 See Part I.

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W O OL MANUFACTURES

and w inding; and in the middle o f the eighteenth century

complaints were presented to Parliam ent from sixty centres o f
the cloth trade. T h e cause o f the growers was taken up b y John
Smith, the author o f Memoirs o j Wool, w ho defended them from
the accusations o f the m anufacturers the inveterate antagonists
to wool growers for ages and ccnturies.
W hen the wool was d ry 1 it was beaten with rods to free it
from dust, an operation know n as w illcying. It was then pickcd
to remove any refuse w hich had escaped the rods. After
these operations o f sorting and cleansing, the wool was in a con
dition to undergo the prelim inary processes o f m anufacturing
nam ely carding or com bing.2
W ool textiles w ere divided into tw o m ain branches the
woollen branch or m anufacture o f short cardcd w ool; and
the worsted branch or m anufacture o f long combed w ool.3 T h e
term cloth was used w here both w arp and weft were spun from
cardcd wool, while the term stuff denoted that w arp and weft
were spun from com bed wool. A third category, serge, was
created b y the mixture' o f carded and com bed wool the weft
being cardcd yarn and the warp com bed yarn. Th ese three
fundam ental sorts/ as they were called, w ere subdivided into
a great num ber o f others according to certain qualities added
to them and different w ays o f w orking. Thus com bcd wool,
as we learn from a list given to Parliam ent in 1794, was
used in the m anufacture (among others) o f sagathies, duroy,
estamanes, shalloons, poplins, lastings, callim anco, bom ba
zine, stuff-damask, cam lets, crapes, russells, druggets, sanfords
and baize.
T h e short wool, as already stated, was carded and the
long wool com bcd. T h e purpose o f card in g was to disintegrate
the locks o f wool, and straighten out and interlace the fibres.
It was done b y means o f hand-cards w hich resembled handbrushes in shape, the backs being m ade o f stout card or wood
twelve inches long and five inches w ide, and the fronts being
1 Or even before it was washed.
a For the processes of scribbling and stubbing, see Chapter Eight.
* The historic difference between woollens and worsteds was that the latter
underwent the combing process. Short carded wool can now be used in the
worsted manufacture owing to improvements in combing machinery.

PROCESSES

AND INVENTIONS

121

fitted w ith short pieces o f w ire (instead o f bristles) set in a

leather cover. T h e wool w as spread in small q uan tities upon
one o f the cards, and brushed and com bed with the oth er until
all the fibres w ere disentangled from the locks and crossed in
every direction, after w h ich it was stripped off the c a rd in soft
fleecy rolls term ed slivers. O rig in a lly th e cards w ere h eld one
in each h an d ; but subsequently one o f the cards w as m ad e a
fixture, and its size was also increased so th at a greater q u an tity
o f wool could be spread on it. A later im provem ent was to
suspend the card from the cciling, w h ich relieved the op erator
from bearing its w eight. T h e new typ e o f cards bore the nam e
o f stock cards. T h e sliver was converted into a thick coarsc
thread called roving, and the rovings w ere then sp u n into a
fine twisted thread term ed yarn. T h e m ethod o f ro v in g was
analogous to that o f spinning, and both involved the use o f the
sam e instrum ent: a description o f spinning will therefore serve
as a description o f roving. W e must first, however, sa y a w ord
about the process w hich corresponded to carding in the worsted
industry nam ely, w ool-com bing.
T h ree implements w ere em ployed in w ool-com bing a p air
o f combs, a post to w h ich one o f the com bs was fixed, and a
com b-pot or small stove for heating the teeth o f the com bs.
T h e com b was a piece o f w ood shaped like the letter T . T h e
perpendicular p art served as the h an d le; while the h orizon tal
p art o r head, which u su ally m easured three inches in w id th ,
contained lo n g pointed teeth. T h e teeth were fin ely tapered,
m ade o f w ell-tem pered steel, and gen erally arranged in three
rows ab out thirty in each an d placed nearly at rig h t angles to
every p art o f the w ood. T h e wool was h u n g upon the teeth o f
the com b affixed to the post in such a m anner as to p roject
over the front o f the h e ad ; w hen sufficiendy filled a n d firm ly
fixed, another com b o f the sam e kind was draw n th rou gh the
wool so as to unravel and la y each h air o f it smooth an d even .
T h e com b not only served to lay the fibres parallel w ith each
other but also to separate the long w ool (the top) from th e w ool
o f shorter staple (the noil). T h e w ork o f the w ool-com bers was
both unpleasant and unhealthy. A ccord in g to an account
written in 1845,
wool-com bers assort the w ool ch iefly in

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

an apartm ent o f their own dwelling. T h e w ork is done over a

fire o f charcoal w hich sends forth volumes o f carbonic acid gas,
and the workpeople are obliged to keep their windows open in
all weathers to prevent or to m itigate the evil effects o f the gas.
T h e y arc roasted to perspiration on one side, and have often a
current o f cold air rushing u pcn them from the w indow . T h e y
look pale and cadaverous and arc short-lived, few reach ing
fifty years o f age. T h e discontent w hich prevailed am ong them
m ay be attributed in p art to the harassing and enfeebling
n atu re o f their em ploym ent and their ill-ventilated and
unhealthy dwellings. It w as, indeed, an argum ent in favour
o f m achinery that the hand-com bcr confined to noisome
abodes [was] enervated b y the heat and effluvium o f charcoal
fires.
T h e original method o f spinning the word means to draw
ou t and twist the fibres o f w ool so as to form a continuous thread
was the distaff (or rock) and spindle. T h e distaff was a cleft
sta ff about a yard long with a forked top on which a fleece o f
w ool, called the lint or tow, was loosely w ound. It was held
under the left arm or sometimes carried in the girdle o f the spin
ner in order to give freedom to the hands. T h e procedure was
to draw a continuous lock o f wool from the fleece through the
fingers o f the left hand, and twist it between the forefinger
and thum b o f the right w ith the aid o f a pendent spindle. T h e
latter was a slender rod constructed o f reed or other ligh t wood
and m easuring eight to tw elve inches in length. A n incision
was m ade at the top for attaching the thread to the spindle, and
as the spindle was perpetually revolving it served to draw out
and produce a m ore finely twisted thread. T h e low er end o f the
spindle was inserted in a w horl a ring or w eight usually m ade
o f stone but sometimes o f m etal or wood w ith a hole bored
through the centre to adm it the spindle. T h e m ain object o f the
whorl was to act as a flywheel to the w hirling spindle, keeping
it steady b y its w eight and m aking it revolve uniformly. It also
served a subsidiary purpose in preventing the thread from
becom ing unravelled b y shuffling dow n from the centre to the
end. A noth er form o f spindle was an elongated cone o f wood,
the low er end being the thicker and acting as the w eigh t; here

PROCESSES AND INV ENTIONS

1 23

no w horl was needed to serve as a flywheel. A s the spinner

g ra d u a lly lengthened the thread w ith her fingers, the spindle
touched the ground and a length was said to be spun. T h e
thread was then w ound upon the spindle, another p ortio n o f
the tow was attached to the top o f the spindle, and the spinner
set to work upon a fresh length. T h is m ode o f spinning, w h ich
was prevalent in ancient times, is thus described b y C a tu llu s :
T h e loaded distaff, in the left hand placed,
W ith spongy coils o f snow -w hite w ool was g ra c e d ;
From these the right hand lengthening fibres drew,
W hich into thread n eath nim ble fingers grew.
T h e discovery o f whorls in the Pictish towers (brochs) affords
evidence o f the distaff and spindle in these islands in the
rem otest times. T h e ir survival in the eighteenth ccn tu ry is
indicated in D y e rs poem The Fleece (1757):
M a n y y e t adhere
T o th* ancient distaff, at the bosom fixd,
C asting the w hirling spindle as they walk.
A n d m ore than a hundred years later they w ere still bein g
used.
T h e distaff and spindle w ere eventually superseded b y the
spinning-w heel (or hand-wheel), w hich was erroneously sup
posed to have been introduced into E ngland b y an Ita lia n in
the sixteenth ccn tury but was really know n in this coun try at
least as early as the fourteenth cen tu ry.1 T h e purpose o f the
spinning-wheel was to give m otion to the spindle b y m eans o f
a revolvin g wheel. Instead o f being suspended b y the thread,
the spindle was mounted in a fram e and turned b y a b elt
passing over a large w heel. T h e follow ing description w as
w ritten in the early nineteenth century. In spinning w ith the
h and-w heel the roving was taken fast hold o f betw ixt the left
forefinger and thum b at six inches distance from the spindle.
T h e w heel, w hich b y a band g av e m otion to the spindle, was
then turned with the right h an d, and at the same tim e the left
h an d holding the roving fast as before m entioned was
1 It is mentioned in the Records of Nottingham.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

draw n back about h a lf a yard. T h e roving was thus draw n out

into w eft,1 the necessary twist was then given b y a few turns o f
the wheel, and finally the w eft was wound upon the spindle.
A d a m Smith asserts that the exchange o f the distaff and spindle
for the spinning-wheel enabled a spinner to perform m ore than
double the quantity o f work w ith the sam e quan tity o f labour.
A t first the wheel was turned b y one hand, and the thread
twisted and draw n out by th e oth er; subsequently the wheel
w as turned by a treadle and crank which the spinner w orked
w ith her foot. This left the spinner free to em ploy both her
hands in spinning the thread. In m y m em ory, stated the
w riter o f a treatise on Silk, Wool, Worsted, Cotton, and Thread
(1779), wool was spun on the long wheel only, w hich was
tedious and irregular, the wheel being at least five feet perpen
d icular with one spindle. This wheel was turned b y a p eg w ith
the right hand, and the wool spun from the left b y the hand
being extended as the wheel was turned. T h e next invention
was a one-handed wheel so-called from its m otion being
continued with one hand, and the yarn spun w ith the other and
twisted with a spindle and flyer. In 1750 a wheel was invented
to spin with both hands, turned w ith the feet. 2
W eavin g has been defined as the art b y w hich threads arc
crossed and interlaced. W e m ay expand the definition b y
saying that a piece o f cloth is m ade up o f longitudinal threads
laid parallel to cach other and intersected b y transverse threads.
T h e longitudinal threads constitute the w arp or chain, the
transverse threads the weft or vvoof.3 T h e process o f w eavin g
consists in inserting the threads o f the weft between the alter
nate threads o f the warp.
T h e first task o f the w eaver was to arrange the w arp in order
on the loom. This was termed loom ing; and unless the w arp
was put square (fixed properly) on the loom, every thread at
an equal tension, the texture o f the cloth w ould b e uneven. T h e
loom was framed like an oblong box, four upright posts being
join ed together b y two long and tw o short posts. A t one end o f
1 I.e. thread.
1 For the defects of hand-spinning, see above Chapter Five.
* T he weft was also called abb and shute.

P RO C E S S E S A N D I N V E N T I O N S

125

the loom was the w arp beam , at the other end the cloth beam .
T h e w arp threads w ere laid p arallel to each other extending
lengthw ise across the loom from one beam to the other, an d as
the cloth was w oven it was w oun d upon the cloth beam and
fresh w arp was p aid out by the w arp beam . In the m iddle o f
the loom the w arp passed through tw o sets o f hcalds. T h e latter
w ere sm all p arallel cords or wires, stretched vertically betw een
tw o horizontal bars, each cord h aving a loop or eye for the
adm ission o f a single thread o f the w arp. T h e even threads o f
the w arp passed through the loops o f one le a f 1 or set o f hcalds,
the odd threads through the loops o f the other leaf. T h e re
w ere thus two scries o f w arp threads, the even and the odd, the
form er controlled b y the first set o f hcalds and the latter b y the
second set. T h e hcalds were w orked b y tw o treadles; and when
one treadle was depressed by the foot, it lifted :he other treadle
as w ell as the set o f hcalds connected w ith it. T he contrivance
enabled the w eaver to raise alternately one section o f the
threads o f the w arp for the passage o f the weft. T h e w arp
threads were then inserted in the batten or sley, a m ovable
w ooden frame designed on the prin ciple o f a com b w ith a
large num ber o f dents through each o f which several threads
o f the w arp w ere draw n to keep them in position.
W h en the w arp was prepared in the m anner w e have des
cribed, the w eaver seated him self at the loom >nd w ith his foot
depressed the righ t treadle. T h is raised the left treadle, and
(as explained above) m ade an opening or shod in the w arp T h ro u g h the shed he now sw iftly threw the shuttle a p iccc o f
w ood tapering to a point at each end and containing a ca v ity
or ch am b cr for the reception o f the bobbin or quill, a sm all
reed p ip e on w hich was wound a q uan tity o f weft. A s the shuttle
shot across the w arp from the right side o f the loom to the left,
the w eft unrolled itself from the bobbin and escaped through a
sm all hole or eye in the side o f the shutde. T h e w eft thread was
then beaten hom e and packed close by the batten against the
stretch o f cloth already produced b y form er throws (picks as
they w ere called) o f the shuttle. T h e left treadle was in its turn
depressed; this caused the right treadle to rise and with it the
1 A leaf, the name given to a set of hcalds, was also termed gear.

WOOL MANUFACTURES

alternate series o f warp threads, form ing another shed for the
passage o f the shuttle from the left side to the right.
A nd now he strains the w arp
A lo n g the garden-w alk or highw ay side,
Sm oothing each th re ad ; now fits it to the loom
A nd sits before the w ork; from hand to hand
T h e thready shuttle glides along the lines;
A n d ever and anon, to firm the work,
Against the w eb is d rivn the noisy frame
T h a t o er the level rushes like a surge.
T h e art o f w eaving, apart from the laborious task o f fixing the
w arp on the loom, thus involved three distinct operations
opening alternate sheds in the w arp b y means o f the treadles;
casting the shuttle through each shed w hen o p en ed ; and drivin g
hom e the w eft threads with the batten. T h e swiftness o f the
shuttle becam e p roverb ial:
M y days are swifter than a w eavers shuttle.
A single weaver was able to work a narrow loom, throw ing the
shuttle with one hand and catching it with the other; b u t tw o
weavers were needed for the broad loom, one a t each end to
receive and return the shuttle thrown b y his partner.
Iland-loom w eaving, as a w riter pointed out in 1836, is not
easy labour; the position in which the w eaver sits is not the best
for m uscular exertion as he has no firm support for his feet,
w hich are alternately raised and depressed in w orking the
treadles. H e has thus to depend for a fulcrum chiefly on the
muscles o f his back which are kept in constant and vigorous
action, while one order o f muscles is em ployed w ith little p ow er
o f variation in m oving the shuttle and [batten]. These processes,
w hen carried on for m any successive hours, are very w earyin g
and the exertion required becomes after a w hile laborious. T h e
w eaver who worked hard, therefore, actually toiled a con
dition widely different from that o f the steam -loom w eaver.
A n o th er criticism o f hand-loom w eaving is th at the most
experienced workers rarely wove cloth uniform in textu re;
they could not throw the shuttle nor drive hom e the batten,

P R O C ES S E S A N D I N V E N T I O N S

127

from beginning to end, w ith the even forcc and m ech anical
precision o f a pow er-loom ; and a w eaker or stronger b low a t
once affceted the texture. N o r co u ld a hand-loom w eaver w ork
at the speed o f a steam-loom, w hich was able to m ake m an y
m ore times the num ber o f picks p er m inute. T h e pow er-loom
not only reproduced the hum an m ovem ents but it accelerated
their speed, and com bined w ith them an endurance th a t was
inexhaustible.
W eavin g was not the final process in clo:h-m aking, for as
L an glan d w rote:
C lo th that com eth fro the w eavin g is naught com ely to w ear
T ill it is fulled under foot or in fulling stocks,
W ashen w ell w ith water, an d w ith teasles scratched,
T u ck e d and tented, and under tailors hand.
A fte r the cloth was w oven it was scoured in order to get rid o f the
oil used in scribbling and o f the size w ith which the w arp was
dressed; it was burled, that is, the knots and extraneous p a r
ticles in the cloth w ere picked o u t; and (in the case o f w oollen
cloth o n ly)1 it was fulled.
A norm al difference between w oollen and worsted fabrics
was th at the form er were thickened and felted w ith the result
th a t the fibres, instead o f lyin g parallel w ith each other, w ere
in extricab ly interlaced and the w oven pattern o f the cloth
frequently ceased to be visible. T h e process o f felting is kn ow n
as fulling: the cloth was soaped and beaten in a dam p state
w ith h e av y w ooden hammers so as to m ake it w arm er, op aqu e
and m ore durable. T h e prim itive m ethod o f fulling consisted
in tram plin g die cloth underfoot until it was sufficiently shrunk
a p iece o f cloth often shrank up to two-thirds o f its origi
nal length and about h alf its original width. A cco rd in g ly
the fuller was sometimes called a w alker. T h e first im prove
m ent in the art o f fulling w as to substitute a sitting posture
for a n erect one, thereby en ab lin g the operation to be
perform ed w ith greater rapidity and ease. T h om as P ennant,
w ho visited the north o f S cod an d in 1774 and cam e across
a survival o f the ancient m ode o f fulling w ith hand and
1 Some worsteds arc now lightly milled (i.e. fulled).

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

foot in the Isle o f Skye, gives the follow ing interesting des
cription o f it: O n m y return a:n entertained w ith a rehearsal,
I m ay call it, o f the Luaghad or w alking o f cloth, a substitute
for the fulling m ill; twelve or fourteen women divided into
equal numbers sit down on each side o f a long board ribbed
lengthways, placing the cloth on it; first they begin to w ork it
backwards and forwards with their hands, singing at the sam e
tim e as at the Q u e rn ;1 w hen they have tired their hands every
fem ale uses her feet for the same purpose, and six or seven pairs
o f naked feet arc in the most violent agitation w orking one
against the other; as b y this time they grow very earnest in
their labours the fury o f the song rises; at length it arrives to
such a pitch that w ithout brcach o f charity you w ould im agine
a troop o f female demoniacs to have been assembled. T h e y sing
in the same m anner when they arc cutting down the corn, w hen
thirty or forty jo in in chorus. T h e subjects o f the songs a t the
Luaghad, the Q uern and on this occasion arc sometimes love,
sometimes panegyric, often a rehearsal o f the deeds o f ancient
heroes, but all the tunes slow and m elancholy. O v e r a century
later another w riter describes a picturesque sight in the H ig h
lands. A dozen or more H ighland lassies sit round in tw o rows
facin g each other. T h e web o f cloth is passed round in a dam p
state, each one pressing and pitching it w ith a dash to her next
neighbour. T h e process is slow and tedious but the tim e is
beguiled w ith song, each taking up the verse in turn and all
jo in in g in the chorus. Should a m em ber, o f the m ale sex be
found prowling nearby he is i f caught uncerem oniously
thrust into the centre o f the circle and tossed with the w eb
till, bruised w ith the rough usage and blackencd w ith the
dye, he is glad to make his escape from the hands o f the
furies.
T h e use o f fulling mills in place o f hand and foot dates from
very early times; they afford apparently the oldest exam ple o f
the application o f m otivc-powcr to the textile industries. T h e
fullery consisted o f wooden hammers o r shafts hinged to an
upright post and worked b y water-power and hollow vessels
know n as stocks or fullers pots, which held the cloth as it was
1 I.e. mill-grinding.

PROCESSES AND INVEN TIONS

129

pounded b y the strokes o f the ham m ers. D yers account o f the

fulling mill runs:
N ext from the slackend beam the w oof unrolld,
N ear some clear sliding river A ire o r Stroud,
Is b y the noisy fulling m ill receivd;
W here tum bling waters turn enormous wheels,
A n d ham m ers rising and descending learn
T o im itate the industry o f man.
T h e em ploym ent o f w ater m ills for fulling aroused great
opposition. A s early as 1298 L ondon prohibited fulling a t the
m ills instead o f by m ight and strength o f m an and th at is w ith
hand and foot. T h e prohibition was removed in 14.17 on the
ground that w ater mills involved less cost and were eq u ally
serviceable, b u t it was revived tw enty years later. T h e a n ta
gonism to m achinery driven b y p ow er was doubtless one o f the
m ain reasons for the delay in its introduction into industry.
In 1485, for exam ple, the ow ner o f a fulling m ill in the Stroud
V a lle y was attacked b y a crow d o f m alefactors vi et armis
viz. w ith swords, sticks, bows and arrows, scythes, jakkcs,
arm our etc. w ith intent to m urder him so th at he was m an y
times affrighted and disturbed. T h e opposition to the fu llin g
m ill eventually died down yet another grievance was voiced a t
Pontefract in 1739. C om plaint was m ade to the justices th a t it
is, and for m an y years last past hath been, a com m on p ractice
to m ill narrow cloth upon sundays; and that the cloth-m akers
arc now arrived to such a scandalous and shocking degree o f
prophaning the sabbath this w ay, th at they even contrive to
brin g m ore cloths to be m illed upon sunday than any oth er day.
W h ereb y both masters and servants are guilty o f a p u b lic
neglect o f the h o ly duties o f the day, and b y certain conse
quen ce are insensibly draw n into the commission o f all m an ner
o f sin and wickedness to the great displeasure o f A lm ig h ty
G o d , the scandal o f the kingdom , the evil exam ple o f their
neighbours, and the breach o f all laws both divin e and
h u m an .
W hen the cloth had been fulled it was stretched 011 tenters
in the open air to dry. N ex t it was dressed or finished. T h e

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W OOL MANUFACTURES

finishing process involved tw o operations one was row ing,

th a t is, draw ing out the loose fibres from the cloth with tcaslcs1
so as to raise a nap on the surface; the other was shearing, th at
is, cropping the nap as closely as possible so as to im p a rt a
sm ooth appearance to the surface. T h e cloth now passed into
the hands o f the draw er w ho repaired an y blem ishes; and
then it was pressed between heated plates and packed for the
m arket.
D yein g was a separate proccss in itself. Sometimes the w ool
w as dyed after it was washed but before it was woven. W ooldyed cloth was termed m edley cloth; it was m ad e out o f the
sam e m aterial as w hite cloth though its wool was dyed before
w eaving. In the west country most W iltshire cloth was said to
be dyed in the wool, w hile Gloucestershire cloth was chiefly
dyed in the piece after being woven. A ccordin g to L uccock, an
authority on w ool, the methods o f dyeing w ere distinctly
prim itive in Yorkshire. H e w rote (1805): B u t indeed w hat can
w e expect but faint, m uddy and uncertain colours w here wool
is dyed as is too m uch the custom in Yorkshire w ithout
being scoured, in pans unwashed, and with m aterials m ixed
together upon a floor unswept w here a little before perhaps have
been m ixed ingredients calculated to produce a totally different
tint?
O f the inventions, whose history w e have now to relate, the
fly shuttle and the carding m achine were first introduced into
the woollen industry; the com bing m achine was confined to
the worsted industry; spinning b y rollers was intended both for
w ool and cotton textiles; and the power-loom was designed for
cotton and subsequentiy applied to wool.
J o h n K a y , the inventor o f the fly shuttle, was born in 1704
a t W alm ersley near B ury in Lancashire. In 1733 he patented
an invention w hich enabled one weaver to do the work o f tw o
and ushered in an era o f revolutionary changes in the organiza
tion and distribution o f the textile industries. T h e m ain feature
o f K a y s device was the new m ode o f casting the shuttle. T h e
batten was flanked on each side b y a shuttle race-board alon g
1 A tcaslt is a plant with prickly leaves.

PROCESSES AND INVENTIONS

w h ich the shuttle ran on wheels. T h e boards were connected b y

m eans o f a cord with a lever or picking peg held in th e righ t
hand. A je rk o f the picking p eg gave the ne:essary im petus to
the shuttle w hich was driven to and fro across the w arp
m echanically w ithout being thrown b y the w eavers hands, one
o f w hich was thus left entirely free to w ork the batten a n d b eat
together the weft threads. T h e speed at w hich the shuttle could
n ow be thrown gained for the new contrivancc the nam e o f fly
shuttle. R o b ert K a y , a son o f Jo h n K a y , afterwards inven ted
the drop box w hich m ade it possible to use a variety o f shuttles,
each containing a different coloured weft. T h e invention o f the
fly shutde, or spring loom, enabled a w eaver to dispense w ith
assistance in w eaving b roadcloth ; he ceased to be depen dent
on a journeym an whose irregular habits arising from idleness,
intem perance or sickness h ad often hindered his work. N ev er
theless hand-loom w eaving is not m erely a m atter o f th row in g
a shuttle; it involves the laborious task o f binding the w arp
threads on the loom and rep airin g broken threads. A w eaver
h ad to do all this on the spring loom single-handed, an d some
m aintained th at the work could not be done in the sam e time.
T h e fly shuttle certainly increased the production o f cloth since
one operative now sufficed to w ork a loom , and he was a b le to
c a m m ore m oney. It also cfFccted an im provem ent in his
h ealth ; he sat upright instead o f h aving to lean forw ard and so
was less subject to breast disorders. Y e t the w crk was ap p aren tly
m ore strenuous and the com m on o r double-handed loom still
had its use for older m en.1
It has been said that K a y s invention called forth th a t op p o
sition o f the w orking classes to the abridgem ent o f processes o f
lab o u r which was so conspicuous a fact for nearly a cen tu ry
afterw ards in British industry. A ctu a lly from very early times
textile workers had displayed a resolute antagonism to the
abridgem ent o f processes o f lab ou r. T h e y fought strenuously
against the use o f fulling and gig m ills in the finishing processes
1 When K ays fly shutde was introduced into the north o f Ireland the new
process o f weaving attracted large crowds, and one woman was enthusiastic in her
admiration o f it. Clapping her hands she exclaimed in Scoto-Hibemic phraseology:
"W eel, wee] I the warks o Gods wondthcrful but the contrivancc o man bates
Him at last 1* '

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

o f the cloth industry; and their hostility to K a y and the long

line o f inventors w ho succeeded him sprang from a traditional
dislike o f innovations, coupled w ith a deep-rooted fear that
m achinery w ould take from them their means o f livelihood. In
the case o f inventions like the fly shuttle the folly o f resisting
im provem ents was soon rendered manifest, for the hand-loom
w eavers were the first to benefit b y changcs w hich gave them
a m ore perfect com m and over their instruments. K a y s ill-fated
career is a m elancholy illustration o f the evil destiny w hich has
pursued so m an y o f the English inventors; their lives have
frequently been a sequence of disappointments, sometimes
relieved b y transitory gleams o f success but m ore often shrouded
in obscurity and gloom . T h e weavers o f Colchester, w here
K a y lived, opposed the introduction o f the fly shuttle. T h e ir
enm ity drove him to the north o f E ngland and he settled in
Leeds. Here he found him self in conflict with the W est R id in g
clothicrs, who adopted his invention yet declined to p a y for it.
In order to protect themselves in this m ean and dishonest
conduct they even established an association under the nam e
o f T h e Shuttle C lu b / w hich bore the costs o f the lawsuits
brought by the inventor in defence o f his rights. A bandoning
the country w hich had given so rude a w elcom e to his inventive
talent K a y w ent into exile abroad. T h e French governm ent
aw arded him a pension in return for his m aking shuttles, and
he died in France about the age of seventy-five.
W ho first conceived the idea o f autom atic spinning? T h e
claim s o f four m en have been w idely canvassed Lewis Paul,
Joh n W yatt, R ich ard A rkw right, and Thom as Highs. T h e
problem has never been satisfactorily solved though one funda
m ental fact is beyond all reasonable dispute. T h e m ode o f
spinning by rollers was undoubtedly known a generation before
A rkw righ t, w ith whose nam e the invention is com m only
associated, set up his first m achine in the house o f a Preston
schoolmaster. T h e date o f its invention is 1738, for in that year
a p aten t was taken out in the nam e o f Lewis Paul, and the
specification explaining the nature and scope o f the m achine
anticipates the vital principles o f the water-fram e. It states
th a t the sliver is p ut between a p air o f rollers [and], being

PROCESSES AND INV ENTIONS

I33

turned round b y their m otion, draws in the raw mass o f w ool

or cotton to be spun in proportion to the velocity o f such rollers.
A succession o f other rollers, m oving proportionately faster
th an the rest, draw the rope, thread, or sliver, into a n y degree
o f fineness th a t m ay be requ ired . In addition the b obbin ,
spolc or quill upon which the thread is spun is so contrived
as to draw faster than the first rollers give and in such proportion
as the sliver is proposed to be dim inished. T h e description o f
the m achine w hich bears P au ls nam e demonstrates th at
A rkw righ t, w hatever his other merits, was not the original
inventor o f the m ode o f spinning b y rollers.
T h e carccr o f Lew is Paul, the reputed inventor o f th e first
English m achine on which thread was ever spun w ith o u t the
aid o f hum an fingers, is obscure. H e was the son o f a F ren ch
refugee w ho settled in our coun try during an era o f religious
persecution in France. In his enterprises Paul associated h im
self w ith a skilled m echanic, Jo h n W yatt, and the la tte r has
been credited w ith the real authorship o f the invention. T h is
w as the expressed b elief o f W y a tts descendants, and it was
shared b y one o f the earliest investigators into the history o f
the textile inventions. T h e m erit o f conceiving the p rin cip le
o f spinning b y rollers, acco rd in g to E dw ard Baines, is the
g lory o f W ya tt. T h e letters and papers o f Paul and W y a tt h av e
com e to ligh t; and they ap p ear to show that the m erit really
belongs to Paul, while W y a tt was the m echanic w ho carried
ou t his ideas. A m em orandum in the handw riting o f J o h n
W ya tt, discovered am ong his papers, has established the point.
Thoughts originally M r. Paul's 1. T h e join in g o f the rolls.
2. T h e ir passing through cylinders. 3. T h e calculation o f the
wheels, b y w hich means the bobbin draws faster th an those
cylinders. T h is I presume was picked up somewhere before I
kn ew him . W y a tt only claim ed for him self various m ech anical
im provem ents which his experience as a trained m ech anic
w ou ld enable him to introduce into P au ls m achine. A n o th er
p iece o f evidence is that Paul, w ho ow ed W yatt over 800,
undertook to give his assistant the plan which he h im self was
using for erecting, m aking and perfecting proper m achines or
engines and spindles for the spinning o f wool or cotton. W y a tt

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

also rcccivcd the right to set up three hundred spindles for the
spinning o f w ool or cotton according to the new invention o f
L ew is P au l, and the contract contains a significant passage:
T h e said Lew is Paul shall and w ill give unto the said Joh n
W y a tt such further instructions for the erecting, m aking and
p erfecting o f the machines or engines and spindles as shall be
requisite and needful for the effectual w orking and m an age
m ent o f the sam e. T h is language seems to adm it only o f one
conclusion th at Paul, not W yatt, was the inventor o f the
m achine w hich w as the subject o f the contract.
A m ill was erected at Birm ingham (1738-1743), and another
w as started at N ortham pton with m oney furnished b y C av e the
ed itor o f The Gentleman's Magazine. D yer, in his poem The Fleece
(1757), alludes to P au ls invention in the following terms:
W e next are shown
A circular m achine o f new design
In conic shape: it draws and spins a thread
W ith ou t the tedious toil o f needless hands.
A wheel, invisible, beneath the floor
T o evry m em ber o f th harmonious frame
Gives necessary motion. O ne, intent,
O erlooks the w ork: the cardcd wool, he says,
Is sm oothly lappd around those cylinders,
W hich gently turning yield it to yon cirque
O f upright spindles, w hich with rapid w hirl
Spin out in long extent an even twine.
T h e enterprise proved a failure in both places. P au l was short
o f capital, and his letters to W yatt reveal the straits to w h ich
he was often reduced in his desperate efforts to raise the
necessary funds. E ven W y a tt him self saw for a time the inside
o f a debtors prison. A nother reason for P au ls inability to reap
the fruits o f his inventive genius, and to achieve the com m ercial
success w hich afterwards attended A rkw righ ts ow n efforts in
the sam e field, was doubtless the imperfect nature o f his m achine.
A lth ou gh the principle was identical in both cases, P au ls
m achine was inferior to his successors in point o f construction.
T h e subsequent fate o f Pauls invention has given rise to m uch

PROCESSES AND INVENTIONS

135

speculation. T h e problem is w hether it entirely lapsed or

w hether it was revived in the next generation. T h e claim s o f
tw o inventors have been upheld R ich ard A rk w rig h t and
T h om as H ighs a reed-m akcr o f L eigh. In the absence o f
authentic inform ation we m ust content ourselves w ith statin g
the various alternatives, one o f w hich must contain the solution
o f the problem . I t is possible th a t the know ledge o f P a u ls
invention cam e to the ears o f cither A rkw righ t or H ighs, and
th at one or the other constructed a m achine on its p rin cip les;
and it is possible, again, that one o f them conceived the id e a o f
roller spinning independently rediscovering a secret w h ich had
been forgotten. H ow ever these hypotheses arc in the m ain p ure
conjecture; one thing alone is certain; the successful a p p lica
tion o f autom atic spinning w as the w ork o f A rkw right.
R ich ard A rkw righ t, the most prom inent figure in the history
o f the textile industries, was b o m at Preston in 1732 the
youngest o f thirteen children. H e was apprenticed to a b a rb e r
and settled in Bolton w here he obtained some reputation for
his skill as a w ig-m akcr. H e had no know ledge o f m echanics
and no p ractical acquaintance w ith industrial processes, but
he had a quick alert m ind, an insatiable curiosity and a genius
for assim ilating and developing the ideas c f others. H e w as
draw n irresistibly to m echanical experiments, and ch an ce
threw him about the year 1767 in the p a th o f a clock-m aker
K a y 1 whom he em ployed to construct his apparatus. W h e th e r
or not his discovery o f the basic principles o f P au ls invention
was the fruit o f his own ingenuity, he cam e into possession o f
the secret w hich was destined to revolutionize the textile
industries and create the factory system.
A rkw righ t h ad now reached the first milestone alon g the
road which was to lead him to fam e and fortune; yet to ach ieve
his goal took him m any years o f unw earied application and
devoted labour. In 1769 he took ou t a patent for his m achine,
an d this event m arked the second m ilestone in his career. O n e
o f his ch ief difficulties arose from the infringem ent o f his p a ten t
rights. E very successful inventor is liable to be the victim o f
unscrupulous attem pts to rob him o f the fruits o f his enterprise,
1 Not to be confused with the inventor o f the fly shuttle.

1 36

W O O L MANUFACTURES

and A rkw righ t was no exception to the rule. H e was driven to

defend him self in a court o f law (1785) and obtained ju d g
m ent in his favour. T h e verdict caused a great sensation am ong
his fellow-manufacturers w ho had installed his m ach in ery in
their factories without takin g the precaution o f securing A rk
w rights permission, and they m ade a vigorous effort to obtain
a reversal o f the judgm ent. A few months later a fresh trial was
held. H ighs and K a y cam e forward to sw ear that A rkw right
was not the inventor o f the machines w hich were patented in
his name. T h e decisive factor, however, was A rkw righ ts own
fatal admission that the specification o f his patent was obscure.
Every patentee is required b y law to draw up a specification
particularly describing and ascertaining the nature o f his
invention and in what m anner the same is to b e perform ed, in
order that anyone m ay know how to use the patent w hen the
copyright has expired. T h e specification in w hich A rkw righ t
described his machines was adm ittedly obscure. H e endea
voured to justify his action on the ground th at he desired to
preserve his secret from foreigners, though the general opinion
was that he was m ore concerned to protect it from his fellowcountrym en. A verdict was given for the defendants; as a
result the patent was cancelled, and the water-fram e together
w ith the carding m achine becam e the com m on property o f
the m anufacturing world. In spite o f the failure to drive his
competitors from the field w hich his enterprise had opened up,
A rkw right achieved both fam e and fortune. H e not only
reaped a rich harvest b y the sale o f his machines before his
patent rights were cancclled, but he entered into several
partnerships w hich gave him a controlling interest in numerous
concerns w here his unrivalled skill in business, shrewd ju d g
ment and rem arkable facu lty fcr organization enjoyed abun
dant scope.1
T h e leading feature o f the water-fram e was the use o f rollers.
T h e roving was inserted between a p a ir o f rollers placed in a
horizontal position one ab ove the other. These rollers revolved
in contact, and as they revolved they compressed and drew the
roving from the bobbins. A nother p a ir o f rollers, which
1 He was knighted in z 7S6 and died in 1792.

PROCESSES AND INVEN TIONS

*37

revolved five times as fast, received the roving from th e first

p a ir and their rapid revolutions reduced the thick ro v in g into
a fine thread. A twist was im p arled to the thread b y m eans o f
revolving spindles with w h ich the roving was conncctcd as it
was draw n out o f the second p air o f rollers. T h e original m achine
erected b y A rkw righ t a t N ottingham was turned b y horses.
T h is proved an expensive m ethod; and in order to u tilize the
resources o f w ater-pow er A rkw righ t built a mill at C rom ford in
Derbyshire, which was w orked b y a w atcr-w hccl and w as there
fore called the w ater-fram e.1 T h e m achine patented in 1769
was adapted only for converting the rovings into y a rn ; turning
the sliver into rovings was still done b y hand. A few years later
(1775) A rkw righ t patented other inventions w h ich enabled
all the prelim inary operations connected with spinning to be
perform ed b y m achinery. H e appears to have been the first to
ad ap t the system o f spinning b y rollers to the process o f roving,
and for this purpose he invented the roving-fram e b u ilt on the
sam e principle as the w ater-fram e. H e was also the first
apparently to introduce the draw in g process a kind o f
preparatory spinning intended to straighten the fibres and
reduce the thickness o f the roving w hen it had left th e rovingframe.
A rkw righ ts m ost im p ortant achievem ent, after the w aterfram e, was a m achine for carding by revolving cylinders in
p lace o f hand-cards. T h e id ea was originally conceived both
b y D aniel Bourne and Lew is Paul. T h e m achine w h ich the
latter invented was a horizontal cylinder covcrcd w ith parallel
rows o f cards and turned b y a handle. U nder the cylin d er was
a concave fram e lined internally w ith cards exactly fittin g the
low er h a lf o f the cylinder, so th at w hen the handle w as turned
the cards o f the cylinder and o f the concave fram e w orked
against each other and card ed the w ool, the teeth o f the cards
on the cylinder and on the concave fram e bein g in close
contact. P au ls m achine had three defects there w as no
feeder and the wool was therefore applied to the cylin d er by
h an d; the m achine had to stop w hile the cardings w ere taken
o ff b y a m ovable co m b ; and a continuous carding w as m ade
1 With the application of steam it became known as the throstle.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

b y uniting short pieccs w ith the hand. T h e first dcfect, the

absence o f a feeder, was removed as the result o f an invention
(1772) attributed to Jo h n Lees a Q uaker o f M anchester. This
consisted o f a perpetual revolving cloth on which the m aterial
w as spread and then fed to the cylinder. O th er im provem ents
were the w ork o f A rkw righ t who brought to m atu rity the
earlier ideas. l i e invented in 1775 the crank and com b : a plate
o f metal finely toothed at the edge like a com b w hich, being
worked b y a crank in a pcrpcndicular direction, w ith slight
b ut frequent strokes on the teeth o f the card stripped o ff the
[sliver] in a continuous filmy flcccc. A subsequent m odification
(1785) ensured a continuous carding b y means o f a comb
joined to the cylinder and worked b y a crank. T h e scries o f
inventions associated with Arkw rights nam e thus enabled all
the prelim inary processes o f the textile industries to be done
b y m achinery instead o f b y hand. H enceforth wrool could be
cardcd, m ade into rovings and spun into yarn w ithout the aid
o f hum an fingers.
A nother great invention in spinning was the w ork o f Jam es
H argreaves a weaver o f Standaill near Blackburn. T h e story
runs th at he received the original idea o f his m achine from
seeing a one-thread w heel overturned upon the floor, when
both wheel and spindle continued to revolve. T h e spindle was
thus thrown from a horizontal into an upright position; and
the thought seems to h ave struck him th at i f a num ber o f spind
les were placcd upright and side by side, several threads m ight
be spun at once. This lucky inspiration gave birth in 1767 to
the spinning jen n y. T h e latter was a fram e, in one p a rt o f which
was set a row o f eight rovings and in another p art a row o f
eight spindles. T h e rovings were inserted between tw o flat
pieces o f wood, termed a elove, which opened and shut some
th ing like a parallel ruler and held the roving firm as in a
clasp. A portion o f each roving was connected w ith a spindle,
and the clove travelled alon g the horizontal bars o f the frame
aw a y from the spindles, draw ing out the threads and reducing
them to the proper fineness. At the sam e tim e the spinner
turned a wheel w hich m ade the spindles revolve and twist the
thread. T h e clove then returned towards the spindles in

PROCESSES AND INV ENTIONS

*39

order to cop the weft th a t is, w in d the spun y a rn upon

the spindles. T h e je n n y is said to h ave taken its nam e from
the fact th at it perform ed the w ork o f a fem ale. In the
woollen industry weft and w arp w ere spun on the je n n y , in
contrast w ith cotton w here apparently only weft w as spun.
T h e introduction o f the je n n y into the woollen m anufacture
followed closely upon its invention; and it docs not seem
correct to say that the grea t textile inventions did not extend to
wool till m uch later, [and that] m any years elapsed before the
contrivance o f H argreaves w as applied to spinning w o o l. T h e
num ber o f spindles used in the je n n y did not remain stationary.
It was found possible for a spinner to take care o f sixty or
seventy and even as m an y as a hundred and tw enty spindles
at one time, and wages w ere trebled in consequence.
T h e w ater-fram e and the je n n y differed in several w ays. T h e
w ater-fram e, although originally em ployed to reduce the rovings into y arn and not to turn the slivers into rovings, was
subsequently adapted for this purpose; the jen n y appears to
h ave been restricted to the final process o f spinning. N e x t the
thread spun on the w ater-fram e was harder th at is, m ore
firm ly twisted and was suitable for w arp s; whereas the thread
spun on the je n n y was soft and therefore suitable for w eft.1
L astly the je n n y was an im plem ent w h ich the artisan was able
to w ork in his ow n cottage w ith his ow n hands; b u t the waterfram e was a m achine w h ich required more than hum an
strength to give it motion. T h e difference between the jen n y
and the w ater-fram e thus becam e the starting-point o f a new
econom ic order. T h e inven tion o f the form er was com patible
w ith the retention o f the dom estic system o f in d u stry; the
adoption o f the latter brough t in its train the establishm ent o f
the factory system.
A fter the w ater-fram e and the je n n y cam e the m ule, w hich
produced finer qualities o f thread than eidier, and in the w ool
len industry displaced alm ost com pletely other m odes o f
spinning.2 T h e m ule was the invention o f Samuel C rom pton.
1 In the woollen industry also for warp.
* In the worsted industry yarns have continued to be spun mainly on some
modification o f the frame, namely, the cap, flyer, and ring.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

Born at Firw ood near Bolton in 1753 he was sixteen years o f

age when he learnt to spin upon the jen n y, and barely twentyone when he started to make im provem ents a task which
occupied his leisure m oments for the next five years. H e was
not a regular m echanic, wrote his friend and biographer,
K ennedy, and possessed only such tools as he purchased with
his little earnings acquired by labour at the loom or je n n y , and
he had also to learn the use o f those simple tools. T h e new
invention combined the principles both o f A rkw righ ts and
H argreavess m achines:
T h e forces o f nature could no further go;
T o m ake a third she joined the form er two.
T h e rovings as they w ere drawn out from the bobbins passed
through the rollers to spindles placed on a spindle carriage.
T h e leading feature o f the mule, the great and im portant
invention o f Crom pton so K ennedy term ed it, was the spindle
carriage. Instead o f the spindles being stationary (the m ethod
used in the case o f the water-frame and the jen n y), they were
erected on a m ovable carriage or box w hich ran on wheels.
As the rollers gave out the roving from the bobbins, the mov
able carriage with the spindles in it rotating in order to twist
the thread receded from the rollers, draw ing out an d length
ening the thread. W hen the rollers had measured ou t a suffi
cient am ount o f the roving they ceased to revolve and held the
roving fast, while the spindle carriage continued to reccdc to
a distance o f four to five feet. This stretched the thread to the
requisite degree o f fineness and im parted the necessary twist.
T o wind the thread upon the spindles the carriage was made
to return to its original position.1
M an y improvements w ere afterwards introduced into the
mule as practical experience o f the m achine brought to light
its deficiencies. T h e a rt,o f spinning on Crom ptons m achine,
wrote K enn edy, was tolerably well known from the circum
stance o f the high w ages that could be obtained b y those
w orking on it, above the ordinary wages o f other artisans such
as shoemakers, joiners, hat-makers etc. w ho on th a t account.
1 The mule spun yarn for warp and weft.

P R O C ES S E S A N D I N V E N T I O N S

141

left their previous em ploym ent; and to them m ight be applied

the fable o f the town in a slate o f siege. For, if in the coursc o f
their w orking the m achine there was an y little th ing ou t o f
gear, each w orkm an endeavoured to fill up the deficiency with
some expedient suggested b y his form er trade; the smith
suggested a piece o f iron, the shoem aker a welt o f leath er, etc.
all which h ad a good effect in im proving the m ach in e. T h e
most im portant im provem ent was the work o f R ich ard
R oberts, w ho invented an autom atic or self-acting m u le (1825).
T h e year in w hich w ater-pow er was applied to the m u le was
1790.
T h e introduction o f m ach in ery into the m anufacture o f yarn
rem oved the defects o f hand-spinning. F o r or.e thing m achinespun yarn was more uniform in q u ality; it was also firm er and
stronger; the thread did not break so frequently. T h e w eaver
used only o n e-h alf the q u a n tity o f g lu e required for hand-spun
yarn, w hich wras tenderer and needed more glue to hold it
together. A noth er result o f m ach in ery was to lib erate the
w eaver from his dependency upon the hand-spinner. H e was
n ow able to draw upon an unlim ited supply o f m aterial for his
work. T h e yarn famine w as brought to an end and scarcity
yielded p lace to abundance. It was estimated th at a je n n y
could keep tw o looms a t work, a m ule perhaps ten looms, a
throstle ab out the same num ber. In consequence the w eaver
was in a position to carry on his work m ore regularly th rough
ou t the year. T h e source upon w hich farmers had previously
relied for lab o u r in the harvest season (unem ployed weavers)
dried up; and it is significant to observe the com plaints raised
in some parts o f the coun try th at there was a general lack o f
labourers. A new problem was thus raise d : instead o f a shortage
o f spinners there was a shortage o f w eavers, and the invention
o f m achinery in the w eav in g process seemed im p eratively
dem anded. T h is was the achievem ent o f Cartw right.
Edm und Cartw right, the inventor o f the pow er-loom 1 and
the com bing m achine, was born in 174.3 in N ottingham shire.
A chance encounter w ith some gentlem en of. M anchester*
1 A loom worked by water-power was invented about 1678 by M . de Gcnnes,
but it does not appear lo have comc into use.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

em barked him on an inventors career. T h e story can best be

told in his ow n words: T h e conversation turned on A rkw rig h ts
spinning m achinery. O n e o f the com pany observed that as
soon as A rkw rights patent expired so m an y m ills w ould be
erected, and so m uch cotton spun, that hands could never be
found to w eave it. T o this observation I replied that A rkw right
must then set his wits to w ork to invent a w eaving m achine.
This brought on a conversation on the subjcct in w hich the
M anchester gentlem en unanim ously agreed that the th ing was
im practicable. Some little time afterwards a p articular circum
stance recalling this conversation to m y m ind it struck m e that,
as in plain w eaving (according to the conception I then had
o f the business) there could only be three m ovem ents1 w hich
were to follow each other in succession, there w ould b e little
difficulty in producing and repeating them . Full o f these ideas
I im m ediately em ployed a carpcntcr and smith to carry them
into effect. A s soon as the m achine was finished, I got a w eaver
to put in the w arp which was o f such m aterials as sail-cloth is
usually m ade of. T o m y great delight a p iece o f cloth, such as it
was, was the produce. A s I had never before turned m y thoughts
to anything m echanical either in theory or in practice, nor
had ever seen a loom at work or knew anything o f its con
struction, you w ill readily suppose th at m y first loom was a
most rude piece o f m achinery. T h e w arp was placed perpen
dicularly, the reed fell with the weight o f at least h a lf a hundred
weight, and the springs w hich threw the shuttle w ere strong
enough to have thrown a Congreve rocket. In short it required
the strength o f two pow erful men to w ork the m ach in e at a
slow rate and only for a short time. Considering in m y sim
plicity that I had accom plished all th at was required, I then
secured w h at I thought a most valuable property b y a patent
dated A p ril 4, 1785. T h is being done I then condescended to
sec how other people w ove, and you w ill guess m y astonish
m ent when I com pared their easy modes o f operations with
m ine. A va ilin g m yself how ever o f w h at I then saw, I m ade
a loom in its general principles nearly as they are now
1 The three movements would be: opening the shed, throwing the shuttle, and
beating the weft threads together.

PROCESSES AND INVENTIONS

43

m ad e.1 Rut it was not till the year 1 787 that I com pleted m y
invention. *
A nother outstanding achievem ent was the construction o f a
com bing m achine. H ere C artw righ t appears to h av e been
guided by the same p rin cip le w hich underlies the m echanism
o f the pow cr-loom : to im itate as closely as possible th e m ove
ments o f the hand yet to substitute a m echanical force for
m anual labour. T h e ch ie f operations involved in handcom bing w ere threefold fillin g the com b with w ool, com bing
ou t the noil, and draw ing o ff the sliver o f top. These operations
w ere reproduced in C artw righ ts com bing m achine. T h e wool
w as passed through an oscillating fram e, which was governed
b y a crank action, over and into the teeth c f a circu lar com b
revolving horizontally. A s this [holding] comb slow ly revolves
it gradually becomes filled b y a succession o f tufts o f wool
lashed in from the fram e; the fringe [or beard] o f th e tufts so
held is carried round till it passes under the w ork in g com b
w hich also traverses by a cran k m otion across the face o f the
[holding] com b, inserting the points o f its teeth into th e fringe
and so com bing out the noil or refuse as the [holding] com b
passes round it brings the fringe in con tact with the draw in go f f rollers, w hich draw out the sliver o f top leavin g the noil
behind in the chambers o f the com b; the sliver is then carried
forw ard through the con du ctin g rollers into the rece iv in g can
below / C artw righ ts inven tion earned for him the title o f the
new Bishop B laize the patron saint o f the w ool-com bcrs
and his m achine was know n as B ig B en. In honour o f B ig Ben
a song was composed b y one o f C artw righ ts w orkm en:
Com e all ye master com bers and h ear o f new B ig B en ;
H ell com b m ore wool in one d a y th an fifty o f y o u r m en
W ith th eir hand-com bs and com b-pots an c such
old-fashiond ways;
T h erell be no m ore occasion for old Bishop B laizc.
T h e m achine did not p rove a satisfactory substitute fo r handcom bing. I t was introduced into Bradford in 1794 w h ere it was
1 It differed from the hand-loom in the substitution of mcchanical contrivances
for the weavers hands and feet.

144

WOOL MANUFACTURES

worked b y a horse, but the experim ent was unsuccessful an d was

not repeated. Indeed, w hile the genius o f Edm und C artw righ t
pointed the w ay, m any dccadcs were to elapse before the com b
in g m achine attained p ractical value and the requisite degree
o f perfection. W ithin a ccntury o f C artw righ ts ow n invention
the num ber o f patents taken out in connexion w ith com bing
machines was nearly five hundred, and this affords rem arkable
p roof o f the industry and zeal with w hich a long line o f inven
tors applied themselves to the problem. It is possible here to
m ention only the achievements o f H cilm ann, D onisthorpc,
Lister, H olden, and N oble.
Josu6 H eilm ann was born in Alsace in the year 1796. Smiles
has related the story, for the truth o f which w e have independent
authority, how he first conceived the idea enabling him to
solve die problem which baffled the efforts o f two generations.
H e was sitting b y his hearth; and, m editating upon the
hard fate o f inventors and the misfortunes in w hich their
families so often becom e involved, he found him self almost
unconsciously w atching his daughters com bing their lon g hair
and draw ing it out at full length between their fingers. T h e
thought suddenly struck h im that i f he could successfully
im itate in a machine the proccss o f com bing out the longest
hair, and forcing back the short by reversing the action o f the
com b, it m ight serve to extricate him from his difficulty.*
A ctin g upon this inspiration he was ab le to devise a funda
mental im provem ent in the mechanism o f the com bing m achine.
T o understand the im portance of H cilm anns achievem ent we
must first grasp the defects o f the existing methods o f handcom bing and the machines built on its principles. In the pro
cess o f washing the staples o f wool becom e o f course separated
and the fibres crossed in all directions; when the com ber there
fore lashed the wool into the holding com b, the subsequent
strain o f working or draw ing out w ould cause these crossed
fibres to coil round the teeth o f the holding comb and so ensure
a firmer holding o f the mass and, indeed, it was necessary that
it should be so held or the action o f the working com b would
draw it entirely out o f the teeth but the consequence was that
w hen the operative cam e to draw ou t the end that h ad been

P R O C ES S E S A N D I N V E N T I O N S

145

w orked, the other end becam c so firm ly fixed that it cou ld only
be extracted b y breaking a considerable portion o f the long
fibres; b y this means the noil or refuse w as greatly increased,
and the m ost valuable p a rt o f the w ool (i.e. the top) in th e same
proportion dim inished. A s a rem edy Heihr.ann ad op ted the
principle know n as the N ip . B y means o f two nip p in g instru
m ents w hich closed upon the fleece as it was being fed in to the
m achine, the point end was held in position till it w as com bed
ou t by a revolving drum furnished w ith com b teeth ; the
cleaned end was then carried forw ard and taken hold o f b y
another p a ir o f nippers, till the other end had been treated in
a sim ilar m anner. T h e sam e process was repeated a g a in and
again. B y this gentle treatm ent the loss sustained u nder the old
system was avoided.
W hile the A lsatian inven tor was w orking out his ideas two
English inventors, D onisthorpe and Lister, w ere striving
towards the sam e goal and th ey reached independently some
w h a t sim ilar results. Before M r. Ile ilm a n n s p a ten t w as heard
of/ Lister has affirmed, w e had succeeded in m astering all the
difficulties connected w ith the invention. D onisthorpe w as the
first to conceive the project, and his m achine was the startingp oin t o f Listers subsequent im provem ents. A fterw ards the two
m en collaborated and the N ip m achine (1851) was the p roduct
o f their com bined investigations. T h e three difficulties w hich
th ey had to overcom e w ere to com b perfccdy, to prevent
clogging in the process, and to reduce the proportion o f noil or
w aste in the course o f the operation. W h en they took the m atter
in hand there was no m achine existing that answ ered all
these requirem ents, b u t ultim ately th ey arrived at the N ip
m achine in w hich the tuft o f w ool w as draw n b y a n ip p er [a
p air o f curved m etal jaws] through a gill comb. T h e y drew the
w ool through the teeth [of the great circle] horizontally, w hile
H eilm ann drew the teeth through the wool in a circle i.e.
worked the ends o f the w ool b y a circu lar carder.
Isaac H olden, another prom inent figure in the worsted
industry, was born in Scotland. A m bitious to solve a problem
w hich w as taxin g the ingenu ity o f his contem poraries to
the utmost, he turned his attention to w ool-com bing an d in

1 46

WOOL MANUFACTURES

collaboration w ith Lister designed the com bing m achine known

as the Square M otion. Its principles can best be described in
H oldens ow n words. T h e fault o f earlier w orking com bs (the
screw gill w orking combs) was that the com b was pushed
a w a y too slow ly b y the screw after it entered the b e a rd 1 close
to the circular com b-head. T h e consequence was that the com b
was locked in the beard i f it entered it near the com b-head; and
therefore to avoid this it was necessary to strike into it at some
distance, and even then to use coarse and strong combs. T h e
result was bad com bing. T h is evil, I felt certain, could be
avoided b y the mode o f working I conceived of the Square
M otion viz. striking a fine comb into the beard near to the
com b-head and at once pushing i: aw ay from it to avoid locking.
T h e w hole secret o f the invention la y in this discovery, the
necessity o f pushing aw ay quickly, so simple at first sight but
difficult to conceive and appreciate at th at early p eriod ; and
though so apparently sim ple it was the result o f m u ch con
tinued thought. H oldens account serves to clucidatc the two
cardinal principles o f the Square M otion m achine. Firstly, the
teeth o f the w orking com b are made to enter the fibres o f wool
a t the cxact point w here the ends o f the fibres are held in
position b y the circular com b, in order to leave as little un
combed wool or noil as possible. Secondly, no sooner are the
teeth o f the w orking com b inserted in the teeth o f the circular
com b than they are instantaneously withdraw n, in order to
prevent the locking o f the combs and consequent breakage o f
the fibres. It is claim ed fo r the Square M otion m achine th at it
is a perfect im itation o f the m ode o f w orking o f the handcom ber, and the w ork it accomplishes resembles th at o f the
liand-com bcr. It produces the same polish, the sam e curl or
crochet, the same softness and loftiness, and the sam e high
spinning qualities, the length o f fibre in top and noil b ein g well
preserved.
O n e last invention needs to be m entioned. In 1853 Jam es
N oble, a w orking m echanic, took out a patent for the m achine
w h ich bears his name. I t was designed on novel principles and
discarded the features o f the N ip m achine, in w hich the com bing
1 T he fringe of the fibres of wool.

P R O C ES S E S A N D I N V E N T I O N S

I47

w as largely done by m echanism external to the circle . N oble

conceived the idea o f tw o circles a circular revolvin g com b
carryin g the wool and a circular w orking com b inside the
revolving com b. His m achine was a com pact circular structure
in which the m ain circle stands at a height o f ab ou t tw o feet
from the ground. Inside this circle are tw o smaller ones, about
a foot and a h a lf in diam eter, each touching the m ain circle at
opposite points on the interior o f its circum ference. A ll rotate
in one direction. T h e slivers o f wool to be combed are rolled up
in creels attached to the outer side o f the grea: circle and travel
lin g w ith it. T h e y m ove u p autom atically in turn, an d fall on
to the pins o f the circles at the points where the ou ter one
touches the tw o inner ones. A brush, rising and fallin g rapidly,
dabs the w ool down am ong the tw o sets o f pins and there true
com bing begins.

A P P E N D IX

TO

CH APTER

SEVEN

a n o f f i c i a l r e p o k t 1 on the wool textile industry (1947) has

pointed out that most o f the m ain m achines are extrem ely
durable. W ith proper m aintenance, and in the absence o f
fundam ental improvements, they can be m ade to produce with
com parative efficiency for periods o f well over fifty years. Som e
o f the woollen carding m achinery in use is over eigh ty years
o ld ; nearly a quarter of the worsted spindles and a higher pro
portion o f die woollen spindles date from last ccn tu ry; and
m an y o f the looms have been in use for fifty years or m ore. This
great durability has m eant th at normal replacements h ave been
low, and that there has been no overwhelm ing pressure to install
new equipm ent at frequent intervals. T h e low rate o f replace
m ent has tended to w eaken the incentive to develop or experi
m ent with new m achinery. In most branches o f the industry there
h ave been few really fundam ental im provem ents for a t least a
generation. T h e small detailed im provem ents in design have
been incorporated in old machines b y re-building at the m ill or
b y the use o f accessories fitted by textile m achinery m akers or
firms o f jo b b in g engineers. T h e m achinery has com e to have
some o f the characteristics of house property: an existing
m achine after thorough reconditioning m ay prove as satis
factory or alm ost as satisfactory as a new one o f the same
typ e.
T h e m echanical equipm ent o f the wool textile industry, as
it existed in 1947, is sum m arized in the report as follows:

(a) Wool Scouring and Carbonizing

Fifty years ago carbonizing m achinery was relatively prim i
tive w ith oven treatment and outside drying. T o -d a y there is a
com plicated range o f m achinery using autom atic an d con
tinuous processes.
(b) Worsted Carding and Combing
T h ere have been few significant im provem ents in worsted
card in g and com bing m achinery for m any years. M achines
installed before 1914, i f w ell m aintained and m odernized, can
,

1 Board of Trade, Working Party Report: Wool (1947).

146

PROCESSES AND IN VEN TIO NS

149

and d o give as good a perform ance as new ones. V e r y few o f

the combs, but a much higher proportion o f the cards, d a te b a ck
to 1900 or earlier. A correspondingly high proportion o f the
combs are o f recent construction.
(c) Woollen Carding
W e have had no inform ation on the. average age o f w oollen
card in g engines in the industry, but exam ples have b een quoted
to us o f jo b b in g orders for m ach in ery built in 1865, 1868 and
1872; and in view o f the com p aratively rapid progress in the
design o f this m achinery, it is difficult to regard these as other
th an obsolete. From this and other indications w e are disposed
to think th at there is m ore room for im provem ent in the
equipm ent on the woollen th an on the worsted side o f the
industry.
(d) Worsted Spinning
In worsted spinning 60 p er cent, o f the spindles are cap,
19 per cent, flyer, 7 p er cent, ring, and 14 per cent. m ule.
A p a rt from the sclf-doffcr, there have been few recent changes
in worsted spinning; 24 p er cent, o f the m achinery dates back
to 1900 or earlier.
(e) Woollen Spinning
In woollen spinning m ule spindles form 97 per cent, o f the
total. T h ere has been a slight increase in continuous spinning
but frames are still insignificant in relation to m ules. T h e
proportion o f spindles installed before 1900 is not k n o w n but
is almost certainly higher than in w orsted spinning. C hanges
in the standard models im m ediately before the w a r w ere
designed to give higher speeds, increased holding c a p a c ity o f
packages and easier m anipulation. T h e spinning speed o f m ule
spindles in woollen spinning has been increased b y 50 -60 per
cent, b y the use o f spindles in separate units, w ithou t vibration
and with an increase in p rod u ctivity o f about 35 p er cent.
(f) Weaving
Tow ards the end o f the last centu ry there was a displacem ent
o f narrow b y broad looms, w hich allow ed an increased w eight
o f cloth to be w oven on a given num ber o f looms. A lth o u g h no

WOOL MANUFACTURES

com parable, figures arc available, this trend has presum ably
continued since. A second change has been the increase in the
speed o f the looms. In 1878 in the w oollen section o f the industry
the standard loom ran at 50 picks per m inute. B y 1904 the
100 pick loom was com ing into use, and 1926 was the norm al
type in the Yorkshire tweed trade. T h e Balfour Com m ittee in
1927, in com m enting on this change, noted that there had also
been an increase in speed in the fine worsted section, but stated
that in ordinary worsted w eaving the m axim um speed o f opera
tion had been reached tw enty or thirty years previously. T h e
m axim um speed o f textile m achinery obtainable w ithout
dam age to q uality is a m atter of debate; the limits va ry with
the physical properties o f the fibre. N or is it only in w eaving
that there is difficulty in finding the optimum speed consistent
w ith quality. In w ool-com bing, for example, too high a speed
w ould cause dam age to the fibre and inefficient processing, and
w ould have a bad effect on the q u ality o f the w ork done. In
spinning the highest qualities of yarn arc generally spun on
mules, which have a low er output p er spindle-hour. In w eaving,
i f the m achinery is run too fast, breakages occur and the cost o f
m ending goes u p ; i f yarn o f greater tensile strength is used, the
q uality o f the cloth is affected. W hile there has been a gradual
and progressive adjustm ent o f the y a m to enable it to run at
high speeds it remains true that, i f too m uch twist is p u t on the
yarn to m ake it strong enough :o stand very high speeds, the
cloth becomes unsaleable. It is doubtful w hether the standard
loom o f to-day shows m ore than a trifling im provem ent in speed
in com parison with looms built forty years ago. B ut the modern
loom, running at 110 picks per minute, gives as high a quality
o f cloth and can be operated m uch m ore readily on the tw o
looms to a weaver system than the older looms.
T h e most im portant change in the design o f the loom bet
ween the wars was the introduction o f the autom atic loom.
This is in general use in the United States, w here it is m ade b y
the only tw o firms o f loom m anufacturers in that country. O f
the 40,000 looms installed, 28,800 are autom atic. In G reat
Britain only a lim ited num ber o f autom atic looms have so far
been installed.

PROC ES S ES A N D I NV E N T I O N S

(g) Dyeing
M a n y im provem ents have been m ade in dyeing and finishing
m achinery during the last tw enty years. Considerable use has
been m ade o f stainless steel.
(h) General Considerations
I f it w ere our aim to transform the industry into one m akin g
goods o f m edium q uality b y mass-production methods, it
w ould be desirable to m ake a drastic chan ge in the w hole lay o u t
in favour o f autom atic m achinery and working tw o or even
three shifts p er day. I f how ever q u a lity is the first objective,
and few firms arc free to specialize exclusively in a narrow ran ge
o f products becausc o f the m arket risks involved, then the type
o f equipm ent required w ould be m uch closer to th at now in use.
It is our view that nothing should be done to destroy or dam age
the reputation o f the industry for high quality cloth. B ut w e
believe that there is room for a large extension in the use o f
autom atic m achinery, p articularly in winding, w arp ing and
w eavin g.

CHAPTER

E IG H T

T he Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries

i t is o f t e n a s s u m e d that the introduction o f m achinery
forthw ith crcatcd the factory system and extinguished the
dom estic system. This view needs to be considerably qualified.
T h e factory owners for instance, Benjam in G ott undoubt
edly m ade their appearance very early in the nineteenth
century. T h ey were recruited p artly from the ranks o f successful
clothiers who bought m achinery and started mills, but m ainly
from the class o f merchants who w ere already responsible for
the finishing processes and now turned m anufacturers by
taking over from the clothicrs all the earlier processes. N one
the less the domestic system held its ground am ong the w orking
clothiers o f the W est R iding o f Yorkshire even beyond the
m iddle o f the nineteenth century; and as late as 1856 only
about one-half o f those engaged in the woollen industry in
Yorkshire were em ployed in factories. T h e reasons for the
survival o f the domestic system in Yorkshire w ere as follows. In
the first place, the adoption o f the power-loom in the woollen
industry was very gradual. In 1835 Yorkshire contained but
688 powcr-looms for woollen w eaving or less than one-fourth
o f the num ber used in worsted w eaving. T h e slow penetration
o f the power-loom can be explained on technical grounds. T h e
essential characteristic o f woollen cloth is its felting property
w hich enables the fibres to b e interlaced; hence woollen yarn
m ust be spun m ore loosely. This m ade w eaving a difficult opera
tion since the threads were easily broken; and so the pow erloom worked no faster than the hand-loom (the shuttle flying
ab out forty times a minute), whereas the worsted power-loom
m ade a hundred and sixty picks a m inute. In the second place,
the small clothiers displayed a rem arkable adaptability to
circumstances. Instead o f resisting the new conditions o f p ro
duction, they turned them to their own account. T h e fly shuttle
had been adopted earlier in Yorkshire than elsewhere; and,

>52

N I N E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H C EN TU RI ES

I53

recogn izing the advantages o f m achinery, the dom estic m anu

facturers now com bined their resources in order to obtain
m achines for their ow n use. T h e numerous w oollen m ills
scattered throughout the W est R id in g were said to be chiefly
owned b y groups o f clothier's. H ere is a description o f join tstock w oollen mills written b y an inspector o f factories in 1843:
T h e history o f joint-stock com pany w oollen mills exhibits a
singular instance o f energy am ongst the smaller capitalists o f the
m anufacturing districts. In the form ation o f a com p any m ill
a num ber o f clothiers (for they m ust be clothiers to be partners)
o f sm all capital m eet together and determ ine to becom e a
com pany o f so m an y partners, from ten to fifty, in shares g en
erally o f 2 5 each each person taking as m any shares as his
capital w ill enable him . W ith this subscribed cap ital deeds o f
partnership arc draw n, land is bought, a m ill erected and
m achinery p u t up. T h e processes w h ich arc carried on in these
com pany mills are scribbling, cardin g, slubbing, and fu llin g
cloth, w h ich are the preparatory processes o f the cloth m anu
facture; and the rem aining processes-viz. spinning, w arping,
w eaving and burling are done at hom e b y m em bers o f the
fam ily or by persons em ployed for th at purpose. T h e wool w as
sent to the m ill to be scribbled and stubbed, then returned to
the clothier in whose hom e it was spun and w oven (on a han dloom), again sent to the m ill to b e fulled, and afterwards sold in
an unfinished state to the m erchant w ho dyed and finished it
ready for use.
O utside the ranks o f the West R id in g clothiers the introdu c
tion o f m achinery aroused violent opposition. W ho does not
consider the em ploym ent o f m achinery,* asked a writer, one
of the greatest evils that ever befell the country? A n d w h o
w ould not rejoice at a return to the rude habits o f industry
which once characterized the country, and under whose sw ay
Englishm en w ere h ealthy, happy and contented? I t w ould b e
erroneous to regard this hostility as w holly unreasonable
although the benefits o f m achinery w ere undoubtedly consider
able. Firstly it effected a great econom y o f labour, cheapened
the p rice o f comm odities, stim ulated the dem and, and so
ultim ately led to increased production and expansion o f trade.

1 54

W OOL MANUFACTURES

Secondly it enabled w ork which w as often unpleasant and

unhealthy to be done b y m otivc-power instead o f b y hand. I
think the most beneficial consequences have resulted from the
introduction o f m achinery, particularly to the scribblers. T h e
scribblers need to w ork in bodies and very close together, and
on wool that from the oil and smell becam e quite obnoxious.
T h e y w ere a poor, sickly, decrepit race o f beings. H and-loom
w eaving itself was not necessarily an unhealthy occupation,
though w eavers prior to the adoption o f the fly shuttle were
liable to breast disorders, but it was tedious and laborious.
T h ird ly most o f the w ork done in the textile industries was
already m echanical in character even before the use o f m ech
anical devices. T h e processes o f carding, com bing, spinning,
w eaving and dressing, consisted in the m onotonous repetition
o f certain movements o f the hand, and afforded little or no
scope for an expression o f individuality which is the justification
o f true craftsmanship. A n d finally the creation o f factories, if
it subjected the worker to a novel and strict discipline, had its
com pensation in the shorter and m ore regular hours ulti
m ately imposed b y the state; and it was preferable that the
preparatory processes, at any rate, should be carried on in
large airy buildings (as they were later) rather th an in crowded
tenements w here the same room had often to serve as a work
shop and living place.
Nevertheless there was a reverse side to the picture. T h e
invention o f m achinery meant a great displacem ent o f labour.
T h e apologists for m achinery contended at the tim e and the
argum ent has been repeated ever since that m achinery
creates in the long run a demand for m ore labour than is at
the m om ent displaced. T h e expansion o f industry, resulting
from the cheapening o f production, causes m any m ore hands
to be em ployed than w hen commodities are hand-m ade and
relatively dear. Thus D yer, speaking o f P au ls invention, bade
the spinners not to lose h e a rt:
N or hence, ye nymphs, let anger cloud your brows;
T h e m ore is w rought, the more is still requird.
In this connexion it is fair to rem em ber two things. T h e belief

NINETEENTH AND T W E N T IE T H CENTURIES

155

was w idespread am ong the woollen operatives th at the sources

o f our wool supply w ere strictly lim ited, and so there was no
possibility o f a great extension o f the woollen m anufacture
accom panied by an increase in the am ount o f em ploym ent.
T h e potentialities o f A ustralia as a w ool-producing country
were p ractically unknow n at the end o f the eighteenth century,
although a few had a vision o f the future. M oreover a m an
whose skill, his sole property, was rendered useless b y a new
m achine w ould find it poor consolation to be told th at a t some
distant date there w ould be room for additional labour in his
industry.
W c h ave now to describe the progress o f m cchanical inven
tions in the woollen and worsted industries.
1. The Fly Shuttle. T h e earliest o f the modern textile inven
tions, the fly shuttle, was used b y the W est R iding in K a y s ow n
lifetim e; yet in the west country its adoption w as belated.
D yer, whose poem w as published in 1757, assumed th at tw o
weavers w ere still needed to w ork the broad loom.
I f the broader m antle b e the task
l i e chooses some com panion to his toil.
A dam Sm ith in The Wealth o f Nations, published in 1776, noted
three v e ry capital im provem ents in the woollen industry
nam ely, the substitution o f the spinning-wheel for the distafF
and spindle, the use o f fulling mills, and machines for facilitating
the w inding o f yarn and the proper arrangem ent o f the w arp
and w eft before they w ere fixed on the loom b u t he om its an y
m ention o f K a y s device. T h e fly shuttle began to be adopted
in the w est country about the beginning o f the nineteenth cen
tury; y e t as late as 1O22 a request w as m ade that soldiers should
be quartered a t From e, in order to prevent any disturbances
during the introduction o f spring loom s which w ill now be
generally used here as they have long been in Yorkshire,
Gloucestershire and W iltshire.
2.
Spinning Machinery. W hile the w est country w eavers were
slowly reconciling themselves to im provem ents in the mode o f
w eaving invented as far back as 1733, the prelim inary processes

156

WOOL MANUFACTURES

were being revolutionized in the north. In the last decade o f the

eighteenth ccntury m achinery was used in scribbling a kind
o f preparatory carding intended to separate the fibres o f the
wool; in carding itself; and in slubbing a proccss between
carding and spinning b y which the w ool slivers were joined
together, draw n out into a continuous thread and slightly
twisted. T h e first m achine in Yorkshire for spinning worsted
yarn (the water-frame) was erected a t A ddingham as early as
1787.1 A few years later (1794) it was introduced into Bradford,
where it was accom panied by an attem pt to erect a factory in
the town. T h e residents o f the future metropolis o f the worsted
industry raised strenuous opposition on the plea that the steamengine was a smoky nuisance, and threatened the m anufac
turer w ith legal proceedings. T ake notice, they w arned him,
that i f you shall presume to erect a n y steam-engine for the
m anufacture o f cotton or wool we shall, i f the same be found a
nuisance, seek such redress as the law shall give. T h e effort to
arrest the m arch o f industrial progress was abortive, for hand-
spinning steadily lost ground; the opening o f the nineteenth
century was marked by the erection o f a worsted m ill at Brad
ford to house the water-frame, and in the second decade the
spinning-wheel began to be generally superseded in the worsted
m anufacture. T h e case w ith which m achine-spinning achieved
its victory over hand-spinning m ay be attributed to three
factors. T h e spinners w ere women and children who could offer
no effective resistance to the introduction o f m achinery; the
dem and for female and child labour in the factories created
fresh avenues o f em ploym ent fcr them ; the weavers profited b y
the increased production o f yam and did not oppose the new
methods. W hile worsted spinning was revolutionized in the
north, it continued on the traditional lines in N orfolk which
had no yarn factory until 1834.
T h e factory system achieved a speedier victory in the Y o rk
shire worsted industry than in the woollen industry, where
spinning was still carried on as a household occupation. T h e
* The first worsted factory with water-frames had been crccted in 1784 at
Dolphin Holme in Lancashire. A t first machinery was worked by horse or water
power; the use of steam followed shortly after. (A steam cotton mill was erected
at Papplewick in Nottinghamshire in 1785.)
*

N I N E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H C ENT URI ES

157

reason for the contrast m ay be sought for in differences o f

econom ic organization. T h e worsted m anufacture in the north
appears, from its inception, to h ave been m ore definitely
capitalist in character than the w oollen, possibly because its
introduction was due to the enterprise o f capitalist pioneers.
Its leaders, at any rate, had a larger comm and o f cap ital than
the dom estic clothiers and they specialized to a greater extent.
A trade which is h igh ly specialized an d equipped w ith con
siderable cap ital has a stronger inducem ent to ad op t the most
efficient m ethods o f production.
3.
The Power-Jjtom. T h e conquest o f hand-loom w eavin g b y
the pow er-loom was a m uch slower process than the conquest
o f hand-spinning b y the frame or m ule. Eesidcs the hostility
o f w eavers w hich m ade the introduction o f steam-looms a
venturesom e undertaking, there w ere technical reasons for the
tardy progress. In the case o f the w oollen industry the loosely
spun yarn was not suited to the operations o f the power-loom
so w ell as the worsted yarn which w as spun hard and tight.
Y e t even in the worsted industry w here steam -weaving estab
lished its predom inance earlier than in the oth er branch
the adoption o f the pow er-loom w as delayed on account o f the
necessity for frequent stoppages o f the m achine in order to size1
or dress the w arp as it unrolled from the yarn beam . T h is
obstacle was only rem oved in 1803 w hen W illiam R ad cliffe
took ou t a p atent for a dressing inachinc which starched the
warp before it was bound upon the loom . N or was the saving
o f labour at first impressive; as late as 1819 i: was said th at one
person can n ot attend upon m ore th an tw o power-looms, and it
is still problem atical w hether this savin g o f lab ou r counter
balances the expense o f pow er and m achinery. A g a in the
hand-loom weavers subm itted to the fatal policy o f low ering
the d y k e ; th ey carried on an unequal contest, w ith m achinery,
in which they m aintained a precarious existence b y subm itting
to repeated reductions o f wages. T h e sacrifice they thus m ade
retarded, although it could not avert, the ultim ate extinction
o f their occupation.
1 Sizing means to saturate the warp with paste to strengthen it, and so enable
it to bear the operation of weaving.

158

WOOL MANUFACTURES

T h e first attem pt to introduce the power-loom naturally

provoked violent antagonism. T here was a serious outbreak in
Bradford in 1826 when popular resentment flared up in a deter
mined but unsuccessful effort to w reck the machines. I t was
followed b y a general adoption o f powcr-loom s on the p art o f
the worsted manufacturers in Yorkshire though not in the west
country, as w ill be seen from the follow ing ta b le :1
TABLE SHOWING THE NUMBER OF POWER-LOOMS USED IN WOOI.LEN
AND WORSTED FACTORIES IN 1 8 3 5 .3

W orsted
2,856s

CO

Yorkshire ...
L a n ca s h ire ..............................
W estmorland
Cheshire
Leicestershire
................
Gloucestershire
Somersetshire
.................
M o n tg o m erysh ire ................
N o r th u m b e r la n d .................

W oollen

County

1,142
8
8
89 4

4
74
4
6

4.
The Gig M ill and Shearing Frame. T h e gig mill for raising the
nap on the cloth contained a cylinder covered w ith teasles. T h e
econom y in labour was said to be considerable, a m achine
m anaged b y one man and two boys doing the w ork o f eighteen
men and six boys. T h e shearing fram e, w hich cut the nap, had
several pairs o f shears worked by power. It also effected a great
saving o f labour. M oreover it was alleged to be impossible to
cut the cloth from end to end evenly w ith hand-shears, whereas
a m achine administered regular strokes w ith m athem atical
nicety.
1 It will be observed that Norfolk is not represented by any power-loom*.
2 In 1856 the number o f power-looms in the United Kingdom was 14,453 *n the
woollen industry and 38,956 in the worsted industry.
* There were also 226 power-lootns used for woollen and worsted, and 307 for
worsted and cotton.
4 Used for woollen and worsted.

N INETEENTH AND T W E N T IETH CENTURIES

I59

T h e introduction o f m achinery into the finishing o f cloth

aroused dissension as early as the fifteenth ccntury. A statute o f
1495 forbade shearmen to use instruments of iron in p lace o f
the broad shears; and a statute o f 1551 prohibited the gig
mill. T h e latter injunction docs not appear to h ave taken
cfTcct. A w riter in 1803 remarked th at the gig m ill had been
em ployed in Gloucestershire and W iltshire on coarse white
cloth longer than anyone can rem em ber/ although no strict
p roof could be adduccd to identify this m achinc w ith that m en
tioned in the statute o f 1551. H ow ever the attem pt to ap p ly the
gig m ill to fine w hite cloth and m edley cloth excited strenuous
resistance am ong the workmen in W iltshire; and the m anu
facturers there were forced to send their cloth to be gigged
in Gloucestershire w hich contained p u b lic mills w orking for
the elothiers on commission. T h eir exam p le was im itated b y the
m anufacturers o f Somersetshire, w ho refrained from using the
gig mill at hom e to avoid riots. In the W est R iding, w here most
kinds o f m achinery w ere introduced w ith greater ease than
elsewhere, the bitter opposition was even m ore protracted
than in the west country: at the end o f the eighteenth century
the gig m ill, w hile not unknown, was still exceptional and
m ainly cloths w ere finished b y hand ow in g to the hostility o f the
m en. A Yorkshire m anufacturer H irst (w ho wrote an account o f
his career as a clothier) declared that as late as 1810 i f a Y o rk
shire m anufacturer w ent into a m arket w ith one from the west o f
England and they had both a piece of'cloth m anufactured from
the sam e w ool, the latter w ould get a better price b y nearly
one-half the west country h aving m achinery for finishing
cloth w h ich Yorkshire employers dared not introdu ce; and
it was impossible to produce so good a finishing b y m anual
labour. T h e fury o f the L ud dite rioters in 1812 was directed
prim arily against the g ig m ill and shearing frame. T h e Luddites
were regu larly organized and trained. After dem olishing the
works o f M r. Foster o f H orbury in Yorkshire their leader
ordered them into a field, and their num bers (each m an having
a num ber to conceal his name) being called over he dismissed
them b y the w ord o f com m and: T h e w ork is done, disperse!
T h e tim e occupied in the business o f m ustering, destruction and

i6o

WOOL MANUFACTURES

dispersing did not exceed tw enty m inutes. A verse o f the

croppers ballad ran:
G reat E n och 1 still shall lead the van,
Stop him who dare! Stop him who can!
Press forward every gallan t m an
W ith hatchet, pike and gun!
O! the cropper lads for me,
T h e gallant lads for me,
W ho with lusty stroke
T h e shear frames broke,
T h e cropper lads for me.
T h e Yorkshire eloth-finishers were better organized than other
classes o f textile workers in the W est R iding, and they m ain
tained close relations with shearmens clubs in the rest o f the
country. This no doubt explains the stiff fight they w ere able
to put up against the introduction o f m achinery into their
branch o f industry. Nevertheless the ultim ate issue o f the struggle
was the com plete downfall o f the shearmen, w ho failed to
prevent the displacement o f m anual processes b y m echanical
contrivances. Between 1806 and 1817 the num ber o f gig mills
in Yorkshire was said to have increased from 5 to 72; the
num ber o f shears worked by m achinery from 100 to 1,462; and
out o f 3,378 shearmen no less than 1,170 w ere out o f work
while 1,445 werc only p artially em ployed.
5.
Wool-Combing. T h e invention o f the com bing m achine
excited a storm o f opposition. It was assailed especially on the
ground that it diminished labour to an alarm ing degree.
Parliam ent was inundated with petitions from all parts o f the
realm, the burden o f the com plaint being that fifty thousand
workmen w ith their wives and families would b e reduced to
beggary. O n e m achine only, -with the assistance o f one person
and four or five children, w ill perform as much labour as thirty
men in the custom ary m anual m anner. T h e arguments
advanced in support o f m achinery in cotton, silk and linen,
claim ed the wool-combers, did not apply to w ool textiles.
1 'Enoch was the name given to the big hammer employed in the work of
destruction.

N I N E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H CEN TURIES

l6l

Alm ost a n y quantity o f the raw m aterials can be procured to

supply the m anufacturers [of cotton, silk and linen], w hich b y
enlarging their trade still retains an equal or greater num ber
o f persons in em ploy; whereas but a specific q u an tity [of wool]
can be obtained. It was believed th at the grow th o f w ool is
definite and never equals the a b ility o f the w ool-com bcrs to
m anufacture. H ence it was not possible to increase the raw
m aterial [wool] beyond the present q uan tity, and so increase
the am ount o f em ploym ent b y extending production.
R eview in g the tardy progress o f m achinery as a whole, it is not
surprising that a wool stapler (Luccock) w riting in 1805 contrasted
the stagnation o f the wool textile industry v/ith the vigour dis
played b y its younger rival In the woollen m anufacture only
small capitals arc em ployed; no extensive works a rc constructed
for carryin g them o n ; the m achines arc simple and old; the
workm en are jealous o f innovation, alw ays obstinate. [W hereas
the cotton m anufacture exhibited] large capitals, immense
establishments, a highly speculative spirit, great confidence, and
a com bination o f all the productions o f m odern genius.
A ll periods o f transition arc apt to be periods o f distress. A s
the old order yields place to the new, the instability o f the social
organism throws to the surface all that is worst in its constitu
tion. A harsh destiny soon overtakes those who arc unable to
adapt themselves w ith ease and rap id ity to the changed condi
tion o f things for the race is to the swift and the strong, and
the w eak and the feeble go to the w a ll. In the case o f the
Industrial R evolu tion the evils o f the transition from im ple
ments to machinery' w ere aggravated b y a protracted w ar
which diverted the energies o f the country from the norm al
channels o f industrial activity, w hile the free developm ent o f
the national resources was shackled b y the unparalleled grow th
o f the national debt coupled w ith a fantastical fiscal system.
W e relate in the follow ing paragraphs the sufferings o f the
hand-loom weavers, the story o f whose extinction constitutes the
most m elancholy ch ap ter in the history o f the textile industries
and a classic exam ple o f the trium ph o f econom ic progress at
the expense o f social welfare.

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WOOL MANUFACTURES

T h e im m ediate effects o f the Industrial R evolution upon

the hand-loom weavers were beneficial. T h e y profited b y the
enormous output o f yarn from the spinning factories, and ow in g
to the increased demand for their labour they reaped a harvest
o f high wages. T h e muslin weavers o f Bolton m ay be cited in
illustration o f their flourishing condition, though the prosperity
o f other weavers was much m ore subdued. T h e trade was that
o f a gentlem an, said a witness before a parliam entary com
m ittee in 1834. T h ey brought home their w ork in top boots
and ruffled shirts, carried a cane and in some instances took a
coach . M an y weavers at that time, we arc told, used to w alk
ab out the streets w ith a five-pound Bank o f E ngland note
spread out under their hat-bands; they would smoke none but
long churchw arden pipes, and objected to the intrusion o f an y
other handicraftsmen into the particular rooms in the public
houses which they frequented. T h is prosperity did not continue,
and few operatives endured greater privations than the handloom weavers o f Bolton for the succeeding fifty years.
T h e gradual deterioration w hich took p lace in the position
o f the hand-loom weavers was due prim arily to the drastic fall
in wages. Its sweeping nature m ay be gauged from a comparison
o f the average wages paid b y a Bolton m anufacturer over a
term o f thirty-five years for w eaving a piece o f cloth, twentyfour yards, the m easure o f a w eeks w o rk:
s. d.
Between 1797 and 1803 the price paid was 1 G 8
1804 )> 1810
1 0 0
>>

)>
1811 1817
0 14 7
>>
0 8 9
1818 1824

i)

1825 >> 1831

0 6 4
J>
1832 )> '3 3
0 5 6

In the first period a weaver could purchase w ith his wages 25 lb.
o f flour, 35^ lb. o f oatm eal, 206 J lb. o f potatoes, and 14 lb. o f
m eat in all 281 lb. o f provisions. In the fifth period he could
only purchase 10 lb. o f flour, 14 ! lb. o f oatm eal, 55 lb. o f pota
toes, and 3J lb. o f m eat in all 83 lb. o f provisions. T h u s his
w ages in m oney declined nearly 80 per cent, and the reduction
involved a proportionate decline in his com m and over the

N IN E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H CEN TU RI ES

163

necessaries o f life. A ccordin g to the hand-loom commissioners,

w hose report was published in 1840, the wages o f worsted
w eavers in the W est R id in g w orking full tim e seldom exceeded
six or seven shillings a w eek; but, as they rarely h ad full
em ploym ent, their actual earnings fell below this am ount. In
the west o f E ngland wages w ere sometimes still m ore exiguous
than in the north. T h e w eavers union estimated in 1828 th at
the m inim um sum sufficient to keep a m an, his w ife and three
children was 15s. 8d. a w eek; and since weavers earned m u ch
less, the commissioners reported th at the condition o f a p au p er
in the workhouse was superior to that o f a w eavers fam ily. A
Poem by an Operative o f Keighley (1834) recites:
T h e weavers, a set o f p o o r souls,
W ith clothes on their backs m uch like riddles for holes;
W ith faces quite pale an d eyes sunk in the head,
A s i f the w hole race w ere half-fam ished for bread.
Indeed, w hen these w retches you happen to meet,
Y o u think they are shadows you see in the street;
F o r their thin w atcr-porridgc is all they can get,
A n d even w ith that th ey are often h ard set.
T h ere were several reasons fo r the fall in wages. O n e was
that weavers com peted w ith m achinery. T h e pow er-loom was
introduced only gradually b u t it set the p a cc ; and the a b ility o f
the pow er-loom master to undersell the hand-loom m aster
forced the latter to cut rates o f paym ent. T h e ever-present
m enace that m achinery m ig h t be introduced sapped the
w eavers spirit o f resistance. A ga in the weavers w ere fa ta lly
h andicapped b y the weakness o f their bargaining forcc because
th ey were not organized in strong trade unions. T h e ir failu re to
com bine was due partly to their isolation and dispersion over
the country-side; partly to extrem e poverty which cou ld not
stand the strain o f a weekly contribution to the trade union
funds; and p a rtly to the fact th a t the instrum ent upon w hich
th ey worked was their ow n property, and i f it stood id le th ey
alone suffered. A nother im p ortant factor was that the trade
w as easily acqu ired ; and, as it was rem arked, this facility

164

WOOL MANUFACTURES

m ade hand-loom w eaving a receptacle for the destitute from

all other classes.5 A s the result o f the inventions in spinning the
existing body o f weavers was unable to cope w ith the abundance
o f yarn, and the high prices at first paid for w eaving attracted
hands from every other occupation. In p articular agricultural
labourers flocked to the large industrial centres, and a lower
grade o f hand-loom w eavers was created. This invasion of
the urban labour m arket had pernicious conscqucnccs; it
not only swelled the num bers o f the weavers to excess but
exposed them to unfair com petition, for the ncwcom crs
accustomcd to a low standard o fliv in g w ere prepared to accept
low rates o f remuneration. N o r were farm workers the sole
competitors o f the town weavers. T h e worsted weavers o f Y ork
shire attributed their distressed state, am ong other factors, to
the im m igration o f Irish w orkm en who w ere com pelled b y their
poverty to crowd the English labour market. T h e efforts o f the
weavers to im prove their situation w ere fatal in the extrem e.
In order to eke out their scanty resources they p u t their children
at an early age to w eaving, thus involving them in the meshes
o f the same remorseless destiny in w hich they were themselves
inextricably entangled.
T h e fate which overtook the hand-loom weavers eventually
befell the wool-com bers, though the latter did not succum b
w ithout resistance. T h eir m ost famous strike broke out in
1825 at Bradford. It lasted five months and affected twenty
thousand m en. T h e strikers enjoyed considerable sym pathy in
their struggle to raise wages, and received contributions from
all parts o f the kingdom. T o smash their union, the masters
declared a lock-out and closed down the mills. T h e y also
induced the m ill owners at H alifax, K eigh ley and other centres
to pledge themselves to discharge all combers and w eavers in
their em ploym ent who supported the Bradford union with
funds. T h e strike was rem arkable for the peaceable and orderly
manner* in w hich it was carried on, and it is said th at not a
single outrage or breach o f peace occurred during its course.
Nevertheless the men failed to overcom e the tenacity o f the
masters, and the only result o f the ruinous contest was to
stimulate the introduction o f m achinery.

N IN E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H C ENT URI ES

165

T h e strike o f 1825 marks the turning-point in the history o f

the hand-com bcrs, whose condition n ow underwent rapid
deterioration. T h eir sufferings w ere intense, they w orked long
hours in an ovcr-heatcd atm osphere, and their toil was w retch
ed ly rem unerated. T h e ir spasm odic attem pts to alleviate th eir
distress were ineffectual. T h e y no longer held the w hip -h and
over the em ployers, who w ere ab le to u tilize m ach in ery w hich
every day was increasing in efficiency; and the recognition o f
their weakness constrained the hand-com bcrs to adopt a
hum bler tone, w hich was in striking contrast to their p rou d and
defiant attitude in the eighteenth ccntury. In 1840 the B radford
W ool-C om bcrs Association drew up a statement w h ich ran :
K n o w in g the evil effccts o f turn-outs [strikes] w c desire i f
possible to avoid them in future. W e kn ow that they can only
b6 avoided b y our masters u n itin g w ith us for the good o f each,
and all angry feelings or anim osities w hich exist in the bosoms
o f the em ployers or em ployed bein g banished and each oth ers
interests considered reciprocal. It must have been evid en t to
every m aster w ho has reduced the wages o f Us w orkm en that,
previous to the reduction, it was scarcely possible for a n y o f his
w ool-com bcrs to obtain an honest livin g b y their ow n handlabour. But now that the reduction has taken p lace ou r suffer
ings arc augm ented and ou r lives have becorae m iserable. W c
arc com pelled to w ork from fourteen to sixteen hours p er day,
and w ith all this sweat and toil w c are not able to procu re
sufficient o f the necessaries o f life wherew ith to subsist o n . T h e
hand-com bers had clung to the conviction that C a rtw rig h ts
m achine would never p rove w orkable, but the im provem ents
described in the previous ch ap ter g av e the death -blow to
their fond anticipations. T h e m iddle o f the nineteenth cen tu ry
m a y be taken as the period a t which hand-com bing as an
industrial process becam e to all intents and purposes an
extinct industry.
D u rin g the Industrial R evolu tion the great mass o f textile
workers saw in state intervention their only hope o f salvation,
and they appealed to the statute-book w hich still enshrined
in its pages the econom ic usages o f an earlier age. I t w ou ld
b e w rong to condem n their attitude as one o f im p racticablc

WOOL MANUFACTURES

conservatism: the responsibility must rest, rather, w ith those

w ho discarded the traditional safeguards bequeathed from the
past for the protection o f the working class but failed to devise
fresh ones.
A lthough the com pulsory assessment o f wages h ad been
abolished (in so far as the woollen industry was concerned) in
1757, the apprenticeship clauses o f the Statute o f Apprentices
w hile actually obsolete w ere still technically in force. T h e
weavers now had recourse to the old legislation in order to
protect themselves from the com petition o f cheap lab ou r; they
raised a fund for the purpose, and employed attorneys to bring
actions on their behalf against illegal workmen w ho had not
been properly trained. Attem pts were m ade at the sam e tim e to
enforce the W eavers A c t o f 1555 w hich limited the num ber
o f looms in the hope o f checking the factory system and
preserving the domestic system. T h e clothiers thereupon
appealed to Parliam ent for protection and demanded the repeal
o f all restrictions. In spite o f numerous petitions the suspension
bill becam e law in 1803, and year b y year a suspending act
was passed until 1809 w hen the whole code o f restrictive
legislation relating to the assize and true m aking o f cloth,
com pulsory apprenticeship, lim itation o f lcoms and the pro
hibition o f gig mills the heritage o f T u dor statesmanship
was swept aw ay in obedience to the demand o f the woollen
m anufacturers for complete industrial freedom.
W e must now view the state o f English wool textiles during
the present century.
T h e structure o f the wool textile industry in E ngland as on
the Continent and in the U nited States is different in each
o f the two m ain branches. It is usually horizontal in the ease o f
the worsted section, that is, com bing, spinning, w eaving, dyeing
and finishing are operated b y separate firms.1 It is usually
vertical in the case o f the w oollen section, that is, the w hole
scries o f processes is operated b y a single firm. T h ere are con
spicuous exceptions to the general rule: some worsted estab
lishments undertake more th an one process, and some .woollen
1 O f 617 worsted establishments in 1935 264 did spinning, 195 weaving,
6a combing, and 96 combined spinning and weaving.

NINETEENTH AND T W E N T I E T H CENTURIES

167

establishments are restricted to spinning. T h e contrast betw een

the tw o sections m ay be explained on several grounds. F o r one
thing the worsted m anufacturer is enabled to specialize in the
production o f a lim ited ran ge o f qualities instead o f h a v in g to
provide for the varied needs o f an integrated econom y. For
another thing a considerable export trade in worsted tops and
yarns, coupled w ith a hom e trade in hosiery yarns a n d the
vagaries o f worsted fashions, h av e encouraged the sep aration
o f processes. H ow ever the m ain reason lies in the natu re o f the
m achinery em ployed in w orsted spinning and com bing w h ich
can not be read ily adapted to different m aterials, for instance,
crossbred in p la cc o f m erino w ool; whereas it is claim ed th at
a woollen m ill can spin an yth in g w ith tw o ends to it/ F u rth er
m ore in w oollen fabrics both yarns o f va ryin g qualities and
m aterials other than w ool m a y be u tilized ; this m akes it
desirable to keep all the processes under centralized con trol i f
the requisite standard is to be attained. F in ally tech n ical
considerations indicate w h y dyein g and finishing arc don e on
commission in the worsted but not in the w oollen branch. O w in g
to the general concentration on a single process w h ich p revails
in the worsted scction, it is the p ractice for a firm to do w ork
for other firms on commission. T h u s co m b in g firms take w ool
either from a m anufacturer or a m erchant (known as a topm akcr) and deliver back tops and noils; in addition th e y m a y
themselves m ake tops for sale. E ven mills w hich arc en gaged
in spinning m a y have some kinds o f yarn m anufactured on a
commission basis.
W e are accustom ed to associate the cap italist system w ith
large-scale production: but in m an y industries the u n it o f p ro
duction is relatively small. O n e o f the outstanding features o f
the w ool textile industry in E ngland is the size o f the factories.
A cco rd in g to the census o f production (1935) they n u m b ered
ab ou t fifteen hundred and em ployed a ^quarter o f a m illion
workers. Barely m ore than a hundred factories h ad 400 or m ore
workers (only nineteen exceeded 1,000 w orkers) an d th ey
accounted for one-third o f the total em ploym ent; fourteen
hundred factories had over 10 and less th an 400 w orkers; w h ile
eigh t hundred factories (not'in the ccnsus) did not rise a b o v e 10

WOOL MANUFACTURES

workers. N early h a lf the factories were o f m oderate size, that

is, they ranged between 50 and 200 workers. It must also be o b
served that the establishments engaged in the worsted branch
w ere larger than those in the woollen branch. W here there
exists a m ultitude o f small firms the usual consequence is to
sharpen rivalry between th em ; prices tend to be governed
m ore by the laws o f supply and dem and than when a few large
firms can regulate prices b y agreem ent am ong themselves. In
practice, however, owing to specialization the concentration
011 special lines competition in the sale o f similar products is
restricted to a com paratively small group. W e arc told that
the range o f products is enormous; several hundred types of
cloth are m anufactured and even these require further sub
division according to style, pattern and finish/ T h e sm all size
o f the normal establishments is closely connected with the fact
that they are mostly ow ned b y individuals or b y private
lim ited companies, though public joint-stock companies are
not unknown and tend to increase.
A fter the cloth is ready for the m arket, several channels o f
sale are at the com m and o f the manufacturer. H e m a y sell
direct to those who make up m ens and womens clothes on a
large scalc; more than h a lf the trade is said to fall into this
category. N ext he may sell to merchants, who supply either
retailers or small garm cnt-m akers. These merchants m ay buy
the cloth dyed and finished; alternatively (like their predeces
sors in the eighteenth ccntury) they m ay buy the cloth in the
grey and have it dyed and finished b y a commission firm.
M erchants still continue to p lay an important role in the
m arketing o f cloth not only as intermediaries between the
m ill and the small consumers, but becausc they carry stocks
and so m aterially assist the m anufacturer b y placing w ith him
bulk orders for his specialized products. A gain the m anufac
turer may sell to wholesalers, w ho handle other goods besides
textiles and supply retailers. Lastly the m anufacturer m ay sell
to retailers, though this does not constitute an appreciable
percentage o f total sales. T h u s direct trade between those who
m ake cloth and those who fabricate it into garments exists only
in the first category. In the other categories a m iddlem an

N I N E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H C E N T U R I E S

1 69

(m erchant, w holesaler or retailer) serves as the channel betw een

m anufacturer and consumer.
A conspicuous feature o f the textile industry over the past
hundred years is the rem arkable steadiness in the vo lu m e o f
em ploym ent. T h e num ber o f workers was a p p roxim ately a
q uarter o f a m illion in the m id dle o f the nineteenth ccn tu ry,
and it fluctuated around ab out th at figure dow n to the second
w orld w ar w hen it suffered a sharp con traction .1 T h e norm al
variations due to changes in dem and for textile goods h av e
been o f the m agnitude o f 10 p er cent, o r less for exam ple, the
num ber o f workers m ounted to 275,000 in 18 91; it fell to
235,000 a dccad c later; it had recovered to a q u a rter o f a
m illion another dccadc later; it rose to 260,000 in 1924; it had
sunk to 227,000 in 1939. W h ile the num ber o f operatives
rem ained com paratively stationary, the consum ption o f w ool
was m ore than trebled; this was rendered possible b y the
adoption o f m echanical m ethods in p lace o f m anual processes
and b y the increasing efficiency o f m achinery. W om en h av e
alw ays played a very large p a rt in the textile industry even
w hen it was organized on a dom estic basis. In the census o f 1851
th ey constituted two-fifths o f the to ta l; tw enty years later, w ith
the grow th o f the factory system, they had achieved a m ajo rity
over m en; and they have since consistently retained th eir
preponderance. T h e ratio o f w om en to m en is norm ally 130:100
or over three times the national average for all occupations
(w hich is rough ly one w om an for every three m en). T h e
disparity is explained by the num ber o f w om en w ho rem ain
in the industry after m arriage o r return to it in w id o w h o o d : in
1939 th ey am ounted to about one-third o f the fem ale em ployees.
Juveniles o f both sexes under the age o f eighteen averaged in
recent years one-seventh o f the total lab o u r force: the p ro p o r
tion was higher in one bran ch o f industry, nam ely, w orsted
spinning (where it was nearly one-fourth).
T h e distribution o f the general body o f w orkers depends
upon the branch o f industry in w hich they are en g a g e d ; the
worsted section employs a greater num ber o f hands than the
woollen section, and worsted spinning absorbs m ore th an an y
1 *939 227,000; 1945 127,000. In 1951 it had rccovcrcd to 202,000.

170

WOOL MANUFACTURES

other single process; the m ajority o f the woollen operatives

w ork for integrated firms carrying 011 the w hole series o f
processes. T h e distribution o f the sexes is determ ined b y the
nature o f the occupation. M en preponderate in the prelim inary
processes o f wool-sorting and w ool-com bing as w ell as in the
final process o f cloth-finishing; women preponderate in the
m anufacturing processes o f spinning and w eavin g- in worsted
spinning and w eaving they arc more than twice as numerous
as males. Thus men arc prom inent at both ends o f the industry
and women in the interm ediate stages.
In the opening decade o f the present ccntury, before two
world wars produced catastrophic changcs in the va lu e o f
money, the earnings o f operatives in wool textiles averaged
about tw o shillings or half-a-crow n a day for women and double
for m en.1 R eal wages as interpreted in terms o f purchasing
power m ay be gauged from the priccs o f common necessaries
bread was 3d. (per 4 lb. lo a f) ; tea 2od. sugar 2d. cheese 7d.
butter 12d. mutton and b e e f g$d. potatoes id . (all these p e r lb.);
eggs 13d. (per dozen), m ilk 3d. (per quart), coal r id . (p erew t.).
R en t and rates for a five-room house w ith kitchen, liv in g room
and bedrooms were 5s. to 9s. w eekly; for a two-room house
as. to 3s. A n A m erican investigator o f housing conditions, the
depressing legacy o f the nineteenth ccntury, observed that
throughout Yorkshire the typical workm ens dw ellings arc
built in straight rows o f two-storcy brick or stone buildings;
there are no detached buildings, so w c sec these long rows o f
uniform dwellings. T h e hours o fla b o u r were 5 5 k a w eek; after
the first world w ar they w ere reduced to 48. D ay and n igh t shifts
are operated m ainly in the com bing and spinning sections o f
the industry.
Attention has been draw n to the fact that the volum e o f
em ploym ent in wool textiles m oved within narrow limits o f
about 10 p er cent, down to the second world w ar in marked
contrast w ith cotton textiles where in the preceding q uarter o f
a ccntury (1914-39) the volum e o f employment fell over 40 per
1 Men received approximately 29s. as wool-sortere, 17s. as combcrs, 2.4s. as mule
spinners, and 25s. as weavers; women were paid 9s. as frame spinners, 12s. as
carders or com ben, and 15s. as weavers. These are time wages (except weavers).
Piece wages were 31s. (sorters) and 32s. (mule). W eavcn were paid picce wages.

NINETEENTH AND TW E N TIETH CENTURIES

1 71

ccnt. Nevertheless the workers, w hile they rem ain w ithin the
industry, suffer from unem ploym ent. T h e cycle o f trade involves
an alternation o f booms and slumps; changcs in h om e con
sum ption, due to the dem and for lighter and shorter clothes
and for other new stylos set b y the w eathercock o f fashion, m ay
b rin g prosperity to one district and depression to anoth er; the
erection o f ta r ilf barriers1 the M c K in le y ta riff in the U nited
States in 1895 led to the prediction th at grass would grow in
the streets o f Bradford ham pers international trade; the com
petition o f other fibres natural and artificial m ay d ivert the
channels o f consum ption. Statistics o f unem ploym ent only
becam e availab le when textile workers w ere brought under the
national insurance scheme after the first world war. T h e y show
w ide variations in em ploym ent during the twenties and
thirties. T h e percentages o f unem ploym ent were ap proxi
m ately 7 in 1924., 21 in 1925, 10 in 1927, 36 in 1931, 10 in 1936,
6 in 1939; these figures give a better notion o f the fluctuations
th an the average o f a dccad c (in the thirties it was 20). I t must
not, however, be inferred that an unem ployed person w as out
o f w ork the w hole year round; he m ight only h ave been
tem porarily w ithout a job.
W ool m anufactures, in sharp contrast w ith cotton, are
m ainly dependent 011 the hom e m arket w hich absorbed about
two-thirds o f the output in the pre-w ar years. Indeed th ey have
accounted for an ever-dim inishing proportion o f total British
exports over the past three centuries. T h e proportion w'as as
high as two-thirds in the m iddle o f the seventeenth century,
and it was still almost one-half in the early eighteenth century,
then it sank to one-sixth in the early nineteenth centu ry, onethirteenth in the early tw entieth century, and one-seventeenth
on the eve o f the second world w ar. T h is relative decline
denoted that other branches o f the national econom y had
forged ahead in the export trade; there was no absolute
decline in the volum e o f w oollen and worsted exports as a w hole
and the proportion o f operatives engaged on export work
1 It is estimated that between 1912 and 1939 the average ad valorem duty payable
abroad on a 16 oz. British cloth rose by 139 per cent, without taking account of
various surcharges and additional taxes.

172

WOOL MANUFACTURES

remained high. In spite o f the fact that foreign com petitors

France and G erm any entered the field against her, England
m ore than held her ow n. T h e prognostication uttered so
frequently in the course o f her econom ic history th at tariffs
and com petition foreshadowed the eclipse of English oversea
trade was signally falsified. Exports in 1912 exceeded those
o f France and G erm any together; their quantity was even
higher than in a notable year 1872, w hen owing to the FrancoPrussian w ar external rivalry was largely negligible.
Between the tw o world wars, w hile England m aintained and
even extended her share o f international trade, it was a share o f
a dw indling total because the crucial feature o f the thirties was
an overwhelm ing fall in the volum e o f products exchanged
between nations. T h e trend aw ay from the international
division o f labour towards autarky, or self-sufficiency, began
during the first world w ar when the w arring countries were
unable to supply the requirem ents o f their form er customers;
it received a powerful stimulus from the great depression o f
1929-33. O n an increasing scale every state sought to build up
its own industries, and this affected the demand for English
wool m anufactures. E ngland exported two-fifths o f world
exports o f wool tissues alike in 1928 and in 1938, b u t world
exports in 1938 were only h a lf o f 1928. T h e c h icf exporters o f
w o o lA ustralia, N ew Zealand, South A frica, A rgen tin a and
U ruguay doubled their hom e consumption o f wool during
these ten years (1928-38), though N ew Zealand and South
A frica continued to provide grow ing markets for English wool
tissues. T h e markets in the Far East crashed w hen their
demand fell from 18 m illion lb. in 1928 to 2$ millions a decade
later. Significant was the trend towards an expanding propor
tion o f Em pire consum ption o f English wool tissues. It rose
from one-eighth in the seventies to two-fifths before the first
world war, and approached one-half prior to the second world
w ar; the U nited States, form erly one o f the principal markets,
dropped to one-twentieth. It is said that the cloths exported
abroad are in general o f better quality than those sold on the
hom e m arket; yet the export trade is not confined to high-class
cloths; and, apart from finished products, it also comprises

N I N E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H C E N T U R I E S

173

interm ediate products (tops, noils, yarns, shoddy) together

w ith the by-products of w ool fats: these interm ediate an d b y
products h ave been as high as two-fifths in value o f the total.
T h e m arketing o f exports is in the hands o f m an ufacturers1 and
m erchants, the division corresponding largely to the natu re o f
the m arket. M erchants yrdcr goods either in advance accord in g
to sample or upon receipt o f actual instructions transm itted by
agents abroad.
W e must next glar.ee a t wool textiles in other lead in g
countries.
T h e beginnings o f a cloth m anufacture in A m erica can be
traced back to the opening decades o f the seventeenth ccn tury,
for m any o f the early settlers in the plantations h a d been
clothiers at home. A t the end o f the century the English govern
m ent observed with conccrn that N e w E ngland and other
northern colonies were ap p lyin g themselves too m uch to the
im provem ent o f woolien fabrics am ongst themselves. T h e
problem o f preventing the colonics from developing th eir own
m anufactures was a constant pre-occupation w ith the au th ori
ties at hom e, and wool textiles figured prom inently in the
category o f industries that w ere frow ned upon. N o t content,
however, to rely upon h er superior econom ic efficiency the
m other country embarked upon a p o licy o f repressive legisla
tion. A cco rd in gly Parliam ent enacted (in 1699) that no raw
wool, yarn or fabric, being the product or m anufacture o f any
o f the English plantations in A m erica, should be exported
from the colonics or even transported from one colon y to
another: and w c have since understood [so the Commissioners
for Plantations reported the n ext year] that the said restraint
has had a v e ry good effect. T h e sequel afforded an instructive
exam ple o f the futility o f harsh measures. A few years later the
Commissioners w ere constrained to adm it that notw ithstanding
the prohibition the northern colonies do not only clothe th em
selves with woollen goods, b u t furnish the sam e com m odity to
the m ore southern plantations. Sh ortly before the W a r o f
Independence the governor o f N e w Y o r k w rote: T h e custom
1 In 1940-41 the manufacturers share of exported cloth was 60 per cent.

174

WOOL MANUFACTURES

o f m aking coarse cloth in private families prevails throughout

the entire province, and in alm ost every house a sufficient
quantity is m anufactured for the use o f the fam ily.
T h e first factory in the U nited States came into existence
subsequent to the Revolution at Hartford (Connecticut in N ew
England). T h e equipm ent comprised looms, fulling mills and
finishing m achinery, and so enabled cloth to be m anufactured
in all its stages; but the venture proved short-lived (1788-1797).
T h e real start o f the A m erican woollen industry on m odern
lines is associated with two brothers, English mechanics named
Schofield, who migrated to the U nited States in 1793. T h ey
are credited with the first attem pt to manufacture w ool by
power-driven m achinery. T h e y erected their factory in M assa
chusetts and others soon sprang up. Nevertheless as late as 1810
it was officially estimated that the cloth made in country dis
tricts was preponderate^ household cloth, that is, the spinning
and weaving w ere done in the home. T h e nascent industry was
stimulated b y the war o f 1812, which interrupted the trade
between E ngland and the U nited States and gave native
m anufacturers an opportunity to capture the domestic m arket.
T h e ir efforts were assisted b y the fact that the introduction o f
m erino sheep provided them with superior qualities o f raw
m aterial. H ow ever after the w ar the im portation o f English
woollens was resum ed; and this seemed likely to chcck, at any
rate tem porarily, any further advance o f the home industry. In
these circumstances the dem and for protective tariffs on
imported woollens grew clam orous. A n import duty oneeighth o f the value had been imposed in 1789; it was now
(1816) doubled; while a lew years later (1824) it was raised to
one-third. T h e policy o f building up a native m anufacture
behind ta riff walls met w ith strenuous opposition from the
cotton growers. T h ere was a cleavage o f interests betw een the
planters o f the south, w ho supported free trade, and the m anu
facturers o f the north. T h e form er exported cotton and were
apprehensive lest this and other agricultural industries would
be destroyed for the em olum ent o f the few. T he A gricultural
Society o f South C arolin a protested (1827) that protective
tariffs in favour o f domestic manufactures at the expense o f

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175

agriculture w ere pregnant w ith evil to southern interests. A t

the m om ent the protest was u n availin g since the next y e a r the
ta riff m ounted to one-half. L a te r southern resistance proved
m ore successful and the ta riff w as again reduced to a q u arter,
b u t the struggle persisted w ith fluctuating fortunes; the d u ty
levied in 1867 was said to am ount n early to p rohibition o f
en try. T h e innum erable and bew ildering changes in the ta r iff
system impressed upon the A m erican w oollen indu stry a
speculative ch aracter w hich m ilitated against steady and
ordered progress.
Even m ore detrimental was the cleavage betw een the w ool
m anufacturers and the wool growers. W e h av e spoken else
w h ere1 o f the Syracuse C onvention (1865) *n w hich an effort
was m ade to reconcile their conflicting interests. T h e president
o f the N ational Association o f W ool M anufacturers declared
th at neither can long prosper unless the oth er prospers also.
T h e m anufacturers wanted protection against fab rica ted
m aterials E ngland draws h er life from a b ro a d ; she returns
to foreign m arkets the fruits o f her labours. T h e grow ers
w anted protection against raw m aterials. E ach side w as p o w er
ful enough to secure what it w anted, and each gained a P yrrh ic
victory. T h e m anufacturers are protected against foreign co m
petitors but not against n ative com petitors w ho p rod u ce
fabrics made, o f other and ch eaper m aterials. T h e grow ers are
protected against foreign com petitors but they can n ot h in d er
m anufacturers from blending virgin wool w ith re-w orked w ool,
cotton and ra y o n ; thereby dim inishing th eir dep en dence on
costly hom e-grow n wool. It m ay be p a rtia lly ow in g to the high
cost o f the raw materials th at A m erican m anufacturers arc
confined to the hom e market, w here they are protected against
the icy blast o f external com petition. T h e y h ave signally failed
to build up m arkets abroad, and exports o f woollens are
negligible.3
A s in E ngland, woollen and worsted factories in th e U n ite d
States are loeated m ainly in the north-east section o f the coun try.
* See Part I.
1 Exports increased after the second world war, to meet the pressing needs o f
countries affected by the war. The percentage of production exported abroad rose
from -i (1939) to 1-3 (1948) and fell to -6 (1950).

I76

WOOL MANUFACTURES

T h e y are concentrated in N ew England and the m iddle

A tla n tic states (N ew Y ork, N ew Jersey and Pennsylvania),
w hich absorb all but one-seventh.1 T h e number o f mills (accord
in g to the census o f production in 1935) was 369 woollen and
226 worsted; the corresponding figures for the num ber o f
workers were 68,000 and 91,000. T h e w onted industry has a
sm aller num ber o f plants coupled with a greater num ber o f
workers as well as a higher va lu e o f product. Its grow th was
due partly to changes in fashion which caused the dem and for
h eavy woollens to decline relatively, and partly to the invention
o f m echanical com bing which superseded th i expensive m anual
process. Its structural organization follows the English pattern
o f specialization: some mills only comb, some only spin, some
only weave. In marked contrast the typical woollen m ill is
integrated: it combines all processes preparatory, spinning,
w eaving and finishing. O n e feature o f interest is that woollen
yarn in the U nited States is spun b y the ring spinning-fram e
instead o f the mule (as in England). T h is m ethod diminishes
labour costs and increases productivity, though the mule yields
a finer thread.
A comparison o f the productivity and earnings o f lab ou r in
the wool textiles o f the U nited States with those o f E ngland
must take account o f several things. Firstly, English cloth is
superior in quality and costs less to m anufacture. Secondly, the
proportion o f m en (and therefore the output p er head) is
higher in the U nited States. T h ird ly, England exports also
interm ediate products (tops, yarn, etc.). Y e t when due
allow ance has been made for these factors, there still rem ain
substantial differences in the earnings and output o f labour
w hich are both m uch greater in the United States. T h e
phenom enon, however, is not confined to w ool textiles but
is characteristic o f industry as a whole. E nglands a b ility to
com pete in w orld markets depends prim arily upon the q uality
o f her products, and any changes which increased ou tput at
the expense o f quality w ould b e detrimental to her long-term
1 O f rcccnt years there has been a marked trend away from the old-established
wool textiles districts o f New England and the mid-Atlantic states to the southern
states.

N I N E T E E N T H AND T W E N T I E T H C E N T U R I E S

17 7

interests. Subject to this p aram ou n t consideration there is

doubtless considerable room for a w id er adoption o f im proved
technical methods.
F rcn ch industry shares one featu re in com m on w ith E nglish
industry: it is loeated m ainly in the north-cast corncr o f the
country. In other respects it is w id ely dissim ilar. E ngland leads
the w orld in the m anufacture o f worsteds for m ens w ear, w h ile
F ran ce enjoys suprem acy in soft m aterials for w om ens w ear.
T h e contrast is due to differences in the tech nical processes.
English worsteds a rc woven from h ard yarn spun on the fra m e;
F rcn ch worsteds a rc woven from soft yarn containing less tw ist
and spun on the m ule. T h e p rcfcrcn cc for m ule spinning in the
F rcn ch worsted industry arises from the fact th a t the latter uses
wool o f a shorter staple than English com bing wool an d the
m ule can handle short w eak w ool w h ich could not bear the
strain o f the fram e. Form erly worsteds w ere m ade from
com bing wool and woollens from cloth ing w ool; the dis
tinction was based on the length o f the fibre w hether it was m ore
or less than 2 i inches. H ow ever the distinction tended to b e
obliterated when m achinery w as devised1 w h ich could com b
the shorter staples and so m ade th em availab le for worsteds.
O w in g to this Frcnch (or Continental) system o f m an ufactu rin g
worsted yarn, m erino wool the finest in q u a lity b u t usually
the shortest in length is no longer confined to woollens but
can n ow be used for worsteds. W h en worsted y a rn is m ade from
short w ool it undergoes the process o f cardin g. T h e purpose is
not to blend the fibres (as in the ease o f w oollen cardin g), b u t
to separate the fibres in preparation for com bing w hich arranges
them in parallel order. Finally it m a y be observed th at the
displacem ent o f hand-looms b y pow er-loom s has been a slow er
process in France than in E ngland. In the first dccad c o f ou r
century the form er still num bered one-fourth o f the to ta l;
sometimes looms in the homes w ere run b y clcctric power. T h e
survival o f m anual processes is one o f the reasons for F ren ch
pre-em inence in artistic woollen fabrics, since the skill o f the
hand-loom w eaver can be m ore read ily applied to ch an gin g
fashions than can the machine. T h e organization o f the ru ral
A n adaptation of Hcilmann's combing machine.
N

78

WOOL MANUFACTURES

industry in France reproduced the features o f the English

domestic system; the household weavers were supplied w ith
yarn and returned the woven fabric.
Ja p a n occupied an exceptional position. She relied almost
exclusively upon im ported w ool; furthermore she cam e late
into the field. H er em ergence as a wool m anufacturing country
w as in the years 1928-35; at a tim e when exports o f w oollen
fabrics from England dim inished b y a third and those from
Europe as a w hole b y a half, J a p a n m ultiplied her exports over
eigh tfold.1 H er speciality was ligh t worsted cloth for tropical
w ear. H er wool consumption increased twenty-fivefold as
com pared with the years p receding the first world war, though
the greater p art o f her industrial output went to meet the hom e
dem and stimulated b y the adoption o f European fashions and a
rising standard o f living. M odern methods o f factory organ
ization, coupled w ith up-to-date m achinery, gave Ja p an an
opportunity both to satisfy dom estic needs and enter into the
sphere o f international com petition.
1 1928 2i million square yards; 1935 21-3 m.

A P P E N D IX

Geographical Distribution in England

W H I L E t h e c o t t o n industry has alw ays been in the m ain
associated with a single county, the woollen and worsted
industries were form erly earn ed on in every p a rt o f the realm
although even in the middle ages certain areas becam e pre
em inent as the 'm anufacturing districts o f E n glan d , nam ely,
the west country, E ast A nglia and Yorkshire.
In early times the tewns w ere the centres o f cloth-m aking.
H untingdon, Lincoln, London, N ottingham , O xford , W inches
ter and Y o rk had each its own gild o f w eavers in the tw elfth
century. O th er im portant places w ere Bristol w here one-fifth o f
the townsfolk w ere connected w ith the cloth trade, Colchester,
Leicester, N ortham pton and S tam ford; at B u ry St. Edm unds
the fullers w ere enjoined b y the cellarer o f the ab b ey to furnish
cloth for his salt, otherwise he w ould prohibit them the use
of the w aters. W orsted cloth w as m ade a t W orstead and
A ylsham in N orfolk: Norwich, destined to becom e the m etro
polis o f the worsted world, o rigin ally traded in leather and
leather goods.
In the .course o f centuries the textile m anufactures o ve r
flow ed from the towns into the suburbs and coun try districts,
w here they developed free from any im pedim ent or restraint.
This trend aw ay from the ancient boroughs to new industrial
sc a t 3 w a s in part, no doubt, prom pted b y the desire to evad e
the control o f the craft gilds and escape fin an cial obligations,
but it was ultim ately due to the natural grow th o f industry.
Nevertheless the corporate towns did not surrender their
privileged position without a struggle. T h e y endeavoured as
m uch as possible to retain in th eir ow n hands the sole righ t to
m ake cloth ; and they invoked in support o f their claim s the
charters bestowed upon them b y the C ro w n in the tw elfth
century, which gave diem a p ractical m onopoly w ithin a large
area. A t first their m onopoly was not seriously contested; and
*79

i8o

WOOL MANUFACTURES

when town clothiers gave ou t w ork to country w eavers the

m unicipal authorities took steps to check the practice in order
to protect urban craftsmen from the foreign com petition o f
rural artisans. H ow ever in the sixteenth century the villages
ceased to depend upon the towns for industrial em ploym ent;
and, ow ing to the rapid extension o f the woollen m anufacture
in rural districts, the control over it began to slip from the
grasp o f the older boroughs. T h u s in Yorkshire the prosperity
o f the corporate towns w aned and their place was usurped by
their younger rivals, the new country townlcts w hich owed
their rise to the expansion o f the textile industries. In 1561 the
authorities o f Y o rk which in the m iddle ages was the greatest
ccntre o f w eaving in the north com plaincd o f the decayed
fortunes o f their city. T h e cause o f the decay o f the weavers and
looms for woollen cloth w ithin the city, as I do understand and
learn, is the lack o f cloth-m aking in the city as was in old tim e
accustomed, w hich is now increased and used in the tow ns o f
H alifax, Leeds and W akefield: for that not cn ly the com m odity
o f the w ater mills is there nigh at hand but also the poor folk as
spinners, carders and other necessary workfolk for the w eaving
m ay there beside their hand-labour have rye, fire [fuel]
and other relief good chcap, w hich is in this city very dear and
w an ting. Y e t it was not alone the presence o f w ater m ills and
the cheapness o f living which attracted artisans into the rural
districts; even more im portant was the abscncc or at any rate
the difficulty o f supervision. T h e villages were left to a large
extent unregulated, a circum stance which contributed to the
disadvantages to w hich the older towns w ere exposed. In
Yorkshire, for instance, the country weavers m ade cloth w ith
w o o f o f flocks, a practice afterwards prohibited b y Parliam ent.
T h e oppressive ordinances o f craft gilds concerning the fees o f
apprentices and admission to master-ship must h ave operated in
the same direction.
T h e struggle between the established seats o f industry and
villages which w ere grow ing into towns constitutes one o f the
m ain economic movements o f the sixteenth century. T h e form er
sought by means o f legislative action to check the spread o f
m anufactures, and to repress the activities of the new industrial

G E O G R A P H I C A L D I S T R I B U T I O N IN E N G L A N D

l8l

centres th at w ere springing up around them . T h e celebrated

W eavers A ct (1555) laid dow n the principle th at henceforth
no person whatsoever, w hich heretofore h ath not used or
exercised the feat, mistery or a rt o f cloth-m aking, shall m ake
or w eave any kind o f broad w hite w oollen cloths but only in a
city, borough, town corporate or m arket tow n or else in such
p lace or places w here such cloths h ave been used to be com
m only m ade b y the space o f ten years. N one the less the T u d o r
m on arch y was powerless to divert the tide o f econom ic ch an ge
w hich was transform ing m ediaeval conditions and for good or
evil ushering in the modern w orld. A t the opening o f the seven
teenth century the V enetian envoy in L ondon w rote th at b ro a d
cloth and especially kersies are m ad e all over the kingdom in
the sm all ham lets and villages an d not in the b ig towns o n ly .
T h e distribution o f the wool textiles under the E a rly Stuarts
is rou gh ly indicated in Fullers list:
E ast:

(2)
(3)
(4 )
W est:
(1)
(*)
(3)
(4 )
N orth : (1)

( 3)
S o u th : ()
.
(2)
( 3)
(4 )

Ncrfolk N o rw ich fustians;

Suffolk S u d b u ry baize;
Essex C olchester says an d serges;
K en t K en tish broadcloth.
Devonshire kersies;
Gloucestershire cloth;
W orcestershire c lo th ;
W ales W elsh friezes.
W estmorland K en d al cloth;
Lancashire M anchester cotton;
Yorkshire H alifa x cloth.
Somersetshire T a u n to n scrgc3;
H am pshire c lo th ;
Berkshire cloth ;
Sussex cloth.

O bserve we here, adds Fuller, that m id-E ngland N ortham ptonshirc, Lincolnshire and C am b ridge h avin g most o f
wool, h ave least o f clothing therein.
T h e m ain source o f inform ation for the eighteenth century is
D efoes Tour o f Great Britain, w hich covers the years 1724 -1727.

182

WOOL MANUFACTURES

In addition there are occasional notices in the works o f A rth u r

Y o u n g, Eden, and various topographical writers. T h e natural
starting-point o f an industrial itinerary is Norfolk, w hich is
described b y Defoe in the follow ing terms. W hen we com e into
N orfolk we see a face o f diligence spread over the w hole co u n try ;
the vast manufactures carried on (in chief) b y the N orw ich
w eavers em ploy all the country round in spinning yarn for
th em ; besides m any thousand packs o f yarn w h ich they receive
from other counties, even from as far as Yorkshire and W est
m orland. This [eastern] side o f N orfolk is very populous and
thronged with great and spacious market towns m ore and
larger than any other part o f E ngland so far from London,
except Devonshire and the W est R id in g o f Yorkshire. M ost o f
these towns arc very populous and large; b u t th at w h ich is
most rem arkable is that the w hole country round them is so
interspersed w ith villages, and those villages so large and full
o f people. O f this busy hive o f industry the thriving centre was
N orw ich, once the metropolis o f East A n glia and the lead in g
m anufacturing town in E ngland. T h e staple products were
worsted stuffs, crapes and cam lets m ade from the long-stapled
w ool o f Lincolnshire and Leicestershire. T h e w ool produced
in Norfolk itself was not used at hom e but was sent to
Yorkshire, w here it was carded and spun into cloth. T h e county
o f Suffolk was associated w ith textiles from rem ote times. T h e
mass o f its population was occupied in the prelim inary branches
o f the worsted industry, w ool-com bing and yarn-m aking, for
the m anufacturers o f N orw ich in particular drew from Suffolk
their supplies o f yarn. In Essex the most im portant tow n was
Colchester renowned for m aking bays and says.
Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex w ere famed for industry y et
another part o f East A n glia Cam bridgeshire had no m anu
facture at all, nor arc the poor except the husbandmen fam ed
for anything so m uch as idleness and sloth to their scandal be
it spoken. This unfavourable estimate m ay b e qualified b y the
fact th at the county possessed the greatest com m ercial m art in
the w hole kingdom, Stourbridge Fair near Cam bridge. A p art
o f the fair, know n as the D uddery, was set apart for dealers in
the cloth trade; and the booths or tents, which w ere grouped

G E O G R A P H I C A L D I S T R I B U T I O N IN E N G L A N D

1 83

together in the form o f a square, w ere so immense th at they g av e

the impression o f another Blackw ell H all. L a rg e quantities o f
w ool w ere also sold, especially the w ool raised in Lincolnshire
w here the longest staple was found. T h e buyers w ere ch iefly
draw n from Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex whose industry dem an
ded the long 'com bing' wool.
In the early m iddle ages the econom ic condition o f K e n t w as
in a d van ce o f most English counties. L am b ard , in his Perambula
tion o f Kent w ritten in 1576, declared that its artificers excelled
as m akers o f coloured woollen cloths, and th a t from them w as
d raw n both sufficient store to furnish the w ear o f the best sort
o f ou r ow n nation at home, and great p len ty also to be trans
ported to other foreign countries ab road. In the sixteenth
century K e n t received a large incursion o f alien w eavers p a r
ticu larly at Sandw ich; and in the next ccn tu ry F u ller declared
th a t clothing is as vigorously applied here as in an y other p lace,
and K en tish cloth at the present keepeth u p the credit th ereo f
as h igh as ever before. None the less K e n t was u nable to m ain
tain its position am ong the m anufacturing districts o f E ngland,
and u nder the H anoverians it was num bered w ith H am pshire,
Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, N ortham ptonshire, Surrey and
Sussex am ong the counties w h ich w ere not em ployed in an y
considerable w oollen m anufacture.
W c now turn to the west country, the seat o f the b roadcloth
m anufacture upon which the fam e o f English industry rested
dow n to the era o f the Industrial R evolu tion . A t Painsw ick on
the w a y towards Stroud, as a traveller w rote in 1681, you
begin to enter the land o f the clothiers w ho in these bourns
b uilding fair houses because o f the convenicncy o f w ater, so
useful for their trade, do extend their country some m iles. T h e
heart o f the west country was the lo w flat coun try full o f rivers
and tow ns and infinitely populous, com prising p art o f Som er
setshire, W iltshire and Gloucestershire, and stretching from
C irencester in the north to Sherborne in the south and from
D evizes in the east to Bristol in the west. T h e area extended
ab ou t fifty miles in length w here longest and tw enty miles in
breadth w here narrowest, an d it contained innum erable
m arket towns whose inhabitants w ere engaged in the woollen

184

WOOL MANUFACTURES

m anufacture. T h e R iver A vo n waters this whole fruitful vale

and the w ater seems p articularly qualified for the use o f
clothicrs, for dyeing the best colours and for fulling and dressing
the cloth, so that the clothicrs generally plant themselves upon
this river.
A m on g the m anufacturing counties Gloucestershire held a
foremost place: famous not for the finest cloths only b u t for
dyeing those cloths o f the finest scarlcts and other grain colours
that arc anywhere in England.* It owed its prc-cm incnce,
in part, to the quantity o f sheep covering the downs and plains
o f Dorsetshire, W iltshire and H am pshire (although, as the
home-grown supply proved insufficient for its needs, it cam e
to draw upon the midlands Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and
Northam ptonshire and even upon Ireland and Sp ain ); and
in p art also to the excellent w ater o f the Stroud w hich was said
to have a peculiar quality for dyeing scarlets. T h e county was
covered, in L elan d s picturcsquc phrase, with a network o f
clothing towns and clothing villages. A m ong the c h ic f
centres Defoe enumerates Cirencester populous and rich, full
o f clothiers. W iltshire and Somersetshire ranked w ith G lo u
cestershire as great industrial districts o f the w est country. In
W iltshire the most im portant tow n was Bradford. Som erset
shire contained T au nton and From c, wliile B ath was at one
tim e associated w ith a w oollen article known as B ath
beaver.
T h e county o f D evon was the largest and most populous in
England, Yorkshire excepted. I t was so full o f great towns and
those towns so full o f people and those people so universally
em ployed in trade and m anufactures, that not only it cannot be
equalled in E ngland but perhaps not in Europe. Its original
industry was the m anufacture o f kersies (narrow woollen cloth),
and Devonshire kersies were the boast o f Devonshire writers.
H ere are made the best and finest o f the kingdom , w hich
obtaineth to the inhabitants w ealth, to the merchants traffic, and
glo ry to the nation. A fter the R evolution kersies w ere displaced
b y serges o f w hich the w arp was m ade with combcd yarn and
the w eft with cardcd yarn. A m o n g the seats o f D evonshire w ool
textiles two held pride o f place E xeter and Tiverton.

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1 85

T h e history o f the W est R id in g o f Yorkshire is rem arkable in

m an y ways. T h e records o f its woollen industry stretch b a ck to
rem otest times, yet for centuries the m anufacture was in a
b ackw ard condition. Even w hen the sam e q u a lity o f w ool was
im ported from other parts o f E ngland, Y orkshire was u n ab le to
p roduce the sam e quality o f cloth as the west country. T h e
superiority o f the latter was attributed to m ore careful sorting
o f the w ool, improved methods o f dyeing and finishing, an d
greater specialization. T h e W est R id in g sent ab road vast
quantities but supplied markets like Russia and Poland, w h ich
took coarse fabrics to clothe th eir armies. T h e general level o f
the industry as regards q uality and skill was a low one. T h e
m anufacturers gained an evil notoriety for 'th eir use o f la m b s
w ool, flocks and other prohibited m aterials; and legislation
was powerless to turn them from th eir m alpractices. T h e estim a
tion in which Yorkshire cloth w as held in the seventeenth
ccn tu ry m ay be gauged from F u llers castigation: A s I am g la d
to h ear th at p len ty of a coarser kind o f cloth is m ade in this
cou n ty at H alifax, Leeds and elsewhere, w hereb y the m ean er
sort are m uch em ployed and the m iddle sort enriched, so I am
sorry for the general complaints m ade thereof; insomuch th a t
it is becom e a general by-word to shrink as northern cloths (a
g ia n t to the eye and dw arf in the use thereof) to signify such
w ho fail their friends in deepest distress depending on their
assistance. Sad th at the sheep, the em blem o f innocence, should
u nw illingly cover so m uch craft u nder the %vool thereof; and
sadder that fullers commended in Scriptures for m akin g cloth
w hite should ju stly be condem ned for m akin g their ow n conscicnccs black b y such fraudulent practiccs. H ow ever in the
eighteenth century the dorm ant energies o f the north w ere
quickened to new life. Its people n ow took upon them selves to
wrest from East A nglia and the west country their industrial
suprem acy over the rest of E ngland.
T h e staple industry o f Yorkshire in rem oter times w as the
m anufacture o f a narrow w oollen cloth called kersey. A new
p age in the history o f the county was opened up w ith die in tro
duction o f worsted cloth. T h e date to be assigned to this event
is the end o f the seventeenth century. T h e fact th at Y orkshire

WOOL MANUFACTURES

exported yarn to N orw ich m ay w ell have suggested to Y o rk

shire m en the possibility o f w orking up the yc.rn at hom e and
entering into competition with N orfolk m anufacturers; and the
fact th at labour was apparently cheaper in the north m ade the
experim ent feasible. T h e progress o f the industry was at first
slow, b u t it brought the West R id in g into rivalry w ith Norfolk
w h ich .h a d formerly enjoyed almost the sole m onopoly o f the
worsted trade; and in 1727 D efoe enumerated shalloons
(worsted cloth) along w ith broad woollen cloth and narrow
woollen cloth as the three articles o f th at countrys lab ou r.
T h e challenge thrown down b y Yorkshire to other industrial
centres began to attract attention early in the eighteenth
century. A w riter in 174.1 rem arked: Yorkshire hath rivalled
them b y under-working them, and very m uch decreased
their trade as also lowered th eir prices; they have also
robbed the west [country] and E ast [Anglia]; for I am told
they not only m ake long ells but bays in imitation o f Bocking
bays, and sell them much cheaper for the reasons aforesaid.
T h e success w hich attended the efforts o f Yorkshire capitalists
to develop the worsted industry is shown by the value o f the
worsted cloth m ade in the W est R id in g in 1772, w hich ap pa
rently equalled th at m ade in N orw ich. Nevertheless their
success was only p artially achieved at the expense o f the
N orw ich trade, w hich em braced the finer qualities o f worsted
while Yorkshire m ade the middle and lower qualities. N or was it
due to the use o f an y m achinery w hich at this date had not been
adopted in the worsted industry, even the fly shuttle being m ore
suitable at first for the m aking o f broad woollen cloth.
In the eighteenth ccntury a group o f five towns constituted
the seat o f that vast clothing trade b y which the wealth and
opulence o f this part o f the country has been raised to w hat it
now is. T h e five towns w ere Leeds, H alifax, W akefield,
Huddersfield and Bradford. Leeds, a large w ealthy and p opu
lous tow n, was described b y T h orcsb y in 1714. as deservedly
celebrated both at home and in the most distant trading parts
o f E urope for the woollen m anufacture. It was renowned for
its cloth m arket which has been m entioned in another chapter.
T h e staple product was broadcloth although worsteds w ere

G E O G R A P H I C A L D I S T R I B U T I O N IN E N G L A N D

1 87

also m ade. T h e weavers o f H alifax w ere m ainly worsted w ea v

ers, and the tow n drove a great trade in kersies and shalloons,
tam m ies, callim ancoes and russets. H alifax preserved the righ t
o f beheading cloth-stealers and other thieves d ow n to 1650, and
a verse o f the B eggars L itan y ran :
From H ell, H u ll and H alifax
G ood Lord deliver us!
W akefield was know n for its cloth m arket, w hich ranked sccond
only to Leeds, as well as for cheapness o f living A righ t
honest m an , observed L clan d in the reign o f H enry V I I I ,
shall fare w ell for twopence a m e al. T h e tow n specialized in
cloth-finishing and here cloth was brought to b e dyed an d
dressed. H uddersfield was another large cloth in g p la c e ; b u t
B radford had not y e t acquired the prom inence w hich aw aited
the future m etropolis o f the worsted industry. T h e inhabitants
w ere supposed to number ab out five thousand o f w hom tw othirds w ere em ployed in the m anufacture o f callim ancoes,
russets and other fabrics. T h e tow ns reputation for fraudulent
w ork m ay b e gauged from a verse in a M ethodist h ym n:
O n Bradford likewise look T h o u dow n
W here Satan keeps his seat.
T h e texdle industry was not confined in Yorkshire to towns.
T h e greater p a rt o f the dom estic clothicrs lived in villages or
ham lets scattered over a district m easuring tw enty to th irty
miles in length and twelve to fifteen miles in breadth. T h e ir dis
persed state was regarded by contem poraries as h igh ly favour
ab le to their m orals and happinessj* and it was one o f th e
criticism s against the factory system that it concentrated grea t
masses o f the industrial p op u lation w ithin restricted u rb a n
areas. T h e classical description o f the W est R id in g , w ith its continuous line o f villages grow ing one into the other and linked up
b y innum erable hamlets and detached houses, is contained in
D efo es Tour o f Great Britain. W e found the cou n try one con
tinued village, h ardly a house standing out o f a speaking dis
tan ce from another, and almost at every house there was a tenter
and almost on every tenter a piece o f cloth o r kersey or shalloon,

WOOL MANUFACTURES

for they are the three articles o f that countrys labour. A m on g

the m anufacturers houses arc likewise scattered an infinite
num ber o f cottages or small dwellings in which dw ell the w ork
m en w hich are em ployed and the women and children, all o f
w hom are always busy carding, spinning, etc. so that no hands
being unem ployed all can gain their bread even from the
youngest to the ancient; hardly anything above four years old
but its hands arc sufficient to itself.
W e must not om it to mention other notable centres o f wool
textiles: Worcester, Coventry, N ew bury, Bristol, K en d al,
R och dale and M anchester. A n old historian o f W orcester
affirms that in the seventeenth century its m anufacture o f
broadcloth was the most considerable o f any town in the
kingdom . C ertainly as late as 1724 the town carried on a great
share o f the clothing trade, and enjoyed the repute o f m aking
some o f the best broadcloth. C oven try, a large and populous
city [where] the tim ber houses p roject forw ard and towards one
another till in the narrow streets they are ready to touch one
another at the top, drove a large trade in tammies.1 N ew bury,
an ancient clothing tow n, gloried in its association w ith
E nglands most celebrated clothier John W inchcom be; but it
had m uch declined b y the opening o f the eighteenth century.
T h e fam e o f Bristol cloth under the Tudors is reflected in
Skeltons description o f a g ay dress: H er kyrde was o f Bristowe
red. K e n d a l in W estm orland obtained a reputation for the
m anufacture o f K end al cottons, a coarse narrow cloth m ade not
from cotton but from W estm orland wool. O f the Lancashire
towns once connected with w oollen goods, particular interest
attaches to R ochdale which still retains the connexion. In 1778
it was described as famous for m anufactories o f cloth, kersey
and shalloon. E very considerable house is a m anufactory, and
is supplied w ith a rivulet or little stream w ithout w hich the
business cannot be carried on. T h e wom en and children all
em ployed here, not a beggar o r idle person being to be seen.
In form er days M anchester, now the metropolis o f the cotton
industry, was also a seat o f the woollen industry. It excels,*
w rote C am den in 1590, the towns im m ediately around it in
1 Fine worsted cloth.

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189

handsomeness, populousncss, w oollen m anufacture, church and

college, but did m uch more excel them in the last age b y the
glory o f its woollen cloths w hich th ey call M anchester cottons.
T h e Industrial R evolution had rem arkable effects upon the
geographical distribution o f the w oollen and worsted industries.
Instead o f being carried on throughout the realm in innu m er
ab le towns, villages and ham lets as in past centuries, th ey arc
now concentrated m ainly in the W est R id in g o f Yorkshire. In
E ast A n glia, once its chief scat, the worsted trade is p ractically
extin ct; the west country, the ancicnt scat o f the b roadcloth
trade, still makes the finest w oollen cloth; b u t over both alike
m ay be w ritten the epitaph Ich ab o d . T h is m igration o f in
dustry was the outcom e o f various factors; an d it w ould b e a
m istake to regard the introduction o f m achinery as the sole
explanation o f the growth o f the W est R idin g, w here industrial
expansion preceded the advent o f the factory system. E ven
before the days o f m achinery the early Yorkshire clothiers w ere
boasting, not w ithout justification, that in spite o f fate [the
w oollen m anufactures would] com e into these northern
counties.
T h e dcclinc o f N orw ich as the focus o f the worsted w orld is *
gen erally attributed to Yorkshires natural advantages, n am ely
coal and iron; b u t Norw ich had one great asset in its favour
the reputation o f its fabrics d u e to the ingenuity o f its m an u
facturers coupled with the inherited skill o f its w eavers; and
after all, coal and iron could h ave been im ported despite the
higher costs. A m o n g the causes responsible for the decay o f the
N orw ich trade three m ay b e singled out for m ention. F irst:
the N orw ich manufacturers displayed m arked enterprise in th e
invention o f new fabrics, and in this w ay endeavoured to over
com e the ruinous effects o f the A m erican and French w ars; y e t
their fabrics w ere soon im itated in Yorkshire, m ade in an
inferior m anner (as it was alleged) and substituted a t a ch eaper
rate. T h u s in the last years o f the eighteenth century the m ain
stay o f N orw ich was the m anufacture o f w orsted cam lets1 fo r
1 Camlet was light worsted cloth made o f long wool hard spun, but formerly
made o f the hair of Angora goat.

IQO

'

WOOL MANUFACTURES

the East India C om pany. A fter the latter lost its m onopoly o f
trade w ith India (1813) and C h in a (1833), Yorkshire proceeded
to export to Eastern markets an inferior imitation w hich did its
N orw ich rivals very great in ju ry. It w as the cheapness o f
Y orkshire cloth, com bined w ith a very colourable im itation o f
the original, that enabled the W est R idin g to gain com m and
over the markets at home and abroad. Changes in fashion also
told in favour o f Yorkshire w here ligh t stuffs w ere m ade w ith
cotton warps o f which supplies w ere close at hand. Second:
the N orw ich m anufacturers failed to keep pace w ith the north
in regard to m achinery. As late as 1839 Norwich contained but
a handful o f powcr-looms in one o f its m ills; whereas four years
before, according to the returns m ade by the factory inspectors,
Yorkshire contained 2,856 worsted power-looms. T h e difficulty
o f com peting with Yorkshire in these circumstances proved
insuperable especially since the N orw ich weavers, ow ing to
their superior organization, resisted reductions o f wages w ith
m ore success than their Yorkshire fellows. T h ird: the failure to
introduce m achinery in spinning m ay be connected w ith the
fact th at Norw ich was not dependent on local supplies o f yarn
and therefore lacked the inducem ent to promote the new
methods o f spinning. T h e first yarn factory was not set up until
1834, and it was then too late to overcome the advantages
which Yorkshire now enjoyed the possession o f coal and iron
in close proxim ity; the practical m onopolization o f the com bing
processes, against w hich it was impossible to com pete w ithout
the erection o f costly m achinery; and finally the existence o f a
large foreign dem and for Yorkshire yarn, w hich m ade the
outlay o f capital in the north a profitable venture. For these
various reasons Yorkshire forged com pletely ahead ; it had in
'1850 no less than 746,000 spindles forty times the num ber in
Norfolk.
W e have seen that the m igration o f industry from E ast
A n g lia to the W est R iding was not due prim arily, as is com
m only supposed, to the possession o f iron and coalfields though
these were im portant elements in the situation. I t was the in
ab ility o f the old-established seats to adapt themselves to the
altered econom ic conditions, w hich enabled their younger and

G E O G R A P H I C A L D I S T R I B U T I O N IN E N G L A N D

19 1

m ore enterprising riva'. to outstrip them in the race for indus

trial pre-em inence. Just as the older English boroughs proved
u nable in the sixteenth century to retain their ascendancy
because their structure failed to keep p acc w ith the ch an gin g
needs o f the time, so in the nineteenth centu ry industry
m igrated to those districts w hich showed the greatest p ow er o f
ad ap tab ility to the new order. T h e reasons for the fatal d ela y
in the introduction o f m achinery both in the eastern and w estern
countics o f E ngland arc twofold: firstly the conservatism o f the
workers, w ho claim ed a vested interest in th eir occupation and
w ere ab le to prevent or at any rate retard the use o f m achines
w hich destroyed this vested interest; and secondly the w an t o f
an enterprising spirit on the p art o f the m anufacturers, w h o
lackcd the stimulus which the proxim ity o f the L an cash ire
cotton industry supplied to Y orkshire to discard the traditional
organization o f w ool textiles and develop them w ith the aid o f
m ach in ery on the lines o f the facto ry system. W h ile the m en
o f L eeds and H uddersfield, w rote a hand-loom com m issioner
in 1839, were constancy in their m ills and taking their m eals
at the sam e hours as their w orkpeople the elothiers o f G lo u
cestershire, some o f them, w ere indu lging in the habits and
m ixing w ith the gentle blood o f the lan d.
T h e west country had w ater-pow er in abundan ce as w ell as
easy access to the coalfields;1 y e t neither one nor the oth er
served to prevent the gradual d eca y o f its w oollen m anufacture.
W orcester for exam ple boasted its streams, it was close to the
Staffordshire coalfields, and a navigable river led to the Bristol
C h a n n e l; nevertheless die W orcester clothiers le t their o p p o r
tunities pass b y and weakly succum bcd. A p am p h let w ritten
in 1800 attributed this decline o f the west coun try to th e fact
th at Yorkshire m anufacturers can with m uch greater fa c ility
introduce m achinery than we can in the west o f E ngland. T h e
opposition that w e generally m eet w ith in introducin g m ach in ery
is so great that until the Yorkshire m anufacturers have stolen
the article aw ay from us, w e are alm ost afraid to introduce it.
W e h ave m entioned the difficulties w hich attended the em
ploym en t o f the fly shuttle in the western counties, and the
1 Coal, o f course, was cheaper in Yorkshire.

192

WOOL MANUFACTURES

spinning jen n y rcccivcd an equally hostile reception provoking

riots at Shcpton M allet in Somersetshire in 1776. In each case
the opposition subsequently died dow n, but :he delay enabled
Y orkshire to reap the first-fruits o f the new' inventions and to
consolidate its position. A clothier a t Shepton M a llet has given
evidence o f the resistance which h e encountered in adopting
im proved methods. I have upon introducing m achinery been
obliged to apply to governm ent for m ilitary protection. I w ould
introduce machines that I do not now make use o f but for the
great opposition I know I must m eet with from the labouring
m anufacturers. T h u s in the long struggle o f the north o f E n g
land to wrest industrial suprem acy from the cast and the west,
the Industrial R evolution assured it the final victory largely
on account o f the com parative ease w ith which m achinery was
introduced.
D u rin g the past hundred years Yorkshire has not only m ain
tained but has strengthened its ascendancy in the wool textile
industry. In the m iddle o f the nineteenth century barely twothirds o f the operatives w ere concentrated in this area; between
the tw o world wars the proportion had risen to four-fifths.
O th e r parts o f the kingdom arc now restricted to one-tenth o f
the worsted section and to one-third o f the woollen scction
for the west o f England and Scotland continue to produce high
q uality cloth. T o-day, as in form er times, there is specialization
in all districts: thus Bradford, H alifax and K eighley arc associa
ted w ith worsteds, Huddersfield w ith superior worsteds and
woollens, Dewsbury and Batley w ith cheap woollens, W itn ey
w ith blankets, the Hebrides w ith H arris tweed.

Bibliographical Note

T h e sourccs utilized in this book com prise m y Economic

History o f England Volum es II I I (A . & C . B lack Ltd)
and m y History o f the Woollen and Worsted Industries
(A . & C . B lack L td), together w ith the com prehensive
R eports issued b y the United States T a r iff Com m is
sion and the U nited K in gd o m Board o f T ra d e
Working Party Report: Wool, as w ell as numerous
m onographs (including J. K le in , The Mesta, H arvard
U n iversity Press). T h e Wool Digest published b y the
International W ool Secretariat contains current
statistical data. (It m ay be noted that estimates o f
sheep and w ool production arc liab le to subsequent
revision). A detailed bibliograp hy o f the English
cloth m anufacture w ill be found in the A p p e n d ix to
m y History o f the Woollen and Worsted Industries.

Index
Abb, 124.
Abingdon, 58, 76
Abingdon Abbey, 76
A ct o f Parliament, 1337-57; 1390-15;
1489-104; 7*95-159;
f *97-113:

/5 5 /-r.fi9 l *5 5 *-*5 . g 7 ,

119; /66'7-oy, 101; /flpG-a*;

24; 7699-102, j 73; 1700-Kxy, 1707103; 77/9-98; 17 3 1-10 1; /75/7-IJ5;
1736-101; 1788 uy, j a/jc Flannel
A ct, Manchester A ct, Statute o f
Apprentices, Weavers Act
Adam and Eve, 49, 83
Addingham, 156
Africa
north, 36
south, 4, 8, 37, 38, 39, 42-3, 172
statistics, 38, 43
African Company, 95
Agrarian Revolution, 11
Agricultural labourers, 164
Agricultural Society o f South Carolina,
>74

Alfonso the Learned, 37

Alfred, K ing, 53
Aliens
immigrants, 57-62, 183
merchants, 17-19, 52
A lpaca, 4
Alsace, 144
Amcrica
north see United States
south, 5 , 0, 37, 38,42 see olsr Argen
tina and Uruguay
Angora goat, 4, 189
Antwerp, 3, 75
Apprentices, 57-8, 63-4, 67-3, 82-3,
91-2, 113-14, 117, 166, j8o
A ragon, 37
Arden, 17, 18
Argentina, 4, 38, 4 1-2 , 44, 172
statistics, 38, 42
Arkwright, Richard, 13*2-8, 140, 142
Arras, 61
Arte della lana, 49
Arte di calimala, 49
Artois, 21
Assize o f Cloth, 106, 166 see dso Aulnagcrs
Auctions, 7, 8, 9, 41
Aulnage, 107

Aulnagers, 93, X05-7

Australia, 4-6, 8-9, 31, 37-42, 44-5,

*5 5 7 2

flccce, weight of, 4

statistics, 38, 40
types o f wool, 2
wool, marketing of, 9
Autarky, 172
Avon, River, 184
Aylsham, 179
Bacon, Francis, 51, 103
Baines, Edward, 133
Baize, 120, 18 z
Bakcwell, Robert, 32, 33
Bale, 6, 7
Balfour Committee, 150
Bastard, 12
Bath, 67, 77, 184
Batn-bcaver, 184
Batlcy, 192
Batten, 125, 126, 130, 131
Bays, 61, 182, 186
Beam, 49, 125
Beard, 143, 146
Beaux Merchant, The, 80
Bedfordshire, 85
Beggars' Litany, 187
Benefit clubs, 1 14
Bcni-Mcrincs, 36
Bennett, W ill, (12
Berkeley, 35
Berkshire, 181
Beverley, 56
Bible, The, i, 49
Big Ben*, *43
Bills of Exchange, 19-20
Birmingham, 134
Blackleg , 66
Blackwell Hall, 79, 93, 183
Blaize, Bishop, 66, 143
Blanket, 56, 192
Blanket, Thomas, 56', 72, 77
Bluc-nails, 50
Blundell, Peter, 73
Bobbin, 125, 133, 136, 140
Bocking, 186
Boer farmers, 43
Bolingbroke, Lord, 74
Bolivia, 4
Bolton, 135, 162

196

INDEX

Bcmbaxine, 120
Book of Proverbs, 83
Botany, 40
Botany Bay, 40
Bourne, Daniel, 137
Brabant, 21, 49, 58 see alto Low Coun
tries
Bradford (Wiltshire), 78, 8 1, i8a
Bradford (Yorkshire), 143, 15b, 158,
164-5, >71. 186-7, 192
Brayer, 118
Brian, Martin, a dothicr, 77
Bristol, 58, 64, 72, 93, 179, 183, 188
Bristol Channel, igt
Britain see Great Britain
Britain, Roman, 55
British Commonwealth, 3 ,8 ,9 ,3 1 , 172
see also Colonies
British Merchant, The, 104
British Wool Marketing Board, 9
Broadcloth, 60,61, 113, 131, 181, 183,
186, 188-9
Broggers, 16
Brokers, 7-9, 41 see also Factors
Bruges, n , 16, 50
Burford, 76
Burlers, 69, 118 see also Burling
Burling, 127, 153
Bury St Edmunds, 179
Byland, 18
Calais, 19-21
Calicocs, 100-1
Callimanco, 120, 187
Cambridge, 182
Cambridgeshire, 85, 181-2
Camden, 51, 188
Camel, 4
Camlets, 51, 120, 182, 189
Canterbury, 22, 61, 73
Cap (spindles), 139, 149
Cape o f Good Hope, 3g, 43
Capitalism, 69, 113-14
Capitalists, 50, 69, 71-2, 78, 79, 87, 94,
103, 153, 157, 186 see also Clothiers
Capitalist system, 73, 108, 167
Carders see Wool-cardcrs
Carding see Wool-carding
C an ayj, 61
Carter, William, 22-4
Cartwright, Edmund, 141-4, 165
Cashmere, 4
Castile, 37
Catullus, 123
Cave (publisher), 134
Celys, 10
Chain, 85, 124

Chapman, a clothier, 77
Charles I, 22, 57
Charles IT, 10H
Charles the Great, 55
Chaucer, 67
Cheshire, 158
Child, Sir Josiah, 28, 106
Children, 54, 64, 75, 82-4, 86, 88-9,
90-1, 156, 158, 160, 164, 169, 188
wages, 8b, 90
China, 4, 100, (90
Cirencester, 11, 77, 183-4
Cistcrcians, 10, 18
Civil War, 27, 31, 98, 113
Cleveland, 17-18
Cloaks, 55
Cloth see Wool Textiles in England and
Wool Textiles in Other Countries
Cloth-Dresscrs Society, 116
Cloth-finishers, 87-8, 103, 6-17, 160,
170 see also Cloth-finishing, Dresser
and Shearmen
Cloth-finishing, operations, 94, 130,
151, 158-^9, 107, 170, 185, 187 see also
Cloch-finishcrs, Dressing, Shearing
frame and Shearmen
trade unions, 116-17, *60
Clothiers, ix , 14.-15, 24, 26, 69, 71-80,
82-3, 85, 88-95, 101, 103, 107-12,
5. 32 155- 3, *59, 166, >73, 180,
183-4, , 7
, 9 1-2 see a*so Capi
talists and Manufacturer
Clothier's Delight, The, 108
Cloth-stealers, 187
Cloth-workcrs, 75, 87
Cloth-working, 94 see also Clothfinishing
Clove, 130
Coal and Iron, 189-91
Cockayne, Alderman, 103
Coggeshall, 56
Coke, Chief Justice, 51
Colchester, 56, Si, 132, 179, 181-2
Colonies, 97, 102, 173 see also British
Commonwealth
Colting, 83
Combers see Wcol-combers
Combing su Wool-combing
Comb-pot, 121 , 143
Combs, 121
Commission basis, 8, 88, 167, 168 see
also Brokers and Factors
Commissioners for Plantations, 25, 173
Commons, Houie of, set Parliament
Companies
chartered, 95
joint stock, 153, 168

INDEX
Considerations on the East India Trade, 70
Cook, Captain, 4!
Co-operative Association, 7,8
Cop the weft, 139
Coppus Cotcnni, 17 -18
Corriedale (sheep), 41
Cots wolds, 14, 16, 34
Cottage industry set Industry
Cotton, 4, 51, 100-1, 105, 130, 133-4,
' 30.
'.rA 158, 1C0-1, X70-X,
l 74-.p). >79. 18(1, 190-1
Count o f ynrn, 2
Coventry, 65, 188
Craft Cilds sre fiik b
Craftsmanship, 57, if,4
Crapes, 120, 182
Credit, I'J, 19, 20, 64, 79, 93
Cromford, ijj7
Crompton, Samuel, 139, 140
Cromwell, Oliver, 22
Cromwell, Thomas, 76
Croppers, 87 see also Cloth-finishers
Croppers ballad, 160
Croppers Society, 116
Crossbred, 2, 3, Chapter 3, 1G7
Cullompton, hi
Customs revenue, 16 see also Tariffs
Cuthbert, a clothier, 77
Defoe, Daniel, 51, 74, 78, 8g, 100,
1B1-2, 184, 187
Deloney, Thomas, 74
Descriptive if the Manners of the
Clothiers, 91
Devises, 183
Devonshire, ifli-o , 184
Dewsbury, 192
Dimensions, statutory see Assize o f
Cloth
Dionysius Pericgetes, 10
Distaff, 49, 54, 83-6, 122-4, '55
Dolman, Thomas, 76
Dolphin Holme, 15b
Domesday Book, 35
Domestic manufacturer, 90-4. 153, 157
Domestic System, 49, 53, 68-94, *39.
152, 166, 178
defects, 88-90
merits, 88, 92-3
Doriisthorpe, 145
Dorset Down (sheep), 34
Dorsetshire, 184
Draperies, new, 61, 62
Drapers, 79, 101, 104
Drawer, 119, 130
Drawing proccss, 137
Dresser, master,88,94 see Cloth-finishers

197

Dressing, 154, 184 see also Clothfinishing

Dressing machine, 157
Drop-box, 131
Druggets, 51, 120
Drydcn, 10, 81
Duddcry, 1O2
Duroy, 120
Dutch, 43, 58, 59, 61, 106 see also Low
Countries
Dye-house, 75
Dyeing. 49,' 54, jjfi, 91, 9G, 103,
107, 130, 151, 11>7, 184-5 see also
Dyers
D yrr. The Fleece, 7, 119, 123, 126, 129,
*84. *S4-S
Dyers. 58, 63, 65-7, 69, 72, 75, 88, x 18
See also Dyeing
Dyers' Hall, g6
Baric, Emma, 67
East Anglia, 179, 182, 185-6, 189, 190
Hast India Company, 100, 190
Eastland Company, 95
Eden, Sir William, 182
Edward III, 16, 57, 59, 60, 72
Edward IV , 17, 77
Edward V I, 12
Edward the Elder, 55
Elizabeth, Queen, q'J
Ell, 58
Ell, long, 186
Ellman, John. 33
Embezzlement, 78, 89
Emigration o f textile workers, 97-8
Employment, term of, 65, 111
England, 8, 37-9, 44, 96, 174-5
sheep, Chapter 2, 54, 77, 184
sheep (breeds), 32-4
sheep (export of), 33, 36-8, 41-3
sheep-farming (growth of), 10-14
wool (exports: statistics), 31
wool (history of), Chapter 2
wool (imports: statistics), 31
wool (marketing of), 9, 14-2X
wool (praise o f), 1, 10 ,16, 28, 32, 34
wool (Spanish imported), 28, 31, 37
wool textiles see Wool Textiles in
England
Enoch, 160
Essex, 22, 108, 181, 182, 183
Estamanes, 120
Exeter, 184
Exports see under Sheep, Wool and Wool
Textiles
Exporters set Merchant exporters and
Wool staplers

Fabyan, 55
Factories set Factory System
size of, 167-8
Factors, 79, 80, 95-6 tee also Brokers
Factory Inspectors Report, 153
Factory System, 54, 68-9, 72, 74-8, 90,
139, 152, 154, 156, 166-8, 187, 191
Fairford, 1 x, 77
Fairs, 9, 182
Falkland Islands, 42
Far East, 172, 190
Farming, mixed, 5, 35, 44
Faversham, 22
Feeder, 137-8
Finishing see Cloth-finishing
Firwood, 140
Fitzherbert, 06
Flanders, 16, ax, 37, 49, 0, 56-8, 72,
i l l see also Low Countries
Flannel Act, 99
Fleece, The, by Dyer see Dyer
Flecce, weight of, 4
Flcccc wool see under Wool
Flocks (refuse of wool), 105, 1O0, 185
Florence, 18. 49, 50
Flyer (spindles), 139, 149
Flyshuttle, 83, 86, 130-2, 152, I 55>
186, 191
Fold-soke, 35
Folkestone, 24
Forests, national, 5
Foster of Horbury, 159
Frame, 139, 149, 157, 170, 176-7
Frame-spmners, 170
France, 16,2 1-4 ,2 6 -7, 37, 57, 98, 104,
110, 132-3, 172
wool, 45
wool textiles, 177-8
Free Trade
in cloth, 104, 174-5
in wool, 16, 22, 27, 30, 104
Friezes, 58, x8x
Friscobaldi, 16
Frome, 155, 184
Fuller, Thomas, 52, 58-9, 61, 74, i8x,
183, 185
Fullers, 58, 63, 65-6, 69, 72-3, 78, 88,
118,
127, 179, 185 see also following
items
Fullers Field, 49
Fullers pots, 128
Fulling, 49, 54, 127-9, *53, *84 see also
Fullers and Fulling mill
Fulling mill, 75, 76, 105, 128-9, >3 *>
*55
l-ustians, to i, i8x
Futures market, 3

Gear, 125
Gcnnes, M . de, 141
George III, 30, 39
Cermany, 26. 31, 37, 84, 98, 113, 172
Ghent, ix, 16, 67
G ig mills, 131, X58-9, 160, 166
Gilds, Craft, 37, 56, 59, 63-8, 113,

I79-6o

Gild System, .<-,3, 63, 68, 69

Gloucester, 66
Gloucestershire, 82, 112, 114, 130, 155,
158-9. 8x, 183-4, IDI
Glue, 141
Gott, Benjamin, 152
Gower (poet), 16
Graziers, 11, 12-13, 26, 29, 53, 111 set
also Shccpfarmcrs
Great Britain. 4, 39 see a/to England,
Scotland, Walts
Halifax, 15, 77, 94, 164, 180-1, 185-7,
192
Hampshire, 22, 67, 181, 183-4
Hampshire Down (sheep), 34
Hand-cards, 120-1, X37
Hand-loom see Looms
Hand-loom Commissioners Report,
162, 191
ITand-wheel, 123 see also Spinningwheel
Hanks, 2
Hargreaves, James, 138-9, X40
Harris tweed, 19s
Hartford, 174
Hcalds, 125
Hebrides, 192
Hcilmann, josu, 144-5, X77
Henry I, 56
Henry V II, 103
H em y V III, 17, 77
Herrick (poet), 85
Hertfordshire, 85
Highlands (Scotland), 84, 128
Highs, Thomas, 232, 135-6
Hirst, a clothier, 159
Hodgkins, a clothier, 77
Hogs wool see under Wool
Holden, Isaac, 145-6
Holinshed, 73
see also Shakespeare (110)
Holland, 21, 97-8, n o see also Low
Countries
Homesteaders, 5
Horse-powcr, 137, 144, 156
Hosiery, 167
Hours of labour, 83, 86, 88-9, 154, 165,
x70

I NDEX
House o f Commons see Parliament
Household cloth, 174
Hom ing conditions, 170
Huddersfield, 186-7, iqi-2
H ull, 187
Hungary, 37
Huntingdon, 56, 179
Huskisson, 97
Illegal' workmen, 82, 166
India, 4, 100, 190
textiles, 99-101
Industrial Revolution, 50, Gj, 71, 79,
82, 161-2, 165, 183, 189, 192
Industry, cottage, 85,88 see al:o Domes
tic System
Integration o f Industry, 166-7, x7&
Interlopers, 95
Inventions in wool textiles, 130-51
Ireland, 58, 66, 97
wool, 23-5, 27-8, 184
wool textiles, 101-2, 131
emigrants, 164
Isle of Skye, 128
Italy, 16, 17, 123 see also Florence
Jack of Newbury see Winchecmbe
James I, 22, 26, 98, 103
James II, 24
Japan
wool, 45
wool textiles, 178
Jenny ste Spinning Jenny
Joint Organization stocks, 7
Journal to Stella, 74
Journeymen, 58, 63-4, 67-8, 77, 83,
91-3, 113, 117, 131
Judges, 113
Justices of the Peace, 109, 112
Juveniles, 169 see also Children
Kashmir, 4
K a y , clockmaker, 135-6
K a y , John, 83, 86, 130-2, 155
K a y , Robert, 131
Keighley, 164, 192
Kcm pc, John, 57, 72
Kendal, 77, 181, 188
Kendal cottons, 188
Kennedy, 140
Kent, 22, 25, 34, 181, 183
Kent, a clothier, 77
Kenics, 6 :, 65, 73-4, 181,
187-8
Kingeswood, 35

184-5,

199

Labour
division of, 69-70
earnings see Wages
hours see Hours
organization see Trade Unionism
sweated, 86
Laissez-faire, 104, 106, 113, 166
Lambard, 10, 183
Lambs, 5, 36, 44
lambs wool see under Wool
Lancashire, 15, 86, 158, 181, 18B, 191
Lancastrian dynasty, 60
Langland, 84, 127
Large-scale production, 167
Lasting*, 120
Latimer, 12
Lavenham, 77
Leaf, 125
Leeds, 81, 86, 93, 94, 132, 180, 185-7,
I9I
Lees, John, 138
Leicester, 179
Lciccstcrs (sheep), 33-4
Leicestershire, 15, 158, 182-4
Leigh, 135
Leland, 76, 77, 184, 187
Leominster, 14
Levant Company, 95
Lincoln, 56, 179
Lincolns (sheep), 34
Lincolnshire, 15, 56, 181-4
Linen, 101-2, 160-1
Lister, 14^-6
London, 8, 9, 20, 25, 40, 56, 58, 61, 65,
73- 4. 79, 93, 95, 112, tag, 179,
Long wool see under Wool
Looms, 72, 74, 76-8, 80, 83, 86, 90-1,
i n , 124-6, 131, 141, 143, 153, 155,
163, 166 see also Shuttle and Weaving
automatic, 150
broad, 83, 126, 131, 149, 155
common, 131
cut, r 15
double-handed, 131
hand, 143, 152-3, 163, 177, defects
of, 126-7, 131, 154
makers, 64, 69, 80
narrow, 126, 149
number employed, 86, 111
number of, 78, 80, 83, 91, 113, 158,
166, 190
power, 127, 130,141-3, 149-50,152,
157-8, 63, 177, 190
price, 80
rented, 78
spring, 131, 155

200

INDEX

L ow Countries, 49, 50, 57 see also

Brabant, Dutch, Flanders, Holland,
Netherlands, United Provinces
Luaghad, 128
Luccock, 7, 32-3, 130, 161
Luddite riots, 159
MaeArthur, John, 39
Machinery, 6, 39, 57, 69, 90, 104, 17,
130-61, 167, 169, 174, *77-0, xSG,
stt also Looms (power). Spinning
machines, Wool-carding (machines),
Wool-combing (machines)

benefits o f, If,3 -4

drawbacks, 154-5
introduction, 129-30,152-61,164-5,
109-92
inventions, 130-51
opposition to, 129, 131-2, 153-61,
191-2
M cKinley tariff, 171
M agna Carta, 106
Magnus Intcrcursus, 103
Mafdon, 56
Malmesbury, 76
Malmesbury Abbey, 76
Manchester, 51, 77, 138, 141-2, 181,
188
Manchester Act (1736), 101
Manchester cottons, 109
Manufacturer of cloth, 4, 6, 9, 11, 14,
16, 22, 27-31, 90-4, 104, 153, 166-9,
173, 175, see also Clothiers and Domes
tic manufacturer
definition of, 71
Margaret, prioress, 17
Marketing
cloth, 79-80, 91, 93-6, iG3-o , 171,
173 see also Merchants and under
Wool Textiles in England (exports)
market, public, 93-4, 182-3, ,8 7
wool, G-y, 14-21, 41, 1O3 see also
Wool stapler* and under Wool (ex
ports)
Massachusetts, 174
Mass-production, 151
M ay, John, 105
M edley cloth, 130, 159
M erchant Adventurers, 94, 95, 103,

"3

Merchant exporters, 79, 94, 95, 103

Merchants
cloth, 79, 80, 88, 93-4, 106, m - 1 2 ,
119, 152-3. *67, 168, 173 see Mer
chant Adventurers and Merchant
exporters
wool see Aliens and Wool staplers

Merchants of the Staple see Wool

staplers
Merino, 2, 3, 6, 7, 30, Chapter 3, 167,
Methodist hymn, 187
Methuen Treaty, 104
Middlemen
cloth see Factors, Merchants, Re
tailers, Wholesalers
wool see Wool staplers
Milan, 56
M illing (fulling), 127
Mills
joint stock, 153
public, 159
woollen, 153, 167 see also Factories
Misscldcn, 28
Mohair, 4
Mokadocs, 61
Monasteries, 75-6
Monastic housessale of wool, 10 ,17-ifi
Montgomeryshire, 158
More, Sir Thomas, 13
Motive power, 11O, 154 set also Power
Mowstcrs, 96
Mule, 139, 140-1, 149, 150, 157, 176-7
automatic, 141
spinners, 170
Mun, Thomas, 53
Mungo, 4
Mushn, 162
Mutton, 32-4, 41, 43, 45
Mutton breeds, 33-4, 36, 38, 43
Naamah, 49
National Association of Wool Manu
facturers, 175
National Farmer? Union Wool M ar
keting Scheme, 9
National Forests, 5
Ncgrctti, 30
Netherlands, 17, 58, 61, 103 see also
Low Countries
New Draperies sr. Draperies
Newbury, 74, 76, 188
New England, 173-4, 176
New Jersey, 176
New South W a la, 4, 39, 41
New York, 3, 17$, 17b
New Zealand, 4, 5, 8, 31, 34, 38, 41,
172
statistics, 38, 41
types of wool, 2
Nip machinc, 145-6
Noble, James, i4l>-7
Noils, 121, 143, 145-6, i6 7> *73

I NDEX

201

Norfolk, 15, 33, 85, 97, 156, 158, 179,

181-3, 18G, 190
Norman Conquest, 56
Northampton, 134, 179
Northamptonshire, 181, 183-4
Northumberland, 158
Norwich, if, 58, Gi,
93, " 3 >79,
181-fl, 186, ilk), 190
Nottingham, 65, 137, 179
Nottinghamshire, 11G, 141

Privilege, 83
Privy Council, 15, 112
Processes in wool textiles, 118-30
Production
largc-scalc, 167
maw, 151
Protcetionut policy
in England see under Wool Textiles
in England
in other countries see Tariffs

OflTo, King, 55
O il. 1^7
On I'MRinntl's Commercial Policy 1G
Osncy Abbey. 7G
Owlers, 23 see also uruler Wool (smug

Qjull*. 75, 90. 118, 125, 133

Quixote, Don, 36

gling)

Oxford, ;jG, 70, 179

Oxford Down (sheep), 34
Pack-house, 85
Paddocks, 5
Painswick, 183
Papplewiek, if,G
Parliament, it>, 24.-5, 5 I-2 78, 97' 9
100, 101, 105, t07-H, 1 hi, 1*3- 15*
120, tGo, 166, 180
Oxford, 49, 56
Porter, 118
Partition Ordinance, 20
Paul, Lewis, 132- 5 *37 *54
Pearked, 91
Pennant, Thomas, 127
Pennsylvania, 176
Persia, 100
P e ru ,4
Phillip, Governor, 39
Picking peg, 131
Picks, 125, 127, 150, 152
Pictiih Towers, 123
Piers the Plotvman, 84, 87
Pliny, H4
Poem by an Operative o f Keighlej, 163
Poland, 185
Polydorc Vergil, 12
Pontefract, 129
Poplins, 1ao
Portugal, y8, 104
Potters Field, 94
Power see Horse, Loom, Motive, Steam,
Water
Preston, 132, 135
Prices, 11, 56, 65, 81, 94-5, 104, 162,
168, 170
wool see under Wool
wool textiles see under Wool Textiles
in England

Radcliflo, William, 15,7

Rambouillct (sheep), 45
Rams, 2, 30, 32-3
Ranches, 5, 42
Range wool, 44
Ranges, public, 4, 5, 44
Rayon, 4, 175
Reed, 142
Rccl-stalf, xto
Report on the State of the Woollen
Manufacture (1806), 70, 116
Report on the Wool Textile Industry
0947 ). *4fl ,
Restoration (16G0), 22, 51, 52, 99
Retailers, 1G8-9
Revolution (1688), 16, 24, 51, 95, 99,
103, 107, 113-14, 184
Richard I, 11
Ring (spindles), 139, 149, 176
Roberts, Richard, 141
Rochdale, 15, 188
Rock (distaff), 122
Romncy Marsh, 22-4
Rope, 133
Roving, 121, 123-4, 136, 137
Roving-frame, 137
Row en, 75, 88, 118 see also Row ing
Rowing. 54* Jio
Ruaclls, 120
Russets, 187
Russia, 4, 37, 108, 185
Russia Company, 95
Rye, 61
Sack, iG (and note)
Sagathies, 120
Saint Distaff's Day, 84-5
Sandwich, 61, 183
Sanfords, 120
Sarpler, 18-19
Saxony, 30, 37
Says, 56, 61, 181-2
Scarlct cloth, 49, 56, 184

202

I NDEX

Schoficld, 174
Scotland, 34, 58, 84, 89, 117, 127-8,
*45, ' 9*
Scribblcrs, 154
Scribbling, 90, 127, i 53~4 > , 56
Self-doffer, 149
Serges, 51, 67, 120, 181, 184
Shakespeare, 55, 83, n o
Shalloons, 120, 186-8
Shearing
cloth see Cloth-finishing
wool see under Wool
Shearing frame, 158-60
Shearmen, 63, 65-7, 69, 72, 75-6, 78,
8 7 -8 , 1x3, 1x8 , X59, 160 see also
Cloth-finishers
Sheep
branded, 36, XX9
breeds, 2, 32-4 set also Mutton
breeds
coat, 1
Corriedale, 41
Crossbred see Crossbred
dual purpose, 34, 38
emblem of innocence, 185
English ste England
export of, 33, 36-9, 41-3, 174
fat-tailed, 43
fleece, weight of, 4
Merino ste Merino
mutton sheep see Mutton breeds
native, 2, 39, 42-3
number, 3-4, 7
Rambouillct, 45
runs, 5, 41 ste also station
size of flocks, 5
stages in sheep husbandry, 4-5
trekking, 36-7, 43
wool sheep, 38
Sheepfarmers, 9 -11, 29, 30 ste also
Graziers end under Wool (growers)
Shepherds. 5, 12, 13. 36
Sheppey, xa
Shepton Mallet, 192
Sherborne, 183
Shifts, 151, 170
Shoddy, 4, 173
Short wool see under Wool
Shropshire, 14, 34
Shutc, 124
Shuttle, 49, X25-6, 130, 152 su also
Fly shuttle
Shuttle Club, 132
Silk, 4, xoi, X60-1
Silver (mint), 20
Sizing, 91, 127, 157
Skein, 2, x18

Skelton, 188
Skin wool see unde/ Wool
Slcy, 125
Shvers, I 2 X , 132, :37, 139, 156
Slubbing, go, 153, X56
Smiles, 144
Smith, Adam, 25, 29, 54, 70, 97, 116,

*Smith,
I22 John,
I5? 27-9, 120
Smuggling of wool set under Wool
Somerset, Protector, 75
Somersetshire, X5, 158-9, i8x, X83-4
Sorts (wool) see unJer Wool
South Africa (Union of) see Africa
(South)
Southampton, 61, 67
Southdowns (sheep), 33-4
Spain, 4, 6, 7, 26, 28, 30-2, 36-O, 50,
61, o8, 184
Specialization, 151, 157, 167-8, 176,
*85, 192

Spindle, 49 , 5 4 , 122 -4 , >34, *37 4<>>

14 8 -9 , 190

Spindle carriage, 140

Spinners, 9 , 63, 65, 69, 7 2 -3 , 76, 8 3 -9 ,
x 10, 1 3 8 -9 , X41 see also Spinning
market, 71, 85
wages, 86-7, i-,o
Spinning, 49, 54-5, 75-6, 83-7, 90,
122-4, I 4 I> *49- 5, *53-6, 164, 166,
169-70 see also Spinners andfollowing
items
defects, 85-6, x*x
Spinning by rollers, 130, 132-7
Spinning frame ste Frame
Spinning Jenny, 138-40, 141, 192
Spinning machines, 86, 141, X49, 155-7,
167 see also Frame and Spinning by
rollers
Spinning schools, 86
Spinning wheel, 5^, 123-4, IW
Spinster. 55. 83. xoq, 118
Spole, 133
Spring, Thomas, 76-7
Square Motion, 146
Staffordshire, 191
Staments, 61
Stamford, 56, 61, 179
Standardization of cloth see under Wool
Textiles in England
Standhill, X38
Staple (fibre), 3, 6, 177
Staple (market) see Wool staple
Staplcn see Wool staplers
State control o f industry, 54, Chapter 6,
X65-6
Station (sheep), 5 ,6 , 8, 40

Statute o f Apprentices (156;), 83-3,

log, i n , 113, 166
Statutes see Act o f Parliament
Steam-power, 137, 156-7
Stock cards, 121
Stock Owners Association, 37
Stourbridge Fair, 182
Strikes, 116-17, 164-5
Stroud, 129, 183-4
Stroud water, 76
Stuarts, 17, i n , iflr
Stuff, 51, 120, 182, 190
Stuff-damask, 120
Stuinpc, William, 76, 78.
Style, a clothier, 77
Sudbury, 56, 181
Suffolk, 15, 34, 73, 85, 97, 108, 181-3
Sunday, 129
Surrey, 183
Sussex, 22, 25, 181, 183
Sussex Down (sheep), 34
Sweden, 37, 110
Swift, Jonathan, 74
Sydney, 2
Syracuse Convention, 45, 175
Tam e, Edmund, 77
Tam e, John, 11, 77
Tammies, 187-8
Tapestry, 61
T a riffs 16, 30, 44-5, 60, n o , 113,
171-2, 174- 5^

Taunton, 90, 181, 184

Teasles, 127, 130, 158
Tenter-frame, 54, 105-6, 129, 187
Thierry, Rachel, 67-8
T hor esby, 186
Thorp, 18
Throstle, 137, 141
Thrums, 65
Thursday Market, 93
T ibet, 4
Tiverton, 73, 74. 1 *4> 84
T om Faine Hall, 94
Tops, 121, 143, 145-6, 167, 173, 176
Top-maker, 167
Toscd, 64
T o shrink as northern cloths. 185
Touker Street M arket, 93
T ow , 84, 122-3
Trade
cloth su Marketing o f cloth
depressions, 92, IX1-4, 171
free set Free trade
wool su Marketing of wool
T rade Unionism, 87, 114-17* l6o
163-5

Treadle, 124-6
Treaties, 103-4
Trowbridge, 81
Truck wages, n o , 115
Tuckar, 76
Tudors, 12, 73, 77-8, 103, i n , 166,
181, 188
Turkey, 4, 95-6
Tyndale, 12
Unemployment, 81-2, 92-3, 110-15,
,(>3. *7 *
,
United Provinces, 22 see also Low
Countries
United States
customs-houscs, 2
sheep, 4, 5, 37, 43-4, 174
statistics, 38-9, 43-4
tariffs, 44-5, 171, I 74~5
wool, 4, 7, 32, 38-9, 43-5, 175
wool textiles, 30, 150, 166, 172-6
United States T ariff Commission, 1
Uruguay, 4, 39, 42, 172
statistics, 39, 42
Venetian writers, 12, 32, 51, 181
Venice, 56
Voyages o f discovery, 103
Wagc-camcrs, 50, 64, 68-9, 91, 93
Wage system, 80
Wages, 64-5, 73, 76, 78, 8 1-3 ,8 6 -7 , 89,
90, 92, 98, 100, 10&-10, 112 -17,
139-40, i6 a-6, 170,176, 190
Wakefield, 67, 94, 180, 186-7
Wales, 15, 34, 58, 66, 181
Walker, 127 see also Fullers
Walloon, 61
Walmersley, 130
Warp, 8 5 ,10 1,12 0 ,12 4 -7, X 3 1,139-40.
4* *55. 57. 184, 190
Warping, 151, 153
Wars, 53, n o , 113, 1 V4i ,09
Water-frame, 132, 136-7, 139-40, 156
W ater mills, 129
Water-power, n o , 128-9, 137, 141,
156, 191
Waterhouse, Captain, 39
Watts, R ., 118-19
Weavers, 56 9, 61-4, 66-73, 76-83,
85-91, 108-10, 113 -15, 118-19,
124-6, 130-2, 138, 141, 143, 154- 5.
157, 166, 170, 179, 180, 182, 187,
189, 190 see also Weaving
extinction o f hand-loom, 157, 161-4
several employers, 78, 80-1, 89
trade unions, 114-15, 163

204

INDEX

Weavers, unemployment, 81-2, 141,

163
wages, 81, 83, 170
Weavers Act (1555), 77%80, t66, 181
Weaving, 49, 54, 90, 124-7, 3 > 42>
140-54, 157, 166, 170 see also Looms
and Weavers
Weft, 120, 124-6, 131, 139-40, 155, 184
Weights, false, 87
West Country, 70-92, 95, 116, 155, 159,
163,
179, 183-G, 189, 191-2
Westmorland, 05,158, 181-2, 188
West Riding, 64, 91, 132, 152, 153. 55
159-60, 163, 182, 185-7, >89, 190
see also Yorkshire
White, Sir Thomas, 66
Wholesalers, 168-9
Whorl, 122, 123
Willcying, 00, 120
William III, 52
William of Wykcham, 74
Wiltshire, 78, 88, i n , 130, 155, 159,
183-4
Winchcombe, John, 74, 75, 78, 88, 188
Winchester, 55-6, 58, 179
Winding of yam , 151, 155
Wines, 104
Witney, 192
Woad, 56
Wolscy, Cardinal, 73, i n
Women, 54-5, t>7-8, 75, 81, 83-4, 86,
91-4, 156, 169, 170, 177, 188
Woof, 61, 124
Wool
African see Africa
American see Amcrica
Australian see snider Australia
carding see Wool-carding
carpet, 2, 44
classing, 6, 41 see also under Wool
(grading)

d e a n , 3, 6 , J i g , 148

clothing, 177
combing, 26, 28, 177, 183
combing (process) see Wooi-combing
cost in cloth and suit, 3
crossbred set Crossbred
elasticity. 1, 3
English ste under England
exports, 11, 14, 16-32, 56-7, 60-1,
, 97, 102, 104
------ world, 3-4
fats, 173
fineness 2, 6
fleece, 6, 105
French set under France

Wool, German, 26, 31, 37 see also

Saxony
government purchases, 2
- grades, 2, 3, 14. see also next item
grading, 6, 8 set also under Wool
(classing)
grease, 6, 119
growers, 7-p, 14-19, 27, 29, 69, 120,
175 see also Shesp fanners
handle, 3
Isogs, 6
lambs, 6, 105,119, 1O5
long, 2, 3, 6, 15, 33-4, 38, 41, 119,
120,
182-3, *8c
marketing see Marketing o f wool
merchants see Wool staplers
merino see Merino
New Zealand ite New Zealand
output, world, 3-4
packing, G, 18, 54, 67
prices, 3, 7-9, 16, 18-19, 23, 33
production, i-6
range, 44
registers, public, 25
re-worked, 4, 175 see also Shoddy
scouring, 6, 148
serrations, 1
shearing, 6, 36
shoddy see Snoddy
short, 15, 33-4, 38, 119-20, 177
shrinkage, 6
skin, 6, 16
skirting, 6, 41
smuggling, 22-5, 27-8
sorting, 67, 75, 118-19, 170, 185 see
also next item
sorts, 2, 6, 7, 9, 15, 34, 105, 119
soundness, 3
Spanish see undtr Spain
spinning see Spinning
staple, length of, 3, f>, 177
supply limited, 6, 39, 43, 155, 161
territorial, 44
types, variety of, 1-3
winding, 119-so
Wool-carders, 07, 73, 88-9, 118, 170
stt also Wool-carding
Wool-carding, 75-6, 90, 120-1, 153-4,
177 see also Wool-cardcrs
machines, 130, 136-8, 148-9
Wool-combcrs, 66, 6g, 87, n o , 114-16,
121-2, 160-1, 164-5, *7 see a^
Wool-combing
master, 71, 85
patron saint, 66, 143
trade union, 87, 114-16, 164-5
Wool-combers Association, 165

Wool-combing see also Wool-combcrs

defects, 121-2, *44-5. 165
machines, 38, 120, 130, 141,143-50,
160-1, 165, 167, 177
merits, 146
operations, 121-2, 154, x56, 170,
* 77, >82, 190
Wool fats, 173
Wool-frlls, 16
Woolmcn (merchants), 6, 9, 14, 1G-19,
29, 72, 112
Wool merchants see Aliens, Woolmcn,
Wool staplers
Wool packers see 1iruier Wool (packing)
Woolsack, to, 51
Wool sorters see under Wool (wirting)
Wool staple, 20-1
merchants o f see Wool staplers
Wool staplers, 7, 15, 17-21, 7:) see also
Woolmcn
W ool Textiles in England
alien immigrants, 57-62, 183
cloth, broad see Broadcloth
-------compulsory wearing, 98-9
-------definition, 120
-------medley, 130, 159
-------scarlet see Scarlet cloth
-------white, 103, 130, 159
comparison with France, 177
comparison with United States, 176
customs duties see Tariffs
dimensions, statutory see Assize o f
Cloth
early history, 55-62
employment, 169
exports, 50-3, 55-6, 60-1, 94-6,
102-6, 108, r io - 1 1 , 113, 167, 171-3,
>75, >78, 185, 190
-------Empire consumption, 172
------ proportion to total experts, 171
geographical distribution, Appendix
imports, 49, 5C7, Co, 104

integration, 166-7
inventions, Chapter 7
manufacturer see Manufacturer
marketing see Marketing of cloth
merchants see Merchants
nineteenth and twentieth centuries,
Chapter 8
number of operatives, 69, 86, i n ,
169-70

Wool Textiles in England

organization, Chapter 5, 166-70
pre-eminence among English indus
tries, 50-5
prices, 56, 65, 104
processes, of manufacture, Chapter 7
protection, 22, 56-7, 59, 60, 97 -105
social influence, 55
standardization, 96, 105-8, x66
state control, 54,'Chapter 6. 165 (I
statistics. 60-1, 171 3 see also above
number o f operatives
structure o f industry, 166-9
unemployment see Unemployment
women see Women
Wool textiles in Other Countries, 49 50,
173-8
Worcester, 15. 188, 191
Worcestershire, 181
Working Parly Report: Wool (1947)* >48
Worstcad, 179
Worsteds, 2, 38, 51, 61, 66, 116, 120,
127, 130, 139, 148-50, 152, 156-8,
163-4, *66-71, 176-9, 182, 185-7,
*89, 192
definition of, 120, 127
worsted carding, 148-9, 177
Worsted Seld, 93
Wyatt, John, 132-4
Yarmouth, 61
Yarn, 14, 55, 105, 121, 139. 141, 150
*52, *56- 7, *<>7. *73, *7,6- 7, *82,
186, 190 see also Warp and Weft
count of, 2
famine, 141
makers, 14
stealers, 89
winding, 151, 155
York, 56, 58, 67, 93, 179-80
Yorkist dynasty, 60
Yorkshire, 15, 69, 71, 78-9, 8x, 85, ftB,
90-4, 107, 108, i n , 116, 130, 150,
152,
*55 G. *5c -G, *84, .*70, *.79 -o 2,
184-7, 189-92 see also W est Riding
Young, Arthur, 29, 86, 99, 102, 182
/
Ypres, 11, 16, 50, 67
Zeeland, 58

V :V

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%

C E N T R A L A R C H A E O L O G IC A L L IB R A R Y ,
C *.
N EW D E L H I

. ______ T.^sn a racnvi. ___________

Catalogue No. 6 7 7 . 30S42/Lip-3663

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----- ----- --- ------ -------------------- ..m ------------------------------------- .

Author L i p so n , ^
Title_o h o rt h i s t o r y o f wool and
i t s m a n u fa c tu r e .
B orrow er N o .

D ate o f Issu e

D a te o f R e tu rn

. .V

P. T. 0 .'