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THE SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Its Origin and Development.

Plate I.

H.M. The King in Coronation Robes.

THE SILK INDUSTRY OF THE UNITED KINGDOM.

Its Origin and Development.

BY

Sir FRANK WARNER, K.B.E.

I^ONDON : DRANE'S DANEGEI.D HOUSE, 82a, Farringdon Street, E.G.

DRANB'S, Farringdon Street, Ijondon, B.C.

NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.

It was originally intended that this work should be entitled " The History of the Silk Industry of the United Kingdom," and it was believed that quite a small volume would suffice to contain all the information procurable, but enquiries begun in the early months of the year 1911 have resulted in establishing the fact that the SUk Industry was at one time and in one form or another carried on in a very wide area and at places hitherto unsuspected of having had any connection with it.

Seeking, as was natural, in the early days of its develop- ment localities which provided water power and a supply of cheap labour, the industry became scattered, and it has remained so ever since.

How far this disintegration and consequent lack of cohesion and unity of effort, pohtical, economical, technical and educational, has led to the decline of the industry in this country it is impossible to estimate, but it is un- doubtedly a source of weakness, whether judged relatively to the prosperity of silk workers in other countries or to those engaged in the other branches of the textile industry in Great Britain and Ireland.

It is not the object of this work to attempt to prove that our past or present fiscal policy has been either the salvation or the ruin of the silk industry in this country. The facts must be left to speak for themselves. The author has no intention other than to provide for the lovers of silk, and they are universal, and for those who take an interest in its welfare in this country, and they are many, a book which is a record of the origin and development

6 NOTE BY THE AUTHOR.

of the silk industry in the United Kingdom, as far as it has been possible to collate it, in the hope that its pubhca- tion may be the means of eliciting much more fully facts which are not here recorded, and of substantiating others, concerning which there is an element of doubt. The main part of the book was, it should be mentioned, written during the early part of the War period, but for reasons which will be readUy appreciated its issue has_ been deferred until now.

For all failings both of omission and commission the author takes the fullest responsibihty, for the rest, all the credit is due to those who have collaborated with him ; and it is his desire to place on record his deep indebtedness to Mr. Luther Hooper, Mr. J. A. Hunter and Mr. H. A. Slack, who, from the first, have borne the main burden of the vast amount of work which the production of this volume has entailed. Valuable assistance has also been rendered by Miss M. F. BUhngton, Mr. W. H. Manch6e, Mr. R. Snow, Major Geoffrey R. Y. Radchffe, Mr. Fred Richards and others, amongst whom Mr. James Cramp for the chapter on " Coventry," Mr. Walter R. Rudd, Hon. Secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society, for " the History of the Old Norwich SUk Industry," and Mr. R. S. Swirles, who contributed the chapter on " Ireland," are especially worthy of mention.

The colour prints of the Coronation of the King and Queen, reproduced from the original drawings by Mr. S. Begg, appear in the book by Royal permission. The author respectfully acknowledges his gratitude for the gracious assent to his request, and takes this opportunity of expressing his thanks for the deep interest which Their Majesties have ever taken in silk, and their kindly sohcitude that the most beautiful of all the textUes should become a great and prosperous industry in the United Kingdom.

CONTENTS.

Chapt 1.	Book I. sr. BEGINNING OF INDUSTRY					Pagi 13
2.	IMfflGRATION FROM THE NETHERLANDS 24
3.	THE HUGUENOT IMMIGRATION 35
4.	ORIGIN OF THE SILK INDUSTRY 44
5.	FOUNDATIONS OF THE LONDON. SILK TRADE .. .. 53
	(THE STORY OF SPITALFIELDS.)
6.	A TYPICAL SILK MASTER 67
7.	PICTURES OF THE VICTORIAN AGE 74
8.	EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF 1860 78
9.	LEGISLATION AND THE FACTORY SYSTEM .. .. 91
10.	SPITALFIELDS OF TO-DAY 95
	Book II.
11.	THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE	107
12.	MACCLESFIELD							127
13.	LEEK							138
14.	CONGLETON							146
15	MANCHESTER							149
16.	LANCASTER . .							170
17.	NOTTINGHAM							174
18.	DERBY							198
19.	LEICESTER							212
20.	BRADFORD							218
21. 22.	HALIFAX BRIGHOUSE . .							235 247
23.	HUDDERSFIELD							252
24.	SHEFFIELD, LEEDS, LOW BENTHAM			257
25.	ROCHDALE, TODMORDEN, RIPLEY, SKIPTON		262
26.	NORFOLK AND NOK	WICE		.	.			265

8 CONTENTS.

Chapter. P<^e.

27. ESSEX 297

28. KENT 312

29. OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES 318

30. SCOTLAND 343

31. IRELAND 371

Book HI.

32. SILK FROM INDIA 378

33. WASTE SILK ; ORIGIN AND USES 390

34. VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SILK MANUFACTURE .. .. 440

35. THE DESIGNER AND DESIGNING— 18th and 19th Centueibs 451

36. THE MANUFACTURER^NEW SYSTEM 457

37. THE OPERATIVE SILK WEAVER— OLD STYLE AND NEW 462

38. PARLIAMENT AND SILK MANUFACTURE 468

39. TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS 494

40. THE SMUGGLING TRADE 519

Book IV.

41. 42.

43.

44. 45.

46.

ROYAL PATRONAGE

THE WEAVERS AND OTHER KINDRED COMPANIES

LIVERY

THE SILK ASSOCIATION OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT IN RELATION TO BRITISH SILK MANUFACTURE

TECHNICAL SOCIETIES AND THE INDUSTRY ..

534 554

571

582

599 619

Appendices.

A. BRITISH TARIFFS ON SILK

B. WAGES RECORDS, NORWICH AND THE LINCOLN FAMILY

C. SILK TRADE LEGISLATION, PATENT SPECIFICATIONS,

OLD ADVERTISEMENTS, QUOTATIONS, BRITISH

MUSEUM AND GUILDHALL RECORDS

INDEX

623 624

626

659

ILLUSTRATIONS,

Plate.

1. H.M. The King in Coronation Robes .. .. .. Frontispiece.

Page.

2. H.M. The Queen „ „ 13

3. Specimen of Old Enghsh Embroidery, the Syon Cope in South

Kensington Museum . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

4. Primitive Weaver — from MSS. in British Museum . . . . 20

5. Mediaeval Silk Weaver — from an Early English MSS. belonging

to Trinity College, Cambridge . . . . . . . . . . 22

6. Indenture of Apprenticeship, dated February, 1519 — from the

original in the British Museum . . . . . . . . . . 23

/ Houses in Spital Square . . . . . . . . . . 53

[ Church Passage, Spital Square . . . . . . . . . . 53

rPelham Street, Spitalfields . . . .]

8. From Knight's "London," 1842 56 I House in Booth Street, Spitalfields J

9. Indenture of Apprenticeship, dated August, 1799 — In the

possession of the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . 57

10. Weavers' Houses in Menotti Street, Bethnal Green . . . . 60

11. Wm. Anthony, 50 years' night-watchman in the Neighbourhood

of Spital Square, Norton Folgate. " The Last of the Charhes " 62

12. Christ Church, Spitalfields . . . . i From Photographs in the 'i 64

possession of the Rector, \

13. Interior of Christ Church, Spitalfields I the Rev. C. H. Chard J 65

14. A Typical Spitalfields Silk Weaver, George Doree, at work . . 74

15. Hand Loom ia Workshop at Foleshill, Coventry 110

10

iLLtJSTRATlONS.

Plate.

Page. 124

16. Weaving Room at the Coventry Technical School. .

17. A View of Macclesfield 127

'18. Memorial to Charles Roe in Christ Church, Macclesfield . . . . 131

19. Silk Weaving by Power in Macclesfield . . . . . . . . 135

20. Park Green MiUs, Macclesfield 136

21. St. Edward's Church, Leek, dating back to the year 1400 . . 138

22. Sir Thomas Wardle 142

23. WiUiam Lee, thinking out his problem of a Knitting Frame . . 175

24. A Modern Knitting Frame (Cotton's System) 185

25. Leaver's Lace Machine making Lace 260 inches wide . . . . 189

26. Lombe's Mill, Derby. The first Silk MU erected in England, 1717 198

27. Lord Masham 226

28. View of Hahfax 235

29. Silk Shawl in the Museum, Norwich 265

30. Braintree Market in the Olden Daysi — from an old print. . . . 299

31. Weaving the Cloth of Gold for the Coronation Robes for King

George V . .

32. Figured Velvet Looms at New Mills, Braintree . .

33. The Old Weavers' House, Canterbury

34. The Canterbury Weavers' Pattern Book, dated 1685

35. Cottage Velvet Weaving, Sudbury, Suffolk

36. Tring MiU

37. Old Silk Mill, Malmesbury

38. John Heathcoat.

308 310 314 316 318 322 331 341

Plate. 39.

40.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

The Huguenot House, Sweeney's Lane, Dublin

U

Page. 372

41. 42.

43. <

44. <

45. <

46. 47.

48.

49. 50.

Hand-loom Poplin Weaver, who wrought for over 60 years at

the Craft, chiefly for Atkinson and Co., in whose service he died 374

Tapestry Portrait of George II. by John Vanbeaver . . . . 376

Weavers' HaU, Coombe, DubUn 377

SiUi Spinning, Receiving and Opening Raw Material — Silk Waste 403

Boiling or De-gumming — Silk Waste Combing — Silk Waste Dressed Silk Spreading — Silk Waste Drawing Preparatory for Spinning — Silk Waste

35 55 55 55 53 55

Spinning Silk Waste . . Gassing and Cleaning Yarn — Silk Waste . . Weaver of Narrow Webs

403 409 409 412 412 416 416 449

'Figured Velvet Loom, worked by draw boy, before the invention

of the Jacquard machine . . . . . . . . . . 453

> Loom for weaving Silk Brocade, worked by the same method . . 453

The Weavers' Flag 509

51. 52.

53.

54.

Loom at the Silk Exhibition, Knightsbridge, 1912 — Weaving

Brocade 63ui. wide for H.M. the Queen . . . . . . 550

Charter granted to the Weavers' Company by Henry II. about 1155 556

' Staircase in the HaU of the Weavers' Company . . . . . . 564

Interior of the Hall of the Weavers' Company . . . . . . 564

WiUiam Morris. . 601

Benjamin Warner . . . . . . . . . . 611

Plate II.

H.M. The Queen in Coronation Robes.

BOOK ONE.

CHAPTER I.

Beginning of Industry.

Except for the most primitive arts of life Great Britain The owes to foreigners, who have chosen or been compelled Origin by various circumstances to settle on her shores, almost of Art all the numerous branches of Industry and Commerce and which she has, in the course of time, been able to develop. Craft. Amongst the occupations thus introduced to England by Alien artists, artificers and merchants, the manipulation of Silken Thread, Silk Weaving and Commerce in Silken Fabrics rank with the most important.

It is not necessary to go back further than the Norman Conquest, in the eleventh century, to find England, as the invaders did, inhabited by a primitive people chiefly employed in agriculture, and intermittently engaged in warfare of more or less importance and extent. The simple life led by the Anglo-Saxons did not caU for any high degree of perfection in the handicrafts which ministered to their daily needs. Objects of great excellence of design and workmanship or richness of material, such as gauzy silken robes or sumptuous embroideries, elaborately wrought gold or silver ornaments, or highly tempered steel weapons, were almost unknown, but when occasionally seen or told of, were popularly supposed to be the work of fairies and necromancers, or made by artificers under some kind of supernatural influence.

It is true that in the religious houses, where learning The was so much cultivated that several English scholars Monas- attained European fame and became friends and teries councillors of popes and kings, some knowledge of art and and craft was not uncommon : but it was, for the Artistic most part, confined to such institutions. There is good Handi- authority for stating, that, in every region where a religious crafts.

13

14

SILK INDUSTRY.

The order wanted a new church or convent, it was an ordinary

Monas- thing for the Superior, the Prior, the Abbot, or even the

teries Bishop himself, to give the design, and for the monks to

and fulfil, under his direction, every department of the

Artistic execution of the work, from the meanest to the highest.*

Handi- Illuminated writing and needlework were also practised

crafts. in the monasteries and convents by the monks and nuns.

These works were, however, mostly for church use, and

were designed and executed by the religious, who from

time to time were sent from Rome to prevent the people of

England from relapsing into paganism. These works were

at first, therefore, quite distinct from the ordinary life

and occupations of the English people, and until they

came to be practised by native artists and artificers,

as they eventually did, cannot be considered as English

art, craftsmanship or manufacture.

In times of peace the chief occupations of the common people were husbandry, the breeding and tending of animals, the making of farming implements and rude domestic furniture, the preparation, spinning and weaving of wool and flax, and a limited amount of local and export trading. Wool the The chief product of the country was wool, which very Chief early became an article of commerce especially with

Product. Flanders. To that country it was exported in con- siderable quantities, in exchange for finer and better finished cloth than the less skilful English weavers of that time could produce, as well as for other foreign goods.

Except at the Royal Court, and even there only occasionally, luxury or refinement were entirely absent from secular life. The nobles spent their time in hunting and rough hospitality, whilst their ladies (convent taught) busied themselves with simple embroideries, useful needle- work or domestic duties. The dress materials, embroideries and household textUes of flax and wool, for daily wear and decoration, were made of homespun thread, whilst the festival garments were fashioned from cloth woven and dyed in Flanders. Silk and cotton were rarities,

* Hope's Historical Essay on Architecture, chapter 21,

Plate III. Specimen of Old English Enribroidery ,

the Syon Cope, in South Kensington

Museum.

BEGINNING OF INDUSTRY. 15

unknown except as royal treasures, or in the embroidery on some of the most precious vestments of the clergy.

One of the earUest records of silk mentioned in the Silk in Saxon chronicles is that "Offa, King of Mercia, received Saxon a present of two silken vests from the Emperor Charle- Times, magne in 790." King Alfred also is said to have had amongst his royal treasures a few garments embroidered with silk, or woven of that material.

It is often erroneously supposed by students of the poetry and romance of antiquity and the Middle Ages, that the glowing descriptions of the dress and decoration of these periods are to be taken as hterally true. A modern author, to quote one example out of many which might be chosen, contrasting the present time unfavour- ably with the past, says : " The love of beauty among the early races was not a narrow cult, nor was it the exclusive possession of a privileged few. It was the native gift of every human being." In proof of this assertion the author cites a passage from an ancient romance which, though very beautiful, is manifestly misleading as a picture of real life. " It is recorded in the history of Cuchulain that when a certain King Eochaid was going one day over the fair green of Bri Leith he saw, at the side of a well, a woman with a bright comb of silver and gold, and who was washing in a silver basin having four golden birds on it and little bright purple stones set in the rim of the basin ; a beautiful purple cloak she had and silver fringes on it, and a gold brooch ; and she had on her a dress of green silk with a long hood embroidered in red gold, and wonderful clasps of gold and silver on her breasts and on her shoulders. The sunlight was Literary shining on her, so that the gold and the green silk were License. shining out. Two plaits of hair she had, four locks in each plait and a gold bead at the point of every lock, and the colour of her hair was like the yellow flags in summer or red gold after it is burnished."

This description is as beautiful as a design by the late Sir Edward Burne-Jones, which it suggests, but all that the sober historian can gather from it is, that, at the time the story was written, gold and silver combs and brooches,

16

SILK INDUSTRY.

silver fringes to purple garments, green silken webs, gold

embroidered, and beautiful women with golden hair,

Influence which it was customary to wear in plaits, were to be seen.

of the But to suppose that at the time to which the legend

Norman refers women exquisitely clad were commonly seen

Conquest, washing themselves by the roadside or that the materials

and details of such dresses as that described were the

productions of local handicraft, or that the whole scene

ever existed except in the imagination, of the romancer,

is absurd. Such theories, moreover, are contradicted

by the actual specimens of handicraft which have been

preserved. The few reaUy fine works which remain are

of periods, and by artists, belonging to peoples known

to have attained a high degree of culture.

After the Norman Conquest, delicacy and richness, both of material and workmanship, seem to have characterised the dress and furnishings, not only of royalty but of the nobles and gentry. Chronicles of the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries abound with graphic descriptions of sumptuous pageants and elegant banquets, in which gorgeous clothing of silk and cloth of gold, and flashing jewels, as well as delicately prepared food and ingeniously decorated dishes, are described in minute detail and with evident appreciation. These things are set forth, not only, as hitherto they had been in fiction, by poets and romancers, but as sober descriptions of actual fact by veracious historians.* Oriental Several centuries elapsed, however, before the articles Silk of luxury thus described came to be of English manu-

Weavers. facture. Such wares were mainly introduced into Northern Europe by foreign traders, who brought them from the East by way of Italy and Spain. In the twelfth century the settlement of Oriental silk weavers in Italy and SicUy took place, and rendered that country not only the market, but the manufactory, of silken webs for the rest of Europe.^ The account by Matthew Paris of the festivities at the marriage of the daughter of Henry III. to Alexander,

* Even in these descriptions much allowance must be made for rhetorical exaggeration.

t It is necessary to note here that the work of embroidery, as distinguished from woven fabrics, must be excepted. A great deal of embroidery was no doubt executed during the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries in England, but the materials on which it was wrought were imported ; and, moreover, the names of the artists recorded are mostly of foreign origin, such as Cheiner, Fitzode, Courteray and others.

BEGINNING OF INDUSTRY.

17

King of Scotland, in 1251, shows that the wearing of silk had then become general. He states that a " thousand knights appeared in vestments of silk. These were changed on the following day for similar garments of different colours." Also that " even citizens were present wearing cydades worked with gold over vestments of silk."

One of the provisions of the Great Charter, made by The Henry III. in 1225, and confirmed by Edward I. and Great several succeeding monarchs, deals with the treatment Charter, the purveyors of foreign goods were to receive in order to encourage them to bring their costly wares more con- fidently to the English market. The section of the Charter referred to is as foUows : —

Cay. XXX.

" Merchant strangers coming into this realm shaU be well used.

"AU merchants (if they be not openly prohibited before) shall have their safe and sure conduct to depart out of England, to come into England, to tarry in and go through England, as weU by Land as by Water, to buy and sell, without any manner of evil tolls, by the old and rightful customs except in time of War. (2) And if they be of a Land making war against us, and be found in our Realm at the beginning of the wars, they shall be attached, without harm of body or goods, until it be known unto us, or to our Chief Justice, how our merchants be intreated there in the Land making war against us. (3) And if our merchants be well intreated there, their's shall be likewise with us." There is ample evidence to prove that these travelling Protec- merchants found a ready sale for their attractive goods tive in the various parts of the country they visited. Most Laws of them were no doubt small dealers who carried their for stock of goods in a pack, whUst the more important Aliens, retailers opened shops, and had warehouses in London and the principal seaport towns.

There is extant a tax-gatherer's account, of the time of Edward I., giving an inventory of the stock of a

18

SILK INDUSTRY.

mercator, most likely one of these travelling merchants, but whether English or foreign does not transpire.

Item. A piece of woollen cloth . .

, , Silk and fine Unen [probably thread] .

„ Flannel and silk purses

„ Gloves, girdles, leather purses, and needlework

„ Other small things . .

£	s.	d.
0	7	0
1	0	0
1	4	0
0	6	8
0	3	0
£3	0	8

The fact that it was considered necessary in 1225 to make a law for the protection of the merchant strangers suggests that a considerable number of Enghsh people had by that time themselves become dealers in these foreign commodities, and that they were disposed to quarrel with the strangers and prevent their doing business. This is the more probable as the different types of tradesmen and handicraftsmen were generally adopting the custom of gathering themselves together into trade guilds and fraternities for mutual protection and benefit. Statutes A perusal of the Enghsh statutes from the time of Regula- Henry III. forward demonstrates how curiously Royal ting and Parliamentary opinion fluctuated between protection

Trade. and freedom, both as regards trading and manufacture. Although in a subsequent section these statutes wiU have to be considered in detail, it is necessary here briefly to notice those which bear particularly on the matter of the immigration of foreign workers in silk, such as thread twisters or throwsters, embroiderers, braid and ribbon makers and broad silk weavers, as weU as merchants dealing in aU these costly wares. There can be no doubt that by the end of the fourteenth century a considerable number of foreigners who dealt in and manipulated silk had settled in England.

BEGINNING OF INDUSTRY. 19

During the reign of Edward III. more than a hundred Acts Regula- of Parliament were passed for the purpose of regulating tion of manufacture, trade and commerce. A very large pro- Trade in portion of these statutes dealt with textile manufactures Reign of and raw materials, and although silk is but rarely Edward specifically mentioned, it cannot be doubted that silk III. workers, embroiderers, throwsters, cord and braid-makers, if not weavers, would be included in such statutes as Cap. v., 11 Ed. III. It is entitled :—

" Clothworkers may come into the king's dominions

and have suj95.cient liberties." " Item. — It is accorded that all clothworkers of Strange Lands of Whatsoever Country they be, which will come into England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland, within the King's power, shaU come safely and surely, and shall be in the King's protection and safe conduct, to dweU in the same lands choosing where they will. (2) And to the intent the said clothworkers shall have the greater will to come and dwell here, our Sovereign Lord the King wiU grant them Franchises as many and such as may sufl&ce them." Then again in 1344* : —

" The sea shall be open to all manner of merchants to pass with their merchandise when it shall please them." And in 1353t :—

" Merchant strangers shall be taken in the King's protection for their wrongs shall receive double damages." This last statute seems to suggest that the strangers still met with determined opposition, in their trading journeys or settlement, from the already estabhshed First tradesmen. refer-

The first actual reference to sUk in the statute book enceto is in 1363, J when it was enacted that : — . Silk in

" Handycraftsmen shall use but one mystery, but handy- Statute workmen may work as they did," Book.

» Cap. iii., 18 Ed. III. t Cap. xx., 25 Ed. in. i 37 Ed. III., Cap. VI.

20 SILK INDUSTRY.

Begin- By this Act the different artificers, merchants, and

• nings of retail tradesmen were forbidden to deal in or work at

Silk more than one particular class of goods or manufacture.

Weaving They had to make their choice and declare it before a

Industry. Justice of the Peace by a specified time, the penalty for

neglecting to do so was imprisonment, or a fine, at the

discretion of the judge. The exceptions to this rule were :

" female brewers, bakers, weavers, spinsters and other women

employed upon works in wool, hnen, silk or embroidery, etc,"

It is added that "the King and Council had no intention

to hinder these persons working as they will."

Although not impossible, it is improbable that broad silk weaving was practised in this country at an earlier period than the fourteenth century. In fact, were it not for the evidence of a single drawing in a manuscript of that period, in which a weaver is depicted at work weaving a web which in the text is described as silk, it might be supposed that the art was not introduced till the fifteenth century. But, whether there were few or many weavers of silk then at work in England, it is certain that they were only employed in weaving the plainest kind of fabrics, for it cannot be doubted that the rich velvets, figured silks and damasks, on which the embroiderers exercised their skill, were imported from Italy by the merchant strangers so often mentioned in the statutes.*

It would appear that very httle broad silk weaving

was attempted, but there is evidence that spinning

thread from raw silk, twisting and plaiting the threads

together, and preparing gold and silver threads for the

use of embroiderers, as well as the twining of braids,

ribbons, cords, purses, girdles and trimmings of aU sorts.

Employ- were done by Enghsh workers, and that their goods were

ment of in very great demand. This branch of silk manufacture.

Women, as weU as the embroidery itself, gave employment to a large

number of persons, particularly women and children, and had

done so increasingly from the time of the Norman Conquest.f

* 2 Bioh. II., Cap. i. Aliens may sell wholesale, where they will, cloth of gold and silver, silk, sendal napery, linen cloth, canvas, and other such great wares etc. See also note in Appendix, where the whole of this important act is transcribed.

t Silk weaving has always been divided into two distinct branches, the Broad and the Narrow. All dress and furniture fabrics belong to the Broad branch, whatever their width may be, whilst all braids, ribbons, cords, galloons, etc., belong to the Narrow branch. These latter gave employment in the Middle Ages to vast numbers of people, as all braids, ribbons and narrow goods were made in single widths.

Plate IV. Primitive Weaver, from MSS.

in British Museum.

BEGINNING OF INDUSTRY. 21

At first, no doubt, English embroidery consisted of Begin- rude designs in outline, worked quite simply in coloured nings of wools on plain linen grounds. Precious threads of sUk Silk and gold were, later on, sparingly used for very special Weaving works, on the fine cloth obtained from Flanders. Hardly Industry, ever, if at aU, were silken fabrics used as grounds until the eleventh century, and it was not until the fourteenth century that, as revealed by the concise and formal entries in the Exchequer accounts, the embroiderers of apparel and furniture revelled in the use of cloth of gold and silver, curiously prepared threads of precious metal and silk, gems and pearls, and the woven silks, satins, damasks and velvets of Italy, Spain and the Orient.*

In 1455 the second reference to sUk is found in the recorded statutesf : —

"No wrought silk belonging to the mystery of sUk women shall be brought into this realm by way of merchandise during five years." "It was shewed in the said Parliament by the Silk Women and Spinsters of SUk within the City of London, that divers Lombards and other Aliens, Strangers, imagining to destroy their Crafts and aU such virtuous occupations for Women within this land, to the intent to enrich themselves and put such occupations into other lands, daily bring into this realm wrought Silk, Wrought Ribbands and Laces, falsely and deceitfully wrought, corses J of silk and all manner of other things touching the same mysteries and Occupations ready wrought, and will not bring in any unwrought Silk, as these were wont to do, to the final destruction of the said mysteries and occupations. It is therefore Protec- ordained and estabhshed that all such goods, if tion of brought in, shall be forfeited, and that every seller English of them shall, for every default, forfeit ten Workers, pounds (x £)."

♦ See Extracts from the Issue Bolls of the Exchequer from King Henry III. to King Henry VI., ed. F. Dixon ; also Catalogue of English Embroidery exhibited at the Burlington Fine Arts Clvh, A. F. Kendriek.

t 33 Henry VI., Cap. v.

J Generally supposed to signify stay laces. Original Document in Beeord Office, London.

22

SILK INDUSTRY.

Protec- This Act was extended eight years later (1463), and

tion of again in 1482, when the prohibition of wearing such

Enghsh foreign wrought small silk goods was added.

Workers. Bacon, in his History of Henry VII., says that all these

small articles " the people of England could then weU

skiU to make," but that aU other silken fabrics were

permitted unrestricted importation, " for that the realm

had of them no manufacture in use at that time."

This statement is correct in the main, but that there were more exceptions than the following single instance which is recorded in the Proceedings in Chancery in the Reign of Edward IV., 1461, cannot be doubted : —

"George Damico, an Italian, v. John Burdean and

others." " Plaintiff, because he exercises the art of weaving cloths of damask, velvets, cloth of gold and silver and other cloths of silk, by the King's high com- mandment in a house assigned to him at West- minster, and instructs others in the same mystery, is arrested on several feigned actions of debt and trespass taken out against him by certain merchant Strangers, wherefor he prays a Corpus cum causa to be directed to the Sheriff of London." It is interesting to notice in the above plea that the Itahan weaver under the King's protection at Westminster not only practised his trade, but claims to have instructed others in the same. Introduc- The introduction of broad silk weaving into France tion of took place at about the same time as the event recorded Broad above shows it to have been practised in England. The Silk secrets of sericulture and the handicraft of broad silk

Weaving, weaving seem to have been successfully retained in Italy for more than three centuries after being brought to that country from the East. It is said that attempts to induce silk weavers to remove from Italy to France were made as early as 1480, but that the establishment of the manufacture was not really successful until 1521, when noblemen, returning from the conquest of the Duchy of Milan, broug:ht with them not only the Silk Weavers, but persons having a knowledge of sericulture. Towards the

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BEGINNING OF INDUSTRY. 23

end of the century sericulture became acclimatised in France, but that country has always to a great extent, as England has altogether, depended on Italy and the Orient for her chief supply of raw silk.

Whether the Itahan silk weaver, Damico, was successful in obtaining protection against his enemies, and was able to continue his handicraft in Westminster is not revealed ; but there is a further record that cloths of gold, silver and sUk, were being woven in London in 1473.* As the mystery was also, in the fifteenth century, introduced from Italy and Spain into the Netherlands, where it was quickly developed into an important branch of manu- facture, it is probable that from this time forward, seeing there was a great deal of intercourse between England and HoUand, an increasing number of handicraftsmen, both native and foreign, found remunerative occupation in the art and mystery of Broad Silk Weaving in Great Britain.

* Barton's History of Weaving.

CHAPTER II.

Immigration fbom the Netherlands.

Rise of At the beginning of the sixteenth century the manu- British facture of all kinds of textile fabrics had attained to a Textile very important position in England. She not only supplied Industry, the greater part of the home demand, but provided a large quantity of goods for exportation. This was especially the case as regards the manufacture of hnen and woollen stuffs. The weaving and finishing of the latter, in particular, had been carried to such per- fection, that, not only was English wool preferred to that of any other country, as heretofore, but the wool dyed and woven into cloth by the Enghsh manufacturers was acknowledged as the best obtainable, and was readUy purchased in all the markets of Europe,

The first improvements in the primitive manufacture of woollen cloth in England are said to have been owing to the methods of weaving introduced by a party of Flemish immigrants, who had been driven out of their own country by an inundation of the sea in the time of William the Conqueror, They craved the protection of the Queen, who was their countrywoman, and the King, influenced by her, permitted them to settle at Carhsle. There they and their successors laid the foundation of the woollen cloth weaving trade of Great Britain, which, during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, became locahsed in different parts of the country.

This development was assisted from time to time by further immigrations of alien craftsmen, and more and more proficiency in the art was made. Sometimes these foreign weavers came in response to invita- tions of royal or noble patrons, and sometimes they were influenced by the spirit of mercantile adventure ; but, whatever the cause of their advent, it was generally opposed by previous settlers or the native weavers, who

24

IMMIGRATION FROM THE NETHERLANDS. 25

regarded tliem as objects of hatred and malice, and in their Import- short-sighted ill-wiU dubbed them, as is recorded, " cursede ance of forrainers." * British

It has been shown that during the five centuries sue- Textile ceeding the Norman Conquest, in which the manufacture Industry, of wooUen cloths was being developed, the art of embroidering in silk, the manufacture of sUken thread, the twisting, twining and weaving of cords, ribbons and braids of silk, and broad silk weaving had been introduced and improved intermittently by missionaries, traders, artists and craftsmen coming from Italy. The result was that aU these branches of silk manufacture had become British industries of greater or less importance. The six- teenth and seventeenth centuries are however distinguished by two events which did more than all else to establish the manufacturing arts, particularly that of silk manufacture and broad sUk weaving, in Great Britain, These events were the immigration and settlement of great numbers of skilful handicraftsmen from the Netherlands in the sixteenth century, and from France, in even greater numbers, in the seventeenth.

In order to ascertain the cause of the first of these Indus- important events and justly to estimate its effect, it is trial necessary to make a brief enquiry into the history, con- Suprem- dition, industry, and pohtics of the confederate cities acy of and States of the Netherlands ; this confederacy being the at that time the busiest and most prosperous country Nether- in the whole of Europe. The early history of the portion lands, of Europe now known as Holland, but anciently called Batavia and Friesland, lying beyond the boundary of the Roman Empire, and washed on the north by the North Sea, furnishes a remarkable instance of the supremacy of man in conflict with nature and circum- stance. This enthralling story has been told by other modern authors, and need not be repeated, f It cannot be doubted, however, that the indomitable spirit of the

* " John Kempe," Barlow's History of Weaving. John Kempe and his company of doth workers established a manufactory of fine woollen cloth in 1369. They were bitterly opposed by native cloth weavers, and had to be taken under the special protection of Edward III.

■f Bise of the Dutch Bepublic, Motley.

26 SILK INDUSTRY.

Industrial ancient people, whose laws declared that " the race should Suprem- be free as long as the wind blows out of the clouds and acyofthe the world stands," survived. After centuries of develop- Nether- ment, the united cities and provinces of the Netherlands, lands. having become supreme in Europe in art, science, manu- facture, and commerce, made their gallant fight for civil and rehgious liberty against royal prerogative, and religious intolerance. At the time when the long and bitter conflict of the Netherlands with the Emperor Charles V.* and his son Philip II. commenced, a con- flict which, in 1509, left Holland free and victorious and the centre of European commerce and finance, the Netherlands consisted of the Flemish and Walloon provinces, now known as Belgium, as well as those of Holland and Friesland. These provinces contained about three million inhabitants, who, for the most part, had gathered themselves into fortified cities. The cities were independent of one another and were governed by local municipalities, the ofiicers of which were usually elected by the deans or wardens of the various guilds of Freemen of the town. The numerous dukes and counts, who had been nominally their rulers, had from time to time granted charters of privilege to the municipahties in exchange for a fixed rent charge, or special subsidies, secured on the revenues of the city and the goods of the citizens. These overlords were not slow to discover that the prosperity of their subjects was a matter of profound interest to themselves, and that the concession of privileges to the cities was a plentiful source of riches A and strength. In this manner the communities had

Group practically become little repubhcs. In provincial matters, of the towns took common council together, and their

Small deputies met the nobles in the assembhes of the general Repub- government. Thus the free cities of the Netherlands lies. had gradually become familiarised with Parliamentary

action.! It is remarkable that in this Netherlands' Parliament the clergy, as clergy, had no part. The

* Bom in 1500, in 1506 he became Count of Flanders and Duke of the Netherlands, in 1516 King of Spain, in 1519 Emperor of Germany and afterwards King of Jerusalem, and, by the grant of Pope Adrian the Sixth, lord of the whole new world.

•f History of Holland, Professor Thorold Rogers.

IMMIGRATION FROM THE NETHERLANDS. 27

Netherlands did not intrust their Uberties to the Church. They were however quite devout and buUt magnificent churches and decorated them most lavishly, as indeed they did the streets of their cities and both public and private buildings.

By the middle of the fifteenth century the cities of the Netherlands not only rivalled but surpassed those of Italy as manufactories and markets of commodities of artistic merit and intrinsic value. The merchants of Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Mechlin, Ypres, Mons, Amsterdam, Leyden, Haarlem and other cities, but above aU others Antwerp — ^whose port received two thousand five hundred The Rise ships at one time — gathered into their warehouses, and of distributed to aU parts of Europe, the richest raw materials Antwerp, and artificial productions from near and far. Raw and manufactured silks and sparkling jewels came from the East, spices and rare woods and precious metals from the West, wool and hides from Britain, and furs from the North, as well as all the raw materials for the use of their native craftsmen and the necessaries of life for their teeming populations. The painters of pictures, the architects, and the engineers of the Netherlands equalled in design, whilst they surpassed in technique and invention, the artists of Italy and Spain ; the schools of tapestry workers wove gorgeous sets of hangings and carpets excelling any that had been previously wrought ; the goldsmiths and workers in less costly metals were second to none in Europe. The weavers, the most numerous and powerful of aU the craftsmen in the Netherlands, who had always been famous for the fine weaving and finishing of woollen cloth and the strength and delicacy of their linen fabrics, had at length learned from Italy and Spain the mystery of manipulating sUk, so that in Mons, the capital of Hainault, as well as in Mechlin, Bruges and other cities, silk weaving, probably in aU its branches, was practised on a very large scale. The fact that Mons was a great silk weaving centre is estabhshed by the town records referring to a revolt of the city, in which it is stated that " many of the rich proprietors

28

SILK INDUSTRY.

Mons a of the great cloth and silk manufactories, for which Mons Weaving was famous, raised and armed companies of volunteers Centre. at their own expense." Also that " De Leste, a silk manufacturer, who had commanded a band of volunteers, and sustained during the siege the assaults of Alva's troops with remarkable courage at a very critical moment, was one of the earliest victims to be executed by order of the commission of troubles after the recovery of the city by the Spaniards."*

To return to the circumstances leading to the revolt of the United Provinces. Early in the fifteenth century, Philip — surnamed the Good — ^partly by purchase and partly by inheritance, had acquired the position of over- lord of the seventeen States of the Netherlands. He at once endeavoured to curtail their hberties, although he had previously sworn to maintain them. Phihp died in 1467, and his son, Charles, succeeded in completing the work begun by Phihp, and made himself absolute monarch, forcing many of the Flemish cities to resign their municipal rights. At the death of Charles in 1496, his daughter, Mary, succeeded him in the Netherlands, and the Nether- landers seized the opportunity of her need for their help in defending her inheritance against Louis XL of France, Grant of to obtain from her the Magna Charta of the Netherlands the called the " Great Privilege." It was this constitution

"Great which Mary's grandson, Charles V., violated, and for Privi- the recovery and maintenance of which the Netherlanders lege." took up arms against him and his son, Philip II. f Charles V- succeeded his father, Phihp, as Count of Flanders in 1506. In 1516 he became King of Spain, and when only nineteen years of age — 1519 — ^he was elected Emperor of Germany. ' The points of the charter which the Emperor Charles sought to over-ride were two, viz., that providing for the popular control of taxation, and the freedom of rehgion. During the revolt, which lasted fifty years, thousands of the most learned, respected and industrious inhabitants of the dismayed provinces feU victims to the gallows,

* Mons : sous les Bapports Hietoriques et Statistiques, etc., par. F. Paridaens. (Mons, 1819.)

t The fifty years' struggle and its result is graphically told by Motley in The Rise of the Dutch Republic and The History of the Netherlands.

IMMIGRATION FROM THE NETHERLANDS. 29

the sword, the stake, the Uving grave, unmentionable horrors of torture and banishment.* The number of victims can never be accurately known, as it far out- stripped the possibility of record. Some of the per- The petrators of these crimes have an unenviable reputation Crime such as Alva, who, after his administration, which only of Alva, lasted five years, boasted that he had caused eighteen thousand six hundred inhabitants of the provinces to be executed ; and Noirc'armes, President of the Blood CouncU, who condemned victims to torture and execution in batches of fifties and hundreds at a time without trial, and enriched himself with their confiscated property. During this period of revolt and persecution, thousands of Netherlanders came to England for sanctuary. They brought with them their several arts, many of which had been Uttle, if at all, practised in England before that time. The drawloom for silk -and linen pattern weaving is said to have been introduced into Norwich by Nether- landish refugees. It is certain that many of the lighter kinds of silk mixed fabrics were almost unknown previous to the immigration of the Flemings and Hollanders. Although they were not always made welcome by native craftsmen or previously established settlers, or allowed to begin work without opposition, the municipal records of the principal towns on the Eastern seaboard of England bear witness to the benefits conferred on the country of their adoption by the industrious refugee craftsmen. For instance, it is recorded that the trade of Norwich at the time of the immigration was in a very depressed state, as owing to the decay of the worsted manufacture, many weavers had been forced to leave their homes and go into the country to earn their bread. The Mayor and Corporation, being anxious to restore the prosperity of the community, waited upon the Duke of Norfolk, who was then at his palace in that city, and it was decided to invite to Norwich some of the strangers of the Low Countries, who, by leave of the Queen, had come to Refugees Sandwich and London for refuge from Alva's persecution, invited to Upon apphcation to the Queen by the Duke, she gave Norwich.

♦ See note, Appendix, Motley, p. 489.

30

SILK INDUSTRY.

Refugees letters patent to thirty master weavers, each with ten invited to servants, to settle in the city of Norwich. These weavers Norwich, set up the making of baises, serges, arras mochades, cureUes and such like goods, mingled with silk and linen yarn, which gave employment to a great many hands. Houses which had fallen into decay were now repaired and inhabited, and both the city and the country grew rich — ^the latter by the great demand for farm produce, and the former by the profits from this new introduction of manufactures."*

The baises and serges mentioned in the above record were hght woollen materials, and probably only an improvement of stuffs already made in England, but the arras mochades were a fabric unknown to English weavers although probably familiar to the drapers or mercers. Mochado or mockado is frequently mentioned in sixteenth and seventeenth century hterature, and, from this source, we learn that it was a material woven of sOk, and wool, hnen, or cotton, having a design woven in tufts and cut in imitation of silk figured velvet. The name often appears in inventories of the sixteenth century and later, as in the following : —

" A piece of redd mockadowe 21.5. iiij yeards of duble redd mockadowe 6.5. v^ yeards of mockadow, black and redd 9.5. Q.d. xix yeards of mockadow, blewe and browne." Some The two latter items suggest a figured material in two

new colours ; the former might be either plain or self-coloured.

Fabrics. Pattern is suggested in a curious quotation. " My dream of being naked and my skin all overwrought with works like some kind of tuft mockado, with crosses blew and red."t Curelles, currelles or carreUs, are mentioned with bays, fustians, and mockadoes as " works mixed with silk, worsted or linen yarn," in the Book of Drapery, 1570, belonging to the hall at Norwich.

We also learn that Bombazines, % were first made in this country at Norwich, for, " In 1575 the Dutch

* Blomefield's History of Norfolk. •f Doctor Dee's Diary.

% Dress material having a silk warp, and cotton, linen, or woollen weft ; similar to Irish poplin, but thinner and Ughter. It became very general for summer wear.

IMMIGRATION FROM THE NETHERLANDS. 31

Elders presented in Court a new work called Bombazines, Intro- praying to have the ' search and seal ' of them to their duction of use, exclusive of the Walloons, who insisted that aU white Bomba- works belonged to them ; but the Dutch, as the first zines. inventors, had their petition granted." Pepys, in his Diary, May 30, 1668, writes : " Up and put on a new summer black bombazine suit." Bombazine, spelt Bombazeen, is quoted in a weaver's Hst of prices printed in London 1821.

In the year 1570 the Bailiffs of Colchester, in Essex, wrote to the Lords of the Privy Council as follows : — " Whereas of late a number of Dutchmen have come to this town of Colchester, about eleven households, to the number of fifty persons, small and great, where they made their abode longer than other strangers have been accustomed. We therefore called the best of them to know the cause of their coming, who answered they were a part of the dispersed flock of late driven out of Flanders, for that their consciences were offended with the Masse, and for fear of the tyranny of the Duke of Alva — ^they came into this realm for protection, and that there were more of them at Sandwich, who wished to be permitted to come also — with such sciences as are not usual with us, but weave sackcloth, make needles, parchment, weavours, and such-like, so that they shall not be any hindrance to any man or occupation here. We dare not presume to give them license of ourselves, but great profit might arise to the common estate of this town, greatly decayed, etc., and therefore we have given them friendly enter- tainment until we might signify the same to your Honours. Col- And we cannot but greatly commend them — to be very chaster honest, godly, civil, and well-ordered people not given wel- to outrage or excess, etc." comes

To this a reply was given (24th March, 1570) : — " As Alien ye do acknowledge your towne to be benefited by their Weavers, being there, we are right glad that we first commended them unto you, and cannot but aUow their conformity, your gentle handling of them, and the concord betwixt you, the which we trust God wiU increase with benefits

32

SILK INDUSTRY.

towards you, etc." Signed by N. Bacon, O.S., T. Sussex,

R. Leicester, and dated from Greenwich.*

Norwich In 1570, Norwich was disturbed by a conspiracy _ of

con- John Throgmorton and others to drive out the Flemish

spiracy weavers. The plot was, however, discovered, and several

to persons were arrested and condemned. It was the inten-

banish tion of the malcontents to proceed, after collecting forces

Flemings, at Harleston Fair, Bungay and Beccles, " to Norwiche in

such a sodeyne as at the Mayre's feaste to have taken the

whole cupborde of plate to have mayntayned the enter-

pryse and by sound of trumpet and beat of tabour to have

expelled the strangers from the city and realm."

In 1578 Queen Ehzabeth visited Norwich, and a pageant was arranged in her honour. In the procession various looms were " pourtrayed " : " Looms for worsteds, for russets, for darnix,t for mockads, for lace, for caffa,t and for fringe ; and upon a stage at one end stood eight small women children spinning worsted yarn, and at the other end many knitting worsted hose,"

Other records speak of " the perfection obtained in

weaving tufted taffeties, cloth of tissue, wrought velvets,

branched satins, and other kinds of curious sUk stuffs " ;

also of cloths called mildernix and 'powledavis,% and the

statement is made that these were " altogether brought

out of France and other parts beyond the sea, and the

skiU and art of weaving the cloths was never known or

used in England, until about this year (1587), when perfect

art was attained thereto." II

Royal Most of the EngUsh monarchs appear to have had a

Patron- lively appreciation of the advantage the introduction of

age. new arts and improved methods of manufacture would

be to their realm. With the exception, perhaps, of

* Morant's History of Essex.

t Dumix, darnex, dornex, darneo, dornook, darness. Table damask ot checker and other patterns for which Tournay, or Dorneek, which was the Dutch name of the city, was famous, and from whence it was brought to Norwich.

% Caffa. In a cotton MS. of the 16th century, " caffa damask " and " caffa diaper " are spoken of. Also in Cavendish's Negotiations of Thomas Woolsey (pub. 1641) is a description of a gallery where " There wes set divers tables, whereupon a great number of rich stuffs of silk, in whole pieces of all colours, as velvet, satin, damask, caffa, grograine, sarcenet, and of others not in remembrance."

S Linen sail cloths, first manufactured in Brittany, introduced into England in the time of Elizabeth.

II That this is not altogether true is proved by evidence in the preceding chapter, but the statement clearly shows the rarity of broad silk weaving before tliis time.

IMMIGRATION FROM THE NETHERLANDS. 33

Edward III., Queen Elizabeth was the most eager of Royal all the sovereigns to foster British industry. As soon Patron- as the troubles began, many merchants and manufacturers age en- of the Netherlands, who had agents and business correspon- courages dents in this country, left the disturbed provinces, and, immi- bringing their households and servants with them, took gration. up their abode in, and transferred their businesses en- tirely to England.

By the third year of Ehzabeth's reign (1561), there had grown up a large colony of Flemish textile manufacturers at Sandwich, then a seaport, and the Queen caused " letters patent to be passed, sealed, and directed to the Mayor and Corporation of that town, to give full liberty to the strangers to inhabit the place, for the purpose of exer- cising their manufactures, which had not before been used in England." It was to Sandwich, therefore, that the fugitives from Alva's persecution came, in increasing numbers, as it grew more and more fierce. Some of those exiles were able to bring much of their wealth with them, but great numbers found it barely possible to escape with their lives. From Sandwich they were drafted, as invitation or convenience prompted, to London, Maidstone, Colchester, Ipswich, Norwich, Manchester, and many other town and country districts.

But the most important immigration from the Nether- The lands took place in 1585. Its immediate cause was the Sack of infamous sack of Antwerp by the mutinous Spanish troops. Antwerp. The soldiers had received no wages for three years, so, electing a leader, they marched to the city of Antwerp, purposing to help themselves. Their action was connived at by the Spanish authorities. In this event, justly known in history as the Spanish Fury,* the most fearful atrocities were committed, no less than eight thousand unarmed people were slaughtered, four millions in hard cash stolen, an incalculable amount of valuable mer- chandise carried off and wasted, and irreparable injury done to aU the pubhc and private buildings. In addition to this about a third part of the manufacturers and merchants are said to have fled to England and other

* Motley's Dutch Republic,

34 SILK INDUSTRY.

The places of refuge. Many of these, like their predecessors,

Sack of were most skilful weavers of damasks, and all varieties of

Antwerp, silk, linen, and woollen fabrics, so that all chroniclers

agree in ascribing the great development of the textile

arts in Great Britain in the sixteenth century and the

early part of the seventeenth, to their immigration.

CHAPTER III.

The Huguenot Immigration.

The arts of sericulture and silk weaving were slowly Italian but steadUy developed and carried to a high pitch of Influence perfection in France after their first introduction from on Lyons Italy at the end of the fifteenth century. In several Industry districts mulberry trees were planted and cultivated successfully, and the rearing of silk worms, as well as the reefing and manipulation of silken thread, suitable for the different processes of silk manufacture, formed the principal occupation of large numbers of the inhabitants of the southern provinces of France.

Many refinements of texture, richness and permanence of dye, and grace of design in the webs produced, also improvements in the mechanism of the loom and the various appliances for silk weaving, were devised by the French craftsmen and manufacturers during the two centuries which followed on the setting up of a few looms by the fugitive Itahan sUk weavers, who, in 1480, settled in France either at Tours or Lyons. The unremitting care and attention to minute details, necessary for the culture of silk and its use in textile art, made the manipula- tion of the gossamer yarn a task well adapted to the genius of the artificers of France, who have always been notable for dehcacy of hand and aptitude of invention, both artistic and mechanical.

For a considerable time after the industry was com- menced at Lyons by Itahan weavers, the silken webs used as well as the appliances for weaving them, naturally continued to be similar to those of Italy ; in fact, untU the second half of the sixteenth century the silk textiles of France cannot be distinguished, with certainty, from those of Italy. By that time, however, the French webs began to vary considerably from the

35

36 SILK INDUSTRY.

Perfec- Italian type, both in design and elaboration of texture, tion of The improved technique gives evidence that the looms, French on which they were woven, had been rendered more Work. perfect in their mechanism, and that their capacity for varying the interlacements of the fine threads of warp and weft had been much improved. It is the fact that the silken webs of France woven in the latter part of the sixteenth century, and the seventeenth century, surpass for intricacy of technique, perfection of texture, purity of dye, harmony of colour, and gorgeousness of general effect, all the most notable works of silk weaving of any previous or succeeding age. It was in the southern provinces of France that silk weaving and sericulture were first introduced, and it was there also that these industries were developed into proportions giving occu- pation to hundreds of thousands of the population.

It was also in that French province that the reformed

religion, Calvinistic in its doctrines, took root and flourished ;

it was consequently amongst the workers in the sericultural

and silk manufacturing industries that the tragic effects

of the persecutions of Protestants were most likely to be felt.

The first persecution of the Huguenots, as the French

Protestants were called, culminated in the massacre of

St. Bartholomew, in 1572, and continued intermittently

until 1599, when Henry of Navarre, notwithstanding the

fact that he had for pohtical reasons become a Roman

Catholic, promulgated his famous Edict of Nantes. By

this Edict, comparative liberty of conscience and freedom

of worship were allowed to all French subjects. From

the date of this Edict until it was revoked by Louis XIV.

in 1685, persecution for religion, was less in evidence, and

the various arts, crafts and manufactures of France

revived and made extraordinary progress. It was during

this period that the great industry of silk weaving reached

the perfection to which reference has been made.

States- In 1622 the young King, Louis XIII. , called to his

manship councils Armand Duplessis de Richheu, who had recently

of been made a Cardinal by the Pope. He soon became

Richlieu. supreme in the affairs of Government, and succeeded in

breaking the power of the various pohtical factions by

THE HUGUENOT IMMIGRATION. 37

whicli the realm of France had been disturbed for many States- years. Under his regime the Huguenots ceased to exist manship as a political party, and as soon as this end was attained of he advised the King to issue the "Edict of Pardons." Richlieu. By this Edict, which was promulgated in 1629, the Protestants were confirmed in liberty of worship and equality with other French subjects before the law.

Although these hberties had been amongst the provisions of the " Edict of Nantes," and had not been revoked, Protestantism and political parties had got so inextricably mixed that the Huguenots were punished partly as political rebels and also on account of their religion. Richheu was wise enough to realise that the merchants, manufacturers and skilled artisans of France, who were for the most part Protestants, were necessary to the well-being of the State. When, therefore, all armed rebellion was overcome, Richlieu advised the Eang to grant reUgious toleration by issuing the " Edict of Pardons." Car- dinal Mazarin, Richlieu' s successor, favoured the same pohcy, and during his ministry also the Protestants had hberty and rest. After his death however persecution was again in evidence although Colbert did his best to prevent its revival.

Louis XIV., at the commencement of his reign, formally thanked the Protestants for the consistent manner in which they had withstood the invitations of powerful chiefs to resist the royal authority, and confirmed them in the enjoyment of their rehgious freedom. They also found, until his death, which took place in 1683, as stated above a protector in Colbert, the powerful and hberal minister of Louis XIV-

During these years aU historians, even their enemies, French agree in describing the French Protestants as the best Protest- agriculturists, and the provinces chiefly inhabited by ants and them as the best cultivated and most productive in Trade the land; the Protestants of the towns were equally Expan- industrious and enterprising. At Tours and Lyons they sion. practised silk manufacture with great success. They made taffetas, velvets, brocades, ribbons, and cloth of gold and silver, of finer qualities than were produced in any other European country. They also carried on the

38

SILK INDUSTRY.

French weaving of fine cloth in various parts of France, and

Protest- exported their production in large quantities to Germany,

ants and Spain and England. They estabhshed linen manu-

Trade factories at Vire, Falaix, and Argentine in Normandy ;

Expan- manufactures of bleached cloth at Morlaix, Landerman,

sion. and Brest, and of saUcloth at Rennes, Nantes, and Vitte,

in Brittany — the greater part of these latter productions

being exported to HoUand and England. BaviUe, one

of the Huguenots' bitterest enemies and persecutors,

wrote of them : "If the Nismes merchants are bad

Catholics, they at any rate have not ceased to be good

traders," and to be as " honest as a Huguenot " passed

into a proverb.*

The enlightened minister, Colbert, died in 1683, and

Louis fell more and more under the influence of his

numerous courtesans and the ingratiating Jesuit fathers

who surrounded him and flattered and threatened him

by turns. By their advice, constantly given, the

Revoca- forcible conversion of the Protestants to the King's rehgion

tion of was resolved, and the Edict of Nantes was finally

Edict of revoked. This took place in 1685, and the most stringent

Nantes. period of persecution followed immediately. At this time

notwithstanding the severity of enactments against it,

the most extensive emigration took place. Multitudes

escaped, and the fugitives found their way to Switzerland,

England, Holland and even to America.

This persecution in France of the most skilful and industrious element of her population continued with more or less severity until 1775, when the last two victims of religious bigotry were released from the galleys owing to the influence of Voltaire. There is good authority for stating that diu-ing that time more than a million persons either left the kingdom, or were killed, imprisoned or sent to the galleys for hfe, whilst incalculable numbers suffered the indignity of forcible conversion. The brutal Dragoons of Louis were the missionaries who effected these conversions. They suspended their victims with ropes, blowing tobacco smoke into their eyes and nostrils, and practised upon them a variety of nameless tor-

* Smilee.

THE HUGUENOT IMMIGRATION. 39

tures until the sufferers promised everything required Revoca- in order to rid themselves of their persecutors. Louvois, tion of the commandant, in September, 1685, reported to head- Edict of quarters that " sixty thousand such conversions had Nantes, been made in the district of Bordeaux alone."

A pleasanter phase of the subject is the reception accorded to the homeless refugees who sought asylum on British ground. The first incursion of the French immigrants to Great Britain took place a year after the arrival of the Flemings at Sandwich. One day the inhabi- tants of the little seaport of Rye, on the Sussex coast, were thrown into a state of commotion by the sudden arrival of a large number of destitute French people from the opposite shore of the Channel. Some of them came in open boats, others in sailing vessels. They were of all classes and conditions, and amongst them were many women and children. They had fled from their country in great haste, and were nearly all destitute. They were followed daily by others, who, braving the winter storms, crossed the Channel, and when they reached the English shores would often fall upon their knees and thank God for their deliverance.*

In May, 1562, the Mayor of Rye wrote to Sir WiUiam French Cecil, Queen Elizabeth's chief secretary : — " May it please itnmigra- your honour, there is daily great resort of Frenchmen tion to here, insomuch as already there is esteemed to be 500 England, persons ; and we be in great want of corn for their and our sustentation by reason of the country adjoining is

barren Also may it please your honour, after

night and this day is come two shippes of Dieppe into this haven fuU of many people."t

During the following summer and for many years there were successive landings of immigrants at Rye. In 1572, between the 27th of August and the 9th of November, the Mayor wrote to Lord Burleigh informing him that " 641 Frenchmen had landed." The town records of the period are fuU of references to the landing of the more or less destitute refugees, and the charitable arrange-

* The Huguenots ; Smiles.

t Domestic State Papers, Elizabeth, 1562, No. 35,

40 SILK INDUSTRY.

First ments made for their sustenance and comfort. Not only-

French at Rye, but at Sandwich, where their co-religionists, immigra- the Flemings, were already flourishing ; at Winchelsea, tion to at Dover, and aU the southern seaports, the French England, immigrants from time to time landed in large or small parties, until the Edict of Nantes gave the Protestants a breathing space for a time.

Most of the immigrants settled down at once to the practice of their several avocations, and soon became self-supporting, useful citizens of their adopted country. Very few seem to have returned to France, especially of those belonging to the industrial classes, although for ' half a century after the Edict of Nantes there was nothing to prevent them doing so.

These pioneer immigrations fall into insignificance, how- ever, when compared with that which immediately followed the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. In spite of the severe measures which were taken to prevent the escape of fugitive Protestants from France, immediately after the renewed persecutions began, vast numbers succeeded in getting away. Within the next two years more than a hundred thousand immigrants of all classes Cordial found refuge in England alone. They were welcomed Welcome with extraordinary cordiality, although in many cases in they arrived quite destitute of money or goods. Being

England, for the most part industrious and skilful artisans, well practised in the manufacture of goods for which there was a great demand in Britain, these immigrants soon became self-supporting, and, greatly prospering, assisted materially in founding or developing the various industries which eventually placed Great Britain in the supreme position in manufacture and commerce which she attained in the nineteenth century.

It is gratifying to record that the immigrants on their arrival were treated most generously.* Sums of money were voted by Parhament for their assistance, and private subscriptions amounting to over £200,000 were made and administered for their benefit. Within a year, as shown by the accounts of the funds, fifteen thousand persons had

* See Appendix, Amiatanee to Destitute Huguenots.

THE HUGUENOT IMMIGRATION. 41

been helped to settle in London, and a proportional ninnber in other parts of the country. The help given to the refugees was only required at the outset, owing to the vigorous efforts they made to help themselves and each other. They sought about in all directions for emplojnnent ; and, being ingenious, intelligent and industrious, generally obtained it very readily. Those who had been able to escape with money or goods, started large or smaU manufactories or workshops, and employed as many workpeople as they could. Several districts of London became, and remained for many years, more French than Enghsh. French was spoken in the work- shops, in the schools, churches and streets.

This was particularly the case in Spitalfields, where Settle- many houses were specially built for the accommodation of ments in the silk weavers. Other districts in which the immigrants London, settled were Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Thames Street, Broad Street, Long Acre,- Seven Dials, and the network of streets about Soho. Some opened retail shops, such as Le Mann, the famous biscuit baker of CornMU. There were also immigrants in the Strand, near Temple Bar, who made and sold mathematical and surgical instru- ments, as weU as others who sold clocks, watches, and jewellery, made by their compatriots in Clerkenwell.

At the time of the immigration, France had long been the leader of fashion, and aU the world bought dress, and articles of virtu in Paris. It was a saying of Colbert's that " the Fashions were worth more to France than the gold mines of Peru to Spain." The Enghsh customs reports of the time show that two and a half millions sterhng worth of goods of this description were annually imported from France, and that owing to the immigration of the Huguenots, the greater part of this business was henceforth retained in London.

The principal articles imported from France before Import- the revocation were velvets and satins from Lyons ; ance of silks and taffetas from Tours ; silk ribbons, galloons, French laces, gloves, and buttons from Paris and Bouen ; serges Imports, from Chalons, Bheims, Amiens and various towns in Picardy ; beaver and felt hats from Paris, Rouen, and

42 SILK INDUSTRY.

Import- Lyons ; paper of all sorts from Auvergne, Poitou,

ance of Limosin, Champagne, Normandy ; linen cloth from

French Brittany ; and feathers, fans, girdles, pins, needles, combs

Imports, and many other household requisites from other places.

As soon as the French craftsmen were settled in London,

they began, therefore, to make and introduce all the

manufactures connected with the fashions, so that Enghsh

customers became supplied with French-made goods

without having to send abroad for them. A writer of the

time observed that " the English have now so great an

esteem for the workmanship of the French refugees that

hardly anything now vends without a Gallic name."*

The French beaver hats, which had before been imported from Caudebec, were now made in the borough of Southwark, and at Wandsworth several hatmakers commenced operations on a large scale, and obtained almost a monopoly of a trade which for forty years remained dormant in France. So much was this the case that all persons making pretensions to dress, even to the French nobility, and the Roman Cardinals, obtained their hats from the celebrated factory at Wandsworth. Manufactories for making silk and metal buttons, the printing of calicoes, the weaving of tapestry and many other articles for dress and furniture were started by the immigrants, but the most important of aU branches of manufacture to which they devoted themselves, and in which they achieved both fame and wealth, was the working and weaving of silk in all its branches. Begin- The EngMsh Government had long envied France her

nings of possession of the silk manufacture, which gave employ- English ment to large numbers of people, and was a source of Silk much wealth to the country. Many attempts had been

Manu- made, especially during the reign of Elizabeth and facture. James I., to estabhsh it on a large scale in England, but it was not until the fugitive Protestant silk weavers of Tours and Lyons brought with them the skill in the arts — which had raised the textile manufacture in France to such a height of prosperity — that silk weaving in England became a great industry. They erected their looms in

* History of Trade in England ; London, 1702.

THE HUGUENOT IMMIGRATION. 43

Spitalfields, and introduced their superior methods of Begin- weaving. They turned out large quantities of lustrings, nings of velvets, brocades, damasks, and dehcately woven stuffs English of finest silk in infinite variety and of such excellence Silk as to insure them a ready sale everywhere. From this Manu- time forward Spitalfields enjoyed a very large share of facture. the trade which Lyons and Tours had hitherto almost monopohsed.

CHAPTER IV.

Origin of the Silk Industry.

Before quitting the subject of Alien Immigration, and its effect on the British silk manufacture, it will be interesting, and is indeed necessary, to take a general survey of the arts connected with silk, and briefly to describe their ancient origin as weU as their introduction to, and development in the countries whose emigrants brought the several branches of the trade, at various times, to England. Founda- In the first place, there can be no doubt that the original tions laid discovery of the utility of sUk and the practice of silk in China, manufacture took place in the ancient Empire of China. From China it was comniunicated to Persia, India, Japan, and to the East generally. In the sixth century seri- culture and sUk weaving were practised in the Byzantine Empire ; and in the ninth century the Moors, when they conquered Spain, carried with them, together with many other ingenious Arabian arts, a knowledge of sericulture and sUk weaving. In the twelfth century Oriental silk weavers and sUk farmers settled in Italy, and that country became the chief source of supply of sUken thread and wrought sUk of aU kinds for the rest of Europe for three centuries. Afterwards, as occasion served, returning soldiers, travellers, and wandering merchants, brought sUk, both wrought and raw, from the East direct to other countries .of Europe, especially to England and Flanders. Italy Probably a knowledge of the processes of throwing,

the doubling and twisting silk into thread, and silk weaving

Pioneer both broad and narrow, only came, in early times, by in way of Italy ; but the importation of raw sUk and manu-

Europe. factured silken goods direct from the East certainly took place in England and Flanders, with increasing frequency, from the thirteenth century onwards. The

44

ORIGIN OF THE SILK INDUSTRY. 45

ancient form in which, raw silk was universally sold by Founda- the producers was that of skeins reeled from the cocoon tions laid as soon as the silk worm had finished spinning, and before in China, the emergence of the moth from the chrysahs. It is customary now, in countries where sericulture is practised commercially to fumigate the cocoons in such a manner as to kill the moth, before it is ready to emerge, and then to seU the cocoons in bulk to dealers, who convey them to factories where they can be reeled, with great exactitude, under strict supervision. This insures more evenness and uniformity in the size of the thread than it is possible to guarantee by domestic reehng. A great deal of Chinese silk is still reeled by the silk farmer from live cocoons ; it is said to be on this account that China silk is generally more brilliant in lustre than European silk, which is reeled from dead cocoons.

The Moors, when they established sericulture in Spain, used the simple methods of throwing and weaving thread which they had derived from Arabia! They seem to have communicated little, if any, knowledge of the art or results of their labour to the rest of Europe. Specimens of their weaving may have been occasionally carried to other countries, but there is no record of this being the case. It is, therefore, certain that Spain had little, if any, direct influence on the development of sUk weaving in Great Britain. The later Spanish and Portuguese manufacture probably owes as much to Italy, as do other European countries, for improvements in the pre- paration of silken thread and the mechanism of the loom for weaving it, notwithstanding the fact that certain characteristics of Spanish design are traceable to early Moorish traditions.

In Italy, on the contrary, soon after its introduction Italy and from the East, silk weaving became quite assimilated, the Art Oriental and Mediaeval ideas of design were fused of into a characteristic original style, and the technique Sericul- of silk manufacture rapidly advanced as various inventions ture. and improvements were made in the loom and in the apphances for weaving. The Italians proved to be particularly successful in the culture of mulberry trees,

46

SILK INDUSTRY.

Italy and the leaves of which were required as food for the sUk-

the Art worms, as well as in the rearing of the worms themselves,

of and the manipulation of the fine lustrous thread which

Sericul- they produce. They devised new methods of reeling

ture. silk from the cocoons, and invented complicated machinery

for throwing silk of any desired size and twist. By

these means they advanced the arts of sericulture and

silk weaving far beyond the primitive stage to which

they had been previously carried. In short, Italy attained

during the twelfth century, and retained for about three

hundred years, supremacy in the art of silk manufacture,

and most jealously guarded the secrets of its technique.

It was not until the eighteenth century was weU advanced that the scientific methods of throwing silk, invented by the Italians, became known out of Italy,* and similar machinery for the purpose was successfully erected in England.f Previously, all organzine — as the fine, hard, twisted silk used for warp is caUed^ — ^had to be imported from Italy. English The throwing of the looser kinds of silk, suitable for

Silk twisting into embroidery thread and for wefting silk

Throw- mixed goods, had been practised in England in quite ing. early times. The first silken thread used in EngUsh

embroidery came from Italy ; also the raw silk and the knowledge of the methods of twisting and doubling it, which make it into practical thread. It appears certain that some persons connected with the monasteries, which the Italian missionaries founded, first brought the raw material and communicated the methods of preparing it to their British pupils. At a later period, however, the knowledge of Eastern methods, and even Eastern practitioners themselves, may have been brought into England by returning travellers or merchants from the Orient. More and more frequently, no doubt, small quantities of both raw and wrought silk, the latter of brilliant Eastern dye, would be in the same manner imported and eagerly purchased by the members of the " Mystery of SUk Women," so frequently mentioned by the old chroniclers.

* Even the French, who became the most advanced practitioners in the art in the 17th century, obtained theii best organzine silk from Italy, j- The story of its discovery, by John Lombe, is told in the chapter on Derby.

ORIGIN OF THE SILK INDUSTRY. 47

Until near the end of the sixteenth century it is certain English however that by far the greater part of the raw silk, and reliance what thrown sUk, of the finer sorts, was required, came on into England from or by way of Italy.* It is clear, Italian then, that to occasional immigrants and merchant Supplies, strangers from Italy, Great Britain was, for the most part, indebted for the knowledge of the art of sUk throwing, and the interesting and extensive manufacture of silk into twists for embroidery, cords for girdles, braids for trimming, and smaU sUk goods of aU kinds, which employed no inconsiderable number of persons from the time of the Norman Conquest onwards.f

The extensive manufacture of silken webs, both plain and ornamental, which must have been carried on in the Netherlands during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, has been overlooked by historians of the textile industries. The splendour and interest of the world- famous Flemish tapestries of that period have perhaps prevented a due amount of attention being given to the less striking, but equally excellent, productions of the more mechanical art of the hand-loom weaver. The vast extent also of the woollen cloth manufacture, to which reference has already been made, is probably, in a measure a cause of this oversight with regard to silk weaving. The great similarity of the details of Flemish, Italian, and Spanish design at that time may also be a contributing cause of this oversight. Although, however, there is not much direct reference to silk weaving in the records of Flanders, there is sufficient to show that it was a very important branch of manufacture and that it gave employment to a great number of people. There are Nether- numerous references to silk manufacturers, who raised lands from their own workpeople companies of volunteers for Industry. military service at the time of the revolt. The ordinary

• In the seventeenth century, the trade in silk from China and India gradually increased in importance and became very considerable. As the demand increased, the "Book of Rates^' shows, that, not only from Italy and the East was raw and wrought silk imported, but from Granada, Spain, Bruges, France, and Poland. It also states that English thrown silk of a coarse kind was exported.

t By 1661, the trade of silk throwing had so greatly increased in England that aocordmg to the preamble of an Act of Parliament, no less than " 40,000 men, women and children were employed in the work." This is probably an exaggeration, but it shows that a very large number of persons found employment.

48 SILK INDUSTRY.

dress of the prosperous burghers of the cities of the Netherlands is said to have been of silk and velvet, and it seems probable that the output of the silk manufactories was disposed of mostly for local use. Works of tapestry were however in great demand for exportation to the Royal Courts of aU the countries of Europe, and, con- sequently, won greater notoriety. Commerce The magnificence of the Free Cities of the Netherlands in the in the fifteenth century has already been the subject of Nether- comment. All historians agree in according to Antwerp lands. the first place, commercially, amongst the cities of Europe, and there is ample evidence that its pubhc and private buildings, as well as their decorations and furnishings, were unsurpassed by any of the world-renowned cities of Italy, where art had flourished when almost the whole of Europe was steeped in comparative barbarism. Nor were Bruges, Ghent, Brussels, Ypres, Louvain, Mechhn and other cities far behind Antwerp as centres of art and commerce. The chronicles of the Netherlands teem with descriptions of the beauty and wealth of the cities, the pomp of their civic and rehgious pageants and functions, as well as with details of the extravagant richness of the costumes and domestic arrangements of the wealthy Flemish burghers. The same chronicles are, however, singularly reticent regarding the arts and crafts which were carried on in their midst. It is only incidentally, therefore, that certain cities, such as Brussels, Mechlin, Bruges, Valenciennes, and particularly Mons, the beautiful capital of Hainault, are referred to as notable local centres of silk manufacture in the sixteenth century. SUk With regard to the various kinds of silk manufactures

Manufac- practised in the Netherlands, at the time the Confederated ture in Provinces were at the height of their prosperity, it is Con- impossible to write with certainty; but there are certain

federated probabilities which may be pointed out and which further Provinces, research may confirm or refute, as the case may be. No doubt the greatest number of persons were employed in the throwing and doubhng of silk by hand, as in England, and in the plaiting and weaving of " small wares," as the ribbons, braids and cords, so much in use,

ORIGIN OF THE SILK INDUSTRY. 49

were named. The special spinning and dyeing of waste Silk silk for the use of the weavers of the Arras tapestries, Manufac- in which it was mixed with wool in order to add briUiance ture in to the colouring, must have employed a considerable Con- number of people. It was probably however in the weaving federated of plain and ornamental fabrics, for their own domestic Provinces and ceremonial use, that the most prosperous handicrafts- men, who wrought in silk, were occupied. An examina- tion of the pictures and figure-subject tapestries of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries will show that a certain class of fabrics, woven of silk, mixed with other thread, was commonly worn. Such stuffs as these pictorial designs represent are commonly supposed to have been supplied from Italy ; but as the materials indicated are such as are usually woven of mixed thread, and, moreover, as the silk in them need not be of the finest thrown quahty, it seems likely that they were of home production. The designs of these fabrics were, for the most part, inspired by those of Italy and Spain, as was, indeed, most of the Flemish art work of the period.

Velvets, with cut or uncut pUe, both plain and figured, are often represented in the pictorial designs referred to, as are also brocades of sUk and linen, or wool, or metal covered thread. Heavy stufe of plain weaving, falling in stiff folds, and having a sheen of sUk interwoven in their wooUen texture, are also shown. Many other varieties of fabric are depicted in use, but seldom, if ever, are such stuffs indicated although pure sUks were then being woven in France. It seems probable that many of the specimens of Renaissance weaving, which in the Flemish National and other collections of textiles are attributed Velvets to Italy and Spain, are of Flemish workmanship. This and probability is strengthened by the fact that many of the Mixed ornamental fabrics, especially of a large class of tissue Goods, woven stuffs, made of hnen and red and gold silk, which are usually labelled Spanish, have, worked in their designs, features and emblems peculiar to Flanders and Germany.

This evidence, together with the records of the kinds of textile fabrics introduced into England by refugees from the Netherlands, seems to prove that it was to the

50

SILK INDUSTRY.

Flemish manufacture of silk mixed goods that the Flemish weavers Velvets of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries chiefly devoted and Silk their skill and energy, and that it was to their initiative Mixed that the cities of the East coast of England, at the head Goods. of which stood Norwich, owed the success in the silk- mixed branches of the textile trades for which they became famous in the eighteenth century.

With regard to the characteristics of the silk manu- factures of France, there can be no uncertainty. After the firm establishment of sericulture and silk weaving at Lyons and other cities in the Southern provinces, refine- ment of design, improvements in weaving technique, and in the preparation and dyeing of the thread, gradually took place. This progress was largely due to the fostering care and patronage given to the industry by the Govern- ment, as well as to the natural aptitude which the French operatives seem to have had for this dehcate work in all its branches.

Nearly a century elapsed before the French so far developed the art of silk weaving as to give evidence in the character of their work, of an advance in the methods of technique, improvements in weaving appliances, and freedom of design, on those derived, in the first instance, from Italy. At the end of the sixteenth century, how- ever, such evidence is given by the many specimens of French silk textiles which have been preserved and may be studied in the National Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum, where the superb and unequalled work of the French silk weavers, both of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, is particularly well represented. Charac- These examples of pure silk weaving, with the descrip-

teristics tions and beautiful illustrations of weaving apphances of contained in the elaborate technical, books, so many of

French which were published in France when the craft was in Goods. its prime, bear out the assertion already made, that the art of pure silk weaving in France at that time reached the highest pitch of perfection it has attained at any previous or subsequent period. It was when the art was thus in its prime that the great exodus from France of her most skilful artisans which has been described, took place.

ORIGIN OF THE SILK INDUSTRY. 51

It was this which, extended and firmly established the silk manufacturing industry of Great Britain, and which gave such an impetus to the advance of aU branches of textile and kindred manufactures.

Thus, entirely as the result of Alien immigration, by Enghsh the beginning of the eighteenth century the Silk Industry Debt to became one of Great Britain's most flourishing trades. AHen Sandwich, as weU as Canterbury, had become the home Immi- of many weavers, but as numbers increased they gathered grants, more and more to the great centre of commerce, the City of London. The suburban district of Spitalfields was made prosperous and cheerful by the great and thriving settle- ment of the enterprising and ingenious French Protestants and the professors of the different branches of handicraft which assisted in and depended for their occupation on the silk weaving industry. It was at Spitalfields that the pure silken fabrics, then so much in fashionable demand, were woven and aU authorities agree in commending the excellent character of the operatives themselves, their refined tastes and thriftiness, the beauty and purity of the fabrics produced by them, and the great advantage and profit their settlement had proved to the city of their adoption. Contemporary estimates of the number of silk looms in Spitalfields at this time vary from fifteen to eighteen thousand.* In a petition presented to Parhament by the Weavers' Company in 1713, the silk trade of London was affirmed to be twenty times greater than it was before 1664, and it was also stated that in the black silk branch alone three hundred thousand pounds' worth of goods were made at home which had hitherto been imported from France. Amongst the pure silk goods then made in Spitalfields mention is made of satins, alamodes, lustrings, black and coloured mantuas, black and coloured paduasoys, ducapes, watered tabbies, plain and figured velvets, satin damasks and brocades, and cloth of gold and silver plate.

Outside Spitalfields the largest settlement of silk Canter- weavers from France had taken place at Canterbury, where bury practically the same classes of silk textiles were produced. Weavers.

* Eaeh loom giving employmeat to three or four persons.

52

SILK INDUSTRY.

Canter- The number of looms in that town mcreased at bury one time to about a thousand, but as the demand for

Weavers, weavers in London became urgent, the settlement of

silk weavers in Canterbury dwindled and finally became

extinct.

Houses in Spital Square,

Plate VII.

Church Passage, Spital Square.

CHAPTER V.

Foundations of the London Silk Trade.

The Story of Spitalfields.

There is no more interesting chapter in the history In the of the silk trade than that which tells the story of Spital- Ehza- fields and its long association with the industry, a con- bethan nection which has been maintained in unbroken sequence Age. down to the present day. The writer will at the outset endeavour^ to draw a pen picture of Spitalfields as it appeared in that stirring period of our island history — the Elizabethan Age. In subsequent chapters the history of this famous sUk manufacturing district will be carried down to the present time.

It is clear from descriptions and plans of London in the time of Queen Ehzabeth that, on stepping out of the east gate of the City, called Bishopsgate, the traveller found himself at once in pleasant fields, with trees and hedgerows, where the city lads and lasses went a-Maying in the springtime, and where sportsmen amused them- selves with fowling in the autumn. This was Spitalfields. The actual boundaries of the old parish are not easy to determine. It is known to have formed part of Stepney — a district which was linked to both town and country, and which was likened by Stow to " a province rather than a parish." Bethnal Green and Mile End, the former once a part of the great forest of Epping, may also be included in the district of Spitalfields. It was at once city and country. Near the city gate, both outside and within, were large and imposing houses, buUt and inhabited by nobles and gentry, or, as Stow calls them, " worshipful and honourable men." These included Lord Bolingbroke (who had a residence in Spital Square itself), Lord Morley, Lord Powis, the Countess of Dudley, and Sir Thomas

53

54 SILK INDUSTRY.

Gresham at Bethnal Green, where the Bishop of London also had a rural seat. To these may be added the name of Sir Walter Raleigh, who hved at Mile End, and that of the Marquis of Worcester, who had a house in Stepney. Ancient Stow, in his Survey, mentions an ancient Priory and Priory Hospital dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which stood near and to the City gate of the district. It was founded in the

Hospital, year 1197 by Walter Brune, citizen of London, and his wife Rosia, and this foundation was afterwards called St. Mary Spittle. Various references in early chronicles show that the hospital was also for the purpose of sheltering poor travellers and other persons in sickness and distress. In the year 1534 the hospital was dis- solved by Henry VIII, and it is recorded that besides ornaments for the church, and other goods, there were found standing one hundred and eighty beds, well- furnished, for the use of the poor in charity, " for," says the chronicler, " it was a liospital of great rehef." The Spitalfields area was a fashionable suburb, and it may be recalled in this connection that Devonshire Square, Bishopsgate, acquired its name from the town house of that distinguished family. It was in the Spitalfields district, at a later period, that David Garrick, himself of Huguenot descent, achieved his early success. Queen Ehzabeth was also acquainted with Spitalfields, it being recorded that she went to visit the Spanish ambassador on April 5, 1559, he being at that time lodged in one of the mansions of the district. She was accompanied, says the old record, by a large train of " gentry, masquers, morris dancers, and two bears in a cart." There, too, the Lord Mayors and City Fathers, with many noble guests, proceeded in great pomp and ceremony at Easter Memories to listen to the Spital sermon. This sermon, which was of preached from an open air pulpit standing in the space

Queen now occupied by Spital Square, is now preached every year Elizabeth, in Christ Church, Newgate Street, and is still attended in state by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen.

Queen Elizabeth preserved the amenities of the district, and it was not until 1660 that an Act of ParHament was obtained at the instance of Sir William Wheeler, granting

FOUNDATIONS OF LONDON SILK TRADE. 55

permission for him to build on the east of Spital Square, an enactment which probably marks the beginnings of the quarter which formed the settlement in later years of the French sUk weavers. At various times during the 17th and 18th centuries, while excavations were being made for the houses, some of which still remain in and about Spital Square, portions of the priory ruins were dis- covered, as well as Roman and other remains.

The street now called Middlesex Street, formerly Petticoat Lane, leading from Spitalfields to Whitechapel, was originally known as Hog Lane ; and Maitland, writing in 1755, says of it : — " In ancient times this lane was bordered on both sides by hedgerows and elm trees, with pleasant fields to walk in, insomuch that gentlemen used to have their houses there for the air," He also says that " Many French Protestants fled their country for their religion and planted themselves here, living in the part of the lane near Spitalfields, to follow their trade being generally broad weavers of sUk." He also speaks of " Wide, or Whitegate, Street as being inhabited by substantial tradesmen and dealers, chiefly in the silk way."

Apart from the fact that there was a large weaving A colony in the neighbourhood, there are other good reasons Colony for the settlement here of the refugees. It was a Non- of conformist quarter, and it was not unnatural that these Noncon- Dissenters, who in spite of the sympathy of local formists. constables, wardens, and beadles, had been fined for the practise of their religious belief, should give a welcome to refugees who were also victims of religious persecution. Further than this. Frenchmen had already settled in the locality, and it is beheved that one of the several places in London including a Westminster area called " Petty Fraunce " for this reason, was on the site of the modern New Broad Street. The Hall of the Weavers' Company was situated in BasinghaU Street, and the district to Bishopsgate and beyond was mostly occupied by weavers and other tradesmen, whose work depended on them, such as dyers, thread-makers, throwsters, and dealers in weavers' materials of finished woven goods, who were at that time

56

SILK INDUSTRY.

A called mercers. It was natural, therefore, that when

Colony the Huguenot silk weavers arrived in London they should of be attracted to the weavers' quarters and settle there.

Noncon- The demand for house accommodation in this district, formists. at the end of the l7th century, became so urgent that all the open ground near Bishopsgate and beyond became covered with a network of streets, courts, and alleys, specially built to suit the requirements of the industrious immigrant weavers, embroiderers, and craftsmen of kindred trades. The more or less complete maps of the period show this development distinctly. The names of many streets suggest the nationality and, it may be added, the refined tastes of the first occupants. Fleur de Lys Street, French Court, White Rose Court, Greenwood Alley, SwaUow Alley, Fashion Street, Sweet Apple Court, Blossom Street, Flower and Dean Street, Rose Alley, Mermaid Alley and Pearl Street are a few of the names which occur to the writer. There is also evidence that this sUk weavers' quarter was then a pleasant place in which to live, and carry on the exquisite handicraft with which its denizens had enriched the country of their adoption.

The kind of houses of which the first streets in Spital-

fields were composed, and in which the weavers dwelt,

may be seen in the two illustrations taken from Ejiight's

History of London (1842). A few indeed of such houses

stUl stand but not very many remain unaltered, A portion

of one of these may be seen in Pelham Street, and a

fine specimen is to be seen inMape Street, Bethnal Green.

Weavers In this case the characteristic upper floors have been

Quarters weather-boarded, whilst the more ordinary lower floors

in remain the same. AU these houses necessarily had their

London, workshops at the top^ and these had double floors to keep

the noise of the work from reaching the domestic rooms

below. Pleasant gardens were attached to these houses

in which mulberry and other fruit trees grew, and flowers

and vegetables were cultivated by the cheerful inhabitants.

This garden suburb was close to the open fields of Bethnal

Green, Hackney and Old Ford, and was freshened by

the cool breezes from the meandering River Lea, the Essex

Marshes, and the reaches of the Thames beyond. The

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Plate IX.

Indenture of Apprenticeship, dated August 1799 — in the possession of the Author.

FOUNDATIONS OF LONDON SILK TRADE. 57

conditions under which the origirial Spitalfields' weavers pursued their handicraft were as idyUic as their domestic surroundings. The householders were for the most part small master weavers. They sold the productions of their looms to the mercer or draper, who in his turn retailed them to his private customers in his City shop.

Each master weaver, who had served the legal seven Old years' apprenticeship, was entitled to keep two or three Customs journeymen weavers, engaged by the year, who seldom of the left his workshop for another unless it were to set up in Craft, business for themselves. In cases of dispute the rates of wages would be fixed by the Justice of the Peace, and were supposed to be regulated from time to time according to the cost of living. When unmarried the journeyman usually formed part of the master's household together with the proportional number of apprentices which the master was legally allowed to keep. The quahty of the webs produced was examined into and guaranteed either by the olSicer of the Livery Company of the craft or by ofiicers appointed by the Government.

Each master weaver had his own traditional designs, and his goods would naturally display special personal qualities. The elaborate brocades, damasks, velvets and other rich fabrics produced in Spitalfields were in great demand for furniture and costume. The mercers who sold these goods were in direct touch with the weavers themselves and could order at first-hand exactly what was required. At this time there was little competition with France, but, if at any time it was anticipated, temporary Acts of Parhament were passed to prohibit the introduction of foreign goods into Spitalfields, Canterbury or elsewhere.

Towards the end of the eighteenth century the operative Increase weavers in the East of London had largely increased in in number. Various estimates are given by old writers number of this increase, but it may be safely assumed that there of Opera- were not less than thirty thousand persons engaged in tives. the work.*

* The population of London in 1801 was 958,863, Census of Great Britain, Population Table, 1851. "The advance of some 200,000 beyond the estimated population of 1699 — whiob the Census of 1801 showed — ^had probably been made in great part after 1790 when the health of the Capital began to improve and the births again to exceed the deaths." — C. Creighton, London Pamphlets, 1890.

58

SILK INDUSTRY.

Exten- In order to provide house accommodation for this

sion into increased number of inhabitants, the weavers' quarter Bethnal had been gradually extended outward from Spitalfields Green. into Bethnal Green, a hamlet of the large, thinly- populated parish of Stepney. The houses provided for the weavers in this quarter although built on French lines were of a much meaner description than those of Spitalfields, and matched the less prosperous condition to which the majority of the silk weaving operatives had undoubtedly fallen at the time of their building. This lamentable decline in the status of the operative weaver at the end of the eighteenth century was owing to two causes : —

(1) The increase in the number of workers was out of proportion to the demand for silk fabrics and although silk weaving continued to be one of the best paid branches of industry, the workers could not obtain full employment. This naturally gave rise to competition amongst the weavers themselves for what work there was, and the result of this was a gradual lowering of the price of labour, especially in the simpler branches of the craft. *

(2) The inevitable tendency then, as now, in aU branches of industry for mastership and capital to be acquired and monopolised by the few most capable persons in the trade. Both these causes of depression were in active operation in the silk trade during the second half of the eighteenth century, and at the beginning of the nineteenth they were augmented by two others ; the competition of the cheaper labour of Macclesfield and other provincial towns, and the utilisation of steam power in the lower branches of silk weaving.

The Maps, drawn at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Evidence show the Bethnal Green Road closely built as far as the of Green, where the Church of St. John was afterwards

Old erected. It was connected with the parish of Spitalfields

Maps. on the one side, and Shoreditch on the other.

The Act of Parliament for constituting the hamlet of Bethnal Green a separate parish and building the parish church of St. Matthew supplies a reliable estimate of

* Some believe that it was the Spitalfields Act of 1773, repealed in 1824, which drove the skilled artizan to where there was no limit to wages.

FOUNDATIONS OF LONDON SILK TRADE. 59

the population and throws some light on its character.* The number of houses is estimated at 1,800, and the population at fifteen thousand. The most thickly popu- lated portion of the district is spoken of as " immoral and dissolute, especially as regards the younger and poorer sort ; insomuch that many of the better sort of people have removed from their habitations in the said hamlet to the great impoverishment thereof."t

During the early part of the nineteenth century almost Weavers' all contemporary references to Spitalfields and Bethnal descent Green are of a pitying or derogatory character, and into represent the operative weaver as poverty-stricken, im- poverty, provident and riotous, and the district in which he lived and worked as squalid, over-crowded and unsanitary. The plight of the operative weavers became gradually more distressing, and at the same time their numbers continued to increase. " All witnesses concurred," as a Parlia- mentary report states, " in representing the houses and streets occupied by the East London weavers as of the poorest and most unwholesome description. The small houses are generally of two storeys, built of brick, and have damp foundations. The streets are mere unpaved roadways, composed of earthy and soft rubbish, and destitute of common sewers or drains." The report goes on to say that, " living in such places and insufficiently fed, the weavers of Spitalfields exhibit a physical condition marked by general feebleness and liability to disease,"

An early Victorian writer, | describing his walk through the weavers' district, says : " On passing through most of the streets a visitor from other parts of the town is conscious of noiselessness, a dearth of bustle and activity. The clack of the looms is heard here and there, but not to a noisy degree. It is evident at a glance that in many An of the streets all the houses were built expressly for Early weavers ; and in walking through them we noticed the Victorian short stature and not very healthy appearance of the record, inhabitants. It was rather painful to remark the large number of ' Benefit Societies,' ' Burial Societies,' ' Loan

* 13th year George II. (1740).

t Maitland's London, page 1275.

j Knight's London, 1842. — Chap. xUx. — Spitalfields.

60 SILK INDUSTRY.

An Societies/ etc., whose annoimcemeiits are posted down

Early the streets ; for it is weU-known to those who have studiec Victorian these subjects that the poor generally pay ruinous interesi Record, for any aid which, as generally managfed, they receive from societies of this kind. Here and there we met with biUs announcing that coals were to be had at twelve pence per cwt. at a certain place during the cold weather ; and at some of the bakers' shops were announcements that ' weavers' ' tickets were taken in exchange for bread " (an allusion to tickets given out by a benevolent institution). " In one street we saw a barber's shop, at which, in addition to the operations usually conducted in such places, persons could have ' a good wash ' for a farthing. In another street a flaming placard announced that at a certain public-house the advertiser would attend every evening to match his bird against any hnnet or goldfinch in the world for a ' thousand guineas' Here we espied a school at which children were taught to ' read and work at two pence a week ' ; there a chandler's shop, in which shuttles, reeds, quills and other smaller parts of weaving apparatus were exposed for sale in a window, together with split pease, bundles of wood and red herrings. At another place was a bill announcing that the inhabitants were liable to a penalty if they kept their houses dirty and unwholesome. In one little shop patch work was sold by the pound ; and in another astrological predictions, interpretations of dreams and nativities were to be pur- chased ' from threepence upwards,' as also extracts from * Moore's Almanack ' for the last seventy years. In very many houses the windows exhibited more sheets of paper than panes of glass, and no inconsiderable number of houses were shut altogether."

The same author gives the following sketch of the average home and general circumstances of the operative silk- weaver of his time : —

" In my visits to the districts inhabited by the weavers with an endeavour to view the processes of the manu- facture, our enquiries were too often met by the sad reply

'I have no work at present,' but at one house we mounted a dark staircase to the upper floor occupied by an elderly

Plate X.

Weavers' Houses in Menofti Street, Bethnal Green.

FOUNDATIONS OF LONDON SILK TRADE. 61

weaver and his wife. The room formed the entire upper storey and was approached, not by a door, but by a trap in the j&oor, opening a communication with the stairs beneath. At each end of the room, front and back, were windows of that peculiar form so characteristic of the district, and which are made very wide in order to admit light to all parts of the loom adjacent to them. At each A window was a loom, the husband being at work at one. Weaver's and the wife at the other. Near the looms were two quill Home, wheels used for winding the weft or shoot on to the quills for filling the shuttles. In the middle of the room was a stump bedstead, covered with its patchwork quilt, and near it — some on the floor, some on shelves and some hanging on to the waUs of the room — ^were various mis- cellaneous articles of domestic furniture, for the room served as parlour, kitchen, bedroom, workshop and aU. A few pictures, a few plants and two or three singing birds, formed the poetical furniture of the room. The man was weaving a piece of black satin, and the woman a piece of blue. In reply to enquiries on the subject, we learned that they were to be paid for their labour at the rate of sixpence and fourpence halfpenny per yard respectively. This at close work would yield about seven or eight shiQings per week each. The man was short in stature, as most Spitalfields weavers are, grey-haired, depressed in spirits, but intelligent and communicative. When, after descending from the room, we looked around at the mass of weavers' houses in the vicinity, we could not but feel that most of them bore a saddening similarity to that which we had entered."

During the first quarter of the nineteenth century Spital- the plight of the Spitalfields sUk-weaver seems to have fields a been at its worst, and the degradation of the district at Century its lowest point. The average weekly earnings of a weaver, ago. according to evidence contained in Parliamentary reports, did not exceed five shillings, if periods of waiting were taken into account. At the same time, the number of persons employed in the handicraft was at its highest between 1820 and 1830. In the evidence taken before a Committee of the House of Commons on the silk trade

62 SILK INDUSTRY.

Spital- in 1831-2, it was stated that " tlie population of the fields a districts in which the Spitalfields weavers resided, com- Century prising Spitalfields, Mile End New Town, and Bethnal ago. Green, could not be less, at that time, than one hundred

thousand, of whom fifty thousand were entirely dependent on the silk manufacture, and the remaining moiety more or less dependent indirectly." Mr. Porter,* writing on the subject, estimated that there were 17,000 looms at work in the East of London. The same authority, speaking from the point of view of the manufacturer, claims that the silk trade in England was then in a more flourishing condition than it had ever been before. He supported this claim by giving statistics of the importation of raw and thrown sUk from the year 1819 to 1828, during which period the figures rose from 1,782,578Z&5. weight per annum, to 4,547,812Z65.

A survey taken in 1830-40 would have shown not only Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, but the whole district between Shoreditch, Hackney Road, to the point where it is intersected by the Regent's Canal, the course of the canal itself as far as the Mile End Road, Whitechapel Road, Aldgate, Houndsditch, Bishopsgate Street Without and Norton Folgate, chiefly occupied by operative weavers, a large percentage of whom were in abject poverty, and were herded together in the meanest of habitations. In striking contrast to these were the houses of the weavers' employers, the manufacturers, who, not only had their offices, but lived in good style, like most city merchants of the time, in and about Spital Square, Devonshire Square, Great St. Helen's, WHiite Lion Street, Norton Folgate and the main road of Bethnal Green or in the more suburban neighbourhoods of Bishop Bonner's Fields or Old Ford. A well- Occupying a position between the wealthy manufacturer

to-do and the indigent operative weaver, there was a numerous

Middle class of persons who maintained a prosperous position Class. as long as the district continued to be the headquarters

of the silk trade. These were the makers of the di:fferent parts of the weaving apparatus such as loom mountings,

• " Silk Manufacture in England," Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts, 1831.

Plate XI. Wtn. Anthony, 50 years night-watchman in the Neighbourhood of Spital Square, Norton Folgate, " The Last of the CharUes."

FOUNDATIONS OF LONDON SILK TRADE. 63

Jacquard macliiiiists, designers, draughtsmen, Jacquard A well- card cutters, as well as warpers, turners on, winders, pre- to-do parers of yarn, dyers and others. There was also a small Middle number of operative weavers who were able to maintain Class. the traditional position of the original craftsmen, owing to their ability to manage the Jacquard machine and to weave on handlooms, by its means, high-class furniture silks, which have always continued to be in more or less v. demand, and which, even to the present time, have not /\ been successfully woven by power. The foremen, clerks and other permanent employees of the manufacturers, who of course lived in the neighbourhood, also added to this well-to-do middle-class, whose livelihood depended on the silk industry. During the first half of the nineteenth century, this middle-class maintained their position in spite of the prevaiUng distress of the ordinary weaver. It was amongst this class that many of the pleasant traditional manners and customs of the Huguenot silk-weavers still lingered. It was also amongst this aristocracy of the district that so many families bearing distinguished French surnames were to be found.

Still another class of persons who, in circumstances, were above the level of the operative weaver, and whose livelihood was earned in the neighbourhood, consisted of the retail dealers in provisions, clothing and other domestic necessaries, whose shops were located in the main streets. These tradesmen supplied the well-to-do inhabitants, while the mass of the people bought their provisions in minute quantities of the itinerant dealers who hawked their wares from door to door or at the tiny general shops, one or two of which were to be found in almost every lane or alley.

The retail dealers purchased their goods wholesale Shops from the three local markets, one of which was situate and at Mile End, one at Spitalfields, and one which was said Markets, to be the most important market in London, in LeadenhaU Street. These markets were of very ancient foundation, and are known to have existed in pre-mediaeval times. LeadenhaU Market was the oldest, and was originally founded for the sale of canvas and sailcloth and wooUen

64

SILK INDUSTRY.

goods of various kinds. It was afterwards enlarged and

utilized for the sale of all kinds of provisions and household

goods.

Some Of pubhc buildings, with the exception of those for

Archi- religious worship, the district was singularly devoid. Two

tectural hospitals, one French and one English, two endowed

Features, schools, six Church of England schools, two French and

two Dissenting charity schools, and twenty groups of

almshouses, mostly very small, seem to comprise the

whole.

Three large and two small buildings, of which the newly erected Christ Church, Spitalfields, was the largest and finest, represented the Church of England. Nine meetiQg-houses had been erected by the French refugees, and were still in use. One of these is said to have been capable of seating 1,500 worshippers. But with the lapse of years the congregations had become, for the most part, very meagre, although it was the custom for many of the weU-to-do inhabitants to attend one service in the French meeting-house and one in the parish church regularly every Sunday.

With the exception of the churches and chapels, the

only meeting places of the inhabitants for pubhc or social

purposes were the taverns or public-houses, as they were

beginning to be called. There were a great number of

these in the Spitalfields district, and they were largely used

by the weaving fraternity for the various trade societies,

benefit clubs* and clubs for social amusement, which were

constantly being formed and dissolved amongst them.

The more thrifty of the operatives formed Box Clubs;

of these, Maitland gives an interesting description.

Weavers' " These clubs," he says, " erected by mutual consent.

Benefit are supported by an amicable contribution of two, or

Clubs, three, or more pence per week, by each member, who

weekly or monthly meet at a certain ale-house, when

they spend twopence or threepence each ; and, wherein

* England has just cause to be grateful for the many things introduced by the Huguenots, and particularly the introduction of the present Benefit Society. Its formation among the refugees was due to its members being of foreign birth, and thus having no claim to pensions from the poor rates, thereby giving rise to the foundation between themselves of societies for their mutual relief in sickness and old age. Memories of Spitalfields, by W. H, Mancb^e, published in the Huguenot Society's Proceedings. — Vol. x. No. 2, p. 333.

Plate XII.

Christ Church, Spitalfields.

From Photographs in ihe possession oj the Rector, Rev. C. H. Chard.

Plate XIII.

Interior of Christ Church, Spitalfields

"rom Photographs in the possession of the Rector. Rev. C. H.

Chard.

FOUNDATIONS OF LONDON SILK TRADE. 65

they have Rules for their better regulation, and a strong Box or Chest, with divers locks, for the conservation of their books, cash, etc."

The mass of operative weavers were, however, too poor Recrea- to be able to combine for purposes of thrift, but a far tions larger number belonged, more or less intermittently, and to the trade societies formed on much the same plan, Amuse- and meeting in the same places as the Box Clubs, for the ments. regulation of prices and the betterment of their position. The working and effect of these societies will be discussed in a succeeding chapter, but it may be noticed here that they were, for the most part, very short-lived, and probably the persons who benefited mostly from both clubs and trade societies were the tavern-keepers in whose houses they were held.*

In their amusements and recreations the original French settlers left an indelible impression on the neighbour- hood. Floriculture and gardening, the breeding and training of singing birds, natural history and the more or less abstruse sciences have always characterised the Spitalfields weaving population, and even to-day traces of these refining recreations are to be found in the district. The " bloody sports " of pugilism, cudgelling, buU-baiting, bear-baiting and cock-fighting, throwing at cocks and duck-hunting, were according to Maitland, although his testimony is not unimpeached, almost unknown in the East, but were popular in West and South London.

The chronic distress of the weaving population provided an unlimited field for the exercise of charity. We accordingly find that in no part of London, in the early part of the nineteenth century, were there so many Charity benevolent doles and charity societies as in Spitalfields Organisa- and its district. These charity distributions, although to a tions. small extent alleviating the distress of the weavers, for whom they were intended, had the effect, according to a Parhamentary report, of " attracting to the neigh- bourhood a large number of casual dock labourers and vagrants of no occupation, who added to the mass

* The taverns and alehoiises at this time were very numerous and badly managed. It was not until 1752 that an Act of ParUament was passed for limiting their number and to a certain extent controlling them.

E

66 SILK INDUSTRY.

of poverty and in a measure defeated the work of the charitably disposed."

In Porter's book on silk, already referred to, the writer describes the interior of a smaU house and its busy occupants, who were aU engaged in the silk manufacture. A family The picture is in singular contrast to most of the gloomy of Silk ones of the time, and, although evidently true to hfe, was Weavers, such as could have but rarely been found at the time he wrote. He says : "It once occurred to the author of this treatise, in the course of his visits among the operative weavers of Spitalfields, to visit a family consisting of a man, his wife, and ten children, aU of whom, with the exception of the two youngest girls, were engaged in useful employments connected with the sUk manufacture. The father, assisted by one of his sons, was occupied with a machine punching card shps (certain pieces of apparatus in Jacquard weaving) from figures which another son, a fine intelligent lad, was ' reading on,' Two other lads, somewhat older, were in another department, casting, drawing, punching, and attaching to cords the leaden plummets or ' hngoes ' which form part of the harness for a Jacquard loom. The mother was engaged in warping silk. One of the daughters was similarly employed at another machine, and three other girls were at three separate looms, weaving figured silks. An air of order and cheerfulness prevailed throughout this busy estabhsh- ment that was truly gratifying ; and, with the exception of the plummet drawers, all were clean and neatly clad. The particular occupation wherein each was engaged was explained most readily, and with a degree of genuine politeness which proved that amid the harassing cares attendant on daily toils of no ordinary degree, these parents had not been unmindful of their duty as regarded the cultivation of their children's minds and hearts."

CHAPTER VI.

A Typical Silk Master.

Before describing the changes which took place in the A Manu- neighbourhood of Spitalfields during the second half of facturer the nineteenth century, which proved to be such an event- of the ful period in British silk manufacture, it will be interesting old to give a detailed sketch of a typical master silk-weaver School. of the old school in his daily hfe and surroundings. Very few examples of this class of manufacturer survived the first half of the century, but the one here described is representative of these substantial English tradesmen. He had been apprenticed, worked as journeyman, became foreman, and finally succeeded his master in a silk- weaving business. This business he carried on during the first half of the nineteenth century, and, without change of method, weU into the second half. There was much to admire in this truly dignified but unaffected master-weaver, who had the portly personality and manners of a dean, or an archdeacon at the least.

The dress in which he was generally seen was an ample suit of black. The swallowtail coat and trousers were of the best broad-cloth, and the vest of the richest satin. Around his neck, in place of the stiffened silk stock of his younger days, which had been discarded with his bottle-green coat and brass buttons, several yards of the finest cambric, spotlessly white, were wound, and his gold watch, carried in Ms trousers fob, had attached to An it a bundle of seals. He had one son and seven daughters, Aristo- all of whom were brought up to some branch of the silk crat of business, which they industriously practised till they In- were married and left their father's home for their own. dustry.

67

68

SILK INDUSTRY.

A Manu- At the time in question between the years 1860 and '70 facturer the household consisted of the son, who, like his father, of the was a widower, his two children, and the eldest daughter, old who remained unmarried. She had been a skilful velvet

School. weaver, but now superintended and assisted the labours of an Irish maidservant, who had grown middle-aged in her first and only situation, and who always spoke with deepest reverence of " the master." The son managed the routine warehouse work, weighed and gave out raw silk to the dyer, dyed silk to the winders and warpers, and warps and wefts to the weavers, received them back again when woven, kept the books, served customers, and attended to all matters connected with the ware- house, seldom leaving it during business hours. The old gentleman attended the silk market and silk sales, and made purchases of raw silk, selected designs and gave instructions to the draughtsmen for carrjdng them out, called on furnishers and mercers, who were his friends and customers, saw important visitors at home in his private office, fixed prices, settled aU disputes and generally directed the business, every detail of which was famihar to him.

The firm had always been noted for doing the best and

richest work, and had made a speciality of damasks and

brocades for church furnishing. Some of these fabrics

of special design were in constant demand. One small

design, known as " The Bird," kept two weavers always

at work weaving it, and when at last they were too old

to continue their occupation, they had saved enough

money to purchase four houses near the new Victoria Park,

so that, living together in one house, they had the rent

of the three others to maintain them.

A Spital- It is pleasant to recall the well-ordered appearance of

fields the old house in White Lion Street, Spitalfields, in which

business this solid, steady business was developed and carried on.

house. The exterior of the house is shown in the photograph

reproduced, and it was easy, on visiting it recently, for

the memory to recall in each separate room vivid pictures

of the past. The house, hke those of Spital Square,

which are of a rather earher date, was panelled throughout,

the woodwork being painted white. The ground floor

A TYPICAL SILK MASTER. 69

and basement were used exclusively for the business. A Spital- The basement, which in earlier times had been the fields kitchen, was utilised for the storage of machinery and business cumbrous apphances not actually needed on the moment, house.

The ground-floor rooms were fitted up as a warehouse — the walls being hned with shelves and bunkers. The former were filled with rolls of various kinds of woven sUks, and the latter with raw material, designs, drafts and other things required in the different departments of the work. There was a mahogany counter, a desk, a safe for the account books, and a large pair of scales of the kind used for accurately weighing silk in its various forms. Over the carved " Adam " mantelpiece' hung a piece of brocaded silk, framed and glazed. It was a carefully-preserved relic of the material from which the Coronation robe of Queen Victoria had been made, and had been woven by the firm for a West-End house.* The Spitalfields firm also supphed the draperies for Westminster Abbey on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Coronation.

There were usually standing about a few baskets con- taining bobbins of shining silk, and on the counter two or three hand sticks, with their coils of brilliantly-coloured or jetty black warps waiting for the warper or weaver to call for and carry off to his domestic workshop. There were also roUs or neat bundles of finished webs ready to be examined and booked to the credit of the weavers. All was order, and an almost sacred quiet generally pervaded the warehouse. Business was transacted there Methods in a leisurely manner, almost as a religious function, of and the demeanour of even the ancient porter, who had Trading, been a soldier in his youth, was as imposing and self- important as that of a verger at St. Paul's.

In the haU, or passage, which was of less ample dimen- sions than those of similar houses in Spital Square, there were usually seated, on a movable form, two or three weavers, or members of weavers' families, waiting their turn to receive or deliver work. On Saturdays a constant

* The Coronation Robes of Queen Victoria were to be seen at the London Museum, and were there inspected by the writer. This was before the Museum was removed from Kensington Fedace. The Coronation Silk was made by Messrs. Stillwell & Sons, of White Lion Street.

70 SILK INDUSTRY.

Old stream of weavers passed in and out of the warehouse,

Business carrying little memorandum books and prepared to give Customs the best account they could of the progress of their work, described, and take their weekly draw of wages, or it might_ be occasionally a balance due to them on finishing a job. These humble visitors were strictly marshalled and admitted in due order by the stately porter. A door at the end of the passage admitted the visitor into a rather wider haU where there were three other doors and a wide- balustered staircase, which led to the upper floors of the house. One door opened into the inner sanctum of the warehouse, another to the basement stairs, and a third gave access to a freestone-paved yard, having on one side a broad border of earth, in which lilac trees grew and flowered in the spring-time, and where such hardy plants as will Mve between close, high walls were, with more or less success, coaxed to grow and blossom.

At the end of this yard, facing the house and connected with its first floor rooms by a covered gallery supported on posts, there was a building of two floors, which in earher days of the business had been a domestic weaving house. The lower floor of this out-building was now a store place for rough lumber, and the upper floor, which had previously been filled with looms, was now the kitchen of the house, where Biddy, the Irish maidservant, reigned supreme. A The furniture of the chief room of the private part

Victorian of the house, which it wiU be sufficient to describe, was interior of the kind usual in the early Victorian period. It con- in Spital- sisted of a heavy mahogany sideboard and table, fields. mahogany-framed sofas and chairs, of ample dimensions but clumsy design, upholstered in sHppery black horse- hair, stools and smaU occasional chairs, covered with cross-stitch needlework, a card-table, a what-not with many shelves, and a lady's work-table. The windows had deep window-seats and were curtained with hangings of green sUk and wool repp, while the floors were covered with Brussels carpets of a large floral design of many colours. Between the three windows, in the front room, were two tall pier glasses surmounted by carved eagles,

A TYPICAL SILK MASTER. 71

and over tlie mantelpiece there was a heavy Empire A gilt frame of three compartments, which were filled with Victor- looking-glass. In the summer-time, white netted curtains ian replaced the winter use of green repp, and white " anti- interior macassars " of crochet-work adorned the backs of the in Spital- sofas and chairs. fields.

On the waUs were hung characteristic pictures. The chief amongst these were portraits in oil of the master and his wife, painted when they were middle-aged, and a large wool-work picture of " Rebecca at the Well," framed in rosewood. The portraits were in highly ornamental gilt frames and hung above two cupboards, one on either side of the fireplace, on which were baskets of wax fruit and flowers under glass shades, together with Chelsea china figures of Britannia, Falstaff and sundry shepherdesses. There were several old copper-plate engravings in black frames, the subjects being Italian classical landscapes, with ruins. There was also a framed photographic transparency on glass of the master's seven daughters standing in a row, taken in the crinoline and side-spring boot period, and another of the son holding a violin, on which instrument he was an expert performer. The " what-not " with many shelves was ornamented on the top by a china figure of General Abercrombie, surrounded with various emblems and small allegorical figures, whilst on the lower shelves, as well as on the large centre table, were elegantly bound Books of Beauty, Ladies' Annuals, and the Art Journal Illustrated Catalogue of the International Exhibition of 1851.

The latest addition to this characteristic bourgeoise Typical ensemble was a taU, upright piano with a highly ornamental " Gen- front of fretwork and green sUk, the latter arranged in tility." pleats, which radiated from a centre rosette. On this instrument the granddaughter of the master accompanied her father when he played the violin, she being the first of the family to take lessons in piano-playing, and also the first from whose education some one branch of the sUk- weaving business had been omitted.

Outside his business, which absorbed the largest portion of his time and attention, the master's interest did not

72

SILK INDUSTRY.

Recrea- widely extend. He was churchwarden and guardian of tions the poor in his district, and discharged his duties in these

of the offices with great seriousness. He was also on the com- Victorian mittees of many of the various benevolent societies with Silk which the district abounded, nor were his sympathies m

Master. this direction at all narrow or bigoted, for one of his chief favourites, amongst the charitable institutions to which he belonged, was one for the assistance of the poor Jews, who were then becoming very numerous in the parish. He imbibed his pohtics from his weekly Tory newspaper, and the Times, a copy of which he and other tradesmen subscribed for. The former he read on Sundays, and the Times, which came to him in the evening, divided his attention with the management of a long church- warden clay pipe for an hour or two by his fireside after the labours of the day. His interest in politics was, how- ever, but slight in comparison with that which he took in his business and local affairs.

His recreations were bi-weeldy attendances at the

Tradesmen's Social Club and a summer holiday. The

club was held at a well known tavern, situated at

the corner of Fleur de Lys Street. Of this club, he was,

by virtue of his great dignity, perpetual chairman.

Punctually at each meeting, after a sitting of two hours,

the club broke up as the watchman proclaimed the hour

of ten.* In the summer-time the master took his family

to Margate for a fortnight. For many years they

invariably stayed in the same lodging-house, kept by the

same landlady, on the sea front. He enjoyed his hohday

in the same serene manner as that in which he discharged

the business and parochial duties to which he returned with

renewed vigour on the appointed day.

An Dignified, leisurely, solid and respectable, he was a

Interest- survival from an earlier time, and the last representative

ing of a class of master silk-weavers, which, at his death in

Survival, the year 1871, became extinct. The business of this

firm being, as has already been stated, of a specially high

class, only the best silk goods being dealt with, it wiU

' Norton Folgate liberty retained the services of a night watchman, by private subscrip- tion, to proclaim the time and the state of the weather long after other districts had abolished the office.

A TYPICAL SILK MASTER. 73

readily be understood that it was not a large one. Probably Two not more than fifty or sixty weavers were " on the books," Classes but these were all kept in regular employment and were of of a superior class to those of the manufacturers who Opera- were concerned with the lower branches of the handicraft, tives. The contrast between these two classes of operatives was most observable when on Saturdays, the general pay-day, they were to be seen waiting about the doors of the various manufacturers' offices to receive their weekly " draw " of wages.

There were in London, until the middle of the nineteenth century, a very large number of silk manufacturing firms who had offices in Spitalfields, and each employed several hundred families of operative weavers. The weavers worked under the system described in a subsequent chapter. Some of these manufacturers had also branch establishments in Essex, Suffolk and other places, and many acquired large fortunes during the early half of the century, the majority being in the height of their prosperity in 1850-60.*

* It is common in stories and plays of the Georgian and Early Victorian periods, both in England and France, to find the expression, " His, or her, father had made a fortune in the silk trade." It may also be added that the same system of manufacture was in operation in France as in England at that time.

CHAPTER VII.

Pictures of the Victorian Age.

The During the first half of the nineteenth century the

growth population of London is said to have doubled itself. The of maps of 1850-60 show the various main roads, closely

London, built, stretching out into the country hke the tentacles of an octopus, and the spaces between them being gradually filled in with smaller streets and lanes. Many of the suburban villages had now become indistinguishable from the town itself. In the East of London this was particularly the case. Between the parishes of Spital- fields, Bethnal Green, Hackney, WMtechapel, Globe Town and Mile End New Town very few open spaces were left, and those which did remain were given over to neglect and abomination. There are persons living who remember the dreadful plight of the poor in these new "jerry-built " streets and lanes. One witness, George Doree, a weaver, still hving, who was bom in the year 1845, in a street near the Globe Road, distinctly remembers his birthplace and its miserable surroundings. His father was a weaver of Huguenot descent, as his name testifies, who moved, with his numerous family, out from Spitalfields to a new cottage, one of a row specially built for weavers, in Globe Town. At the time they moved the neighbourhood was pleasantly rural. The cottages stood in an open space divided up into small gardens, which were, for the most part, hired by Spitalfields weavers who lived and worked in the close streets of the town, but spent their leisure time, of which they had too much, in gardening and other rural pursuits. Many of them had built quaint summer-houses in their gardens, in which they always spent the week-ends when

74

Plate XIV.

A Typical Spitalfields Silk Weaver, George Doree, at work-

PICTURES OF THE VICTORIAN AGE. 75

tlie weather was favourable. As new cottages encroached The more and more on the open space, the gardens were given growth up and became mere rubbish heaps ; the few tenants of that were left took to the breeding and rearing of fowls London, and pigs in place of vegetables, flowers and canaries. The unpaved streets, in the winter, became sloughs of foul mud, for there was no drainage, and aU house refuse was thrown into the road to rot.

Although the district was in this manner being built over and becoming more and more thickly populated, it must not be supposed that it was now (1850) exclusively- inhabited by weavers. On the contrary, by that time the number of operative weavers employed in the East of London had, from various causes, begun to decrease. Foreign Jews were gradually ousting the weavers from Spitalfields, and various manufactories were being buUt hard by in which hundreds or thousands of workpeople were employed on regular, but poorly remunerated work, as weU as large works where unskilled labour was in demand more or less intermittently. The number of operative weavers in the district at this time is variously estimated at from fifteen to twenty thousand. Another cause for the decline in number of the silk-weaving popula- tion of London, was the development of the railway system, which enabled weavers who had no work or were dissatisfied with London trade methods and restrictions, to remove at httle cost to one or other of the provincial districts, which had become great centres of silk manufacture, where work was reported to be plentiful, where there were fewer trade restrictions, and also where, in many cases, the factory system was in fuU operation, in which, though at low wages, regular employment was offered, especially to children and young people.

In the meantime the factory system, which had, in Intro- the provinces, gradually superseded that of the domestic duction workshop in the cotton and woollen industries, and, to a of certain extent, in the silk industry, had been introduced Factory into East London. System.

Between 1820 and 1830, two firms had estabhshed factories in London for weaving the lower grades of silk

1^

SILK INDUSTRY.

Intro- dress goods, and by the year 1850 there were seven

duction factories of a similar kind in operation, as weU as two

of or three for making narrow braids etc. But these were.

Factory for the most part, only subordinate estabhshments to

System, others which the same firms had already in operation at

Sudbury, Kettering and other provincial towns and

country districts. The factory system for sUk-weavers

does not seem to have taken root very kindly in the East

of London, except in one case, later in the century,

when, owing to the pluck and energy of one master weaver

a factory for the weaving of the very highest class of

furniture silks was started, and carried on in such a manner

that, in spite of the rapid decline of the handicraft which

was taking place in the district at the time of its founding,

it became the foremost firm, in its particular class of

work.

A description of Spitalfields in the mid- Victorian period would be incomplete without mention of the Government School of Design which had been started in Crispin Street, and was afterwards moved into White Lion Street, Spital Square. It fingered there, but cannot be said to have flourished, for some twenty or thirty years. It is natural to suppose that the object of estabfishing a School of Design in the silk-weaving district was to train students to produce suitable designs for the local handicraft, so that it should be no longer necessary for manufacturers to depend so entirely on foreign artists for the supply of such designs as they required, and for which they had to pay Govern- exorbitant prices. This, however, if such was the original in- ment tention of the promoters of this school, was, in this particular

School of case, forgotten, for witnesses before a Parliamentary Design. Committee of Enquiry, made in 1849, alleged that — (1) " The headmaster of the Spitalfields School of Art is not at all conversant with the silk processes. (2) The school has made very httle progress in the art of designing for silks. (3) The instruction has not had sufficient relation to the requirements of the sUk manufacture. (4) The designs made are not capable of being executed." It requires httle imagination, in view of such evidence, to credit the statements of persons who remember the

PICTURES OF THE VICTORIAN AGE. 11

school and its management that "it had very httle, if Govern- any, effect for good or ill on the manufacture of sUk in ment Spitalfields." School of

The year 1851 was rendered memorable by the opening Design. of the first great International Exhibition of Art and Industry. It was promoted by the Society of Arts, of which Society H.R.H. the Prince Consort was the President, and in which he took the greatest interest. The silk manufacturers of Spitalfields held aloof from the Exhibition until considerable pressure had been brought to bear upon them not only by the Society of Arts, but by some of their best customers amongst the mercers and upholsterers of the City and West End of London. They seem to have had the idea that the exhibition of their best efforts in design and manufacture would, instead of benefiting themselves, assist their rivals at home and abroad in competing with them. The difliculty was, however, overcome, and allowing themselves to be persuaded to exhibit, a collection of Spitalfields silks was made which, though small, in comparison with the import- ance of the industry, was creditable and representative, if we may rely on the evidence of the Press reports of the time.

The catalogue of the Exhibition shows a good list of leading Spitalfields firms who sent specimens of their sUk-weaving. It confirms the statement already made that most of the silk manufacturers had their warehouses or offices in or near Spital Square.* It is interesting also to note that it contains the names of many firms who The have since estabhshed and carried on large businesses Exhibi- in other parts of the country. They left Spitalfields at tion of the time of the great downfall of the local industry, 1851. which took place during the next decade, the story of which now claims attention.

* For list of exhibiting firms, see Appendix.

CHAPTER VIII.

Effects of French Treaty of 1860.

Death- The Royal Speech at the opening of Parhament on

blow to January 25th, 1860, contained a paragraph announcing

Spital- the conclusion of a commercial treaty with France,

fields which, after being debated and confirmed during the

industry, course of the Session,* practically struck the death-blow

to the local industry which had been carried on in the

district of Spitalfields for nearly two centuries, and had

given employment of a more or less remunerative kind

to hundreds of thousands of operative silk weavers during

that period.

This fateful paragraph was as follows : —

" I am in communication with the Emperor of the French with a view to extend the commercial intercourse between the two countries, and thus to draw still closer the bonds of friendly alliance between them." A perusal of the rather inconsequent and uninteresting debate which followed the announcement of the treaty shows that there was very Httle opposition in Parhament to its terms on commercial grounds. The leaders of the political party then in opposition complained of the prehminary methods used in preparing the new arrange- ment, as well as of the innovation of making use of a treaty for a purely commercial agreement. The pro- visions and details of the treaty itself were very little discussed. There can be no doubt that the prevailing opinion in Parhament and in the country, at the time,

* Lord Palmerston, the Prime Minister, announced on January 28th that the French Treaty had been signed, and only required the confirmation of Parliament.

78

EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF 1860. 79

was strongly in favour of Free Trade, and consequently Death- in harmony with the terms of the proposed treaty. blow to

The Times, in leading articles on the, subject of the Spital- treaty, as explained by Mr. Gladstone in his Budget fields speech, had the two following sentences which are industry, significant of the trend of public opinion at the time. " Protection, expelled from palaces, has been lurking in comfortable corners, among people who are ' Free Traders with exception,' standing out each for his own httle craft. A crowd of small manufactures and petty produce, from silk to eggs, are to be admitted duty free, and henceforth we must equal our neighbours if we would shut them out." *

Again, commenting on Mr. Gladstone's explanations : " It was a long argument against the doctrine of pro- hibition, which we may pass over, since, to English readers, it is hke reasoning against witchcraft, or the Ptolemaic system."t

The text of the treaty was published in fuU in the Times in the same issue in which Mr. Gladstone's intro- ductory speech was reported and commented on — February 11th, 1860.

There seems to have been no opposition to the treaty from any of the great industries, except that of the brewers, who objected to the reduced duty on French wines ; but there were several deputations and petitions to Parhament against it from smaller and strugghng trades, especially from the silk industry, and particularly from Spitalfields and Coventry. The terms of the treaty, as regards the textile trades, with which only we are concerned, were as follows : — cotton, woollen and silk goods manufactured in France, were to be admitted Treaty into this country free of duty, whilst English goods of with the same nature were to be subject in France to a duty France, not exceeding 30 %, a(Z valorem. Hitherto English textiles had been strictly prohibited in France. The Free Traders argued that this was a great concession on the part of the French, which would be of much advantage to the British manufacturers. {

* Times, February Uth, 1860. t Times, February 12th, 1860.

j There was a great deal of opposition to the Treaty in France, where it was generally considered that too much concession was made to England,

80

SILK INDUSTHY.

Effects Early in the debate, Mr. Bright, who had presented

of the a petition from the silk manufacturers of Manchester in

French favour of the treaty, said that " Communications were

Treaty. made by some of the leading commercial men of France

to Mr. Cobden and himself in reference to his proposition,

made in a speech the year before ; the result of which

was this commercial treaty, which he considered was

one of the best measures which had ever been effected

for the benefit of both countries."

It will have been noticed that in the above quotations from the Times, silk is classed with the "small manu- factures." That it was small, in comparison with the thriving cotton and woollen industries, which had developed so enormously in the North of England, cannot be denied, and it must also be remembered that not only was it a comparatively small industry, but a sadly demorahsed one. Then, again, it was thought by many manufacturers that the power loom could never be adapted successfully to the weaving of sUk, and for this reason the silk industry was not worth consideration. English pohcy at that time tended to substitute handicraft by machine work wherever it was possible. It was to be expected, therefore, that, outside the silk trade itself, very little consideration would be given to its welfare in comparison to that claimed by the more important and prosperous industries in which most of the leading states- men of the time were interested.

Mr. Cobden's scornful reply to an advocate for the

exemption of silk goods from the treaty hst : " Let the

silk trade perish and go to the countries to which it properly

belonged," was quite in accordance with the general

feehng in regard to it.

Attitude Such references as the following are frequent in books

of and newspapers of the time : — " The fourteen thousand

Free hand-loom silk-weavers of Spitalfields stiU struggle on.

Traders, and in much suffering and privation maintain a feeble

competition with the power-looms of the North. This

belongs rather to handicraft branch of trade than to

manufacture." *

* A Survey of London's Trade and Manufacture, 1863, published by John Weale.

EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF 1860. 81

During the course of the debate, the probable effect Unavail- of the treaty on the silk trade was barely mentioned, ingpro- but on March 2nd the clause relating to it came up for test approval in Committee. In accordance with a notice by the he had previously given, Sir J. Paxton, member for Industry Coventry, proposed as an amendment, " that the present duty on imported silk manufactures should be retained." Mr. Ayrton, member for the Tower Hamlets, supported the amendment in an interesting and pathetic speech. Mr. Bright and Mr. Gladstone followed with popular Free Trade arguments, and further discussion was vetoed by 223 against 28. The amendment was then put, and lost. The majority against it being 122.

The next day a motion was submitted that the duty be retained till October 1st, 1861, but, after a short dis- cussion, this also was negatived by a majority of 128.

The clause of the treaty relating to sUk was then allowed to stand. In a few days the debates were concluded, and the French Treaty, without alteration, was approved by Parliament and came into operation at once.

Before attempting to describe the effect of this measure on the district of Spitalfields, it is necessary to realise clearly the actual state of the silk-weaving industry at the time the treaty came into force.

As the enthusiasm for Free Trade has, of late, to some Effect extent diminished, and the event in question has become of one of ancient history, it has been assumed by the occa- Treaty sional writers and speakers who have dealt with, and on been interested in, the more recent revival and new Spital- developments of the silk industry in Great Britain, that fields, the East London sUk-weaving trade was in a flourishing condition in 1860, and that it was suddenly ruined by the operation of the Free Trade Treaty. The number of sUk-weaving operatives employed in London at that time has however been much exaggerated. Thirty thousand, fifty thousand, or even a hundred thousand weavers are often spoken of as having been " busily and happily employed in this dehghtful handicraft at the time the disastrous treaty with France was concluded, which at once left them without occupation." That neither of

82

SILK INDUSTRY.

these assumptions is correct, but that they are gathered from the biassed impressions and reports of both manu- facturers and weavers, many of whom suffered bitter hardships at the time of the collapse which immediately took place when the treaty came into operation, a care- ful study of the available records of the time clearly demonstrates.

In the first place, as to the trade itself, it has already been shown that it had for many years been in a dechning condition, and aU contemporary accounts agree in Pubhc representing the distress of the operative silk weavers Ignor- as chronic, and as having become acute in 1860. At the ance of time the treaty was being discussed in ParUament, the Silk Rector of St. Matthew's, Bethnal Green, wrote a piteous

Trade letter to the Times about his difficulties in dealing with Condi- the desperate poverty of his parish,* which was chiefly tions. occupied by poor sUk weavers.

Briefly summarised, the case may be stated thus. The operative weavers were, with few exceptions, desperately poor and only employed intermittently. A large proportion of the London Silk Manufacturers, whose names appeared in the Directory as such, had no interest in or knowledge of the technics, aesthetics or economics of the silk trade. They relegated aU the details of production to managers and foremen, who frequently farmed out the work' — which was mostly of a low grade — ^to petty master-weavers. These made their own terms with the hands they employed in their crowded cottage work- shops.f Many, therefore, who posed as manufacturers were merely warehousemen, exploiting the sweated labour of helpless, impoverished weavers, and in many cases growing wealthy on the profits. To such " manu- facturers " the proposed change would reaUy prove an advantage, for they would be able to fill their warehouses with low-priced goods from France, at even less cost, trouble and risk to themselves than they had hitherto had.

' Times, 17th February, 1860.

t It cannot be denied that there was an immense amount of sweated labour in the silk trade in its lower branches. It was a common practice to give out work to petty masters, who employed several women and young people, and sometimes even men — so scarce was work — at half or even one-third the agreed rate of wages. Children were also often taken oS the parish, for a consideration, and set to work in these sweaters' dens. It is well known that many of these petty masters saved money and became independent in this manner.

EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF 1860. 83

The minority, the genuine manufacturers of Spital- Public fields,* had been struggling against adverse circumstances Ignor- and competition between each other for many years, and, ance of hke the weavers, had become demorahsed and dispirited. SiLk It was by this class that what opposition there was to Trade the Treaty was made. A few large firms, who had adopted Condi- the factory system, and some few small firms who did tions. very special and high-class work, and were not so hkely to be affected, were, for the most part, neutral in attitude, although some, especially in the Midlands and North of England, were behevers in Free Trade for themselves as well as for others.

Then, again, it is very difiicult to estimate correctly the number of Spitalfields weavers working at the trade in 1860, but it is certain there were not so many as is usually supposed. In 1838 the distress in Spitalfields amongst the weavers had been very great, and a Dr. Mitchell was deputed to investigate and report to Parliament on the matter. His report was most carefully prepared, and was very thorough in detail. The number of famihes employed, according to Dr. Mitchell, was just under five thousand, and the number of looms at work ten thousand five hundred. If all the persons employed in the business, as well as the weavers, are included, it would be quite reasonable to estimate that each loom gives employment to two persons, and this would make a total of twenty thousand operatives, aU told.f In Census of the year 1853, the writer of the Survey oj London's Employ- Trade gives fourteen thousand as the number of hand- ment. loom weavers in London, and the census of 1851 shows that 130,723 persons, 53,936 of whom were males and 76,787 females, reported that they were engaged in the sUk trade of the United Kingdom.

Both Mr. Cobden and Mr. Gladstone have been credited with the heartless-sounding phrase already quoted, "Let the silk trade in England perish, etc." Yet when speaking thus they only voiced the almost universal opinion held

* Spitalfields being under consideration in this section, the local industry only is referred to, but similar eoonomio conditions prevailed in the provincial centres of the trade.

t Dr. Mitchell estimates the number of weavers employed to be the same as the number of looms. It is probable that the total number of operatives dependent on the trade was about midway between 10,000 and 20,000, as the business was in a depressed condition.

84

SILK INDUSTRY.

ProM- by the public of their time. Long years of prohibition or bition protection had not only fostered a belief in the pubhc and mind that French silk goods must in the nature of things

Pro- be superior to those of Enghsh manufacture, but, by

tection. preventing healthy rivalry and comparison by the manu- facturers and weavers, had gradually rendered the EngUsh weavers inferior to the French in artistic expression. There were, no doubt, other causes contributing to this result, but, whatever these may have been, a comparison of the pattern books of French and English silk textiles of the mid-Victorian period, demonstrates the decided superiority of the French goods in design and colouring, though not in perfection of weaving or purity of sUk; for even at that time the French had become past masters in the art of adulterating and degrading silk in the process of dyeing.

The immediate result in the East of London of the completion of the Treaty and its approval by Parhament was helpless despair and a deeper depth of distress than had even formerly prevailed. Business in the silk trade was at a standstill. Many firms, some of whom had hundreds of weavers on their books, had given notice to their employees that, if the Treaty became law, they would cease to give out work, as they would be able to purchase foreign silks at a cheaper rate than they could manufacture them. The retail dealers bought up entire stocks, which had been accumulated by French manu- facturers and warehousemen, as well as those of many Spitalfields firms who felt it impossible to go on manu- facturing under the new conditions, and advertised them for sale at half their reputed value.* New, attractive. Despair low-grade silk goods, made in haste for the purpose, poured in into the English market, with the result that the local

Spital- manufacture of the lighter and cheaper kinds of sUk webs, fields. which had for many years occupied the vast majority of Spitalfields sUk weavers, was entirely wiped out.

Two brief stories,! one of an exceptionally thrifty famUy,

* The advertising columns of the newspapers of the time are filled with such notioee as those given in Appendix, Note 2.

t These stories are not given in the actual words of the weavers themselves, but are sum- maries of conversations in which the facts set down were, more or less, clearly related to the author.

EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF 1860. 85

and the other of a family of a more average kind, as told Despair by survivors, are typical of hundreds of weaving families in who were at their wits' end in that time of upheaval. Spital- It has already been shown that, owing to the fact that fields, children and very young persons could do a great deal of the work of the loom, famihes — especially where there were several children — could, by their combined efforts, earn sufficient for a moderate subsistence, notwithstanding the low average of individual earnings. It was to such families that the narrators of these stories belonged. The narrator of the first story was still working at his trade in Bethnal Green, and was eighteen years of age in 1860. The second account is by a clever, shrewd, aged weaveress, who was a young woman at the time in question.*

The first story was prefaced by the remark, " You don't see such velvets now as we used to weave when I was young." The family described were engaged in velvet weaving,

" The richest and closest black, cut pile silk velvet was used for gentlemen's coat collars, and my father was one of the very few weavers who could make it. It was very hard work, but by working long hours, if the silk was good, he could make five yards a week. The price paid for weaving and finishing this kind of velvet was 5s. 9d. a yard. The city firm for which he worked usually kept two looms going for weaving this velvet aU the winter and spring, but there was a good deal of waiting in the summer, so that to fill up his time my father took work of a lower class from another firm, and this my mother and aunt kept going on, under his superintendence, when he was busy. There were several looms in our workshop, and we children — ^I was the eldest of five — all learnt to weave when we were quite young. We aU Stories went to school till we were eleven years old, and then of the left in order to help in the workshop. My father had past, taught me to make velvet, and on my eleventh birthday I finished my first yard, of which I was very proud, and so was he. By the time I was sixteen I was able to take on the same kind of work as my father. When I was

* The notes for this story were taken in 1895.

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Stories eighteen we had five looms going at home pretty regularly, of the and the family earnings amounted to from two pounds to past. two pounds ten shillings a week, if we had not much

waiting. But it was hard work, and when we were busy enough to earn so much money we had no playtime. My father never stopped on week-days when he had work, except to eat and sleep. On Sunday we aU went to Church, for my father and mother were very rehgious and particular.

" AU our relations were weavers and belonged to an old weaving famUy. Our name shows that we were connected with the French Protestant weavers who came over in 1685 and settled in Spitalfields.

" As long as I can remember, my father had made the best velvet for the firm that regularly employed him. My weaving, too, soon became good enough for them to employ me also ; I have worked for them ever since, as they are one of the firms which have continued to give out work in the East of London, and stiU have a good deal of silk woven in England at their suburban and provincial factories, although of course since 1860 they have bought from abroad a good deal of what they sell, especially of the cheap kind. At the time the French Treaty was first talked about, we were working for a Spitalfields firm, who gave out lower class velvets, as weU as for the firm who kept my father's loom and mine nearly always going. Of course it soon became generally known that a calamity was threatened, and aU was excite- ment amongst the weavers. The Spitalfields firm sent us notice that if the Treaty was passed by Parliament they would give out no more work in London. This was because they would be able to buy the kind of velvets, and other cheap goods they sold, at less cost and trouble than they could get them made for in England. It did not make much difference to the better classes of work, Politics so my father and I felt pretty sure that the city firm and would keep us on. But my father at once set about

Trade. getting something else for my brothers and sisters to do. The Telegraph Company were advertising at the time for messenger boys : two of my brothers apphed and

EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF I860. 87

got taken on there. Another got into the Post Office. The girls found other sorts of work to do, and so we managed pretty well. In fact, for my brothers, the turning out was certainly for the best, as they are aU in far better positions than would have been possible if they had kept on with the weaving. I am sorry to say there were very few families came out of the trouble as well as we did."

The second narrative, that of a woman weaver, is not such a cheerful one, and is no doubt typical of a much larger number of families than the first,

" I was about sixteen, I think," — the narrator, like so many illiterate persons, did not know her own age — " when the duty was taken off French sUk. I well remem- ber the time of excitement, and how frightened everybody was that we should all be thrown out of work.

" I never went to school, and cannot remember beginning How the to wind and weave. I always had to work and sleep poor among the looms in my father's workshop. There were lived, six of us children, and we were all taught to wind quills for the shuttles as soon as we could talk, and to weave as soon as we could sit in the loom. My mother used to weave as well, and only left off to bring up our food to us, so that we should not lose more time than could be helped in eating. We always had a holiday on Sundays, and mother used to clean up the house wMle we played about outside. On Sundays, too, we had a cooked dinner, but on other days we had only bread and perhaps a red herring or a piece of cheese.

" My father hardly ever did any work himself after he had taught me to weave fancy silks with a Jacquard machine. When I was, I think, about twelve, I could do the work as well as he could. He used to come in and put the machine right when a needle got bent or anything else went wrong, but mostly he was out talking with other men. He used to pick and look over all our work when it was finished, and take it to the warehouse.

" My mother used to make plain satins, and the younger children used to weave low quality plain silks.

" Sometimes I used to get fidgety and want to get up and move about. To prevent this, father used to tie me to the loom in the morning, before he went out, and

88 SILK INDUSTRY.

How the dare me to leave it tiU he came back. I have often been poor tied in the loom all day and eaten my meals as I sat there.

lived. When I was so tied, mother had to pick the porry and

move the rods if father did not happen to be about. When I was not tired I used to be fond of weaving and proud of my work, which was generally of pretty colours, and every one used to say I was clever at it.

" When the duty was taken off sUk, my father had notice that no work would be given out for a long time, if at all. As he was already in debt on the books of his master, he could not, of course, draw any more money so we were in great distress. My brother and I, who were the best weavers of the family, except father, got the offer of work at a factory which had not long been started. My aunt, my mother's sister, was forewoman of the winders there, and recommended us. She also said we could, go and live with her. In the factory we had regular wages, which made us feel very proud.

" My father had heard of some work at a place near

Sudbury, and some kind person gave him money to go

there and take my mother and the younger children.

He worked there at his trade for a httle while, then my

mother and two of the children were taken ill and died

quite suddenly. After mother's death, father, who had

often said he would hke to go to Australia, joined a party

of emigrants, which the Government were sending out,

and took the two remaining children with him. They

did not start from London, so of course we could not

afford to go and see them off. We just heard that they

got to Austraha safely, but that was aU. I have never

heard from father or my sisters since.

Dispersal " My brother got to be very clever at weaving, and

of Spital- could always get work. But he soon got tired of London,

fields and went to the North, where he thought he could get on

workers, better. There he caught cold, and, as his chest had

always been delicate, it turned to consumption, and he

never got well again, though he was able to work for some

months in his new place. He died in 1870.

" Soon after my brother died, the factory in which I

EFFECTS OF FRENCH TREATY OF 1860. 89

was moved into the country. Several of the weavers Dispersal and winders went too, so as to keep with the firm, who of Spital- treated them weU. Just at that time I was offered some fields good work on a Jacquard loom standing in a friend's workers, house. So, although my aunt was leaving London with the other winders, I accepted the offer and have been working for the same firm in White Lion Street ever since, weaving some of the best figured silks for church work. The firm say they wiU soon have to give up, for the trade is getting worse. But we must hope for the best."*

The cases in which the sudden stoppage of sUk weaving in Spitalfields proved most pitiable were such as that of the elderly weaver and his wife. Such poor people as these, friendless and alone as they were, could have no chance of taking up a new occupation, when the one they had been bred to, poor as it was, failed utterly. They were without help in the present, and could have no hope for the future. Many industrious aged operatives must have suffered in sUence and perished in the general wreck, for they were just such as private benevolence and official charity were certain to overlook.

One result of the commercial treaty which cannot be regretted was, that many, if not quite aU, of the petty masters who employed sweated labour could get no more sUk given out from the manufacturers for their victims to weave. They accordingly quickly gave up the business and sought profit in other directions. The older people, who had worked for these sweaters unhappily shared the dismal fate of the other hapless weavers who could not take up other occupations, whilst the younger people and children, many of whom had been apprenticed by the parish, were set free, and in time found occupation in the various factories and workshops The of new trades which had been started in the locahty, and blow to brought new activity and fife into what had hitherto Sweated been the silk weavers' special district. Labour.

Some extra attention was given during 1860-61 to the emigration scheme, promoted by the Government and various private benevolent societies, which had been

* This was told in 1895. The narrator only lived for a few months, and died in the Iiondoa Hospital. The firm did not give up before she was taken ill, although it did soon after.

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Emigra- in operation intermittently for several years. The weavers, tion however, who were distinguished by neatness and dexterity

Societies of hand and love of home, rather than muscular strength a failure, and adventurous character, were not as a rule either willing or hopeful emigrants.

After the downfall, the aspect of Spitalfields and Bethnal Green, but especially the former, began imme- diately to change for the worse. This was particularly noticeable in the region of Spital Square and Devonshire Square, where the manufacturers had their offices, and in many cases their residences. The offices and ware- houses were given up. Many of the manufacturers could not meet their liabilities, and were ruined ; some, who had succeeded in surviving the debacle, took warehouses and showrooms in the city, to deal in goods made in the provinces or abroad, and removed their private residences to the suburbs or the West End ; some retired from the business altogether with more or less handsome fortunes ; a few, more enterprising, built factories in the provinces and transplanted to them the most skilful of the hand-loom sUk weavers who stiU remained, and whose work was yet worthy of the best traditions of old Spitalfields. There had always been a nucleus of such weavers, the aristocracy of the handi- craft, for whose work there continued to be a certain demand. * It was from this class, as they became gathered Aristoc- into factories, either in London or, as was more generally racy of the case, in the provinces that the British sUk-weaving Handi- trade in its higher branches was to experience its craft renaissance, and to rise, hke a Phoenix, from the ashes

saved. of the decayed system of domestic manufacture which had long outhved its time of prosperity.

* These were mostly weavers of rich furniture and dress silks. Such works then continued, and still do so, to be made on Jacquard mounted hand-looms. Power-loom weaving of this kind, even if successful, is more expensive than that of the hand-loom.

CHAPTER IX.

Legislation and the Factory System.

A survey of London taken during the decade of 1880 — Legisla- 1890 would show the satisfactory effects of much of the tion social legislation which had been forced on the considera- and the tion of Parliament by partially educated pubhc opinion. East End. The problems to be faced resulted chiefly from the unpre- cedented increase of the population, new ideas of social responsibility, and the practical appUcation of much scientific discovery and many mechanical inventions. Between the years 1848 and 1890 ParUament had dealt in a more or less satisfactory manner with sanitation and public health, the regulation of the factory system, the definite legal standing of trade unions and other industrial combinations, the civil and municipal government of Greater London, the fighting, paving and keeping clean of the vastly increased urban area, and the education of children.

In concluding this description of the weavers' quarters of the past, it is necessary to note briefly the effect this legislation had on the densely populated district of London east of the City.

The late Sir Walter Besant, who probably knew this Besant's district better and has more graphicaUy described it descrip- than any of his contemporaries, speaks of it in 1880 as tions of " a town of two miUion inhabitants, separated by speech. East maimers and interests, and almost unknown to the rest London, of London."* The broad highways and main streets in which the best houses of the district were situated,

* All Sorts and Conditions of Men, Besant and Rice, 1882.

91

92

SILK IKDUSTEY.

Besant'a had become lined with shops that had, for the most part,

descrip- been built on the long front gardens which had originally

tions of intervened between the roadway and the houses them-

East selves. The smaller streets consisted of narrow avenues

London, of mean dwellings all of one pattern, unlovely and

monotonous. Churches, chapels, gin palaces and humble

taverns, with here and there a large factory or a small

workshop, a large brand-new board school, or a barrack-

hke block of workmen's dweUings, varied the monotony

of the dismal streets. If, however, we may beheve Besant's

assertion, there were no places of amusement or recreation,

except a theatre and a music-hall in the Whitechapel Road,

in the whole district.*

Although thus cheerless and duU, the district had, in many respects, very much improved from the condition in which it was steeped in the early part of the 19th century. In the first place the population, taken as a whole, was comparatively weU-to-do. Instead of all, or nearly all, being engaged in one occupation, silk weaving, of which there was enough to give constant employment to only one-third of the large number of operatives wanting work, there were now a great variety of industries, alto- gether new to the district, in which workers could engage. There were half a dozen breweries, several large chemical works, sugar refineries, tobacco factories, clothing factories and the vastly extended docks. There were also rope makers, sail makers, jute weavers and mat makers ; there were cork cutters and firework makers, seaJing-wax makers, workers in shellac, workers in zinc, sign painters, heraldic painters, makers of iron hoops, combs and sunbhnds, pewterers, turners, feather dressers, ship modellers and many others. Numbers of petty trades, at which whole families could work, had come into Influence existence, such, for instance, as cardboard-box making of for wholesale houses, piU boxes for chemists, ornamented

industrial boxes of all kinds for confectioners, druggists, drapers diversity and stationers. It is true that many of these occupations factor. were but poorly remunerated, but generally there was

* There were, at this time, two theatres in Shoreditoh and one in Hoxton. These, although on the border, were not actually in the district.

LEGISLATION AND THE FACTOI^Y SYSTEM. 93

no lack of work, and on Sundays and other holidays the Influence crowds of people thronging the new Victoria Park and of the principal thoroughfares were by no means iU-dressed industrial or unhealthy in appearance. diversity

At this time — 1880-90 — ^the number of operatives stiU factor, following the occupation of silk weaving in the East of London is shown by Charles Booth* to have fallen to little more than two thousand. These were employed by about sixteen firms who had succeeded in surviving from the upheaval of 1861, and were able to adapt their products and their methods of manufacture and com- merce to more or less modern conditions. The names of these firms appear in the London Directory for 1890, f under the heading of " Silk Manufacturers." The whole long list of names there given, however, may be misleading, for many of the firms mentioned were merely those of foreign agents, provincial silk manufacturers with showrooms in the City of London, or warehousemen dealing in silken goods but having no work carried on in East End factories or domestic workshops.

In common with the rest of London, this extensive district had greatly benefited by the sanitary arrangements which had resulted from the Sewerage Commission of 1848. The main roads and most of the smaller streets, courts and aUeys, had been, or were being, connected with the main drainage system, also the collection of house refuse and periodical street scavengering were in process of being systematised. All the roadways had been either paved with pebbles or granite blocks, or had been macadamised, and the footways paved with flat slabs of stone.

There was also a general system of street lighting by gas, and experiments were being made in the main thoroughfares in electric fighting. In 1870 the first Sanita- elections for the London School Boards were held. The tion and Boards and their various committees soon got to work. Educa- Large picturesque school buildings were erected in every tion. district, and teaching staffs were organised, so that by

* Life and Labour of the People of London, Charles Booth. London, 1891. 2nd Edition. f Post Office Directory, London, 1890.

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SILK INDUSTKY.

Sanita- 1880 many Board Schools were in full operation. Previous

tionand to the School Board Act, in Bethnal Green alone, ten

Educa- thousand children of school age were totally without

tion. provision for education of even the most elementary kind.

Although East London as a whole is thus seen to have

been at this period more prosperous than it was in the

beginning of the last century, the section of the silk- weaving

industry left after the downfall of 1860 has steadily

declined in importance until only a very small remnant

remains. However hopeful, therefore, the prospects of

silk manufacture may be in other British centres, it cannot

be expected that in the Spitalfields district any real revival

of silk weaving can ever take place.

CHAPTER X.

Spitalfields of To-day.

In spite of all the chances and changes of commercial The fortune, the name of Spitalfields stUl stands for the purest home and most skilful productions of the silk-weaver's art. of good At the present day, however, the parish of Christ Church, work. Spitalfields, is connected but shghtly with the silk manu- facturing industry. There have been but few changes in the parish itself. It retains, for the most part, the general plan and topography shown in the maps of Strype's Editions of Stow's Survey, and Maitland's Descri'ption of London. These books were pubhshed in the early part of the 18th century. Spital Square, which was known as Spital Yard until the year 1722, was the centre of the district, and that fact is evident to-day, the Square being remarkable in the metropolis owing to the existence of posts at either end to keep out the wheeled traffic. These wiU, however, disappear in the Spitalfields improvement. As late as the year 1700 the Square con- tained the house of Lord Bohngbroke, and there are still to be seen many beautiful old Georgian houses, which were built by the master weavers, and in one of which George IV is known to have dined. At the backs of some of the houses even to-day there are good gardens with mulberry trees. Christ Church itself is one of the most prominent features of the district, its spire dominating Memo- the neighbourhood. It was designed by one of Wren's rials of pupils, and one of the first additions to it after building Christ was a big tenor beU, which in accordance with a custom. Church not confined to Spitalfields, was rung from a quarter to Parish.

95

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Memo- six until six o'clock in the morning for the purpose of rials of calling the weavers to work. It was also used as a curfew Christ beU.

Church The interior of the church contains tablets to the

Parish. memory of several Huguenot families. It was in this church that the Limborough lectures were dehvered in place of evening service, and it is believed that the house of the founder, Mr. James Limborough, was afterwards used as the head-quarters of the Spitalfields School of Design. Included in the district over which Christ Church held sway was the Church of La Patente, which is now employed as a Church Room, and the visitor will find the old building practically unaltered except as regards the front. The Royal Arms, which were put up in the church in the reign of James II as a sign of the authority under which it was buUt, stiU remains, and a portrait of Charles Dickens has been placed in the church by the Kyrle Society.

The existing association of the parish with the sUk industry are (1) its name, (2) the Silk Conditioning* Office of the Port of London Authority is still located there, (3) a few small tradesmen called job dealers, who retail trim- mings for tailors and other oddments of silk goods, stiU finger there, (4) the magnificent parish church, built in 1715, and its churchyard which contains several monu- ments bearing inscriptions. These teU of the virtue and respectability of former parishioners, many of whom were, in one way or another, connected with the fascina- ting handicraft for which the artificers of Spitalfields were pre-eminent in the 18th century. (5) Amongst the distinguishing signs of the numerous pubhc-houses in the parish may be found the "Crown and Shuttle," the " Weavers' Arms," and others which indicate the occupa- tion of most of their former patrons.

The population of the district of Spitalfields has shown no faUing-off in point of numbers, but, on the contrary, has greatly increased. It is also stiU mainly of alien origin. In place, however, of the French Protestant refugees, who formerly settled there and almost exclusively formed

* Silk coaditioning is described on page 441.

SPITALFIELDS OF TO-DAY. 97

its population, there are now Jews of various nationalities. Charac- There they, with their swarms of children, practise their teristics rehgion, and seem very much at home. They are of busy, happy, and astonishingly healthy, notwithstanding Present the unsavoury and over-crowded state of the tenements Popula- in which they Uve. The pecuharly constructed weavers' tion. houses, each with a weU-hghted family workshop on its upper floor, which used to form a distinctive architectural feature of the Spitalfields streets, have almost entirely given place to blocks of dreary, meanly-built, industrial dwellings, which exhibit aU the squalor, but none of the picturesqueness, of the ancient houses. A few of the substantial dweUings of the master-weavers and manu- facturers, with their imposing doorways, ample stair- cases, panelled rooms, and fine carving, still remind the visitor of the prosperity of the past. But these are now most generally let out in several apartments. Frequently a whole family and sometimes two families are crowded into a single room.

Instead of the skilful weaving of precious silken fabrics, these later denizens of Spitalfields deal in made-up Second- textiles at second-hand, or are employed in making hand garments of shoddy* material for the cheap ready-made Clothing clothing shops. To Spitalfields most of the " old clo' " Trade, which are collected from all parts of London are brought, and sold again for renovating, or translating, as it is called. After this process they enter upon a new course of service in a humbler sphere than that for which they were originally made. There is in Petticoat Lane, or Middlesex Street, as it is now called, a regular exchange having subscribing members,! where this eager and absorbing traffic is carried on with as much fervour and excitement as may be witnessed on the London Stock Exchange, the Paris Bourse, or in Wall Street, at times of crisis or panic.

Notwithstanding, however, the fact that in the actual parish of Christ Church no silk-weavers are left, the Spitalfields weaving industry is not quite extinct. J In

* Shoddy yam is made from worn-out materials torn to shreds and re-spun, t The subscription is id. per day.

j Since this chapter was written Messrs. B. Cohen and Sons have started a factory in Fashion Street, Spitalfields, for the manufacture of furniture silks.

G

98

SILK INDUSTRY.

Rem- their most prosperous days the sDk-weaving fraternity

nants of overflowed into the parishes of Bethnal Green, Shoreditch,

Silk- Whitechapel and Mile End New Town. But at the same

weaving time they were universally known as the Spitalfields

industry. Weavers, and the entire district inhabited by them was

popularly known as Spitalfields. It is accordingly in

certain parts of this extended district that the few

remaining Spitalfields silk-weavers are to be found.

A very great number, probably the greater number, of the houses in this extensive district show by their large upper rooms with long workshop windows that they were specially built for weavers, who always had their looms in the upper storeys of their houses. Often when these long windows are not to be seen in front they will be found at the back of the dwellings. Very few of these domestic workshops are now furnished with looms or other weaving appliances, and the merry clatter of the weaver's shuttle is seldom to be heard by the wayfarer in the busy street. There is, however, one little group of such houses which still serves its original purpose, and here every upper floor is a silk-weaver's workshop. This little weaving colony occupies the greater part of Alma Road and Cranbrook Street, Bethnal Green. There is no thorough- fare through these streets, as their ends are blocked by the Regent's Canal, and from their workshop windows the weavers can see, and eagerly point out to the visitor,, the perspective of the Canal and the nearest green country beyond it. They can also sometimes, especially in the springtime, inhale the freshness of that East End Paradise, Victoria Park, which is close at hand.

As it is only too probable that in a few years, at most,

the silk-weaving industry in London will become extinct

for lack of weavers, and as nothing quite like the methods

and traditional arrangements of Spitalfields are to be

found elsewhere, it wiU be useful to give a somewhat

detailed description of a typical weaver's dwelling and

workshop, and also to explain the methods of carr5dng

Links on the work. These have remained the same for a century

with the and a half in this interesting part of London.

past. There are forty-six workshops in this neighbourhood

SPITALFIELDS OF TO-DAY. 99

still occupied by weavers, thirty-eight being in the group Links just _ referred to. At No. 42, Alma Road, a strange- with the looking object is hung out as a sign. It is what is called past. by weavers a Hand Stick. This implement is used for winding the coil of warp upon, when it is ready to be transferred from the Warping Mill to the Turning-on, or warp-spreading machine.* This sign therefore indicates that warp-spreading is done here. To this house the weavers bring their prepared warps, in order to have them evenly spread out on the back rollers belonging to their looms. Fifty years ago more than 60 of these signs might be seen in the neighbouring streets, but this is now the only one remaining.

The warp-spreaderf in Alma Road, a descendant of an original Huguenot craftsman, is cheerful, alert and courteous. He is looked upon as the representative and champion of the remnant of the Spitalfields silk-weavers. Modern Before the Union of London Operative Silk Weavers was Weaver's finally given up, for lack of subscribing members, he was dweUing its secretary. Moreover, when in 1900 the little colony and was threatened with destruction in order to make way for work- an Electric Power Station, he it was who represented the shop, case, for himself and his neighbours, to a Committee of the London County Council, and succeeded by his representation in averting the impending calamity. This successful championship was gratefully acknowledged by the colonists, as is recorded in an Uluminated address which may be seen in the httle parlour of this typical weaver's dweUing.

The house contains four rooms on the ground floor, and a passage from front to back divides it in the centre. As one enters this passage, there can be seen through the open door at the opposite end of it, a small back- yard, gay with flowers in bloom and furnished with a large, neat aviary, in which a few specimens of a delicate prize breed of pigeons coo and strut in the summer sunshine in all the pride of their pencilled iridescent plumage.

• For a description of the process of warping and beaming or warp-spreading, see Handloom Weaving, by Luther Hooper.

t Mr. George Dor^e — ^velvet weaver and warp-spreader. This description was written in 1914. Mr. Dor^e died in 1916.

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Modern Besides the illuminated address, already referred to,

Weaver's the weaver's httle parlour contains many objects of

dwelUng interest. There is, for instance, a small case in which

and are preserved three samples of rich velvet made by the

work- warp-spreader himself, who was originally a velvet weaver.

shop. Two of these samples are cuttings from the velvet made,

in this very room, for the Coronation robes of King

Edward VII. The third cutting is from a piece of crimson

velvet made for His Highness the Rajah of Jhalawar,

who, one day descended on the weaver, accompanied by

his gorgeous suite, and seeing the Coronation velvet,

desired a length exactly Uke it for his own use. After

some negotiations with the weaver's employers, a City

firm. His Highness was able to have the velvet made

and sent to him, greatly to his satisfaction.

Referring to these pieces of velvet, Messrs. Bailey, Fox and Company, than whom there could be no better judges, A Master certified in a letter to the weaver that in their opinion of his these webs were the richest and most perfect specimens Craft. of the art of velvet weaving that had ever been made. It is remarkable that the latest productions of the velvet weaver's craft in London should thus be adjudged the best ever woven, and that such is the case goes to prove that though the London silk industry is, to a certain extent, a decayed business, the Enghsh weaver's art is not by any means a decadent one. Examples in other branches of silk weaving might be also instanced to prove the same fact, and it may be afiirmed that, whatever may have contributed to the piteous phght, first of the operative weavers in the earlier portion of the 19th century, and of the manufacturers afterwards, want of mechanical skill in the handicraft was not the cause.

On the walls of the parlour in Alma Road is also dis- played a framed certificate on which the Coat of Arms of the Weavers' Livery Company of London is emblazoned. This, dated 1893, certifies that Mr. George Doree was awarded a medal in a weaving competition promoted by the Company, and that he was made a Freeman of the Weavers' Company at the same time. This achievement also constituted him a Freeman of the City of London.

SPITALFIELDS OF TO-DAY.

101

On leaving the parlour, by ascending a short but steep A Master flight of stairs, the visitor emerges, through a trap door, of his on to the upper floor, and finds himself in a large work- Craft, shop, flooded with Ught. This light is admitted through a casement window which extends across the whole width of the room at the back, and from three ordinary windows at the front. In most of the similar workshops of Bethnal Green and the district, the whole available space is filled with looms fitted up for various kinds of work, and often, when the weaver's family is large, a bed or two may even be seen squeezed into a corner. In the present instance, however, the front half of the shop, near the three windows, is fitted up with the warp-spreading machine.

As the warp-spreading machine occupies so much space in this particular workshop, there is only room for two looms to be kept in working order. At one, Mrs. Doree, whom a newspaper interviewer once likened to a Dresden china figure, may generally be found weaving a rich, black silk of an extraordinary solid texture. The tops of the looms are lumbered, in true weaver's fashion, with parts of various machines and mountings for different classes of work, which may be required at any time to take the place of those in the loom frames. The looms and machines for this class of work in aU its branches remain practically the same as have been in use in Spitalfields for a hundred years or more.

A brief reference must be here made to the method of Domestic carrying on the business of silk weaving which has been System in vogue in London for more than a century. It has been of already mentioned but may now be discussed so that it Manu- may be compared with the system which it followed, as facture. well as that by which it has been superseded in the sUk trade generally.

The manufacturer, as he was by courtesy called, had an office and a warehouse, but no factory. He had a certain number of weavers on his books, that is weavers who worked exclusively for him. Each of these weavers, or family of weavers, had a domestic workshop as already described. Any expensive fittings or mountings for the

102 SILK INDUSTRY.

The loom were supplied by the manufacturer who usuaUy

Domestic charged the weaver for the hire of them when in use.

system When a certain length of silk had to be made, the manu-

explained. facturer calculated the quantity of silken thread of two

sorts, organzine and tram,* required for the warp and

weft respectively. He then weighed and gave them out

to the dyer and, subsequently, to the winder ; the former

to dye them while in skein form, and the latter to wind

them on to reels of convenient shapes for the warper's

and weaver's use.

The dyed organzine, after being wound, was sent to the warper, who had to lay the threads, of the exact length required for the piece of silk to be woven, in regular order, and, by a clever device, which is a prehistoric invention, so arranged them that they could not easily get entangled no matter of how many threads of finest sUk they con- sisted. This length of threads was caUed a war'p, and was next wound off the warping mill on to a hand stick already referred to on 'page 99.

In this state, on the hand stick, it was given out to

the weaver after being carefully weighed, with the

instructions necessary for making the kind of web required.

The weft, wound on bobbins, was also weighed out to

him at the same time. The weaver next took the warp

on the hand stick, carefully protected by a large blue

handkerchief, and a roller, from the back of his own loom,

to the warp-spreader, who returned it to him smoothly

spread out and tightly wound on to the roller. The warp

was now ready to be placed in the loom and joined, thread

by thread, to the ends of silk left for the purpose from the

last piece woven.

The The cost of warp-spreading, the joining the threads of

Domestic the new warp and winding the quills or spools for the

system shuttles, are some of the little expenses which the

explained, weaver had himself to pay out of the arranged per piece

price he was to receive for the completed work.

When woven, the weaver took the length of material to the warehouse of his master, who measured and

* Organzine and tram. Organzine is hard, twisted silk, and is used for making the longi- tudinal threads of a web called warp. Tram is the same silk fibre more loosely twisted, and is for the weft or lateral intersecting thread. See Silk, by L. Hooper, Pitman, London.

SPITALFIELBS OF TO-DAY.

103

examined the work, weighed it, together with the surplus Masters weft which the weaver returned at the same time, and and settled the amount of wages due to the workman. Work-

Under this system, as the weaver only worked for one men. master, the latter, in order to retain his full complement of weavers, allowed each man to draw a small amount of wages weekly, although, too often, he had no work. This weekly draw was debited to the weaver's account, and he had subsequently to work it out and make his book balance. The invariable effect of this arrangement was that each manufacturer had on his books a great many more hands than the number for which he could find employment, and the majority of operatives only had sufficient work to occupy a portion of their time.

During the latter half of the eighteenth century and the first part of the nineteenth, this system was in full operation, and there can be Uttle doubt that it was one of the causes of the extremely low average of the Spitalfields weaver's earnings during that period. Authorities differ as to the average, some placing it as low as 45. per week, and none higher than 8*., even when the upholstering and other elaborate branches of the figure-weaving trade, for which very high wages were paid, were included.*

It is not easy to obtain exact statistics of the number of weavers and other operatives employed at the present time in the sUk industry of East London ; but a careful Employ- enquiry has resulted in the following figures : — There are ment now engaged in weaving silk on hand-looms 7Q males and Statistics 54 females, in aU 130. Of these, 16 work in factories, under factory conditions. Two factories employ six and two 2 hand-loom weavers. One hundred and fourteen silk weavers stUl continue to work, more or less, under the system already described as prevailing in Spitalfields for over a century and practicaUy at the same rate of wages.f This would, of course, be impossible, were it not for the fact that, silk weaving being a home industry, at which both men and women can work and in which children can largely assist, the combined earnings of a family may average from 20*. to 255. per week. This

* See Note 1, in Appendix.

'f See list of prices issued in 1821.

104

SILK INDUSTRY.

Employ- however depends on the class of work and if done for a

ment manufacturer or a middleman.

Statistics. A large proportion of the East London hand-loom weavers are elderly and old people, and, as there are practically no learners, when they die off, or become incapacitated for work, there wiU be none to take their places. The word " dispirited " used by Matthew Arnold in his Sonnet on East London, written in the mid-nineteenth century, is quite as apphcable to the Spitalfields weaver to-day as it was then.

" 'Twas August and the fierce sun overhead

Smote on the squalid streets of Bethnal Green, And the pale weaver, through his windows seen In Spitalfields, looked thrice dispirited."

The 114 silk weavers, who work in their own homes,

are employed by six City firms, who, for the most part,

only manufacture a proportion of the goods in which

they deal. Some have power looms in factories, one

in Bethnal Green, and others more or less distant from

London, but most of them buy, in the general market,

finished goods either of British or foreign weaving, and

merely take a profit for handling them in their course

from the manufacturer to the consumer.

d'lvw "^^^ following table shows the number of operatives

.. employed in the different branches of silk weaving in

i^S ^ East London :— London.

		TABLE I.
MALES.	FEMALES.	TOTAL.
Plain Harness 7	Fancy Harness 6	Figured Jacquard 64	Plain Harness 2	Fancy Harness 3	Figured Jacquard 48	130

Of the 112 weavers employed, as shown above, in figure weaving, very few now make furniture sUks, which is the best paid branch of the trade. A good furniture silk- weaver, employed in regidar work in a well-organised factory, can earn as much as the best paid skilled

SPITALFIELDS OF TO-DAY.

105

mechanics in other trades. Most of the East London Silk figure weavers, however, now weave handkerchiefs, tie Weaving silks, scarves and wraps of rich quahty which sell for in a high price when retailed as Spitalfields silk, but their London, earnings are small owing to the frequent delays between orders which are common to this class of trade.

Of the various trades depending on silk weaving, which used to be carried on and give occupation to great numbers of the inhabitants of the East of London, but very few are left. Their present number is shown by Table 2 : —

					TABLE II.
1	o s	1	i	£	1	i
43	w		^	<0	1 g	•3	C6 » si	Mm	1 1
.a 1	s 1	.a		-*3	1	Card Cutte Draught	IS	o H
i	1	^		S	1
32	5	11	4	1	8	2	2	I		66

So far consideration has only been given to the weaving The of broad silk, as it is called, in order to distinguish it from Narrow the narrow webs used for dress and upholstery trimmings, Branch etc., to which the French gave the general name of of SUk passementerie. In this narrow weaving, owing to the Weaving. fact that a very large proportion of the trimmings made, especially in the upholstery branch of the trade, are for special purposes, and are usually ordered in short lengths, the hand-loom and the hand-wiading wheels and apphances still hold their own against power-driven machinery. The making of laces, galloons, gimps, fringes, braids, etc., is, however, no longer a home industry, but is carried -on in factories under ordinary factory conditions, not- withstanding that many of the looms in use are of exactly the same construction, and the weaving is identical with the looms and methods of the passementerie weavers of the eighteenth century. In some cases, indeed, the actual looms in use at that time are stiU at work. On these

106

SILK INDUSTRY.

Narrow ingenious structures of string and wood, the weaver

Silk himself ties up the design and weaves it without the use

Weaving of the Jacquard or any other machine.

in There is a characteristic difference, however, between

London, the eighteenth century narrow weaving and that of the

present time. This consists in the kind of materials used.

In this respect, modern work compares unfavourably

with that of former years ; weavers now use all kinds of

threads, cotton, jute, imitation silk and other materials,

some of which by various processes, whilst new, appear

even brighter and more attractive than genuine silk.

Ileal sUk, although still used for the best work, only

forms a very small proportion of the material employed

in the weaving of modern 'passementerie.

The narrow weaving industry, in its best branches, is almost pecuhar to London. This is owing to the fact that the work is of a special character, so that the weaver needs to be in touch with the upholsterer who requires the product of his skiU. It. is true that there are factories in other parts of the country, for making narrow braids, cords, etc., but these seldom have occasion to use much silk. They only produce narrow webs by the mUe, or hundreds of miles, and weave less expensive threads than silk for common coach and dress trimmings, lamp wicks, etc.

The factories for weaving both broad and narrow silk

by power in other places will be described in their due

order, but at present we are only deahng with London.

Here there are four large, and a few small, factories

where more or less silk is used, and where several

hundreds of hands — ^mostly young girls — are employed

in the work. The conditions of labour in these factories,

which are, of course, under Government inspection, are

Number about on a level with those of other trades where young

of people are employed, and where a certain amount of

Factories, manual dexterity is required.

BOOK TWO.

CHAPTER XI. The Coventry Ribbon Trade.

Coventry industry has up to the present date undergone so many metamorphoses that it may be rather expected to undergo others. Of its relations with watches, bicycles, motor-cars and aeroplanes, the writer is not now concerned, but the frequent references to Coventry and its ribbons in literature gives assurance that the association of the city with ribbon weaving wiU not readily be overlooked, be the further changes in the industrial progress of Coventry what they may.

While it is for ribbons that the Coventry trade was Broad famous, it should be mentioned that before its manu- Silk facture of narrow goods the manufacturers of the city Manu- had won a reputation for the production of broad silks, facture These varieties were being manufactured in the year 1627, in and upon a scale which warranted the Manorial Court Coventry by an Act of Leet to order the formation of the silk- weavers into a distinct company. The trade survived in this distinct form certainly untU 1672, when an order was issued which may be read to denote some shortage of employment. The order forbade any silk-weaver, unless he had been a freeman of the Company for two years at least, to take a second apprentice until the first apprentice had served seven years. At a subsequent date, which cannot be fixed with accuracy, the silk-weavers appear to have united themselves to an older body, the worsted weavers. This association continued for a number of years, but in 1703 it was agreed that the silk workers should again form a distinct Company.

107

108

SILK INDUSTRY.

In 1680, according to Alderman Hewitt, who was Mayor of the city in 1755, cloth was the principal production of Coventry. The cloth in question was, at aU events, some- thing other than silk, but was not necessarily made whoUy of wool. The manufacture of mixed wool and cotton stuffs is an old one, and the local tammies (hnings for women's dresses) were doubtless of this composition. In the Coronation procession of George III., the tammy- weavers took precedence even of the silk-weavers, an incident which suggests the relative importance of their trade at that date — 1761. Effect The ribbon, or — as it used to be called — ^the riband,

of trade of Coventry did not emerge until after the revocation

French of the Edict of Nantes. French influences are to be traced Immigra- in several directions, including the hneaments of the tion. people. In bygone days a strong facial resemblance could

be found in many silk-weaving families to the people of south-eastern France. The family names of the district are reminiscent of France ; " Beaufoy," or " Beaufoi," for example, is common, and still commoner are Anghcised forms of French names. "Burgess," "Weir," " OockereU," " Higgins," quoted by Smiles as instances of French family names in an Enghsh form are all found in Coventry. The immigrants in some cases boldly translated their names into the Enghsh equivalents : " L'Oiseau " becoming " Bird " ; " le Jeune," " Young " ; " Leblanc," " White " ; " Lacroix," " Cross " ; " Leroy," "King," and so forth, and all these are famihar local names to this day. Going back to the early days of the French immi- French gration, records show that sixteen years after the date descen- of the Revocation occurs the name of the Mr. Bird, who dants in manufactured ribbons in Coventry in 1701. In 1705 he Coventry, finds his place among the list of Mayors, and The Coventry Mercury, of January 13th, 1756, stated : — " On Monday last died at his house in this city, Thomas Bird, Esquire, one of the most eminent sUk manufacturers in England, in which branch of business he daily employed over two thousand workpeople." It is safe to assume that this was the son of the Mayor ; and probably the pioneer of the iadustry. Whether the first Mr. Bird was

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE. 109

a M. L'Oiseau, who had translated his name, it is Hand impossible to decide, nor is it possible to tell the history loom of the trade through the eighteenth century with any work high degree of accuracy. For seventy years after the in introduction of the industry aU ribbons were made, as modern many wider goods are woven to-day, in looms that only era. weave one breadth at a time. Here is the explanation of the statement that Mr. Bird employed 2,000 hands. These old looms still exist in considerable nmnbers, and although they become fewer year by year, there are still several hundreds in the villages to the north and north-east of this city. In 1861, when the census was taken, there were 2,469. As late as 1886 one Coventry firm employed between four and five hundred of these so-called " single- hand looms," though "single-space looms" would be a more exact description. Rudimentary in form and con- struction, they have considerable utihty, as the weaver's whole attention is given to the manufacture of one article, and the weft can be manipulated with the fingers to any extent. In these looms bead work was largely made, as also were chemUe fringes, both impracticable in the ordinary power-looms, or even in a hand-loom of more than one space, for the weft or shute requires placing or adjusting with the fingers every time the shuttle crosses. Forty years ago the whole of the so-called Petersham belt ribbons were made in these looms. The goods being woven with eight, ten or twelve ends of cotton, the shuttle in the large looms could not contain sufficient quantity of weft, and neither were the shuttle springs strong enough to puU it up into its place and make a good edge. These two difficulties have been overcome by looms specially constructed, but, although perfect goods are now made by power, they cannot surpass the article woven in a single hand-loom by a skilled hand. This branch of the business has always been managed through the instrumentality of the under- takers. The " undertaker " comes to the warehouse, receives instructions from the manufacturer, takes away the materials, agrees as to price — ^then winds, warps, prepares the loom, sees the pattern properly started,

110

SILK INDUSTRY.

Hand collects the work, brings it in and draws the wages, loom His remuneration used always to be one-third of the

work price paid at the warehouse, and in view of the nature

in of his services being properly taken into account, the

modern division was fair. As of late years much has been written era. in the Press respecting cottage industries, it may not be out

of place to call attention to the value of the single hand- loom for employment of this character. The loom itself occupies but a very small space, scores of women can spare from two to four hours per day from their domestic work, and the employment can be discontinued or resumed without any detriment to the article produced. The work is cleanly and almost noiseless, it entails no physical stress upon the weaver, and a very sensible addition can be made to the weekly earnings of a cottage household by adopting this form of employment.

The hand-looms making more than one breadth were introduced about 1770, and were first called " Dutch Looms," but whether they came from Holland there is no evidence to show.

" Dutch engine loom " is the name given to them by Porter, who further describes them as " worked by the hands and with treadles for the feet, in the same way as a common loom ; each warp occupies a separate shuttle, which, unless the weaver were furnished with as many arms as Briareus, cannot, it is evident, be passed from hand to hand. The apparatus for impelling the shuttle to and fro is, owing to a resemblance in its form to the implement, called a ladder. This ladder slides horizontally in a groove made in the batten ; and the whole being put in motion by the reciprocating action of a handle situated near the middle of the lay-cap, each cross-bar of the ladder is made to strike in the manner of a driver alternately right and left, upon one of the two shuttles between which it is placed . . . With one of these looms a diHgent work- man may weave one yard in an hour of as many narrow ribands as the loom is qualified to produce at the same time."

Hewitt has a few more hues in his journal concerning the trade. Following some interesting particulars

Plate XV.

Hand Loom in Workshop at Foleshill, Coventry.

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE.

Ill

relating to his first period of office as Mayor, he says : — " At this time I gave out some ribbons to be made, and I also sent materials to undertakers, both in Congleton and Leek, to be made up into ribbons." This would be in about 1760, or perhaps a httle earher. Enquiries made in Staffordshire have failed to elicit any information as to former industrial relations between Coventry and the towns named.

Before commencing the story of the development of Fashion the trade in the nineteenth century, a few general and the observations may be made. Firstly, the manufacture of Ribbon ribbons has perhaps been more influenced by fashion than Trade, any other great industry. This arises as a natural con- sequence from the fact that the article is almost exclusively employed in articles of mUUnery, which are subject to greater variations in shape, material and ornament than any other portion of feminine attire. Fluctuations in demand were accordingly both frequent and consider- able. When fashion was in its favour, consumption became very large, prices rose quickly, and money could be made easily. The converse of this was also true. No effort on the part of the manufacturer to produce cheaper goods, no skill in designing or colouring, could assist the sale of the article if the fiat of the fashionable world had gone forth that ribbons were not to be worn.

It was in its very essence a " switchback " trade — a ribbon could never be a necessity. In course of time, various substitutes have appeared competing for public favour, and as a consequence, the periods of alternate inflation and depression have become more and more pronounced. The question of tariffs has also largely influenced the industry. From 1765 to 1826 the importa- tion of silk goods woven abroad was prohibited. In the history of the Birmingham hardware district, edited by Samuel Timmins, 1866, the writer says that " So long as French ribbons were admitted into this country, the Foreign Qoventry manufacturers maintained a very high degree Competi- of excellence. From 1765, when the importation of tion and French ribbons and silk fabrics was again prohibited. Home a marked decadence is perceptible, both in quaUty and Industry

112 SILK INDUSTRY.

Foreign taste ; and it was not till 1826, after which year foreign Competi- competition was again partially permitted, that the tionand Coventry fabrics regained their former standard." Home Little importance can, we think, be attached to this

Industry, statement, and the writer gives no clue to his authority. " One of the most eminent manufacturers of that city " is said, however, by Porter, to " have declared that he should, at this day, blush for the work that even his best hands used to furnish " in the times before the legahsed importation of foreign manufactured silks. It is quite probable that the technical excellence improved under the spur of emulation and competition, and this manu- facturer was satisfied that by 1831 or earher Coventry patterns and productions were fully equal to those of the foreign rivals, and " qualified to come in successful com- petition with the most beautiful ribands wrought by the Lyonnaise weavers."

Before the introduction of the Jacquard machine the

hmitations were so great that no great skill in designing

could be shown, and patterns produced in Coventry

thirty years before the withdrawal of prohibition, and

still extant, exhibit very considerable ingenuity on the

part of the weaver.

Popula- In 1801 the population of Coventry numbered 16,049

tion inhabitants, residing in 2,930 houses. In the next decade

in the increase was barely 1,200, a slow growth not indicating

1801. prosperous commercial conditions. All the goods were

stiU produced by hand-looms, which were also plain looms,

in which any pattern, however simple, was made by an

arrangement of the shafts and leases, which was

technically called " tieing down." The alteration of a

loom took from four to six weeks, and in consequence

the power of variation was confined within very narrow

limits.

In 1801 Jacquard completed his great invention ; but Sir Thomas Wardle states that even in 1823 there were only five of these machines in Coventry. The number had increased to six hundred in 1832. By this beautiful machine every lease was lifted independently ; the question whether it should be raised or not was decided

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE. 113

by a perforated card upon a four-sided wooden cylinder, Jac- and the whole of the preparatory process was under- quard's taken by a draughtsman and his ally the card-stamper. Inven-

A bouquet of flowers could now be woven with far less tion. expenditure of time than a simple geometrical figure could be " tied down " in the plain loom. Mr. Timmins' remarks, quoted above, as to the influence of the tariff, may explain in part the apathy of the manufacturers in availing themselves of the invention, but it is only fair to add that the machine was useless until a foreign draughtsman could be obtained, or a native instructed in this preliminary art. During the years 1813 to 1815, the trade experienced one of those fortunate periods which recurred from time to time. It was known as " the big purl time," and was still often referred to in the boyhood of the writer. A purl is simply a loop formed on the edge of the ribbon by the weft passing round horse-hairs or cottons outside or beyond the natural edge. The Coventry Mercury says that the fashion lasted from February, 1813, to the autumn of 1815. Manufacturers could, during this period, obtain almost any price that they chose to ask for their goods, and, as they competed against each other for the available labour, wages rose to an extraordinary level. The prosperity of the silk- weavers was great and, according to a story current half a century ago, the weavers advertised for fifty poor watch- makers to come and shell peas for them on Saturday night.

The story of the trade in the ensuing thirty years makes a somewhat melancholy history. It was a time of strikes and troubles, of attempts to introduce uniform lists of weaving prices, and of efforts to repair the dissatisfaction that these measures caused. One list, the first of its kind, was made in February, 1813, and it was succeeded by various amended hsts, 'the last one to be published being that of 1859, carrying 82 signatures. The lists, it is clear, served no useful purpose. The simple fact is, that the variations in the article are so numerous and diverse that a hst is of no value. The quality of the silk employed may increase or diminish a weaver's power of production from

114 SILK INDUSTRY.

33 to 50 'per cent. Every price should have been settled by discussion between manufacturer and weaver, and this was the arrangement eventually adopted. Following infractions of lists or disputes about wages, there were strikes in 1822, 1831, 1834 and 1835. The first strike recorded was in 1819, and was occasioned by the employ- ment of a woman upon a hand-loom, it haviag been the trade custom for women to work only upon " single " hand-looms.

It is pertinent to point out that the industrial miseries of this period were by no means confined to Coventry or to the trade in silk. The reversion from a long war to a state of peace and the badness of harvests conspired to aggravate the lot of working people in aU parts of the country. The contemporary investigations by Parhament show that the expansions of trade did not provide for all who needed work during the seasons in which consumption of silk was increasing. When full of work the weavers were embarrassed by want of money, and under the necessity of working exorbitantly long hours in order to keep body and soul together. This condition, general throughout the country, was accentuated in the silk ribbon trade by the adversities peculiar to itself. Coventry trade was dependent upon the home market, and followed its ups and downs, lacking alternative branches of trade to which to turn in periods of short demand. Coventry In the years intervening between 1823 and 1827, the and pro- industry went through a troublous period, in many ways hibition analogous to that experienced in later times. In 1824 pohcy. it became known in the City that Government intended to remove the prohibition excluding foreign silk goods of aU kinds from the English market. During this and the following year there was a constant succession of appeals, memorials and petitions addressed to the House of Commons or to Government Departments, Mr. EUice, and later Mr. Fyler, the Members for the City, came before the House on several occasions to advocate the claims of their constituents for consideration. A pubhc meeting of the manufacturers drew up a memorial to the Board of Trade, asking that entire prohibition should be continued.

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE.

115

The memorial stated that there were 9,700 looms employed in Coventry, of which 7,500 were the property of the weavers. The prayer of the memoriahsts was refused.

In 1826 the distress appears to have become so severe that in May the Mayor convened a meeting to consider means of rehef. At this meeting Alderman Whitwell stated that " the scenes of distress which he had witnessed were really appaUing and almost beyond conception." The result of the meeting was the opening of a subscription, the Corporation heading the list with fifty guineas, while Mr. Elhce, the Member, subscribed one hundred guineas. In 1828 a petition carrying five thousand signatures was presented to the House of Commons, asking the House for the repeal of the Act passed in the last Session of ParUament, forbidding candidates to give ribbons to their friends at elections. Mr. Fyler, who presented it, only had the support of nine members in a House of a hundred. In 1828, one of the petitions to the House assumed a singular form. The weavers at a large meeting unanimously agreed to ask the House of Commons to pass what they called a " Wages Protection BiU." This measure was to make a scale of prices agreed upon by weavers and manufacturers legally binding upon all employers. The constant stream of appeals and petitions seem to have reached a chmax in 1829, when a deputation which waited upon the Board of Trade was plainly told that it was not the intention of the Government to receive any more communications on the subject of the silk trade.

It may be interesting here to quote from some of these petitions a few particulars as to the number of persons employed in the industry. For instance, in 1826, the number of manufacturers in the City is given as 120, finding employment for 20,000 people, and this figure is to a certain extent confirmed by a directory for 1822, in the possession of Mr. Andrews, which gives the number of manufacturers as 95.

Assuming these statements to be correct, it is manifest that men with a comparatively small number of looms supplied goods directly to the trade. And that this was

Coventry and pro- hibition policy.

Statistics of

Employ- ment.

116

SILK INDUSTRY.

Statistics the case is known from records of manufacturers wlio were of living in the middle of the last century. The writer

Employ- was personally acquainted with a manufacturer of this ment. type who, having two large shops containing some ten or twelve looms, employed no assistants in the warehouse except his own family, and saved eventually a very con- siderable fortune. It is worthy of remark in connection with these statements that the trade was carried on principally with shops, the exclusively wholesale houses not then having been estabhshed.

From the outcry that the proposal of the Government had raised, it might be assumed that they were going to ante-date the removal of Protection altogether. Such, however, was far from being the case, as a very con- siderable duty was still levied on aU silk goods made abroad. It is almost impossible to state with accuracy what the percentage of the duties levied on the value of the goods amounted to, as the import duty was charged on the weight. After the admission of the goods in 1826 figured satin ribbons were rated at eighteen shiUings per pound, and four years later this was reduced to fifteen shillings. This would seem to be a very adequate pro- tection, because, assuming the weight of a piece of ribbon three inches wide at about eight ounces, even reckoned on the lower scale, this would yield a tax of 7s. 6d. per piece of 36 yards, or 2|d. per yard in addition to freight. The actual amount of the duty abolished in 1860 remains nebulous for the same reasons. Mr. Alderman Andrews, a good authority, says that it was beheved at the time to have amounted to 15 per cent, but it will be evident from the method of collection that an absolutely precise estimate is impossible. y

Discon- During the whole of the period briefly reviewed, there

tent was continued imeasiness and discontent among weavers,

among This led several times to outbreaks very nearly the approaching riot, but the magistrates of the day behaved

Weavers, with commendable tact and vigour, and no great harm resulted.

The year 1831 marked the first appearance of steam power in the trade, and its introduction was attended by circum-

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE.

117

stances which had, for some concerned, consequences almost tragic. Mr. Josiah Beck was a competent manufacturer. Advent and the inventor of what was known as the " peg batten," of power a method of driving the shuttles by upright iron pegs, looms, which was in almost universal use until it was superseded by the rack and pinion brought from the Continent.

Mr. Beck erected a factory in New Buildings, filled it with looms, and put down an engine to drive them. On November 7th, after an earlier meeting in the morning, the weavers, at about three o'clock in the afternoon, rushed down to the new factory, forced their way in, brutally treated Beck, cut out the warps, threw the sUk into the river, commenced at once to demolish the machinery, and ended by setting fire to the building. In those days, in an emergency like this, the authorities were rather helpless ; there was no pohce force and no effective means of extinguishing fire. St. Michael's parish had an old hand-engine, which was sent, but though it arrived in the afternoon, the report states that it was not put to work till about eight o'clock, after the roof had fallen in : it seems to have been used principally to cool the embers. Luckily there were detachments of two light cavalry regiments in the city, and they quickly made their appearance and cowed the rioters.

A guard was mounted at the Gas Works, and the streets HostUe patrolled most of the night. The mob appears to have attitude met with no sympathy from the citizens generally, as of we are told that when a detachment of the cavalry Workers, appeared to protect the premises of another manufacturer, believed to be obnoxious, they were loudly cheered. The crier was sent out asking citizens to present themselves to be sworn as special constables, and the magistrates were busy till eleven o'clock at night administering the oath to the stream of volunteers. No one appears to have been arrested on that day, but eventually some five or six ringleaders were tried, three of whom were convicted and sentenced to death, a sentence commuted at the sohcitation of Mr. EUice, the Member, to transportation for life. The destruction of Beck's factory had serious consequences for the trade. Mr. Timmias says that it

118

SILK INDUSTRY.

Hostile put back the emplojmieiit of power in Coventry for five

attitude years. In 1832, and again in 1838, it was confidently

of asserted that steam power could never be economically

workers, applied to the manufacture of good ribbons, and it was

not until Coventry felt the competition of Congleton,

Leek and Derby, where steam power had been employed,

that the manufacturers began to use it generally.

Commencing from the date 1838, Coventry may be said to have followed a normal course for the next twenty years, and the city was weU estabhshed as the "Ribbon Market" of England. The towns to the north-east, already mentioned, could never claim such a position. Many minor improvements in looms were introduced, and not only were factories built and equipped, but the looms were continually being increased in size, so that sixteen, eighteen and even twenty ribbons of the width known as " 24 dy " (about 2^ inches) were made at once. In private houses, where the machinery generally belonged to the weavers, steam was apphed by placing an engine in the rear of houses built in rows or blocks. The charge for power was collected weekly with the rent ; at one time the rate was as low as two and sixpence per loom per week, but after considerable advances in the price of fuel this was increased to three and sixpence and some- times four shillings per week.

It is difficult to ascertain the actual return in the most prosperous years of the industry ; it certainly exceeded one million, and probably reached nearly two million pounds. It is known that in one year a single manu- facturer dehvered to a London wholesale house a hundred thousand pounds' worth of plain ribbons, and there were High at least five or six other firms whose productions would

water reach similar figures. The years of the Russian War mark of (1854 — 1856) were times of prosperity. A check was pros- experienced in the Autumn of 1857 due to a financial panic

perity. following grave American losses, but this passed away in the following Spring, and up to the close of 1859 no commercial cloud darkened the prospects of the trade. This year may be regarded as the culminating point in the industry, and the population of the city, which

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE. 119

numbered 47,000 in 1851, must have risen to at least High 50,000 in 1859. water

The news that a commercial treaty with France was mark of in course of preparation broke somewhat abruptly on pros- the world early in 1860. When its provisions became perity. fully known, the announcement that aU manufactured silk goods were to come into England duty free created something like a panic in this neighbourhood. Appeals for reconsideration, and for delay, were of no avail, and in the course of a few months the Treaty was signed.

Taking a calm retrospect of the measure, and its various consequences, it may be urged with justice that Coventry was treated with a lack of consideration which was most unstatesmanlike. This statement is based on a know- ledge of the system on which the trade was worked, and of the losses which the sudden announcement of the free entry of foreign goods caused the manufacturers. Before the passing of the Treaty, the trade was to a great extent speculative. Goods were very largely prepared in anticipation of customers' wants, and a rough census taken at the time showed that something like £1,000,000 worth of ribbons was ready for the Spring trade. With the prospect of foreign ribbons entering untaxed, no buyer Effects would operate freely, small purchases only were made of the to cover immediate needs, and a few weeks' delay in French seUing articles for fashionable wear may mean goods Treaty, reduced to half their price. If the wider interests of the nation demanded that the silk trade should be sacrificed, common justice should have delayed the free entry until the commencement of the Autumn season, say October the 1st. A motion to this effect was made by one of the Members for the county in the House of Commons, but was defeated. Only the houses with considerable capital could stand the losses that ensued. Stock after stock was tendered, failure after failure announced, until thirty to forty firms had succumbed in the terrible depression that followed. There is no evidence that the French statesmen would have made the immediate admission of their goods a sine qua non, and faihng that condition, the course taken by the Government appears indefensible.

120

SILK INDUSTRY.

Coventry manufacturers, by subscribing to a Paris firm, obtained packets of French patterns several times yearly. The cuttings showed evidences of design, colouring and production beyond the power of the Coventry manufacturer to achieve, and the fear was that the goods finding their way to the market at a reduction of 1 5 per cent must monopo- hse the trade. This was an erroneous inference resulting from a too limited view of the circumstances, and showed that the home manufacturers had not yet reahsed the real source of their coming danger. It must be considered unfortunate that their inability to compete with their foreign rivals was so loudly proclaimed. The SUk Manu- facturers' Association held frequent meetings in the Spring of 1860, and it was eventually decided to send a deputation to the Continent to visit the leading centres of the silk manufacture and to report upon machinery and methods. Superi- Members of this deputation were furnished with intro-

ority of ductions, both official and personal, and from their own Conti- account their reception everywhere was cordial in the nental extreme. Journeying first to Paris, they had an inter- Industry, view with Mr. Cobden, the leading negotiator of the Treaty. Reading the report after the lapse of half a century, one cannot fail to be struck with their account of what took place. Not a word appears respecting the continuance of any duty on French silks exported to England, but there was insistence on the injustice of the imposition of any tax on their own goods sent to France. Mr. Cobden is reported to have said that " He quite fell in with our views and thought the visit a wise and proper one, as it would enable us to speak from facts and observation, and when the settlement of the silk duties came before the French Government, we should be able to show the many advantages which France possesses, and the impohcy of retaining any portion of the duty unless they are prepared to declare themselves to the world as being worse manufacturers than we are, to the extent of the duty they are determined to impose." French manufacturers might well have permitted the duty to lapse, but they could not be led to agree to this. Considered in conjunction with the Enghsh fear of foreign

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE. 121

competition at home, the urgent demand of the deputation Superi- for remission is so incongruous that it is not devoid of ority of humour. _ Conti-

_St. Etienne, St. Chamond, Lyons, Zurich, Basel were nental visited in turn, and methods, machinery, wages, hours Industry, of labour carefully noted and described.

The summary of the report shows that in system, machinery, trained labour, the Continental industry was far in advance of anything existing in England, and the competition which had to be faced on equal terms was really formidable.

Soon after the passing of the Treaty, or even before it was an accomphshed fact, disputes between the manu- facturers and their workmen commenced. There were constant complaints of infractions of the hst. As early as March, 1860, meetings were held to discuss these complaints, and after several abortive attempts to effect a settlement, the masters threw down the gauntlet by issuing an address signed by forty-four firms, of which the following is an extract : — "In consequence of the recent remission of the duties on foreign ribbons, and the altered position of the trade from this and other causes, we find it is no longer possible to maintain the lists of prices to which our names are attached, and we hereby withdraw our names from those lists." On the following Monday morning, July 9th, 1860, a large body of weavers met on Greyfriars Green and passed a resolution requesting the manufacturers to consider a revision of the hst ; in case of refusal the meeting pledged itself to strike.

The masters refused to consider the question of revision, and on Tuesday, July 17th, the strike commenced. It was to continue until the masters should sign a uniform hst for both the factory and out-door trade, but from the first the men were beaten. The time was most inopportune, and a large number of the manufacturers were determined to be reheved altogether of the incubus Trade of a hst. As already pointed out, the articles woven had disputes so many and such minute variations that uniformity in and a the price for weaving was well-nigh impossible. The strike.

122

SILK INDUSTRY.

Trade most serious consequence that ensued from the strike disputes was not felt tOl some years had passed. and a It has been pointed out that Coventry in 1860 did not

strike. recognise where her real danger lay. Those leading the industry failed to show that it was the plain ribbon that must always be the backbone of the trade. It is true that St. Etienne was at the forefront of the figured and fancy department (though to-day Basel is sharply dis- puting this), but the fancy trade is casual and ephemeral ; a good demand for one year and stagnation for three describes the situation in a single phrase, while, if ribbons are fashionable, plain satins or taffetas or gros- grains often sell well for five or six seasons in succession. In the plain article the competition with St. Etienne has never been acute, as the French goods are mostly of the better class, and below a certain price Paris provides herself from Basel. Before the year of the strike the Swiss ribbons were for the most part light, flimsy, gauze textures, that had a place in the market but did not seriously compete for the great middle-class English trade. During the delay caused by the strike, cuttings of Coventry productions were sent to Basel for quotation ; sample orders were placed, and a start made in a competition that destroyed the trade in England. The strike lasted untH the end of August and during the time it continued £3,460 was withdrawn from Savings' banks. It was settled by a resolution appointing a committee of arbitra- tion composed of employers and weavers, to whom any offer of employment was to be submitted and without whose approval the work was not to be accepted. Not only was the so-caUed settlement clumsy and unworkable, but there is no evidence that the manufacturers ever consented to take a share in the decisions. It may truly be described as still-born.

For the next three troublous years a few lines must

suffice. They were periods of sadness, depression and

A futile gloom, attended by the ruin of manufacturers, the breaking

settle- up of homes, the expatriation of workmen, and the sale of

ment. thousands of looms for less than the cost of the wood

and iron used in their construction.

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE. 123

The population, which was 47,000 in 1851, would at A futile the normal rate of increase have reached 52,000 in 1861 ; settle- it had decreased to 41,638. The depression was greatly ment. increased by the trouble in America, which first diminished the power of the United States as a large purchaser, and then caused her to raise her duties on imports to the point of prohibition. This agaiii injured the Enghsh trade indirectly, throwing upon this market a heavier weight of Continental competition from manu- facturers deprived of American export trade. As early as April, 1861, relief committees were formed, and in the autumn a national subscription was opened ; people were assisted both to emigrate and immigrate ; and the sufferings of destitution reheved as far as possible.

Enterprise in the shape of new industries was also abundantly shown. The weaving of elastic webbing, the manufacture of wooUen materials, the building of a mUl for spinning and weaving cotton, the manufacture of cotton friUings, the weaving of ornamental book-markers, portraits, etc., aU took their rise at this time, and last and greatest, a smaU factory was started to construct Estab- sewing machines, which proved the commencement of hshment the very considerable cycle and motor-car industry of of New to-day. Indus-

The older trade was, however, by no means yet dead, tries. Towards 1863 Coventry settled down to the new condi- tions, and from that time forward the business again increased.

One important determination was rigidly adhered to by aU manufacturers, and that was that no coloured goods should be made without a definite order and sufficient time for dehvery.

Coventry had stUl circumstances in its favour that secured the old industry for a time from a complete coUapse. Perhaps the most important was that five leading wholesale houses stiU maintained a " Coventry Ribbon Department," with a buyer and a complete staff, and these departments had to justify their existence solely by the sale of Coventry goods, as side by side with them was a foreign ribbon buyer, prepared to contest

124

SILK INDUSTRY.

Estab- their right to purchase anything abroad. This assured

lishment to the city five large and regular customers.

of New Again, the city had a great advantage in her power

Indus- of quicker dehvery. This arose partly from the system.

tries. The Swiss method of thoroughly cleansing the silk, tying

out all defective threads, getting rid of Imots, etc., takes

some days longer than the old Coventry plan. This fact,

added to a shorter time required for transit, and the

power to send small quantities urgently wanted, every

few days, was, in the case of a fashionable article, a very

great help to business. Every season, the purchasers

from abroad (allusion is made to the houses with single

departments) found themselves short of some colour, and

very frequently of some particular design, and they

hastened to avail themselves of the home production to

supply immediate needs.

One old Coventry plain ribbon had a long hfe, and for some reason was never seriously interfered with abroad. This was the " Coventry Souple Oriental." For years every house made a staple of this, and a large and regular trade was carried on. It gave way at last, and was super- seded by a brighter article, and although never attaining to its old dimensions, the business again flourished, and gradually increased, until, from 1865 to 1874, a very considerable turnover was effected, a good deal of money saved, and several large fortunes made. The This period includes that of the Franco-German War,

hold on and Coventry shared to the full the general prosperity of home the country.

trade. In 1872 — 1875 watered goods were in demand, and

this proved a very useful freak of fashion, clearing out a large quantity of stock in the hands of the dealers, and making room for newer goods.

The year 1876 provided an opportunity of earning a little money in fancy ribbons. For some years after there was no special demand to chronicle ; manufacturers probably held their own, but fashion provided no chances of increased trade. In 1884 a Technical School was started with a well equipped textile department, which is still providing instruction for those desirous of competent

Plate XVI. Weaving Room at the Coventry Technical School.

THE COVENTRY RIBBON TRADE. 125

training in the industry. The last really good spell of Wane business was from 1886 to the autumn of 1889, the latter of the being a specially good and profitable season. Meantime, in Industry, the period from 1880 to 1890 the Coventry Ribbon Depart- ments had one by one been given up, the last, that of the Fore Street Company, disappearing in 1890. From 1890 onwards the trade every year showed signs of decay ; there were a few months of good business in 1892 and 1895, and a short demand for fancy ribbons in 1896. The hopes held out of business in the Jubilee year of 1897 proved a delusion, and by 1903 every manufacturer remain- ing had sought some other means of employment for his capital and his industry : the ribbon trade was dead.

It might lead to erroneous impressions if this record Survival failed to add that the Coventry textile trade generally of certain must not be confounded with the special branch for branches, ribbons. The former is still a considerable industry, looms can be counted by hundreds, and many woven articles of utility are produced in Coventry. Coventry frillings. Navy hat ribbons, Masonic ribbons, woven labels of many kinds, elastic webs, and brace webs are stiU made, and there is no probability of any decrease in the demand for these articles.

Coventry does not however now make millinery ribbons properly so-caUed, and it is the production of these goods that has always been understood as a " ribbon trade." Competition was intensified by the successful introduction of weighting coloured sUk. This process, discovered some ten or fifteen years ago, has been exclusively used abroad, and now the prices at which ribbons are sold reveal the presence of a considerable quantity of material other than silk. The ribbon loses nothing in lustre, and durabihty is not demanded.

In concluding this chapter, the writer would hke to record his opinion of the Coventry weavers as he knew them personally for many years. Alderman John Gulson truly said : " The old Coventry weaver was a gentleman," and there was no exaggeration in the statement. Not one of these men would come to the warehouse without

126

SILK INDUSTRY.

Refining having first washed, shaved and donned his black Sunday- influence coat. Nearly all wore the tail silk hat, often somewhat of threadbare, but always neatly brushed. They were aU

artistic small capitalists ; two or three large power-looms well employ- mounted (often four or five) were to be found in their ment. shops, representing an average value of eighty pounds each. Steam power having in many cases been with- drawn as unremunerative, some of them towards the close of the century possessed their own gas engines. When properly treated, they were courteous and respectful, civU and obliging ; in short, excellent types of the class of workman that a thriving ^Uk industry tends to draw towards itself.

Plate XVII.

A View of Macclesfield.

CHAPTER XII.

Macclesfield.

Macclesfield, the town that has the best claim to be Capital of regarded as the present headquarters of the British silk British industry, was called by a topographer of the mid-sixteenth Silk century " one of the fairest towns in Cheshire " and its Trade, surroundings are still beautiful. In his Vale Royall of England the Herald, Wilham Smith, said : " It standeth upon the edge of Macclesfield forest, upon a high bank, at the foot whereof runneth a small river, named BoUin." Its associations with the manufacturing industry date from 1756, the year in which its first silk-throwing miU was started, but before that date the town had an intimate connection with silk. The epitaph upon the founder of the first mill sets forth that he had previously carried on the button* and twist manufacture in the town, and accounts agree that the making of fancy buttons was the staple occupation of the inhabitants in times earher than The old the mid-eighteenth century. Button

Dr. Aikin, in A Description of the Country from Thirty Trade.

♦ A will dated 1573, in which the testator leaves " unto Strowde my frize jerkin with silke buttons," and unto Symonde Bisshoppe, the smyth, my other frize jerkin with stone buttons," is cited by Beck in The Drapers Dictionary. The same work quotes an inventory of equal period in which there are detailed :

8. d.

V grosse of sylke buttons ... ... ... ... ... ... 8 3

iiij sylke buttons ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 0 20

iiij grose of sylke buttons ... ... ... ... ... ... 5 8

Quick sylver and brase buttons ... ... ... ... ... 0 6

iij grose of sylke buttons ... ... ... ... ... ... 4 6

half grose of glasse buttons ... ... ... ... ... 0 7

Silk buttons, it will seem, were not expensive articles. Some light may be thrown upon the nature of the " stone " or " glass " buttons by a quotation from Ephraim Chamber's Cyclopcedia. It is there said that the name Button-stone was given " to a peculiar species of slate found in the marquisate of Bareith in a mountain called Fiohtelberg ; which is extremely different from the common sorts of slate, in that it runs with great ease into glass or other foreign substance, to promote its vitrification as other stones require .... The Swedes

and Germans make buttons of the glass produced from it, which is very black and shining."

127

128 SILK INDUSTRY.

The old to Forty Miles around Manchester, published in 1795, gave Button clear evidence upon the point, writing : Trade. " With respect to the trade of Macclesfield, that of

wrought buttons in silk, mohair and twist is

properly its staple. The history of this button

trade affords some curious particulars. The use

of them may be traced 150 years backwards ;

and they were once curiously wrought with the

needle, making a great figure in fuU-trimmed

suits. Macclesfield was always considered as the

centre of this trade, and nulls were erected long

ago both there and at Stockport for winding silk,

and making twist for buttons and trimming suitable

to them."

Silk buttons were said stiU to be a considerable article

of trade in 1795 and they had been in use for at least

two centuries.

Their importation had been prohibited in 1662, under Charles II, in an Act that aimed also at " Forreigne Bonelace, Bandstrings, Needle-worke, Cut-worke, Fringe Silke and Imbroidery." The effect was apparently to stimulate trade in buttons covered with hair, for the preamble of an Act of 1692 said that since (1662) " Hair Buttons are chiefly used and worn." As the " Button Makers of England do make better Haire Buttons then any

are imported and are able to supply greater

quantities of them then they can make use," it was

enacted that hair buttons should be placed under the

same ban as those trimmed with silk. Further details

as to the nature of these articles and the origin of the

materials used in manufactm-ing them are contained in an

Act of 1709 :

The An Act for employing the Manufacturers by

Act of encouraging the Consumption of Raw SUk and

1709. Mohair Yarn.

Whereas the Maintenance and Subsistence of many Thousands of Men, Women and Children within this Kingdom depends upon the making of Silk Mohair Gimp and Thread Buttons and Button- holes with the Needle and great Numbers of

MACCLESFIELD. 129

Throwsters, Twisters, Spinners, Winders, Dyers The and others are employed in preparing the Act of

Materials 1709.

And whereas the Silk and Mohair .... is purchased in Turkey and other Foreign Parts in Exchange for the WooUen Manufacture of Great Britain .... an Act was made in the Tenth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King Wilham the Third (of glorious Memory), intitled an Act to making or selling Buttons made of Cloth Serge Drugget or other Stuffs . , . but that the intended encourage- ment by the said Act has in a great measure been rendred ineffectual by a late and unforeseen Practice of making and binding of Button-holes with Cloth Serge Drugget or other Stuffs .... to the great Discouragement of and Abatement in the consumption of Raw Silk and Mohair Yarn and the utter ruin of numerous Families. Be it enacted .... that no Taylor and other Person whatsoever . . . shall make, sell, set on use or bind ... on any Clothes or Wearing Garment, any Button or Button-holes made of or used or bound with Serge Drugget, Frize Camblet or any other Stuff of which clothes are usually made upon Forfeiture of the Sum of Five Pounds for every Dozen of such Buttons and Button-holes. Aikin refers with some indignation to attempts made as late as 1779 to apply the restriction upon buttons with rigour. He says : " Hired informers were engaged in London and the country— ^an odious and very uncom- mercial mode of enforcing a manufacture ! The result of which was rather to promote the use of metal and horn buttons."

The buttons made in Macclesfield and district were Pedlar distributed to the pubhc by pedlars, who have always Button found small articles of decoration and utihty convenient Sellers, objects for their purposes. One band of these pedlars, known far and wide as " The Flashmen," may be supposed at least to have contributed towards the significance that the slang word " flash " has acquired. According to Aikin :

130 SILK INDUSTRY.

Pedlar " In the wild country between Buxton, Leek and

Button Macclesfield, called the Flash, from a chapel of

Sellers. that name, lived a set of pedestrian chapmen, who

hawked about these buttons, together with ribands and ferreting made at Leek, and handkerchiefs with smaU wares from Manchester. These pedlars were known on the roads which they travelled by the appellation of Flashmen, and frequented farm- houses and fairs, using a sort of slang or canting dialect." The gang " paid ready money for their goods, tiU they acquired credit, which they were sure to extend until no more was to be had ; when they dropped their con- nections without paying, and formed new ones."

The same kind of thing is recorded of the pedlar gangs inhabiting the wilder parts of West Yorkshire. The strength of the law asserted itself over them at last, although :

" They long went on thus, enclosing the common

where they dwelt for a trifling pajment, and

building cottages, till they began to have farms,

which they improved from the gains of their credit,

without troubling themselves about payment,

since no baUiff for a long time attempted to serve

a writ there. At length, a resolute officer, a native

of the district, ventured to arrest several of them ;

whence their credit being blown up, they changed

the wandering fife of pedlars for the settled care

of their farms. But as these were held by no

leases, they were left at the mercy of the lords

of the soil, the Harpen family, who made them

pay for their impositions on others."

There was still another group with a significant name,

of whom Aikin writes :

Famous " Another set of pedestrians from the country, whose

Gangs. buttons were formerly made, was caUed the

Broken-cross Gang, from a place of that name between Macclesfield and Congleton. These associated with the Flashmen at fairs, playing with thimbles and buttons, hke jugglers with cups

Plate XVIII. Memorial to Charles Roe in Christ Church,

Macclesfield.

MACCLESFIELD. 131

and balls, and enticing people to lose their money Famous by gambling. They at length took to the kindred Gangs, trades of robbing and picking pockets, till at length the gang was broken up by the hands of Justice." Charles Roe, the founder of the silk-throwing industry in Macclesfield, is said to have been a native of Derby, and as he was born in 1717, the example of the famous Lombe must have been prominently before his eyes. It is to be judged from the inscription to his memory in Christ Church, Macclesfield, that his button-making business (said to have been started in 1740) prospered, for Roe was Mayor of the town in 1747-8. The throwing- mill erected on Park Green achieved sufficient success to prompt competitors to follow Roe's example, and in a short while the town had a dozen such miUs. The cir- cumstances aU mark out Roe as a man of exceptional energy and ambition. The opening of the miU could have been no inconsiderable venture, but two years after its opening the founder embarked upon a further enterprise. He had partners in the silk business, and traded as Roe, Robinson and Stafford, and in 1758 he induced partners to join him in exploiting an Anglesey copper mine.

The machinery at Park Green was copied from that of ^ombe at Derby, like the machines in other mills erected after the expiry of Lombe's patent in 1732. The copying was a somewhat simple task because it had been made a condition of the Parhamentary grant to Sir Thomas Lombe that he should place a model of his machine upon pubhc exhibition.

Roe was 67 at the time of his death in 1784, and his survivors erected in the church that he had founded a bust over the altar and an inscription, headed by a figure of Genius, holding in one hand a cog-wheel. Of this inscription a copy follows :

" Whoever thou art. The

whom a curiosity to search into the monuments of the dead, Founda- or an ambition to emulate their living virtues, tion of

has brought hither, the SUk-

receive the gratification of either object, in the example of throwing

Charles Roe, Esq. Industry.

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SILK INDUSTRY.

The "A gentleman who, with a slender portion on his

work of entrance into business, carried on the button and twist Charles manufacture in this town with the most active industry, Roe. ingenuity and integrity ; and by an happy versatility

of genius, at different periods of his hfe, first estabhshed here, and made instrumental to the acquisition of an ample fortune, the silk and copper manufactories, by which many thousands of families have been since sup- ported. The obstacles which envy and malevolence threw in his way retarded not his progress ; enterprizing, emulous and indefatigable, difficulties to others were incitements to action in him. His mind was vast and comprehensive, formed for great undertakings, and equal to their accomplishment. By an intuitive kind of know- ledge, he acquired an intimate acquaintance with the mineral strata of the earth ; and was esteemed by com- petent judges greatly to excel in the art of mining. In that fine his concerns were extensive ; and the land- owners, as weU as proprietors of the valuable mine in the Isle of Anglesea, are indebted to him for the discovery. " It pleased the Almighty to bless his various labours and benevolent designs. His grateful heart dehghted to acknowledge the mercies he received. God was in all his thoughts. And actuated by the purest sentiments of genuine devotion, which burnt steadily through his hfe, and the brighter as he approached the Fountain of Light, he dedicated to the service of his Maker a part of that increase His bounty had bestowed, erecting and endowing, at his sole expence, the elegant structure which incloses this monument ; and which, it is remarkable, was built from the surface of the ground, and completely finished, both inside and out, in so short a space of time as seven months.

" Reader, when thou hast performed the duties which brought thee hither, think on the founder of this beautiful edifice, and aspire after the virtues which enabled him A to raise it.

remark- " He died on May 3rd, 1784, aged 67 years, leaving a able widow and ten children (who have erected this monument

Epitaph, as a tribute to conjugal and fihal affection) poignantly to

MACCLESFIELD. 133

lament a most indulgent husband and tender father and a general loss."

The Macclesfield weaving trade is dated by Mr. Helsby, The Silk- in a footnote to Ormerod's History of Cheshire, from about weaving 1790, so that for more than thirty years Macclesfield Trade, throwsters were preparing yarn for outside consumption. Their main outlet is said to have been the London market, where their silk was bought for the supply of Spitalfields. Their twists and sewing sUks were sold to mercers and wooUen drapers ; Manchester became an important market for weaving yarns later, and in 1834-35 {vide Manchester, J). 158) Manchester looms consumed some 8,0001bs. a week of Macclesfield thrown silk.

In 1785 a cotton-spinning mUl was opened on Water Green, and derived its power from the BoUin, but cotton proved less attractive locally than sUk. There are cotton miUs at points outside the town, but there remains only one within Macclesfield to-day. The instance is perhaps the single one in this country in which sOk has not fared the worse in a contest with cotton. SUk-weaving prospered until the external competition of the distressed hand-loom weavers of Lancashire became pressing, and in 1815 the relatively highly-paid Macclesfield weavers had to submit to a reduction in wages of 25 per cent. A further sign of uneasiness in trade conditions exhibited itself in the riots of discontented workpeople in 1824, which were serious enough to require the presence of troops from Manchester and Stockport.

This was the year of a reduction of duties upon raw Indus- and waste silks, and the prospects of obtaining raw material trial more cheaply doubtless influenced the insertion in the unrest. Macclesfield Press of a couple of advertisements, which were quoted with some effect in debate in the House of Commons, as indications of the profits then to be made in the trade.

1825. Advertisement at Macclesfield, 19 February. " To overseers, guardians of the poor and famihes desirous of setthng in Macclesfield. Wanted immediately from 4 — 5,000 persons from seven to twenty years of age to be employed in

134

SILK INDUSTRY.

Higli the throwing and manufacture of silk. The great

Wages increase of the trade having caused a great scarcity

and loss of workmen, it is suggested that this is a most

of trade. favourable opportunity for persons with large

families and overseers, who wish to put out children. Apphcations to be made, if by letter post-paid, to the printer of this paper." 1825. Advertisement at Macclesfield.

" Wanted to be buHt immediately one thousand houses." The change in duties necessitated an inquiry into the quantity of sUk on hand, and the relative position of Macclesfield in 1824 is seen to have been a commanding one. There was warehoused at Macclesfield £53,000 worth of silk, as against the £19,000 of Coventry, and £7,000 of Leek.

Further riots broke out in 1826, and in 1829 a prolonged strike of weavers involved such distress that a grant of £1,000 for the relief of Macclesfield operatives was made by the King. The tenacity with which Macclesfield workers held to the principles of trade unionism has since been demonstrated, and the relatively high rates of wages have not been maintained without a surrender of weaving and dyeing business to the competing home and foreign centres of these trades.

The export business in bandanna handkerchiefs, of

which accounts are given in the chapters on " The

Smugghng Trade " and " Waste sUk," brought work to

Macclesfield, and by the middle of the 19th century

there were tabulated in the local Directory the following

merchants and manufacturers : silk brokers, 9 ; dyers,

18 ; manufacturers, 86 ; silk-men, 30 ; silk merchants.

Effect 3 ; printers, 2 ; trimming manufacturers, 1 ; makers of

on gimps, fringes, etc., 17; sUk throwsters, 56; twisters, 3;

Export waste dealers, 4; and sUk- weavers with looms in their

Business, own houses, 540.

The population of the town has remained stationary over several later decades, but meantime the conditions and prosperity of the workers have improved equally with

Plate XIX.

Silk leaving by Power in Macclesfield.

MACCLESFIELD. 135

those in the neighbouring town of Leek, where a some- Trade what different class of trade is carried on. The French with Treaty, by opening the door to the influx of foreign goods, Japan, proved a great blow to the manufacture of the broad silks, which occupied a large number of Macclesfield looms previous to that date, and subsequent changes of fashion have adversely affected the business in sUk scarves and handkerchiefs upon which Macclesfield additionally rehed. A demand has sprung up in recent years for confections for ladies' wear made up from Japanese sUks and fabrics of Continental origin, and Macclesfield men have addressed themselves to this new fine of business. As one consequence, women's labour is in great demand, and good wages are paid for skilled workers.

A good sign of the vitahty remaining in the manufactur- ing trade of Macclesfield is the increase of power-loom weaving. Several firms have bmlt new sheds and equipped them with the most modern machinery, and hand-loom weaving is year by year being discontinued. The town has always paid special and devoted attention to art and technical training, and designers and managers trained there have found excellent openings in other towns where mixed silk and other goods are manufactured. Their competence at this work is beyond question.

Many of the firms in existence 50 years ago have ceased to exist, the members having retired with the gains of previous years, but some few new and enterprising manufacturers and makers-up have succeeded in estabhshing a fairly flourishing trade under modern conditions.

Among firms in existence half a century ago and still pursuing a vigorous attempt to keep up the prestige of the manufacturing interests of Macclesfield, we may name a few and describe the nature of their operations.

The firm of J. and T. Brocklehurst and Sons was founded Notable in 1745 by John Brocklehurst, the father of the John Maccles- and Thomas Brocklehurst whose names the firm at field present bears. Members of the same family continued Manu- the business up to the year 1911, when it was transferred facturers. to a hmited habihty company, under new management and directorship. Up to the period of the French Treaty

136

SILK INDUSTRY.

Messrs. Brocklehursts' manufactures embraced every class of broad fabric then known for dress and otber purposes. The changed conditions inspired the pro- prietors to make new developments, especially in spinning silk waste, although a department for this work had been begun long before. During the prosperous years of the lace trade in the early '70' s, their yams attained a fame second to none, and proved profitable almost beyond expectation. The firm employs at the present time about 1,300 workpeople engaged in sUk- throwing, silk waste spinning, and in manufacturing goods of various kinds. In aU-silk goods they have a reputation for foulards, satins, dress goods, mulSers, fancies, crepes, linings and waterproofings ; and in mixed goods for moirettes, unions, silk and wool cloths, silk and cotton cloths and fabrics of artificial silk. The firm of Brocklehurst first obtained the Government order for handkerchiefs for the Navy in Notable 1883, at which period the goods were woven in hand- Maccles- looms. ^ With the perfection of the power-loom, they field have succeeded in retaining the whole or part of these

Manu- orders, almost without intermission, from year to year facturers. up to the present time.

Messrs. Frost occupy the oldest mill in Macclesfield, and except for certain enlargements and internal improve- ments the structure remains as it was in 1785. Their Park Green MiUs were built in that year, and were driven by water power until 1811, when the contemporary owners, Daintry and Ryle, installed a steam engine. The pro- prietors were bankers and manufacturers, and Mr. Ryle had one grandson who became Bishop of Liverpool, and a great-grandson who is Dr. J. C. Ryle, the present Dean of Westminster. The property passed later into the ownership of Mr. H. W. Eaton, who afterwards became Lord Cheylesmore, who sold it to the firm of William Frost and Sons, Ltd., in 1881. This firm was founded in 1858, and has since continuously carried on silk throwing, so that in point of years it ranks next in its own hne to that of the Brocklehursts. Their mill is one of the extremely few that have survived the change from water to steam as a propulsive powder and from steam to electricity.

Plate XX.

Park Green Mills, Macclesfield.

MACCLESFIELD. 137

Mr. John Birchenough founded a silk-throwing and Notable manufacturing business in 1848, and in company with his Maccles- sons* carried on the business until the year 1905 when field this also became a hmited company, and in 1912 it came Manu- under the direction of the late Mr. Bradley Smale. The facturers. Company has been successful at various periods in securing a share of the Navy contracts, in addition to its ordinary trade in rich silk cut-ups for gentlemen's wear, mufflers, scarves, vestings, dress cloth and knitted neckwear.

The founder of the firm of Josiah Smale and Sons, which came into existence between the years 1830 and 1840, was Josiah Smale. It was carried on successfully by his sons as Josiah Smale and Sons up to a recent period, and is now conducted by grandsons of the original founder in two separate businesses under the titles of Josiah Smale and Sons and Jonathan Smale and Bros. The firm of Josiah Smale and Sons came under the sole direction of Mr. Bradley Smale, a most enterprising man, who intro- duced successfully a large business in knitted neckwear fabrics.

Mr. Smale, who died at the close of the year 1913, was founder and first President of the Macclesfield Silk Trade Employers' Association, formed in 1909, to negotiate labour difficulties ^vith the trade unions, and had thus a large share in formulating the price hst for power- loom weaving which came into force in 1912.

The firm of J. F. Jackson is probably as old as either of the two before mentioned, and its present proprietor is Mr. William Jackson, son of one of the founders.

AH the firms that were contemporary with the founder of the Brocklehurst concern have ceased to exist, but several new concerns have commenced business during the last 30 years, and are doing a good trade in competition New with the older ones, much to the advantage and well-being Firms, of the working population.

* One of the sons, Mr. Henry Birchenough, is now Sir Henry Birchenough, K.CM.G.

CHAPTER XIII.

Leek,

Huguenot Leek is picturesquely situated almost on the borders Rela- of Cheshire and Derbyshire and close to the foot of the

tions. end of the Pennine range. It has been designated " The

MetropoMs of the Moorlands," and its high altitude and bracing chmate have no doubt in some measure been responsible for the energy and business enterprise shewn by its inhabitants. It possesses a fine church of ancient Gothic design, and under the shadow of its tower there is to be found a small district commonly known as " Petite France," the former abode of the French settlers. It was doubtless owing to their early training in branches of the silk industry that Leek ever became a silk centre of any note.

It is difficult to indicate the exact dates when the manufacture of silk in any form was originated in particular towns and districts and to identify the small beginnings from which the industry in the various centres took a greater importance. However from a History of Leek {Staffordshire), written by a Mr. Jno. Sleigh, Barrister, of that town, and published in 1883, we learn that sympathy was shewn to a number of French refugees who settled there about the year 1685, when a collection made in the Parish Church on their behalf reahsed the sum of £6 5s. Od. These workmen breaking away from the town of Coventry, introduced ribbon and ferret weaving (narrow bindings) both in Leek and Derby. Another branch of industry which was introduced about the same period was the manufacture of silk, mohair, and twist buttons

138

Plate XXI.

St. Edward's Church, Leek, dating back to the year 1400.

\

LEEK.

139

worked with the needle, in a variety of patterns, and The used in the decoration of fuU-trimmed suits. It was one Button of the chances of Trade that the horn and gilt buttons of Trade. Sheffield and Birmingham made a greater appeal to the popular taste, and superseded the productions of Leek and Macclesfield. The foundation, however, had been laid for the manufacture of other fabrics and an old Staffordshire ballad, which asks —

" For silken fabrics rich and rare. What citie can with Leek compare?" serves to show how Leek goods were regarded.

James Horton, a Coventry man, introduced the making

of figured ribbons in 1800, and about the same period

an old man named Ball commenced operations in the

twisting of sewings by hand in a shed or shade in a field

now known as Ball's field, and so laid the foundation of

a trade in silk sewings and twist, which has made Leek

a prosperous town, and won for it a world-wide renown

for these and other threads. The weaving of sUk goods

for the first half of the 19th century was a progressive

branch of trade, and proved remunerative both to employer

and employed. From Samuel Bamford's Life oj a Radical,

an impression of Leek as seen in 1842 may be quoted :

" In passing through the streets of Leek, we noticed

a number of weavers at their looms, and obtained

permission to go into their weaving places. The

rooms where they worked were on the upper

floors of the houses ; they were in general very

clean ; the work was aU in the silk small-ware

hne. Many of the weavers were young girls,

some of them good-looking, some neatly attired

and many with costly combs, ear-rings and

ornaments of value, showing that they earned

sufficiency of wages and had imbibed a taste

for the refinements of Society. The sight of these

females sitting at their elegant employment,

approached by stairs with carpets and oU-cloth

upon them, the girls aU being dressed in a style

which 200 years before would have been rich for Pioneer

a squire's daughter, was to me very gratifjdng." Weavers.

140 SILK INDUSTRY.

Progress The account seems to show that conditions in Leek

of the at this stage of the development of its industry were

Town. not unfavourable to the workers in the trade. Their

condition in the past is, however, surpassed by that

which prevails at the present day.

Of recent years the old Leek industry has suffered to a certain extent through the inroads made into it by spun silk and mercerised cotton, and had it not been for the introduction and clever apphcation of the wood and cotton pulp fibre (technically known as artificial sUk), from which artistically knitted articles of apparel are made, Leek would not have been in so prosperous a condition at the present time.

It is interesting to note the difference between past and present as traced recently by a member of one of the largest and oldest sUk firms in the town. " The old silk industry of the town was mostly carried out in garrets by men, who worked for the sUk manufacturers, and these employed their wives and fanuhes and a few others. This system was radically bad and has ceased to exist. Fifty years ago bowed legs and knock knees were very numerous amongst the silk workers, but the health and physique of the population are now, owing to better conditions of work, and housing accoromodation much improved. Most of the old slums having disappeared, the death-rate has been lowered from 29 per thousand to 18, while the expectation of hfe has increased from 24 to 38 years. The population of Leek has almost doubled during the last 50 "years, and the rateable value has more than doubled.* Wages in the silk trade have risen 30%, hours are of course shorter, and the people generally are Popula- far more prosperous. The class of raw silk used has tion and improved, and the machinery is altogether of a superior Wages. character. The hand twister is gradually disappearing, f

* Pitt's topographical History of Staffordshire says "Leek in 1817 has been indebted for much of its present prosperity to silk manufacture which has been successfully carried on*n this town for at least half a century." The total inhabitants are 4,413 and about two thirds of them are employed in the various branches of silk manufacture which consists principally of shawls, handkerchiefs, ribbons, ferrets, twist and sewing silks. Now the population is 17,000 — a century after.

t Expression is given to an individual and informed opinion, but the fact of the disappear- ance of the hand twister is in some dispute. Machine twisting extends continually, but as hand work remains superior the manual twister maintains his place in the economy of the Leek trade.

LEEK.

141

his place being taken by machines of various sorts, Progress

although there are very many more men and boys, as of the

well as women, employed in the various branches of Town.

the Leek trade than in the days before the advent of

machinery. During the half century which has elapsed,

a number of old names have disappeared from the hst

of silk manufacturers in Leek : Alsop, Carr, Gaunt, Ellis,

Russel and Clowes, etc. ; yet many representatives of

the older houses remain, viz. : Brough, Nicholson and

HaU, Ltd., Hugh Sleigh and Co., A. Ward and Co., Ltd.,

A. J. Worthington and Co., Ltd., and Whittles Ltd.

Then a number of new and important firms have

come into existence, notably Wardle and Davenport

Ltd., Myatts, Slannards, W. Watson and Co., W. Broster

and Co., and many others."

As typifying the spirit of enterprise actuating the manufacturing interest of the present period, it may not be out of place to give a short resume of the history and operations of a few of the leading firms.

Brough, Nicholson and HaU, Ltd., commenced in the year 1815, and their business was converted into a private limited company in 1907. The number of people employed by them is shghtly over 2,000. Their pro- ductions are varied, and include sewing sUks, embroidery silks, tailors' twist, and twist for sewing machines, together with such manufactured articles as braids, cords, bindings, webs, trimmings, woven named labels, bootlaces, silk and artificial silk ties, scarves, motor scarves and ladies' coats. They have a spun silk spinning mUl, and two dye houses, in which they dye their various goods.

Anthony Ward and Co., Ltd., was founded in the year 1819 by the late Anthony Ward who was succeeded in 1840 by his son, John Ward, J.P., Staffordshire, who, retiring in 1876, was followed by his son, Anthony Ward, also a J.P. for the county. The concern was transformed into a Limited Company in 1905, the first directors being John and B. T. Ward, the two sons of the late proprietor. Some The firm manufacture aU descriptions of sewing silks, early braids of silk, artificial silk and mohair bindings, but the Silk original trade was the manufacture of sUk serges, hand- Firms.

142

SILK INDUSTRY.

Some kerchiefs, velvets and ribbons ; a business that was early destroyed by the Commercial Treaty with France in

Silk 1856.

Firms. The firm of A. J. Worthington and Co., Ltd., dates back

to a very early period of the last century, and has been in the successive ownership of members of the family of that name. They employ about 400 people, and are reputed to be the first who put sewing silks on reels of wood. They were very early makers of sUk buttons, and button cloths, beside mihtary braids and binding of aU kinds. At the present day they have a reputation as makers of silk fishing fines, together with the ordinary classes of sewing silks that are a speciahty of the Leek trade, and are the patentees of a process for obtaining Moire effects on knitted fabrics. During the last ten years they have enlarged their business by the addition of new premises.

Amongst a number of the firms estabhshed at a later date is that of Wardle and Davenport Ltd., which after being carried on for some years as a private manufacturing firm, was incorporated as a pubhc company on October 30th, 1899. For many years this firm had the highest reputation for the manufacture of mercerised cotton embroidery sewings, sold under the trade name of Peri-lusta. About 1,800 people are employed in their principal manufactures of sewing and embroidery threads, costume braids, and knitted neckwear.

The spinning of waste sUk into sewings and embroideries

was established some 34 years ago by the firm of Watson

and Co., Ltd., and this branch has since been worked under

a fimited company which has buUt an up-to-date miU to

carry on the industry.

Sir The connection of Leek with the dyeing industry has

Thomas been made historic by the enterprise and genius of the

Wardle. late Sir Thomas Wardle, and Leek lost one of the

greatest of its citizens when, fuU of years and honours,

he died in 1909. He had been aU his life connected with

the local silk industry, although, as is weU known, his

activities ranged over a much wider field. He was the

eldest son of Mr. Joshua Wardle, of Cheddleton Heath,

Plate XXII.

Sir Thomas Wardle.

LEEK.

143

near Leek, the founder of the silk dye works at Leek Sir Brook in 1831, in which year Thomas Wardle was born. Thomas The boy, who afterwards became so well known, received Wardle. his early education at Macclesfield and Leek, and entering his father's business while still quite young, soon made his influence felt. At aU stages of his useful career Thomas Wardle evinced a desire to carry his activities into a wider sphere, an inchnation which led to his establishment of a silk and cotton printing business near Leek, where beautiful block printing work was carried out. An interesting feature in connection with this printing business was the association with it, to the great benefit of the artistic side, of WiUiam Morris, who, on one of his visits to Leek, worked out designs with his own hands, in order to obtain the necessary colour effects. The marriage of Mr. Thomas Wardle, as he then was, with the daughter of Hugh Wardle, of Leek, in the year 1857, provided him with a wife who not only possessed the artistic temperament in a high degree, but had a gift for organisa- tion which is not often met with in women. It was due to her efforts that the Leek School of Embroidery was founded, and many are famihar with the excellent work from the standpoints of both colour and design which emanated from that school, and from those associated with it. A fine copy of the celebrated Bayeux tapestry, worked under Lady Wardle's supervision by 30 ladies of Leek, may be inspected in the Art Gallery at Beading.

Sir Thomas Wardle wiU long be remembered for His the work he did in India. His early efforts in connection work in with the Dependency had for their object the utilization India, of Tussur silk, the wild silk of India, which he succeeded in so bleaching and dyeing as to make it a marketable fabric. The result of his work was illustrated in the British Section of the Paris Exhibition of 1878. Seven years later, at the request of the Government, Sir Thomas paid a visit to India, partly to make a report on seri- culture, and partly to make a collection of sUk fabrics and native embroideries for the Silk Culture Court of the Colonial and Indian Exhibition. At this period Bengal sUks had fallen into low repute, and one result of the

144

SILK INDUSTRY.

His visit was to demonstrate tliat the decline in the reputa-

work in tion of Bengal silk was largely due to preventable causes, India. and steps were taken on his initiative to remedy this con- dition of affairs. In 1887, when the Manchester Jubilee Exhibition was held. Sir Thomas, chairman of the Silk Section, arranged for a comprehensive display of silk manufacturing processes. It was in connection with this Exhibition that the SUk Association of Great Britain and Ireland, which is the subject of a separate chapter, was formed, and until the year of his death Sir Thomas Wardle occupied the position of President. In 1896, in connection with attempts to place the Kashmir sUk industry on a sound basis. Sir Thomas resumed his active association with the sUk industry of India. At the request of the India Office, he visited France and Italy to select the species of silk worm eggs which would best suit conditions in Kashmir. He next made arrangements for the best reehng machinery to be sent to India, and recommended a practical expert to plan and superintend operations. For this useful work, and for other labours in connection with the silk industry, he received in 1897 the honour of Knight- hood. His work on behalf of Kashmir was soon reflected in the increased output of raw silk from this territory, and in the year 1903 he again visited India to give advice as to the best methods of placing these raw sUks on the European market. Sir Thomas did more than this ; he not only advocated that an attempt should be made to establish silk weaving in the State, but arranged for the plant to be sent out from England, and for the skilled supervision by Enghsh weavers, which was essential to the success attending this venture.

Among the other honours which feU to Sir Thomas

Wardle may be mentioned the honorary freedom of the

Weavers' Company which enabled him to acquire the

freedom of the City of London. He was a prohfic writer

His con- on various phases of the industry for which he did so

tribution much. His publications include such subjects as, 8ilk

to htera- Power-Loom Weaving in France, The English Silk Industry,

ture. Tasar Silk, The Wild Silks of India, Dyes and Tans

LEEK. 145

of India, Adulteration of Silk, and The Silk Industry of The Kashmir. In the year before his death he pubhshed a Dyeing monograph on the Divisibility of Silk Fibre ; writing at In- other times upon geological questions with the authority dustry. which came of real knowledge of his subject.

The firms with which he was so long connected have made strides in the local branch of dyeing, and have held their own in competition with Continental opponents in dyeing heavy-weighted colours and blacks in organzine and tram silks, and in dyeing and finishing silk piece goods. The reputation of the beautiful aesthetic vegetable dyes, as also of the Leek Raven black dyes has been weU sustained by Messrs. Wardle, who at present employ over 300 hands in constant work.

CHAPTER XIV.

GONGLETON.

Gloves In the course of its long history, Congleton has had

and other light employments than those connected with silk.

Buttons. It was at one time " noted for the making of tagged leather laces, called Congleton points," an industry which had apparently passed away before Dr. Aikin wrote of it in his Country round Manchester (1795). At that date it had a " manufactory of gloves," and at an earher time had associations with button-making. The first of the Cheshire county historians, William Smith, Rouge Dragon Poursuivant, referred to it only as a market town :

" Congleton, a fair market town, standeth upon the river of Dane, six miles south-west from Maccles- field, within two miles from Staffordshire, and in Astbury parish ; which methinketh is a diffused thing, that most of the market-towns of the country, although they have fair churches of them- selves, yet they are accounted but Chapels. . . . It hath a market every Saturday and yearly two fairs." A market charter was granted to Congleton by Edward I, and its fairs, which were being held thrice a year by 1819 (Ormerod's History of Cheshire), were " chiefly for the sale of woollen cloth, horses and cattle." Some of the woollens were doubtless of district production, for Aikin says of the neighbouring town of Sandbach : " formerly worsted yarn and some stuffs for country wear were made here, but its trade has much declined."

Ormerod calls the manufacture of wrought buttons made with silk and mohair the original trade of the town,

146

CONGLETON.

147

and says it remained the staple trade until about 1730. Congleton is in this respect to be grouped with Macclesfield and Leek.

Mr. John Clayton, of Stockport, estabhshed the first First silk-throwing miU in the town in 1752, in emulation of Silk- the successful miU at Derby, and a grant from the throwing Corporation gave Clayton rent free for 300 years as much Mill, water as would pass through a ten-inch culvert from the Corn-mill Pool. With the consent of the Corporation, Mr. Nathaniel Maxey Pattison, of London, who had obtained his experience under Mr. Richard Wilson, proprietor of the Derby silk mill, was taken into partner- ship. A brother of Mr. Pattison's was also brought upon the scene, and an inscription upon a marble tablet in the Chapel of Congleton records his virtues and incidentally the date at which the work, begun in 1752, was brought to a satisfactory completion. The inscription is as follows : —

" Here lyeth interr'd

the body of Samuel Pattison, late of London, merchant,

a person of unspotted integrity, of exemplary virtue,

and endowed with every amiable quahty that can adorn

human nature,

therefore universally regretted by his family and friends.

He resided during a year before his death in this town

as Director of the Silk Mills,

when by his great abUitys

and unwearied apphcation,

he rendered the most important services ;

and enjoyed the satisfaction of living to see

aU the works compleated and the manufacture

brought to perfection.

Obiit. 27 May, 1756. Aet. 30."

The Tnill in question still exists, and is used by a manu- Decline

facturer of hosiery. Even measured by modern standards of Silk-

this mill, with its 240 feet of length, 80 feet of breadth, weaving.

and 390 windows, is a large one, and in earher times it was

capable of turning out 15 to 20 bales weekly of China silk

in organzine and tram. Aikin called it " a very capital

silk mOl," and said that from this source and from " the

manufactory of sUk ribands on account of the Coventry

148

SILK INDUSTRY.

DecKne

of snk-

weaving.

Survival of SUk- spinning.

merchants," the Congleton poor derived their chief liveli- hood. Aikin's reference to the making of "some ferreting," suggests that this article was of subsidiary- importance in his day. Ormerod is the authority for saying there were 28 ribbon- weaving factories in 1819, in addition to " numerous silk and cotton mills." ^ Silk- throwing and weaving were carried on in conjunction by certain firms, and for a time both industries prospered. In 1846 the throwing miUs numbered 27, employed 3,072 hands, and produced about 9,3001bs. of silk weekly. By 1886, under the gradual change of circumstances that had affected the whole British silk industry, the number of throwing miUs had been reduced to 12, and by 1905 to two. Of the sUk-weaving trade, nothing now remains but a small manufacture of silk and cotton bindings.

One department only of the local silk industry has survived the stress successfully, and this is the business of waste silk-spinning. This trade was introduced about 1829, when the firm then styled George Reade and Sons who had been throwsters and weavers since 1784, began to spin silk in the same manner as cotton. In 1834 they erected a large buUding for this work only, and this, together with older premises, is still used for silk-spinning by the descendants of the founder. After the death of Mr. George Reade, Mr. John Fielder Reade carried on the business until 1842. Mr. Arthur Solly, son-in-law of Mr. J. F. Reade, was a partner from 1851 to 1890, and since then the direction has rested with Mr. Arthur John Solly, great-grandson of the founder. The name of the firm was changed in 1850 to Reade and Co., and in 1907 the present limited company was registered.

Another old-estabhshed mill — ^the Forge MiUs — carried on by Messrs. Peter Wild and Co., Ltd., was in the occu- pation formerly of Mr. James Holdf orth, junior, of Leeds, son of the James Holdf orth, who established a large silk mill in that city, and whose career is traced in the chapter uponLeeds.

Elsewhere in Cheshire the silk industry flourished at detached points. There was a crape mill at Mobberley ; a mill was founded also about 1761 at Havannah, and the name SUk Mill Street points to the existence at one time of a mill in Knutsford.

CHAPTER XV.

Manchester,

The varying fortunes -of silk in Manchester may be Early illustrated by reference to other changes in the com- Textile mercial hfe of the city. Silk is not the only textile industry Indus- which has suffered decay ; as late as 1788 the Manchester tries. Mercury could write of the woollen trade as the chief industry of Lancashire, Independently, as well as in conjunction with wool, and with cotton, linen was once an important manufacture, and until 1773 Lancashire cottons were always woven with a linen warp. At least eleven Manchester and Salford testators between 1648 and 1791 were described as silk- weavers, but their names, Lilly, Bayley, Edgeley, Smith, Thorpe, Goring, Budworth and Hill convey no marked evidence of foreign origin, such as characterises those of many London sUkmen of the same period. Silk was certainly woven in Manchester at the time of Defoe's visit, although no mention is made of it by that extraordinarily observant writer.

Cotton may actually be junior to silk in Manchester in point of years, as it manifestly is in England generally, and this now dominant industry was of small importance in the 18th century. Cotton was not spun by machinery until a later date than silk was so spun. Lombe brought his throwing machine to practical success in 1718, but it was not until 1767 that the jenny was invented by Hargreaves, and 1785 before Arkwright patented the mule. Not until 1781 was the first cotton mill erected in Manchester. Industries which grow up side by side exert an influence over each other even in the absence of such hnks of similarity as exist between industries of the same group. The influence

149

150

SILK INDUSTRY.

Early of cotton upon silk was considerable, even if exact means Textile of measuring it are lacking. Cotton, the cheaper article, Indus- no doubt diverted attention, which might in other circum- tries. stances have been bestowed on silk, and have made

Manchester a formidable rival to Lyons. More than one Manchester firm, beginning mainly or wholly in the sUk tra,de, has evolved into a cotton manufacturing concern following apparently the line of least resistance. Silk business has gone to those quarters, British and foreign, in which silk manufacture has been speciahsed. SUk- throwing, spinning, and weaving, after flourishing apace, have almost disappeared from Manchester industry. The silk-weaving of the 17th century, of which httle is known beyond the names of certain weavers, sank below the trade horizon, and probably the looms were applied to the fustians, vermiUions and dimities of which Roberts and Defoe have written. The trade re-appeared at Middleton, on the outskirts of the present city, where it was re- vived, according to Mr, Knoop's finding, by a family named Fallows in 1778. Once again silk fared iU in its conflict with the developing trade in cotton, and in 1795 Aikin wrote of " sUk-weaving giving way to the more profitable branches of muslin and nankeen." The business reared its head again in 1816, when Messrs. Tootal began business in weaving handkerchiefs and mixed sUks. Thus at this date cotton was being impressed into the service of silk. The import duties were re-arranged in 1824, and Wilham Harter began business as a manufacturer in 1825. It was in 1822, according to Wheeler's History of Manchester, that the weaving of Gros de Naples {i.e. repps) and figured sarsnets was introduced into the town.

A momentous change then in progress facilitated the

introduction of silk-weaving. Cottons were being produced

Cotton by power-looms in place of hand-looms, and as a result a

and great number of trained weavers found their labour

Silk. superfluous. In Wheeler's words : —

" Silk-weaving . . . came providentially to break the faU of the hand-loom weavers. The starving producers of cotton goods abandoned that impoverished and glutted market for Labour and

MANCHESTER. 151

had recourse to silk-weaving, which varies chiefly Cotton in requiring greater skill and care." ' and

Some of the dispossessed cotton-weavers turned their Silk, hands to a " reed of coarse silk shot with worsted " ; a description not incompatible with an assumption that spun waste silk was used in Manchester for warps, as later it was in Bradford.

The hand-loom weavers inhabited a number of out districts, of which some were wide of Manchester : — Gorton, Newton Heath, Harpurhey, Middleton, Stand, Radcliffe, Pendlebury, Worsley, Eccles and West Leigh. Wheeler wrote that at Moston and Middleton the cloth was mainly silk, and at Newton, Failsworth, HoUinswood, Alkrington and Tonge was sUk with a few cottons. Cope, a weaver who gave evidence in Parhament in 1832, returned this account of his research into the extent of the hand-weaving industry : —

Looms. Manchester (including Salford and Har- purhey) . . . . . . . . . . 950

Middleton (including Boardman-Lane, Jumbo-Tongue, Chadderton, Whitgate,

and Moston) 2,721

Failsworth (including HoUinwood, Taunton, Droylsden, Woodhouses, Newton, Gorton

Swinton and Eccles) 2,623

West Leigh (including Leigh, Pennington, Beaford, Atherton, Tildsley and Astley) 3,000 making about 8,700, of which not quite 6,000 were employed in the " neat silk trade,"

It is a present custom of the trade to distinguish spun Some from thrown yarn by caUing the latter net or neat silk, Trade but Cope's reference doubtless imphes fabrics unmixed Statistics, with cotton or worsted. The number of looms both on mixed and pure silks increased between 1819-1823,*

* Figures quoted from Doxat by Wheeler point to a relative growth larger in the silk than the cotton industry at this period. The comparative method of statement is open to objection, but the averages ascertained are given foi; what they are worth. Taking the average of three years 1815-17 as a base it appears that in

1818-20 the increase in the cotton trade was 22% and in silk 314% in 1821-23 „ „ „ „ „ „ 48% „ „ 70%

and in 1824-25 „ „ „ „ „ ., 83% „ „ 156%

over the average 1815-17.

152

SILK INDUSTRY.

Some which is the period preceding Huskisson's reform of

Trade the tariff, and increased still more largely thereafter.

Statistics. The table given in evidence before the Committee of

1832 shows that after 1824 the silk-weaving trade became

a flourishing one, at least in statistical appearances, as

may be seen from the appended statement : —

1819 — 1,000 looms mixed sUk and cotton —

50 pure silk. 1823 — 3,000 looms mixed sUk and cotton —

2,500 looms on sUk. 1828 — 4,000 looms mixed silk and cotton —

8,000 looms on silk, 1832—12-14,000 looms, 12 throwing mills (10 in operation). The increase in the number of looms was the index of the relative strength of the two branches.

" I can buy as good Gros de Naples in Manchester as in Lyons at the same price," Mr. R. BaggaUy declared in 1832, adding that the price was " for the great bulk of the consumption, from 2s. to 3s. 8d. per yard."

By that time the power-loom had been brought into service by weavers of plain silk, and its advent is accurately timed by a statement made by Mr. Charles Grant in the House of Commons, February 24th, 1826.

" According to a letter received only yesterday from

Manchester an attempt to weave by steam had been

made and had succeeded. Two pairs of Gros de Naples

looms, weaving each 108 yards of silk a week, was attended

by a woman at 14s. a week ; this was about 3d. a yard

for the weaver's wages, and the cost of the house rent

with the interest of the value of the loom might be taken

at a farthing more ; thus the price at which it could

be done was 3Jd., which could not be done in France

under 7d."

The The power-loom was longer in coming into use in

Coming making fancy cloths. In his Philosophy (1835),

of the Dr. Ure said :

Power- "It is probable that Mr. Louis Schwabe and other

loom. enterprising silk manufacturers of Manchester will ere

long apply the power-loom to the weaving of fancy as weU

MANCHESTER.

153

as plain goods ; whereby they will give a great impulsion The to the sUk trade of England." Coming

The hand-loom persisted in use over forty years after of the Ure's vaticination. Thirty years later in the Story of the Power- Cotton Famine (published 1866), John Watts likened loom. Middleton and Failsworth to Spitalfields, saying :

" Kay's contrivance (the fly shuttle) was soon followed by the invention of the drop-box, which enabled the same contrivance to be apphed to checks by the use of two or three shuttles, each of which was supphed with a different coloured weft, as may be seen to this day amongst the hand-loom sUk-weavers of Spitalfields ; or amongst the same class at Middleton or Failsworth in Lancashire."

Wheeler spoke of the Jacquard as in general use both on pure and mixed goods in 1835. Jacquards were on sale in the town certamly in 1827, when Akroyd of Halifax obtained some of the machines from a French agent in Manchester. Using the fly-shuttle, drop-box and Jacquard, the hand-loom weavers kept the power-loom at bay, and the Parliamentary Return of 1835 showed fewer than 400 silk power-looms at work in Manchester and Salford.

Power-looms.

Royle and Crompton . . 40

Wm. Harter 184

Smith and Thorp . . . . 60

B. Wilhams and Co. . . 22

J. and J. Clegg (Eccles) .

306 60

366

At this date there were 1,716 silk power-looms in the Wages kingdom, and in Manchester weavers using them made of the "the exceedingly good wages of 21s. to 23s. weekly." Weavers. Final supersession of hand by power-looms was marked by no outstanding event. It can, however, be said that in the sole remaining broad silk miU in Manchester the owners dispensed with hand-weaving in 1878.

154

SILK INDUSTRY.

The Nine- teenth Century Renais- sance,

Revival of Hand- loom Weaving.

Silk and cotton were closely intertwined ; so closely as to baffle the discrimination of the officers who attached this note to the Population Returns for 1831 : —

" The manufactures of Lancashire produce such a variety of articles as cannot be described or even distinctly emunerated ; the predominating manufacture is that of cotton, producing cotton cloth, mushn, calico, cambric, ginghams, fustians, swansdowns, fancy quiltings and other fancy work and small wares. These are produced by manufacturers exhibiting a division of labour not easily defined ; carders of the raw materials, cotton yarn spinners by machine, bleachers, warpers, cutters and drawers, rovers, power-loom and hand-weavers, dressers, dyers, designers and drawers of patterns, engravers, block-cutters, block-printers, crofters, finishers, sizers. Many of these operations are in common with the silk manufacture which has been largely introduced into Lancashire, and is too much mingled with the cotton manufacture to be here distinguished."

It has been shown that silk-weaving owed its 19th century renaissance in Manchester in part to the straits of the hand-loom weavers. The work could be and was done cheaply by them, and there were no successful com- binations of weavers to keep up prices. Mr. Peter Malkin, weaver, of Macclesfield, told the Royal Commission on Trade Depression (1886), that " aU transactions with regard to the price paid for labour (in Manchester) were conducted on pure free-trade principles," which was scarcely the case in Macclesfield. Dr. Ure (1835) traced some emigra- tion of weaving business from Macclesfield to Manchester, " in consequence of the restrictions placed on labour by the unions." Many thousands found employment in Manchester — although it would seem that far too many hand-workers found little else. Weaving prices feU, and with them fell actual earnings. The price for weaving plain twenty-hundred three-single Gros de Naples, which was 9d. in 1823, was 6d. in 1828, and by 1832 had fallen to 4^d. An active workman in 12 or 14 hours' labour could weave six or seven yards and thus earn in 1832 a gross 12s. to 14s. a week, from which there was a deduction

MANCHESTER.

155

of Is. 6d. for winding. Further, tlie weaver lost about half a day's time in fetching and returning the work from and to the warehouse. Jacquard weavers were not better off, for Wheeler stated their earnings in the best summer seasons to be 14s. to 15s. a week. In winter, owing to the shorter days and the impracticability of working by candle Ught, earnings were correspondingly lower. The condition of the workman was grim and desperate in 1835, when the lot of the hand-loom workers was inquired into by a Select Committee. How desperate may be read from a minute of the evidence of a weaver of good repute :

" John Scott, a practical weaver, selected by a meeting of the weavers of Manchester and Salford on account of his known industry, frugality, probity and knowledge, .... stated he was one of the best paid class of silk weavers ; that he had several looms at work ; that his wife earned 4s. a week by winding at the looms ; and that the joint earnings of himself and wife amounted to 8s. a week, clear of deductions ; that to do this it required that the witness should work from 15 to 17 hours per day ; that he frequently worked from six in the morning tiU 11 at night, allowing himself no more than one hour in the day for meals ; that, notwithstanding this incessant labour, the witness was not in a state to provide for his family."

Times had been better, and in one part of his testimony Scott contrasted the days when " bread was at 2|d. a pound and wages 20s./' with the " now that bread is l|^d. and wages at 7s. to 8s."

Another weaver, John Kelly, of Manchester, gave evidence in 1832 that —

" In 1819 the state of the broad silk-weavers gradually increased until 1825 ; in those years the weavers were generally employed, and the prices for weaving afforded ■ a comfortable subsistence."

The fall in earnings was accompanied by a fall also in pubhc respect :

" Permit me here to make a remark," interpolated the witness Kelly. " At the present time a silk-weaver is

Cheap- ness of hand- loom labour.

Evidence before Select Com- mittee.

156

SILK INDUSTRY.

Evidence looked on with contempt It is not because they

before are dishonest generally, but because he has no money

Select This was not the case before the measures of

Com- 1826 came into operation."

mittee. Bad as affairs are seen to have been in 1835, they were

destined to be made worse by the American financial panic of 1837, a year bad for the cotton and worsted, as well as for the silk trade. The following extract from the Manchester Times, of April 29th, refers to further reduc- tions in the low prices paid for weaviag :

" The silk trade was scarcely ever known to be so slack at this season of the year as it is at present. Weavers eight miles round Manchester are in a miserable condition, some not having more than half employment whilst many others are entirely without. Silk weavers, when fully employed, cannot on an average earn more than from 8s. to 10s, each per week. On Saturday and Monday week the plain sarsnet weavers were obhged to take out work at a reduction in wages of from 10 to 12 per cent. A great number of families are starving for want of food. A few fancy weavers are doing pretty well ; the cotton hand-loom weavers are as badly off, if not worse than the silk-weavers, and there is no prospect of any amend- ment."

Signs of improvement were manifest in June, and a more reassuring notice appeared in the newspapers :

" A trifling improvement is perceivable in the Lancashire manufacture of silk. . . . Jacquard work seems to take the lead, and the weavers of such descriptions are, considering aU things, as fully employed as could be expected.

" Plain goods, especially the lower sorts, are less

required (the latter are chiefly woven at Leigh), and in

that branch there is much waiting for work."

Wages Wages in the silk branch were deplorably inadequate

and at this period, but so were those in the cotton trade, and

Employ- from the nature of the case no great disparity could exist

ment. between them. From an ofiicial Return of Wages, pub-

hshed 1885, it appears that Manchester hand-loom weavers

making nankeens received 168. 3d. in 1810, and 9s. 6d.

MANCHESTER.

157

in 1817-19, and 6s. 6d. in 1823-25. Mr. G. H. Wood, The

in his History of Wages in the Cotton Trade, gives approxi- Rise in

mate averages for the power-loom cotton-weavers of Wages.

Lancashire and Cheshire, suggesting that between 1826-

1853 there was no improvement upon 10s. 6d.-lls. 6d.

a week. For a period of fifty years, Lancashire wages

went down, and for another half century increased, this

rise in wages being due to the growing productivity of

machines, which associated high wages with low costs.

With 1859 began the movement which in four main jumps

carried the average to the 20s. 6d. of 1906. Between

1850-1883, wages in one Lancashire cotton-weaving

mUl increased 67^ per cent, and in another 83^ 'per cent,

as shown in the Royal Commission's Report on Trade

Depression. Silk and cotton manufacturers had to draw

their weavers from the same mass, and it is not without

significance that as wages advanced sUk-weaving and

throwing in Manchester dechned. It chances that the

rise in wages roughly coincides in its inception with the

abolition of the duties on foreign manufactured silk in

1860. Hand-weaving persisted in Manchester after that

change, but it never — ^to use the words of a manufacturer

who substituted steam for manual exertions — offered the

workman more than a miserable subsistence.

There is more than statistical coincidence to go upon in ascribing importance to the increased cost of labour. Mr. John Newton, silk dyer, in evidence before the Royal Commission of 1886, pointed out that of the 30,000 silk- weavers of 1860 not more than one-fifth, and "perhaps not more than 3,000 " remained. His testimony was emphatic : " It is the cost of labour that has entirely kiUed the Manchester trade, that is the dress silk trade." The cotton industry of the time was busy enough to attract to itself weavers from other sUk-mOls than those of Manchester, and Mr. Malkin recalled an exodus in 1860 of a great number of Coventry weavers to Bolton, Influence and of a number also to Colne. upon

At first, silk-weaving in Manchester was conducted by Trade, the use of yarn obtained from external sources, but the manufacturers of the early 19th century had not long

158

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk- throwing in Man- chester.

Com- parison with French Mills.

to wait for a local supply of thrown silk. In 1819 a change of tariff doubled the import duty on silk in the thrown state, and provided a margin between the rates of raw and thrown silk of 9s. 2d. fer lb. It is reason- able to connect this fact with the erection in 1819-20 of the first Manchester throwing-mill, built by Mr. Vernon Royle, and affording employment for 4,000 to 5,000 persons. The start having been made, other mills were built, and the five mills reported in 1820 became sixteen by 1832 ; Wheeler refers specifically to twelve, of which ten were working in 1834-35. At that time Manchester looms were consuming some 23,000Z&5. weekly of Enghsh thrown silk, and obtaining it from the following sources : Manchester-thrown , . . . 8,000 lbs.

Macclesfield 8,000

Congleton (under) . . , . 4,000 „ Sandbach 3,000 „

(Wheeler's estimate) . . 23,000 „

The charge for throwing varied from Is. 6d. to 4s. a lb., and the ten working mills in Manchester were stated to be capable of turning out 350,000Z65. per annum. They employed altogether about 4,000 persons, and consumed 7,000 to 8,000Z65. of raw silk weekly, equivalent to one-fifth of the national consumption. The wages paid, according to the statement by a manufacturer, given in Wheeler's History, averaged 4s. 9d. per week, or less than in a cotton-miU.

Manchester, Salford, Broughton, Newton, Harpurhey, Heaton Norris and Eccles were the places in which throwing was done, and in 1836 the number of employees was said to have been materially augmented and to have become not less than 4,700.

The throwing-mills were large, and Dr. Ure, who wrote with knowledge, compared the French filatures, to the Manchester mills to the disparagement of the former :

" In the silk districts of France the throwing-miUs are very small. The machinery is certainly very rude, compared to what may be seen in our modern Manchester and Derby miUs."

MANCHESTER.

159

In the opinion of the same careful and observant writer, MiU Manchester machinery was also "very superior" to Itahan. Statistics. According to evidence given before the Parhamentary Committee (1832), the difference was so great that in 1830 a visitor from Lombardy came to Manchester to study and buy similar machines and take them abroad, despite the embargo on the export of textile machinery. The superior mechanism and the protective duty of 2s. lOd. net (allowing for debenture) were held by Ure fully to offset the Itahan advantage of cheap labour. He calculated the horse-power required in working them at 342, and the capital cost at £200,000. Wheeler gave the number of silk-throwing mills in the county in 1836 as 22, and obtained from the factory inspectors the following summary of silk-mills : —

	Power :	No. of	Persons	employed:
Township.	Steam.	Water.	Mills.	Male.	Female.
Manchester	171	_	8	621	1,343
Salford	58		3	396	594
Broughton	40		1	93	441
Nevrton	32		2	148	322
Harpurhey	3		1	—	113
Ecoles Parish —
Barton	42		3	286	493
Lancaster Parish —
Caton	10	14	2	102	46
Cockerham Parish —
Ellel	20	16	2	89	81
Melling Parish —
Wray	Unknown.	1	32	24
Ashton under Ljrne
Parish —
Ashton ...	6	,	1
Leigh Parish —
Pennington.	Unknown.	2

The hst includes at least one mill — EUel in Cockerham Parish^ — ^which was not a throwing-, but a spinning-mill, and which survives under the name of the Galgate SUk Mill [vide Lancaster, f. 170).

The throwing-mills passed away one by one, and the last to survive in the city was that of John Morley in Bridgwater Street. At one time the large local con- sumption of silk stimulated Manchester to aspire to become the chief public market for raw sUk, and auction sales were

Decay of SUk Throw- ing Trade.

160

SILK INDUSTRY.

Market initiated in the circumstances detailed in the following for Raw newspaper report of 15th April, 1837 : Silks. " The wishes of the sUk dealers and manufacturers in

this town and neighbourhood have been for some time expressed that the importation of raw sUks would establish a market in this town, inasmuch as the greater part of the silk imported in England is thrown and manufactured in the district. In compliance with their wish, Messrs. Bindloss and Preston, silk brokers, have prevailed upon the importers of recent arrivals of silk from Bengal and China to offer upwards of 600 bales for unreserved pubhc sale. This sale took place on Tuesday in the theatre of the Mechanics' Institution, Mr. Preston officiating as auctioneer. TJie attendance of dealers, throwsters and manufacturers was very large ; and notwithstanding the depressed state of trade, nearly the whole of the silks offered were sold. Though the prices were very low, they were generally about five per cent higher than those previously realised by private sale.

" The following were the sill^ offered : 8 bales of Persian

raw silk ; 205 bales of Bengal ; 364 bales of China Tsatlee ;

85 bales of China Taysaam ; 3 cases of Sincapore raw

silk and 3 bales of Brutia."

Man- In 1850 the silk manufacturers of Manchester took

Chester a step, which in view of their convictions and poUtical

and the principles came as no surprise, but one which distin-

Silk guished them sharply from aU other silk manufacturers

Duties. of the day. Sir J. Paxton, Member for Coventry, in

referring to the step ten years later, pointed out that

thirty towns and villages in the kingdom were concerned

in silk manufacture, and that from aU but one of these

places petitions were received begging Parhament not

to remit the silk duties upon silk goods. Manchester

made the exception, and from thence a memorial was

received asking, upon somewhat unusual grounds, that

the duties might be abohshed. As the text shows the

grounds for the petition were twofold — (a) that the industry

was stagnating ; (b) that the retention of the duties

created prejudicial impressions in the minds of customers

abroad. The document may be thought remarkable alike

MANCHESTER. 161

for what it did, and did not say, and for the large amount

of support it commanded :*

A Memorial from the Silk-manufacturers of Man- A

Chester to the Right Honourable Benjamin DisraeH, Memorial M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer, &c. in favour

This memorial sheweth that your memoriaHsts are of repeal, manufacturers of broad silks in Manchester ; that the trade they are engaged in is in a depressed state ; that their workpeople are not fully employed ; and that this branch of manufacture has been almost stationary in extent for a period of ten years at least, whilst every other branch of textile manufacture has largely increased ; that they consider the depression and non-extension of their trade to be owing chiefly to the limited nature of the foreign demand for their goods, and your memoriaHsts are of opinion that this is attributable to the protective duty imposed on foreign goods imported into this coimtry, the effect of such protective duty being to create an impression in the markets of the world that England is unable to compete with the Continental Manu- facturers in the production of silk goods, and thus to throw the export trade almost entirely into the hands of their Swiss and French competitors ; that in the opinion of your memoriahsts, however neces- sary Protection may have been at a former period, it is now positively injurious to them, and they feel that it cannot under any Government or under any circumstances long be maintained. Your memoriahsts therefore pray that you will be pleased to reheve them by repealing the duty on foreign silk goods, not partially and gradually, Pohcy but totally and immediately, and thus proclaim to the of Pro- world that the Manufacturer denounces the so-called tection Protection and every aid a Government can give ; de- that he is prepared to depend solely on his own merit nounced. and that he avows himself capable of taking a

♦ The memorial and the list of names have been transcribed from a copy in the possession of Messrs. H. T. Gaddum and Co., of Manchester, whose courtesy in the matter is acknowledged.

I.

162

SILK INDUSTRY.

A

Memorial in favour of repeal.

Attitude of John. Morley.

higher position in the race of competition unfettered by Protection, than he has hitherto obtained under its fostering care. Manchester, 10th November, 1852.

Signed by Harrop, Taylor and Pearson. Hilton and Castree. Makin and Walker. E. R. Le Mare. Booth Leigh and Co. Chas. Hilton.

Thomas Mohneaux and Co. T. and E. D. Toas. Milsome and Clark. Thomas Lomas. Brotherton and Dobson. Winkworth and Procters. Luke Smith. George Smith and Sons. Norbury and Bindloss.

Thos. Brown and Son. James Bently. Wm. SummerskiU. Thos. Ainsworth. James Gamer. Peter Joynson. John Chadwick. Benjamin SyddaU. John Ashworth. Clough and Meadovi^s. Hobday and Swanick. Henry Coop and Sons.

did not sign.

John Morley

Bickham and PownaU

George and James Smith

W. T. and James Walker The petition gives a list of the whole of the silk manu- facturers of Manchester in 1852, and it is significant that of the signatories not one now remains in business. In refusing to add his name, Mr. John Morley explained that he decHned to sign his own death warrant. Mr. John Morley's business, alone out of the 31, survives, and is carried on at Patricroft by Messrs. Robinson and MiUington.

In 1860 one of the most forcible of the signatories was impressing on Mr. Gladstone, in moving terms the imperative desirability of a complete removal of the duties. The arguments are to be found in Mr. John Chadwick's letter of 12th January, 1850, to the statesman : " I have endeavoured," he wrote, " to show you that the silk manufacture does not owe its origin or its success

MANCHESTER. 163

in any degree in this country to Protection, but, on the Appeal contrary, that Government restrictions have been the to Mr. chief cause, if not the only cause, of its unsatisfactory Glad- state. These restrictions have diverted the trade from stone. this country, kept down the rate of profit, diminished the wages of labour and served no interest whatever.

" It is in your hands to remove this relic of the erroneous legislation of a bygone age ; don't allow the silk trade to continue a marked exception to the general pohcy of this country.

" The silk manufacture is at the moment a signal excep- tion to the general prosperity."

The interposition of the Manchester manufacturers has been deplored for a variety of reasons. The main reason has been the utter frustration of the high hopes of benefits to ensue from the abohtion of the 15 per cent duty. A subsidiary reason was the conviction that this gratuitous assistance helped the French Government to negotiate an unnecessarily unfavourable set of terms and to obtain from England the entire abohtion of the silk duty while themselves retaining a high duty on silk.

The tariff legislation of other countries conspired with other causes to destroy the former sUk trade in Manchester, and some direct evidence of its effects has been given by manufacturers. Particulars are available of the transactions in 1855 of the extinct firm of B. Syddall and Sons, with which Mr. G. Milhngton, who appeared before Mr. Chamberlain's Tariff Commission (1905), was apprenticed.

Messrs. Syddall had a turnover of £30,000 to £40,000 a year, mainly in mixed silks, and found most of their custom abroad. They traded with Germany, Italy, Poland, Russia, HoUand, and the United States, and " as these countries one after another levied duties, one market after Alleged another was lost, and the firm relinquished business, Effects having lost a large part of its capital." Mr. S. Hinrichsen, of a Manchester shipping merchant, told the Royal Com- Foreign mission of 1886, that high duties had killed his trade Tariffs, in velvets with Germany. It is difficult to detach and examine separately each cause of decay, and it may be that

164

SILK INDUSTRY.

Alleged foreign tariffs were not the single source of the misfortunes Effects of another specimen firm taken, but not named, by of Mr. John Newton. The details disclose the rapidity with

Foreign which decay proceeded :

Tariffs. " One of those manufacturers {i.e. one of 40 in business in

1859) employed 1,400 weavers, and altogether 2,000 to 3,000, in manufacturing and throwing. Their turnover in 1859

was at the rate of £250,000 a year In 1863 it was

£66,000, and they never got it any higher than £92,000, and that was in 1872."

When all extraneous causes for the decline of the Manchester silk industry have been noticed, there remains the question whether the manufacturers affected did all they might to avert the fate which overtook them. There have been admissions of shortcomings on the part of employers, and hints of imperfect sMll on the part of workpeople. Messrs. Houldsworth at one time engaged a score of German weavers, presumably to discover whether they possessed superior skill. Mr. Malkin, who worked be- side them, avowed himself " able to hold his own even better than they." A modern manufacturer taxed on the score of comparative efficiency at the loom, " supposed Lyons weavers must be better than ours," without presenting conclusive evidence on the point. Sir Joseph C. Lee,* of Manchester, used plain words in his evidence before Parhament, saying :

" We are not so skilful in the modes of treating silk as the French and Germans are. We are much in want of textile museums. We are very deficient as a nation in our silk industry. We simply do not produce the goods that the French do, and we do not attempt it."

Sir Joseph Lee's criticisms apply as much to the arts Other of finishing as to those of weaving, and may be read in Causes conjunction with Mr. Malkin's comments on the dis- of appearance of the industry :

Decay. " Their {i.e. Manchester's) principal manufacture was

plain or tabby cloth and striped, so that apart from the dyeing they could not be charged very weU with a deficiency

* Royal Commission on Trade Depression, 1886.

MANCHESTER.

165

of teclmical knowledge in the manufacture of that class of Other article." Causes

If the joint comments seem to expose Manchester manu- of facturers to a charge of remissness in faihng to explore Decay, the higher developments of their art, the environment has to be reckoned with. Manchester has not the pure air and sunny skies which assist in the development of colour and the maintenance of the cleanliness of goods.

It is the fate of a great deal of good advice to come too late to be of use, and manufacturers are confronted with situations which are always changing. Even within the last few years there has been a revolution in the character of demand for Manchester sOk fabrics. Heavy black silks are only made marketable at rare intervals by some untoward event like a Royal funeral. The yarn- dyed silks which were so long in vogue have passed out of fashion entirely. Many goods, considered expensive by the buyers of to-day, would have been reckoned cheap a few years ago, and the taffeta trade for Unings, on which rehance used to be put as on a staff, has been extinguished. The trade has not gone elsewhere ; it has simply ceased to exist, and cheaper and less satisfactory goods are called for instead.

As the gross effect of a century of work, the separate silk industry has been almost extinguished and the cotton industry enormously promoted. Manchester warehouse- men are stiU however among the considerable customers of British and Continental silk manufacturers, and their transactions in silk goods are apparently as large or larger than ever, although the character of their stocks has changed in consonance with the tastes of the time.

A somewhat rare publication, Hosking's Guide to Man- chester Trade, gives an epitome of the classes of silks bought and sold in the Manchester Market in 1877, and includes foreign with British goods. These include Silk-Glaces, Still Gros Grains, Cachemires, Moires, Antiques, Satins, an im- Turquoises, Lustrines, Florentines, Chinas, Spun Silks, portant Gros de Naples, FaiUes, MarceUines, Persians, Sarsnetts, Silk Silk Velvets, Crapes, and Umbrella Silks. Among mixed Market. and fancy goods were Pophns, Japanese, Mikados, Grena- dines, Lenos, Tasso Cloth, Tabinet, Costumes.

166

SILK INDUSTRY.

Still The trade also included ties, cravats, neckerchiefs,

an im- shawls, sashes, Indian Corahs, foulards, bandannas, tussors portant and pongees.

Silk The Guide was a carefully compiled one, intended for

Market, the private perusal of buyers, and it attests the existence in the Manchester trade of five throwsters, four printers of Indian corahs and bandannas, and 21 importers, brokers and agents of raw, thrown, spun, schappe and noil sUks. There were besides some 70 names of silk manufacturing firms represented in the market.

While it lasted, the silk- weaving industry gave employ- ment in auxOiary trades. Silk printing was predominantly a Manchester business, and the facihties for printing are very much larger than ever, although the place of printed silks has been usurped by highly improved forms of cotton, treated by the mercerising and schreinerising processes. Snk dyeing afforded employment in the 'thirties of the last century for some 400 to 500 men, and for many more than that number in the 'fifties, Manchester silks are dyed at present in Macclesfield, Leek and Lyons among other places.

The consumption of silk in Manchester remains larger than might be judged from the known fate of the old, separate silk trade. Silk is used in mixture with cotton by manufacturers of fancy cotton cloths, and in the small- ware trade, although chemical or artificial silk has replaced the natural fibre to a serious extent. Wheeler traced the beginnings of the Manchester business in small-wares to an origin in Macclesfield, and commented on the curious fact that Macclesfield firms should be supplying Manchester looms with work. A thousand Manchester looms were employed in small-wares before 1840.

There is preserved in the Manchester Reference Library

an instructive relic of the corporate hfe of Manchester

Trade silk manufacturers in the mid-nineteenth century. They

Protec- formed a Protective Society in 1852, of which the oper-

tive ations and objects may be judged from the Library's copy

Society, of the book of rules. The rules number fifteen, and most

of them are formal. The first rule is indicative of the

kind of losses common to all textile manufacturers in the

MANCHESTER. 167

days when material was lent out for manufacture by Trade home workers, and for the prevention of which several Protec- statutes were passed. The last rule providing for the tive disciplining of traders adjudged guilty of misconduct gives Society, the Protective Society some of the colour of the mediaeval guild.

Rules or the Silk Trade Protective Society Instituted in Manchester

August, 1852.

I.

This Society shaU be caUed " The Silk Trade Protective Society," and its objects shall be : —

To promote and encourage honesty and fair deahng amongst aU persons engaged or interested in the Silk Trade ; and to detect and punish aU who are guilty of purloining, withholding, taking, stealing or receiving SUk in any unlawful manner.

II.

Any person or firm engaged in the Silk Trade and interested in the objects of the Society, may become a member or members thereof on payment of an annual subscription, which wUl be expected to be proportionate to the extent of the business done by such person or firm, the subscription being in no case less than two guineas.

XIII.

Every member of the Society shall report to the Sub- Committee or Secretary all cases which may come to his knowledge of suspicion or of fraudulent conduct affecting the Silk Trade.

XIV

If any prosecution, action or suit at law shall be com- menced against any member of this Society, or its Secretary, for anything done by the former with the An approbation of the Committee .... such member shall echo of be defended in and indemnified from aU the expenses Mediae- attending such prosecution .... out of the funds of valism. the Society ; and if the said funds should at any time prove insufficient, the deficiency shall be made good at

168 SILK INDUSTRY.

Pains the joint and proportionate charge of each member .... and and any member refusing to pay his just share . . . .shall

Penalties, be excluded from the Society and be thereafter ineligible for re-election.

XV. If any member shall, in writing, subscribed with his name, make a complaint to the Committee against any other member and specify the cause of his complaint, — and if the Committee shall think the same a 'prima facie ground for the expulsion of such member — the Secretary shall give notice thereof to the member .... and a copy of the complaint shall be sent to him, and a time appointed for a hearing .... at the conclusion of which, if two-thirds of the Committee present shall be of opinion that the complaint is estabhshed, the Chairman shall declare .... that he wiU at the next general meeting state the case for the decision of such meeting, which decision shall be determined by a majority of votes, by ballot member .... he shall never after be re-elected. Thomas Crompton, President. Richardson and Whitworth, Secretaries. OflEices — 13, Corporation Street, Manchester. An organisation which serves sUk-spinners and mer- chants as a Club, an Exchange, and a vehicle for the occasional expression of a corporate opinion upon matters of current moment, is the Silk Club, of which the head- quarters are the Albion Hotel, Manchester. Spinners frequent Manchester upon Tuesday of each week, and Bradford upon Thursday, and by means of the Club accommodation in both cities, are enabled to transact much of their business at ease. The original minute books have been lost, but the foundation appears to date from 1883. Mr. G. B. Hadwen, of Triangle, was the first president, and his portrait in oils hangs in the club-room. Mr. Alfred Stott, of Brighouse, was the first chairman. The and Mr. James Robinson, of Halifax, the first treasurer,

Silk while Mr. Joseph Boden was the Club's first secretary.

Club. The Club is affihated to the Silk Association of

Great Britain and Ireland, and the annual and semi- annual meetings of the two bodies are of importance in

MANCHESTER. 169

the life of the Club and in the interests of a full intercourse The between all sections of the silk trade. The advantages SUk of the Club are attested both by the character of its Club, list of members and by its survival for a period of thirty years. Death has removed the whole of the origiaal officers, and the various offices are at present filled by Mr. A. John SoUy, J.P. (president), Mr. T. Fletcher Robinson (chairman), Mr. Wm. Wadsworth (vice-chair- man), Mr. H. Buzzoni (treasurer), and Mr. C. J. Bower, 21, Cannon Street, Manchester, as secretary.

An institution which did useful service in its own day and disappeared amid the gradual decay of the local silk industry was the Manchester Wool and Silk Conditioning Company. An article in The Chemist of 1857-58, announced that an estabhshment for conditioning silk had been opened by Dr. F. Crace Calvert, " under the approval of 23 firms engaged in the trade." Dr. Crace Calvert, who was at the time the leading chemist in North- western England and a high authority upon poisons, carried on the work of boihng off and weighing samples of silk in his laboratory in the Royal Institution, Man- chester. The undertaMng was to some extent a co- operative one, and accounts were pubhshed and bonuses declared. A yearly profit of £400, rising to £600, was made at first, after which it dechned until the takings in fees were too insignificant for division. The work was then carried on as part of the private practice of the chemist, and the apparatus used passed to his partner and successor, Mr. W. Thomson, of Crace Calvert and Thomson, by whom it was eventually broken up. Records in the possession of Mr. Thomson show a considerable number of testings in 1880, but there was a steady decrease year by year afterwards. The last made in the Institution was apparently on 17th July, 1902, for the benefit of Messrs. Kidd, Boden and Co.

Silk is received occasionally for conditioning tests at Condi- the Manchester Chamber of Commerce Testing House tioning but in no considerable quantity. This Testing House was Corn- opened under Mr. J. H. Lester's management in 1895. pany. He resigned in 1911, when Mr. F. W. Barwick was appointed to the position.

CHAPTER XVI. Lancaster.

The The county town belongs rather to rural than industrial

Oldest Lancashire, and its chief manufactures to-day are hnoleum

Enghsh and floorcloth. Lancaster's local records contain nothing

Spinning definite of early associations with silk, and the precise

Mill. causes leading to the estabhshment in 1792 of a

silk-spinning mill cannot now be divined with any

accuracy. The mill exists still and prospers, and has the

distinction of being the oldest of its kind in the country.

WOliam Thompson and Co., Ltd., own the Galgate Silk

MiU, which was turned to its present purpose when John

Armstrong, James Noble and WiUiam Thompson, aU of

Lancaster, bought the. EUel water corn-null from William

BeU, miller. The crest of the Armstrongs — an arm holding

a javehn and the motto Semper Paratus — ^remains the

trademark of the firm. In 1807 Mr. Noble sold his share

to Mr. Armstrong, whose son acquired the whole property,

and directed affairs until 1857. In 1857, his successor,

Mr. Richard Armstrong, died, and after being carried on

by his executors, the mill was acquired by the Company,

Wm. Thompson and Co., Limited, formed in 1869.

The Galgate MiU is the only sUk-mUl in the neighbour- hood, but for a time it had a competitor in Hinde and Co., of Ridge Lane Silk MUls. Messrs. Gregson and Mason, a firm of solicitors in Lancaster, incited by information received as to the profitable nature of Messrs. Thompson's operations, built this competing mill in 1837. Mr. Walter Hinde, of the firm Hinde and Derham, of the neighbouring village of Dolphinholme, was taken into the partnership, and use was made of his name. Failure ultimately over- took the newcomers, who had no successors in Lancaster.

170

LANCASTER. 171

A reputation for trading enterprise won in earlier years The obtained a double confirmation in the later years of the First 18th century. The estabhshment of the null to spin silk Worsted in 1792 has been noted, and it is fitting to mention an Spioning associated venture of 1784. In that year Edmondson, Mill. Addison and Satterthwaite, of Lancaster, bmlt at Dolphin- holme a miU that is supposed to have been the first to turn out worsted yarn by machinery in England. This is the miU which passed later to the Hindes', whose con- nection with sUk in Lancaster has already been named. When in the possession of Hindes and Patchett in 1807, the partnership effects were valued at £22,691 (p. 365, James' History of the Worsted Manufacture). The firm spun yarns ranging from 16's to 33's, had agents in Bradford and Halifax, and did business with small-ware manufacturers in Manchester, but found its principal customers among the serge makers of Exeter. It may seem odd that the place so closely identified with the beginnings of the factory production, both of worsted and of spun sUk yarn should not have benefited more largely from the subsequent development of these trades.

Messrs. Thompson find customers further afield, notably in India and Singapore, Calais and America, as well as in Bradford and the hosiery centres. Their nulls are the more interesting to visit, because there remains there an important department devoted to the old process of short-spinning with which the business began. The improved long-spinning system was introduced about 1864, when the present managing director, Mr. George Satterthwaite, first entered the business. Short-spinning — or in other words the application of cotton spinning methods to waste sUk — ^has its uses for a hmited range of purposes, and is practised in two other Enghsh nulls. At Galgate the visitor may see waste ehgible for treat- ment by the long-spun, or worsted process, dressed in the gum and chopped into short lengths by a modified chaff- The cutting macMne. The chopped waste is boiled in little Short- bags, to discharge the gum, dried, scutched, blown, spinning carded, and finally spun either with or without an admix- Process, ture of sUk fibre removed by combs from long noUs, the by-product of the long-spinning process.

172

SILK INDUSTRY.

Notable The Patent Office records show that m 1841 one Galgate Archibald Templeton, of Lancaster, devised a means of men. separating, dividing and laying parallel sUk fibres pre-

paratory to spinning, including a means of cutting silk waste by rotating knives. Nothing is known of Templeton at Galgate, and it is to be inferred that he was at Hinde and Company's miU, which had been opened three or four years before this date. In partnership with a brother, Templeton was for a few years a sUk spinner in Congleton. Mr. Thomas Watson, who built up a large spinning and plush-weaving business in Rochdale, and Mr. James Robinson, who occupied a spinning-mill in Hahfax, are two of a number of men, prominent within the industry, who learned their business at Galgate.

Kendal. Kendal, known throughout centuries for its woollen cloths, and described by Defoe as a noted town for tan- neries, has certain remote associations with silk and was the seat of the first sUk-spun yarn miU of which any record has been traced. The tanneries have grown into boot factories of renown, and carpet and horse-cloth manu- facturing have prospered. SUk, despite the encouraging report upon its progress made by Arthur Young in his Northern Tour (1769), has disappeared from the list of active employments. Young's description is given with his famous particularity, and is here reproduced : An early " They have hkewise a small manufactory of cards for Spinning carding cloth. Another also of silk : They receive the Factory, waste sUk from London, boU it in soap, which they caU scowering, then it is combed by women (there are about 30 or 40 of them) and spun, which article employs about 100 hands ; after this it is doubled and dressed and sent back again to London. This branch is upon the increase."

Although there is evidence of the earher use of waste sUk in this country, particular accounts of its treatment are scarce. The statement that the silk was combed does not finally exclude the possibihty that Young failed to distinguish perfectly between combing and carding.

LANCASTER. 173

Assuming however that the word is to be taken literally a passage from Mr, HolUns Rayner's 8ilk Throwing and Waste Silk Spinning may describe the Kendal method : —

" The old-time system of dressing was of course a The hand process.. Each worker had heckles or combs supphed Hand- to him, through the teeth of which a portion of silk was combing drawn. The short sUk and noUs and nibs adhered to of waste the teeth until by continued repetition the silk held by Silk, the worker was straight and the fibre parallel and free from short sUk and nibs. Then the portion dressed was held by the workman and the portion previously held in his hand put through the combing process. When both ends were properly combed, that portion of sUk was placed on one side for spinning, and the short fibre and noils were considered waste. The reversing of ends tested the skill of the operator as the teeth of the comb had to strike the silk at a point to ensure the middle of the silk properly being combed out ; otherwise the centre of the lengths would be rough and woolly and have a large amount of short fibre left, making it impossible to have a level yam."

CHAPTER XVII.

Nottingham.

The Nottingham resembles other textile centres of this

Resort country in having earher associations with native than of In- with any of the exotic fibres. Apparently the first manu- ventors. facture of the town was woollen cloth, of the dyeing of which the burgesses were given a district monopoly in 1155. Fairs held at Lenton as early as 1300 were marts for the sale of these cloths, and Deering's History (1751) would seem to show that some of the goods were sent to the Merchants of the Staple at Calais. Deering says the trade flourished until the loss of Calais, when it " gradually went off, till at last it entirely left the Place." The dimensions attained by the business are unknown, and it is perhaps significant that in the numerous statutes made for the regulation of woollen manufacturing during the 16th and 17th centuries no mention of Nottingham cloths has been found.

The other native material, flax, was being woven certainly in 1476, and also in 1675, by which time sUk had obtained a footing. Deering's table of the trades and employment exercised in 1641, shows at that date two master silk-weavers in Nottingham and two framework- knitters. In 1739 there were no silk-weavers, the frame- work-knitters had increased to fifty, and there were three master woolcombers.

Hargreaves, the inventor of the spinning jenny, found a patron in Thomas James, of Nottingham, and a machine to spin 84 threads of cotton simultaneously was erected in MiU Street in 1769. Arkwright came to Nottingham with his invention two years later, and, with the help of

174

Plate XXIII. William Lee, thinking out his problem of a Knitting

Frame.

NOTTINGHAM. 175

Mr. Need, brought his frame to the point at which it The would produce smooth yarn. Cotton yarn imported from Resort East India had been used earlier in the local knitting of In- trade, but silk it will be shown was employed before ventors. cotton.

The association of Nottingham with the forefathers of the cotton-spinning industry has been more widely recognised than its connection with the early history of woolcombing and worsted-spinning. Blackner's history of the town (1815) records that a worsted-miU was built by Robert Davison and John Hawksley upon the north bank of the Leen in 1788 ; the building, being burnt down^ in 1791, was replaced by another in which the machinery was driven by a 60 h.p. engine. An acrimonious correspondence carried on by Robert Davison, worsted- spinner, Arnold, with Alexander Foxcroft, an attorney, is preserved in pamphlet form under the date 1803 in the Nottingham Pubhc Library. When Davison died, losses were encountered, the mill was sold, and Hawksley, his partner, put up a worsted-mill in Butcher's-close, and failed in- 1815. There is an interest in the facts apart from the failure of either cotton-spinning or worsted- spinning to take permanent root in Nottingham, for Hawksley was the inventor of a woolcomb. His patent was taken out in 1793, or three years later than Cartwright's first invention. Hawksley' s idea was seen to be valuable by the Rev. Edmund Cartwright, who entered into agreement %vith him whereby Hawksley assigned his rights to Cartwright in return for one-fourth share of the profits of the whole invention ; and a special Act was obtained for the consolidating the two patents for a term of 14 years.

It is not easy to detach fact from fiction in the several Lee conflicting accounts about Lee, the Nottinghamshire and the clergyman, who invented the stocking-frame, or about Stocking the circumstances of its invention, and even the facts as Frame, to the introduction of hand-knitting are obscure. Knitted wooUen caps were referred to expressly in a statute of 1488, a mention altogether inconsistent with the state- ment made in Ephraim Chambers' Encyclofcedia, to the

176

SILK INDUSTRY.

Lee effect that Lee's invention was made " about twenty-

and the eight years after we had first learned from Spain the Stocking method of knitting by needles." WiUiam Le^ invented Frame. his first frame in 1589, an event commemorated by an inscription upon the portrait formerly hung in the Stocking Weavers' Hall, Red Cross Street, London :

" In the year 1589 the ingenious Wilham Lee, A.M.,

of St. John's College, Cambridge, devised the

profitable art for stockings (but being despised,

went to France), yet of iron to himself, but to us

and to others of gold ; in memory of whom this

is here painted."

" Knyt hose, knyt petycotes, knyt gloves and knyt-

sleves," were named in an Act of 1552, but there is HoweU's

evidence, contained in his History of the World, that at

least silk stockings were imported from Spain in the time

of Henry VIII. It must be regarded as certain that

hand-knitting was a much older employment than

Chambers supposed.

Hand-knitting gave Lee the clergyman his cue, and, according to one of the more matter-of-fact -accounts that have been handed down, the sight of a lady knitting the heel of a stocking by the use of only two needles fired him with an inspiration as to how mechanical knitting might be done. This version is not intrinsically less probable than those which ascribe the inventions to motives of pique. Deering's version of the traditional romance is that Lee :

" was deeply in love with a young townswoman of

his, whom he courted for a wife ; but whenever

he went to visit her, she always seemed more

mindful of her knitting than of the addresses of

her admirer. This shght created such aversion

The in Mr. Lee against knitting by hand, that he

stimulus determined to contrive a machine that should

to turn out work enough to render the common

inven- knitting a gainless employment. Accordingly he

tion. set about it, and having an excellent mechanical

head, he brought his design to bear in the year 1589."

NOTTINGHAM. 177

A variant, published by T. Baldwin of Hinckley, in 1776, says that Lee in wooing a lady of great beauty and fortune :

" surprised her in a grove, knitting a fine silk stocking. The It was in this grove that the young lady gave incentive Mr. Lee an absolute refusal of her hand ; which to SO" affected Mr. Lee that he declared he would invention invent a machine that should be a means of spoiUng the knitting trade." The material point is that Lee, a native probably of the parish of Calverton, nine miles distant from the town, or — as has also been said — of the parish of Woodborough, invented and perfected his frame and taught others to work it. He carried the machine from Calverton to Bunhill Fields, and sought the patronage of EUzabeth through the agency of Lord Hunsdon. His petition for a monopoly was refused, and the somewhat curious terms of the royal refusal are given with a wealth of detail in Gravenor Henson's History of the Framework Knitters (1831). Henson writes that the refusal is said to have been made in terms having the purport of the following : " My Lord, I have too much love for my poor people, who obtain their bread by the employment of knitting, to give my money to forward an inven- tion, that wiU tend to their ruin by depriving them of employment, and thus making them beggars. Had Mr. Lee made a machine that would have made silk stockings, I should have been somewhat justified in granting him a monopoly, which would have affected only a small number of my subjects ; but to enjoy the exclusive privilege of making stockings for the whole of my subjects is too important to be granted to any individual." A paper printed in explanation of Elmore's painting. The the " Origin of the Stocking Loom " (1847), makes a Stocking jump at the conclusion that Ehzabeth's " masculine Loom, mind doubtless regarded the invention of stocking weaving by a . man with contempt." Masculinity — ^it might be urged — ^is not the dominant characteristic of the speech

178

SILK INDUSTRY.

The recorded by Henson. It is, at aU events, the case that

patronage Lee perfected in 1598 a frame capable of knitting silk

of stockings, of which a pair are said to have been presented

France, by him to the Queen. Neither Ehzabeth nor James I

being willing to grant a patent, and his friend Lord Hunsdon

being dead, Lee accepted the offer made by Sully, the

French Ambassador. Deering's version is that, being

tempted

" With promises of reward, privileges and honours,

by Henry IV, he embraced the seeming fair

opportunity, and went himself, taking his brother

and nine workmen, and as many frames, to Roan

(Rouen), in Normandy, where he wrought with

great applause."

The account given in the " Origin of the Stocking

Loom " is that Lee's prospects became clouded upon

the death of the French King, and that after sharing in

the persecution which befell the French Protestants, he

died of grief and despair in Paris. Lee's death in Paris

in or soon after 1610, has been accepted as proved by

the Dictionary of National Biography, but there is another

version of his end, more in keeping with the spirit of

romance. Baldwin says :

" Some years after, Mr. Lee received an invitation

to return to his native country, which he accepted ;

and soon after the art of Framework-Knitting

became famous in England ; and Charles I, with

a great many of his nobles, learnt it. And it is

said, that as Mr. Lee had gained so much honour

at home and abroad by this invention, his former

lover nobly gave him her hand, and crowned his

wishes and ingenuity with her person."

This conventional ending to the romance is unsupported

by other testimony. Another story is that I^ee's invention

was, not long after his death, brought back to his native

Lee's land by seven of his workmen, who joined Aston, an

death in ex-apprentice of Lee's, at Calverton, in working their

Exile. frames in this country.

It was certainly in Nottingham that the industry began, and the processes by which it extended to London

NOTTINGHAM.

179

can at least be imagined. The capital must have been Frame- the chief mart for the goods produced. Silk was brought work thither directly from abroad, and hand-knitting was an Knitting established occupation. By 1695, Henson says there were in Lon- more than 1,500 stocking frames in the alleys, courts and don and back-places of the metropoHs, and chiefly in the parishes in Not- of St. Luke and Spitalfields. Some fifty years after the tingham. presumed death of Lee, the Framework Knitters' Company, then grown to be a considerable corporation, was given a charter by Charles II, with jurisdiction over the trade within a ten-mile radius of London. The grant and the exercise of these powers became later a matter of impor- tance to Nottingham. The London knitters assumed authority over the business throughout this country, and also exerted themselves to prevent the transference of the machinery abroad. At their instance Richard Cromwell, in 1659, confiscated forty stocking frames which were about to be exported, and their petition of 1656 supplies valuable particulars as to their position and that of the industry at large. The Knitters sought from the Protector :

" The coercive power of your Highness to restrain their iU willers from unravelling the entrails of the Commonwealth, and giving or yielding oppor- tunity unto strangers to gather them up, and make that common to aU the world which is naturally particular in sole propriety to this nation." They described some attempts that had previously been made to introduce Lee's machines upon foreign soil, including that of the Venetian Ambassador, who gave £500 to one Henry Mead, an apprentice, who took his frame to Venice and worked upon it there. Mead was, however, incompetent to repair his frame when it fell out of order, and the Venetians : Failure

" Disheartened and impatient of making vain trials, of sent his disordered frame and some of their own Process imitation to be sold in London at a very low Abroad, valuation." The Knitters recounted how one Abraham Jones had :

180

SILK INDUSTRY.

Failure " By underhand courses and insinuations (and not

of by servitude as an apprentice) gotten both the

Process mystery and skilful practice .... did pass him-

Abroad. self with some more into Amsterdam

erected frames and wrought for the space of two or three years until the infection of the plague seized him and his whole family, and carried them all to the grave. . . . His frames were sent to London for sale at sUght rates." The finger of Providence was seen in these happenings, and the Commonwealth was said to be :

" Able abundantly to serve itself and ultra with aU commodities of knit work, as stockings, cal- ceoons,* waistcoats and many other things." The Knitters insisted on the advantage of their craft to the

" merchants, owners of ships, hosiers, dyers, winders,

throwsters, sizers, seamers, trimmers, wire drawers,

needlemakers, smiths, joyners, turners, with many

other assistants."

They made apparent also the intimate connection of

their trade with silk, saying :

" That altho' this manufacture may be wrought in any other materials that are usually made up. . . . Yet has it chosen to be practised in Silk, the best and richest of aU others in use and wearing, and most crediting the artisans and of greatest advantage unto his State and Common- wealth, yielding several payments to the use of the State before it passes out of the hands of the traders therein, and increasing merchandise by both the ways of importa- tion and exportation of the self-same material, imported raw at cheap rates, exported ready wrought at the utmost extent of value ; so that the distance of these valuations is totally clear gain to the Commonwealth, and esteemed Attitude upwards of six parts in seven of the whole quantity of of Home this material in the highest value thereof wrought up by Industry, this manufacture ; which has vindicated that old proverbial aspersion :

" The stranger buys of the Englishman the case of

* Calceoona — calefons, drawers.

NOTTINGHAM.

181

the Fox for a groat and sells him the tail again

for a shilling. And may now invert and retort

upon them. " The Englishman buys silk of the stranger for twenty

marks and sells him the same again for one hundred

pounds." The knitting business extended in districts outside A London, and was taken up in Kent and Surrey by master Company woolcombers when the Southern trade in worsted cloth estab- began to dechne. These beginners, like the employers lished. in Nottingham and Leicester, employed cheaper labour than that of Spitalfields. The Framework Knitters Com- pany took toll of their provincial competitors, although in law their charter extended only for ten miles around London. Their Commissions made periodical visits into the coimtry, and in Nottingham sat at the Feathers Tavern to admit apprentices, levy fines and confer freedoms. Certain of the Nottingham manufacturers began to employ parish apprentices, obtained from the workhouses, and Cartwright, Fellows and the two Coxes are particularly named by Henson as doing so. Payment of a fine of £400, which was put upon Fellows, and one of £150 upon Cartwright, for their contumacy was resisted, whereupon the beadles of the Company seized and sold goods and frames in satisfaction of the claims. An action for trespass brought in 1728 by Cartwright estabhshed the fact that the Company was without due authority, and in 1730 the Company abandoned making goods as a Stock Com- pany, for it was being hopelessly undersold by its inde- pendent rivals.

New by-laws were sought and obtained, and it was against these that a Nottingham petition to Parhament protested, declaring them " against aU reason and contrary to the general liberty of the subject, by the company levying taxes to assist them in their jurisdiction all over Petition the Kingdom, with power to search premises ; monopo- to hzing the lending of frames for hire ; and thus prejudicially Parlia- affecting and oppressing the trade." ment.

The Select Committee of the House of Commons reported in 1753 :

182

SILK INDUSTRY.

Report " The several persons employed in framework-

of Select knitting in the town of Nottingham have fully

Com- proved the allegations of their petition."

mittee. In the end the Company was deprived of privileges that had not been wholly to the advantage of its own members.

Contemporary evidence quoted by Deering is particularly to the point in respect of the moral influence of the privileges :

" Nor did these large sums do the Company any Service as a Body, for as they got the Money illegally, so they spent it as lavishly, and instead of growing rich, the Company became very poor ; and many of their Heads having got a Taste of high Living and neglecting their Business, also dwindled to nothing. To which add, that within these thirty years last past, the Merchants and Hosiers in London, finding they could be fitted from the Country with as good Work at a cheaper Rate than the London Framework-Knitters could afford ; the Bulk of that Trade has since shifted from thence, and the chief Dependence they had left, was upon what is called Fashion- Work, it being for many years the Mode to wear Stockings of the same Colour of the Cloaths, and this also, being by Degrees left off, what remains now in London does hardly deserve the Name of Trade." Illicit Illicit practices assisted London to make effective com-

Weight- petition with Nottingham in the silk stocking trade, despite ing. the disparity in the cost of labour. Stockings were made

heavy in the early 18th century, and Henson says that few weighed less than four ounces a pair. In other words the cost of material comprised a large proportion of the total cost. Besides being the primary silk market of the country and the place where most sUk was dyed, London was also the mart for embezzled sUk, abstracted in course of dyeing and obtainable covertly at less than market rates. By artificially increasing the weight of the sUk entrusted to them by others, the dyers were able to

NOTTINGHAM. 183

cover the deficiency and to offer silk for sale at prices lUicit which counteracted the higher scale of wages paid in Weight- London. The Capital failed however to retain the trade, ing.

First, the trade in worsted stockings was lost to London, and gradually the business in silk stockings. Between 1732 and 1750 about 800 frames were sent from London to Nottingham to be bought at half their cost or less, and a similar number were sent to Leicester. To defeat London malpractices, Nottingham hosiers had begun to make stockings lighter in weight, so that the component raw material formed a smaller element in the total cost, and lighter frames began to be built for the purpose. Whether or not this was the first occasion on which an insidious competition has effected a revolution in pubhc demand, it was assuredly not the last. The case is stated upon the authority of Henson, but seeing that the French were at this time making fine stockings of fight weight and supplying them to the English market, it may be suspected that fashion and example had also an influence in assisting the change.

When Joseph Stocks, a Nottingham workman, succeeded in making stockings not weighing over Ifog. a pair upon a 28-gauge frame, he was acclaimed the best workman in the trade. A challenge was issued to the Lyons knitters, and for a wager Stocks was set to produce a pair of stockings finer than the French. A 38-gauge frame was used for the occasion, the machine was ordered to undergo a " thorough recruit," the best organzine was procured specially from Italy, and an expert silk sizer was obtained from London to ensure the best possible result, but the award of the assessors went against Stocks, and in favour of the French. The attempt showed at Decay least the intention to excel, and the result gave some of justification for a preference for French hose that became London more marked later. Industry.

The decay of the London industry proved of benefit to ten provincial towns, named by Deering in the following order :

T,T. , , . , 1 . f Nottingham.

Nottmghamshire .- ^ansfiSd.

184

SILK INDUSTRY.

Provincial

Centres

of

Trade.

Leicestershire

Notting- ham Pioneers.

Leicester.

Mount Sorrell.

Loughborough.

Hinckley, &c.

Ashby-de-la-Zouch. Northamptonshire . . Towcester. Surrey . . . . Godliman.

Derbyshire . . . . Derby.

Deering's book is dated 1751, and his reference to Nottingham's great rival in the hosiery trade attests a state of local feeling which is not without existence at the present day:

" Of all these none comes in Competition with Leicester for Quantity of Goods, but even this very Town, though it may boast of its large Concerns, yet must confess that its best Goods are made at Nottingham, where by far the greatest part richest and most valuable commodity, whether of SUk, Cotton, Thread and Worsted is wrought, and it seems this so profitable Employment, as it were by a magnetical Force, is in the Height of its improved State, drawn towards the Place of its Birth, in order to make ample Amends for deserting it in its Infancy. ..."

Henson gives 1730 as the date of the completion of the first pair of cotton stockings made in England, and names the workman Draper, of BeUar Gate, Nottingham, as their maker. The material was East Indian hand spun yarn, and it is added that a 20-gauge sUk frame was used to knit them. Four threads were doubled to make the leg, and five for the heel and the finished article, on account of its whiteness after bleaching, was more valuable than sUk in the eyes of the time. Cotton came gradually into use in Nottingham, ousting sUk in large measure, and serving to extend the range of local manufactures. Deering has left an account of the extent of the industry at a date when the local trade consisted of httle more than stocking-making :

" There are, as per list, fifty Manufacturers, Employers of Frames, or as they are commonly called Putters-out, who all Trade, directly to London, besides those who only deal with Leicester. Both together occupy above 3,000

Plate XXIV. A Modern Knitting Frame (Cotton's System).

NOTTINGHAM. 185

frames, of which upwards of 1,200 are employ'd in Not- tingham, and the rest in the villages about, who buy their Provisions and other Necessaries in this Town."

The larger development of the lace trade came later. Begin- but that the making of bonelace preceded the stocking- ning of frame is shown by Deering's exphcit statement on the Bone subject : Lace

" The Bone-Lace Trade, by which great Numbers of Trade. Females were constantly employ'd tiU within these 35 years when all these Hands were more advantageously taken up by a fresh Manufacture, which has ever since comfortably maintained, besides these Females, above thrice their Number of Men ; I mean the Manufacture of Frame- worked Stockings."

The machine lace trade sprang out of the framework- knitting trade, and the invention of the tuck-presser, the first appliance permitting the execution of fancy patterns upon Lee's knitting frame, marks one step in the evolution. This invention for allowing two or three loops to be made upon one needle, was invented elsewhere, and is said by Felkin to have been introduced into Nottingham by an Irishman between 1740-56. Ribs, zigzags, and lozenge patterns in different colours could be formed by its aid, and the improvement known as the Derby rib, patented by Jedediah Strutt in 1758-59, which lent a new elasticity to hose, directly and indirectly promoted the use of cotton ; but there were numerous efforts then being made for the utiKsation of silk. Enterprise was in evidence at the period, and Blackner records an unsuccessful attempt to produce velvet on the stocking-frame. In 1767 Ross and Darrella, who worked in Nottingham, as weU as in Edmonton and London, produced sUk velvet by this means, but the enterprise failed because the pile of the fabric was Efforts loose. Mr. Godfrey's Notes on the Parish Register of to 8t. Mary's, Nottingham, show that in 1765 " scarves of extend the finest -China silk, a new material, made in the stocking use of frame, were given in place of the usual scarves to the SUk. paU-bearers at the funeral of Alderman Samuel Fellows," who with his father had carried on sUk manufacture for

186 SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk upwards of seventy years. In the election of 1778, when

Glove Mr. Abel Smith was returned without opposition, Felkin

Trade. says that members of the Stocking-makers Association

for Mutual Protection marched in procession before his

chair, which had been " gaily ornamented with the newly

invented silk lace."

Spanish silk gloves, made at Cordova, began to be imitated in England about the middle of the 18th century, principally in Nottingham, and Henson teUs of the manufacture of silk mitts figured with roses, leaves and branches wrought in eyelet-holes by hand. The work seems to have been a lucrative occupation. Workers could make more than two pairs a day, and were paid frequently 5s. a pair, or as much as 6s. for black mitts. These payments for fancy work stand in contrast with those that made " poor as a stockinger " a synonym for extreme poverty.

The efforts of the last half of the century were, perhaps, spurred by the preference for foreign goods, a preference marked enough to prompt the passing of an Act under George III to protect the home manufacture by a pro- hibition upon imports :

" Any person importing foreign silk stockings, mitts,

or gloves after the 1st of June, 1765, into any part

of the British dominion, to forfeit such goods.

Any person importing, aiding and abetting, or

any retailer who shall sell or expose for sale,

shall over and above the forfeiture of such goods

pay £200 and costs of suit."

A reflection upon the efiicacy of the prohibition may

be read into Henson's statement that " For more than

twenty years after the passing of the Act, the workmen

were instructed to work in eyelet-holes in the mitts of the

stockings the word Paris."

Stress of Discontent with the rewards of the industry at this

Competi- period is shown in an enactment of 1765-66, and known

tion. as the Tewkesbury Act. Nottinghamshire is one of the

counties producing long-woolled sheep, and the domestic

spinsters being accustomed only to spin very long wool

were unable to accommodate themselves to so short a

NOTTINGHAM. 187

fibre as cotton. Tewkesbury spinsters, accustomed to Pro- spin the short Spanish merino wools used in the West of tection England woollen trade, could spin cotton, and by knitting for two-fold homespun cotton yarn, where Nottingham had Notting- to buy Indian yarn and fold it three, four, or five times, ham the Tewkesbury knitters made an economy of 25 per cent. Trade. Accordingly, this Act for the protection of Nottingham trade prescribed that :

" Framework-knitted pieces, or stockings made of thread, cotton, worsted, or yarn, or any mixture of the said materials, except made of silk only, which shall contain Three or more Threads, shall be marked with the same number of eyelet-holes in one direct line, in the same course, so as they shall not exceed three inches from the extreme eyelet-holes and shaU not be placed within four inches of any title figure, mesh or device, and shall be witMn four inches of the top or end of every such piece or pair of such goods. No eyelet- hole, or imitation thereof, shaU be made except as aforesaid. " The Act not to prevent manufacturers using rem- nants in welts and tops of stockings, only not to exceed three inches, although such remnants should not contain three or more threads." The enactment was made of small practical account by the innovation of factory-spun cotton yarn within a few years of its passage, and a weakness in it which moved Henson to scorn, is only of philosophical interest. It would appear that, while punishing those who marked stockings falsely when the goods were knitted with three-fold threads, it was inoperative against those who might have misdescribed goods made only with two-fold yarn. The lameness of the result was doubtless the effect of Gloucestershire opposition to this particular Act.

It has been seen that bonelace, made by hand upon The a lacemaker's piUow with the aid of bone bobbins to Manufac- carry the thread, was made in Nottingham before the ture of introduction of framework-knitting ; and that successive Machine

Lace.

188

SILK INDUSTRY.

The steps towards the production of lace-hke fabrics had been

Manufac- taken. According to Henson, whose authority was some- ture of what disputed by the later writer Felkin, it was in 1769, Machine that the first machine lace was made in the town, and Lace. this valuable departure was due to one of the less estimable

of townsmen. Hammond, " a person of drunken habits," matched with an intemperate wife, was without money in a pubhc-house in the New Buildings. His eye fell upon the cap worn by his wife, which had a " broad lace border and a caul of the same fabric." He was seized with the idea that he could make cauls or nets of the same sort upon the machine at his home in the Rookery. Borrowing a small quantity of sUk, he went to work at once, produced three caps before night, and hawked them in the pubhc-houses. The net was made on the so-called tickler machine in a cross stitch formed by removing the thread from one needle to the second next needle, so that in one course the shift was towards the right hand, and in the next course towards the left. This plain, " wire ground lace " was followed with a double cross stitch called pretentiously by Hammond " Valenciennes." Making caps by day and selling them and drinking by night, the original lace manufacturer is said to have passed several years of his hfe. Henson adds that of the more ornamental caps sold upon these hawking expeditions some were hand-made, and in those parts where ornament was to be used the fabric was made in the same stitch as plain stockings. A Period The " pin machine," invented by Else and Harvey of of Inven- London, for making point net, was introduced into Not- tion. tingham soon afterwards, and the transference of one

of these machines to France in 1785-6, where the design was improved, gave the French their predominance in the manufacture of tulle. A Mr. Ingham is named by Blackner as the first to introduce warp lace machinery into Nottingham, but his venture only lasted three years. WiUiam Dawson, a needlemaker, who set up a factory to make similar lace in Turncalf Alley, removed his machinery to Ishngton in 1800, and his Nottingham premises were converted into a silk-mill. It was by the

Plate XXV . Leaver's Lace Machine, malting lace 260 inches wide.

NOTTINGHAM. 189

use of two sets of threads — ^warp, or beam, and weft, or A Period bobbin — ^that John Heathcoat eventually re-solved the of Inven- problem of making hexagonal net by machine. Although tion. Heathcoat was a Leicestershire man, and the course of events drove him to Devonshire to carry on his work, there is a sense in which his was a Nottingham invention. After learning his trade under William Shepherd, a maker of frames and Derby rib stockings at Long Whatton, Heathcoat came to Nottingham to work under Leonard Elliott, whose business of a frame smith he purchased. After carrying on the business for a while in Nottingham, he removed it to Hathern, in Leicestershire, and subse- quently to Loughborough. In the latter place he was joined in partnership in 1809 by Charles Lacy, a point net manufacturer from Nottingham, and in this year the machine, which by common admission was the most complex as yet made, was patented. Nottingham was Heathcoat's market place for the goods first made in Loughborough and later in Tiverton, and the town is stni the seat of the warehouse of his firm. Again, Not- tingham was the town in which Heathcoat's invention had most effect upon others in stimulating the improve- ment of lace machines. It is related in McCulloch's Dictionary that upon the lapse of Heathcoat's patent in 1822-23, "Clergymen, lawyers, doctors and others readily embarked capital upon so tempting a speculation."

When Dr. Ure pubhshed his Dictionary of the Arts and Manufacture in 1839, there were six types of lace machines in use in Nottingham :

(1) Heathcoat's patent.

(2) Brown's traverse warp.

(3) Morley's straight bolt, invented in 1811 by a

Derby man who came to Nottingham to exploit his invention.

(4) Clark's pusher principle, invented in 1811 by

Samuel Mart and James Clark, of Nottingham. Types

(5) Leaver's machine. of Lace

(6) Morley's circular bolt, invented in 1812. Machines The Leaver's machine (now variously spelt Lever's and

Leiver's) is said by some to have been invented almost con-

190

SILK INDUSTRY.

Types temporaneously with Morley's circular machine (1812), and of Lace to have been made conjointly by John Leavers and one Machines. Turton, both of New Radford, Nottingham. Doubt is thrown by Felkin upon the share of Turton in the inven- tion, and Levers is described as a frame smith originally of Sutton-in-Ashfi,eld, and later of Nottingham. Felkin was at pains to show that Levers was improvident and had the convivial inclinations of genius, but the fact that the typical Nottingham lace machine is called Levers to this day may be accepted as sufficient proof of his originahty and ability.

These years are important as the initial period during which the Nottingham lace machine was evolved. This started the industry of the town upon a new course, much to the local advantage, but in a direction leading rather to the consumption of silk than of cotton.

A considerable consumption of silk is recorded in the early years of the last century, and of its sources Blackner (writing in 1812) says :

" The silk of which Nottingham lace is made is

brought in an organzined state from Italy ; while

that of which stockings are made is brought

principally from China and the East Indies ; the

latter from its size and softness, being the best

calculated for stockings, whUe, for the same

properties it is not calculated for lace.

" The sUk of which black stockings are generally

made is known amongst the workmen by the

name of Novi ; hence many of them conclude it

to be Italian silk — the mistake arises from its

being reeled after the Novi manner,"

Great attention to the statistics of production was

paid by Felkin, the historian of the hosiery industry,

who in evidence before the Select Committee on Machinery

SUk in in 1841, specified " stockings and netted articles of cotton

the early and silk " as the principal manufactures of the town.

19th In 1843 he estimated the number of bobbin-net machines

Century, in England at 3,200, of which 2,600 (1,400 power and

1,200 hand) were calculated to be in work. About 2,000

of the machines were assigned to Nottingham and the

NOTTINGHAM.

191

neighbourhood, and the rest to Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Statistics and the West of England and the Isle of Wight. The of Pro- machines were supposed in 1842 to use 125,000lbs. of raw duction. silk (equalling 100,000/65. prepared) and 1,400,000/65. of spun Sea Island cotton. The value of silk net produced was placed at £200,000, being twice the value of the prepared silk entering into it. The separate warp lace trade with 800 machines was calculated to consume 30,000/65. of prepared silk and 450,000/65. of spun cotton. The produce of this smaller branch, being some £150,000 in silk lace and £200,000 in cotton lace, was said to be entirely disposed of through about 15 Nottingham business houses.

In 1850 two manufacturers of hosiery were singled out in Slater's Directory as specifically concerned with silk, John Henson, of Hyson Green, and H. Ray and Co. The name of William Clarke, New Radford, was given as that of a manufacturer of silk fringe, gimp and braid, which articles belong rather to Derby industry. Four silk throwsters names were given, namely :

G. Allcock, Upper ParKament Street.

Bean and Johnson, Clinton Street.

Francis B. GiU and Co., Houndsgate.

Walsh and Windley, Currant Street. These were followed by the names of five silk merchants :

William Baker, 6, King's Place.

Bean and Johnson, Clinton Street.

F, B. GiU and Co., Houndsgate. Alfred Hoyles, Castle Gate.

G. N. Walsh, 23, Smith Parade.

While the trade in lace was developing, that in silk Changed hose was suffering from the change in habits of dress. Habits of The case was stated concisely by a member of the firm Dress, of I. and R, Morley before the Factory Committee of 1833.

" In men's dress the advent of trousers and boots, especially of a kind of boot sold with stockings sewn in ; and in ladies' dress the boot and the vogue of the trained dress " were said to have militated against the trade in silk stockings. No reversion to knee-breeches and silk

192 SILK INDUSTRY.

Changed stockings for men has occurred smce that time, and for Habits of both sexes these articles have been relegated chiefly to Dress. evening wear. The opportunities for their sale have been vitally affected by the liberal developments in cotton spinning and finishing, by the introduction of immense quantities of Austrahan wool suited for making the finest cashmere hose, and by the progress made in converting this wool into yarns of flawless regularity."

In 1860, when a memorandum was drawn up by the Nottingham Chamber of Commerce in view of the proposed commercial treaty with France, the delegates enumerated cotton, silk, spun silk and merino as the four materials chiefly used in the Midlands hosiery industry. The machines employed were of four types — ^hand, rotary, circular and warp, and about 5,000 kinds of articles were made upon them. It was stated that there had been about 7,000 sUk frames in the trade when waistcoats, small clothes, gloves and stockings made of silk hosiery were worn. In 1812 there were computed to be 2,156 silk frames and in 1833, 3,000. In 1844 there were —

856 hose and 698 glove frames working silk in Derby- shire. 687 hose and 1,407 glove frames working silk in Nottinghamshire.

With 223 frames elsewhere, making a total of 3,773. The Memorandum added that the number of sUk frames in Nottinghamshire had been rapidly dechning during the decade 1850—1860. Lace in A Report upon the Exhibition of 1862 by Mr. Richard

the ^ Birkin suppKes information upon the developments in

'Fifties, lace-making during the middle of the last century. The Report points out that in 1851 the Jacquard had only been partially applied to the fancy lace machine, but had since been wholly appUed to it. Most marked advance since 1851 was reported in making window curtains, bed- covers and antimacassars. Of 3,552 lace machines of all types stated to be working in England in 1862 the value was £400 — ^£800 each, and the distribution was: —

NOTTINGHAM. 193

2,448 Nottingham and vicinity, Lace in

505 Derby and County, the

599 Tiverton and other West of England towns. 'Fifties. The gradual dechne of plain silk nets and quillings during the ten years was commented upon, together with the slow but sure advance of silk Cambrais, Brussels and Mechlin nets and " Queen's " quillings. " A great variety of a very light description of silk fancy nets of a useful and elegant character " made their appearance during this period.

The more recent change in habits of dress whereby knitted underwear has supplanted flannel has affected wool more than silk, and in Nottingham at the present day the manufacture of knitted silk articles is mainly in the hands of two firms. The demands upon them are rather increasing than diminishing, but considerations of comparative cost hmit the dimensions of the trade. Black silk socks are made for evening wear for men and coloured stockings for the evening dress of women. The "Mode to wear Stockings of the same Colour of the Cloaths" — to repeat Deering's quaint words — exhibits itself still, and one of the principal Nottingham firms finds its regular assortment of 70 shades of coloured silk insufiicient to satisfy all the demands made upon it by fastidious ladies. Organzine sUk, thrown in England, is employed for these stockings. For underwear, use is made of Enghsh spun silk for the better quahties and Continental schappe silk for the cheaper sorts. Makers of the higher classes of wool underwear manufacture garments in which fine wool is mixed with silk ; a thread of single spun sOk and one of botany wool being doubled together to form the yarn, and this incidental consumption is to be added to the rest. Silk articles are knitted chiefly in factories outside the town, and are returned to the Nottingham warehouse to be finished by a simple process of damping, ironing and drjdng in ovens before being parcelled. " Chevening," Modern or the hand-sewing of clocks and ornamentation upon Influ- stockings is done in the warehouses instead of by out- ences. workers, as formerly, and so is the hand-painting of coloured stockings for evening dress.

194

SILK INDUSTRY.

Modern The manufacture of miscellaneous articles from coloured

Influ- silk varies with the demands of fashion. Neckties for ences. men are made more in Macclesfield than Nottingham, but heavy spun silk boleros are turned out from Nottingham factories. Silk is used regularly by knitting manu- facturers at Belper, Mansfield and Cromford, and by makers of scarves and of Milanese for gloves at Ilkeston and Melbourne, all of which places belong by affliation to Nottingham trade.

For half a century Mansfield, near Nottingham, was one of the seats of the waste silk spinning trade. The firm of Wilham HoUins and Co., Ltd., spinners of merino, cashmere and cotton yarns and manufacturers of ViyeUa fabrics, began silk spinning in 1852, and continued the department until 1900, when this branch of the business was sold to the Bent Ley Silk Mills Co., Ltd., of Meltham, Huddersfield.

Artificial silk is used in increasing quantity for veilings, and although it has been introduced into hosiery upon a background of cotton or wool, the results have hardly justified its employment in articles intended to withstand washing. Silk plain nets made mainly in Tiverton, Barnstaple, Chard and the West of England form a con- stant, although not a large part of Nottingham trade, and are sent to Long Eaton and Stapleford to be finished. Silk fancy laces, which are a staple of Calais trade, are a subsidiary branch of Nottingham industry, but have not been made in any quantities since the decay of the demand for Chantilly black lace. The fancy lace trade is peculiarly exposed to the caprice of fashion, and Nottingham manu- facturers in general are not anxious that business in silk lace should be revived. The loss in producing designs which fail to win acceptance is considerable when the lost material is only cotton and is proportionately greater in the case of silk. Again, the trouble of dealing in two Snk materials, as against that of handling one, causes silk

Lace to be eyed with disfavour by manufacturers, whose chief

Trade. concern is with cotton. On the other hand, it is reported that large profits have been made out o{ silk lace-making during its brief appearances in public favour.

NOTTINGHAM.

195

Wright's Nottingham Directory for 1913 gives the Recent names of 237 firms of lace manufacturers and 105 firms Trade of holders of lace machines. The machines are erected tenden- in large factories containing numbers of tenants, and in cies. the main the names of holders are duplicated in the longer list. The manufacturers who are not machine owners buy lace and curtains " in the brown," or unbleached condition, and sell the article in the finished state. There are 63 names of hosiery manufacturers and nine of surgical hosiers, whose business, involving the consumpton of fine organzine silk, is a particular Nottingham speciahty. Seven firms are named as cotton and silk doublers, ten as silk agents and merchants, and two as silk throwsters and winders. Silk throwing is largely given to commission throwsters in Macclesfield, and is no longer a distinctive local employment, although there are throwing machines at work.

The development of the industry in the outer districts, as shewn in local directories, is displayed in the following hst : —

Beeston — Lace Manufacturers and Machine

Holders . . . . . . 24

Hosiery Manufacturer . . . . 1

Burton Joyce — Bag Hosiers* . . . . 4

Carlton — Hosiers . . . . . . . . 2

Arnold — Hosiers . . . . . . . . 5

Bag Hosiers . . . . . . 8

Ilkeston — Silk Manufacturers . . . . 2

Hosiery Manufacturers . . . . 6

Melbourne — Silk Manufacturers . . . . 2

Belper — Hosiery Manufacturers . . . . 4

Matlock — Hosiery . . . . . . . . 4 Industry

The machine-made lace trade is so essentially a Nottingham in the business that the general figures ascertained for England Outer and Wales under the Census of Production, 1907, acquire Districts.

• Bag Hosier — hosier getting his work done upon commission. An embittered reference to these traders in the Stocking Makers' Monitor, 15 November, 1817, reads : "A Bag, or rather shall I say, a Rag hosier to furnish them with cut-ups and square heels and a long train of trade-destroying rubbish at a price lower than the lowest." The same journal, in another place, coupled " mercenary cheap dealers and Bag Hosiers." The antagonism is presumably to be explained by the conflict of interest between an employer wanting his work done cheaply and operatives urgent for a higher scale of payment.

196

SILK INDUSTRY.

The a strong local significance. These figures shew a pro-

Present duction of "Silk Net and Lace and Articles thereof," Extent valued £442,000, out of a total £4,886,000, for lace goods of the of all kinds. The costs for finishing and of commission Netting- being added, the gross output from lace factories ham and warehouses becomes £8,955,000, and of this it will be

Industry, seen that silk lace accounts for less than five per cent.

For similar reasons the general import and export trade returns apply with strong force to Nottingham, and these reveal silk in a much lower place of importance than cotton. Thus the imports of silk lace and articles thereof (except embroidery) were :

1910. 1911. 1912.

£112,000 £146,000 £103,000

against the following in the case of cotton :

1910. 1911. 1912.

£2,542,000 £2,539,500 £2,454,000

The exports of British-made silk lace were :

1910. 1911. 1912.

£15,000 £11,500 £9,000

and of re-exported foreign-made silk lace :

1910. 1911. 1912.

£178,000 £157,500 £138,500

Against the following in cotton :

1910. 1911. 1912.

Exports .. £4,244,000 £3,936,000 £4,095,000 Re-exports . .£1,353,000 £1,196,000 £1,192,000

The sources of the foreign laces chiefly dealt in were given by a Nottingham witness to Mr. Chamberlain's Tariff Commission as :

Calais. St. Gall. Vienna. Lyons.

Caudry. Barmen. Turin. Dresden.

Plauen. Leipzig.

Mention was made in particular of Lever's laces made Sources in France, Schiffli embroidery from Plauen and hand of embroidery from St. GaU. On the other hand, it has to

Foreign be noted that the cotton net upon which Plauen lace is Laces. stitched is manufactured in and exported from Nottingham. The general manufactures of the Nottingham lace factories may be summarily stated as :

NOTTINGHAM. 197

Curtains. Plain Nets. Fancy Laces. Notting-

Spotted Nets. Fine. Common. Heavy, ham

The lower rates of wages paid upon the Continent Industry preclude Nottingham firms from employing machinery To-day. of the Continental type more largely, but there are at work a considerable number of Swiss embroidery machines in addition to the curtain, Levers and plain net machines native to the district.

The town has large supphes of female workers, famiUarised from their early years with factory organisation and the execution of light tasks requiring concentration of mind and deftness of hand. It is accordingly a favour- able place for the development of industries employing the sewing-machine and the making-up of woven garments, and under-garments has become an important branch of the local business. As in Macclesfield and Coventry, the silks used in Nottingham clothing factories are chiefly of Japanese and Continental make.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Derby.

First Negative evidence favours the idea that the stocking

con- trade gave Derby its first association with silk, for no

nection direct mention of silk manufacture can be discovered with before the date of Lee's invention of the stocking-frame.

Silk. There are ancient connections with the growing, staphng,

and manufacturing of wool, and in 1204 the inhabitants of Derby received from King John a monopoly of the cloth-dyeing trade within a certain radius of the town. Glover's History and Gazetteer, pubhshed in 1831, makes record of the fact that silk became the principal textile material in local use soon after the invention of the frame, and the date may be suggested by a reminder that it was in 1589 that Lee completed his first stocking-frame in the adjoining county of Nottingham, and 1598 before he perfected a machine to knit silk. " In process of time the machine found its way into Derby," writes Hutton, without committing himself to a definite date. Felkin, the historian of the hosiery trade, records the existence of two master hosiers in Nottinghamshire in 1641, and hosiers were perhaps not much more numerous in Derby- shire at that time, although in 1720 there were about 150 frames in Derby. The information is an inference drawn from Button's statement, pubhshed in his History (1791), that there had been no increase in number during the previous seventy years.

The Derby stocking trade might have grown greater in the early 18th century had not a development occurred which was prophesied to make " the Hosiery stagnate." Hutton adds that the event verified the prediction, and

198

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i^4

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Plate XXVI. Lombe's Mill, Derby. The first Silk Mill erected

in England, 1717 .

DERBY.

199

allows that " perhaps the loss was of no consequence, Market for the journeyman rather starves than Uves." The for Silk event was the estabhshment of the silk-throwing factory Thread, that has indissolubly hnked Derby with the history of silk in England. Derby was a market for silk thread used in making silk stockings, and it may be that this local consumption of sUk, principally Itahan in its origin, imbued Crotchet with his notion that there was " a fine opening to raise a fortune " by throwing raw silk by machinery at home. Crotchet accordingly erected in 1702 /■ a small silk-mill, which later acquired the name of the " Old Shop," and was used for throwing shoot during part of the time that its great successor was employed in making organzine. Hutton says " every prospect of the future undertaking was favourable till the scheme was put in practice, when the bright ideas died away. Three engines were found necessary for the whole process ; he had but one. An untoward trade is a dreadful sink for money ; and an imprudent tradesman is one more dreadful. . . . Crotchet soon became insolvent."

It was Crotchet who introduced John Lombe to Derby. John Lombe, whom Hutton calls " a man of spirit, a good draughtsman and an excellent mechanic," and who was described in a House of Commons speech as one " whose head is extremely well turned for the mechanics," was born in Norwich, where his father was a worsted weaver. He came, at what must have been a tender age, as apprentice to Crotchet, to whose care he was confided by his father's executors. As John Lombe died in 1722, at an age reported to be 29, he would be nine years old when Crotchet began business. The venture being short- hved, Lombe could not have been far advanced in years when Crotchet's failure deprived him of a situation. With money advanced by his half-brother Thomas, then a rising mercer in London, John made his way to Piedmont, to profit by observation of those particulars in which Crotchet's practice had been found lacking.

In 1716 John was back in London with aU the informa- Lombe's tion he desired and a couple of Itahan workmen to help Venture. him in the execution of his scheme. Report has made

200

SILK INDUSTRY.

Lombe's free with the means taken by the younger Lombe to Venture, attain his ends. " He adopted the usual mode," according to Hutton~in corrupting the servants of his Itahan employer to give private access to the machine, details of which he meant to possess himself of. " Whatever part he became master of, he committed to paper before he slept," says the chronicler, who as a boy worked in the Derby mill. " By perseverance and bribery, he acquired the whole, when the plot was discovered, and he fled," and found sanctuary on an English ship. The story goes that the King of Sardinia was so incensed at the incident that he made it death for any man to discover the invention or attempt to carry it out of the dominion. There are other accounts in which the youthful Lombe is credited with more cunning and duphcity, and in which he is made to attain his ends by collusion with the Itahan priesthood. If the stratagems were actually taken they were super- fluous in view of the fact that a complete description of the Itahan method of silk-throwing, accompanied by drawings, had been given by V. Zonca in his Novo Teatro di Machine, pubhshed in Padua in 1607, and issued in further editions in 1620 and 1686. There might be a natural desire to supplement the printed information by close inspection of the machine at work ; and especially to bring away workmen accustomed to the process. The necessity of measuring and noting details must, however, have been reduced, and as Lombe is reported to have stayed several years in Italy, it would be a poor com- phment to suppose him unacquainted with a manifestly valued and somewhat widely circulated book bearing so closely upon his main object in hfe.

Thomas Lombe, the capitahst of the venture, and owner

of the patent, had his mercery business in London, where

Reason there was then in operation an estabhshed frame-knitting

for trade consuming silk, as well as the older weaving trade.

starting If the idea of starting their machine in London in opposi-

at tion to the established hand-throwsters occurred to the

Derby. Lombes, it was dismissed. Hutton says they " fixed upon

Derby as a proper place .... because the town was

hkely to supply a sufficient number of hands and the able

DERBY.

201

stream with a constant supply of water." Mr. Davison, Reason

in his Rise and Progress of Derby (1906), says Lombe for

" preferred swift Derwent to sluggish Trent for water starting

power." Nottingham mills at a much later period had at

to be driven by horse power, and over half a century later Derby.

Arkwright removed to Derbyshire to avail himself of the

river. It is at least probable that the Lombes, as well

as Crotchet, had their eyes on the stocking market and

on the transference, then in progress, of the hosiery

industry from London to the Midlands. The local weaving

trade had not begun, and the consumption of sUk in such

businesses as the button-working trade carried on around

Macclesfield could not constitute more than a minor

attraction. Lombe agreed with the Corporation of Derby

for the lease of an island swamp in the river, paying £8

a year ground rent for a strip 500 feet by 52 feet, and

built upon it the mill that was the wonder of its age and

the first forerunner of the modern factory system. " The

first EngUsh factory in the modem sense," is the

description given to it by Mr. Taylor, late Inspector

of Factories, in his standard work. The Modern Factory

System.

The mill had eight rooms and 468 windows. Its foundations were composed of sixteen or twenty-foot piles, with stone above them, and its cost is stated as £30,000. Three or four years were occupied in its con- struction, and during that time John Lombe was carrying on his new business in rooms in different parts of the town, and largely in the Town HaU. Sir Thomas Lombe, to give him the title that was the reward of his enterprise and pubhc services, left £120,000 at his death, and is said to have made £80,000 during the currency of the patent granted for fourteen years in 1718. Hutton would make the first years proportionately even more profitable than the later ones. After reducing the prices to a level at Profits which the Italians could not compete, " the over-flowings of the of profit were so very considerable as to enable him to enter- pay for the grand machine as the work went on." The prise, machinery was under John Lombe's eye during con- struction. The equally important matter of the supply

202 SILK INDUSTRY.

The of power had the engineering supervision of Soracole, of

impres- whom Defoe, in the Northern Tour, tells a diverting tale, sions of The mill was still new at the time of the great man's visit, Defoe. of which there follows his account :

" Here is a Curiosity in Trade worth observing as being the only one of its kind in England, namely a Throwster's Mill worked by a Wheel turned by Water, and though it cannot perform the Doubling Part of a Throwster's Work, which can only be done by a Hand-wheel ; yet it turns the other Work and is equal to the Labour of many hands. Whether it answers the Expence or not, is not my Business to enquire. " This work, afterwards much improved by Sir Thomas Loam, was first erected by one Soracole, a Man expert in making Mill work, especially for raising Water to supply Towns for Family Use. But it had been hke to have been fatal to him ; for going to show some Gentlemen the Curiosity, as he called it, of his Mill, as he crossed the Planks which lay just above the Millwheel, being too eager in his Description and keeping his Eye rather upon what he pointed at with his Finger than where he placed his Feet, he mist his Step and slipt into the River. He was so very close to the Sluice which let the Water out upon the Wheel, and which was then pulled up, that though Help was just at hand, there was no taking hold of him till by the Force of the Water he was carried through, pushed just under the large Wheel, which was then going round at a great Rate. The Body being thus forced in between two of the plashers of the Wheel, stopt the Motion of it for a little while, till the Water pushing hard to force its Way, the Plasher beyond him gave way The and broke ; upon which the Wheel went again,

Mill and like Jonah's \^^lale spewed him out, not upon

described. dry Land, but upon that Part they call the Apron,

and so to the Mill-tail, where he was taken up and received no Hurt at all."

DERBY.

203

Not all contemporary accounts of the equipment of An the mill can be accepted without question, and one which imagiaa- stirred Button's contemptuous contradiction has been tive quoted somewhat widely without quahfication : writer.

" One hand will twist as much Silk as before could be done by 50, and that in a truer and better Manner : this Engine contains 26,586 wheels and 97,746 Movements, which work 73,726 Yards of SUk Thread every time the Water Wheel goes round, which is three Times in one Minute, and 318,504,960 yards in one Day and Night. One Water Wheel gives motion to all the rest of the Wheels and Movements, of which any one may be stopped separately. One Fire-engine Ukewise con- veys warm air to every individual part of the Machine, and the whole Work is governed by one Regulator. The House which contains this engine is of a vast bulk of five or six Stories high." " Had the Author made the number of his wheels 10,000 less he would have been nearer the mark," writes Hutton- — adding in bitter remembrance of his own servi- tude— " or if he had paid an unremitting attendance for seven years, he might have found their number 13,384." The spirit of exaggeration is corrected further by an assurance that the wheel revolved not thrice, but " about twice " in a minute ; and that the " superb fire-engine " was in actuality " a common stove, which warmed one corner of the large building and left the others to starve." To Hutton the miU was " a curious but wretched place," in which he spent the most unhappy part of his hfe. Temperamentally he may have been less fitted to endure than some of his fellows, but the arrangements for his performance of duty and the correction of his mistakes cannot now be defended. He says :

" Low as the engines were, I was too short to reach The them. To remedy this defect a pair of high Account pattens were fabricated and lashed to my feet, by which I dragged after me till time lengthened my Hutton. stature. The confinement and the labour were no burden, but the severity was intolerable."

204

SILK INDUSTRY.

Death Children who did wrong were hoisted for corporal

of punishment upon the back of Bryan Barker, a giant

John "approaching seven feet." They were punished for

Lombe. making much waste, a thing that — ^from "the fineness

of the materials, the ravelled state of the slips and the

bobbins " and childish imprudences — ^was diflacult to

avoid. The raw silk was from Persia, Canton and

Piedmont, and included perfectly white China sorts, and

it passed from one machine to another, first to be wound,

next to be twisted and then to be doubled.

John Lombe did not live to enjoy long the prosperity his efforts had produced, and Ms death is attributed traditionally to the craft and vengeance of the Southerners, whom he had despoiled of their market. Hutton's version of the illness and death has not commanded imquestioning behef, and, like the story of the young man's Italian adventure, that of his illness is not very different from the one that neighbours with a taste for romance might have fabricated for themselves. " An artful woman came over in the character of a friend associated with the parties and assisted in the business. She attempted to gain both the Itahans, and succeeded with one. By these two, slow poison was supposed, and perhaps justly, to be administered to John Lombe, who fingered two or three years in agonies and departed." The colour of justifica- tion apparent in the recital is that " the Itafian ran away to his own country, and Madam was interrogated, but nothing transpired except what strengthened suspicion." By whom Madam was interrogated is not, however, stated. John Lombe had become a man of mark, and was accorded the " most superb funeral ever known in Derby." John was succeded by Wilfiam Lombe, a brother, of a melancholy cast of mind, who took his own fife, and in 1736 Thomas Appfica- Lombe assumed full control. The business gradually tion for became more successful, and it continued to employ Exten- 300 hands until the expiry of the patent in 1732. sion of In appljdng for his patent in 1718, Thomas Lombe

Patent. pleaded that he had continued earnest application and endeavours for several years, employed a great many agents here and in foreign parts, and by dint of great expense

DERBY.

205

and hazard had accomplished that which had never before Applica- been done in the realm. In applying for an extension tion for of the patent on the ground that a great part of the gains Exten- had been consumed in teaching workpeople the use of sion of his invention, Lombe encountered formidable opposition. Patent. In spite of the fact that monopolies had been hmited to a term of fourteen years under James I, ParUament did not show itself reluctant to grant an extension. A House of Commons Committee of 55 members, to which were added the four members for the county of Derby, and the whole commercial element of the House, considered the petition, and in fourteen days reported by ordering Alderman Percy and six members to bring in a BiU for the extension of the patent.

An account of the proceedings is given by Gravenor Henson in his unfinished History of the Framework Knitters (1831). Witnesses were called in the person of two master silk-weavers and two sUk merchants. Daniel Booth deposed that since the estabhshment of the Derby engines silk which had formerly cost 25s. a pound, could be bought for 20s., and that the silk manufacture had much increased. Booth produced samples of silks repre- senting that of the English hand-throwsters, Itahan organzine and Lombe's English organzine. Specimens were also shown in the unwrought condition, and also " woven into silk fabrics of velvet and mantua {i.e. dress) silk."

Captain Peter Lekeux, a master- weaver, testified to similar effect, adding that untU a year or two ago Lombe had been unable to throw good silk, but that now his yarn was as good as the Italian.

One Selwin, a silk merchant, agreed that several miUs had been set up for silk-throwing, but none, except Lombe's, could produce thrown silk equal to Italian organzine. Another merchant, Drake, who had seen Lombe's engine, declared that he had not seen its equal Evidence even in Italy. Petitions were presented from Manchester, for and Macclesfield, Leek and Stockport praying that counsel might against, be heard in opposition to the BUI. Another was forwarded by the Master, Wardens and Assistants of the Company

206

SILK INDUSTRY.

Evidence of Silk-throwsters, London, urging that by Act of Charles I for and no person had the right to exercise their trade without against, having served apprenticeship to it, and pointing out that an extension would be ruinous to them. This petition from London was supported by one from Blackburn in Lancashire. All these were reinforced by a singular petition by the Mayor, Aldermen, Brethren and Capital Burgesses of Derby, assembled in Common Council, on 26 February, 1731-32. Their plea asserted that Lombe's invention was not only detrimental to the woollen manu- facture, but also to the borough in general. The gravamen of a complaint which looks astonishing to modern eyes was that by keeping the poor at home, Lombe was increasing their number. The local petition said that " although the said engine employed a great number of hands, the erection had materially increased the poor rates," and that the enlarging of the term of the patent would only be a continuation of the grievance. In view of this extraordinary representation, it seems fair to recall Defoe's description of the Derby of 1720 as " a town of gentry rather than trade." The borough would seem to have been accustomed to export the poverty-stricken. The presentation of several petitions against the BiU and the absence of any addresses in its favour put a new complexion upon the case, and the application for a renewed monopoly was refused. The refusal was softened by a grant of £14,000 made conditionally upon the exhibition in the Tower of London of an exact model of the mechanism and the award of this solatium led to great rejoicing at the mill. In the phraseology of the Chancellor of the Exchequer :

" His Majesty having been informed of the case of

Sir Thomas Lombe with respect to his engine for

making organzine silk, had commanded him to

Exten- acquaint to the House that his Maj esty recommended

sion of to their consideration the making such provisions

term .... as they shall think proper."

refused. The sum was voted to Sir Thomas Lombe " as a reward for

his eminent services done to the nation, in discovering

with the greatest hazard and difficulty the capital Itahan

DERBY. 207

engines, and introducing and bringing the same to full Lombe's perfection in this Kingdom at his own great expense." Reward. The knighthood and the shrievalty of London and Middlesex came to him in 1727, his 42nd year, and Lombe hved until 1739.

The expiry of the patent and the full disclosure of the structure of the machines led immediately to the establish- ment of competitive mills, and one of Lombe's Itahans, Nathaniel GartrevaUi, transferred his services to the opposition mill at Stockport. Eleven additional throwing- mills were built at Derby before 1791, when silk had become the staple manufacture of the town and gave employment to more than a thousand persons. Mention is made of these twelve mills in Macpherson's Annals of Commerce (1805), in which it is written they " were in a great measure employed in twisting Bengal silk for the East India Company." Glover tells of five or six other mills existing in the remainder of the county in 1831, and estimates the number of operatives at two or three thousand.

A quotation from the Derby Reporter in Mr. Davison's Rise and Progress, shows that in 1833 trade unionism began to attract Derby workmen, of whom 800 are said to have joined a secret society. A manufacturer. Frost, having discharged one man who refused to be fined for bad work, his fellows left in a body in the month of November. Workers in other mills joined the strikers, and when the employers retaliated by discharging all unionists, some 1,300 persons, including throwsters, small- ware weavers, broad silk weavers, twisters, and members of other trades were idle. Strangers were imported, and some mills were put into partial work. Dragoons were brought into the town, and special constables were sworn in. The strike outlasted the winter, and kept 2,400 men, women and boys idle until mid-April. Develop-

The name of Frost appears in the firm of Frost and ments, Stevenson in Pigot's Directory for 1835 as one of ten 1800 — silk manufacturing firms existent at that date. The 1850. compiler gave the articles produced in Derby from silk as " various, embracing hose, handkerchiefs, shawls, ferrets,

208 SILK INDUSTRY.

Develop- laces and sewing silk," and his list of names included ments, those of ten throwsters.

1800— Causes not connected with the local supply of material

1850. affected the stocking-making business. The workman-

ship was inferior, French-made stockings were preferred, and Midland-made sUk stockings were sold under the false name " Paris." An impetus was lent by the improvements made by Roper, of Locko, in 1750, and Jedediah Strutt in 1758-59, resulting in the production of Derby-rib, or elastic, stockings. The improvement was common to hosiery at large, and assisted indifferently silk and cotton at a moment when the machine spinning of cotton yarn was beginning. The market that had attracted Crotchet and Lombe drew Arkwright from Lancashire, first to Nottingham and next to Derby in search of means to develop his water-frame for spinning cotton by the use of rollers. It was at Belper on the River Derwent that Strutt and Arkwright, who entered into partnership in 1775, built the first of their four cotton- mills.

The cotton knitting industry developed rapidly, and in 1831 found employment for 6,500 persons, as against 850 engaged in knitting silk. The authority for these particulars is Glover, who adds that Ward, Brettle and Ward, of Belper, then considered to be the largest makers of hosiery goods in the world, had 400 sUk knitting frames, producing 300 dozens of hose a week, and 2,500 frames for cotton, turning out some 1,900 dozens a week. One Crane, in 1766, had made a frame for manufacturing rich brocade for waistcoats, weaving being introduced much later.

WOham Taylor, occupier of Lombe' s old mill, began

the weaving of silk goods in premises in Bag-lane apparently

about 1822. Bridgett and Son and Ambrose Moore and

Co. followed his example, and enabled Glover to declare

Changes that sarcenets, gros de Naples and other rich silks " in

in local style equal to those made by the weavers of Spitalfield,"

industry, were being woven on 220 looms and engaging about 300

persons. Velvets and plain and figured satins are

enumerated in Bagshaw's Derbyshire Gazetteer (1846),

DERBY.

209

amongst the other broad silks made in Derby and its Changes dependencies, and the number of looms is stated at 344, in local and the trade is said to have been extending. industry.

Narrow weaving was introduced almost simultaneously with broad by the firm of Jas. and S. C. Peet in 1823, who, in a factory built by Isaac Peet, apphed steam power to the weaving of galloons. Glover adds that the Peets were makers of considerable quantities of silk hose and of ribbons, and that other early manufacturers of narrow goods were Smith, Bosley and Smith, of Glossop, and Ralph Frost, of Derby.

Bagshaw wrote in 1846 : " Derby is entering into formidable rivalry with that great monopohzer of the ribbon manufacture, Coventry," and ampHfied the remark by the statement that the 233 steam ribbon-looms at work in 1833 had since greatly increased in number. It is learned from Beckman's History of Inventions, published in the same year, that the ribbons were plain and chiefly black sarcenet; and that there were 233 power ribbon- looms in Derby, 254 in Congleton, and 100 in Leek. Con- temporary writers are in agreement as to the healthy condition of the industry up to this period, and Dodd, in British Manufactures (1844), wrote : "By degrees improvements have reached every department, so that at the present day some of the silk mills present fine examples of factory arrangement."

An operation closely allied to the wire-wrapping done now in Derby received less favourable mention from Dodd:

" Rage for cheapness in the present day had led to a curious excess of ingenuity ... by the invention of a process termed ' plating,' which bears the same relation to the real silk manufacture as metal plating does to the manufacture of silver. It consists in putting a coating of silk upon a foundation of cotton, by which the more costly material is only used in those parts which meet The the eye." The passage ends with the assurance that Plating "the history of our textile manufactures within the last Process, dozen years is full of examples of this kind."

The manufacturers named in Bagshaw's Directory of

210

SILK INDUSTRY.

List of 1846 number 22, whose names, addresses and businesses Firms. are given as follows :

t Adams, Thomas, Cavendish Street, t 2 3 AHen, Joseph, Chester Road. t BrammaU, Holmes, City Road. 3 Bridgett, Thomas & Co., Bridge Street. t 6 Crooks, Thomas, Siddals Lane.

* Davenport, Ebenezer, Osmaston Street.

* Davenport, Joseph, Morled^e MiUs.

t Gilbert, James (sUk and cotton purses), TraflSc

Street, t Hunt, George, City Road.

* Johnson, John, Albion Street.

Johnson and Walton (and cords). Jury Street. 3 Madeley, Thomas & Co., Cavendish Street. 3 Peet, J., and C.S., Nuns Street. 1 Robinson, John and Thomas, & Co., Sacheverel Street. 3 4 Simpson and Turner, Canal Street. 3 6 Taylor, Wm., sen., SUk Mill Lane.

Taylor, Wm. Henry, and George, Full Street. t 3 Taylor, Wm., Short Street. 2 3 4 Topham and Fawcett, Wardwick Mill. 2 34 5 Unsworth and Williamson, Depot Mills, Siddals Lane. t Wright, Samuel Job, Agard Street.

* Wright, Thomas John, Agard Street.

The lease of the Old Silk Mill passed in 1739 from

Lady Lombe to Richard Wilson who, it is stated by

Glover, obtained the whole works for the sum of £4,000 ;

an amount quite disproportionate to the reported cost

of the building. Until 1803 the premises were occupied

The by a Mr. Swift, who improved the machinery, and at the

fate of time of the fire in 1826, when the machines had to be

Lombe's entirely renewed, the mill was in the occupation of the

MUl. Mr. Taylor who founded the Derby silk-weaving trade.

The mill had ceased to be used for the manufacture of

silk, and was in the possession of a firm of manufacturing

* Throwsters only.

1 Manufacturers of broad silk.

3 Ribbons.

5 Twist.

t Manufacturers only.

2 Manufacturers of doubles, galloons, and smallwares.

4 Trimmings.

6 Velvet.

DERBY. 211

chemists at the date when it was burnt to the ground in Relics December, 1910. A new building of three storeys in of place of five has replaced it upon the same site, and the Original tower with which it is also graced is reminiscent of Building. Lombe's. A rehc of the original structure remains in a fine pair of wrought-iron gates surmounted by Lombe's monogram, which have been re-erected by the Corporation of Derby in situ in Silk-mUl Lane.

The silk industry has not only dwindled in Derby, but has radically changed in character. Silk-weaving, except of narrow gimps, has disappeared. No silk hose are knitted in the town, although factories affiliated rather to Nottingham than to Derby work up silk on the knitting-frame at Belper, Matlock, Ilkeston and Melbourne. SUk-throwing is done extensively by only one firm, that of T. Mitchell, and upon a smaller scale for self consumption by one or two other manufacturers. Seven firms use silk for manufacturing purposes, principally in wrapping electrical and millinery wire, making dress and millinery trimmings, surgical bandages, cords and coach lace. A recapitulation of the classes of goods made by one Derby firm includes chenUles, tassels, gimps, fringes, laces, buttons, scrolls, tinsels and fancy goods. It is probably a correct estimate that the number of persons employed in throwing and winding silk in Derby is four hundred. The number engaged in manufacturing silk cannot be so accurately gauged, but by the best trade authorities the number is estimated at one thousand.

The throwing-mill owned and carried on by Mr. Albert J. Eggleston, in the name of his predecessor, Mr. T. Mitchell, is in succession to the old firm of Davenport, founded in the first half of. the last century. Mr. Charles Dould, Abbey Street Mills, and Messrs. Stokes and Hudson have a large manufacturing business. Messrs. Richards' miU is now a branch of a Manchester Company. Messrs. Thomas Smith and Sons, Ltd., Abbey Street, manu- The facture some silk lace, and Messrs. G. B. Unsworth and Present Son, Ltd., are wire coverers and makers of dress trim- Day. mings, as are Messrs. Green, of Normanton, upon the outskirts of the town.

CHAPTER XIX.

Leicester.

The The close community of interest between Nottingham

Begin- and Leicester makes it difficult to trace the development ning of the knitting industry in the one without constant

of the reference to progress in the other. In the larger sense Stocking the Midland hosiery trade is aU one. It has arisen from Trade. a common source, and that portion which belongs to Leicester has been concerned more with wool than sUk.

Little more than 30 miles separates Leicester from Calverton, the birthplace of Lee's invention, but it was not in the county-town, but in Hinckley, that the first use of the knitting-frame in Leicestershire was made. Ephraim Chambers, in his Cyclopedia (1783), says a frame was brought into Hinckley before the year 1640 by one Wilham Iliffe ; in other words within fifty years of the date of Lee's invention, or within thirty years of its re- introduction to England. The site was found congenial, and Chambers wrote :

"Now the manufacture of the town is so extensive that a larger quantity of hose, of a low price, in cotton, thread and worsted, is supposed to be made here than in any town in England. The manufacture now employs about 2,585 working people."

The connection of Hinckley with the cheaper sorts of hosiery has been continued to the present. It is not said whether the first stocking-maker to begin business in Leicester came from that direction or from the north- ward. In Glimpses of Ancient Leicester (1891), Mr. T. F. Johnson attributes the introduction of the first stocking- frame to one Nicholas Allsopp, who worked in a cellar in Northgate Street. The statement agrees with that made by Gardiner, upon the authority of his uncle Coltman, who was engaged in the trade in 1769. In his book, Music and Friends, Gardiner, who gives a sufficiently

212

LEICESTER. 213

circumstantial account, names 1670 as the date of The Allsopp's beginning, and mentions that the pioneer had Begin- difficulty in vending his own work. AUsopp took J. Parker, ning of Leicester, as apprentice, and in due time Parker took of the as his own apprentice a Quaker called Samuel Wright, and Stocking for some years Wright was the only stockinger in the town. Trade.

Gardiner's statement that it was in about 1700 that the making of worsted hose first became a trade, suggests the inference that the first stockings were made of silk. Gravenor Henson's assertion (1831) that the first pair of cotton stockings were made in this country in 1730, favours this construction, without putting out of court the alternative meaning that numbers of newcomers entered the business. Mr. Johnson says there were from 500 to 600 framework-knitters in Leicester in 1727, and Gardiner refers to the existence of 1,000 frames in the town in 1750. It is evident that the development was an important one, and if Henson's authority can be accepted, the change to cotton was quickly made. Gardiner says the frames in 1750 were making white thread hose from imported Silesian yarn, and brown thread hose from Scotch yarn, and were also turning out 1,000 dozens of worsted hose per week. The dyeing and trim- ming of the goods was carried out in Nottingham, where Elliotts' charge for black dyeing was 35. 6d. a dozen. Gardiner's account includes the names of the principal manufacturers of that day :

Mr. Lewin.

Barns, Chamberlain and Burgess. Output

Cradock and Burney. in

Thos. Pougher. 1750.

Richard Garle.

Sir Arthur Hazlerig.

Joseph Cradock.

Jno. Williams.

Wm. Miles.

Thomas Gardiner, who lived 94 years, and died in

1837, left behind him an account of the social condition

of the framework-knitters, showing that their plight

was not the uniformly desperate one that has been some-

214

SILK INDUSTRY.

The times supposed. The narrator, who used to distribute

Condition his goods all over England by packhorse, was reported of the to be speaking of " his earlier years," and possibly of the Stock- time anterior to the machine-breaking riots of 1773. inger. At least, the account is something to set against the

stories of destitution which occur too frequently in the history of the industry. He wrote:

" The lower orders hved in comparative ease and plenty, having right of common for pig and poultry and some- times for a cow. The stocking-makers each had a garden, a barrel of home-brewed ale, and work-day suit of clothes, and one for Sundays, and plenty of leisure, seldom work- ing more than three days a week. Moreover, music was cultivated by some of them. Even so late as 1800 the larger part of all the frames in Leicestershire were the property of the master framework-knitters, not of the hosiers."

Work in cotton and wool was not better paid than the work in silk in Nottinghamshire. Felkin gives the rates of payment about 1779 as 10^. to 12s., as against 105. to 14*. on silk. A higher standard of condition would be exphcable could it be supposed that fancy knitting was done by the fortunate villagers, for upon this work 185. to 305. was paid in Nottinghamshire. Mrs. Johnson, however, states exphcitly that the making of fancy hosiery was not begun in Leicestershire until the opening of the 19th century.

Gardiner was the son of the Leicester bleacher who

is said to have been the first to whiten worsted hose by

stoving them in the fumes of sulphur, an adaptation to

hosiery of a process long used upon woollen cloth.

Leicester Leicester has been connected with some notable advances

Inven- in the manufacture of textiles, in particular with the

tors. devising of machinery to spin long wool. A man named

Brookhouse, employed in 1788 by the firm of Coltman

and Gardiner, woolcombers, Leicester, adapted the

principle embodied in Arkwright's cotton spinning-frame,

and two of the largest makers of worsted yarn, Coltman

and Whetstone, employed these machines. In an angry

riot the machines were destroyed, as well as the dwellings

LEICESTER. 215

of the spinners who had been courageous enough to use Leicester them, Brookhouse set up machines in Warwick, and Inven- there made a fortune from them. The process was adopted tors. in Worcestershire, Yorkshire and Aberdeen, and eventu- ally in Leicester. Again, through Donisthorpe, Leicester was identified closely with the improvement of the wool comb. The invention of machinery for spinning long fibres has its importance in relation to waste sUk, and Leicester is connected intimately with at least one other invention of great moment to the sUk trade. John Heathcoat, born 1783 at Long Whatton, was a Leicester- shire man who returned from Nottingham to Hathern, and from thence to Loughborough, to work his patent machine for the manufacture of silk net. The fate that overtook Brookhouse overcame Heathcoat, whose Loughborough factory, with its 55 frames and its valuable stock of material, was wrecked by the Luddites on 26th June, 1816. An award of £10,000 compensation, which was made conditionally upon a promise to expend the money in the district, was rejected by Heathcoat, who left his partners, Lacy and Boden, and set up his machinery in Devonshire, at Tiverton, a decayed centre of the woollen trade.

Felkin, writing (1864) with his good knowledge of the trade, stated that from 1782 onwards Leicester became identified with woollen, Derby with silk, and Nottingham with cotton hosiery. He gave 1834 as the year in which the hard-twisted cotton, known as Lisle thread, came first into use in Leicester trade.

The fancy hosiery branch was referred to as still new in 1828 by Sir Richard Philhps, whose Personal Tour euppHes many particulars of this stage of the development of the Leicester business.

His book enumerates cotton and worsted net braces, Fancy worsted cravats, underwaistcoats, children's shoes, stay Hosiery laces and tippets as among the principal productions, Manu- and gives the names of three producers : Robert Harris facture. and Co., W. and S. Kelly and Marston and Co. The output of braces was estimated at 3,000 dozens a week, and this trade in knitted braces may be accepted as the

216

SILK INDUSTRY.

Elastic forerunner of that in elastic webs, for which Leicester Web ^ has a unique reputation. Felkin asserts that the idea Trade. of inlaying india-rubber thread in hosiery originated with Stubbins, a Nottingham man, in 1842. There is the authority of the Leicester Commercial Year Book, issued by the Chamber of Commerce, for a statement that Mr. Caleb Bedells, with Mr. Archibald Turner, introduced the elastic web to Leicester in 1843 as a material for boot gussets. The elastic web and braid trade of Leicester is said to find employment at this day for 3,000 looms and 10,000 to 15,000 persons.

PhiUips found existent at the time of his visit the business in sewing thread and knitting cottons that is still a department of Leicester industry, and he reported a production of about 20,000Z6s. a week. Cotton yarn at the time was being obtained from Cromford and Hudders- field, and was bleached, dyed and wound in Leicester. " Much lace " also was being made at Leicester, both by hand and by steam. Some 500 to 600 persons were employed, and Seddons, Wheatley, Rawson, Haines and Langhorne were named as the principal manufacturers. Worsted, which for some generations had been made upon the handwheel, was being spun by steam-power, and also in " numerous small factories in yehich the spinning is performed by hand with spinning jennies." Trade was bad at the time, and the " profits even by steam so low as 2|^ or 3 per cent," while the small spinners got still less. A depreciation of values was in process, and the fall of prices had lately ruined " all the worsted mills except those which combine long and short wool by pecuhar machinery " ; a reference probably to carding machines and mule-spinning.

PhiUips found that men making hose were paid 8*. to 125. a week for fourteen or fifteen hours daily work. Men Sewing employed on fancy knitting and lace received 15s. to and 205., women about 7*., and children 25. Qd. to 55. The

Knitting contraction of values seriously affected manufacturers Cottons, of hosiery and moved the author to exclaim :

" The ruinous depreciation of the money value of Leicester manufactures is frightful. One article, for which

LEICESTER.

217

35. used to be paid for making is now sold for ls\ The Manu- 2,000 dozen of hose made per week are sold at a third of facture what they would have yielded twenty years ago ; and of at a profit of 2^ per cent after the working hands are Under- reduced to the lowest." wear.

In 1828 the following were named as the principal proprietors of stocking frames :

Mitchel and Stokes, Bankart,

Rawson and Sons, E. and H. Rawson,

Coltmans, Hunt,

Kirby, Wood,

HiU and Davenport, Gray.

Hudson, About the middle of the century the manufacture of heavy " Scotch " underwear, at first upon hand-frames, was introduced, and Mr. Theodore Walker, in his evidence before the Tariff Commission of 1905, added that the branch was begun by his father. It was at the same period that the rotary knitting-frame was introduced by Moses Mellor, of Nottingham. It is stated by Mr. Tertius Rowlett, in the Leicester Commercial Year Book, that a Loughborough man, Paget, for some years worked secretly on frames by which a seamless stocking could be made, and eventually the Mellor machine was adapted to make tubular lace hose of narrow width. The intro- duction of Cotton's machine about forty years ago gave a new impetus upon the plain hose trade by enabUng one girl to supervise machinery capable of an output of 70 dozens a week, and the cost of knitting was reduced from about 29 pence a dozen to fourpence. Machines permitting wider varieties of changes have been brought out by Leicester machinists, enabhng more elaborate patterns to be produced, and there are in addition several types of Continental frames in use in the town.

Silk has never been a main material of local industry, Oppor- and its chief employment is probably in combination tunity with wool iu under-clothing. The increasing number of for SUk fancy-dyed and comparatively expensive articles now Industry being turned out seems however to offer wider opportu- nities for the local employment of silk in future years.

CHAPTER XX.

BRADrORD,

Mixed It is a long-established truism that more silk is manu-

Silk factured in this country outside the somewhat narrow

Goods. confines of the silk industry proper than within them. Probably for more than a century Bradford has made mixed goods containing sUk, and for seventy years has been one of the most important centres of consumption. Despite aU that has happened to displace natural silk, the quantity employed by manufacturers of dress goods in and around Bradford remains large, and in the Man- ningham Mills the city owns the largest individual silk mill in the kingdom. Perhaps in no town in England has so much been done on the one hand to help, and on the other to hamper, the development of the silk industry. Comparison is difficult, because it is impossible to estimate the effects of the competition of fibres not directly competitive with silk. There is always a doubt, too, as to how far a direct substitute actually displaces an older commodity. What is certain is that Bradford developments have worked in both directions. Regard may be had first to three matters of Bradford trade history which have incidentally had potent influences on the fortunes of silk. Com- There is no gainsaying the importance to silk of the

petitive introduction into Bradford industry of the hair of the Materials. Peruvian llama — alpaca. The material was first used for the manufacture of light, lustrous stuffs in the late 'thirties of the last century, and mohair was apphed to similar purposes in the later 'forties. Stuffs showing a modicum of lustre had been made before that time, but the brightest

218

BRADFORD. 219

of them was dull by comparison either with sUk or the Com- new goat hair fabrics. Besides being dull to the eye, petitive the older stuffs were harsh to the touch and coarse by Materials, comparison with the worsted dress goods of to-day. So long as choice was practically restricted to coarse stuffs on the one hand, and sUks on the other, it is manifest that the incentive to wear sUk must have been greater than after the introduction of other materials. Alpaca and mohair provided alternatives combining some of the virtues of wool with some of the features of sUk. The goods made from them were far from being perfect sub- stitutes for the old satins and gros grains, but they cost much less, and they gratified at least in part the sense of finery which exerts so large an influence in the demand for silk. Very soon alpaca and mohair were to become allies of silk — ^but of a junior branch of the sUk industry. The spun or waste silk trade was to benefit exceedingly from the demand for material to make these new fabrics more supple and attractive, but to the senior silk trade these cheap alternatives remained unfriendly.

The demands of the Bradford market may be said to Bradford have set the waste silk industry of this country upon its and the feet, and to have done more than any other to keep that Waste industry alive. In Bradford, also, the junior branch has Silk received some of its severest buffets. It is true that Trade, mercerised cotton was not invented there, but in Bradford it found extensive adoption partly in replacement of spun silk. Mercerised cotton bears the name of John Mercer, of Great Harwood, Lancashire, who patented in 1850 his means of making vegetable fibres stronger by treating them with caustic alkah. The notion of making cotton yarn more lustrous by methods of mercerisation had a much later origin. It was in 1896 that Kerr and Hoegger, of Manchester, began to ^ve cotton yarn a lustre approximating to that of spun silk, and soon Isaac Robson and Sons, of Huddersfield, and numbers of yarn dyers in Bradford, were putting forth quantities of this improved form of cotton.

Bradford responded also to the introduction of a chemical silk, strong enough to withstand the rather

220 SILK INDUSTRY.

Earlier rigorous processes of finishing and wearing stuff goods. Artificial The earlier artificial silks, made from hardened gelatine SUks. and from dissolved cotton, proved too frail for the work

and it was with the introduction of Coventry viscose silk in the year 1907 that the employment of this new agent for enhvening duller textiles seriously began. The interference with natural sUk is rather indirect than otherwise. The assortment of very bright and cheap fabrics suitable especially for indoor wear has been largely extended by the addition of this material. It cannot be afiirmed that all the goods now made in Bradford with artificial sUk would otherwise have been made with the natural article in one or other form. The new material has brought new fabrics into fife. The direct and indirect interfer- ences with the prospects of silk have not aU been presented only in the form of yarn for weaving. In Bradford various arts of giving to cotton piece goods some of the sheen, and even of the touch, of sUk, have assumed their highest development. The highly finished cotton fining cloths of the present day probably do not prevent the employment of sUk nearly so much as they affect employ- ment of alpaca, mohair and English lustre wool, but in these goods superficial effects are achieved which at one time could not have been matched without the use of the most expensive and beautiful of aU fibres. The It has been said that alpaca appeared first in the form

Story of of lustrous fabrics in the later 'thirties. It was manu- Alpaca. factured before that time, although not in a manner to display its characteristic brilliancy. Benjamin Outram, of Greetland, Hahfax, made alpaca into shawls and cloakings. Wood and Walker, of Bradford, according to James's History of the Worsted Manufacture, spun alpaca to No. 48's worsted counts about the same time, and sold the yarn to Norwich manufacturers of camlets. In 1832 heavy camlets made with alpaca were woven by HorsfaU's, of Bradford, and shown to Leeds merchants, whose approval they did not win. Hegan, HaU and Co., Liverpool, in the same year imported large quantities of alpaca from Peru, and figured cloths with a warp of worsted and an alpaca weft were made with these imports

BRADFORD. 221

and obtained a limited vogue. Mr. Robert Milligan, The then a stuff manufacturer in Bingley, suppHed James Story of with a circumstantial story of the origin of the alpaca Alpaca, lustre stuffs with which the name of Titus Salt is identified. The facts have a double reflex upon the development of the silk industry, and are therefore set forth :

" It was in the spring of 1839 that Mr. Titus Salt, with whom we had sometimes done business, introduced to our notice alpaca. Several attempts had been made .... but the manufacture did not prove successful until the production of what we termed alpaca Orleans, formed of cotton warp and alpaca. The first entry of these goods in our books is an invoice to Mr. Salt in June, 1839, of two pieces of alpacas at 765. per piece. The first con- siderable order we undertook was 19th June, 1839, for 560 pieces 27 ins. wide at 425. Then became established the alpaca trade, which has since risen to so much im- portance. At this time, Mr. Salt was the only spinner of alpaca weft in Bradford. The great mercantile house of A. and S. Henry took very large quantities of alpaca which began to be used in an endless variety for male and female wear, including scarfs, handkerchiefs and cravats, plain and figured goods with silk-cotton warps for ladies dresses, dyed alpaca checks of beautiful texture and grograms, codringtons, sUk-striped, checked and figured alpacas and linings."

The statement gives clear evidence of the uses to which alpaca was immediately put, and proves that alpaca did, after its employment by Mr. Titus Salt, interfere in the sphere of silk. The statement shows that MUligan and Jowett obtained the yarn from Salt, and sold their woven goods back to him. Whether Salt or some other was responsible for the actual conjunction of a weft of alpaca with a cotton warp is less clear than might be desired, but it may be inferred that Salt's authority for this use of the material was obtained. The achievement won Salt The a great name in addition to a great fortune, and the Story of rivalry already existent between Titus Salt and Samuel Alpaca. Cuniiffe Lister was assuredly not diminished by the fame attained by the founder of Saltaire, Charles Dickens

222 SILK INDUSTRY.

The took note of the development of the alpaca industry,

Story of and in Household Words published a lavishly improved Alpaca. version of Sir Titus Salt's first encounter with alpaca. As his imaginative effort, with its heightened effects and comic embellishments, was the forerunner of a legend concerning Mr. S. C. Lister and waste silk, it is quoted to assist in the separation of fact from fiction :

" A huge pile of dirty looking sacks filled with some fibrous material which bore a strong resemblance to super- annuated horsehair or frowsy, elongated wool, or anything unpleasant or unattractive, was landed in Liverpool. When these queer-looking .bales had first arrived, or by what vessel brought, or for what purpose intended, the very oldest warehousemen in Liverpool docks couldn't say. There had once been a rumour — a mere warehouse- man's rumour — ^that the bales had been shipped from South America on spec, and consigned to the agency of C. W. and F. Foozle and Co. But even this seems to have been forgotten, and it was agreed upon all hands that the three hundred and odd sacks of nondescript hair wool were a perfect nuisance. The rats appeared to be the only

parties who approved at aU of the importation

" One day a plain, business-looking young man with an intelligent face and quiet, reserved manner was walking alone through these same warehouses in Liverpool, when his eye feU upon some of the superannuated horsehair

projecting from one of the ugly, dirty bales Our

First friend took it up, looked at it, felt it, rubbed it, pulled

deal of it about ; in fact he did all but taste it, and he would Titus have done that if it had suited his purpose — for he was

Salt. ' Yorkshire.' The sequel was that the same

quiet, business-looking young man was seen to enter the office of C. W. and F. Foozle and Co. and ask for the head of the firm. When he asked that portion of the house

if he would accept eightpence per lb the

authority interrogated felt so confounded that he could not have told if he were the head or the tail of the firm. At first he fancied our friend had come for the express pur- pose of quizzing him, and then that he was an escaped lunatic, and thought seriously of calling for the pohce ;

BRADFORD. 223

but eventually it ended in his making it over in con- First sideration of the price offered. It was quite an event in deal of

the little dark office All the estabhshment stole Titus

a peep at the buyer of the ' South American stuff.' The Salt. chief clerk had the curiosity to speak to him. The cashier touched his coat tails. The book-keeper examined his hat and gloves. The porter openly grinned at him. When the quiet purchaser had departed, C. W. and F. Foozle and Co. shut themselves up and gave all their clerks a holiday."

From the fact that there was in 1761 a silk merchant, Joseph Stell, at Walk MiU, Keighley, it is apparent that consumption of silk was not unknown in the Bradford manufacturing area before the rise of the lustre stuff trade. The fact is attested by John Hodgson in his Textile Manu- facture in Keighley (1879), he having seen a deed showing Stell's name as new owner of a piece of land. Pennant, who visited Keighley in 1775, found there " a considerable manufacture of figured everlastings in imitation of French silks," and in default of evidence to the contrary it may be assumed that the silk was thrown silk and used for the purpose of weaving figures on the hand-looms of the period. The old worsted industry employed silk in the form of organzine to make silk twists in company with worsted thread for use in such goods as waistcoatings. James quotes in his History the estimates of the cost of certain fabrics, which a committee of worsted spinners and long- wool manufacturers presented in 1824. In one of these The the separate costs of one yard of worsted stuff mixed with Intro- cotton and silk — said by James to be probably vesting — duction are thus allocated : of SOk.

3| oz. Worsted ^ oz. Silk If oz. Cotton Weaving and finishing . .

The statement would cause it to appear that at this date

s.	d.
1	0
0	9
0	8
1	10
4	3

224

SILK INDUSTRY.

The worsted yarn was costing 4s. 7d., cotton yarn 65. Id., and

Intro- silk 485. per lb.

duction Mr. Henry Forbes, in a paper to the Society of Arts (1852),

of Silk. named 1834 as the year of the introduction of cotton warps into the Bradford dress goods trade, and said that silk warps in combination with worsted weft followed shortly after. In his words, this combination " enabled Yorkshire manufacturers to exhibit fabrics in which dehcacy, softness and elasticity were united." His partner in the firm of MiUigan, Forbes and Co. — ^Mr. Robert MiUigan — ^informed James in 1857 that in 1840 the fancy trade in Bradford was stiU little cultivated. His price lists of 1842 contained entries of

Silk warp Alpacas, 38*. to 75s. per piece. Alpaca and silk handkerchiefs, 28*. per dozen. In 1843-5 a steady demand was experienced for plain silk warp and fancy alpacas, and in 1848 there arose a great demand for silk striped goods. The year was a good one also in Paisley, and the joint demands from the two weaving centres are still remembered by a veteran silk- spinner, Mr. Thomas Butterworth, of Brighouse. These silk striped goods were manufactured largely by Mr. MiUigan at Bingley, and by many others, and were principally Orleans and Cobourg cloths, which were dyed after weaving. Mr. MiUigan singled out for mention a " grogram woven with black worsted, having a thick Demand cotton warp around which was twisted a fine thread of for Silk white, yellow or gold silk, producing a sparkling, speckled Striped effect." One of his most striking novelties was made Goods. with " silk sprigs thrown upon an alpaca mixture ground," the silk showing only in small flowers upon the face. Mr. Forbes, speaking of the position of alpaca in 1852, said that in combination with cotton and silk warps it formed " an amazing variety of articles of great richness, softness and beauty," and remarked on the extent to which the newer raw materials — cotton, silk, alpaca and mohair — had increased the number and variety of Bradford fabrics.

Mr. Forbes essayed an estimate of the contemporary state of the worsted division of the wool-working industries

BRADFORD. 225

in whicli the separate identity of silk is merged in that Interest- of cotton and dye-wares. The remarkably small place ing taken by imported wool and the large place assigned to Statistics the West Riding are noteworthy featm-es.

60 million lbs. Enghsh sorted wool, £

Is.'^d. 3,500,000

15 million lbs. Colonial foreign wool,

Is.U. 1,312,500

Other raw materials : Cotton, Silk,

Dye-wares 1,500,000

Direct wages 3,000,000

Indirect wages, rent, wear and tear,

coal, soap, oil, interest . . . . 3,187,500

£12,500,000

West Riding goods and yarn , . . . 8,000,000

Lancashire delaines and light fabrics . . 1,500,000

Leicester worsted hosiery . . . . 1,200,000 Norwich and Irish stuffs, Devon long-

eUs .. .. .. 1,300,000

Scotland worsted stuffs (not including

shawls) 500,000

£12,500,000

The Bradford Directory of 1851 shows the names of six Bradford dealers in silk warps. The list of exhibitors at the great Exhibi- Exhibition of the same year shows the names of — tors at

J. G. Horsfall & Co., Bradford — Whose Henrietta cloths 1851

were " from spun silk warp and weft of the Exhibi- finest Saxony wool." tion.

Thos. Jowett & Co., Bingley — Who exhibited a great variety of articles with alpaca weft and silk and cotton warps as weU as " a new fabric of silk warp and linen weft," said to be " very neat " and to afford encouragement for increased attempts in the same direction. Walter Milhgan & Sons, Bingley — A series of silk embroidered alpaca goods.

226

SILK INDUSTRY.

Bradford John Rand & Sons, Bradford— Whose cloths made

Exhibi- from worsted weft and silk warp were called

tors at " remarkably soft, fine and even."

1851 Schwann, Kell & Co., Bradford— A merchant house,

Exhibi- shewed articles called " Shanghae " dresses,

tion. plain and watered, made from silk and China

grass. A. Tremel & Co Bradford | (.^^^^ ^^^ cotton Jas. Dalby, Bradford \ j -n

Jas. Drummond, Bradford ) ^^^ «^^ ™P'' T. Gregory & Bros., Shelf— Who had made for the Prince Consort cashmere brocade fabrics with silk warp and weft from the Cashmere goats in Windsor Park. In 1857 the value of worsted productions, computed at 12^ miUions in 1852, was reckoned by James at 18 millions. In 1864 Mr. (afterwards Sir) Jacob Behrens calculated the home and export trade in worsted goods at a value of £33,600,000.

In these years of rapid commercial expansion the elder sUk trade reached its zenith and began to faU into its decline. The Bradford demand for spun silk yarn in the 'sixties was considerable enough to mainly sustain a number of new firms in the spinning business. In the 'seventies the Franco-Prussian War almost doubled Bradford's business, and the great rise in prices at this period set some of the newcomers firmly upon their feet. The demand was strong, both for yarn and for silk sliver to mix and spin with mohair in one thread. Spinners still alive recall how manufacturers drove from Bradford to the Brighouse silk miUs to beg for silk and content to be allowed to take back with them one or two canfuUs of the precious sliver or a few small warps. Thirty shillings a pound was paid for yarn that in some years since has Zenith been slow of sale at one-fifth of the price. Twenty-five to of the thirty shillings a pound was obtained for the best silk Silk sliver and fifteen shillings for a commoner sort.

Trade. Lord Masham, with a sense of amusement, wrote : " From '64 to '74, about nine years, the silk comb made sufficient money to rebuild and furnish the present concern

Plate XXVII.

Lord Mashatn.

BRADFORD. 227

and also to pay some £20,000 towards the expenses of the velvet loom."

It is time to turn from Bradford achievements in the Silk at mixed silk-weaving trade to the foundation of its chief Manning- silk-mill. Lord Masham's own account of the venture ham. which transformed him from wool-comber to silk-spinner and manufacturer is quoted from his autobiography :

" It was in the year 1855 that a Mr. Spensly, a London waste silk broker, who had heard of my great success in woolcombing, sent me a small sample of what he called ' native Indian Chassum,' being the waste produced by natives in reeUng their cocoons. At that time I had never seen anysilk waste and knew nothing about it. The first look of it was not very inviting, nor very encouraging, as it looked to me to be nothing but rubbish. In fact it was nothing else, as no sUk-spinner had made or could make anything of it. He said that there were five or six hundred bales in the London Docks, and that no one would buy it, and in order to get quit they had tried to use it as manure, but found it would not rot, and so what to do with it they did not know. It was not inviting, as it was heavily composed of dead silkworms, and the smeU and the odour of them was anything but pleasant. Leaves and straw and aU kinds of extraneous matter were mixed and bound together by a certain amount of dirty-looking fibre.

" The only inducement was the price, as it was offered me at practically nothing — at ^d. per lb. I bought a few sample bales at that price. The first thing was by boiling it in soap and water to cleanse it to some extent from gum and dirt. This at once disclosed that there was a

certain amount of beautiful fibre but

so matted and mixed with rubbish that it looked impossible to make anything of.

" A practical sUk-spinner would at once have Begin-

said ' There is plenty of good waste ; why bother with nings this rubbish ? It wiU never pay if you have it for nothing !' of the And he would have been quite right, for there was no Business, machinery upon which it could be worked to pay. But not being a practical sUk-spinner, and knowing little or

228 SILK INDUSTRY.

Need nothing about silk or silk waste, I thought that I would

of new try and see what could be done with it.

machin?- " It was worked upon such machinery as I

ery. had. It was first put through some drums covered with

teeth which had been used for preparing Chiaa grass. This was done several times, which opened it and straightened the fibres and cleared it a good deal from extraneous matter. Then it was giUed to prepare it for combing. So far it looked very weU and promising, but when it came to be combed (and I had all kinds of combs) it was a regular fiasco, a complete and hopeless failure with such machinery as I then had."

The story is continued to teU how in 1857 the silk comb,

jointly invented by Mr. Lister and his partner Mr. James

Warburton, was made to work. A statement of the

profit earned by these operations in sUk has been cited,

and as Manningham Mills — covering eleven acres of ground

space — are reputed to have cost about half a million

sterling, its historical importance will be fuUy understood.

Operations between 1857 and 1864 were the reverse of

satisfactory. Mr. Lister however declared to a Bradford

Invention meeting that he was £360,000 out of pocket before the

of the machine made him a shilling, and that a quarter of a

Silk million was written off as entirely lost before making up

Comb. his books of account.

Mr. Lister's own version of his introduction to waste silk varies in some sahent respects from the legend in Cudworth's Worstedopolis ; according to which :

" It was an accident almost as singular as that which led to the introduction of alpaca that induced Mr. Lister to turn his attention to sUk. One day, while strolling round a warehouse in London, he came upon a heap of rubbishy-looking stuff not unlike the sweepings of a warehouse floor. It was an odd collection consisting of bits of stick, dead leaves, ends of twine, dirty flocks, crushed worms and sUk fibre, all stuck together by gummy matter, altogether looking as unlike the material from which sUk goods could be made as could well be.

" He had never seen such material before, but detecting in it a fair proportion of sUky-looking fibre, he became

BRADFORD.

229

interested, and inquired what use was made of it. ' Oli, we Lister's sell it as rubbish/ was the reply. He also learned that own it had been tried as a manure, but had proved a failure story. owing to the fibre not rotting easily.

" The vendor was glad to part with it for ^d. per lb. It is this identical material, supplemented by raw sUk produced from cocoons grown upon the Lister estates in India, which forms the basis of the stupendous manu- facture carried on at Manningham MiUs."

The similarities between the two fanciful versions would challenge attention even had Mr. Cudworth for- borne to mention the introduction of alpaca. The " superannuated horsehair " of the one narrative has its counterpart in the " dirty flocks " and " crushed worms " of the other. Both give the discovery an air of chance by laying the scene in port warehouses, but Lord Masham's own pen at least avoids the indefensible suggestion that silk waste had not been utilised before his time.

If silk-spinning laid the foundation of the last of the The great fortunes to be made by Lord Masham, velvet-weaving Velvet unmistakably suppUed the coping stone. The business Loom, he sold to a pubhc company for £1,950,000 in 1889 had been making profits not of £50,000, but of £200,000 a year. These subsided immediately upon the imposition of the McKinley Tariff in America and the faUing off of the demand in other markets for imitation sealskin cloths made of tussah silk.

Velvets were made first, and thereafter, apparently in about 1881, Manningham looms were diverted from velvets to plushes. Velvets had been hand woven, and Manningham Mills had supplied the yarn for weaving, but as the result of the pioneer experimental work done there, weaving by the use of power was made practicable. The manager of the mills, Mr. B. Nussey, during a visit to Spain in search of orders for velvet yarns, was shown a loom invented by Mr. Reixach and patented by him some ten years before. Mr. Lister's attention was attracted, the patent was bought for about £2,000, and the inventor and his son brought the loom to Bradford. About £29,000 was spent and lost between 1867-1878 in perfecting the mechanism,

^30

SILK INDUSTRY.

The Velvet Loom.

Samuel Cunliffe Lister.

and although. £39,000 was made in the next two and a half years, " that was as nothing to what it made when * King Plush ' in his royal robes made its appearance," said the head of the firm in the pubhshed story of his career.

Lord Masham's industrial achievement is written endurably in stone in the immense edifice at Manningham, where seven or eight thousand persons are employed. It is difiicidt to determine whether the substantial character and beauty of that building, capped by one of the sighthest mill chimneys in the country, owes anything to a desire to outdo Sir Titus Salt. The rivalry of Salt and Lister was an old one, dating from times before Lister's entry into the silk trade, when his volcanic energies were directed to the perfecting of the wool comb, and when Salt and Akroyd, of Halifax, had a joint encounter with Lister over the rights in Heilmann's patent wool comb. In a limited measure, Salt and Lister were rivals in the silk trade, for the great concern Sir Titus Salt, Bart., Sons & Co., Ltd., with its model miUs and village at Saltaire, has an exten- sive department for spinning sUk. It was, however, not until 1880 that in order to meet the demand for spun tussah yarn this department reached a position of import- ance. Lister's rivalry with Holden over certain claims to be considered as the real inventor of a principle of wool-combing is written in many acrimonious passages-at- arms. His pugnacity is to be read alike in the letters on old controversies and in the records of numerous actions at law. His daring is shown in the hst of patents, 107 in number, standing in his name ; and his resourcefulness in the manner in which he repeatedly redeemed himself from imminent disaster. " Mr. Lister was always ready to buy machinery, in the days when he used to come here," — a machine maker has observed to the writer, — "but never seemed quite to know when he would be able to pay for it." In courage he was not behind any industrial captain of his day, and none was a greater fighter for his real or imagined rights. Of petty detractors of his reputation, there have been more than a few, and bis stubbornness in the strike of 1891 added nothing to his miscellaneous popularity. The foibles of his character he open for all

BRADFORD. 231

to read and to weigh against its sterling merits. Unlike Samuel most of his contemporaries, Lister did not start life as Cmiliffe a workman. He was the youngest son of a landed family, Lister. and brother to the member for Bradford, and before embarking in business had been occupied with affairs of a different order in America. His attitude towards social inferiors has been shown pleasantly in an octogenarian's reminiscence. " I have talked to him and shaken hands with him, and found him a most pleasant gentleman," is the report of one who had business differences with Lister at different times.

Mr. Lister's grey suit and dilapidated straw hat were familiar enough on the Bradford Exchange, where they are not yet forgotten, and these characteristic habihments are mentioned in an interview with the " Bradford Silk King " in the Pall Mall Gazette, March, 1887. The interviewer found Mr. Lister " a stoutly-built, middle-sized man, ruddy-faced and white whiskered, with the brisk, decided manner generally seen in successful business men. His bright, piercing gaze and robust air gave no indication of the seventy odd years which have passed over his head." Mr. Lister had just spent £800,000 in four years in buying land, and a considerable part of his talk with the inter- viewer was of the Fair Trade movement, which he said he had first begun six years before. Mr. Lister would not agree that his own great fortune vindicated the fiscal policy of the country. " As I say," he said, " a man with brains may make money at any time." The Johnsonian flavour is not less marked in his assurance that " I have never gone in for anything less than £50,000 a year. I have never applied myself to any invention which, before taking up, I did not see was worth £50,000 a year, and I have had four."

The great self-contained miUs at Manningham neces- Changes sarUy occupy a large place in any account of the progress in the of the silk industry in Bradford. It is necessary, however, Stuff to turn to the large number of smaller manufacturers to Trade, whom sUk is one material of a greater or less importance out of the several materials used. The Bradford Directory of the present day describes one hundred firms as stufi

232 SILK INDUSTRY.

Changes manufacturers, and these constitute the body of users of in the silk and its substitutes in the production of mixed goods. Stuff Their need of sUk varies with the taste of the times,

Trade. and recent changes of fashion have tended to make silk of less account in their productions. The trade in worsted dress stuffs has been undergoing changes fairly comparable with those occurring in the pure silk trade, and manu- facturers have been driven by stress of circumstances into a not unremunerative business in plainer and heavier worsted cloths requiring no silk ; or into the manufacture of goods which are substantially cottons ornamented with a few threads of artificial silk. The causation of these changes is to be sought far afield. The closing of foreign markets by tariff laws, the vagaries of fashion, the develop- ment of the factory garment-making industry, the relative scarcity or abundance of raw materials — ^these are a few of the chief influences.

The effect of foreign tariffs on the trade in Bradford goods has not been wholly an extinguishing one. They have created conditions in which the sale of certain classes is more practicable than the sale of some others. Brightly coloured and patterned dress goods are in more continuous demand in the sunny southern countries than in the more northerly climates, and a large part of the mixed silk goods manufactured in Bradford has been sold for export. Cheap Ught fabrics, with a cotton warp and worsted weft interspersed with a few threads of spun silk to make stripes or checks, constituted for a long time an important Tariff section of the export business. Mercerised cotton yarn Influ- provided a means of making bright effects at slightly lower ences. cost, but the natural disparity of cost has been artificially accentuated by a species of selective amfairness very common in silk trade experience. Silk, being regarded officially as a luxury, is subject to adversely high rates of freight by the English railway companies. It has been considered in the same light by foreign tariff framers, with the consequence that goods containing more than an insignificant proportion of silk are subject to very much higher rates of duty than goods of closely similar appearance in which silk is replaced by some substitute.

BRADFORD.

233

Duties are in many countries levied on a basis of weight, Tarilff and, in order to do business at all, lightness of weight Influ- must be combined with brightness of appearance, and ences. this consideration tells in favour of artificial silks. Some tendency to make artificial silk liable to the same duties as the natural article has been observed lately, but this does not wholly remove the handicap. Where ornamental considerations out-balance questions of durabihty, artificial silk retains the advantage. Applied in the form of very slackly twisted yarn, the chemical silks exhibit a lustre more metallic but as briUiant as that of spun silk. A very httle of them used on the surface of fabrics com- posed otherwise of cotton supphes the requisite degree of briUiance. The consequence is seen in the devotion of some thousands of looms entirely to the production of fabrics which suit the tariffs, the tastes and the purses of some southern countries better than they can conceivably fulfil any anticipations of sohd wear or comfort. Goods not radically different have been made in Bradford for indoor wear in this country. Silk is replaced and worsted is replaced, but not by finally efficient substitutes, and the fact implies of course that silk stUl possesses a field of its own, from which no substitutes as yet discovered can oust it.

Diversification of demand, although destructive of old Pros- openings, is productive also of new ones, and in that fact pects lies the hope of the future. SUk has not been used in and Bradford dress-goods solely for its lustre. In the black Possibil- stuffs known as Henriettas a sUk warp is used in such ities. manner that its lustre is disguised, although its hssomness remains. In goods that have been, and may again become, popular, the desideratum is a bright thread which will wash, or will not take up a stain from surrounding loose dye-stuff. Experience is the proof that demand for silk may persist in the absence of a marked demand for silk fabrics. There have been requirements in past times for silk dressed and put into shver for admixture with worsted. A trade, small but regular, is done by spinners who twist a worsted with a silk single thread for hosiery purposes. These possibilities remain, outside and

234 SILK INDUSTRY.

beyond the somewhat unlikely possibility that sUk pUe fabrics may beUe their past and remain steadily, instead of fitfully, in pubhc favour. Changes of habit and in the distribution of wealth, are potent enough to negative the idea that sUk will fall out of the selection of fibres used in Bradford trade. Its chances of retention would not be reduced by a material cheapening of the price of waste silk. Statistics. The consumption of silk is too general and occasional to make any statistics of persons employed in the silk manufacture truly accurately reflect the importance of the sUk branch at any given time. It may, however, be said the Census of 1901 gives 815 males and 2,782 females as the total of persons engaged in silk manufacture in the city. The figures may be taken with those for Yorkshire in the same Census, shewing 2,859 males and 4,991 females in the sUk industry of the whole county. The city of Bradford and the Bradford factory inspection area are not conterminous, and thus ui the Factory Returns for 1907 the total of Bradford sUk workers appears as ^!J^7 ; in the same tables the total for Yorkshire is 8,786, as against the 7,848 of the Census of a few years earlier.

i^

^£4

■^,

^^J

CHAPTER XXI. Halifax.

The earlier textile associations of Halifax are not with Early- silk but with wool, to which silk is in one aspect a local Condi- auxiliary. Silk was engrafted on the parent stock of tions and Hahfax industry after the coming of the factory system, Progress, but for something hke five centuries wool had been manu- factured by hand processes in farm-hke dwellings. Defoe's Tour (begun in 1722) contains a passage which describes the conditions of work in the pre-factory period. Approaching from the West :

" In the course of our Road among the Houses we found at every one of them a httle Rill or Gutter of running Water : if the House was above the Road it came from it and crossed the Way to run to another ; if the House was below us, it crossed us from some other distant House above it ; at every considerable House was a Manufactory, which not being able to be carried on without Water, these little Streams were so parted and guided by Gutters and Pipes that not one of the Houses wanted its necessary appendage of a Rivulet,

" Again, as the Djdng-houses, scouring-shops and Places where they use the Water emit it ting'd with the Drugs of the Dying Fat and with the Oil, the Soap, the TaUow and other ingredients used by the Clothiers in Dressing and Scouring, &c., the Lands through which it passes are not only universally watered, which otherwise would be The exceedingly barren, but are enriched by it to a Degree evidence beyond Imagination. of

" Then as every Clothier must necessarily keep one Defoe. Horse, at least, to fetch home his W^ooU and his Provisions from the Market, to carry his Yarn to the Spinners, his

235

236

SILK INDUSTHY.

The Manufacture to the Fulling, every one generally keeps a

evidence Cow or two for his family. By this means the small Pieces of of enclosed Land about each House are occupied ; and by

Defoe. being thus fed are still further improved from the Dung of the Cattle. As for Corn, they scarce sow enough to feed their Cocks and Hens.

" Though we met few People without Doors, yet within we saw the House full of lusty Fellows, some at the Dye- fat, some at the Loom, others dressing the Cloth ; the Women and Children carding or spinning ; all employed from the youngest to the oldest, scarce anything above four Years old but its Hands were sufficient for its own Support. Not a Beggar to be seen, not an idle Person, except here and there in an Almshouse, built for those that are ancient and past working."

Such was the soil and such the people that were to provide the later extensions. Defoe noted that there had lately been begun a new manufacture of shalloons in addition to the older business in kersey cloths used largely for the Army of the period. James Akroyd — to whose successors would seem to belong the distinction of intro- ducing the weaving of silk into the town — sprang from the race of yeomen manufacturers, and in company with his brother was manufacturing 18 inch lastings, caUmancoes and low wildbores, called " Little Joans," very similar to modern buntings, in the last quarter of the 18th century. The goods were of plain design, but the brothers were manufacturers also of " Amens " (Cf. Amiens, France), which were figured cloths woven, Uke Paisley shawls or Chinese figured silks, by the aid of a draw-boy, whose function was to pull the proper cords at the right time to make the pattern. In 1827 Akroyd's son intro- duced Jacquards at his new mill in Old Lane, having obtained them from Lyons by the agency of a Manchester Frenchman. From This brief sketch of the progress of manufacture carries

Norwich the story to the period at which activities in Hahfax began to to be a serious embarrassment to the silk and worsted

Halifax, industry of East Angha. Norwich, over-ridden by the artificial restrictions characteristic of guild activity, had

HALIFAX. 237

a speciality in the manufacture of worsted moreens. From James Akroyd & Sons copied the article, and it was Norwich first -used for curtains in 1811. Other manufacturers to followed, so that the cloth became a common one in Hahfax. Yorkshire trade. Norwich had a reputation also for crapes and bombazines, made by crossing a sUk warp with a worsted weft. Imitation on power-looms without a knowledge of how they were woven on hand-looms in East Anglia was difficult, and Michael Greenwood, a skilled weaver and clever inventor, was sent to spy out the Norwich method. His observations led to the production in Hahfax of these two cloths in 1819 ; and those of a colleague, made later in Norwich, introduced camlet weaving to the power-looms of Hahfax in 1830. To Michael Greenwood, of Shibdendale, belongs the credit for some less questionable transactions. He with David Tidswell, of Queensbury, adapted to the loom the principle of the barrel of the box organ by means of which bird's-eye patterns were woven in 1818. Greenwood is said also to have invented the wire reed for use in weaving mill-spun worsted yarn, and, after turning manufacturer upon his own account, he introduced the " French figures " of 1834, which he began to make on a large scale.

The facts as to the part played by the Akroyds are set forth with candour in a httle History of the Firm (1874), and they may seem to expose those of olden days to cen- sure. It has to be acknowledged, however, that the effort to make goods similar to those produced by others is not in itself either an unworthy or an illegitimate object. To apply new means to an old end or plant a new industry in an old soil is to perform a service that must be weighed against the loss of those unfortunate enough to suffer from the effects of this enterprise. With or without undesirable elements, this competition forms part of the everyday processes of trade. Considerations of local prejudice enter into the transference of an industry from Work one part of the country to another, but the conviction of the need not be disguised that the transfer could not ultimately Akroyds. have been prevented, although it might have been delayed. Espionage merely hastened a change that was in any case

238

SILK INDUSTRY.

Work impending. Worsted yarn could be spun much more of the cheaply in Yorkshire factories than in Norfolk cottages, Akroyds. and the hand-loom could not keep pace with the power- loom in the production of cheap goods. Yorkshire had the coal and the factories, the capital, the experience and the facilities for transport and sale, which sooner or later must have acted destructively on the hide-bound industry of East AngKa.

It was in 1819 that silk began to be used in Hahfax for warps, and in 1827 Jonathan Akroyd began the manu- facture of a silk damask in which silk was used as weft. The bombazines had their career cut short by the paramatta, made with a two-fold cotton warp, and this in turn was replaced about 1836 by the cobourg, made with a warp of single cotton yarn. Silk survived chiefly in upholstery fabrics, and in them, despite the inroads of artificial silk, it is used stiU, mainly in the form of tussah tram. The manufacture of tapestry, as opposed to damask, in power-looms, is attributed to the late Henry Charles McCrea, a Dubhn gentleman, who became a partner in' 1834 with John Holdsworth as a damask manu- facturer. The mill records of H. C. McCrea & Co., Ltd., suggest 1850-52 as the date of the production of the first piece of sUk and wool tapestry from the power-loom, and similar goods are still woven, although the number Silk- of manufacturers does not increase. The Hst of exhibitors

weaving at the Great International Exhibition of 1851 contains the Develop- names of these Hahfax firms in the damask or tapestry ments. trades :

James Akroyd & Son. W. Brown.

John Holdsworth & Co. H. C. McCrea & Co.

J. W. Ward. Hoadley & Pridie. Shepard and Perfect. J. Taylor & Sons.

The weaving branch constitutes one-half the claim of Hahfax to attention as a silk town. Precisely when the spinning of yarn from waste silk began has not been made clear. Crabtree's history of the town (1836) says : " The silk trade, although of recent introduction, gives every promise of its being a very flourishing branch of manufacture in this parish," and quotes Mr. Robert

HALIFAX. 239

Baker, Superintendent of Factories, Leeds, to the effect A Silk- that " it is remarkable that Hahfax from its local situation spinning is peculiarly adapted for the preservation of the colour" Town, of silk. Unless there is some reference here to the virtue of the local water in facihtating a thorough discharge of the natural gum in silk waste the meaning is obscure. Crabtree, deahng with the Census of 1831, states that 19 out of 24 townships in the Hahfax Parish may be said to be manufacturing, and adds that 18,377 out of a total of 101,491 persons enumerated were engaged in the different branches of cotton, worsted, woollen and silk. The parish then contained :

^1 Cotton mills using . . 716 h.p.

35 WooUen „ „ .. 662 „

45 Worsted „ „ . . 855 „ 4 Silk „ „ . . 86 „

12 Unoccupied or incom- plete Mills . . —

153 Mills. 2,319 Horse-power.

The reference to the date of the introduction of silk Some must not be taken literally. George Binns, Gibbet Street, early Hahfax, is described as a silk spinner in Barnes's Directory Spinners, of 1822. Binns and Wrigley, Boothtown and Wheatley, was a partnership in 1830. George Binns, 25 Gibbet Street, and Norland and Henry Wrigley, King Cross and Stansfield, traded separately in 1837, and in 1842 G. Binns was described as also of Hebden Bridge, while Henry Wrigley was described additionally as cotton warp dealer. There is the oral evidence of a contemporary that Binns later developed a large business as a short-spinner at Hebden Bridge, and documentary evidence proves the existence of Binns Bros, in that town in 1865. The bankruptcy records teU of the failure of Henry Wrigley, Silk Waste Spinner, Dealer and Chapman, in 1837. The newspaper files of the year show that he was not the only unfortunate to go down in the American financial crisis, nor the only Wrigley in the business at this date. The separate firm of Wrigley and Son, Holmfield Mills, were constrained to offer their :

240 SILK INDUSTRY.

Some "Valuable establishment, consisting of mill and premises

early and machinery with steam engine of 15 h.p. at the Leys

Spinners, in Hightown, near Leeds, to be disposed of by private contract. The premises are under lease for 14 years. The machinery comprises three sides of carding and preparation, spinning and doubhng, calculated to turn off 6 to VOOlbs. weight of single and double twist per week."

The advertisement conveys the significant intimation that " the Machinery is quite new and has been working only two or three months," and that the " Neighbourhood is weU stocked with hands." The circumstances suggest financial stress, and within a short time the firm Wrigley and Son, constituted of Watts Wrigley and Thomas Wrigley were in bankruptcy also. The official notices show that Wrigley and Son combined silk waste spinning with worsted spinning, and their association with long- fibred wool, suggests that they were the Wrigleys, who, together with Holdforth, of Leeds, and a Lancashire firm, participated in a monopoly of the new process of long-spinning. The fact that the three firms did hold a monopoly is vouched for by the personal recollections of Mr. Thomas Butterworth, of Brighouse, Trade Another bankrupt of 1836 was described officially as

Failures, Silk-spinner, Dealer and Chapman. The bankrupt was George Perkins, the contents of whose mill at Boothtown, HaUfax, were offered at auction. An auctioneer's note says that the bulk of the valuable machinery was made in 1834 and 1835 by approved makers, whose names are in some cases given. The equipment included :

1 Cutting engine. 4 Carding engines (36 ins.),

1 Scutcher. 3 Drawing frames,

1 Willow. 2 Slubbing frames (14 spin-

3 Filling engines. dies).

21 Dressing machines. 1 Slubbing frame (16 spin-

8 Carding engines (42 ins.). dies), &c.

Ahce Burrows was the maker of the cutting engine, and most of the dressing, carding and spinning machinery. Mason's, of Rochdale, made one of the cards, Jenkinson and Barr the stretching frames and Cocker and Higgins,

HALIFAX. 241

Mancliester, tlie slubbing frames. The yarn was spun on Trade a jenny of 150 spindles. Failures.

The identification of Messrs. Wrigley and Son with the introduction of long-spinning is mentioned again in the light of Perkins' failure. Perkins had his mill in Boothtown, and it is a fair inference that the mill is the one which the Wrigleys are known to have afterwards occupied with their long-spinning machines. On the testimony of a spinner, who has known the Yorkshire branch of the business intimately since 1852, it was in a mill in Boothtown that the Wrigleys continued their operations. The mill is stiU in work, although its connection with the sUk trade has ended.

The Henry Wrigley made bankrupt in 1837 occupied A Spin- a mill at King Cross, driven — as the auctioneer's adver- ning tisement shows — ^by " One High-pressure Steam En- Plant, gine of 10 Horses' Power and one Ditto of 14 Horses' Power."

The effects included : —

One BoUing-off Copper Pan.

Wire Drying Flakes.

Very superior Cutting Machine.

Two Single Blowing Machines (30 ins.).

Six Breaking Carding Engines (48 ins.).

Six Finishing Carding Engines (48 ins.), by Hibbert and Piatt.

Four Breaking Carding Engines (42 ins.).

Four Finishing Carding Engines (42 ins.).

Five Drawing Frames (6 single heads each).

Four Slubbing Frames (12 spindles each), by Cocker and Higgins.

Five Stretching Frames (144 spindles each).

Two pairs of Mules (348 spindles each), all with 15 in. rollers.

One pair of Mules (372 spindles each), 14| in. spindle by Jenkinson and Bow (or Barr).

Seven pairs of Mules (408 spindles each).

Two pairs of Mules (480 spindles each).

Eleven DoubUng and Twisting Jennies (180 spindles each).

242

SILK INDUSTRY.

Nine Doubling and Twisting Jennies (204 spindles

each), &c.

Further Other reasons exist for regarding 1837 as a better

Bank- year for auctioneers than for silk-spinners. On the 27th,

ruptcies. 28th and 29th days of September, Mr. Thomas Davis

put up for sale the valuable silk and cotton machinery

at Greaves Mill, Stainland, near Hahfax, occupied by

Mr. John Denton. The details may be spared, although

it is notable that where Wrigley used a copper, Denton

used an iron boihng pan. At the foot of the Ust of effects

there are enumerated : —

" A quantity of finished and dressed silk ; 44 bags

of boUed silk ; 15 bags of home waste ; 47 bags of

silk noils ; a number of wire silk scrays ; silk

shoddy webs."

Wrigley's auctioneer expressly directed attention to

the fact that the machines were framed in iron, and in

this notice may be read a reminder that the earUest

dressing machines in the memory of living man were

framed not in iron, but in wood.

Culminating proof of trade depression in the year of Queen

Victoria's accession is found in the advertisement in the

Halifax Guardian of 19th September of another sale of

valuable machinery, situate at Hare Park Mills, Hightown,

Liversedge, in the parish of Birstal, in the county of York.

Details of the American panic apparently responsible for

the havoc in the trade are lacking. There were failures

of London houses engaged in the American trade, and

silk-spinners were not alone in these embarrassments.

Trade was generally bad, and the worsted industry suffered

sorely. If the details may be filled in at a venture it

doubtless occurred that the London houses owed the

spinners money directly or indirectly, and that silk prices

— so susceptible to violent fluctuation — dropped heavily.

General According to the Banker's Circular, a sudden rise took

Trade place in the value of money in 1836. Bagehot denies that

depres- there was a real money market panic between 1825 and

sion. 1847, but agrees that the crises of 1837 and 1839 were

severe, and would have produced panics had the Bank not

arrested the alarm before it reached a state of intensity.

HALIFAX. 243

Fire, whicli has ravaged the silk-spinning industry Mr. S. C. with a surely disproportionate severity, closed the con- Lister in nection with Halifax of one who was to build in another Hahfax. town a silk factory reputed for a while the largest in the world. Lord Masham's career is Unked with Manningham distinctively, for at Manningham he began business in 1838, with an elder brother, as J. and S. C. Lister, worsted spinners and manufacturers. There, after the retirement of his brother, Samuel Cunliffe Lister founded the wool- combing business which was to bring him fame and wealth, and the degree of self-confidence that led to experiments in silk waste and the invention of his silk-comb. The S. C. Lister and Co., of WeUington Mills, Hahfax, was only an auxihary to the main undertaking of this forceful and courageous man, but in these miUs from a date subse- quent to 1857, and until December 2nd, 1874, Lister combed and spun silk. On this date fire broke out in course of some operation to a gas main ; five work-girls lost their lives, and the business was transferred to Man- ningham. A sum of £27,500 was later recovered by way of damages from the Corporation of Hahfax.

The year 1857 was one of financial panic, and Lister, A returning from a stay in the Highlands, on which he looked Financial back as the pleasantest three months he had ever spent, Crisis. found himself in trouble. Its nature and bearings are best left to his own description, contained in Lord Masham's Inventions, the autobiography pubhshed before his death.

" I was informed that the Halifax concern was in difficulties and wanted help. Then I found that Mr. Brown, the managing partner, had accepted bills to a large amount that had nothing to do with the business, but as they were accepted in the name of the firm, I was responsible for them, and had them to pay. This I could not do at the moment, so the concern had temporarily to suspend payment to give me time to find the money. . . .

" But all this might have been avoided had I been wise and not foohsMy proud, for the Governor of the Bank of England most thoughtfully and considerately sent for me. ... In a large, gas-lighted, underground

244

SILK INDUSTRY.

A room (it appeared to me), I was introduced to the Governor

Financial and three or four Bank directors. He sat with a big book Crisis. before him, and received me very pleasantly, but soon showed that he meant business, and asked me some very searching questions, every answer being carefully entered in the big book. At last he asked me the very plain question, Did I think I could pay my way ? He said that he was aware that I had a number of concerns doing a large business, and if they should stop payment it might and would greatly increase the panic that was then prevailing. This at once raised my pride, that I should be asked such a question, for I had hitherto considered myself one of the richest and most prosperous men in the country. In a rash moment, I remember so well, I coloured up and said I thought I could.

" The big book was immediately closed. He rose from his seat, and, with a bland smile, said : ' We are dehghted to hear it. Good morning, Mr. , Lister.' And so I was bowed out of the bank. When in the street, too late, I saw my foUy."

" The HaUfax concern remained under the supervision of the creditors for some time, and made about ten thousand pounds, which, to my great indignation, the Income Tax people assessed. ... So ended the year 1857. . . . My loss, direct cash loss, besides what I sup- posed from having to sell stocks and other things at ruinous prices, was a hundred and fifty thousand pounds. This, together with my serious loss on sUk-combing, so crippled me that for years I was more or less always in pecuniary difficulties." Later At the time of the stoppage in 1857, WeUington Mills

Develop- was a worsted concern, and in the statement of affairs ments. then issued, the Uabihties were given as £253,190, and the assets £210,889. Mr. Lister's private resources were said to exceed a quarter of a million, and Mr. Brown's to be nil. The creditors were paid by instalments extended over two years. At the time of the fire, the premises housed 230 silk-looms, and a number of silk-spinning frames, and between five and six hundred persons were employed.

HALIFAX. 245

The rebuilding of the premises made way for a young Later firm of spinners, which had been estabhshed in Brighouse. Develop- Three brothers Marsden, with a brother-in-law, Mr. ments. Cockroft, manager for John Fisher and Co., Longroyd Bridge, Huddersfield, founded the firm. As Marsden Brothers and Holden, they were in htigation with Mr. S. 0. Lister in 1874. The firm became Clayton, Marsdens and Co., after it had been joined by Mr. Lemuel Clayton, hitherto traveller for H. C. McCrea and Co., and became later Clayton, Murgatroyd and Co., Ltd. The concern remains one of the largest and most prosperous in the trade, and retains an extensive business in sewing and embroidery silks. About 1900 Clayton, Murgatroyd and Co. took over and closed a small neighbouring mill, which had been occupied latterly by James Robinson and Co., and formerly by the Cockrofts. The Mytholm MiU, at Hipperholme, which early in the 19th century was used in the wire trade, was let to W. Spencer and J. Cockroft for silk purposes somewhat before 1855. After possession by Andrew Cockroft, the miU passed to Clayton, Marsdens and Co., and was eventually put to other trades.

The name of Hadwen, within the silk-spinning industry. The ranks in historical quahty with that of Brocklehurst, Hadwens Thompson and Fielden. These are the oldest names of in the memories of those who have been in the trade Triangle, longest, and are those of the parent concerns. The founder of the Hadwen firm, so long carried on at Triangle, near HaUfax, came from Kendal. He began business at Triangle in 1800, as a cotton spinner, and in 1826 began to spin silk upon his cotton machinery. This method was followed untU 1858, when machinery for dealing with long fibre was installed. A proportion of the older type of machines was retained, and warp yarn for Henrietta cloths and for the Bombay market continued in use until the end of the century. The null at Kebroyd was the scene of some interesting experiments to produce schappe yarn of the kind made upon the Continent. Machines for stamping cocoons and a modern apparatus for de-gumming were installed, but lacking the supphes of

246 BILK INDUSTRY.

The glacier water that are possessed by the European mills,

Hadwens the result was not successful enough to warrant the of retention of the plant. The firm had a particularly high

Triangle, reputation in the lace trade, and during the '70's did a large business in the Nottingham market.

Mr. John Hadwen, the founder, was succeeded by his son, Mr. G. B. Hadwen, and by his grandsons, of whom Mr. F. W. Hadwen remains. In 1892 Mr. Alfred Ingham was admitted as a partner, and about 1900 the mill was taken over by a limited company, in which many of Messrs. Hadwen's 500 workpeople took up shares, and the undertaking passed out of the family control.

CHAPTER XXII. Brighotjse.

Brighiouse, a thriving industrial borough, with some Home 21,000 inhabitants, has in the course of the past 70 years of been made the chief centre of the Enghsh silk-spinning several industry. Mid-way between Bradford and Huddersfield, Indus- with Hahfax upon its west and the prosperous Spen Valley tries. upon its east, the town is placed in the heart of the textile area of the West Riding. It is upon the main line of a coast-to-coast railway, and is accessible from Liverpool and the Humber by canal. The town is on the fringe of the Yorkshire coalfield, it has beds of excellent stone and an abundance of water, from the higher lands adjoining, finds its way down to the River Calder, upon which Brighouse stands. Being favourably placed for the pur- poses of miscellaneous industry, the town has become the home of several different trades. Cotton-doubhng is carried on by a score of firms, whose single-yarn is mainly obtained from Lancashire, although in part from local spindles. Woollens are made upon the Huddersfield side of the borough, as are the especially renowned Clay worsteds. Upon the Bradford boundary, the Firths have their great carpet mills. There are large dye-works for the slubbing-dyeing of wool and the dyeing and finishing of piece goods. Beyond these industries there are con- siderable ones in ironfounding, wire-drawing, flour-miUing and quarrying.

Two accounts connect the name of Newton with the The introduction of the silk trade into the town. Mr. HorsfaU Early Turner, in his History oj Brighouse (1903), refers casually Days of to the " several (who) tried to estabhsh the silk business Silk. . . . since Mr. Robert Newton." In another connection

247

248 SILK INDUSTRY.

The the book refers to a meeting held 22nd September, 1846,

Early in the warehouse of Mr. Robert Newton's Victoria MiUs. Days of Miss Sellers in the Victoria County History, Yorkshire, Silk. vol. 2, says: "The industry was introduced by

Messrs. Robert Newton and James Barrow, who came to Brighouse from Lancaster in 1843, and started business at Little John Mill." The name of Barrow is a palpable mis-spelhng of Burrow, and if the business was indeed started in the exiguously small quarters named, the fact is outside the knowledge of the owners of the building. The land in the township of CUfton, upon which Little John Mill was built, was leased in 1786 to John Clegg for 85 years for the erection of a carding mill, and there is the authority of the Kirklees Estate Office for the statement that if the mill was used for silk the business must have been carried on by sub-tenants of the lessees.

There is no doubt in the minds of Brighouse spinners that Newton was one of the earUest of their number, and he may have been the first. The firm Burrow and Monk, constituted of the James Burrow, stated to have been in partnership with Newton, and a Mr. Monk, from Maccles- field, is more generally regarded as the original firm. They were in partnership together when Mr. Thomas Butterworth, the late Mr. John Cheetham, and others, came to Brighouse in 1852, after the closing of Fielden Brothers' silk mill at Todmorden. Burrow and Monk then occupied a converted farm building, which still forms a part of the ThornhiH Briggs Mills of Wood Brothers and Sons, Ltd. The short or cotton system of spinning had been carried on there originally, but with the help of workmen from the Holdforth's Mill in Leeds, the improved long-spun method was substituted, and was being practised in 1852. Deeds in the possession of the present owners of the mill suggest that Burrow and Monk would be tenants of the Dr. Joseph Cartledge, who had bought that portion of the Newstead's estate. The documents show further that the property had been transferred in 1747, subject to a peppercorn rent — " the yielding Memories and pajdng of one red rose in the time of roses." of Lister. To this mill Mr. Samuel Lister, the late Lord Masham,

BRIGHOUSE. 249

was in the habit of paying frequent visits at the time The that he was beginning the manufacture of silk waste at Early Manningham. The occupants ultimately failed, and, upon Days of the evidence of one of the silk-dressers who was employed Silk, there at the time, Mr. Monk left Brighouse for Hudders- field. Mr. Burrow remained behind, and he is said to have sunk in the social scale and to have eventually turned to poaching. The name of one Ahce Burrows appears in auction catalogues as the maker of cutting, dressing, carding and spinning machinery in use in the Hahfax district in the middle '30's, and the surnames are sufficiently ahke to suggest the possibility of a relation- ship.

The names of Benjamin and of Joseph Noble are remem- bered in the trade as those of two of the earher Brighouse spinners, and Mr. Turner's History mentions that the second-named died in 1876 at the age of QQ. Mr. Butter- worth, the oldest hving silk-spinner, whose father and grandfather both worked in the spun sUk trade, founded in partnership Barkers and Butterworth, Belle Vue MUls, and on his retirement sold the business to John Cheetham and Sons, Ltd, At Calder Bank Mills, Brighouse, Albert MOls, Rastrick, and Belle Vue Mills, Messrs. Cheetham carry on a trade with which their family has been identified for some generations. The Cheethams in the early days of their business dressed sUk upon commission for Mr. Lister, of Manningham Mills, and the Mr. Nussey, who later became manager at Manningham, was stationed at their mills to supervise the weighing of the material. Upon leaving Todmorden, Mr. John Cheetham worked at Subse- the sUk trade in Hahfax, and, coming to Brighouse, entered quent later into partnership with Mr. Richard Kershaw in 1863. Develop- The partnership was dissolved in 1871, and became ments. Ormerod Brothers and Cheetham, and by dissolution in 1881 became John Cheetham and Sons.

Mr. Kershaw, whose pursuits had formerly been agricul- tural, opened business as R, Kershaw and Co., and in 1880 completed the bmlding of the fine Woodvale Mills, which were sold about 20 years later to the Messrs. Ormerod on Mr. Kershaw's retirement from the trade.

250

SILK INDUSTRY.

Subse- The Ormerods, who had been previously in the cotton

quent trade, built the large Alexandra and Prince of Wales

Develop- Mills, the first of which was burnt down in 1903, when

ments. £40,000 damage was done. After being carried on by

members of the Ormerod family untU 1913, a change of

proprietorship was made, and Mr. A. Mellor was brought

from Macclesfield to undertake the management of the

concern still called Ormerod Bros., Ltd., the largest in

the town.

The firm of Wood Brothers and Sons, Ltd., was founded in 1881 by members of a family connected since the 17th century with the local wire-drawing industry. Mr. Michael Hill, later of the Ford Silk Spinning Co., Horbury, and of John Hadwen and Sons, Ltd., was the first partner of the Woods, and in charge of the technical work. Under the later charge of Mr. Thomas Herbert Wood, a second large mill has been built in which advantage has been taken of every modern improvement.

At Wilkin E/Oyd Mill, a successful business has been bmlt up by Wood, Robinson and Co., in the last quarter of a century. John Baldwin and Sons, Ltd., Ganny Mill, Mr. Thomas Binns, Chfton Bridge Mills, and A. Rawhnson and Son, Brookmouth MUl, have all carried on their businesses for years, and make standard Brighouse yarns. In the course of development there have been retire- ments from the trade for one reason and another. The Messrs. Stott, Kershaw, Ormerod, and Butterworth are no longer actively associated with the trade, and the firm of Wilkinson and Airey and perhaps one or two others are extinct.

Lively competition exists between the several spinners

aU of whom are making yarns required for similar purposes,

varying somewhat in nature according to the particular

class of material used and the incidental differences due

Com- to variations of practice. The spinning of 60' s white sUk

petition chiefly for the dress goods market, which for long has

between ranked as the principal branch of the trade, has to some

Spinners, extent given way to the spinning of tussah sUk in the counts

required by plush manufacturers. Yarns are spun for

the lace and hosiery trade, and for sewing and embroidery

BRIGHOUSE. 251

purposes, in quantities which fluctuate with the somewhat Export uncertain demands. A large part of the production is Trade, for export, and the typical strong, bright, clean Brighouse yarn is favourably known in all considerable centres of silk manufacture.

At Greetland near Hahfax and Brighouse, silk-spinning is carried on in addition to wooUen manufacture at Wood Field MiUs by Benjamin Fielding and Son.

CHAPTEK XXIII.

HUDDERSFIELD .

The part From the earUest up to the present times the staple played of Huddersfield industry has been wool, and in the manu- by Silk, facture of the finest worsted cloth the town has achieved a position of pre-eminence. In bringing about this development a considerable and often disregarded part was played by silk. There was an intermediate stage in Huddersfield' s successful career in which goods made of wool and silk had a greater relative importance than they have had for some years past. The history of the Hudders- field industry may be traced from the 16th century, when white and coloured " Penestons " (coarse wool cloths) were being made in the hinterland of the town, and when a fuUing-mill for the finishing of these cloths woven on " the broad lombes " was in operation at Thurstonland. Reference to the cloths is found in the statutes of 1580 and to the fuUing-miU in H. J. Morehouse's Parish of Kirkhurton (1861). The same work is the authority for the statement that until the latter half of the 18th century the coarse cloths woven in certain of the upland villages upon the outskirts of Huddersfield went by the name of " Leeds Reds." They were wooUens, scribbled and carded by a single pair of cards, spun into single thread and woven by hand shutthng. Their name of Leeds was derived, by a not unfamihar process, from the fact of their sale to the Leeds merchants.

Morehouse records that as late as 1780 the villagers of Shepley, one of the outljdng townships of the Hudders- field area, used to assemble in the early morning at the blast of a horn to convey their homespun warp yarn by

252

HUDDERSFIELD. 253

packhorses to the Dewsbury market. Huddersfield had The part also an ancient market of its own, and the market cross played still stands in the main street. Here local cloths were by Silk, sold before the opening of the Cloth Hall in 1760; an institution of which it was said half a century later that it had been of the utmost benefit to producers in keeping prices at a remunerative level even in depressed markets. Huddersfield blue serges were being sold in fairs in other parts of the country and a document in the possession of B. Vickerman and Sons, Ltd., shows the founder of the business to have disposed of £1,400 worth at the Prescott, Chester and Wrexham fairs of 1792, and to have been trading also with Massachusetts.

In 1776 the first spinning machine, a jenny of 18 spindles, was erected in Holmfirth, a few miles to the southward of the town. The first mill to be erected in the Colne Valley, now the scene of busy activities in the cheap fancy woollen trade, is said by Mr. D. F. E. Sykes in Huddersfield and its Vicinity (1898), to have been driyen first by gin horse and later by water-wheel. The year is unspecified, but the date is apparently one anterior to the invention of the steam engine.

Huddersfield stands at the confluence of the Colne and The Holme valleys and in the last named — according to Silk Morehouse — only plain goods were made until about 1830. Vestings Business in plain cloths dechned, and a demand arose Trade, for fancy vestings in which silk formed a distinctive feature. The manufacture of these tided the local industry over the thirty or more years that passed before the opening of its later phase. Morehouse refers exphcitly to Kirkburton, Shelley and Shepley as places owing much to the development of the new trade, and indeed business in fancy vestings is stOl carried on successfully in these districts of Greater Huddersfield, The goods, however, became staple wares of the period, and were manufactured in Dalton, Rastrick and other townships to the north of the town.

A fist which appeared in West Riding Directories shows that there were at least two silk-spinners in Huddersfield in 1830 : Wilham Hird and Son, silk cotton and worsted

254

SILK INDUSTRY.

Some spinners, Cross Church Street, and the longer-lived firm

Pioneer of Fisher. The name is given as John Fisher and Co., Firms, silk-throwsters and spinners, Longroyd Bridge, in 1830 ; a name changed to Edward Fisher and Co., by 1842, and which had become Edward Fisher and Sons before the last proprietor, one Mr. Sharp, of Holmfirth, closed the business in 1895. The Fishers were engaged originally in the short-spinning process, and the improved system of long- spinning was introduced at their mUl by the Mr, Cockroft, who with his brothers-in-law, the Marsdens, founded the mill now carried on at Halifax by Clayton, Murgatroyd and Co., Ltd.

Factory inspection returns record in 1839 these two

silk factories in Huddersfield and two in Almondbury,

employing in all 326 persons. In 1842 the name of Joseph

Mills, King Street, appears along with that of WiUiam

and Samuel Dowse, Mold Green, throwsters and spinners,

and of two dealers in silk yarn. The business of Wilham

White and Sons, now of Mulberry MiUs, Huddersfield,

bears one of the traditional names of the industry. Of

Huguenot extraction, the Whites first in London, next in

Macclesfield, and, since 1843, in Huddersfield, have carried

on the ancestral trade for many generations. The late

Mr. WiUiam White, a familiar figure for half a century

at the London silk sales, rode out upon horseback in his

early days to sell his silk twists to the manufacturers of

vestings, and the old ledgers of the firm give an insight

into the conditions under which trading was then done.

Link Amounts were settled normally by biUs, occasionally

between partly by biUs and partly by hams, which were re-consigned

Textiles to the White family in London and Macclesfield. More

and rarely they were settled partly in bills and the balance

Agricul- in milk ; an evidence of the survival until a compara-

ture. tively late date of the close local connection between

farming and textile manufacturing. Soon after 1849,

Mr. White produced the gold coloured twists needed

to make the Cahfornia vestings, which became seasonable

articles at the time of the gold discovery in that State.

Mr. William White, who hved to a great age, had at one

time a silk dyehouse at Linthwaite, and for a short while

HUDDERSFIELD.

255

shared in a tentative experiment in silk-spinning. The business carried on by his descendants is still that of preparing twists for the uses of the vesting and worsted business.

Work of the same kind is carried on by the Bent Ley Waste Silk MiUs Ltd., of Meltham, in addition to the dressing SUk and spinning upon a considerable scale of waste sUk. Trade. The mill was built about 1840 by Charles Brook and Sons, members of a family which subsequently built up a great business in sewing cotton. The miU passed from the Brooks to WiUiam Bamford and Sons, who continued the silk business for a few years, and eventually sold it in 1890 to the present limited company, of which the managing director is Mr. A. W. Manks. The original business was somewhat enlarged about the beginning of the century by the purchase from W. Hollins and Co., Ltd., of the sUk department conducted in their large mills at Mansfield. Silk-spinning was carried on in 1851 at Dalton by John Salkeld and Co., presumably in the Greenside MiUs, which about 30 years ago were worked by a Mr. George Wilson. It is known that Wilson acquired part of the machinery sold at the break-up of Burrow and Monk, the pioneer spinning firm in the adjacent town of Brighouse, and one of Mr. Wilson's employes, the late Mr. J. W. Armitage, subsequently began spinning upon his own account in that town.

The Census of 1871 showed that in the census area of Huddersfield 108 males and 148 females were employed in the manufacture of silk. Silk and satin manufacturing employed 74 males over 20 years of age ; seven adult males were returned as sUk dyers, and two as silk merchants. The particulars would seem not to cover the whole industrial district ; they exclude those whose business lay mainly with mixed goods, and they were taken before the rise of the silk plush industry, which for a time largely increased the number of silk workers in and about the town.

Silk yarn dyeing has been carried on for many years, Silk and upon a large scale at Mr. G. W. Oldham's MoU Spring Yam Dyeworks and Lord's MiU, Netherton. During the Dyeing.

256

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk currency of the trade in silk sealskins in the '80's and

Yarn '90's, large quantities of these plushes were manufactured,

Dyeing, notably by the extinct firms Henry Lister and Co., Joseph Walker and Sons, Lindley, Norton Brothers and Co., Nortonthorpe, and by Field and BottriU, of Skelmanthorpe. The production of pile goods like astrakhans and mohair plushes remains one of the speciahties of the district.

To pick up the broken thread of the story of the develop- ment of the Huddersfield fine worsted trade, reference must be made to a letter pubhshed in the Huddersfield newspaper, 1881-1883, by Mr. J. S. and Mr. J. T. Clay, of Rastrick. It is there recorded that about 1853 one John Beaumont, of Dalton, brought out a new vesting made with four-fold woollen yarn twisted with a thick thread of silk and woven 16 threads to the inch in each direction. A London woollen merchant, Charles Kennerley, of SavUe Row, London, invited Mr. Clay to make the cloth in cashmere or worsted, instead of woollen yarn. A supply of Berhn wool yarn made for the uses of the Leicester trade was procured from a Mr. Charles Walker, of Bradford, and a new business in so-called Berhn vestings was begun. From one piece dyed black and made without silk the famous tailor Poole cut one chequer-board square, and in 1857 or 1858 ordered a piece to be woven throughout in the plain twill of this pattern. A coat of this material worn by the Prince of Wales, brought fine worsted into prominence, and its increasing growth in pubUc favour ousted the shiny woollen broadcloths that had formerly been the recognised wear for formal occasions. Broad- cloths had been the particular speciahty of the West of England, and their supersession by a fabric which was an offshoot from the trade in wool and silk waistcoatings became a matter of the utmost moment. The manu- facture of fine cloths for wear by men was transferred Manu- to the West Riding, most of the woollen nulls of the West facture of England dropped gradually out of work, and the success of Fine that has been gained subsequently in Gloucestershire and Cloths. elsewhere in the West has been chiefly by the adoption of the methods pursued in Huddersfield.

CHAPTER XXIV. Sheffield, Leeds, Low Bentham,

Sheffield.

Towns in which employment for men is plentiful, and particularly those situated on the Northern coal-field, are commonly favourable to the development of textile industry. The case has not proved thus with Shefl&eld, where a sUk throwing miU was erected near the Don River in 1758. The mill was inspected by Arthur Young, and a faithful account of its transactions is given in his Northern Tour (1769) :

" Sheffield contains about 30,000 inhabitants, the chief of which are employed in the manufacture of hardware. The great branches are the plating work, the cutlery, the lead works and the sUk miU." The silk-mill was :

" A copy from the famous one at Derby which employs A

152 hands, chiefly women and children ; the Throw- women earn 5s. or 6s. a week by the pound ; girls at ing Mill, first are paid but I*, or Is. 2d. a week, but rise gradually higher, till they arrive at the same wage as the women. It would be preposterous to attempt a description of the immense mechanism ; but it is highly worthy of observation that all the motions of this comphcated system are set at work by one water-wheel, which communicates motion to others, and they to many different ones, until many thousand wheels and powers are set at work from the original simple one. They use Bengal, China, Turkey, Piedmont and American

257 R

258

SILK INDUSTRY.

raw silks ; the Italian costs them 355. a lb., but the American only 20*. ; it is a good silk, though not equal to Piedmont. This mUl works up 150 lbs. of raw silk a week all the year round, or 7,8001bs. per annum. The erection of the whole building, with all the mechanism it contains, cost about £7,000." Other The enterprise succeeded iU and according to both

Textile Hunter's Hallamshire (1819) and Baines's History, Enter- Directory and Gazetteer (1822), the premises were soon prises. applied to the spinning of cotton. Baines added that " neither the sUk nor the cotton trade has made any progress in Sheffield, though the latter has been per- severingly prosecuted upon the site of the original silk miU, after two successive conflagrations." It is not only to silk and cotton that Sheffield conditions have proved hostile. There was in 1822 a considerable carpet manu- facture, and near a hundred looms employed in weaving hair-seating. " There is also," reported Baines, in an ominous tone, " a small quantity of woollen cloth manu- factured here, but it seems an exotic, and, like cotton and silk, not a native of the soil." Steel has banished silk, cotton, wool and horse-hair alike, and modern Sheffield makes no experiments in the textile industries which prosper in the hands of its neighbouring towns and cities. A directory of 1821 records the existence of two silk-dyers in Sheffield, but it is possible they were dyers of garments rather than of yarns and piece goods.

Leeds.

Silk and Leeds has the advantage of a singularly diverse range Flax- of industries, but has for several years lost a connection

spinning, with silk, dating from a hundred years ago. Leeds, it must be recalled, was formerly the chief centre of the English flax industry, and the fibre is still spun in the city. There are stout historical hnks between the spinning of flax and the silk-spinning process now in general use in this country, and these may be sought in the chapter deahng with Waste Silk (p. 390). Flax and waste silk involve the use of similar types of machinery, and the

SHEFFIELD, LEEDS, LOW BENTHAM. 259

machine makers, to whom the silk-spinners of to-day are Silk and

perhaps more indebted than to any other, carry on business Flax-

in Leeds. Greenwood and Batley Ltd., the chief makers spinning.

of waste sUk drawing machinery, themselves derive from

an older flax machine firm. The fomiders left Fairbairn

and Lawson to begin business for themselves in 1856.

Mr. Samuel Lawson, of this firm, was the patentee, jointly

with the inventor, William King Westly, of Leeds, of

the worm gear for driving the " fallers," or heckle bars of

the machines used in preparing long fibres for spinning.

This invention of Westly's lies at the root of the sUk,

flax and worsted spinning practice of to-day, and Westly

has had less than his meed of honour and perhaps of

fortune.

Westly's specification (6464 of 1833) shows that pre- viously to his time the toothed bars which parallelise the fibres had been driven by chains and spur wheels on which his " perpetual screws or worm shafts " were so great an improvement that they have never been super- seded. An entry in the London Gazette of 15th July, 1837, conveys notice that W. K. Westly, Salford, flax- spinner, was certified bankrupt on that day. Nor does a printed card* preserved among old documents by Messrs. Greenwood and Batley suggest great good fortune. The eloquent as it is of the joy of achievement and the work of indomitable spirit of the man. Westly.

♦ The following lines, composed by the late William King Westly of Leeds (Inventor of the SOBEw Gill, &c.), were seen written in red chalk on the whitewashed wall of his own room, by his nephew, with whose kind permission they are here printed : — ■ " Speed man ! Speed ! Old Time is rurming.

Stretch and strain thy strength and cunning ;

Every sinew bravely brace.

To the wrestle and the race,

'Tia the doing — not what's done,

'Tis the winning — not what's won,

'Tis the struggle and the strife

Gives the real zest to life.

Labour is no slavish burden.

But its own sufficient guerdon,

Giving doubly all it takes,

In the manly pride it wakes.

In the sound and happy sleep,

In the pulse's joyous leap.

In the limbs with vigor lithe,

In the temper ever blithe.

In the sweetness of the bread

Won by skill of hand or head.

Forward, then ! and forward still !

Triumph waits on strength of Will."

260

SILK INDUSTRY.

Hold- The Factory Inspection records state that one of the

forths* 225 steam engines at work in Leeds in 1836 was for silk of and cotton-spinning, and that this engine was of 36 horse

Leeds. power. If the capacity of the prime mover looks trivial in a modern hght, it can at least be argued that the engine was of twice the average power of those in Leeds manu- facturing estabhshments at the period. Then, and for long after, it was customary to move spinning-mules by hand. The question of the ownership of the engine may be set at rest by reference to Baines' Directory of 1822, showing the name James Holdforth, Mill Street, Bank, Leeds, under the heading silk and cotton-spinner. In 1830 the address was Low m2i, and in 1842 was 38, Mill Street, and at Horsforth and Cookridge. In 1847 the firm was James Holdforth and Son, Silk Street, Leeds. Probably the mill was in existence before this time, for it was in 1812 that the founder married, and his daughter-in-law understands that he had the silk-mills at that time. An entry in Leeds' Worthies (1865) gives an epitome of Mr. James Holdforth's life, showing him to have been born in 1778, and to have died at the age of 83. He was one of 22 placed on the first Commission of the Peace under the Act of 1836, and had the distinction of being the first Roman Cathohc mayor elected in England since the Reformation. He was the friend and correspondent of Daniel O'Connell, Shell O'Gorman Mahon, and other Catholics of renown, and " greatly beloved by his work- people, large numbers of whom he employed in his extensive silk factory." Mr. Holdforth's name is mentioned in the evidence taken by the Committee on the Factory Bill, 1832, from which source it appears that the miU had a night as well as a day staff. A girl witness deposed that he " liked children all to be very clean." Frowns Mr. Joseph Holdforth was head of the firm in 1864,

of when he died. Mr. James Holdforth, junior, who had

Dame carried on business as a spinner of silk by the short-spun Fortune, process in Congleton, sold his Cheshire mill a few years later, and carried on the Leeds concern untU in the '70's difficulties overcame him, and the three or four hundred operatives were thrown out of work. The machinery

SHEFFIELD, LEEDS, LOW BENTHAM. 261

was sold by auction, and some of it was removed to the Hold- Brighouse district. Exceptional interest attaches to the forths' affairs of the Holdforths, as it was from their mill that of workers were drawn to operate the first long-spinning Leeds, machinery introduced into Brighouse, the town that is now the chief centre of the long-spinning trade. Again, the Holdforths were one of three firms that in the beginning asserted a monopoly in the rights of the process of spinning waste silk without first reducing its fibre to very short lengths.

White's West Riding Directory of 1837 gives the name Wilkinson and Son, Harcourt MUls, Leeds, as silk and cotton-spinners, but the contemporary evidence disfavours a supposition that they were silk-spinners for long. Mr. Walter Hinde, later connected with the Ijancaster silk-spinning concern Hinde and Co., through his partner- ship in the flax and worsted spinning firm of Hinde and Derham, had a connection with Leeds. At Horsforth, on the outskirts of Leeds, mentioned as a place of business of the Holdforth's in 1842, the Charnley's for a while carried on silk-spinning. From 1870 to 1877, Mr. T. B. P. Ford, in partnership with Mr. Harvey, had a silk-spinning business in Leeds, which was removed to Low Bentham, near Lancaster,

Low Bentham,

Flax and tow-spinning was carried on early in the last Off- century in Low Bentham, a village geographically in shoots Yorkshire, but with Lancaster as its nearest town. A of miU devoted formerly to hemp-spinning was bought in Leeds 1877 by Mr. T. B. P. Ford, who with a Mr. Harvey had Industry, been a silk-spinner since 1870 in Leeds. Two or three years later Mr. Ayrton joined him, and in company they gradually enlarged the mills and built up the satisfactory business now owned by Ford, Ayrton and Co., Ltd. Mr. Ford, in his youth, had the advantage of a training in mechanical engineering in the works of Greenwood and Batley, Leeds.

CHAPTER XXV.

Rochdale, Todmorden, Ripley, Skipton.

Rochdale.

The As the two more accessible towns west and east of

Trade about twenty miles of sterUe and mountainous country, in Rochdale and Hahfax, divided between them for a couple

Flannels, of centuries the market in the coarse woollens produced by the yeoman-manufacturers of the region. Rochdale still manufactures " Yorkshire " flannels in token of its old association with domestic weavers across the county border, as weU as Lancashire flannels, pseudo-Welsh and Shetland flannels, and a variety of modern shirtings. Flannels became so much the speciality of Rochdale that in 1824, the town was computed to produce more than aU the rest of the world. " Some good flannels are manufactured in Wales," admitted the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal of the year named, " a few good ones at Keswick and some other towns and villages. A few are manufactured on the Continent, and works for that purpose are now erected in America ; but the whole of the flannels manufactured on the globe, beside those manufactured in Rochdale and its immediate vicinity are not equal in quantity to those made here."

The flannels that have long engaged the local attention have suffered in sale from the extensive changes in habits of dress, and the cotton trade absorbs more and more of Rochdale energies. As an outpost of Manchester, the town has in its time had some relations with silk, chiefly through two firms noM^ non-existent.

The firms of Henry Tucker and Co., described in 1877 as manufacturers, spinners and printers, making poplins,

262

ROCHDALE, TODMORDEN, RIPLEY, SKIPTON. 263

Japanese cloths, scarves and ties, handkerchiefs, foulards. An piece goods, Indian corahs and bandannas, had Rochdale Extinct as one of its three addresses. According to the available Spinning oral evidence, silk was spun upon the long-spun process at Industry, their Castleton SUk Mills, Rochdale ; by the short-spun system at Pendleton Silk Mills, Manchester, and sUk- throwing was done at their Pickford Street MiUs, Macclesfield, The name is one of the oldest known to present members of the silk-spinning trade, and it subse- quently became Tucker, Meade and Co., by inclusion of relations of the Tucker family. The silk business seems to have fallen away, and attempts were made at Castleton to produce ramie yarns upon a commercial scale. A Company called the Lancashire Silk and Rhea MUls Ltd. was formed to acquire the concern, and this Company passed into hquidation about the beginning of this century. Thomas Watson and Sons, Ltd., Horse Carrs SUk Mill, Rochdale, was the later title of the firm that in the '70' s was known as Thomas Watson and Co., and that had been founded by Mr. Thomas Watson, earher of Galgate, Lancaster. SUk was spun and woven into velvets and plushes, and the Messrs. Watson made large quantities of sealskin plushes during the continuance of the demand for these goods. Silk plushes were also woven by the great firm of John Bright and Brothers Ltd., Fieldhouse MUls, as one out of many different classes of goods receiving their attention.

Heywood.

Waste sUk dressing and spinning have been carried Waste on for a number of years at Heywood, about three mUes Silk from Rochdale, by the firm of Brearley Brothers. Dressing.

TODMORDEN.

The family of Fielden, proprietors of three large cotton mUls at Todmorden, and distinguished by many pubhc- spirited acts, operated one mill in silk-spinning until 1852. Upon the evidence of one who worked in this TTiin in his youth, sUk was spun there in the same manner as cotton. Upon the occurrence of a

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Fielden death in the family, the properties were divided, with and the result that the silk-mill was closed, and the papers

Brockle- relating to its affairs have been destroyed. The con- hurst sequent disemployment of the body of workpeople led Interests, to some dispersal of the trade and was a factor of importance in the development of the silk-spinning industry in Brighouse. The inter-marriage of two members of the Fielden family with two of the Brocklehurst family of Macclesfield, is a hnk further connecting Todmorden with silk, and probably explains the entry of Fielden Bros, into the silk-spinning business.

Ripley.

An isolated silk-spinning business is carried on suc- cessfully in the picturesque surroundings at Ripley, near Harrogate. The original owners seem to have been Briggs and Co., whose manager was a Mr. ThrelfaU, of Brighouse, and the business is conducted by his sons, under the name of ThrelfaU Brothers.

Skipton District.

At BeU Busk, seven miles north-west from Skipton, silk-spinning, largely for the sewing trade, was carried on for many years by Mr. C. A. Rickards. The mill and the trade marks were acquired by the Enghsh Sewing Cotton Co., Ltd., of Manchester, and after a fire, which destroyed the premises, the goodwill of the business was sold to Lister and Co., Ltd., of Manningham. Messrs. Lister have at Addingham, six miles south-east from Skipton, Low and High Mills and Burnside Mills, which are used for the manufacture of velvets.

Plate XXIX. Silk Shawl in the Museum, Norwich.

CHAPTER XXVI.

Norfolk and Norwich.

The early history of the textile trade in England is Origin the history of the manufactures of Norfolk and Norwich, of the In the earhest periods this industry was doubtless almost, name if not entirely, confined to wool, the very name of the yarn " Wor- and material known as worsted having been derived many sted." centuries ago from Worstead, a small town or village some few miles distant from Norwich.

A curious reference to the industry is made in con- nection with a catastrophe which befeU Norwich in 1174. In that year Hugh Bigot, who had taken the part of the elder son of Henry II against his father, attacked the place with a band of Flemings. Little defence was made, and Matthew Paris records that a vast amount of booty and many captives were taken away. The French chronicler Jordan Fantosme explains the easy capture of the town by the statement that the Norwich citizens " for the most part were weavers, they knew not to bear arms in knightly guise."

From Danish times onwards Norfolk and Norwich Influ- have had a large share of British trade, in the earher ence of periods exporting wool, and later exporting cloth. It Immi- would, however, appear certain the textile industry was gration. not of indigenous growth, but that it was first introduced and its continuance ensured through many centuries by distinct and successive waves of immigrants, principally from the Low Countries. The first foreign settlement of which definite record can be found took place in the 12th century. Blomefield, a well-known local historian, has expressed the opinion that Flemings were settled here

265

266 SILK INDUSTRY.

Influ- and in Haverfordwest at the same time — and there is ence of evidence of their presence in the township of Worstead Immi- about 1134.

gration. The second great wave dates from the 14th century.

This it is declared was due to the initiative of Phihppa, Queen of Edward III, who induced her Flamands — " goode and trew weevers " — ^to come over in crowds. Norfolk and Norwich prospered exceedingly, Norwich became the second city of the realm, and within her walls could be found nearly sixty parish churches and seven conventual churches, besides several rehgious houses. In the year 1368, William de Swyneflete, Archdeacon of Norwich, caused to be made a certain vellum book, in which was forthwith entered inventories of the ornaments of all the churches in his archdeaconry. The volume, therefore, gives a most valuable insight into the goods and ornaments of the Norfolk and Norwich churches .in the 14th century, and shows the great wealth of silk vestments and high altar palls possessed by those 46 Norwich churches, of which inventories are given.

The silken goods and the treasures in the city churches had wonderfully increased between the date of this inventory and the Reformation. The return of the Com- missions, 6th Edward VI, relating to St. Peter de Parmentergate, shows the extraordinary accumulation of valuable silken vestments &c., in one of the less important Norwich churches at the Reformation. These facts are Silk indirect, if perhaps hardly conclusive, evidence that from

in the the 14th century onwards — and therefore far anterior to 14th its introduction in any other part of England — the silk

Century, industry was practised in Norwich.

Of this industry, there are, however, no detailed records until the " Great Wave " of the 16th century. The brief reign of the last male Tudor saw evil days for Norfolk. Pestilence, fire, and the rebeUion of Tanner Kett had ravaged Norwich. Besant, in an eloquent passage, depicts the ruin and desolation in London for long after the Dissolution ; and so with Norwich. The stately religious houses, and their more stately fanes had been either absolutely destroyed or ruinated. Barely a remnant

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 267

of tlie staple trade survived. The old city had yet good friends however, notably Parker, the celebrated Archbishop, himself a Norwich man ; and in 1565 the Duke of Norfolk, with the view to restore the fortunes " of the Letters goode cittie," obtained from Elizabeth letters patent Patent which granted power to the Mayor and Corporation from of Norwich to receive " Therty Douchemen of the lowe Queen countrys of Flaunders alyens borne being aUe housholders Eliza- or maister workmen," with their several households and beth. servants not exceeding ten to each family as inhabitants of the city to exercise "the faculties of makeiag bays, arras, sayes, tapstrey, mockadoes, staments, carsay and such outlandish commodities as hath not bene used to be mayde within our Realme of England."

The letters patent were dehvered to the Mayor, Thomas Sotherton (whose mansion now called the Strangers' Hall, has been preserved to the city by the prescient public spirit of Mr. Leonard G. Bohngbroke, hon. treasurer of the Norfolk and Norwich Archaeological Society), but there was some iU-feeling in the Common Council about the admission of the " Strangers " and the members refused to admit them under their common seal, so " the sayd Maior and his bretherene agreed that the scale of the offyce of Mairaltie shulde be sette to the writinge " (signature) " of everie of the thurty maisters that he lyscensed accordinge to the letters pattents, wiche was then done in manner hereafter ensewenge." {Strangers' Book, folio 16, in Norwich Archives, Castle Museum.) The letters patent described these good people with easy comprehensiveness as being all " Douchemen," yet the list of the masters and their detailed description prove there were also " Wallounes " (Walloons) in important proportion — these latter a French-speaking, sturdy race, whose homes reached so far inland as Metz. Thus the Strangers, although of the same rehgion, were from the first, distinct communities each with its distinctive Nation- language and code of laws — religious and domestic — and ality its churches. In 1585 there were three ministers for the of Dutch Colony in Norwich — Theophilus Tyekwaert, Immi- Ysbrandus Balkins and Antonius Algotius — ^its separate grants.

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Nation- council of elders or "politic men." To each community ality were granted places of worship, "cloth haUs " and " seahng

of halls." Eyen the branches of textile fabrics were carefully

Immi- divided between the two communities ; thus the Dutch grants. were only allowed to make " wet greasy goods," the Walloons " dry woven goods."

The later Tudor age was an age of method. Letters patent were required in 1565 before the Strangers were allowed to settle in Norwich, and sundry masters or head men were appointed. This was not considered enough, and in 1571 an elaborate code of rules, called " the Booke of orders for the Strangers of the Cittie of Norwiche," was issued by the Privy CouncU. This book has no less than 24 articles, these being for the greater part regulations affecting the staple trade of the Strangers (textile fabric manufacture). In addition " Seahng Halls " were established, and " Sealers " or " Searchers " were appointed. The " Sealers " were duly sworn experts, and each piece of fabric under pain of divers penalties to the makers had to be submitted to and examined by them as a guarantee of " trewe makyne " and " trewe cowlleringe," and each piece was marked or " sealed " with a separate seal in accordance with its merit. About the same time the " Books or orders for the Draperye " was issued by the united councils of the elders or " hommes pohtiques." The original book (there appears to have been only one copy) is beautifully written in Dutch, and consists of minute regulations respecting the making of Makers " bayes, says," and numerous other fabrics of wool, wool of and silk, and aU silk. It is instructive to note that the

Fine earnest endeavour of these wise men was evidently to

Fabrics, ensure honest, and so far as it was possible, perfect work. Excellence of fabric was evidently their aim — not cheapness at the expense of quality^ — and to this far-seeing policy can be fairly ascribed the renown of Norwich-made goods for many years. If the sealers found a piece of fabric to be imperfect, they decided who was the cause of the imperfection — ^the manufacturer, the dyer, or the weaver — and in democratic fashion, the guilty party was mulct of a fine, and if the fabric was considered a disgrace to the

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 269

Strangers and to the city, it was incontinently " torn in Fabrics twain " and handed back ! In 1616 the city authorities marked purchased the right to seal with the Crown Seal granted by to the Duke of Lennox. With this was marked aU fabrics Crown sealed or searched {i.e. examined by sworn experts) in the Seal. various seahng haUs.

To show the classification of varying degrees of quality or manufacture determined by the sealers and to prove their place of origin, there were other marks, as foUows : — Goods considered as being up to a certain standard of excellence were stamped by the searchers with the city arms (the hon and castle) if manufactured by Norwich citizens ; with the hon without the castle if by Norfolk weavers ; with a ship if by the Strangers. On the other hand, goods considered inferior from any cause were stamped "Norwich" within a ring if manu- factured by Norwich citizens ; if by the Strangers "Aleyne" within a ring; if by Norfolk weavers "Norfolk" within a ring.

These regulations obtained until 1705, when during a riot the seahng haUs were sacked and the various seals, or brands, destroyed. The cause of the tumult is unknown. According to Blomefield {vol. iii, p. 284) — " To all which ordinances they willingly obeyed, behaved themselves orderly, became a civil people, and were of great service to the city."

Nevertheless they had many enemies. In 1567, Thomas WhaUe, the Mayor, tried to expel them from Norwich, but the Town CouncU would not agree. Several vexatious Har- regulations were, however, passed, and it was reported assing to the Privy Council that the Strangers numbered 1,132 Regula- persons, far above the allowed number. Again, in 1570, tions. certain gentlemen and others of Norwich unsuccessfully attempted against the Strangers a sort of Sicihan Vespers. As counterblasts " agaynst them that take the benefyte of the statutes ageynst the pore straungers without cause," the Strangers found it expedient to obtain from time to time from the Mayor certificates of the advantages to Norwich resulting from their resi- dence there.

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Certifi- cate of advan- tage of Foreign Weavers to the City.

ReU- gious Toler- ance.

For instance, in vol. 20, State Pa'pers Elizabeth, circa 1575, appears the following : —

" The Benefite Receyved by the Straungers in Norwiche for the space of tenne years.

" In Primis. — They brought a grete commodite thether, viz. : the makinge of bayes, moccadoes, grograynes, all sortes of tuftes &c., which were not mayde there before, whereby they do not only set on worke there owne people, but do also set on worke our owne people within the cittie, as also a grete number of people nere xx myles about the cittie.

"Item. — By their meanes our cittie is well inhabited and decayed housen reedified.

" Item. — The Marchaunts by their commodities have grate trade as weU within the realme as withoute the realme, beinge in good estimacion in aU places.

' ' Item. — They be contributors to aU paiements or subcedies, taskes, watches, contribusions, mynisters, wagis, etc.

" They live holy of themselves without charge, and do begge of no man and do sustain aU their owne pore people.

" And to conclude they for the most parts feare God and do dihgently and labourously attends upon their several occupacions. They obbey all Magistrates and aU goode lawes and ordinances, they live peecablie amonge themselves and towardes alle men, and we thinke our cittie happie to enjoye them."

This is endorsed — " The benefittes receaved in Norwiche by havinge the Strauners ther."

Many other " briefs " (as they were called) of like tenour and of various dates were, untU recently, in the possession of Messrs. Stevens, Miller and Jones, Norwich, solicitors to the French congregation.

It can be easily understood that with men who had abandoned their aU " for conscience sake," the exercise of their religion " with decency and in order " was con- sidered of primary importance. In the archives of Ypres is a collection of intercepted letters from the Norwich " Strangers " to those remaining in their native land, and it is pathetic to note the general thankfulness that in their new home they can worship in peace. Clement

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 271

Baet writes (September 5tli, 1567) to his wife, and ends Reli- an affectionate letter : " May God give you the same loving gious peace and riches we have at Norwich. It is very dear to Tolera- hear the word of God peacefully." tion.

The first care of these men — both Dutch and Walloons — was to appoint pastors and a Board of Elders. The Livre de la Disipline de VEglise Walonne de Norwiche du Ve Avril, 1589, is in the British Museum. It gives minute particulars of their rehgious doctrines, and the duties of the " four Orders " appointed " Les Pasteurs, Les Docteurs, Les Diacres, Les Anciens." The book commences : " Pour bien gouverner I'Eghse de Dieu il n'est pas seule- ment besoin que la 'paroUe et sacremens soient purement adminis, mais aussi qu'il y ait quelque pohce ou dis- cipline tant entre ceux qu'en ont la conduite que les particuliers a fin de conserver la doctrine en sa puret6 garder en bon ordre ses assemblies eclesiastiques contenir un chacun a son devoir, et que tous recoivent advertisse- ment reprehension consolation et subvention en leur necessity selon qu'il en sera besoin."

Thus these pastors and elders were strict rulers, not only of the religious, but also of the domestic hves of their congregation.

The French-speaking congregations were first granted the Bishop's Chapel in the Bishop's Palace grounds, and afterwards St. Mary's the Little, still called the French Church, and where are preserved monuments to the Martineaus and other refugee families. The Dutch- speaking congregation worshipped in Blackfriars Hall (the choir of the Blackfriars Monastery Church), where still is preached each year a sermon in Dutch. They were turned out for a time, and were permitted to use St. Peter, Foreign Hungate. Blomefield also names St. Michael at Plea the Colony French Church, and in 1620 St. Gregory's was called the of Dutch Church. It must be remembered that the foreign 5,000. colony then numbered in Norwich nearly 5,000 souls. The Dutch alone had three ministers, and presumably with such pious people each had a large congregation.

These Dutch and Walloons were industrious, God- fearing people, but in spite of the complimentary

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SILK INDUSTRY.

appreciations expressed in the certificate of 1575, entitled " The Benefite Receyved by the Strangers in Norwiche " (already quoted), it must be admitted the records tend to prove they were also stubborn and turbulent. There Dutch were endless squabbles between Dutch and Walloons and about their shares of the textile trade. If one community

Walloon invented a new fabric, and prayed " Mr. Maior " that Jeal- its production might be " sealed " or reserved to them,

ousies. the other side immediately brought forward a claim to make this same fabric. The Court Books are full of such cases. In 1571 there was a great squabble amongst the elders or the " politic men " as to the newly elected members of their body, and "Mr. Maior" summoned all persons concerned to appear before him to stop " aU this unnatureU and barbarous dissenting, and to rote oute all contencious hedes and high stomackes lurking in the congregacions." His Worship appears to have brought all to unity with the exception of Antonius Paschesson, Antonius Paulus, Jacob de Vos and John Gerarde, who resisted the pleadings of their own feUows and of " Maister Maior." Gerard and Paulus (as the old Governors) had possession of the " Booke of orders (or manufacturing Causes regulations) for the Draperie." This book they, backed of dis- by other malcontents of the community, refused either sention. to give up or allow to be used. The whole manufacturing industry of the Strangers was in consequence brought to a standstill. The Mayor sternly demanded the book ; they refused, although " they were sayde eUes goe to prisson." Yet were they stiff-necked, " Maister Maior" was the same, and on the 4th November, " clapt them intoe prisson." Prison fare evidently worked wonders with their " high stomacks," for on the 21st November, they made their submission and gave up the book. To prevent such a deadlock in future, " Maister Maior " ordered that a " trewe coppie " should be made in Enghsh. Both this and the original in Dutch are in the city archives. The following quaint account relating the sudden end on the 27th August, 1572, in the Guild Hall Council Chamber of John Rede, Alderman, will perhaps help in a measure to understand what manner of men were

NORFOLK AND NORWICH.

273

those who had a part in the " gouvernaunce " of the " Strangers ":

" About nine of the clocke in the forenone, a goode, A godely and a virtuous brother of this house, viz. : John Contem- Rede Alderman, a bigg man and hot with travell after porary reverens done to Maister Maior and other bretheren and Record, his place taken in the Council Chamber, being troubled wythe a rume which fell from his hede, did coffe three times, wherwith he was stoppyd and his wynde fayled, and so in a sudden sized doune and never spake any worde, and so there presenthe departed this transytory life untoe a^ more joyfuUe place of reste."

In spite of squabbles and jealousies, the Strangers throve and increased for many years. In 1611 their manufacture covered " bays, fustians, parchmentiers, camientries, tufted mockadoes, curreUss, tooys, bussins, mockadoes, valures, aU of hnen, crueU, carletts, damaske, says of dry cruel (after the fashion of Lille, of Amiens, and of Meaux), dry grograynes, double mockadoes, oUyet l3um- basines of taffety, all silk, striped sayes, broad lyles, Spanish sattins, cross biUets of silk, serge de boyce, silk saye, striped tobines figuartoes, bratos, purled and other out- landish inventions." Norwich became again a busy manu- facturing centre. The production of textile fabrics must have been extremely important, as a large trade was not only transacted with the countries of Northern Europe, but also with the Levant. As time passed, the Dutch and Walloons took full part in civic responsibihties, honors and duties. When Queen Ehzabeth visited Norwich in 1578 Pros- the pageant of the " Strangers " was the most imposing perity of all. Not only did one of the Dutch pastors inflict a of Immi- long oration (stiU preserved) upon her Majesty, but the grants. Strangers gave her a cup valued at £50, " very curiously and artificially wrought."

In the city archives are the roU calls of the " Dutch and of the WaUowne " Companies of the City Trained Bands. The first on the 22nd May, 1621, numbered five officers and 90 rank and file. The " WaUownes " numbered five officers and 74 rank and file.

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Effect of By the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, Louis XIV

Revoca- expatriated upwards of 500,000 merchants, artificers and

tion of manufacturers. About 50,000 of the refugees landed upon

Edict of the shores of England. Many of them — a large proportion

Nantes, families of culture and capital — the Martineaus, the

Columbines, the de Hagues, the Decarles, the Lefevres,

the Decaux, the Tillettes — found their way to Norwich,

forming a valuable reinforcement to the Dutch and

Walloon colonies. SUk fabrics, lutestrings, brocades, satins,

Padua toys, watered tabinets, decapes, black and colored

velvets were made in great perfection by these newcomers

to Norwich, amongst whose inhabitants some of their names

may stUl be found, and indeed some have long* achieved a

wider fame. It is interesting to note the influence of

those later refugees upon the two ancient congregations.

It was so great that the Dutch learned to speak French

in addition to the language of their forefathers.

Gradually the congregations became decayed. Their descendants were stiU known and honored, but they were no longer " Strangers " in the land. They gradually merged into and strengthened the native population.

It is true that as late as 1725 the Norwich Dutch, French and Walloons are specially mentioned in an Act of ParUament as being exempt from a murage tax on the grounds " they support their own poor and their own ministers." Yet although for many years later they clung to their traditions, their creeds, their language (a citizen stiU Uving declares his father when a boy was always flogged if he dared to speak any other language than Dutch in the home circle), they had by intermarriage and long residence practically merged into and strengthened, by their inherited good taste, industry and skill, the ranks of those Norwich citizens who for long years to come were thus enabled to retain pre-eminence as weavers and dyers of silk and wool.

To quote from the luminous pages of Macaulay. Next to " Norwich was the capital of a large and fruitful London province. It was the chief seat of the chief manufacture uipopu- of the realm, and no place in the kingdom except the lation. capital and the Universities had more attractions for the

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 275

curious. For population it was second to London Next to alone." London

The prosperity of Norwich depended upon the textile in popu- industry, in which probably every citizen directly or lation. indirectly was interested. The only advertisement page of the Norwich Postman, the first Norwich newspaper (1708), is full of references to the staple trade.

Of the history of the 18th century, fairly rehable and detailed statistics of the Norfolk and Norwich textile industries remain, and of these the first and the most interesting are found in Defoe's Tour through Great Britain (about 1723). He writes :—

" When we come to Norfolk we see a face of dihgence spread over the whole country ; the vast manufactures carried on chiefly by the Norwich weavers employ all the country round in spinning yarn for them. ..." This side " (the South) " is very populous and thronged with great and spacious market tovms, more and larger than any other part of England . . . but that which is most remarkable is that the whole country round is inter- spersed with villages and these villages are so large and so full of people that they are equal to market towns in other counties and render this eastern part of Norfolk exceeding full of inhabitants."

" An eminent weaver of Norwich gave me a scheme of 120,000 their trade, by which, calculating from the number of Textile their looms at that time employed in the city of Norwich workers, alone he made it appear very plain that there were 120,000 people employed in the woollen and sUk and woollen manufactures of that city only. Not that the people all hve in the city, though Norwich is very large and populous, but they were employed for spinning the yarn used for such goods as were all made in that city.

" This shows the wonderful extent of Norwich manu- factures ... by which so many thousands of families are maintained. . . . Norwich is the capital of all the county, and the centre of all the textile trades and manu- factures, and is as I have already mentioned, an ancient, large and populous city. If a stranger was only to ride through or view the city of Norwich on a common day he

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SILK INDUSTRY.

would be induced to think it was a town without inhabi- tants, but, on the contrary, if he was to view the city on the Sabbath Day, or on any pubhc occasion, he would wonder where aU the people could dwell, the multitude is The so great. But the case is this : the inhabitants being

Evidence all busy with their manufactures dwell in their garrets of at their homes . . . and other work houses, all the works

Defoe. they are employed at being done indoors."

" Greatness is comparative," and it is weU to bear in mind that the Norwich described by Defoe as being " a large and populous city " had not probably materially increased in size and inhabitants since 1693, when by actual census it was found to contain about 29,000 people. Norwich, however, was at that epoch, and for many years after, the very foremost of the towns of England. At the commencement of the 18th century not one of the pro- vincial towns contained quite 30,000 inhabitants, and only four numbered about 10,000. Bristol reckoned about 29,000 ; York and Exeter, the next in size to Norwich and Birmingham, not more than 10,000, Manchester had about 6,000 inhabitants, and Leeds still fewer.

Norwich at that time stood in every respect a leading city,

not only as " the chief seat of the chief manufacture of

the realm," by reason of the grandeur of its buildings ;

but it was also distinguished for the opulence of its leading

citizens, and the tone of refinement they had reached

when compared with the conditions of Society in other

provincial centres. Between the years 1743 and 1763,

the city attained the highest state of its greatness.

Master In 1741, Blomefield the historian of Norfolk, dedicated

Weavers his volumes on Norwich to the Mayor, Sheriffs and 22

the leading citizens ; of these, the Mayor, one Sheriff and ten

leading of the 22 principal citizens were master weavers. The

Citizens, famous John Crome was the son of a weaver. His first

patron and instructor was " Mr. Harvey of Catton,"

master weaver, an amateur artist of refinement and repute,

who possessed a fine collection of paintings by British

and Dutch artists (he married the daughter of a Dutch

merchant), in which the finest examples of Gainsborough

and Hobbema found place. Hobbema's methods were

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 277

the inspiration of Crome's genius, and liis name was the Master last to be uttered by his fleeting breath. Weavers

In a curious old treatise of that era is the following the picture of the Norwich master weavers : leading

" Being opulent men and generally surrounded by their Citizens, dependents, they have something of a lordly bearing . . . but they are on the whole an honourable race and exercise much kindness towards those beneath them."

Throughout the history of Norwich, the turbulence of the weavers and the frequent riots appear to have caused the worthy citizens constant anxiety and grievous loss. In the local records are found numerous references to these disturbances. In 1720, on the 20th September, "a grete riot" happened under pretence of destroying calhcoes, " as pernicious to the trade of Norwich stuffs ; the rabble cutting several gowns in pieces on women's backs, entering shops to seize aU caUicoes found there &c., beating the constables that endeavoured to apprehend them, and opposing the Sheriffs power to such a degree that the Artillery Company was forced to be raised, upon the approach of which they instantly dispersed."

In April and May, 1757, it is recorded that the mob broke into workshops and brutally beat the weavers, cutting the stuffs from the looms, which they afterwards " brake up and burn'd."

The events of August 13th, 1752, furnish an example of sympathetic strike and peaceful picketing : " About 400 Riots wool combers left their employ and encamped at Rack- and heath (about three miles from the city), and because the labour masters were determined to employ a man of the name of troubles. Fry, who the journeymen said had not a regular apprentice- ship to the combing business ; journeymen were sent for out of Suffolk, which the Norwich combers met on the road and stopped them. A posse was sent, who took several into custody."

In 1752, Stannard, a prominent Norwich manufacturer, writing to a customer, states : " We are all in grete feer because of that three thousands weevers be on the rode from Wyndam (Wymondham) to make a riot in Norwich."

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Riots On June 12th, 1827, a serious riot occurred in the city,

and A party of Wymondham weavers, who had damaged

labour looms and destroyed silk to the value of £1,000 at AshweU- troubles. thorpe (a village near), had been conveyed to Norwich Castle for examination. The witnesses were brought to the city in hackney coaches, escorted by a detachment of 12th Lancers. The Norwich weavers barricaded the Golden Ball Lane entrance to Castle Meadow with a waggon, and placed a similar obstruction near the Castle Bridge, and received the military with a voUey of stones &c. The witnesses were then conveyed by way of Timberhill to Orford Hill, and while a large body of special constables displaced the waggon at the Bridge, a second detachment of the Lancers came from the Barracks, charged the mob at full gaUop and dispersed them in aU directions. The history of the time gives lurid glimpses of the punishments inflicted. During the 18th century men and women were constantly pubhcly whipped in the market place, or dragged through the streets at the tail of a cart, for having either sold yarn " false told " or for having stolen it.

" On the day before Christmas Day, 1761 (stated the Norwich Gazette), John Minns, of St. Margaret's, and the wife of Robert Fox, of St. Peter per Moutergate, were whipped in Norwich Market Place for buying and receiving embezzled yarn."

As this example indicates, the punishment for buying and receiving embezzled yarn was severe. The leakage with respect to yarn stolen and sold by the weavers was con- siderable— and it was difiicult to check this pilfering, because the fabrics were nearly aU woven in the houses of the weavers, who in many cases lived considerable distances from Norwich. The following advertisement in the Norwich Mercury of February 22nd, 1772, gives a somewhat interesting picture of losses caused by fraudulent workpeople : — Dis- " Whereas on the 18th June last a middle-aged man,

honest by the name of John Rose, of St. Faith's " (about five Work- miles from Norwich), " came to the house of Messrs. Crowe people. and Taylor, and took from thence " [i.e. was given material to work up) " one two-piece thrumb of 26 score crape

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 279

with a Havel and Slay, and 12^ dozen for himself to weave. Dis- Also one two-piece thrumb of 22 score crape with a Havel honest and Slay for his boy to weave, and as the said John Rose Work- has not been heard of, although various messengers have people, been sent after him, this is therefore to give notice that any person shall be handsomely rewarded who will give information of the man or the work."

The efforts during the reign of George I. to encourage the sUk industry by special allowances on sUk goods exported, appear to have led to abuse on the part of Norwich manufacturers of the fabrics " called sattins and damasks," which (ordinarily made from worsted yarn) had specially added to them a small quantity of silk to secure the allowance made on " all silk " fabrics. In the Norwich Mercury of October 28th, 1728, appears the following notice : —

" This is to give PubMck Notice to all the Merchant Traders, Weavers and other exporters of woolen manu- facturers ... to parts beyond the Seas. That by order of the Honorable Commissioners of His Majesty's Customs the allowances that used to be made for exporting the Manufactured Goods called Sattins and Damasks (in which there is a small admixture of silk) is stopt as being contrary to the Intention of the Act of the 8th and 9th of his late Majesty for granting those allowances on silk and worstead Goods Exported ; and that stopage will be made of such Goods if offer' d to be Exported as goods which are intituled to the allowances that are granted by the aforesaid Acts."

At two general meetings of the manufacturers held at Prices the Guildhall on December 14th, and December 21st, 1790, paid the prices for weaving were fixed and printed in a hst for comprising serges, prunelles, satins, satinettes, camlets. Weaving, camletines, florentines, brilliantines, grenadines, blondines, tabourtines, caUandies &c. At a general meeting of the manufacturers, held June 13th, 1793, it was resolved unanimously that they would supply the journeyman weavers they employed with havels and slaies free of charge and without deduction from the prices estabhshed in the table of rates fixed in the year 1790. The hst, with minor

280

SILK INDUSTiElY.

Prices revisions, continued in force until 1824, when the list

paid hereunder was agreed upon to be followed in somewhat

for quick succession by that of 1846. We give these two hsts

Weaving, in full detail in the Appendix, because they seem valuable

records of prices for work obtaining at their several dates.

Arthur Young visited Norwich in 1771, and in his Tour

in Eastern England gives the following comprehensive

account of the city and its manufacture : —

" The city of Norwich is the most considerable after London ... by an accurate account taken a few years ago the number of inhabitants reckoned by houses amounted to 40,000 . . . 38,000 may be taken as the probable number. The staple manufactures are crapes and camblets ; besides which they make in great abundance damasks, sattins, alopeens, &c., &c. The earnings of the manufacturers {i.e. weavers) are various, but in general high. Men on an average do not exceed 5s. a week, but then many women earn as much, and boys of 15 or 16 Ukewise the same. ' Draw ' boys from 10 to 13 half-a- crown a week. Pipe boys and girls (winders of the yarn or silk on weaving tubes or perns) from five to nine years' old, M. Dyers 155., hot pressors 15s., women for doubling 2s., ditto for doubling silk 8*. . . . With respect to the present state of the manufacture, it is neither brisk nor very dull. Some among them complain because they have not so great a trade as during the war, for then they could not answer the demand (from 1743 to 1763 was their Colonies famous era) . The unfortunate difference subsisting between and the Great Britain and her colonies is a great injury to them, trade. They now do not send anything to North America, but much to the West Indies. Their foreign export is to — Rotterdam. All Flanders. Naples. Lisbon, Ostend. Leghorn. Genoa. Barcelona.

Middleburgh. Trieste. Cadiz. Hamburgh.

All the Baltic except Sweden, where they are prohibited. " For 70 years past the manufacture is increased as from four to twelve. During the last war Norwich sup- phed the Army and Navy with 4,000 recruits, but her manufacture did not suffer in the least, for they carried on more trade than ever. The truly industrious do not

NORFOLK: AND NORWICH.

281

enlist, and as to the idlers the greatest favor that can be done to any place is to sweep them aU away.

" The general amount of the Norwich Manufacture Employ- may be calculated thus : — ment

" A regular export to Rotterdam by shipping each Statistics, six weeks of goods to the amount of per annum to £480,000, 26 tons of goods sent by broad-wheeled waggons. " Weekly to London at £500 a ton, average 13,000 tons

per annum, value £676,000. "By occasional ships and waggons to various places, calculated at £200,000.

Total, £1,356,000. " The material point . . . is . . . how many people are employed, and for this calculation I have one datum, and this to the purpose. They generally imagine in Norwich that each loom employs six persons as a whole." (Young presumably includes combers, spinners, doublers, hot pressors, dyers, warpers &c., with the weavers.) " And the number {i.e. of looms in Norwich and the district) is 12,000. There are, consequently, 72,000 people employed by this manufacture."

The following tabulated return of exports of Ives, Basely and Robberds, one of the leading Norwich firms -throughout the 18th century is valuable as showing the Charac- kind and volume of the trade done in the year 1791, when ter of Norwich trade had considerably dechned : — Trade.

Articles Manufactured.	Italy.	Spain & Spanish America	Germany	Russia.	Norway and Sweden.	Hol- land.	Ma- deira.	China.
Camblets	£ 9,544	£ 12,816	£ 5,972	£ 7,986	£ 8,193	£	£ 987	£ 19,970
Camletees	256	—	1,725	—	252	2,190	—	—
Callimancoes		742	388	15,508	51	1,004	—	—
Sattins	123	1,402	6,751	1,457	601	702	—	—
Bombazines . .	—	910	—	—	—	—	153	—
Sundry figured stuffs .	463	2,425	1,397		180	275	120	—
Lastings	98	1,378	245	190	1,494	734	—	—
..	10,484	19,673	16,478	25,741	10,771	4,905	1,260	19,970

282

SILK INDUSTRY.

Value It is remarkable to note that more goods were exported

of to Russia by this firm than to any other country. At least

Export thirty other important firms were competitors in the Trade. same fabrics. At this period the total exports of the manufactures of England were £14,000,000, of which Norwich textile fabrics furnished over £1,000,000.

Buyers from all parts of Europe regularly visited Norwich. In the diary of Phihp Stannard, manufacturer, is given the names of visitors from " Cadiz, Venice, Leipzig, Copenhague, Lubeck, Amsterdam, Zuric, Franck- fort, Cologne, Stockholm, Weimar, Bremen, Christiana, foreigners, who have been in my house in 1751."

WilUam Taylor, the celebrated German scholar, himself the son of a Norwich manufacturer, and educated for one, wrote in 1798 :—

" The trade of Norwich did not so formerly depend upon the foreign demand as it does at this time. From the beginning of the century till within these 40 years this kingdom alone took off a very considerable quantity of stuffs. At various times the crapes of Norwich were in very common use, and during the administration of Sir Robert Walpole and so long as the city had powerful friends at Court, the pubhc mournings were always ordered to be in Norwich crapes. . . . The correspondence they " {i.e., the Norwich manufacturers) " had begun " (abroad), " they . . . extended to every point of the compass. By sending their sons to be educated in Germany, Spain and Italy, they quahfied them for the execution of their plans, and at the same time cultivated a more famihar connection with those countries. Their travellers penetrated through Europe, and their pattern Details cards were exhibited in every principal town from the of Export frozen plains of Moscow to the milder chmes of Lisbon, Trade. Seville and Naples. The Russ peasant decorated himself with his sash of gaudy caUimanco, and the Spanish Hidalgo was sheltered under his light coat of Norwich camblet. . . . The tastes of foreign nations were consulted. The loom was taught to imitate the handiworks of Flora, and the most garish assemblage of colours of every hue satisfied the vanity of the Swabian and Bohemian female. The

KORFOLK AKD NORWICH. 283

great fairs of Franckfort, Leipsic and Salerno were thronged Details with the purchasers of these commodities, which were of Export unsuccessfully imitated by the manufacturers of Saxony. Trade. Norwich was now crowded with looms. Every winter's evening exhibited to the traveller entering its walls the appearance of a general illumination. From . . . miles around the village weavers resorted to it with the produce of their looms."

The Norwich master weavers of the 18th century were verily " the Nobility of Commerce," and from about 1720 to 1770 they were the most powerful, the most wealthy, the most cultured industrial class in the kingdom.

The 18th century saw the rise of many families whose founders were Norwich master weavers, and whose descendants are to-day locally important " county magnates." These include the Harveys, the Ives, the Columbines, the Custances, and the Martineaus, whose name is known to the hterary world. The early 18th century also saw the rise of a remarkable Quaker family, whose financial prescience and assistance have had a profound influence on Norfolk and Norwich, extending to the present day. John Gurney, the founder of his hne, was a humble wool merchant, who, with fourteen other Quakers, was in 1683 committed to the Norwich gaol for refusing to take the oath of allegiance. This man of conscientious scruples was the ancestor of Mrs. Fry and her brother, Joseph John Gurney. Their labours on Norwich behalf of prison reform are world renowned. One of the Master 14 Norwich Quakers " haled " to prison in 1683 with Weavers. John Gurney was Thomas Lombe, ancestor of the Sir Thomas Lombe, who was created a knight by King George, and who secured a handsome sum from Government for having introduced into England the art of working organzine silk.

In 1575 the Dutch elders presented in Court in Norwich a new fabric of which the name has been variously spelt " bombexine," "bombasin," " bombazine " — all evidently derived from " bombyx." This fabric was made with silk for warp, worsted for weft, woven with a twiU and

^84

SILK INDUSTRY.

Origin the worsted upon the face or right side of the piece. The

of narrow bombazines were 18 inches wide. The broad

Norwich made for Spain, Portugal &c., 40 to 50 inches wide. Both

Crape. broad and narrow pieces were about 60 yards long. This

fabric continued one of the most important manufactures

of Norwich down to the commencement of the 19th century,

and when dyed black was really the old " Norwich crape "

of the 18th century.

Many quaint advertisements in the local press throughout the 18th century refer to bombazine : —

" This is to inform the pubKc that Mr. James Scottowe, in St. George's Tombland, near the RedweU, in Norwich, makes bombazines for deep mourning, which he wiU sell by wholesale or retale to shopkeepers or others who may want a single suit, at a very reasonable price ; he has also neat woven whims flowered in the loom with silk up or worstead on a white prunel at reasonable rates, and likewise all sorts of raw silks as B and C Bengals, fine burgams, orsoyes, legees &c., suitable for any stuffs that are now made and in fashion, which he will sell as cheap as can be bought in Norwich." (H. Cross-Grove's Norwich Gazette, July, 1727.) Again —

" Just come to Town a Parcel of Fiiie Bombazines dy'd

and drest by the Best Hands, also Bengal Silks and slack

thrown Legees, Ossoyes, and Fine Double Silk, which

runs above Sixty dozen boiled off fit for mourning Crapes.

AU persons shall be welcome to view the goods. Buy

or not Buy, and shopkeepers shaU have the Bombazines

Three Pence a yard cheaper than they can buy in

London. Mr. John Scottow, near the Griffin in Norwich,

who designs to leave off business." {Norwich Mercury,

1729.)

Some As it would appear from a notice of the same date in this

curious newspaper that " The London Waggon now goes out

Adver- every Thursday night from the Angel in the Market Place

tisements. in Norwich, and gets to the Blossom Inn in Lawrence

Lane, Cheapside, London, the Tuesday morning following,"

it is not very probable Norwich " Shopkeepers " made

frequent visits to the Metropohs to test the truth of

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 285

statements like these of "Mr. John Scottowe," respecting the current market price of bombazines !

About the year 1819 a new silk and worsted article was New introduced by a Mr. Francis, and named by him " Norwich Silk and Crape." It was different to a bombazine, although formed Worsted of silk and worsted. It was what is technically called fabrics. " tamet " or " tammet " woven {i.e. with no wale and both sides alike). The fabric was so generally adopted as a standard article of female dress as to almost completely supersede the coloured bombazines and other silk and worsted allied fabrics {i.e. prunelles, satins, satinettes, harbines, silk camblets, cambletines, florentines &c.).

Stannard, a leading Norwich manufacturer, wrote to a customer, January, 1752 : — " You caU em Sattins, but they are Damasks. They are principally made by weavers yt live in ye Country about 8 or 10 miles from Norwich" (:Wymondham or Aylsham). " Silk camblets really fine harbines are made by WiUiam and Sam Wiggett for Italy, Spain and Lisbon."

The new " crepe " was woven in the grey, and after- wards dyed an endless variety of colours, and so finished that the best sorts would vie with the finest satin. Norwich crape was followed by various silk and worsted articles of very hght texture, weU adapted for women's dresses, such as crepe de Lyon, pophn Francais, sUk and worsted brilliants, Irish pophn, &c. Then came the ChalHs, described by the celebrated local dyer, Michael Stark, as certainly the neatest and most elegant silk and worsted article ever manufactured. It was made on a similar principle to the Norwich crape, only thinner, softer and composed of much finer materials. Instead of a glossy surface being produced, as was required in the Norwich crape, the object was to finish it without gloss and very pliable. The best quality of Chalhs, when finished with designs and figures (either produced in the loom or printed), was quite a unique article.

The well-known " Norwich crape " of to-day is a plain. Modern thin sUk gauze, stiffened with shellac — and embossed with Norwich various patterns by being passed over a heated revolving Crape. copper cylinder on the surface of which the desired design,

286

SILK INDUSTRY.

teclmically termed "figure" has been laboriously

engraved. This pecuhar fabric was the invention of

Joseph Joseph Grout, originally a saddle and harness maker at

Grout's Booking, who with his brother George commenced business

First the early part of the 19th century in Patteson's Yard,

Patent Magdalen Street, Norwich. They soon became very

prosperous, and about 1814 they started a mill at Great

Yarmouth, and about the same time, or perhaps earher,

they erected very large miUs in Lower Westwick Street,

Norwich. Later still another weaving mill was built

near Bungay, in Suffolk, and another for finishing the

crape at Ponder's End. The first patent for the embossed

crape was taken out by the firm in 1822.

Joseph Grout gave evidence before a Select Committee on the Silk Trade at the House of Commons, 4th July, 1832. His original notes are stUl preserved by the firm. From them it would appear Joseph Grout described him- self as residing at Stamford Hill, Middlesex, and that he had been engaged in textile manufacture about 26 years. That his firm made 39 different widths and quahties of Italian crape, 30 different kinds of China crape, 51 different kinds of French crape.

He stated they had estabhshments in the following places within the preceding ten years : One at Norwich, one at North Walsham, one at Great Yarmouth, one at Bungay, one at Mildenhall, one at Saffron Walden, one at Booking, one at Sible Hedingham, one at Glasgow and Paisley, and one at Ponder's End. Also a selling ware- house in London. They had also within that period a filature or reeling establishment established by them during 1819-1820 at Bhartiparra on the BuneU River, about 140 miles up country from Calcutta. Up to 1826 all their looms and spindles were working day and night with a double set of hands. They worked 462 power-looms The and about 1,000 hand-looms. He complained of severe

Competi- competition on the part of a firm " four leagues from tion of Lyons, who worked 300 power-looms with power derived Lyons. from a water-faU." He states in the year 1822 they paid their weavers 12*. for weaving a piece of crape weighing 20 ounces, whereas owing to competition they

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 287

could then pay only 7s. for a piece of the same length and The breadth, weighing 24 ozs. Competi-

He stated his firm has 7,222 dozens of spindles at work tion of in their various establishments, whilst there were only Lyons. 7,000 dozen employed altogether in Manchester, where, he stated, he did not think there was then a single crape- loom going. (It would appear from the evidence that firms in Manchester had started making silk crape in rather a large way.) The Grouts made large fortunes, and retired from business before 1840. George Grout died at his house in Magdalen Street in 1860. His daughter married the son of Mr. T. 0. Springfield, a local raw silk broker, and it is said that Grout gave £50,000 to his daughter, and Springfield £50,000 to his son upon their marriage.

In April, 1838, the mills of the firm were inspected by James Mitchell, LL.D., one of H.M. Commissioners, who reported as follows : —

" The great firm of Grout, Ringer, Martin and Co. have The an establishment at Norwich in which at the time of my Grout visit there were 970 hands employed. In the establish- Factories, ment belonging to this firm in Great Yarmouth, 1,100 hands were employed, and 560 at their mills near Bungay. In September of the same year this number was much increased. The establishment at Norwich is the centre and headquarters of the three. The firm purchase the raw silk, throw it, dye it, and perform every other necessary operation. In the weaving department at Norwich there were 24 men and 386 women employed, of the latter 65 attended and worked in a shop in the factory, and the rest in their own habitations. The average wage of the men was 145. lOcZ. per week, and of the women working at home As. a week. At the factory looms 5s. M., finding their own lights " (candles?). " The lower average of the women working at home is attributable in a con- siderable degree to the circumstance that many of them are married women and their time is partly occupied with their domestic duties. Six of them had earned in 1837 as much as 7s., others 3*. 4d. a week, another six averaged only \s. dd. a week each. The women weaving in the

288 SILK INDUSTRY.

factory come at 6 a.m. They have from 8.30 a.m. to

9 a.m. for breakfast ; 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. for dinner, and

20 minutes for tea."

Praise The Norwich factory is thus described by the Inspector :

for " The neatness, indeed elegance, cleanliness, comfort,

Norwich of every part were highly gratifying to see. It was a

Artisans. Monday morning, and the women and young girls were

aU in clean attire ; they seemed healthy and cheerful,

and what was unexpected there was no talking. In the

weaving room one man presided over 65 women ; they

used the fly shuttle."

The worthy Inspector further dehvers himself of the following eulogium r^ —

" The men and women of Norfolk are an exceedingly fine race, probably not surpassed by any in the world. Norwich is most favourably situate for health, there is much elevated ground sloping down to the river, which flows through the city. The buildings are spread over a large space, the ground is a deep bed of gravel over a substratum of chalk. Nothing can be better. The city is in a plentiful and well cultivated country, producing an abundance of provisions of the best quahty. There is a fresh and healthy appearance in the complexion of the working people ; in aU these advantages the weavers participate."

On May 27th, 1832, a heavy loss befell the firm, for a local paper of the period records that one of the large buildings comprised in Grout, Baylis and Co., " factory in Barrack Yard, Yarmouth, was destroyed by fire. The buUding was 5 stories high, 105 feet long, and its erection in 1818 cost about £7,000. Betv/een 400 and 500 girls employed by the firm are thrown out of work, and the loss to the firm is estimated at £12,000 to £15,000."

Upon the retirement of the Grouts, the business was

continued by Mr. Martin, a near relative of George Grout,

After Martin's death, the firm comprised Messrs. Browne,

Robison, and HaU. Mr. WiUiam Hall (the elder son of

the latter) is now managing director of the firm.

Effects of For many years the career of Grout and Co. was one of

Fashion great prosperity. Gradually, however, the fashion for

on Trade, mourning crape dechned. Competition grew keen, and

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 289

in 1890 a crisis arrived, and it was announced in the local Effects of press that on August 23rd, " Grout and Co., of Norwich, gave Fashion notice to several hundreds of their work-people that their on Trade, engagement with the firm would terminate on the 30th."

" It was added that the factory, a modern building, is fitted with machinery of the most improved construction, and contains every appliance for carr5dng on the manu- facture of fabrics, which have gained for Norwich world- wide reputation. The firm has a branch at Yarmouth, where about 1,000 persons are engaged, and other establish- ments at Ditchingham and Ponder's End."

These " other estabhshments " hke that at Norwich were also sold, and Grout and Co. concentrated at Yarmouth. With great business acumen and enterprise, the Directors of the firm, whilst stUl continuing their standard and historic production of mourning crape (now made almost entirely for exportation to Latin countries), launched out into other branches of textile fabrics of silk and mixture of silk and wool, silk and cotton. At the present time they have more than recovered their former position, importance and prosperity.

The career of the firm of Grout and Co. has been some- what fully entered into, not only because it is the oldest existing and the most important firm in the history of Norfolk Silk Industry, but also because the brothers Grout were the inventors and the largest makers of a fabric which for many years was manufactured solely in England, where it continues to be produced to greater perfection and in larger quantities than elsewhere. From the parent firm have sprung several other English manu- facturers of crimped crape, amongst whom there still remain in Norwich, Francis Hinde and Sons, who continue the business of Messrs. French and Co., established 1838, and the Norwich Crape Co., estabhshed by a Mr. Sultzer in 1856. Outside Norfolk is the firm Samuel Courtauld and Co., of Rocking, claiming to have made crimped crape at Rocking between 1820 and 1822. It is a tradition Cour- of this firm that Samuel Courtauld, the founder of the tauld's business, paid Grouts a sum of money in consideration and of his being allowed to go into his crimping room to learn Grout's.

290

SILK INDUSTRY.

Alien aU he could of the process. Another firm is that of

origin Thompson and Legros, of Frome. It is somewhat curious of the that the names of the founders of all the silk crape firms Crape denote alien origin: "Grout (Groot), Sultzer, French, Trade. Courtauld, Le Gros."

Toward the close of the 18th century, the " high water mark " of the Norfolk and Norwich textile industry had passed and the towns of the West Riding of Yorkshire became successful rivals. The increase of cotton and its general wear left Norfolk and Norwich to a great extent dependent on the foreign trade, which was partly ruined by the American War, and almost entirely so by the first French Revolution. To meet the times, con- cessions had to be made by masters and men. It has been stated that at two general meetings of the manufacturers held at the Guildhall on December 14th and 21st, 1790, the prices for weaving were fixed and printed in a list comprising serges, prunelles, satins, satinettes, camlets, camletines, florentines, briUiantines, grenadines, blondines, tabourtines, callandres &c. At a general meeting of the manufacturers held on June 13th, 1793, at the Guildhall, it was resolved unanimously that they would supply the journeymen weavers they employed with havels and slaies free of charge, and without deduction from the prices established in the table of rates fixed in 1790.

There was, however, now to appear a new fabric in the gamut of Norwich " outlandish inventions," which for many years gave remarkable vitahty to the industry.

In Norfolk Annals, Vol. 1, Part 1, is the following obituary

notice : —

The " 13 July, 1813.— Died in his 70th year Mr. Edward

Norwich Barrow, of St. Saviour, Norwich, a native of Manchester,

Shawl. and a yarn factor. Mr. Barrow was the first person who

undertook the manufacture of cotton in this city, but

what in a peculiar manner consecrates his memory is the

merit of his having also been the first manufacturer of

the Shawl in this city, or perhaps in the kingdom. This

brought a new history in the era of the loom."

The shawl invented and first manufactured by Mr. Barrow in about 1780 was of a very common kind

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 291

(examples still exist), made of cotton embroidered with The worsted of various colours along the edges and the corners Norwich — for export to America, Shawl.

In 1782 or 1783 Mr. John Harvey and Mr. Knights commenced making shawls of sUk and worsted, the latter spun from Norfolk lamb's wool. These were either plain or printed in water colours by a block giving the outhne, the flower being finished with the needle either in worsted or sUk. In 1791 a Mr. White produced an article striped with coloured sUk, sUver and gold, but this was not a commercial success. Then followed a light kind of shawl having a sUk warp and cotton weft printed on a white ground, and this proved very successful for home and foreign trade.

About 1802 John Harvey* commenced making shawls of spun sUk, some having a fine silk warp, and spun silk for weft. The latter were mostly printed of various colours and patterns, and secured a large export and home trade. Soon after this the famous " Norwich Fillover Shawl " was introduced. The manufacture of this celebrated fabric was only rendered possible by the invention of improved weaving methods.

In the records of the Patent Office are the following particulars : —

" Whereas Joseph Mason, of ye cittie of Norwich, hath invented an engine by the help of wich a weever may performe the whole work of weaving such stuffes as the gretest trade of Norwich nowe doth depend on without ye help of a draught boy. His Maty, is therefore pleased to grant unto ye said Joseph Mason his exors. and assigns the sole use and exercise of his new invention for the terme of 14 yeares, according to ye statute in that case made and provided. T.R, apud Westm., die Octobre 3, Jacobii 2d." Like many another genius, Joseph Mason was a man The before his time, and it is certain that the looms universally Fill-over used in the silk trade down to the introduction of the Loom.

* The weavers of Norwich, 2,361 in number, subscribed for and presented on September 27, 1822, a massive piece of plate to John Harvey as a testimony of the high esteem in which they held him as a great promoter of the manufactures of the city and a friend of the operatives. This piece of plate ia in the possession of his lineal descendant, Colonel Harvey, D.S.O., Thorpe, Norwich.

292 SILK INDUSTRY.

The " fillover loom " differed in no material way to the simple

Fill-over kind used by the " Aliens " of the 16th century, dating Loom. from far earUer times. The flowers or designs which in these simply constructed looms were woven in the fabric were produced by passing the shuttle by hand through the warp. Necessarily, much time and much skill were required. In elaborately "brocaded" patterns, as they were called, the most industrious weaver could not produce more than one inch a day. By means of the " Fillover loom," nearly an inch an hour could be woven. The invention was undoubtedly the precursor of the more perfect and better known Jacquard action. The "Fillover" was so called because in weaving, the face of the fabric was downwards and all the work composing the pattern was " filled " over it. Each weaver had to employ a girl or boy to wind his " quiUs," or weaving tubes, with the yarns or sUk. He had also a " tire " boy (from the French " tirer," to draw), whose duty it was to pull certain bunches of cords which raised certain threads of the warp after every throw of the shuttle in order to compose the pattern or figure. The weaver called to his boy the colour he proposed to use.

An ancient and well-known Norwich citizen, named Loose, now deceased some few years, used to be very fond of relating his early experiences as a " tire " boy. His master would, it seems, keep a missile handy to " hull " (throw) at him should the wrong bunch of cords be pulled. The shuttles used in the earher fill-over looms were very small, and they were "thrown" or passed through the warp threads by a jerk of the hand ; there was no " box."

The results following the pulling of the bunches of

cords by the "tire" boy were controlled by an elaborate

arrangement called " the tow," or " towe,"*— the equivalent

to the stamped cards of a Jacquard loom. Much time

and money were required to prepare a fill- over loom for a

new pattern, and Mr. William R. Simpson, manufacturer.

Precursor of Golden Dog Lane, who recently died in his 91st year,

of the told the writer that the preparation cost his old firm

Jac- (Towler and Allen) over £100 for any very special pattern

quard. before a shuttle was thrown.

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 293

The designs were most elaborate in colour schemes, Some necessitating many shuttles and great skill on the part famous of the weavers, who, when these shawls were first made Shawls. in Norwich, earned for that period very high wages. It is recorded that a weaver and his wife employed by a Mr, Francis (sometime Sheriff of Norwich), together earned £15 per week. Another employed by a Mr. Paul regularly earned 11 guineas per week, and many earned from seven to eight guineas. The shawls were generally sold retail from 12 to 20 guineas each. Specially choice specimens were considered cheap at 50 guineas. Two very fine examples of these shawls are in the Norwich Castle Museum. A remarkable specimen of fiU-over weaving was the shawl woven in Colonel Harvey's looms and made up as a counterpane for presentation to Queen Charlotte. The design consisted of the Royal Arms in the centre — ^in the corners, the shields of England, Scotland and Ireland, France. The border was composed of the rose, thistle, shamrock and hly. The competition of the Scotch manu- facturers who copied the Norwich designs on a lower plane, seriously injured the trade of the city, and on 1st September, 1838, " The Norwich Fillover weavers passed a resolution that the system of copying patterns from Norwich manufactured fillover shawls is the principal cause of the depression ' of our branch of the manufacture, and loudly appeals to the Legislature for their interference."

With a view to improve local trade conditions, a Company Trade was formed in 1833, and £40,000 capital was raised, troubles Ultimately, two factories were built, one for spinning and yarns in St. Edmund's, the other for weaving goods in disputes. St. James'. In the last-named two coupled engines of 100 horse power (large for those days) were set up. The manufacturers hired the factory and the power, and put in the machinery for the production of fabrics, and for a time about 1,000 hands were at work there. In 1838 trade was in a very dechning state, and some differences arose between masters and men in consequence of a pro- posed reduction in the rate of payment.

According to a Government report ia 1839, there were at that time in the city and its vicinity -5,075 looms, of

294 SILK INDUSTRY.

Trade which 1,021 were unemployed, and of the 4,054 looms

troubles then at work, there were 3,398 in the houses of the weavers

and and 650 in shops and factories. Indeed by far the greater

disputes, part of the looms belonged to families having only one or

two. The operatives of these looms comprised 2,211 men,

1,648 women and 195 children. In that year two silk

mills employed 731 hands.

An abstract of a census of the Norwich weavers furnished by a report of the Commissioners on hand-loom weavers, published in 1840, wiU best show the nature and the relative amount of the fabrics then made by hand. Bom- bazines employed 1,205 workers, of whom 803 were men. Challis, fringes, &c., 1,247, of whom 510 were men, gauzes 500, chiefly women, princettes 242, nearly all men, silk shawls 166, bandanas 158, of whom 86 were men, silk 38, including 16 men, Jacquard looms 30, camletees 20.

The total of hand-loom weavers was 4,054, including 2,211 men, 1,648 women, 108 boys, 11 girls, 10 apprentices (sex not stated). Their gross wages when fuUy employed ranged from 85. to 255. weekly. About the year 1828 power-looms and Jacquard looms were, by the enterprise of Mr. Henry Willett (senior of Messrs. H. and E. Willett), introduced. The bigoted hand-loom weavers used great efforts to obstruct the use of these innovations, and Mr. Henry Willett became so unpopular that at his funeral the mob tried to stop the funeral cortege.

At the end of the 18th century a hst of the principal

manufacturers of Norwich contains the names of 34 firms.

The signatures to the scale of prices agreed to by the

leading manufacturers on the 5th July, 1822, relate only

to 26 firms. Gradually the number became still more

reduced ; firm after firm closed their doors, and few took

Decline their place. In 1851 the most important were Clabburn

of the Sons and Crisp, " who made shawls in every variety, and

Industry, also paramattas, bareges, tamataves, balzarinSs, pophns,

fancy robes, grenadines, &c. The fUl-over long shawls

produced by this firm, on a Jacquard loom, gained the

gold medal at the first Paris Exhibition, and also at the

London Exhibition in 1862. No description could convey

an adequate idea of these splendid fill-over shawls, which

NORFOLK AND NORWICH. 295

are made by a patented process so as to display a self color and a perfect design on each side,"

Somewhat later the firm WiUett, Nephew and Co., Pattern established 1767, are described as being manufacturers Books on a large scale. " The factory itself is not extensive, sold to for most of the weavers work for the firm at their own American houses, and there in humble dwellings produce the Firm, beautiful fancy fabrics which are destined to adorn the daintiest ladies in the land. They were the first to intro- duce the manufacture of paramattas, which superseded the bombazines. They produced superior pophns, bareges, balzarines, tamatives, coburgs, camlets, challis, crepe de Lyon, grenadines, shawls, &c."

Under the able management of the late Mr. Louis E. WiUett, a man of brilliant business talent, of sterUng worth and honesty, this firm continued in existence until 1904, when the writer, to his deep regret, witnessed the sale to Mr, Galey (a Norwich man's son) of the Aberfoyle Mills, Chester, Phila., U.S.A., of Messrs. WUlett's unique collection of pattern books in complete sequence from the estabhshment of the firm in 1767 — a " fabric " history of nearly 150 years of the Norwich trade !

Such a local treasure should have never left Norwich, but should have found a sure haven within the walls of the Castle Museum.

Bolingbroke, Jones, and Clabburn Sons and Crisp, established 1821, Towler, Rowhng and Allen, George AUen, Middleton, Ainsworth and Co., were all in a large way of business until about 20 years ago. They have all disappeared. At the present time in Norfolk and Norwich there are but three important sUk manufacturers remaining — Grout and Co., of Yarmouth, established in Norwich about 1804, the Norwich Crape Co., estabhshed in 1856, and F. Hinde and Sons, of Norwich, established in 1810, In addition there is the old estabhshed and progressive firm of R, S, Simpson, Golden Ball Lane, Norwich.

Of these firms, Messrs. Fras. Huide and Sons descend Some in unbroken family sequence from father to son from famous the founder, Ephrahim Hinde (the youngest of 22 children). Firms.

296

SILK INDUSTRY.

Some Camlet Manufacturer, of St. Augustines, in the church-

famous yard of which parish he rests.

Firms. To-day this fine old firm consists of the brothers

Frank P. Hinde and C. Fountain Hinde, and Frank C. Hinde, son of Frank P. Hinde and great-grandson of Ephrahim Hinde. On the distaff side the Hindes are descended from an illustrious French Huguenot fanuly, one of many who found refuge in Norwich during the 17th Century. The firm has had a long and honour- able career, and ranks among the important manufacturers of silk " Norwich Crape." They are also large producers of high-class fabrics in sOk and silk-wool mixtures.

Envoie. — It is true that since the close of the 18th century the good city of Norwich has gradually lost its proud pre- eminence as " the chief seat of the chief manufacture of the realm," but Norfolk and Norwich manufacturers yet remain a power in textile industry. Their unique experience as dyers and designers has enabled them to create new fabrics, and although they have fallen from their ancient high estate, they continue remarkable for their abihty, their enterprise, and their insistent mer- cantile vitahty. Of them no one can justly exclaim : — " Their wine of hfe is drawn, " And the mere lees is left in the vault to brag of."

CHAPTER XXVII.

Essex.

The story of the association of Essex with the silk trade, One which has been maintained in unbroken sequence for of the two centuries down to the present day — when it is, in oldest some respects, the most important centre of production — Silk furnishes a most interesting chapter in the history of the Centres. British industry. The Essex branch of the trade claims distinction as being one of the oldest in Great Britain. At first it appears to have existed only in that portion of the county adjacent to London, but afterwards extended to many places between Spitalfields and the northern boundary of the county. There was a considerable expansion of the trade in Essex following the introduction of throwing machinery in the early years of the 18th century, and the industry underwent a process of gradual expansion until the critical year when the duty was repealed.

The earhest reference to the Essex silk trade carries the story back to the year 1645, when there was in business at Plaistow one Paul Fox, a silk weaver, referred to in a narrative of the time,* as a "man of honest hfe and conversation, who had dwelt there many years," and he appears to have been assisted in " weaving of fine lace and ribbaning " by a son and two servants. During the 18th century at least three throwing mills were in operation at Little HaUingbury, adjacent to Bishops Stortford just over the Hertford border of the County. There was another mill at Sewardstone, Waltham Abbey, but the

* Strange and FearfiU News from Plaistow. Lond., 1645.

297

298

SILK INDUSTRY.

One place is not marked on modern maps. Of the miU at

of the Little Hallingbury, Holman, writing about 1720, * says :

oldest " In this parish on the stream that runs from Stortford

Silk is erected a miU for throwing and twisting of silk. The

Centres, inventor was one Mr. William Aldersay, apprentist to

a silk throwster in London. This engine is employed in

winding of silk for the Company of Dealers in silk that

got a patent first. He has the model of the famous

engine at Derby." Another writer, Salmon, referring

to this mill, stated it " has been for many years

employed in twisting and winding silk for which the

proprietors have a patent. The work employs a great

many women and girls of the neighbourhood." The

location of the mill is shown on Chapman and Andre's

map of 1777. It is now a corn mill.

The mill at Sewardstone, Waltham Abbey, was probably estabhshed before 1720. It is also marked on Chapman and Andre's map. Ogborne, writing a century later, referred to it as a " small silk miU in the occupation of , Messrs. Carr and Dobson, Foster Lane, Cheapside." It changed hands several times, belonging in 1826 to John Carr, in 1832 to John Buttress, and in 1840 to J. J. Buttress and Son, throwsters. It probably ceased working soon after that date . . . but was subsequently used for dyeing and scouring till about 1885, when it was dis- mantled. Another mill was at work in 1814, when Mr. Ogborne described it as "a small manufactory for the throwing of silk, which employs about 30 girls. In 1826 it belonged to John Woolrich. At this time, too, there was at Waltham Abbey a third firm of throwsters, Messrs. Forsyth and Lincoln. All these mills appear to have been closed soon after the middle of the century. Some The miU at Pebmarsh, now pulled down — the old house

early still is occupied— is interesting as having been started

Mills. in 1798 by George Courtauld, one of the family which

is still engaged in the silk crape and other branches of the trade. George Courtauld, who lived until 1823, was a man of considerable business enterprise. He crossed to America, embarked in business there, and married a woman

* MSS. at Colchester Castle.

Mi

Plate XXX. Brainiree Marl^et in the Olden days — from an old print.

ESSEX. 299

of Irish birth. Returning in 1794, with two children, he Some engaged in silk- throwing with a person named Noailles, at early Sevenoaks, and " in conjunction with a Mr. Mills, he under- MiUs. took to estabhsh and conduct a silk business at Pebmarsh, near Halstead, . . . building factory, dwelling houses and cottages for workpeople. . . ." UntU these works were .completed, he Uved at Sudbury in Suffolk.* He appears to have remained in Pebmarsh tiU the year 1809, when he removed to Braintree.

To George Courtauld is probably to be given the credit of estabhshing.the silk industry at Braintree, he having erected a miU there in 1810, but it was his son Samuel who commenced the manufacture of crape in about the year 1825. This Samuel Courtauld (1793-1881),t rather than his father, was the real founder of the large business which now exists. In the crape trade, however, he seems to have been anticipated by the firm of Grout, Bayhs and Co., who in addition to estabhshments at Norwich and London, started at Booking in the year 1819, having already erected a branch factory at Saffron Walden. At Saffron Walden silk crape was being manufactured in 1819, and provided employment for a large number of hands. This enterprise came to an end in 1834. Lord Braybrooke, writing of it, made the comment : " Some years ago a manufactory for Norwich crape was introduced into the parish, which employed many hands, principally young females, but the high wages obtained led to idle and extravagant habits, so that the discontinuance of the work cannot be a matter of regret." The Samuel Courtauld referred to above was a man of very strong will and untiring energy. For nearly 50 years his was the hand guiding The and controlling aU that his firm undertook. At first he Crape appears to have been, hke his father, a silk-throwster only. Trade at but he afterwards took into partnership his brothers George Braintree and John Minton, and his brother-in-law, Peter Alfred Taylor (thus establishing the firm of Courtauld, Taylor and Courtauld), and commenced the manufacture of crape, for which the firm is famous down to the present day.

* p. A. Taylor, Taylor Family.

t See The Gourtavid Family and their Indmtrial Enterprise, by Miss C. Fell Smith.

300 SILK INDUSTRY.

By 1826 the firm had acquired, in addition to the Braintree Mill, a mill at Halstead, and by 1832 a mill at Bocking, as weU as a warehouse in Gutter Lane, London. It is of A memor- interest to recall the fact that in June, 1846, the members able of the firm were entertained at a dinner given by 1,600 of

Dinner, their workpeople in a huge tent erected in a field opposite Samuel Courtauld's residence at High Garrett, between Bocking and Halstead. It was estimated that between five and six thousand people were present, all business in Braintree, Bocking and Halstead being suspended for the day. A silver medal was struck to commemorate the event, and the speeches made on the occasion bear witness to the friendly feehng existing between the firm and its workpeople.* About 1854, the style of the firm was altered to Samuel Courtauld and Co. In 1861, between two and three thousand workpeople were employed in its factories.

The weaving, as well as the throwing of silk was carried on also in Essex to a small extent during the 18th century, especially in the villages nearest the east end of London. . . . Towards the end of the century it spread to other districts, for in 1793 James Rogers, of Epping, and Michael Boyle, of Colchester, were described as " silk weavers." It was during the first quarter of last century that the Essex industry reached its greatest development. Migra- That was the period when those engaged in the industry tionfrom in Spitalfields and elsewhere began to estabUsh factories Spital- and set up looms in many towns in Essex, Waltham fields. Abbey, Harlow, Saffron Walden, Halstead, Coggeshall, Bocking, Braintree, Colchester, Maiden, BiUericay, Chelms- ford, East Ham, Stratford, and others. Some of these were throwing mills, but in others silken fabrics of various kinds were woven. The hterature of the time refers to the weaving of " Norwich Crape " at Safeon Walden in about 1815 ; of " crape," " broad sUk," and " ribbon " at Halstead in 1832, and of broad sUk and bombazines at Colchester about the same time. Proprietors, when not

* For an tKJOount of this " spontaneous display of the goodwill and respect of the employed towards their employers " see the Chelmsford Chronicle, July 3, 1846. The dinner was intended no doubt to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the firm. One workman, Pharez Potter, who was present at the dinner still (1906) works for the firm.

ESSEX. 301

"throwsters" were classified under the general terms Migra- of " silk manufacturers." Particulars are available of tion from certain of these businesses. For example, John Davies, Spital- in 1823, had a business in High Street, Halstead, and a fields. firm with the style of Jones and Foyster, were in occupation of premises in Parson's Lane. The crape miUs of Samuel Courtauld were, of course, in existence, as they are to-day. At one period in the year 1831 there were some 59 silk machine makers here, but the sUk business at Halstead is dead except the crape section of the trade. CoggeshaU, where the silk trade was introduced in the early years of the 19th century, maintained a pre-eminence in the industry for a long period.

In 1823, Pigot wrote : " Of late years several sUk manufactories have added much to the trade of the town." He mentions, as silk throwsters, Sawyer and HaU (also of Coventry and London) and Richard Smith ; and as a sUk manufacturer Joseph Lawrence. By 1832, Lawrence had disappeared ; William Beckwith had replaced Richard HaU, both being described as silk manufacturers and throwsters. To these, in 1840, a new firm had been added — that of Westmacott, Goodson and Co. Later, yet other firms appeared ; but, about this time a temporary decline of the industry set in at CoggeshaU. In 1848 it was said to be in a depressed state, and during the fifties several firms disappeared. There remained, however, among others that of John HaU, silk throwster. In 1855 the firm was John HaU and Sons. They had a branch establishment at Maldon. Very soon after the firm opened another branch at Tiptree and a factory at Chelms- ford. In 1863, 700 hands were employed in the firm's principal miU at CoggeshaU alone ; but about 1870, owing to the removal of the duty, this mUl had to be closed. A large part of the population migra,ted to Halstead, Braintree and Bocking, in search of work, Other branches of the sUk industry were, however, also carried on at CoggeshaU.

The firm of B. Goodson, of Little CoggeshaU, whose SUk business was the weaving of sUk plush for hats, had a miU Plush in operation in the year 1859, and there is the authority for Hats.

302 SILK INDUSTRY.

Velvet of White for the statement that a large mill for the pro- Weaving, duction of this plush was built at Coggeshall about 1838, and was distinguished as being the only mill of the kind then in existence in England. The manufacture of plush became so important a local industry that in 1855 a Company was formed to carry on the business, but the industry dechned within a few years of this date. Another branch of manufacture formerly carried on at CoggeshaU was the weaving of silk velvet. It is known that in 1848 one Thomas Westmacott, who was in business at Cogges- hall, was described as a velvet weaver, and there were in the town three other silk manufacturers who also made velvet. In 1862 and for some years thereafter one Thomas Brooks (also of Russia Row, London), was described as a velvet weaver. Dale records that at this period, the early '60's, many persons were still occupied in velvet weaving at Coggeshall, but this and the other branches of the sUk trade were then on the verge of collapse. For a time the weavers who were left made a hving by working for Messrs. J. and W. Robinson, of MUk Street, London. Later, when the firm gave up manufacturing, the few who remained were taken over by Messrs. Bailey, Fox and Co., of Spitalfields, but they were chiefly very old men, and aU except two have now either died or become too infirm to weave.* Braintree It is at the twin towns of Braintree and Bocking, where and the silk trade also originated early last century, that

Bocking. it has triumphed over the difficulties which have caused its extinction in other old Essex centres of the industry. Mrs. Ogborne, writing of Braintree in 1814, states that a silk manufactory had then been estabhshed there, the allusion being to the silk throwing miU, built in 1810, by George Courtauld. Miss Sophia Courtauld has left it on record that after leaving Pebmarsh in 1809, her father engaged in partnership with Mr. Joseph Wilson, of High- bury, London, and estabhshed a silk business on a much larger scale than heretofore at Braintree, erecting dwelling houses and extensive factory buildings. After some years of partnership, htigation of an extraordinary and

* Inf. supplied by Messrs. Bailey, Fox and Co.

ESSEX. 303

protracted character arose between the partners, but in Braintree

the end George Courtauld was awarded £5,000 damages, and

The lawsuit, which created much interest in the neigh- Bocking.

bourhood, was concluded about 1817, when the partnership

was dissolved. George Courtauld went again to America,

where he died in 1823 — ^but his eldest son, Samuel, remained

at Braintree, where, though only 27 years of age, he

either estabhshed a new business on his own account

or took over the remains of that which his father had

founded.

Messrs. Grout, Baylis and Co., who were crape manu- facturers of London and Norwich, had an estabhshment at Bocking before 1819. By the year 1826, three other silk firms had estabhshed works in the two towns, BeuzeviUe and Co., of High Street, Braintree, Joseph Wilson and Co. (both probably throwsters), and Daniel Walters, the latter a weaver of furniture silks and velvets, and founder of a firm which long existed. It is probably the case that at this period the silk industry afforded the chief occupation in the town. The BeuzeviUe business was short-lived, but the others remained in active operation for a long time, and all except Wilson and Co. had estabhshments in London as well as at Braintree. Before the second half of the century the firm of Daniel Walters and Son was weU-known at Braintree. Its works were at Pound End, where the resident partner or agent was Mr. Thomas Cheeseman, and information is available to the effect that in 1861 it employed "150 Jacquard machines and nearly 300 hands, and is one of the foremost in the kingdom for superiority of design and beauty of workmanship in the manufacture of furniture sUks of every description. The Manu- house has a good foreign trade, and the very richest facture of brocatelles, damasks, tissued satins, etc., which adorn Furniture the palaces of our Queen are produced in its works at Silks. Braintree."* At a later date, the year given is 1861, the firm built and occupied the factories known as " New Mills." It was registered under the title of Daniel Walters and Sons, Ltd., in 1875, and the factories were carried on in

* Coller. People's Hist. Essex.

304

SILK INDUSTRY.

Manu- that name for nineteen years, when the Company went

facture of into hquidation, its subsequent history being bound up

Furniture with that of Messrs. Warner and Sons, who purchased

Silks. the goodwill, factory plant and designs, and whose

association with the Essex trade is referred to in what

foUows. Other firms estabUshed at Braintree at a period

shortly after the middle of last century were Messrs.

J. Henderson and Co., W. Sanderson and John Vanner

and Sons, the last-named now of London and Sudbury.

Yet another firm, Martin and Thomas, was estabhshed in

Braintree in 1876, and later still came Duthoit and

England, whose successors have only just given up the

business. Now aU are gone except Messrs. Courtauld

and Messrs. Warner and Sons.

The history of some other centres may be dealt with

briefly, but could not be omitted in any record of the

Essex silk industry.

Broad At Colchester, early in the 19th century, about 1828,

Silk according to White, there were " about 160 looms," but

trade at the trade gradually dechned. He probably means that

Col- these looms were in the homes of those who worked them,

Chester. and that this method of working was gradually replaced

by the factory system. In 1832 the Colchester silk-makers

included William Comber, a maker of broad silk, and

William Wihimint, a manufacturer of " bombasin." As

neither are mentioned in 1840 records, it may be concluded

that both had ceased to do business. Pigot, in 1826, writes

" a very extensive building has just been erected for the

purpose of silk mills, which, . . . promise to be of great

benefit to the working classes." These miUs belonged to

Stephen Brown and Co. In 1832 there was another

silk-throwing mill belonging to John Moy. Later the

two concerns seem to have been amalgamated, for in 1840

the firm was Brown and Moy, silk manufacturers and

throwsters. In 1848, White wrote of two silk miUs

in the town, one in a factory near the Castle ; the other

in a large building, which was formerly the barrack tavern.

Apparently these factories belonged to the two businesses

named. Both seem to have been used for throwing and

to have belonged later to Campbell, Harrison and Lloyd

ESSEX. 305

(afterwards Harrison and Lloyd) and Stephen Brown Maldon respectively, Moy having apparently retired. The former and firm disappeared about 1868, but the latter continued Chelms- tiU about 1880, when the sUk industry finally died out in ford. Colchester.

At Maldon one John Luard was in business as a sUk manufacturer as early as 1823. In 1855, however, J. HaU and Son, of Coggeshall, had a silk-throwing mill in the town. At BiUericay, in 1832, John Henry Machin traded as a "silk manufacturer and throwster." No mention of him can be found earlier or later.

At Chelmsford, Messrs. J. Hall and Son, of Coggeshall, erected a sUk miU in 1859. From about 1868-1893, this miU was occupied by Messrs. Courtauld. This is the only record that the industry was ever carried on at Chelmsford ; but in 1826, at Hatfield Peverel, a village Ijdng five miles N.E., hved one Morse South, a sUk manufacturer.

In the immediate vicinity of London, too, the silk trade flourished to a certain extent and still fingers. Thus, in 1826, Thomas Huitson, a sUk-weaver, hved at WaU End, East Ham, and WiQiam Thompson, a throwster, at Stratford, while in 1831, Wright wrote that " some sUk manufactures of different kinds are carried on in several (Essex) towns towards the Metropohs." In 1841 the sUk industry in aU its branches gave employment in Essex to 1,582 persons (642 males and 940 females), 586 of the total being under 20 years of age, while 206 persons (131 males and 75 females) were returned as " weavers," most Survival of them being probably sUk weavers.* During the in succeeding decade, either the industry prospered greatly London or what is more probably, the returns of vocation were Suburbs, becoming more accurate ; for in 1851 no fewer than 1,746 persons over twenty years of age (namely, 608 males and 1,138 females) were engaged in the industry, besides many others under twenty years old. It is worth noting that they aU hved in five registration districts. In 1861, when the sUk industry was at its highest, the number of persons over twenty years, mainly women, was over 3,000, and in 1871, just under that total. In 1881, the "silk

* Census leports.

306

SILK INDUSTRY.

goods manufacture " included 2,131 persons (306 males and 1,825 females).

The Modern Industry in Essex. Velvets It has been stated that the Essex silk industry prospered

and until the year 1860, when the duty on the material was

other removed. Then the trade gradually waned. The first

Fabrics, branches to go were those concerned with the throwing and twisting of silk and the weaving of the plainer and simpler kinds of silken fabrics. Within two years the number of firms engaged in the industry in Essex had shrunk to small proportions. To-day the general trade, which was formerly large and valuable, is lost, and only special branches are maintained. The weaving of velvets and similar silken fabrics is still conducted by two firms — Messrs. Warner and Sons and Messrs. Bailey, Fox and Co. The crape trade (the crimped black sUk gauze) is still carried on by Messrs. Courtauld's Ltd. Thus there are now in the county only three firms as compared with over a dozen in 1860, when the duty on silk was abolished. Two of these firms have their works at Braintree. The character of the crape manufactured by Messrs. Courtauld has been considerably modified with the passing years. It was Mr. Juhen Courtauld who, in 1870, introduced the characteristic " spot " into what is known as the " figure " of the material. Since that time technical modifications have been made in the manufacture of black crape, which is now always proof against rain and of a more lustrous appearance than formerly. The old water wheels and turbines have been superseded almost entirely by steam- power and gas-power. The increase in the demand for crape led in 1882 to the estabhshment of a factory at Earl's Colne, and to a large extension of the Halstead Mill The in 1895. Fashion has also altered the character of the

effect of trade. From about 1889-1896 the demand for black Fashion, mourning crape, until then the firm's staple product, showed a serious shrinkage, but with the introduction of new processes and the expansion of the business in the direction of crepe de chine, and other fabrics for ladies dresses and other purposes, the business again assumed

ESSEX. 307

very large proportions. The output of these new coloured The fabrics is now much larger than that of the older black effect of mourning crape. Fashion.

In 1900 a new department was created by the estabUsh- ment of a very considerable weaving mill, known as Brook Mill, at Leigh in Lancashire ; and in 1904 the firm acquired another extensive factory at Coventry for the manufacture of " artificial silk." In 1904 a new and larger Company, with a nominal share capital of £500,000, was registered (£400,000 paid up).

The headquarters of Messrs. Courtauld's business in Essex is the Bocking factory. Here are received all raw material, chiefly from China, Italy and elsewhere. Here too come aU the goods from other miUs to be dyed and finished. An immense quantity of liquid effluent from the dye- vats has to be treated daily by a purifying process before being allowed to escape into the river Blackwater. Extensive new buildings have been recently added for finishing processes. Ultimately the finished products are despatched to the London warehouse, and thence to aU parts of the world. The Braintree miUs are occupied with winding, spinning and other preparatory processes. The Halstead factory is devoted almost entirely to weaving, and that at Earl's Cohie is subsidiary to it. It is remark- able that the energy and enterprise of this historic firm — the only one of our old Essex silk firms which has survived — ^has caused crape-making to remain for three-quarters of a century one of the most widely known and valuable industries carried on in Essex. Still more remarkable Foreign is the fact that in spite of the decline of the Enghsh silk Trade trade generaUy, crape — " crepe Anglais " as it is caUed in abroad — maintains its position among Enghsh exports, Crape, and is sent to every part of the civilised world.

The history of Messrs. Warner and Sons is shorter, so far as Essex is concerned, but not less creditable. Founded in the year 1870 by the late Mr. Benjamin Warner, it was carried on until 1892 under the title of Warner and Bamm. In that year Mr. Ramm retired. Mr. Warner's sons, Alfred and Frank, who had received their art and technical education in Lyons, were taken into partnership,

308

SILK INDUSTRY.

and the firm became Warner and Sons, by which title it is stUl known. Hand- The firm's work of hand-loom silk-weaving began in

loom small workshops in Old Ford, with its warehouse in

Velvet Aldersgate Street ; extensive factories were afterwards Weaving, built in Hollybush Gardens, Bethnal Green, which were occupied until 1895, when the manufacture was transferred to still larger factories at Braintree, Essex. Meanwhile, the warehouse was removed to Newgate Street, where it stUl remains. In 1901 the cottage loom weaving of hand- loom velvets was commenced at Sudbury, and is still carried on there, but by degrees this branch of work is being concentrated at Braintree.

The work of the firm was attended with success from the outset. This may be fairly attributed to the attention given to both design and colour, a more careful selection of suitable counts and yams, and an earnest endeavour to put Enghsh productions on a level with the best that Lyons could show. A special feature of the work at Braintree has been the revival of the manufacture of the figured velvets for which Genoa was once so famous. Many of the fabrics are reproductions of the best specimens of 16th and 17th century work, but some of the designs are quite original, and a recent innovation is a velvet having three heights of pile. It is a fabric which there is good reason to believe has not been produced untU now.

The firm has had the honour of weaving many fabrics

of historical interest. These include brocade for the

Duchess of York's (now Queen Mary) wedding dress, the

cloth of gold for King Edward VII's Coronation pallium,

the velvet and cloth of gold for King George V, and

Queen Mary's Coronation robes, and the brocades for the

latter's Coronation dresses.

Fabrics The Warner furnishing fabrics have been extensively

of his- suppHed to Buckingham Palace, St. James' Palace, Marl-

toric borough House, Windsor Castle, Holyrood, etc., to the

interest. Royal yachts, to British Embassies all over the world,

and noted town and country houses, the palaces of

Indian princes, and to customers in North and South

America.

PI

ale XXXI.

Weaving the Cloth of Gold for the Coronation Robes of King George V .

ESSEX.

309

In the year 1887, the firm exhibited at the Jubilee Success Exhibitions at the People's Palace, London, and also at at Inter- Manchester, and they also participated in several of the national exhibitions held at Earl's Court, such as the Women's Exhibi- Exhibition, the Healtheries, etc. The firm's first serious tions. participation in International Exhibitions was at Paris in 1900, when a gold medal was awarded. In 1908 a very extensive demonstration of the firm's wide range of work was made at the Franco-British Exhibition. On that occasion four large show cases, one for furnishing fabrics in the decorative arts section, and the others in the textUe section, containing church silks, dress brocades, and plain sUks, were installed and attracted much attention. The principal pubhc exhibit of the firm was that at the Brussels Exhibition of 1910, when six show cases were filled with a great variety of the firm's productions, but the whole of this collection was destroyed in the calamitous fire in August of that year. The firm participated in the British section which was reconstituted after the fire, and although the exhibit was on a smaller scale, it sufficed to demonstrate the advance made in the production of the highest class furnishing fabrics. At Brussels the firm was awarded the Grand Prix, and at Turin in . 1911, where the firm exhibited sUks, tapestries, and printed textiles, four Grand Prix. As the exhibits of decorative silks at Brussels and Turin were largely the productions of Braintree, the following paragraph from the report of his Majesty's Commissioners for those two International Exhibitions may perhaps be quoted.

" A remarkable feature of the British Decorative Textile Section, both at Brussels and Turin was the magnificent display of decorative and furniture Decora- silks, which was distinguished by receiving amidst tive and universal praise the warmest expression of admira- Furni- tion from foreign experts and manufacturers, who ture are the keenest appreciators of skilled artistic Silks, workmanship." It is strange that two special branches of the silk industry — each unrivalled in its way — should have contrived to exist in a small town hke Braintree, situate in a purely

310

SILK INDUSTRY.

Success agricultural district, in spite of the almost utter ruin of at Inter- aU other branches of this once flourishing industry every- national where else in Essex.

Exhibi- There are one or two other firms to which reference

tions. may be made.

In 1882 the firm of John Slater, Son and Slater (after- wards Slater, Bros, and Co.), of Wood Street, Cheapside, had a silk-weaving factory which they had built in Plaistow, but in 1887 it was taken over by Bailey, Fox and Co. In 1900 this firm enlarged the factory hoping by means of increased production to be able to compete with foreign competition. The firm also employs hand- loom weavers at CoggeshaU, at Sudbury, and at Spitalfields, all making velvet for coat collars or court suits, fancy silks for mufflers and neckties, black satins, robe silk for barristers' gowns, tailors' hnings and the like. Employ- The number of persons employed in the Essex silk ment industry was and stiU is considerable. Its great growth

Statistics, about 1825 is shown by the fact that at the census of 1831, an increase of 401 persons at Braintree, of 342 at Booking, of 779 at Halstead, and of 192 at Colchester, was attributed mainly to the growth of the silk and crape manufacture, which then employed in Essex " about 500 males, twenty years of age (as well as many under twenty years of age, and a much larger number of females), chiefly at Braintree, Great and Little CoggeshaU, and Bocking ; a few at Chelmsford, Colchester, Haverhill and other places.

In 1891, 2,147 persons (226 males and 1,921 females) were engaged " in the silk manufacture (satin, velvet and ribbon)," and 955 (84 males and 871 females) in the crape manufacture.

At the census of 1901, the silk industry in Essex gave employment in all its branches to 1,850 persons :

Females Females

Males. Umnarried. Married.

29 241 62

159 834 201

149

Spinning processes Weaving ,, Other

337

Females Unmarried.

241 834 158

— I —

1233

27

290

Plate XXXII . Figured Velvet Looms at New Mills, Braintree.

ESSEX. 311

That the number of persons employed did not fall off Employ- more largely between 1861 and 1891, in spite of the dis- ment appearance during that period of most of the older branches Statistics. of our sUk trade, is explained in part by improved industrial classification in the returns and in part by the growth of one branch, crape-makiag.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

Kent.

Although there are now no remains of the silk industry in Kent except the printing branches of the trade at Dartford and Crayford, important sections of the industry formerly existed at Sandwich, Canterbury, Winchelsea, and elsewhere.

The old town of Sandwich was indeed m process of industrial decay when the immigration from the Continent of workers in the paper, sUk, woollen, and other manu- facturers gave it a new lease of life. It was the workers in sayes, baize, and flannel, who established themselves at Sandwich, this location at the mouth of a haven giving easy communication with the metropohs and other parts of the United Kingdom, as well as facilities for export trade with the Continent. It appears from Hasted's History of the county that very few of the silk workers settled in Sandwich, the majority of them making their homes at Canterbury, while the workers in thread settled themselves upon the river Medway at Maidstone. Other bodies of the immigrants came to the old town of Winchelsea, but of their work very few records have been preserved. It is known that they established a manu- factory of cambrics, and that this business was carried on at Winchelsea, sometimes on a considerable scale, until the middle of the eighteenth century. This venture appears to have ended in financial failure, and the houses and workshops in which it was carried on were taken over by Messrs. Kirkman, Nouaille and Clay, who estabhshed on that site a crape factory, which after a successful career in Winchelsea was transferred to Norwich in the year 1810. The buildings in which the crape business was

312

KENT.

313

carried on were afterwards converted into barracks, and Velvet some of them exist down to the present day. Factory

In about the year 1860 an attempt was made by Messrs. at J. R. Lemaire and Sons, of Spital Square, London, to Dover, start a factory at Dover for the manufacture of velvets by hand, but it was found that a mihtary town was un- suited to this purpose.

Silk-weaving in Canterbury.

There are few more interesting hnks with the early days of the silk industry than that furnished by the estabUsh- ment of the modern Canterbury weavers in the picturesque old house on the banks of the Stour. This house contains the very rooms where the Elizabethan weavers once worked, and is built on a spot where John CaUaway had himself set up his looms. A fresh hnk with CaUaway was forged in the discovery by the modern workers of the process by which the original Canterbury musHn was woven. A fragment of an old piece of this mushn, beheved to be the only specimen extant, was by permission of the owner, Mrs. Sebastian Evans, carefuUy dissected and made to yield up its secret. The result was that the clock was put back, and Canterbury weavers have produced within quite recent years the CaUaway musUn by the Callaway process. It was a notable achievement.

CaUaway, the inventor of the process, was Master of the Silk Weavers towards the end of the 18th century. It wiU be interesting, however, to briefly trace the develop- ment of silk manufacture in this district. The beginning of the industry in Canterbury, as indicated above, goes back to Elizabethan times, and owes its estabUshment in Kent, hke certain other branches of textile industry, to reUgious persecution on the Continent. The story of Early the invasion of England by the skiUed handicraftsmen WaUoon who, with other French Walloons, fled to this country Settlers. to escape the rigorous rule of Charles V, is told elsewhere. It is enough to point out here that it resulted m the settlement in Canterbury of many skiUed weavers, who had previously practised their craft in LUle, Turcoing, NureUe, and elsewhere. They were made welcome in

314

SILK INDUSTRY.

Early tlie Cathedral City, and Queen Elizabeth, in her role as the Walloon champion of the Protestant faith, threw the mantle of her Settlers, protection over them. The quarter of the City now known as St. Peter's was set aside for the use of the weavers by Ehzabeth, and at a later period Charles II. granted the sUk-weavers a Charter of Incorporation, which brought into existence the Company of SUk Weavers in the City of Canterbury. The names of the first master, John Six, and his wardens and assistants bear testimony to the nationaUty of those forming the governing body. The advance guard of the industrial invaders was com- posed of weavers of " baizes " and " sayes," serges, taffetas, bombazines, ribbons, laces, and fringe. The bulk of them were not, as might be inferred from the records of the County historians, silk-weavers, but it is of interest to note that the earhest mention of sUk ware in the Burghmote Records occurs in the year 1592-3.* The full story of the Canterbury refugees and their crafts was told by the late Mr. F. C. Cross, and to his researches and those of Mr. S. W. Kershaw, much of the knowledge now possessed of the early days of the craft is due. Yet while these refugees found a haven in England, which must have seemed peaceful after many unhappy days in their own country, and were generally made welcome in Kent, they had to face the opposition of the home Opposi- weaving trade. The London weavers strenuously objected tion of to the Walloons being allowed to practise their trade in Home competition with the home industry. The end of the dispute Trade. was a compromise, the new comers having to submit to an edict that they were not " to make cloths not such as the EngUsh make for the present." This restriction had the effect of directing the energies of the foreigners into some- what new channels, and giving an individuahty to their productions which they might not otherwise have possessed. Apart from the opposition of the English weaver, to whom the Walloon was generally superior as a craftsman, the new-comers had httle or no cause for complaint.

* Beceyved of mi maior woh he had receyved of the Strangers and woh they levyed amonge theire companye for defaultes made in makjoige their rasshes and other wares to shorte and contrary to their orders.

Burghmote Records. Chamberlaiii's Accounts, 1592-3. History of the Walloon and Huguenot Church at Canterbury, Francis W. Cross, chap, xvii., pp. 184, 185.

'"'""""T^

.V '*'

P/a/e XXXIII.

The Old Weavers' House, Canterbury.

KENT. 315

In addition to holding a license from Queen Elizabeth, Opposi- they enjoyed other privileges, and the Burgmote Records tion of show that in the year 1577 an allowance was granted to Home the foreign weavers towards the maintenance of their Trade. haUs. The crypt of the Cathedral was granted to them for their own use, and some authorities are of opinion that looms were actually set up there,* but this is extremely doubtful, as there was no Hght ; it is, however, probable that they stored their looms there for a time when they first arrived in this country. At that period they were working under articles of agreement which had been made by the Mayor and magistrates of Canterbury.

These articles granted to the immigrants permission to make boys' garments and cloth after the Flanders' fashion, and a haU was provided in which the garments could be viewed, overlooked, and sealed. This hall, situated in the Friars, is now used as the Unitarian Chapel. The new-comers were also allowed to dye their goods, and means were provided in the shape of a " foot poste, whether with horse or with waggon, for to bear away and carry their affaires to London and elsewhere, to sell or cause them to be sold without any hindrance," save it may be assumed the ordinary hazards and perils of the road, which at that period were real enough in the carriage of silk goods. In exchange for such privileges, the new industry in Canterbury had to submit to the burden of taxation. The sealing of the goods appears to have been the first impost, and to this was added a loom tax from the records of which it would appear that in about 1582 the number of looms set up in Canterbury was 390. Their A number steadily increased, and the industry for a period Thou- at least attained extraordinary dimensions. It is stated sand that in the early part of the 17th century there were over Looms. 1,000 looms at work. The number of the Walloon popula- tion of the city may be estimated with some degree of accuracy from the number of looms at work, and it is recorded that at about the time when the Company of

* The statement is utterly improbable, and there is not a, scrap of evidence to support it in the contemporary records of their own Church, of the Cathedral, or of the City. History of the Walloon and Huguenot Church at Canterbury, Francis W. Cross, p. 45.

316

SILK INDUSTRY.

Number Silk Weavers was formed— this Company was incorporated

of in the year 1676— it was 2,500. The trade at that time

Foreign consisted chiefly of the manufacture of aU kinds of rich

Weavers, striped silk, silks wrought with gold and silver, and fabrics

of wool mixed with silk. Some of these fabrics commanded

a price of from ten to twenty shillings the yard. The

raw material came from Italy and Turkey, and the

Canterbury looms not only executed orders for the Court,

but met the demands of a large general trade.

The Canterbury silk trade reached its high-water mark towards the end of the 17th century, but subsequently had to face the competition of cheaper imported sUks from Persia and India. The aid of Parhament was sought in an attempt to protect the Canterbury, and of course other branches of the home trade, but the expedient of repressive legislation proved a futile remedy. The silk trade of the Cathedral City was doomed ; some of the weavers removed to Spitalfields, a few to other centres of the silk trade ; it is known that in the year 1886 the number of looms in Canterbury had dwindled to 200. Even the invention of John Callaway in the closing years of the 18th century only temporarily stemmed, and could not permanently stay the victory of imported textile goods. The secret of the CaUaway mushn was believed, until the modern revival, to have died with the inventor. The modern chapter is one of great interest. Modem It was a century after the death of Callaway, in the year

Canter- 1896, that two Canterbury ladies. Miss C. F. C. Phillpotts bury and Miss K. Holmes, determined, if it were possible, to

Industry, revive the silk-weaving in Canterbury. In the city itself, the old industry was only a tradition ; there were no Hving Mnks with those who had been engaged in it. The houses in which the looms had been set up remained, and some of the products of these looms were in the possession of local families. The pioneers of the modem branch of the industry were however both enthusiastic and painstaking ; they took lessons at a weaving school in London, and after a course of instruction at the Bradford Technical College, they made a modest start with three hand-looms, which were set up in a room in High Street.

11 11" -""I fM

»?

Li,' P/afe XXXIV. The Canterbury Weavers' Pattern Book, dated 1685.

KENT.

317

Other workers were obtained and taught, and gradually Hand- the modem " Canterbury Weavers " came into existence, woven and won a certain reputation for hand-woven materials, Fabrics, which had some pretentions at least to artistic design as weU as technical accuracy. Naturally, such products could only appeal to a small field. Notwithstanding these disadvantages, progress was made and the reopening in the year 1899 of the workrooms in the house on the banks of the Stour, where CaUaway himself had set up his looms a century before, marked the real beginning of the modern silk trade in Canterbury.* Up to that time the output of the looms had been mainly woollen and dress materials. Attention was now directed to the employment of silk for inlaid patterns, and some notable banner work, one of which depicting the arms of Canterbury, now hangs in the Guildhall, was carried out by the Weavers. This banner was presented to the City by Mr. Francis Bennett Goldney, then Mayor and later Member for Canterbury, whose artistic knowledge and ever ready help contributed in no small measure to the success of the industry. The local authorities, the Corporation and the Parhamentary representatives of the city, took the greatest interest in the work, and the City Charity Trustees contributed apprentices. The productions of the Canterbury Weavers won awards at several exhibitions for work in silk as well as other textile materials, and a dress was woven for the Duchess of Argyle. Her Majesty Queen Mary, then Princess of Wales, graciously accepted the first Exhibi- piece of brocade turned out from the looms at the time tion of the Coronation of King Edward the Seventh, and wore Awards. it at one of the Coronation functions. It was, however, found impossible for the industry to estabhsh itself on a basis wMch would fit in with modern conditions, and the effort to revive the silk trade in Canterbury finally failed.

* Fragments of the old looms and quills of silk were found under the floors in the attics of the old house. A curious fresco depicting the migration of the weavers from Flanders was also discovered on the walls of one of the old rooms.

CHAPTER XXIX.

Other Provincial Centres.

In addition to the principal centres of the industry, the history and present position of which are dealt with in previous chapters, there are many other towns and districts where branches of the sUk industry were formerly in existence, and in some of which indeed these still persist. A brief account of these various centres will be of interest.

Suffolk.

Silk As in the adjoining county of Essex, so in Suffolk, the

Trade early silk industry was due to the initiative of master

follows weavers in Spitalfields. When the introduction of power-

the Wool, looms into Yorkshire threatened the hand weavers of

wool in Suffolk with the extinction of their trade, the

Spitalfields' weavers took advantage of the labour thus

rendered available to establish branches of the silk trade.

The cost of hving in London had increased, and an advance

in wages had been secured by the Spitalfields Act of 1774.

It became important, therefore, to take advantage

of a situation such as that offered in Suffolk through the

decay of the woollen industry, and it was found that

it was possible to offer the Suffolk weaver a much higher

wage than he had ever secured in the wool trade, and

yet to pay only two-thirds of the piece-work rate fixed

by the London justices.

The towns which profited most by this migration of the sUk industry were Sudbury, Haverhill, and Glemsford, and in spite of the fluctuations which have taken place, the industry has persisted down to the modern era. At Mildenhall there was a flourishing industry in the early years of the 19th century. The branch estabhshed there

318

Plate XXXV.

Cottage Velvet Weaving, Sudbury, Suffolk-

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 319

was an off-shoot of a Norwich business, and it lasted for Silk twenty or thirty years, but the exact date when the silk Trade industry died out at MildenhaU is uncertain ; it was follows probably extinct by the year 1855. About the year the Wool. 1840 the main centres of the industry were certainly at Sudbury and HaverhiU. The number of looms set up at Sudbury was about 600, and these found employment for about 500 hands, of which nearly 300 were men and 80 boys. The work was mainly the production of plain mantels, lutes, and gros de Naples, the net earnings for which averaged about 7s. a week. There were about 10 Jacquard looms for the weaving of figured goods, at which the workers made about 10s. a week, and about half-a-dozen velvet and satin looms on which the weavers engaged made 12*. a week. There were no power-looms ; the system was to set up a number of the hand-looms in a factory under the eye of the employer, who considered that this plan not only prevented pilfering, but was a better training for the workers. The trade was subject to great fluctuations, and made the wages actually received less than the amounts above quoted, which could only be earned in a full week, and the weavers regarded the agricultural labourer as being much better off than themselves.

At Haverhill there were about 70 looms engaged in weaving umbrella and parasol silks for Mr. Walters, in London. The work here was more regular than at Sudbury, A weaver could make 16 yards in a week, and the average wage for a full week when expenses had been deducted was about 8s. The highest numbers employed in the silk manufacture in Suffolk were reached in the middle of the 19th century, when the throwsters and weavers together numbered about 2,000.

Following the removal of the duty on raw sUk, throwing Early mills were put at work in several Suffolk weaving centres. Factory It is known that in the year 1840 there were three miUs, system, one steam-mill and two worked by water-power in opera- tion at Hadleigh, Glemsford and Hayland. The total power represented by these mills was quite smaU — about 9 h.p., and only young persons were employed ; of

320

SILK INDUSTRY.

465 hands, 217 were under thirteen years of age, and the remainder were under nineteen. A few it is reported Migra- remained in the factory after the latter age, but as their tion of usefulness did not increase, their wages remained at the Opera- rate formerly paid. The result was that the population tives to was withdrawn from the silk trade at a comparatively Lan- early age, and those who failed to find other emplojnnent

cashire. migrated to the Lancashire towns.

At a later date, a new centre of the industry was estabhshed at Ipswich, and 200 female sUk winders are shown by the records to have been working there in 1855. In 1892 the town became associated with the hand-loom weaving of furniture silks by a firm styled the Enghsh Silk Weaving Company, Limited, but although some beautiful goods were produced, the venture came to an end ten years later.

The silk-throwing miUs which had been in operation

at Hadleigh and Hayland seem to have ceased working

towards the end of the '60's, a trying time for the sUk

industry, which had some difficulty in adapting itself

to the new commercial conditions introduced by the

adoption of free trade. The miU at Glemsford, which

was estabhshed in 1824, found occupation in 1874 for

Power- over 200 hands. Power-loom sUk weaving had been

loom largely introduced, but there were then altogether about

SUk 1,800 hand-loom weavers in Suffolk, half of whom were

Weaving, men engaged in making mats and matting, and the other

half, mainly women, in weaving horsehair and silk. That

these representatives of the old Suffolk textile industry

(wool and hemp) should have been so numerous at that

period is a striMng proof of the tenacity of an industrial

tradition.

Modern Industry.

Glemsford was known to be working in 1901, but the modern industry in Suffolk centres at Sudbury, with off- shoots at Haverhill. Messrs. Stephen Walters and Sons, which is beheved to be the oldest firm manufacturing sUk in Great Britain, have possessed works in Sudbury and Haverhill for at least three generations, and were

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 321

engaged in the business of making umbrella sUks from a very early period. At the present time, the works at Haverhill are entirely confined to hand-loom manufacture, the character and conduct of this branch of the business having been unchanged for many years. The main works of this firm are, however, at Sudbury, where the mills which provide employment for several hundreds of work- people have been enlarged three times during the past fifteen years, and now form a large block of buildings.

The production of umbrella silks is stUl the main feature of Umbrella the trade, but in addition the works produce crepe de Chine, Silk spun silk fabrics, silk for the University gown trade, Trade, and for regimentals and coat linings. An off-shoot of this business is the manufacture by a special process of a shirting, to which the name of " SpuneUa " has been given, and which is now carried on as a separate undertaking. The Walters interests formerly carried on a business at Taunton in Somerset, in the manufacture of silk for surgical bandages, but this business is now transferred to Sudbury. On several occasions, the works have been honoured by Royal visits. While the business of Messrs. Stephen Walters and Sons is the largest of the existing Suffolk silk firms, other firms have estabhshed works in the Sudbury district, and whatever may be the case in other parts of Suffolk, the industry here is an expanding one. The other firms include Messrs. Vanners and Fennell Bros., Ltd., Messrs. Bailey, Fox and Co., the Gainsborough SUk Weaving Co., Messrs. Jones and Co., Messrs. Brown and Garrard, and Messrs. Thos. Kemp and Sons. Messrs. Warner and Sons, whose main factory is at Braintree, have for many years employed cottage weavers at Sudbury in the manufacture of plain sUk velvets.

Bucks and Herts. It was in the early part of the 19th century, probably Silk- about the year 1824, that a sUk-miU was established at throwing Tring by a Mr. WiUiam Kay. It remained in existence at Tring. as a throwing-miU — at aU events there is no record of its beiQg closed down — ^until the working was discon- tinued at the end of 1887, at which time it was in the hands

322

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk- of Messrs. David Evans and Sons, who had other interests

throwing in the silk trade. The miU was afterwards carried on

at Tring. by Lord Rothschild to provide employment for the people

in the district, and continued working under his control,

for a period of about 10 years. An interesting fact in

connection with the early history of the mill is the fact

that the manager, one Robert Nixon, set up looms at

Aylesbury, and by an arrangement with the Workhouse

overseers, agreed, owing to the increase in the numbers

of paupers, that if permission were given to set up a miU

on the Workhouse premises, he would employ only paupers

chargeable on Aylesbury parish. The original miU at

Tring was worked in connection with the Aylesbury

miU. At the latter centre 40 looms were in operation

in the year 1830, and provided work for many of the

women lace-hands who were then out of employment.

The Aylesbury as well as the Tring mill ultimately came

into the possession of Messrs. Evans, who introduced

steam-power. It is known that in the year 1865 there

were 70 steam-looms in operation at the Aylesbury miU.

Hand-looms were also set up by the same firm at a building

in Akeman Street, Tring, and also at Waddesdon, but

the business at the last-named place was sold to

Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild in the early 70's. In

the decade 1860-1870 the hand-looms at Tring were

employed on handkerchiefs, and the power-looms on

the production of China cords in the gum. There was

also a small mill at Whitchurch.

An old For over a century the silk industry has been estabhshed

Industry at St. Alban's, where Messrs. J. Maygrove & Co., Ltd.,

at St. who recently absorbed the silk-throwing business of

Albans. Messrs. Chas. WooUam and Co., stiU carry on a thriving

business. The silk mills, which employ two or three

hundred workers, stand upon a portion of the old

monastery grounds, and are situated between the present

Abbey and the ancient town of Verulanium. These

miUs are indeed on the site of the old monastic flour mills

which was the subject of dispute between the monks and

the townspeople for many years. Although the miUs

have been established for over a hundred years, a date

2 X

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 323

on one of the buildings giving the year 1810, they have An old been modernised and form the seat of an expanding Industry industry, the output being China, Italian and Japan at St. organzines and trams for weaving, also flosses, hosiery Albans, silks, two and three cord sewings, machine sewings and twists, and artificial silks in various sizes for weaving, knitting and embroidery.

Beginning in a smaU way at Haslemere, Surrey, in 1901, Mr. Edmund Hunter has established at Letchworth weaving works of much interest. At first his energies were successfully directed to the production of brocades for altar frontals, and furniture stuffs, but his later work has been remarkable for the unique beauty of the dress fabrics, particularly those created for theatrical purposes, some of which were worn in Sir Herbert Tree's most important plays. An interesting feature of Mr. Hunter's work is the using of hand- and power-loom methods in the same place, the former for the more elaborate decorative brocades, and the latter for plain and figured dress goods.

Berkshire.

Wokingham, in Berkshire, was probably one of the earliest homes of the silk trade in England, a branch of the industry having been established there towards the end of the sixteenth century. The manufacture of silk stockings appears to have been the chief branch of the trade practised at Wokingham, and an interesting side- light is thrown on the conditions of the trade by some bye-laws of the borough which were put in force in the year 1625. One of these laws instituted penalties against Silk poor people refusing to work at silk stocking making, Stocldng and none were allowed to set up the trade of silk knitting Trade, unless having served seven years' apprenticeship to it under a penalty of 20s. a month.

Large numbers of mulberry trees were planted in and near the town at different periods, and some of these stUl remain as a link with the old industry. The system of working was the domestic method, women and children doing the knitting at their own homes. It is known

324 SILK INDUSTRY.

Old that at the beginning of the last century three silk

Trade manufacturers carried on business in the town, both in

condi- spinning and weaving. The spinning and twisting miU

tions. was worked by horse-power, and the records indicate that

there were 432 spindles in operation; in the weaving

miUs the output appears to have been chiefly hat bands,

ribbons, watch strings, shoe strings, sarsnets and figured

gauzes. The few men who were employed , earned about

30s. a week, but the operatives were chiefly women and

children, the women earning from 8s. to 10s. a week, and

the children 5s. The looms were in existence up to about

the year 1850, and it was possible not many years ago to

find among the old residents some who could remember

a colony of silk handkerchief weavers in Rose Street,

Wokingham.

Reading At Reading, silk-weaving was practised as early as 1640,

and and up to the early part of the last century the industry

adjoining was stiU flourishing, and indeed a London manufacturer

Towns. estabhshed a branch business in the town. This caused

trouble with the journeymen silk-weavers of Spitalfields,

who were successful in an action they brought against

the London manufacturer. A few years later, however,

several London firms appeared to have estabhshed works

at Reading. One of these firms was that of WiUiams and

Simpson, who commenced the manufacture of ribbons in

the Oracle, and Thomas Simmons, who had an estabhsh-

ment in St. Paul's Churchyard, also owned a mill in

Minster Street, Reading. At this period figured silk

dress materials were being manufactured in the Oracle ;

shag or rough silk in East Street by Matthew Green, and

works were also in existence in the Abbey buildings,

these being in the ownership of Messrs. Reynolds and

McFarlane.

At Twyford, near Reading, the BiUings, of Macclesfield, carried on silk-throwing. George Billing, who died in 1885, appears to have been the last of the silk manufacturers here. At Newbury and Thatcham smaU silk works were once in operation, and silk -throwing was carried on by one Charles Lewes and by Thomas Hibell at Greenham, a suburb of Newbury.

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 325

Until a few years ago there were stiU to be found living Reading at Kirkbury persons who had worked in the small silk and factory which was established by Jonathan Tanner, and adjoining which continued in operation until the 1840's. The Towns, recollections of these old employees were not altogether pleasant. They appeared to have worked about 13 hours a day for six days a week, and to have received Is. in money and frequent thrashings with a leather strap from the overseer.

Oxfordshire.

The silk industry at Oxford is first mentioned by Dr. Plot in 1677, when he records that silk stockings were woven at Oxford. The industry was also carried on at Henley-on-Thames. In 1823 two silk factors owned works in this town : Messrs. Barbel and Benzeoitte in Friday Street, and Mr. G. Skelton in Mann Lane. As late as 1856 Henley transacted a certain amount of business in silk. For several years previous to this date a silk wind- ing miU had stood in PhyUis Court Lane. The silk was sent from London, and wound by women and girls, but the factory could only have been on a very small scale, as the total weekly wages amounted to no more than between £30 and £40.

The modern industry is represented by the old- Plush established firm of Messrs. W. Wrench and Co., whose manu- plush mills at Shutford, near Banbury, are also used facture at for the manufacture of mohair and other velvets. Banbury.

Northamptonshire.

It seems probable that silk -weaving was in progress in Northampton even in the 18th century. In the year 1783 there is known to have been a weaver named Trokman. It is also certain that 20 years before that time there was a considerable silk manufacture at Towcester. Abput the year 1820 silk-weaving was introduced from Coventry to Desborough. At first the workmen walked from Coventry to Desborough and back again to Coventry,

326

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk the but small manufactories were soon started, and afterwards

staple larger ones were built at Kettering, RothweU and

trade of Desborough, most of which are now used as shoe factories.

three The weaving was done on the old hand-loom, and despite

Towns. the erection of the factories, many of the workmen kept

looms in their own houses, using the Jacquard loom for

ornamented silks and velvets. The various kinds of

articles woven in silk were coloured silk plushes, black

plushes for silk hats, plain and coloured silks, black and

coloured velvets, figured velvets, plain and figured satins.

This industry found employment for a large number of

hands in the three towns mentioned, forming their staple

trade ; but owing to the keen competition of the French,

silk-weaving gradually dechned until it ceased about the

year 1868.

Gloucestershire.

Gloucestershire, owing to the large water power avail- able, possesses natural advantages which made it an early seat of the textUe industries. It is clear that silk must have been used at a very early period in the local textUe industry for embroidery, but weaving probably dates from the arrival of French refugees. It is known that the weaving of silk was being practised at Gloucester in the year 1637, and two sUk- throwing miUs were in Famous operation at Chipping Campden and Blockley at the for Silk beginning of the 18th century. This district was long Stockings, famous for silk stockings. Silk-throwing was also practised at Frokesbury up to about 1870, in which year the last remaining firm, lUffe's, removed their business to Coventry.

The most important centre of the Gloucestershire silk industry was, however, in the Stroud Valley, where at one period nearly 1,000 persons were employed in about a dozen miUs. At Tewkesbury, where the stocking trade flourished for a long period, there were at one time 800 frames in operation, and the industry gave employment to about 1,500 persons. The last link with the old silk industry in this county is the Langford mill at Eangswood,

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 327

where some 200 persons are employed in throwing sUk for braid and fishing hnes.

Worcestershire.

The industry was estabhshed in Worcestershire at a An old very early date, and indeed there are traces of silk manu- Seat facture in the county even before the revocation of the of the Edict of Nantes. Local records show that in the year Industry, 1692 Edward Beardmore, a silk weaver of Worcester, was in arms for Charles I. It is stated of the same person that owing to the depression in the silk trade caused by the war, he applied for a beadsman's place in Worcester Cathedral.

After the influx of foreign refugees, both Blockley and Kidderminster were centres of a considerable manufacture of silken fabrics. At the former place, following the opening of miUs in the early years of the eighteenth century, some hundreds of workers were engaged in the industry. The builder of the first mill appears to have been one Henry Whatcot, who died in the year 1718. The situation of the town was favourable for the estabhshment of the industry owing to the excellent water-power available and as early as 1825 eight miUs were in operation. The modern industry thus estabhshed was employed in silk- throwing for the Coventry ribbon industry, and indeed depended to a considerable extent on the state of Coventry trade. The French Repubhc, following the Con- war with Germany, abandoned the reciprocity treaty, nection and both Coventry and Blockley lost trade. The with industry at Blockley is now extinct. Coventry

At Kidderminster, with the dechne of the clothing trade. Ribbon long estabhshed at that centre, the manufacture of mixed Industry, stuffs of worsted and silk under the name of Spanish pophns as well as Irish pophns and crape was introduced. In the year 1755 the manufacture of figured and flowered silks was in progress, and it is recorded that in the year 1772 no fewer than 1,700 silk and worsted looms were at work, but the trade gradually declined, one reason being that silk, as well as bombazines, which were originally sent to Norwich to be finished, were subsequently

328

SILK INDUSTRY.

Ribbons manufactured in the Norfolk centre, witli the result that in and course of time the whole of the business was transferred

Buttons, to Norwich. There were smaU silk industries established in other parts of the county, including a ribbon factory at Evesham, and recently a factory was working at Bromsgrove in connection with the manufacture of silk florentine buttons.

Surrey.

It would not appear that silk-weaving ever obtained any great or continued hold in Surrey, comparable to the development which took place in other home counties. The earhest records relate to that section of Surrey nearest to London. It is known that at the end of the 16th century there was a small colony of aliens in Southwark and the adjoining district engaged in silk-weaving, and references may be found in some local records to the occupations then being carried on by silk winders, throwsters, twisters, and dyers. The Lord Mayor's returns of foreigners residing in the City Wards, made both in May and November, 1571, show the existence of several silk weavers in various Southwark parishes. They were principally settled in St. Olave's parish, where, in May, there appeared to have been 13 Dutchmen, one Burgundian, and one Frenchman, aU silk weavers, besides a Dutch silk thrower. In the same parish in November there would appear to have been 11 Dutch silk weavers and one French, in addition to a silk thrower and a silk winder, both Dutch. In other parishes the number of aliens engaged in silk manufacture was smaller. In St. Saviour's there was one in each return, in St. Thomas' three in May and five in November ; in St. George's in November there were six returned, three Dutch and three French. Alien So far as the two hsts of 1582 and 1583 show, there

Colony was a considerable decrease in the number of foreign silk in South- weavers in Southwark. Only eleven aliens appear in the wark. former for the whole ward of Bridge Without, while in 1583 there were returned seven silk weavers, one Dutch and six French in St. Thomas', and two Dutch weavers in St. George's. There is also in the list a French silk

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 329

twister in St. Thomas'. No alien is given as connected Alien with any of the various silk industries in either the parish Colony of St. Olave or that of St. Sa\dour, but it should be noted in South- that to a considerable number of the ahens appearing in wark. these Usts no trade has been assigned, and from another source it would seem that there were 13 persons practising the trade of silk-weaving in St. Olave's in 1571, as well as five in St. Thomas's.

The interesting Usts of 1618, however, show a large increase in these numbers in that year. Only two silk weavers are given as hving in St. Saviour's parish and three only in St. George's, but in St. Thomas's there are thirteen, and in St. Olave's no less than nineteen, and four others are described as silk winders. In Bermondsey also seven silk weavers are returned. These seem to have been principally of Dutch or Flemish nationahty, but a few were French or Germans, and two weavers and one winder were Spaniards. In addition to these there were in Southwark a considerable number of aliens of various nationahties engaged in the weaving of the special kinds of silken fabrics known as taffetas or tuft-taffeties. Of these there were four in St. Thomas's parish, twelve in St. Olave's, and one dwelling within the liberty of the CUnk. Throughout the period under consideration the foreign silk industry in and about London seems to have been chiefly established within the Ward of Bishopsgate.

The modern silk industry of Surrey, although small in Associa- extent, is important from the fact that Wilham Morris tion estabhshed at Merton Abbey in the year 1881 the weaving with of plain and figured silks, for which, amongst other artistic WiUiam handicrafts, he is so justly famous. His work and also Morris, the industry at Haslemere are fuUy dealt with in the chapter on " Arts and Crafts."

Hampshire,

The evidence for the existence of silk-weaving as an organised industry in Winchester in the Middle Ages is sHght. The " Cericatires " of the 15th century Corpus

330

SILK INDUSTRY.

Christi procession may, however, have been silk workers.

In the year 1671 there is a definite record of a lad being

apprenticed to John WaUy, silk weaver. The first silk

factory on a large scale would seem to have been that of

a Mr. Skenton's, who was in business in 1792. At his

original works the drums were turned by men, but at a

new factory erected near the Abbey Mill water-power was

Light utihsed. In 1813 the old cloth manufacture of Winchester

Silk was completely gone, and the manufacture of hght silk

fabrics fabrics and velvets was then and had been for some years

and the chief industry of the town. The raw silk was imported

Velvets, from Bengal and Italy in thread, and in the early years

of the 19th century one house alone in the city

employed 300 hands in preparing and winding the silk,

child labour being largely used. The scarcity and dear-

ness of the raw material were, however, already affecting

the trade, and by 1840 ^k-spinning was extinct in the

city.

At Southampton the trade had long been established, but had much dechned by the 18th century, though a slight amount of silk-weaving was carried on by French refugees. In Whitchurch, in the middle of the last century, the chief industry was silk-weaving, and in recent years Mr. James Hide carried on here the trade of which he was the only representative in the county. There was also a mill at Overton in the early years of the 19th century. In 1840 it still furnished employment in silk-throwing to most of the women of the town. To-day the industry would appear to be extinct. Trade There were other centres of the Hampshire silk trade,

with In the beginning of the 19th century, bombazines made

America, at Alton and in the surrounding districts were sent to London to be dyed and dressed. Tabyrean, a fabric of silk and worsted especially adapted for the American market, was manufactured in considerable quantities here at one time, and generally sent to Philadelphia. Gradually the American trade of Alton failed, the manufacture of bombazines was discontinued, and the textile trade of the town was then mainly confined to the making of hop- bagging.

'late XXXVII.

Old Silk ^ill Malmesbury.

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 331

Wiltshire.

The textile industry of Wiltshire, although now non- Silk existent, at least as far as the silk branch is concerned. Mills at except at Malmesbury, was established in various centres in Malmes- the county at a very early date. At Malmesbury weaving bury, appears to have been introduced by a Mr. Stumpe in the reign of Henry VIII, and the factory in which the business was carried on is believed to have been on or near the site where the modern silk miUs have for some years past found employment for a large number of women and girls. Leland appears to have been the earliest author who made any record with regard to the textile industry of the town. He states that when he visited Malmesbury towards the middle of the 16th century, every corner of the vast houses of office which had belonged to the Abbey were fuU of looms to weave cloth in, and also that it was intended to make special streets for clothiers in the vacant grounds of the Abbey. The magnitude of the industry may be gathered from the statement quoted in Moffats' and Birds' Histories of Malmesbury, that about 3,000 cloths were made annually. The historian Camden also refers to the good repute in which Malmesbury stood on account of the clothing trade in the reign of Queen Ehzabeth. Further evidence of the connection of Malmesbury with this trade is given by a deed bearing the date 1664, executed by a Mr. Grayle, who is described as a clothier, making a donation to the poor of Malmesbury. In the King William Charter, reference is made to the fact that the borough was then inhabited by burgesses largely carrying on the clothing trade. It seems quite probable that the manufacture of silk as well as of other textile goods was carried on in the 17th century, as in the Parish Register is found the following entry : —

"February 26th, 1687.~Robert James, of Malmes- The

burie, silk weaver, was then declared in the Abbey Clothing

Church, to be the parish clerk of Malmesburie, Trade.

upon the death of Nathaniel Speak, broad cloth

weaver, and late parish clerk." The trade, however, declined and was almost extinct when in the closing years of the 18th century Mr. HiU,

332

SILK INDtJSTRY.

Ladies' a Bradford manufacturer, made what appears to have Dress been a successful attempt to revive the cloth trade. The Goods. two large mills which he built and which he and his successor, Mr. Salter, of Chippenham, carried on for a time with great success, were afterwards purchased by a Mr. Lewis, a sUk manufacturer of Derby, who employed the mills for purposes of silk-throwing and ribbon-weaving. He appears to have remained in business at Malmesbury until the year 1869, when he disposed of the nulls to another Derby firm of silk manufacturers, Messrs. Daven- port and Son, who iustaUed modern machinery and carried on a sUk ribbon trade, which provided employment for about 400 hands. Some twenty years later the miUs passed into the possession of a Mr. Jupe, who was engaged in silk-spinniug and throwiug, and who for some years carried out a contract for the Admiralty for the black silk squares for the Navy. The mills were subsequently closed for about fifteen years, until they were purchased by Messrs. Shuttleworth Ltd., who installed modern machinery for the production of ladies' dress materials. To Messrs. Shuttleworth succeeded the Avon SUk MOls Company, who are now keeping the nulls in operation, and giving employment to a considerable number of hands. They have improved the machinery equipment, and are weaving a variety of silk goods mostly for dress purposes. Velvet- Another branch of the sUk industry was established

weaving at Salisbury, and was engaged in the manufacture of at Salis- sUk velvet. The name of the firm which carried on this bury. business was Senechal's, and the mill is stated to have

closed down for want of workmen in about the year 1825, the site now being covered by what is known as 51 Castle Street and Brown's Almshouses. It is interesting to record that when the mill was closed, Mr. Senechal divided a roU of crimson velvet among his workwomen. The writer of the Festival Book of Salisbury, Mr. Frank Stevens, records the fact that an almswoman, who received her share when a girl in this distribution, gave him some velvet rosettes which in later years she made for her children's hats from what must have been one of the

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 333

last pieces of velvet made in Salisbury. It seems probable Velvet that at various times workers had been brought to Weaving Sahsbury from Coventry, for when Senechal's mill was at Sahs- demolished, several Coventry trade tokens were found, bury. Previously to this branch of the silk trade, a very important woollen industry was carried on in Sahsbury, and it is easy to understand how wool took a premier place among the industries of the city, situated as it is in the midst of the Wiltshire plain and down lands, which provide pasturage for the sheep.

Other centres in Wiltshire where the silk trade was formerly carried on were Chippenham, from which town Mr. Salter migrated to Malmesbury and Warminster, Devizes, and probably Newbury, and these industries were existing in the first half of the 19th century.

Dorset.

The silk industry of Dorset in the past was mainly Long concerned with the throwing of silk rather than with reign of manufacturing processes, and was carried on at Sherborne WUl- for a long period. The historian Hutchins records the mott's. estabhshment of the throwing industry in the year 1740, but it would seem that at an even earher period than this band strings, that is, laces or ribbons which were used for fastening bands worn round the neck, were manu- factured at Blandford. Cranborne had also an association with the weaving industry, but by the year 1833 . all sections of the textile trades except silk had ceased.

SUk-throwing at Sherborne* appears to have been commenced in 1740 by one Thomas Sharrer at East MiU (now pulled down), but the miU was soon afterwards transferred to the ownership of Wilham Willmott, who quickly built up a very good business. The trade increased indeed to an extent which called for the erection of two other miUs in Sherborne. In the year 1780 the number of hands employed had increased to 800, but this total included winders who were out-workers scattered in the

* Information on trade of Sherborne furnished by Mr. E. Arnold Wright.

334

SILK INDUSTRY.

Long surrounding villages, each village having its Silk House, reign of from which the silk was handed out to and received back Will- from the winders. Although it is out of chronological

mott's. order, it may here be pointed out that the number of workers had dechned to 600 in 1826, and to 150 in 1831, by which year the number of spindles in operation had decreased from 8,000 to 3,000. It should also be men- tioned that the cottage branch of the industry was carried on in many instances in conjunction with agricultural pursuits. In the year 1770 William WiUmott appears to have been totally engaged in throwing silk on com- mission for two London firms, the classes of silk being China, Itahan, Persian, Antioch, Murcia, Brutia, and Calabria, and Willmott had a standard price of 3s. for every pound of silk he worked. The silk was all carried down from London by wagon first in bales, but later in baskets, this having been found the more satisfactory method. The average wage of the workers appears to have been about 4s. 6d. per week. Fluctua- The miUs were aU driven by water-wheels, but Willmott tions in had great trouble owing to scarcity of water. In the Sher- year 1781 there was no rain for four months, which caused

borne the river to dry up completely, and in order to carry on Trade. his operations Willmott tried to persuade Lord Digby to allow him to take water out of the lake in front of Sherborne Castle, this lake being the source of the river. Lord Digby, however, refused to grant this request, but Willmott, rather than let his hands remain idle, bribed the sluice keeper, who allowed a big head of water to run down into the river. This, however, only afforded tem- porary relief, and in the end Willmott had four horse engines installed, the remains of which can be seen to this day. In some of the years between 1770 and 1780 trade was depressed, and it is on record that in the year 1773 Willmott wrote to his patrons asking for silk, as his employees were starving, and he was distributing loaves of barley bread to keep them ahve. In asking for sUk, he offered to work up " Any silks, long or short reeled, for singles, tram or Balladina for sizes, but dechned to accept Bengal, as being too troublesome." His charge

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 335

for throwing China two or three thread tram and knittings Fluctua- was 3s. 6d. per lb. He lost a lot of his workpeople during tions in this period, but towards the end of 1773 his mills were Sher- active again, with silk for the sewing trade. In the borne following year he bought the whole of the machinery Trade, belonging to Mr. George Ward, of Stalbridge, and also rented the Silk House at that place from him. In Novem- ber, 1774, WiUmott also bought the whole of the plant of Messrs. Fooks and Webb, probably of Carne, for the sum of £135, and his ambition at this time was to raise his output to 500 lbs. of silk per week.

Evidence is furnished by a letter written by WiUmott to Messrs. Phillips and Co., on July 15th, 1776, that there was at that time a Company of Silk Throwsters in existence. The letter reads as follows : — " I have been in long expectation in hopes of hearing something relating to the Company of Silk Throwers ; whether they have any intention of putting in force the Act of Parliament to those who have not served regular apprenticeship to the trade, and I hope you wiU not think it impertinent in me being desirous to know, as I would wish to take up my freedom if the Company would permit me."

In this year Willmott experienced a set-back, owing to the presence of an opposition miU in Sherborne, which was started by a Mr. Cruttwell and a Mr. Hickling. Cruttwell had had to give up mills at Oakingham owing to trouble with the workpeople over the employment of workhouse labour. The rival firm took a great many Work- of WiUmott's hands away from him, and as a remedy house Willmott raised his scale of wages, and also bid a high Child price for the local workhouse child labour. These steps Labour, did not apparently prove successful, for at the beginning of 1777 Willmott had aU his three miUs standing idle. In March of this year, however, the partnership of Cruttwell and Hickling was dissolved, but Cruttwell continued the business, the Oakingham miUs being sold to a Mr. Winstanley, of London. A few months later WiUmott's workpeople wished to return to him, owing to dissatisfaction with their new masters, and in October, 1778, CruttweU faUed in business during a period of

336 SILK INDUSTRY.

depressed trade, but his factory was let to a Mr. and Mrs. Smout, who had been managers for him.

In the year 1779 Thomas Willmott was born, and he in later years succeeded to his father's business. His father, however, carried on the business until his death in 1787, and his wife continued it until Thomas Willmott was old enough to take charge. It is interesting to note that some years before his death, in the year 1781, WiUiam Willmott was throwing and winding mohair for a button Modern maker at Sherborne. It is recorded that in the year Weaving 1800 lamps were first used instead of candles for hghting Industry, the Sherborne miUs. In 1836 new mills were started by J. P. Willmott, who did a big trade, and made the business a very sound concern, and in 1845 another new factory was erected and steam used for power purposes. At a stm later date weaving was estabhshed at Sherborne. The Willmott business has been continued down to the present day, first by the sons of J. P. WiUmott, and then by J. and R. Willmott Limited, who were silk weavers, the goods made being principally plain dress taffetas, checks and stripes. It was in the year 1907 that Messrs. A. R. Wright and Co., of Bingley, purchased the factory at West MiUs, and installed new engines and machinery, and made it a branch weaving mill of their Bingley headquarters. They now employ at Sherborne about 100 hands, who are engaged in winding, warping, and weaving plain and fancy silks and satins, etc.

The silk industry was carried on at other places than

Sherborne. One of these places was GiUingham,* and

Thomas Sharrer, the eldest son of Thomas Sharrer who

estabhshed the Sherborne miUs in 1740, endeavoured

to buy the GiUingham mills in the year 1777. The miU

at GiUingham was estabhshed in 1766 by a Mr. Stephens,

Silk whose great grandson is now living at GiUingham, and the

Throwing industry remained in existence at GiUingham until about

at 1890. Mr. Stephens and his forefathers were silk

GUling- throwsters, and at one time employed about 160 persons,

ham. as weU as cottage workers in the neighbouring viUages.

At first Itahan silk was manipulated, but in later years

■*• Facts on the Gilliugham industry supplied by Canon C. H. Mayo,

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 337

China silk took its place. The mill at GiUingham is now a grist miU. There was another inill at GiUingham, which belonged to Messrs. Charles Jupe and Sons, who also owned mills at Mere, Wiltshire, at Crockerton, and at Warminster, but these were closed down sooner than the mill at GiUingham, There were also silk mills at Charminster and at Carne in the later years of the 18th century.

A good deal of information with regard to the silk The industry in this area may be gathered from the evidence Glove given before a Select Committee in the year 1831. It is Trade, stated that at that time the glove trade, which had formerly been of some importance, only existed at Sher- borne in the form of a home industry, gloves being sent over from Yeovil and Milborne Port, and sewn by the Sherborne women in their cottages. The glove trade also formed part of the local industry of Beauminster, Bere Regis, and Cerne Abbas. At the last-named place, and at Stalbridge, where the spinning of silk was carried on at the end of the 18th century, the work chiefly consisted of twisting and making up the raw sUk into skeins,

Somerset.

The settlement of Flemish weavers at Glastonbury Flemish in 1551 has been dealt with by Mr. Emanuel Green in the Weavers Smnerset Archceological Proceedings, vol. xxvi. The result at of his research shews that the Duke of Somerset (The Glaston- Protector), on receiviQg a grant of Glastonbury Abbey bury, from Edward VI, founded there a colony of Flemish weavers, advancing them a loan of £484 14s. Od., and promising to provide houses and ground and other rehef towards their living. The fulfilment of his plan was prevented by the Duke's attainder, and the colony appears to have suffered acutely from poverty, accentuated by the opposition of their Enghsh neighbours. A petition to the King for rehef led to an enquiry being made, and from this it appears there were 44 families and six widows, for whose accommodation, as a whole, there were only six houses in repair, and 22 without roofs, doors, or

338

SILK INDUSTRY.

Flemish windows. The Commissioners found the Strangers very- Weavers godly, honest, poor folk, of quiet and sober conversation, at and showing themselves ever willing and ready to instruct

Glaston- and teach young children and others their craft ^ and bury. occupation, and they judged the settlement as likely to bring " great commodity to the common weal " of those parts. Mr. Green traces the history of this settlement through its early diflEiculties until the Flemings obtained the necessary authority and incorporated by Royal Patent, became an Enghsh guild, enjoying the same privileges and liberties as other clothiers and dyers of the realm, paying no more taxes than Enghsh-born, and last but not least being granted the use of their own liturgy for worship.

On the death of Edward VI, the Strangers lost their protector, and, on the accession of Queen Mary, they left this country for Frankfort. Curiously enough the colony left httle or no local mark behind them, the one relic of their settlement being an alms dish of laten or rolled brass bearing a Flemish legend with St. George and the dragon repousse, a gift to St. John's Church, where it still remains. The settlement is interesting as being the first use to which the old Abbey was put after its dissolution.

The sayes manufactured by these Flemish weavers,

red, blue, and black, are often mentioned in Church

goods of pre-Reformation days. Similar articles are

sometimes of velvet and sometimes of saye. There were

paUs of red saye, vestments of saye and hearse cloths of

saye. Assuming the saye (sole) made at Glaston was

in any part of silk, in accordance with the general meaning

of the word, it is possible that this httle settlement can

take rank as one of the earliest colonies of silk weavers

in England.

Claim A comparatively recent work says : " It is stated on

made of good authority that Taunton shares with Derby the

Pioneer honour of being the first place at which the making of

work. ' thrown ' silks out of fine raw silks was carried on in

England after its introduction from the Continent."

There is, however, some reason to doubt the absolute

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES. 339

accuracy of this statement when we reflect that Sir Thomas Claim Lombe bmlt his silk miU at Derby in 1719, whereas the made of earliest reference to the silk industry in the annals of Pioneer Taunton is in 1781, when Messrs. Vansomer and Paul, silk work, mercers, of Pall MaU, London, purchased a large brew- house in Upper High Street, together with certain water rights. To quote from an old Mstory, and one to which the great Macaulay had recourse when writing his famous work, " These purchases, by erecting a large building and suitable wheels they converted into a machine for making thrown silk out of fine raw silk, on the model of that at Derby." In 1790 this factory employed about 100 hands.

About the same time another concern was estabhshed in Cannon Street, where throwing was done on a small scale, " the machinery being set in motion by a woman treading the large wheel," and where also 32 looms were installed for weaving Barcelona handkerchiefs, Canterbury muslins, Florentines and ladies' shawls. The weaving of crape was apparently introduced in 1806, and was carried on spasmodically in cottages in the town and vicinity until comparatively recent years.

In 1822 there appear to have been three throwing Story of mills in Taunton, Mr. Norman's in Upper High Street, Taunton one in South Street belonging to Messrs. Balance and Co., Trade, and one in Tancred Street, owned by Mr. George Rawhnson. The last-named is the only one to have stood the test of time, and it is to-day exclusively engaged in the processes of silk-throwing. Some years later Mr. Wm. Rawhnson, son of the gentleman referred to above, commenced operations in a mill in East Street, which he subsequently considerably enlarged, and for a great number of years Mr. Rawhnson personally owned and controlled the East Street and Tancred Street miUs. In 1881 the business changed hands, Messrs. Stanway and Summerfield becoming the proprietors. In the meantime the other silk-throwing mills had been converted to other purposes. Messrs. Stanway and Summerfield were succeeded in 1903 by Messrs. Calway and DriUien, and the steady expansion of their particular business has been such as to necessitate material additions and improvements to buildings and

340 SILK INDUSTRY.

Story of machinery during recent years. Nearly 500 people are Taunton employed by this firm.

Trade. The business of Messrs. PearsaU and Green was founded

at the end of the 18th century, and consisted of both wholesale and retail branches. The special productions were silks for the Nottingham and West of England lace industries, which were then large and flourishing trades, and the shop in Cheapside was also a famous resort for great ladies for buying the sUks for the knitted and netted purses then fashionable.

When both these industries died down the business was bought by the late Mr. W. Rawhnson, of Taunton, who ran it in connection with his mills in Taunton. During the early and middle part of the 19th century, the staple trade then consisted of the import of Berhn wools, needle- work and embroidery sUks from Germany, together with a considerable trade in silks for fringes, scarves, and use in machines. With the aid of discoveries of the late Sir Thomas Wardle from 1870 to 1880, the trade was gradually withdrawn from the hands of the Germans and converted into a British industry, which it now remains.

The crape manufacture, which commenced at Taunton

in about 1775, afterwards spread to Shepton MaUett,

Croscombe, and Dulverton. In the year 1830 it is on

record that Messrs. Smith and Co. had a mill worked

by the Barle stream at Dulverton. Silk-throwing was

also in progress at Ilminster, at Over Stowey, Milverton,

and elsewhere. Some details of the silk industry at

Milverton are contained in the reports of the Parhamentary

Commission on the sUk trade in 1831. The evidence of

The Mr. Lamech Smith, who had been established for some

Industry years there as a silk throwster, gave many interesting

at details. He states that he used chiefly Italian raw sUk,

Milver- and that he employed almost exclusively woman and

ton. child labour. At one period this manufacturer had 15,000

spindles in operation. He attributed the dechne in trade

to the low prices caused by the reduction of the duty on

foreign thrown organzine. There seems to have been

manufactured about this period, 1826, a variety of silk

known as " marabout," which required a special process

Plate XXXVIII.

John Heathcoat.

OTHER PROVINCIAL CENTRES.

341

of throwing. Marabout, which, according to the Victorian Marabout County History, was mainly used for gauze and gauze rib- Silk, bons, was a variety of hard thrown tram. It was thrown in three threads and sent to London to be dyed, after- wards coming back to Somerset to undergo the remainder of the throwing process and to be finished. The silk employed was the best white Norvi, and the throwing of 1 lb. of marabout was equal to about 2 lbs. of organzine. In the year 1859 there was a small silk-throwing industry at Wincanton.

Other important centres of the old trade were Bruton and WeUs, and at the former place in the year 1823, or thereabouts, there are stated to have been 15,700 spindles at work, a number which had dechned in 1831 to 7,000. There was also a small industry at Kilmersdon at the beginning of the 19th century. Other branches of the modern industry in addition to that referred to above are the estabUshments of Messrs. James Kemp and Sons, of Shepton Mallett, where tailors' material is manufactured, and Messrs. Thompson and Le Gros, at Merchants Barton, Frome.

Devonshire.

For over a century the Heathcoat family have been engaged in the textUe industry, including the silk trade at Tiverton, where the factories now cover an area of over 10 acres, and give employment to a large number of . workpeople. John Heathcoat, the founder of the business, commenced his business career at Loughborough, where he set up a machine capable of producing exact imitations of real pillow lace. Another of his inventions was an improved method of winding raw silk from cocoons, and filatures for this purpose were set up in Italy and Sicily, where the work is stOl continued. To-day the works are among the most important producers of plain silk lace net, and the construction of the machines and the making, mending, dyeing and finishing of the nets are aU carried Tiverton out at the Tiverton factories. As long since as the year Fac- 1833 Mr. Heathcoat received an offer of £10,000 for the tories. secret of his method of dressing and finishing the silk nets ;

342 SILK INDUSTRY.

the offer was refused, and partly owing to the fact that the business has always been owned and managed by members of the same family since its inception, the processes remain secrets down to the present day. The silk dress nets, sUk toscas, go to all markets in the world, and furnish a conspicuous example of a branch of the British silk trade which has held and increased its hold through all the chances and changes of outrageous fortune. A good deal of the tulle used in making the robes and gowns worn at the Coronation of King George emanated from the Tiverton factories, which also supply France, Belgium and Germany with large quantities of tulle in black and all the fashionable shades.

CHAPTER XXX.

Scotland.

Silk has had its place in the Scottish wardrobe certainly for more than 400 years, for an Act of the Scottish Parhament of 1503, " Anent the fredomez and privilegis of merchandis and burrowis," specified silk, together with wine, wax, spicery and staple goods as one of the com- modities only to be traded in by merchants within the royal burghs. There is no warrant for regarding such silk transactions as large, although it is to be inferred that the business had begun to interest a number of traders. Silks, wines, cloths and miscellaneous cargo, including even salt, were imported through Leith from the Low Countries, France and Spain, in return for the exported wool, skins and salmon. The transactions were managed in part by Scotsmen resident abroad like Andrew Halyburton, commission merchant of Middelburg, whose ledgers (1493 — 1505), stored in the General Register House, Edinburgh, are described in Robert Chambers's Edinburgh Merchants and Merchandise (1859).

The inference that by the beginning of the 16th century Silk trade in silk had become diffused is supported by a in the reference to the sumptuary legislation of the period. National Edward III, of England, had passed a law in 1337 Dress. restricting the use of silk to the Royal family and to the propertied class, and some measure of the comparative advancement of the two countries is to be obtained by noting the date of the passing of a similar measure for Scotland.

In the poorer and more frugal country a law forbidding the use of silk by others than knights, minstrels, heralds and landowners of £100 rental was enacted by James III

343

344 SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk in 1471, out of consideration of the great poverty of the

in the realm. A transcript follows of the significant passages of National this Act, modernised only as regards the contractions used Dress. by the scrivener :

"Item it is statut and ordanit in this present

parlyament that consid'ing the gret pow'te of

the Realme the gret expens and cost mad upon

the brynging of silks in the Realme that therefor

na man sal weir silks in tyme cumyng in gown

doublate or cloks except knychts mestraUis and

herralds without that the werar of the samy

may spend a hwndretht punds wortht of lands

rent under the payn of amerciament to the king

of X Hb als of as thai ar fundyn and escheten of

the samyn to be given to the herralds or men-

straUis ....

" And at menis wifEs within a hwndreth pounds

wer na silks in lynyng but alanly in colar and

slevis. ..."

Some reason to doubt the efficacy of this piece of

legislation is provided by the books of the Universall

Kirk of Scotland. The General Assembly in August,

1575, had to take serious cognisance of the dress of the

clergy and their wives, of whom it may be supposed not

aU enjoyed the quahfication of one hundred per annum

of land's rent. The Assembly recorded the following

opinion of the contemporary fashions in a preamble :

" We think aU kinds of broidering unseemly ; aU

begares* of velvet, in gown, hose, or coat, and all

superfluous and vain cutting out, steekingf with

sUks, aU kinds of costly sewing on passmentsj ;

. . . aU kind of gowning, cutting doubletting or

breeks of velvet, satin, taffeta, or such like, aU

The silk hat and hats of divers and light colours."

Clergy Reverend judgment was crystallised into a recom-

and mendation that :

Silk " Their whole habit be of grave colour as black,

Garments. russett, sad gray or sad brown ; or serges, worset,

* Sewn-on ornaments ; bows.

t AngUce, closing.

J paaaementeries, trimmings.

SCOTLAND. 345

chamlet, grogram Ijies, worset or such like . . . The

and their wives to be subject to the same order." Attitude The motives actuating the presentation to Parhament of the in 1696 of a draft " for ane constant fashion of clothes for Church, men . . . and ane constant fashion of clothes for women " are not now open to scrutiny. The proposals would seem however to owe more to certain conceptions of seemhness and economy than to any design to promote manufacturing industry. Possibly, because of this absence of a substantial motive, the House ordered the paper to he upon the table. Probably there is no more than an empty coincidence in the correspondence of dates between the presentation of the draft and the pubhcation by a Fife laird of hnes displaying some regret over con- temporary fashions. The verses are quoted from Chambers's Domestic Annals of Scotland, for the sake of their Ught upon the sorts of fabrics worn at the time. " We had no garments in our land

But what were spun by th' goodwife's hand ;

No drap-de-berry, cloths of seal,

No stuffs ingrained in cochineal ;

No plush, no tissue, cramosie,

No China, Turkey, taffety ;

No proud Pyropus, paragon.

Or Chackarally there was none ;

No figurata, water chamlet.

No Bishop sattin, or silk camblet ;

No cloth of gold or beaver hats."

The subject of Scottish clothing in the succeeding Silk century has been treated at length in Mr. H. G. Graham's Plaid illuminating book. The Social Life of Scotland in the I8th part of Century. Men of the gentle classes, although they might National go in shabby clothes in the morning, " in pubhc appeared Costume, in their coat and waistcoat trimmed with sUver or gold, their silk stockings and jackboots." Ladies of fashion in the time of Queen Anne wore their hoops " four or five yards in circumference, covered with a dress of sUk or petticoat of velvet or silk bound with gold or silver lace. . . . But, however desirous to be in the fashion,

346

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk every Scots lady had that essential part of national costume,

Plaid the plaid, wrapped loosely about the head and body,

part of made either of silk or of wool with a silken hning of bright

National green or scarlet ; while the common people wore their

Costume, gaudy coloured plaid of coarse worsted. The plaids

were the ordinary costume of the ladies, as characteristic

and national as the mantillas of Spain up to the middle

of the century, when at last they gave way to silk and

velvet cloaks."

The ladies, of course, spun, and Mr. Graham describes how in the early 18th century, when wooUen stuffs were the chief produce, " rich and poor, in bedroom and kitchen of the mansion, as well as the hovel of the peasant followed this domestic craft." At the same time the professional weavers of Glasgow plaidings, Aberdeen fingrams, Kilmar- nock and Musselburgh stuffs, and Edinburgh shaUoons, were making a reputation for these fabrics.

The place of sUk in relation to the national dress has its natural bearing upon the beginnings of the silk manu- facture in Scotland, as to which event some mis-statements have found their way into print. In particular the state- ment in Brown's History of Paisley that the sUk manu- facture began in Scotland about 1760 has been copied by other writers. It may be agreed that in or about that year silk began to be used in place of linen in Paisley to make the gauzes that are still a distinctive minor product of the West of Scotland. There had, however, been earlier attempts, of which one, due to Robert Dickson of Perth, was made nearly 200 years before the more effective beginning made in Paisley by Humphrey Fulton. The attempt seems to have escaped the notice of the Pioneer Perth historians, although the document granting a Work monopoly in 1581 to Dickson is contained in the national at archives. A copy is appended of the —

Perth. " Ratification of the preuelege of silk making to

Robert diksone. " Oure souerane Lord with auise of his thrie estaitis . . . confermis the prevelege and hbertie grantet be his hienes to his louite Robert diksoun vpoun his ofer.

SCOTLAND. 347

" To bring in and to leame within this realme the Indus- airte of the making and working of sUkis. To be trial als gude and sujficient as the samin is maid within Begin- the countreis of f ranee or flanderis. And to be nings in sauld within this realme better chaip not the lyk Scot- siliis ar sauld within this realme brocht heir or land, out of vther countreis quhairvpoun the said robert mon bestow grite sowmes of money quhilk salbe the occasioun that ane grite nowmer of young and pure pepill salbe virteouslie and honestly sustenit on that occupation. And thairf oir gevand and grantand to the said robert power, prevelege and hbertie to use and exerce the said airt be him selff and his servandes and vtheris in Name be the space of threttie yeiris nixttocum discharging all vtheris during the said space to use or exerce the said airte without his leiff and guidwill first had and obtenit thairto. And that the raw and unwrocht silkis to be brocht hame be him salbe custome frie with the dreggis for Utting* thos him selff to be maid frie burges and gild in perth or sic vther places quhair he sail pleis to plaint without payment of sowmes of money thairfoir. And he and his servandis to be frie of warding taxationis impositionis. And to transport the silkis wrocht be him customs frie as in his said prevelege at mair lenth salbe contenit. Providing that he enter to his work within yeir and day eftir the dait heiroff with one hundreth servandis and continew in the said work thairefter. Certefeing him and he do in the contrair he faU tyne his prevelege." The terms of the grant leave no doubt of the nature of Granting

Dickson's proposals, and it is stated in the History of the of Privi-

Scottish People by T, Thomson that Dickson commenced leges.

with a certain date and with 100 workmen continued to

prosecute the trade.

The encouragement of the textUe industry was much

in the minds of the authorities of the period and in 1587

* Litting = dyeing.

348

SILK INDUSTRY.

Privi- the better known Act was passed "in favour of the

leges craftismen flemynges." The terms of the grant to John

of the Banko at all events contemplated such use of silk as is

Flemings, impUed in the inclusion of bombazines among the list of

articles to be manufactured in Edinburgh. The text

empowered " Johne gardin philp fermant and Johne

banko flemyngis, strangearis and workmen ... to

exercise thair craft ... in making of searges growgrams,

fusteanis, bombesies, stemmingis be3ds, covertors of

beddis and vtheris appertening to the said craft and for

instructioun of the said hegis in the exercise of the making

of the warkis . . . the experience and suir knawlege of

thair laubors quhilk will tend to ane perpetuall floresching

of the said craft within this realme.

" Our souerane lord . . . hes tho't ressounable and expedient and for the common weiU . . . hes aggreit . . . vpoun the particular heids and articles following.

" That is to say the said craftesmen sail remane within this realme for the space of fyve yeiris at the leist . . . and sal bring within this realme the nowmer of xxx personis of wabsteris*, walkarisf and sic vtheris as may wirk and performe the said wark as alsua ane htstair,t or ma for htting and perfitting of thair said warkis and. . . . Sail make and perfite the steikis and peeces of warkis according as the samin ar or hes bene maid in flanderis, holland or Ingland, kepand lenth breid and synes con- forme to the rule and stile of the bulk of the craft." Employ- The prudent care for the quaUty of the goods to be ment of manufactured was matched by the provision ensuring the Native employment of native apprentices. The Flemings were — Appren- " To tak na prenteisses bot Scottis boyis and madinnis

tices. and before anie vtheris the burges bairnis of

Edinburgh to be preferrit and acceptit." They were

"... not to su:ffer ony personis of thair awin natioun and vocatioun to beg or trouble this cuntrie for povertie."

* Weavers.

t Cloth finishers.

t Dyer.

SCOTLAND. 349

One Nicolas Edward, who became later Provost of the Employ- city, was set over the strangers as supervisor : ment of "... his Ma*'^. . . . hes appointit one honest and Native discreit man, Nicholas vduart, burges of Edin- Appren- burgh, to be visitor and over sear of the said tices. craftismen haill worlds . . , and to try the sufficiencie thereof and to keip his hienes seiU stamp and Irne for marking." A market stand was allotted to the incomers, and the sum of one thousand merks :

"His Ma*'^. grantis ... ane patent place . . . quhair thay sail remane vpoim the ordinar mercat dayes ... to seU thair maid steikis* and peces of stuff. . . . Providing that thay saU sell na wool nor worsett befoir the same be put in wark. "... assignis to the saidis thre strangers and thair cumpanye. The sowme of ane thowsand merkis money of this reahne."! The three Flemings of 1587 were followed by seven more, who were engaged in June, 1601, to settle in the country ; six of them to practise the making of says or worsted serges, one to teach the manufacture of broad- cloth. Their appearance followed upon an Act of 1597, in which the general character of Enghsh cloth was traversed

" the same having only for the maist part an outward

show, wanting that substance and strength whilk The oft-times it appears to have." debt to

The workmen had to complain to the Privy Council Foreign upon their arrival that they were neither entertained Weavers. nor set to work, and that it was proposed to separate them, " which wald be a grit hinder to the perfection of the wark."

The Council decreed that :

" The haill strangers brought hame for the errand

saU be holden together within the burgh of

Edinburgh."

Pressure was being exerted at the time upon the Royal

burghs to cause them to promote cloth manufacture, and

* Cf. German Stuck = a piece, ■f Some fifty guineas.

348

SILK INDUSTRY.

Privi- the better known Act was passed "in favour of the

leges craftismen flemynges." The terms of the grant to John

of the Banko at all events contemplated such use of silk as is

Flemings, imphed in the inclusion of bombazines among the list of

articles to be manufactured in Edinburgh. The text

empowered " Johne gar din philp fermant and Johne

banko flemjnugis, strangearis and workmen ... to

exercise thair craft ... in making of searges growgrams,

fusteanis, bombesies, stemmingis beyis, covertors of

beddis and vtheris appertening to the said craft and for

instructioun of the said Uegis in the exercise of the making

of the warkis . . . the experience and suir knawlege of

thair laubors quhilk will tend to ane perpetuaU floresching

of the said craft within this realme.

" Our souerane lord . . . hes tho't ressounable and expedient and for the common weill . . . hes aggreit . . . vpoun the particular heids and articles following.

" That is to say the said craftesmen sail remane within this realme for the space of fyve yeiris at the leist . . . and sal bring within this realme the nowmer of xxx personis of wabsteris*, walkarisf and sic vtheris as may wirk and performe the said wark as alsua ane htstair,t or ma for htting and perfitting of thair said warkis and. . . . SaU make and perfite the steikis and peeces of warkis according as the samin ar or hes bene maid in flanderis, holland or Ingland, kepand lenth breid and synes con- forme to the rule and stile of the bulk of the craft." Employ- The prudent care for the quahty of the goods to be ment of manufactured was matched by the provision ensuring the Native employment of native apprentices. The Flemings were — Appren- " To tak na prenteisses bot Scottis boyis and madinnis

tices. and before anie vtheris the burges baimis of

Edinburgh to be preferrit and acceptit." They were

"... not to suffer ony personis of thair awin natioun and vocatioun to beg or trouble this cuntrie for povertie."

* Weavers.

t Cloth finishers.

t Dyer.

SCOTLAND.

349

One Nicolas Edward, who became later Provost of the Employ- city, was set over the strangers as supervisor : ment of "... his Ma*'^. . . . hes appointit one honest and Native discreit man, Nicholas vduart, burges of Edin- Appren- burgh, to be visitor and over sear of the said tices. craftismen haill workis . . . and to try the sufficiencie thereof and to keip his hienes seill stamp and Irne for marking." A market stand was allotted to the incomers, and the sum of one thousand merks :

" His Ma*'®, grantis ... ane patent place . . . quhair thay sail remane vpoun the ordinar mercat dayes ... to sell thair maid steikis* and peces of stuff. . . . Providing that thay sail sell na wool nor worsett befoir the same be put in wark. "... assignis to the saidis thre strangers and thair cumpanye. The sowme of ane thowsand merkis money of this realme."t The three Flemings of 1587 were followed by seven more, who were engaged in June, 1601, to settle in the country ; six of them to practise the making of says or worsted serges, one to teach the manufacture of broad- cloth. Their appearance followed upon an Act of 1597, in which the general character of Enghsh cloth was traversed

" the same having only for the maist part an outward

show, wanting that substance and strength whilk The oft-times it appears to have." debt to

The workmen had to complain to the Privy CouncU Foreign upon their arrival that they were neither entertained Weavers. nor set to work, and that it was proposed to separate them, " which wald be a grit hinder to the perfection of the wark."

The Council decreed that :

" The haiU strangers brought hame for the errand

sail be holden together within the burgh of

Edinburgh."

Pressure was being exerted at the time upon the Royal

burghs to cause them to promote cloth manufacture, and

* Cf. German Stuck = a piece, t Some fifty guineas.

350

SILK INDUSTRY.

The debt to Foreign Weavers.

The

Prohibi- tion upon Imports.

a minute of the Council, dated September, 1601, menaced the towns with the loss of their Royal privileges if nothing were done to " ef ectuat the claith working" by Michael- mas. In 1609 the Edinburgh weavers had to complain of molestation by the magistrates of the Canongate, who wished to force them to become burgesses and freemen, and a deputation headed by John Sutherland and Joan Van Headen stated that they were —

" daily exercised in their art of making, dressing

and htting of stuffis, and gives great hcht and

knowledge of their caUing to the country people." The particulars relate rather to the indebtedness to ahen teaching than to the direct development of the Scottish silk industry, and it appears that Flemish skill founded at least three factories — Bonnington, Newmilla and Ayr. That Enghsh as well as Dutch help was enlisted is shown by an entry of 1665 referring to persons in quarantine :

" Richard Hereis and Samuell Odell . . . came from

London to Nottingham . . . where hyred 9

servants for silk weaving, coming to Newcastle

stayed several days."

" (Converse at freedom.)" No information is forthcoming as to the issue of the effort by Herries and Odell, and it is reported in Chambers's Annals that the George Sanders who obtained a patent for 17 years in 1681, " for a work for the twisting and throwing all sorts of raw silk," did not proceed with his undertaking. Attempts to force the pace of manu- facturing development were being made concurrently, and in 1682 an Act was passed " discharging the wearing of silver lace and silk stuffs, upon design to encourage the making of fine stuffs within the Kingdom and to repress the excessive use of these commodities." The explanation is quoted from Mackenzie's Memoirs, as is the following account of the practical difiiculties encountered in carrjdng out the law :

" That which was complain' d of was, that the goods

already brought in were not allow' d to be worn ;

which was refus'd lest, under the pretext of these,

SCOTLAND.

351

others might be brought in ; and yet nine months The were allow' d them for venting and wearing of Prohibi- them ; and it was urg'd that if longer time were tion granted, the Act would be forgot, before it could upon be put in execution, as it was in King James's Imports, reign, for this same cause." The Act was not in point of fact forgotten, for Chambers records that upon the information of Alexander Milne, collector of Customs in Edinburgh, Sir John Colquhoun, of Luss, was haled before the Privy Council in the suc- ceeding year. In disregard of the law forbidding clothes ornamented with " silk-lace, gimp-lace or any other lace or embroidering or silk," he had appeared " wearing a black justicat, whereupon there was black silk or gimp lace." Sir John was condemned to a fine of 500 merks (£29 stg.), payable half to his Majesty's private use and half to the informer.

Scotland was suffering from acute depletion of currency, and the purchase of Enghsh-made cloths was conceived to make matters worse, " Enghsh money was not to be had under 6 or 7 per cent " in 1681, and hardly at any rate. Exchange had risen as high as 12 or* 15 per cent against Edinburgh in the London market, and these con- siderations explain the preamble of the Act of 1691 for encouraging trade and manufactures.

" Considering that the importation of forreign Com- Currency modities (which are superfluous or may be made problems, within the Eangdom . . .), has exceedingly exhausted the money . . . and hightened the Exchange." Accordingly, his Majesty strictly prohibited " all Merchants to import any Gold or silver thread . . . lace, ffringes or Traceings. All Buttons of Gold or silver threed &c. All flour'd, strip'd, figur'd, chequer'd, painted, or printed silk stuff or Ribbands (noways comprehending changing colloured or wattered Stuffs or Ribbands) ; all Embroideries of Silk upon Wearing Cloaths."

♦ Professor Scott's introduction to the New Mills Cloth Manufactory shows that exchange on London was at a discount of 12f per cent in 1701.

352

SILK INDUSTRY.

Burning It was provided additionally that : of Im- " All such, goods imported hereunto . . . shaU be

ported burnt and destroyed, and the importers or Resetters

Goods. fined in the value thereof."

Even if something may be claimed from the public and practical point of view for removing the onus from the wearer of clothes, and placing it upon the importer and dealer, the heroic measure of burning existing supplies cannot easily be defended. Other goods than silks were imphcated in the prohibition which apphed to gloves, boots and other articles, as well as to —

" Any forraigne Holland, Linnen, Cambrick, Lawn,

Dornick, damesk, tyking, bousten or Damety,

tufted or stripped holland CaUigo, Selesia or East

India Linnen. And aU other forraign Cloaths

and stuffs made of Linnen or Cottoun wool or hnt

(noways comprehending fHannen, Arras hangings,

forreigne Carpets and made beds of Silk Damest-

hangings, Chairs and stools conform thereto).

All forreign silk or Woolen stockings. AH forraign

laces made of Silk, Gimp or thread."

Disabling as the measure was to the importation of

finished goods, it was a beneficial Act in respect of the

import of articles for use in manufacture :

" AH Oyl, dying Stuff, forraign wooU, hnt and flax, pot-ashes or any other MateriaUs whatsoever use- full for Manufactures . . . are hereby declared to be free of Customs ancl Excise." The Act laid down the dimensions to which " hnen, woolen, drogats and serges " were to be manufactured, but prescribed none for silk ; an omission which may show that no silks were being manufactured or that no customary dimensions had been evolved. A Doubtless the apphcation, already referred to, of George

Pro- Sanders, in the year 1681, is related to the prospects

tective afforded by the exclusion of competition. The same Measure, consideration must have been in the minds of Joseph Ormiestoun and William EUiott, whose petition for a concession to manufacture silk was received favourably by the Privy Council in 1698. The petition is recorded

SCOTLAND. 353

in the Acts of the Scottish ParUament as one for the Mono- " winding, throwing, twisting, and dyeing of raw sUk." poly As further described by Robert Chambers, it was Secured, incidentally to open a profitable trade between Scotland and Turkey, and for " advancing the manufacture of buttons, galloons, silk stockings and the hke."

The petitioners proposed to " bring down several families who make broad silks, gold and sUver thread &c.," and had no doubt " many of the Norwich weavers may be encouraged to come and estabhsh in this country, where they may live and work at easy rates." The petitioners were granted privileges, but not a monopoly, and although few particulars concerning the enterprise are available there is information enough at hand to identify this undertaking with the Silk Manufacture, which was attacked in 1702 by the Cloth Companies for diminishing the demand for their products. Professor Scott writes that at the end of four years its profits excited envy, and that although it had not a formal monopoly it had in fact no competitor.

About another undertaking, formed under the patronage The New of the Duke of York to exploit the manufacture of woollen Mills cloth, many more particulars are available. This is the Silk New Mills Cloth Manufactory, founded in 1681, of which Stocking the minute books have been preserved and reprinted by Factory, the Scottish History Society. The place, New Mills, known now by the name of Amisfield, is in Haddingtonshire. A group of Edinburgh merchants, or shopkeepers, formed the Company with an Enghshman, Sir James Stanfield, at their head. Workmen were brought from Yorkshire and the West of England to carry on processes with which the Scots were unfamiliar. Beginning with the coarsest cloths, finer quahties were gradually attempted until at length the manufacture of superfine woollens was reached. The Company received Government contracts, its initial capital of £5,000 was raised to twice the sum and although in 1713 its effects were dispersed, the venture cannot be regarded as less successful than the majority of industrial concerns. The venture was in some aspect a co-operative undertaking, bound to sell its goods only

354 SILK INDUSTRY.

The New to shareholders and to members of the Merchant Company.

Mills It had the advantage of a field clear of foreign com-

Silk petition, and more than once it set the law in motion

Stocking against those who disregarded the Act of 1681. A Robert

Factory. Cunningham, convicted of seUing " prohibite cloth, stuffs

and serges," was heavily fined. A Councillor, Robert

BaiUie, a member of the Company, who was found to

have imported Enghsh cloth, valued £400 sterhng, had

his shares forfeited and his iUicit goods were burned by

the common hangman.

What invests the New Mills Company with a peculiar interest is that it carried on a department for the manu- facture of silk stockings, and that the progress of its a:ffairs in this department is revealed in the Book for the Managers of the Manufactures Weekly Sederunts. The " managers " were the equivalent of the modern company directors, and their weekly " sederunts " of the modern Board meeting.

The transactions in respect of silk stockings began May 24th, 1682, when [158] "The Managers made due aggreement with Sir James Stanfield for f oure silk stocken frames for quhich they are to pay him two thousand merkes."

A week later Hugh Blair was bidden to write a letter of thanks to one James Donaldson for his kindness in the matter of certain " silk stocken frames." On June 9th, Trade in John Home was ordered to " send down the two silk stocken Silken frames by hand." On June 12th the managers [176] Hose. " approve of the contracts made by Hugh Blaire with Francis Perry, Edward Pike and John Godson, frame work knitters . . . and appoints George Hume and James Row to goe out to New Millns and renew the con- tracts with the frame work knitters, makeing mention of the weight of the pair of hose. ..."

On June 14th, [179] "James Row and George Home, haveing been att New Millns, reports after much paines taken with Mr. Burton to settle with him, prevaild with him to take his consideration whether he would accept of 5s. sterling per week to mentaine the 7 frames compleat for work or take 15s. sterhng per week, and be

SCOTLAND. 355

oblidged to make 5 pair silk stockens per week, he and Trade in his apprentizes, and mentaine the frames, of quhich he is Silken to give us his answer shortly and for renewing the con- Hose, tracts with the rest of the silk stocken weavers, thought noe wages fitt to move in itt till first Mr. Burton was indented with."

It is to be observed that the names of the framework- knitters are not distinctively Scots names, and a minute of 6th September shows Pike to have been brought from London :

[208] " Ordered that Mr. Pike receive 15s. sterling upon ane account of the extraordinary expences of his transportation from London to New MiUns, and that George Home [give] itt him and 131b. 4s. Scotts more to be given him in performance of a condition made betwixt Mr. Blair and him att London upon the arrivall of his frames att New MUlns, and the hke same he is [to] receive upon the arrivall of the other frame."

On 13 September, Burton, who had already been mentioned in connection with repair work, was set a further task :

[212] " To cause Burton sett up pikes 2 frames and to inspect whatever else is necessary to be done about the manufactory." . . .

A few weeks later a proposal to put Pike in charge of the other knitters produced immediate effects. A minute of 27th October :

[235] " Reports theire discourseing Pike upon putting him in the oversight of the silk stockens quho seem to decline itt and therefore thought itt fitt to delay itt tUl Employ- the manager was spoke in itt and the rest of the stocken ment of weavers have all gott knowledge of itt are soe concerned English att itt thatt they have all promised to make good and Weavers, sufficient worke."

An instruction of April, 1683, to Mr. Spurway and Mr. Marr, who had charge of the work at New Mills, gives the rate of payment, and shows Mr. Pike to have been paid on a higher scale than the rest.

[313] " You are to pay for every pair of hose 2s. 6d. per pair, and to Mr. Pike 2s. lOd. per pair, and if any

356

SILK INDUSTRY.

stockens be desjred whose weight shall come to foure or more ounces, the stocken weaver is to have ten pence per ounce for every ounce above three besyde his ordinary price." An In 1685 Mr. Burton came into prominence as the central

Industrial figure in an industrial scandal, and the minute [669] : Scandal. " Orders James Bowden goe out to Newmilns and deaU with Mr. Burtone for getting againe the silk and stockens and other goods imbussled by hime, and to take the mesters assistance, and if he cannot be prevailled with to cause bring him into the toune."

The further development of the affair is shewn in the decision taken at the next day's sitting :

[670] " Haveing considered Burtone, the stocken weaver affair aproves of George Home goeing for him and con- sidering the said Burton's professed repentance, and that he promissed to restore all the goods that he imbassled, they apoynt hime to goe back to his work with Mr. Spurroway tiU Monday or Tuesday till he performe quhat he promissed and till we consider furder one it."

There were other difficulties from which the managers had to extricate their stocking makers. In 1685 two of them were in debt, and presumably in prison, for they were " diverted from employment," The minute [682] " Orders Mr. Marr to take up ane true inventer of ther debts and to ingadge in name of the company to pay them in one, two, three or four moneth time as he can agree and take discharges from them to the said stocken weaver, and to give them his ticket payable accord- ingly." Financial John Godson, one of the stocking makers engaged in Troubles 1682, had fallen by 30th March, 1687, into the difficulty of Work- indicated by the remedial measure. " John Godsone to people. have the loan of four pounds sterhng for supheing his present straits, to be repayed five shillings weeMie and take ane obhgation from him therefor."

These matters of personal concern, while not the least interesting of the transactions of the Company, are less directly informative than some of the orders concerning prices and goods under date 27th October, 1682 :

SCOTLAND. 357

[236] " Its ordered that the next division of silk stockens Financial thatt shall be made they shall be given to the concerned Troubles and sold att the rate of 3s. sterhng per oz. black and of Work- mixt overhead, and this to be the rule for all time comeing people, and George Home is ordered to write out to the stocken weavers thatt they make the sUk stockens weight 2 oz. 12 or within 3oz."

On February 13th, 1683, the managers would appear to have been launching an experiment to test the market with a sample of brightly coloured hose.

[284] " Ordered to give out 61b. weight of silk for a true native grass green to be made in women's hose with first silk dyed and 31bs. pale buff colour."

[285] " Ordered to make a dozen pair womens sUk stockens of the first remnants of shps to be dyed black."

A month later, 4,000 needles for the silk frames were ordered from London, and in April, in a tone which sug- gests some suspicion of the honesty of their knitters, the managers bade Mr. Spurway and Mr. Marr :

[312] " When you receive silk you to give of all silk of a collour if it be 3 or 4, 5, 6 lbs. to one man and weight it out to him, and when the stockens of that silk comes back you are to weightt it back and know if you receive back the silk allowing the waste which you are hkewise to keep by you till you discharge yourself e thereby."

Some hint of labour troubles is to be found in the order of 26th August, 1683, appointing delegates, and giving them specified power to bargain :

[361] " Orders George Home and James Boudin to Labour goe out to Newmillnes and make ane settlement with the Disputes stoking we vers for working the pair of the new fashoned in 17th stript hoes, and that they doe not exceed fyve shillings Century. a pair."

Three days later, the mission having been executed on terms within the maximum, minute [365], " Aproves of the report mad by James Boudin and George Home of what they did ther in setthng with stoking weivers at four shilling sevein penc a pair for working the strip stokicLS. . . ."

358

SILK INDUSTRY.

Details of Manu- facture.

A

Trade

in

Gloves.

On 13th May, 1684, instructions were given to Godson and Burton " to call to James Marr and take soe much of each of the light colours of silk as be three or four pairs of woman's stockins, and of such collers as are very- currant and good as grein, masarein blew hair collour and chirie collour ane dozen of each sort."

A further instruction of the same date deals with other technical matters and [466] " Orders lykways the silk stocken stiruped in the head be maid wydder in the topps and the common and ordinary weight not to exceid three and ane half unces, but some may be four unces, and to make the leggs larger."

The stocking business was not carried on upon a large scale, and purchases of silk were not of any great quantity. One instruction gave orders " goe to George Sandrie and buy tenne or twelve pun of dayed silk as schap as can be."

Eventually the manufacture of worsted stockings was begun but not with entirely satisfactory results. As an advertising measure in 1684, it was :

[440] " Ordered to give ane pair or worsted stockins with each half peece of cloath, and this to be the rule for takeing out of worsted stockins till they come in more plentifuUy."

A year later orders were issued that " noe more silk or worset stockens be made with stirups, but that they may be made long and well marreilled and full in the top as if had stiruped head."

Finally, in June, 1685, it was decided " that no more worsted stockens be made unless fyne worset can be had but that they work upon silk gloves and plain marbled silk stockens long unstriped and women silk stockens."

In September of the year orders were given to work three of the frames constantly upon gloves and the others upon stockings. The changes connote some flickering of demand, and in view of the decision taken in July, 1688, it is apparent that the knitting business was not improving : —

[1172] " Orders that the silk frames be rouped* con- forme to a former order against Fryday, the 27th of July,

* rouped — sold at auction.

SCOTLAND. 359

instant, unless a letter arrive with hopes to dispose of them to London."

It appears that the Company had stiU only its original seven frames and seven years of wear had doubtless made them no more desirable in the eyes of purchasers. The last heard of them is in a minute of October, 1688, noting an agreement made with a frame smith to repair the " wholl seven fraimis and make them compleat for sixtie pund sterling."

One other incident in relation to the stringent Act of The 1681 deserving of notice is the ratification made in favour Glasgow of the Incorporation of Weavers in Glasgow. " The Incor- Deacon, Masters and remanent Brethren " of that poration venerable body were confirmed in the privileges of the of grant originally made to them 4th June, 1528. Whereas Weavers. " of old . . . incomers weavers taking the stuff out of the town or otherwayes encroaching " had been " fyned in ane pund of walx and a dinner to the Masters of the Craft," they were henceforth to be fined " twentie pound Scots for the poor of the trade." The wax, it maybe ' added, was for the altar of their Saint, and the sum was, in sterling, 33s. 4d."

Twenty years later the Act of 1681 was modified by the inclusion of cottons and the exemption of plainblack silks and certain velvets, goods imported by the Scottish Chartered Company trading to the East, and certain articles required for official use. In its significant portions the Act of 1701 :

" Doeth strictly Prohibite and Forbid the Importation of aU stuffs of any kind made of silk or hair and the Importation of CaUigoes or other Stuffs or any kind made of cottoun or whereis ther is any cottoun, hair or silk ; as also of capes, stockings, gloves, buttons of aU sort . . . excepting musline and all plainblack silk stuffs and velvets for women's hoods and skarfs only ; as also velvets and The other silk stuffs for states and chairs of state as hkeways Act of for pales mort cloaths, foot mantles and the robes of 1701. such pubHct officers who are in use to wear velvets ; excepting hkewayes ... all such Indian and Persian goods as shall be loaded in Persia and the Indies, and

360

SILK INDUSTRY.

thence imported by the Company of Scotland tradeing to Africa and the Indies. . . ." Paisley The regulation and development of the indigenous

Gauze. hnen industry was the next matter to receive oJ0B.cial attention, and out of the improved hnen manufacture grew the Scottish silk industry, of which certain remains are existent. The Humphrey Fulton who founded the silk trade of Paisley was born, according to Paterson's History of Ayr, at Midtown of Threapwood, Beith, 17th April, 1713, and he died in 1779. After experience as a packman in Scotland and England, he began to manufacture hnens and lawns at Beith, removing in 1749 to Paisley, where about 1760 he introduced the making of silk gauze in competition with the looms of Spitalfields. The experiment was presumably aided by the lower cost of labour in Scotland than in London, and it succeeded so rapidly, according to particulars quoted in Brown's History of Paisley, that Fulton often employed 400-600 looms in the Paisley district. Attracted by his success, London firms opened estabhshments in the town and the local goods were so moderate in price and superior in quahty that the manufacturers opened warehouses for the sale of the gauzes in London, Dublin, and other inland towns and even shops in Paris.

Humphrey Fulton left two sons, and the business sur- vived his death for many years. One of the employees of the firm in about 1815 was a Fulton of a different family, which is identified now with the large and famous dyeing firm of Fulton, Sons and Co., Ltd., Paisley. To Mr. Joseph Fulton, son of the last named, the writer is indebted for some particulars finking the Paisley silk industry with that in other parts of the country. Mr. Joseph Fulton writes : — Links " One of the feUow-workers of my late father, named

with Douglas, migrated with all his family, about 1815,

other to Yarmouth and Norwich, where for many years

Centres. they were employed by Messrs. Grout and Co.,

silk crape manufacturers. On retiring, they returned to this part of the country, and in con- junction with Mr. George Douglas (long manager

SCOTLAND. 361

at Grout and Co.) we started making silk crape Liaks here, but found the trade rather foreign to our with district. Our idea was that girls employed in other the Paisley thread mills might be able to mani- Centres, pulate silk, but in this we were disappointed. Our whole plant was sold to a firm in Lyons, where we have been led to understand it proved very successful." Semple's History of Paisley shows that in 1780, when the silk gauze trade was at or near its zenith, there were 18 manufacturing firms in the town, of whom six belonged to London, while eight out of the remaining 12 had London warehouses. Brown's statement of the looms in the Paisley district illustrates the remarkable growth of the trade.

1776. 1781.

Silk Looms . . 2,500 4,800

Linen or Lawn.. 1,500 2,000

4,000 6,800

In 1784 the value of Paisley manufactures, computed by W. CarlUe in the Scots Magazine (July, 1787), was over £579,000, of which £350,000 was attributed to silk gauze. On the same estimate there were 5,000 silk weavers and an equal number of winders, warpers, chppers, draw- boys and others, and the 10,000 workers were assumed to receive an average wage of 5s. per week. The thread manufacture, then in its infancy, was held accountable for an output valued £64,800, and lawns and thread gauzes for £164,000.

The further development of the trade in fight silk goods The was checked by the growing production of machine-spun Competi- cotton yarn, with which material cheaper muslins could tion of be made than with silk. The cheapness had another Cotton, reaction. In the words of Mr. Gavin (Posthumoiis Works) :

[In 1789. J " The silk manufacture was engrossed by a few great capitafists who would set at defiance aU rivalry by poorer men. They were not under the necessity of

362

SILK INDUSTRY.

The

Competi- tion of Cotton.

Some old Paisley- Silk Firms.

competing with one another to force the sale of goods by underselling and running the prices down to the lowest rate. The raw material of the silk weaving was brought from foreign parts, and sold for cash at the India House ; but cotton yarn was spun at home in immense quantities, and could be had in sufficient abundance by any man who could command five pounds of money, or had credit to that amount. Thus hundreds became manufacturers of muslin who could never have produced a web of silk. The market became overstocked with goods. Those who had got their yarn on credit were obliged to seU at an undervalue, or at whatever they got, in order to pay their biUs."

The cheaper material was thus ultra-cheapened in its finished form. The trade was demoralised, with iU effects upon the wages of workpeople. Working upon silk : " The weavers' hours of labour were moderate, yet they were so well paid that they could dress like gentlemen, and many of them bought houses with their savings." Working upon cotton, in the market conditions that have been described : " The prices of weaving were reduced to the lowest possible rate. Men were required to work longer hours to make a hving, which increased the evil by bringing forward an extra quantity of goods."

The silk gauze trade, which survives in an attenuated form in Glasgow, but has long been extinct in Paisley, ushered in the most prosperous period that the weaving business of the town has ever known.

By the help of a reprint of John Tait's Glasgow Directory, 1783, filed in the Mitchell Library, Glasgow, it is possible to give a list of the names of the Paisley silk firms, taken in the heyday of the trade : —

Bennet & Co., sUk manufacturers.

Elhs

EUiott & Dibbs Ferrier PoUock & Co. Messrs. Fulton James Gibb Hendry & Robertson

SUk Street,

Newtown. Snedon. Woodside. Cross.

Maxweltown. Bridge Street. Newtown.

SCOTLAND.	363
Joseph Holmes & Co., silk manu-		Some old
facturers,	Townhead.	Paisley
James Lowndes & Co. „	Snedon.	Silk
John Love „	New Street.	Firms.
James Love „	Abbey Bridge Street.
John McLellan, silk hsh maker.	Wellmeadow.
Niven Stevenson & Pagan, silk
manufacturers ,	High Street.
Wilham Sempill, gauze dresser,	Gordon's Lane.
William Stevenson, silk manu-
facturer,	New Street.
William Twige, silk manufacturer.	Bridgend.

William & John Wallace, sUk

manufacturers, Snedon.

James Monteith, of Glasgow, is credited with being the first to warp a muslin web, employing Indian yarn, and muslins quickly became the staple production of the West of Scotland. Defoe, upon his visit to the district, wrote : " Here is a manufacture of Muslin which they make so good and fine that great quantities of them are sent into England and to the British plantations, where they sell at a good price. They are generally striped, and are very much used by the ladies, and sometimes in head-cloths by the meaner sort of English women."

The unremunerative character of muslin weaving drove Paisley weavers to give attention to the shawls in intricate and beautiful Oriental designs, for which the town won a second fame. In his monograph upon the subject of the Paisley Shawl, the late Mr. Matthew Blair quotes a Mr. Cross to the effect that the introduction of the shawl manufacture is to be ascribed to the French Expedition to Egypt, whence the original models are supposed to have been sent to Europe as presents. In this connection it seems worth while to cite the categorical statements of ChaUaverel in the History of Fashion in France (Trans. 1882, Hoey and LiUie). Upon this authority, the first Indian shawl or " cachemire," seen in France was imported towards the end of the reign of Louis XV. (1715-1774). The example is said to have excited much attention,

Paisley

Shawls.

364

8ILK INDUSTRY.

Paisley without at first prompting attempts to imitate the article. Shawls. Guillaume Louis Ternaux is named as the first to think of manufacturing such shawls, and he conceived the idea of accHmatising the Tibetan goat to his own country, in order to have supphes of suitable raw material at hand. M. Joubert, of the National Library, was despatched to Tibet, and returned to France with 256 goats, the remnant of the herd of 1,500 with which he began the journey. These goats were distributed over the southern provinces, but the experiment was a practical failure. The shawls were reproduced later in cotton, wool and silk, and also in hair from Kirghiz goats from Russia.

Paisley took its cue from France, and according to Mr. R. Macintyre's Notes on Textiles in the Handbook upon Industries, prepared for the British Association (1901), it was under French supervision in 1824-7 that the first cashmere shawls were made. A Frenchman is said also to have shown how to introduce double grounds to the improvement of the beauty of the goods, accom- panied by a reduction of their cost. The shawl trade, which involved an appreciable consumption of thrown and of spun silk suffered fluctuations, and was called "bad" in 1831 (Macintyre). In 1834 the value of the production was said (Blair) to be worth £1,000,000. Fixing Number 4 of the Weavers' Journal, 1836, said : " Our Mini- shawl trade is uncommonly brisk at present," and on mum 2nd February, 1836, a minimum table of prices for shawls Sale in 1,400 reed was signed upon the part of the employers

Prices. by the following firms : —

Stewart and Jamieson.

Thomas Bain.

Wilson and Dow.

James Black for J. B. Fyfe.

Robert Knox. William Houston. P. Allan & Co. Alex. Fyfe & Co.

Walter Lees

Weaving was stiU a large industry in the West of Scotland, and the Weavers' Journal (1835) gave the mem- bership of the Union as 10,000, half resident in Paisley and half in 24 villages in Renfrewshire and Ayrshire. In the first issue of their Journal the weavers regretted that the "reduction of duty on French silks had operated

SCOTLAND. 365

injuriously to tlie English silk weaver." Presumably, Fixing in emulation of Spitalfields, they were anxious to obtain Mini- power to regulate wages. They seem to have been not mum unsuccessful in their efforts at direct action, for in April, Sale 1836, they obtained also a minimum price hst from the Prices. Glasgow and Paisley manufacturers of Turkey gauzes, a hst of whose signatures is appended: —

Ovington and Warwick.

David Gowdie & Co.

Archd. Brown & Co.

James Whyte, Junr.

W. Carhsle & Co.

Per Wm. Fulton & Sons, James Fulton.

Coats, Grieve & Co.

Alexander Keith.

Andrew Whyte & Co. The rates of wages earned by hand-loom weavers during the terrible years of the transition to the power-loom left every reason for complaint. A Parhamentary Inquiry of 1838, under the Commissionership of J. S. Symons, ehcited the following particulars as to the fall in wages between 1806 and 1830. The figures refer only to "a certain quahty of puUicate " (a cotton fabric), but it is impossible that such a movement should not have its bearings upon weaving at large :

15d. per eU 32s. 6d. per week. 26s. 9d. 25s. 9d. 10s.

5s. 6d. „ 6s. 7d. A Weaver's Saturday," inscribed to the Commissioner The Symons, and written by " One of the Witnesses," describes Fall in the miseries of a cruel time with a skiH and power Wages, creditable to a race and to a trade famous for extra- ordinary gifts of versification. " A farthing on the eU can make the weaver smile " runs one hne in allusion to a voluntary increase in weaving prices conceded by the manufacturers. The author's fellows are apostrophised at length in a manner sufiiciently shown by these excerpts :

<(

1806.	15d.
1810.	12id.
1815.	12d.
1820.	5d.
1830.	3d.
1838.	3id.

366

SILK INDUSTRY.

Account " Hard is your fortune, nurslings of the loom,

by an Cradled in sorrow, reared in joyless toil ;

Eye- Stumbling and lost in dull commercial gloom,

witness. Uncheered by hope, your anguish to beguile —

* * *

. . . Among poor weavers, grumbhng at their ills ;

Some curse taxation, some their rotten yam, And some condemn steam-looms and cotton mills."

There is a brighter side to the past, and those who remember the silk hand-loom weavers of the '60's and '70's in Glasgow recall that they were always a merry and care-free class, constantly singing at their work. If their wages were not high their wants were frequently not many, and the national porridge formed the staple of their food. Hand-loom weaving is stiU carried on in outljdng places, notably at Larkhall, Strathaven, Stonehouse and Hamilton to supply certain Glasgow manufacturers and a few Macclesfield firms who have weaving-agents in these places. The occupation does not attract the rising generation, which passes into the coal, stone and iron industries to undertake coarser and less healthful employ- ments in return for higher pay. The future is with the power-loom, and the leading Glasgow silk manufacturers have equipped themselves with the best Continental models in looms and with electrical motors to drive them. The Mr. Morris Pollock, of Long Govan, has the credit of

first introducing the first power-looms into the silk industry

Power of Scotland in or about 1870. Mr. PoUock had been a Looms. manufacturer of other textiles in Glasgow before buying the estate of 10 acres at Govan, which now forms part of the site occupied by the Fairfield Shipbuilding Company. There a large silk factory was erected, and was worked by Messrs. Anderson and Robertson, of Govan, after the failure of the original owner. A Mr. John Hyde, whose previous experience had lain in the weaving branch of the trade, was manager for Mr. PoUock, and made an unsuccessful attempt to introduce the spinning of waste sUk. English workmen were brought to carry on the

SCOTLAND. 367

processes, but the yarn produced was difficult of sale, and Silk in apparently it was to consume this yarn that the power- Glasgow, looms were brought in. The cloths woven were shipped to India, but the trade was unremunerative.

Some earlier attempts to carry on silk-spinning in Scotland are detailed elsewhere in this book (Chapter V, Waste Silk), and it suffices to mention the names of John G. Campbell, whose office in 1839 was at 119, Brunswick Street, Glasgow; of M. W. Ivison, of Hales Street, Edinburgh, and Wm. Casey and Co., Castle Mills, Edinburgh.

The industry and courtesy of Mr. George Robertson, of Govan, have placed at disposal certain particulars regarding a Glasgow man, formerly a silk-spinner in England. While employed at Lancaster, one Archibald Templeton took out a patent for the treatment of waste silk preparatory to spinning, and the facts as to his con- nection with an eminent famUy of carpet manufacturers and a Prime Minister of England, may be set out in Mr. Robertson's words :

" The Archibald Templeton who took out the patent was a Scot, and a friend of mine, Mr. Archibald Templeton, of Broomward Weaving Factory, Glasgow, is called after him, and is a nephew. From information received from this nephew and from a daughter of the patentee, I learn that Archibald and his elder brother Thomas started business on their own account as silk-spinners in Congleton but failed. After that Archibald went to London, taking employment as representative of Messrs. James Templeton and Co., carpet manufacturers, Glasgow.

" Thomas Templeton took employment under a spinner A Link of the name of Lowndes in Congleton, and thereafter with follows a little bit of romance. Thomas fell in love with Politics, and married his employer's daughter. Lowndes had more than one daughter, it appears, for another suitor came along of the name of Bannerman and married a second Miss Lowndes, and it was from some relation of this Bannerman that Henry Campbell (afterwards Sir Henry Campbell Bannerman, who became Prime Minister) took his added name of Bannerman."

368 SILK INDUSTRY.

West Two of the Glasgow silk manufacturing firms whose names

of appeared in the Glasgow Directory for 1860 may be especially

Scotland mentioned, James McAulay and Co., who in 1848 were Survivals, drugget manufacturers, and who started their silk trade in 1850, were succeeded in business by Caldwell, Young and Co., who are at present the principal silk manufacturers in Scotland, and have their factory at LarkhaU, Lanark- shire. The business of Alex. Henry and Co., makers of silk gossamers, survives, and is now carried on as a branch of Caldwell, Young and Company, Ltd., whose primary business is the manufacture of mufflers and handkerchiefs. Glasgow competes with Macclesfield in silk mufflers, printed and brocaded handkerchiefs, foulards, crepes, tie cloths and printed piece goods. John Frew and Sons, Ltd., Mr. John Galloway and Mr. W. Smith carry on a somewhat similar class of trade, and the four concerns constitute all that is left of the separate silk industry of the West of Scotland.

The heaviest blow to the Scottish silk industry within recent years has been the loss of the Rangoon market, formerly the destination of large and regular quantities of printed silks. The loss is attributed to a combination of circumstances. On the one hand, the German dye- ware companies, in the endeavour to extend their trade, had sent out dyes in small packets for retail sale, accom- panied by instructions as to their use. On the other hand, the Japanese, iri search of an outlet for their habutae, descended on Burma. The native was put in possession Loss at once of cheap colours for printing and cheap fabrics

of the upon which to print, and it does not seem possible that Rangoon this market for tens of thousands of pieces of sUk annually Market, can ever be recovered.

Silk is used by Glasgow manufacturers of mixed goods in decreasing quantity: The spun sUk formerly employed for making stripes has been replaced by mercerised cotton in most directions, and the trade in mixed goods has tended to leave Glasgow for Bradford, whither it has been followed by some Glasgow weaving firms. Glasgow was the place of origin of the first of the artificial sOks, a gelatine product known as " Vanduara." The manufacture

SCOTLAND. 369

of this article does not seem ever to have attained Artificial considerable dimensions, and the local consumption of the Silks, improved artificial silks is apparently not large. One firm of silk throwsters remains — Anderson and Robertson, Ltd., of Go van, who work three factories, of which one is at Glemsford, Suffolk. In replacement of the vanished demand for silk for weaving Rangoon cloths, Messrs. Anderson and Robertson have estabhshed a business in high-class coloured silks for knitting and sewing.

Edinburgh, the scene of various early efforts in silk manufacture, has now neither spindles nor looms. It has been shown that Wm. Casey and Co. carried on silk manufacture there in the '40's, and the Glasgow Directory, 1835-36, describes WOham Casey as agent incidentally in that city for White and Batt, silk merchants, London. Arnot's History of Edinburgh (edn. 1816) states that in 1779, in the capital, there were :

" In the weaving business about 90 looms . . . employed in making silk gauzes, flowered and plain ; and cotton and linen stuffs are printed to a smaU extent." In 1792, according to the letters of Creech, quoted in Anderson's History of Edinburgh (1856), there was an estabhshed manufacture of shawls and casimirs.

A note upon Paisley shawls in McCuUoch's British Empire, 1837, remarked " the trade is principally estab- lished at Paisley, but it is also pursued at Edinburgh (in higher quahties) and at Norwich to some extent."

A more material point shown by Arnot's recapitulation of the exports of Leith in 1778 is that Scottish sUk stuffs were then being exported to Sweden, Russia, Poland and HoUand ; silk gauzes to Spain, and lawns and gauzes to North America.

Dunfermline, famous now and of old for its fine damask Edin- linens, in which the highest quality of material and the burgh greatest skill in weaving are necessarily employed, is and accountable at least for a tour de force m sUk manufacture. Dun- The particulars are taken from Mr. Bremner's Industries of fermline. Scotland, a handbook prepared for the British Association, and are given in his own words. It should be understood

370

SILK INDUSTRY.

Edin- that the weaver in point was improving upon the

burgh performance of a forerunner in 1702, who wove a seamless

and shirt in his loom and forwarded it to the King.

Dun- " David Anderson, weaver of Dunfermline, wove a

fermline. chemise for H.M. Queen Victoria. It was composed of

Chinese tram silk and net warp yarn, and had no seams.

The breast bore a portrait of her Majesty, with the dates

of her birth, ascension and coronation, underneath which

were the British arms and a garland of national flowers."

The flag of the Dunfermhne Weavers' Incorporation,

a treasured local possession, is woven of a solid body of

silk damasks bearing different designs upon each side,

although the fabrics are interwoven.

The South of Scotland, the stronghold of the woollen industry, manufactures primarily tweeds and hosiery, in which silk is an occasional and incidental component rather than a prime material. Upon the evidence of the Wool Year Book (1913), the Scottish tweed mills have 300 sets of cards, 230,000 mule spindles and 3,000 power- looms. They employ 11,300 people, and pay about £60,000 in wages. They consume 30 million lb. of raw wool, and make about 18 mUhon yards of cloth, valued at £3,000,000 or over, per annum. Silk enters into these fine tweeds and worsteds chiefly in the form of twist effect threads. The Hawick, the centre of the Scottish hosiery industry.

South is to be hkened to Leicester in the variety of its knitted of productions. A few articles are knitted from pure silk,

Scotland, and the market is of increasing interest to waste silk spinners. Probably a larger value is represented by manufacture of silk and wool, resembling those made by a few firms of manufacturing hosiers in Nottingham.

CHAPTER XXXI. Ireland.

Whatever the success of the native silk workers in Dublin England before the great immigration from France and theHead- the Low Countries, there can be no doubt that the Huguenot quarters invasion marked the beginning of the Irish Silk Industry, of the

Before the actual Revocation of the Edict of Nantes Industry. in 1685, there seems to have been a movement of the persecuted foreign Protestants through the United Eling- dom ; in 1682 several of them were admitted to the franchise of Dublin, amongst the names being that of Abraham Tripier, " sUk weaver." Efforts were made by the Huguenots in different parts of Ireland to found a silk industry, Lisnagarvey (Lisburn) being the first place tried, but while the North was destined to be the home of a much larger enterprise — the linen industry — the silk trade of Ireland has alway been centred in Dubhn.

Great exertions were made to encourage the settlement of silk weavers there ; the French Protestants were admitted free of the city guUds without payment of a fine, collections made to succour the distressed immigrants, and the Irish Parliament, which had been zealously striving to buUd up textUe industries through Ireland, was amply rewarded for its hospitahty to the foreigners.

It was in about 1693 that the Huguenot silk workers may be said to have set up their looms in Dubhn. Their industrial spirit and high character have left a mark on the city in various ways ; and many of them rose to high eminence in its commercial life.

Weaving was at that time, and for long afterwards, carried on in the homes of the workers, and a part of the city known as the Earl of Meath's Liberties, became

371

372 SILK INDUSTRY.

Dublin identified with the sUk and woollen trades. The Irish

the Head- Parhamentary records give much valuable information

quarters as to the progress of the craft. In 1707 a petition was

of the presented to the House of Commons by Dublin " manu-

Industry. facturers of silk and mohair," complaining that their

" manufacture of silk and mohair and horsehair buttons

had been injured by means and practice of those who of

late make horn, cloth and wood buttons, and requesting

that these rival manufactures be suppressed."

In an Essay wpon the Trade of Ireland, published by Arthur Dobbs, about 1729, it is recorded that an average of £38,697 worth of silk was worked up yearly in Dublin, About 1730 there were 800 looms making garment silks, with an incidental employment of three times as many people. There is no doubt that Irish Pophn, or " Tabinet," as it was first called, was then being manufactured, for a petition addressed to the House of Commons against the smugghng of East India manufactures into Ireland, is signed by " merchants, traders, and weavers dealing in sUk, sUk and thread, silk and cotton, sUk and worsted, Pro- etc." Protective measures were constantly being called

tective for, and duties were imposed on every foreign material Legisla- calculated to compete with the young Dublin industry, tion. Foreign silks had to pay one-third more duty than those

imported from England or Wales, and even as early as 1705 an additional duty of Is. 6d. per yard was imposed on Eastern sUks and manufactured stuffs, rising in 1729 to 2s. 6d. per pound weight, and in 1745 to 40s. per pound weight. The petition which secured this last privilege came from the Master, Wardens and Brethren of the Corporation of Weavers, a powerful body dating from 1706, which had a representation of three members in the Common CouncU, and for whose meetings the Weavers' Hall, which is stiU in existence, was built. The imposition of heavy duties hke these naturally encouraged smugghng, and importers of French and Itahan silks had every inducement to take the risk of passing the goods through England, silks coming from which were admitted to Ireland at a lower duty than if the goods were declared of foreign origin.

Plate XXXIX. I he Huguenot Hcuse. Sweeney's Lane, Dublin.

IRELAND. 373

The extreme duty of £4 per lb. was at last imposed on Pro- the foreign manufactures, but apparently without the tective desired result, for in 1763 the Corporation of Weavers Legisla- represented to Parliament that "whereas in 1730 DubUn tion. had 800 looms, there are now but 50 employed, and many families have been reduced to beggary."

A sum of £8,000 was granted in 1763 by the Irish Parhament to the Dubhn Society " for the encouragement of industries," the silk industry being placed first on the Hst. The plan adopted by the Dubhn (afterwards Royal Dubhn) Society was " protection " in its crudest form. A premium of 10 per cent, was granted to manu- factures on all Irish made silk sold in a pubhc silk Ware- house. This warehouse was superintended by twelve noblemen, and twelve others annually chosen by the Corporation of Weavers to examine the quahty of the goods sent in for sale. Lady patronesses were selected, and they advised the manufacturers in accordance with the requirements of changing fashions. For a time, with Pros- the additional assistance of prizes and exhibitions, the perity of pampered manufacture prospered, and it is stated that in pam- good years, under the system, nearly 3,000 looms were pered employed. These figures are, however, rather uncertain. Industry, and are not in agreement with the Customs' accounts of raw and thrown sUk imports. For instance, about 144,000 lbs. (in 1781) is the highest quantity tabulated for these imports of silk, and it is somewhat hard to con- ceive that good employment on sUk goods could be given from this for 3,000 looms.

What is much more striking, however, is the increase of imports in finished silk fabrics towards the close of this highly protected period, the value of these showing a rise from £64,000 in 1774 to £188,000 in 1783, and from the indication of a much smaller percentage in the increase of weight, it would seem as if the growth was in richer classes of sUk, probably brocades. Throwsters must have had a fair trade in 'Dubhn during this protected period, about half the imports of sUk being in the raw state.

In view of present day discussions, it is interesting to note the effect of the " Spitalfields " Act, as it was called,

374 SILK INDUSTRY.

Failure on the Dublin silk trade. This Act of 1779-80 fixed,

of under penalty, the silk weavers' wages, and gave the

State- Dublin Society complete powers of superintendence over

Aid the manufacture. But the poUcy of interference does

System, not seem to have been a success. After 22 years of State

encouragement, during which time £28,000 had been

given in bounties and prizes, the silk warehouse was closed,

as the plan " had not answered the ends of a general

increase and extension of the manufacture."

From the end of the 18th century onward, indeed, the history of the Dublin silk trade is rarely cheerful reading. A 10 per cent, protective tariff imposed at the Union in 1800 helped the industry to a certain extent, but at the close of the twenty years' term, for which this duty was imposed, Dublin weavers were face to face with grave trouble.

The abohtion of duties (for England also) in 1826 on foreign silks was a still more crushing blow. The importation of foreign manufactured silks had been, virtually, prohibited from 1765 until that date. From that time until 1870, when advantage was taken of the Franco-Prussian trouble to develop trade with America, there was a period of stagnation. There is no doubt that Dr. W. K. Sullivan, who was appointed to draw up the Report of the Executive Committee of the Cork Exhibition in 1883, summed up the case justly when he said : " The decay of the manufacture in Ireland, is, I believe, mainly Effect of due to the employers, who from want of foresight, Abolition indolence or carelessness, let their business get into a of Duties, crystallised state, which no change of fashion, no com- petition of new fabrics, no improvement in processes or machines, could influence." Since 1890 a better state of things has prevailed. Long before this, the whole-sUk trade had gone, with velvets and ribbons, so that for all practical purposes the only branch of the silk trade had been, as it now is, the Irish poplin portion.

The Hand-loom in the Silk Industry of Ireland. The original Weavers' Corporation of Dubhn com- prised silk, cotton, hnen, woollen and velvet makers —

Plate XL.

Hand-loom Poplin Weaver, who wrought for over 60 years at the Craft, chiefly jor Atkinson & Co., in whose service he died.

IRELAND. 375

the surviving part of this Union is called the " Dubhn Silk Trade," but scarcely any whole silk is woven : Irish pophn, silk warp and wool weft, being the only material manufactured. The hand-loom is still in vogue, with the most modern Jacquard machines, dobbies, etc., attached.

Experiments in power-looms with Irish pophn have Power- not proved successful, the rapid " laying " of the weft looms failing to give the true pophn " feel." This material, not a unlike ducape, and similar foreign imitations, requires success, an easy adjustment of weft, and in the richer makes high speed is impracticable. Piece work obtains in the industry generaUy, and the apprenticeship system, modified to suit modern conditions, is stni in vogue. The more skilful men take apprentices as required, and teach them in the factories, dividing the earnings of the apprentices' looms on a fixed scale, and very much in the old Guild fashion " imdertaking " the work from the employer. This gives the weaver-master an interest in training the boys, and works satisfactorily.

The survival of French terms in the pophn trade, although probably not one of the weavers is of pure French extraction, shows the conservatism of the workers. Couplee, coteret, rochetee, portee, and many other Huguenot terms, are as freely used as 200 years ago.

Realising that Parhamentary and Vice-regal patronage Develop- were ahke unavailing, and finding that the taste for hghter ment dress fabrics had seriously affected the demand for gowns, of the the poplin manufacturers developed, with great and Tie growing success, the tie business, which now absorbs by Trade, far the largest proportion of their loom production. The number of looms working in 1913 was only 200, but the industry is in a healthy growing condition, and these figures are likely to be exceeded in the near future. Considerably more than half the looms are employed in one factory (Atkinson's) ; and there are at present altogether five manufacturers. The increase in the Colonial trade is a gratifying evidence of the awakened enterprise of the Irish pophn manufacturers. The colourings and patterns are now equal to the productions

376 SILK INDUSTRY.

of any other seat of manufacture, and the constant succession of novelties in a material which used to be of a stereotyped character, gives assurance of further expansion of an interesting trade.

Tapestry Portrait of George II.

A John Vanbeaver, " ye famous tapistry weaver " (whose

Weavers' large and valuable works, the " Siege of Derry " and

Hall "Battle of the Boyne," still adorn the House of Lords

Tapestry, in College Green, Dubhn), wrought this exquisite tapestry

portrait of George II, who was a great patron of the

industry, in 1738. The colouring is still wonderfully

fresh, and the picture, which is set in an elaborately carved

oak frame, reUef work, is on the waUs of Atkinson's Poplin

Warehouse in College Green.

The tapestry formerly hung over the fire-place in the Weavers' Hall, and was purchased from the Weavers' Corporation by Mr. Richard Atkinson, twice Lord Mayor of Dublin.

It is beheved to have been awarded a prize by the Royal Dublin Society, which took such a prominent part in the encouragement of silk weaving.

The Huguenot House, Sweeney's Lane, Dublin.

Of which an illustration appears elsewhere, is one of

the finest specimens of the old Huguenot houses in Dublin.

These houses were built in 1721 (as shewn on tablet on

farthest house), and some of them are still in good condition

Old and well tenanted. They stand close by the site of the

Hugue- Earl of Meath's mansion, and are in the central part of

not the " Liberties " of Dubhn, facing the old " Brass Castle,"

House. where James II is said to have coined the last money

bearing his image. In these houses, and aU around,

silk weaving was carried on up to a few years ago.

Weavers' Hall, Coombe, Dublin.

The Weavers' HaU, Coombe, Dubhn, also illustrated, was built by the Corporation of Weavers in 1745, and is stiU in excellent preservation.

Plate XLI.

Tapestry Portrait of George II., by John VanbeaVer.

Plate XLII.

Weavers' Hall, Coomhe, Dublin.

IRELAND. 377

There is a leaden statue of George II in front, Ms Majesty- attired in Court suit, with, full-bottomed wig : shuttles and other weavers' implements are slung across his arm.

The HaU interior is of handsome proportions, cornices and architraves being fine specimens of wood carving, and the mantelpieces magnificently wrought in Irish oak.

The " Weavers' Corporation Chest " is stO in the Weavers' HaU, and has the following inscription on lid : — Corpora-

" This is the Corporation of Weavers' Chest, tion

Anno. 1706. Chest.

Nathaniel James, Master.

Wmiam Pehce, ] w„„dens Thomas How, ] Wardens.

On either side of the Hall were the Weavers' Almshouse, and their schoolhouse. These buildings had fallen into decay, but are now rebuilt in modern style, the top floor of each being used as weaving rooms for their out-door workers by Atkinson and Co.

BOOK THREE.

CHAPTER XXXII.

Silk from India.

As a contributor to the European markets for raw silk, India has not taken the high place with which she is sometimes credited. India herself is a large consumer of silk ahke in piece goods and raw silks, and while she exports a certain quantity of the latter annually, she imports considerably more than is produced. In survey- ing the position of the Dependency as a source of the raw material, it must however be remembered that it is The produced in two kinds, namely the domesticated type of

Future mulberry-fed cocoon, and the wild or tussore variety, of Wild It is the former to which references are usually made in Silk. early trade reports, and in the references as to silk con-

tained in the records of the East India Company, for although the uses of the tussore products have been known for centuries to the native weavers of India and China, it is only within very recent years that their market possibilities have been recognised in the sUk factories of Europe. Now that these are being realised far greater attention is being paid to the wUd silks, and there are economists who think that it will be better in the future to concentrate attention on the conditions favourable to their development rather than on the domestic type.

SUk has, however, played no small part in the story of British relations with the Eastern Empire. Wonderful tales of the sumptuous fabrics of the marts of Persia and India had been brought home by the early travellers, and Ludovico di Varthema, who explored the Persian Gulf in 1505 to 1508, recorded that at Khorassan " there is a great plenty and abundance of stuffs and especially of

378

SILK FROM INDIA.

379

silk so that in one day you can purchase here 3,000 to Travel- 4,000 camels' loads of silk." Moreover, in 1592, some lers' EngHsh privateers had made good prize of the Portuguese Tales, carrack, Madre de Dios, one of a Httle fleet of six vessels which sailed under command of Ferdinande de Mendoza from Lisbon for Goa, and brought her into Dartmouth, where they displayed not only her cargo of costly spices, but also " raw silk and silk stuffs and other piece goods, taffaties, sarcenets, cloth of gold, cahcoes, lawns, quilts, carpets and other rich commodities."

That was an exceedingly important capture, from another point of view, for, as Sir George Birdwood, in his researches into the early letters and other documents relating to the founding of the East India Company, has shown, she carried a copy of " The notable Register or Matiscola of the whole Government and Trade of the Portuguese in the East Indies." Some seven years later, when the Dutch traders raised the price of pepper, and the London grocers took alarm, it was upon the lines of this document that the petition went forward to Queen Elizabeth to grant a charter to " The Governor and Companie of Merchantes of London trading into the East Indies." Thus upon silk and pepper were laid The the foundations of the mighty volume of commerce between Founda- this country and the Asiatic Continent. Under the com- tions of mand of James Lancaster, that splendid adventurer whose Indian faith led Hudson to try to make the North- West Passage, Com- the first httle fleet set forth, but Ehzabeth was dead ere merce. they returned, and it was James I who approved the order sent to Plymouth that they should not break bulk till they anchored in the Thames. The ships had brought back altogether a million pounds of spices as cloves, cinnamon and spices, and perhaps even more than that in the reports that they would give as to the possibilities of trade with the Eastern peoples.

If silk did not loom large in this first cargo, by the year 1609 the references to the "goode rawe silk" available are repeated in the early letters from those who went out on these voyages, and in 1614 it becomes the subject of surely one of the earhest efforts of reciprocal trading

380

SILK INDUSTRY.

The as it is now understood. For Sir Thomas Roe was sent

Founda- out by James I as Ambassador to the Court of the famous tions of Mogul Emperor, Jehanghis, at Agra, with directions to Indian ascertain what silk would be available. The Company Com- desired him to secure " that wee may have good assurance

merce. that for their silk they will accept at the least the one- half of English commodities at reasonable rates, especially cloath." After defining what these rates should be, this exceedingly interesting letter goes on : " And the better to explain ourselves what we desire is that the price of sUk may be contracted for with more certaintie and some good assurance given that it may be laden cleare of all charge abourd our ships at a Ryall and a half a pound of sixteen ounces, which is the greatest price that we can resolve to give ... at which price and good condicions as aforesaid we shaU be able to take from the Persian yearhe 8,000 Bales of his silk of 1801bs. Enghsh each Bale or thereabout."

Roe succeeded in placing the Company's trade on a better footing, and in 1617 three of its representatives — Connock, Tracy and Robbins — dating their despatch " From the Persian Court and Army, 25 days' journey from Spahan," were able to report that through the good interventions of a friar they had secured the promise of from 1,000 to 3,000 bales of silk. As they had not the royials to pay for it in full, they seem to have made terms for part payment in kind, saying that " the King is content to take satisfaction in tin, cloth, sugar, spices and such like commodities,"

It is shown elsewhere that under James the silk industry

in England had attained considerable proportions.

Persian In 1621 Sir Thomas Mun, Deputy Governor of the

Imports Company, drew up an interesting report in which he showed

of Raw that England was then buying about 1,000,000 lbs. weight

Silk, of raw silk from Persia, which was being brought home

at much less cost on the Company's ships than by the old

overland route. In the earlier years of Charles I the

trade was weU maintained, though naturally during the

Civil War and under Cromwell there was a falling off in this

and the other more costly and beautiful imports. The

SILK FROM INDIA. 381

letters about this period tell of much friction and fighting Dutch with the Dutch, who were keen trade competitors. But Com- by 1670 the Company, impressed with the idea that it petition. would be profitable to foster the trade and to improve the quahty of the silk they were receiving, sent to Madras four factors — ^to use their own word for their superior assistants — and seven writers — among whom were men specially chosen for their knowledge of sUk culture, to be stationed at the factory of Cassimbazar. Meantime too they had been urging upon the native landowners of Bengal the advisability of planting and cultivating the mulberry tree, and further were preparing to engage a number of Italians expert in the treatment of the filatures. The Cassimbazar experiment, however, was not very successful, and was dropped after about twenty years' trial. It was in 1770 that Mr. Wise and Mr. Robinson arrived in Bengal on behalf of the Company with " a staff of reelers and mechanics chosen from Italy and France with tools, implements and models " to begin their efforts. A year later, General Kyd, who is better remembered in these days for his bestowal upon Calcutta of its beautiful Botanical Gardens, and who was famous for his horticul- tural and scientific knowledge, endeavoured to supple- ment the efforts of the Bengal Government by bringing over a quantity of the eggs of the Chinese Bombyx mori, and to encourage a more rational system of silkworm culture. There was an hereditary silk worm rearing The bar caste — the Pundas — in the Malda and Murshidabad of Native districts, and these with true native characteristics resisted prejudice, any innovations upon their time-honoured customs. Moreover, it is an exceedingly superstitious caste, and even in these days believes in ghosts, takes precautions to prevent owls flying near the rearing houses, and thinks unless wrong information is given as to the progress of the cocoons the evil spirits will lay speUs upon them. StiU the industry made progress, and by 1704 the Company was in a position to announce that there was " To be seen at Leaden HaU : China raw sUk, Bengal raw sUk." This is interesting in view of the highly Protectionist Act of 1700 forbidding the import of any manufactured silk

382

SILK INDUSTRY.

from Persia, India or China to Great Britain, which had come into effect. It was the raw material that was wanted in Spitalfields for the brocades and taffaties that the beaux as well at the belles of Queen Anne's days were wearing. Effect of All through the eighteenth century, the Indian records French deal more with fighting than with commerce. There Revolu- was, notwithstanding, a steady importation of silk from tion. India, and by 1775 the adoption of better means of winding

was bringing it into wider demand. The quantities rose steadUy from 515,913 lbs. in 1776 to 1,149,394 lbs. in 1784. Following this rapid increase a decline ensued. Commerce was adversely affected by the French Revolu- tion, and the Company, which had large accumulations in its store-houses, was compelled to sell at a considerable loss. The quality of the silk was, however, steadily improving, and in 1796 the Court of Directors received a particularly interesting memorial setting forth that : " We the undersigned manufacturers, understanding from the reports pubUshed by the East India Company that the Bengal Provinces are capable of furnishing a more abundant supply of raw silk than hitherto, are of opinion that if due attention is paid in the first instance to reel the same of proper sizes, that after making a due provision for singles, trams and sewing silks, the surplus by being thrown into organzine in this country can be successfully brought into use in our respective manufactories to a very considerable extent in lieu of part of the thrown silk presently supphed by Italy. Considering, therefore, the measure now carrying on by the East India Company as highly laudable and meriting of every degree of support, we trust that they wiU persevere in the same with firmness, being well convinced that it cannot fail of proving highly beneficial to the national interests. First by giving a country To which makes part of the British Dominions the advantages

replace desirable from the production of a commodity which Italian forms the basis of one of the most important of the national Silks. manufactures. Secondly, by creating employment at

home for a numerous class of our poor, particularly women and children in the throwsting of it into organzine. Lastly,

SILK FROM INDIA.

383

by affording a large and more certain supply to the To manufacturers in general, it may have a tendency to replace lower the price of the raw material, and in future to Itahan shelter the silk market from the alarming fluctuations Silks. that have repeatedly taken place and probably in- crease greatly the general consumption of the silk manu- factures."

Thus was Imperial Preference foreshadowed in the 18th century, and certamly for about 10 years there was a considerable amount of Bengal silk thrown into organzine, and used in England in those fabrics known to our great grandmothers as sarcenents and florentines, as weU as in velvet and ribbon.

The 19th century dawned under the shadow of the Napoleonic conquests, but while trade in England was depressed until first Trafalgar and afterwards Waterloo steadied Europe, other fields of supply were being opened. Against these adverse conditions, the imports from Bengal continued large, although varying from year to year from the 162,747 lbs. of 1810, to the figures of 1829, when high- water mark was reached in the big total of 1,387,750 lbs. Meantime, Dr. Roxburgh, who had compiled the three sumptuous volumes of the Flora Indica, which constitute the first contribution to our knowledge of tropical botany, had endeavoured to institute better methods in both mulberry tree growing and the rearing of the worms, and official permission had been given to the then resident of Santipore to incur an outlay not exceeding i2s.25,000 on large nurseries of mulberries and rearing with hired labour. Again, no permanent success was achieved, and in the three years following 1834, the Government trans- Struggle ferred all its interests in silk to private enterprise. Very with little of lasting value had been achieved, and Geoghegan, Adverse the historian of silk in India, wrote : " The only direction Condi- in which any effective improvements had been introduced tions. was that of reefing and drying. The methods of cultivating the mulberry and the kinds cultivated were in 1835 just what they were a century before. Attempts had been made to introduce new stocks of worms, but the worms introduced from China had not thriven, and the attempts

384

SILK INDUSTRY.

do not seem to have been made with energy enough to have warranted any measure of success."

In Bombay, too, a small tentative effort was also made by Mr. Giberne who, in 1827, was Collector at Khandesh. He planted a small mulberry garden at Dhuha, and instructed a few natives who carried on the work so well that when an Itahan expert visited the place ten years later he pronounced the sUk to be worth fuUy thirteen Expert rupees a pound. Hoping to extend the effort, the Govern- Convict ment of Bombay indented upon Bengal for five convicts Labour. skiQed in silk worm management, who were sent on a kind of ticket-of-leave with their famiUes to develop it, but they did not come further than Poona, where it was thought there was a better chance of success. These gardens had been started by the Italian — Signor Mutti — who had reported so favourably on the Dhulia silk, and for several years he was able to place raw material on the London market which commanded 23s. to 29s. a lb. Ill-health, however, overtook him in 1840, and in the absence of guiding heads, both these enterprises came to an end. Not infrequently does it happen that private effort succeeds where official undertakings have met with failure, and when the East India Company retired from the field, enthusiasts like Captain Hutton extended their researches far enough to include exceptional knowledge of silk culture even in Afghanistan. He, with Mr. Bashford, endeavoured to . carry on the work. Later, the Agri- Horticultural Society of India lent what support it could to the movement. Best of aU from the practical point of view large business firms began to put capital into the industry. Murshedabad, Rajshaki and Berhampore became important centres of sUk spinning, and in the twenty years from 1836 to 1855 there was a general rise ia the quantity of the exports to an average for the period of 1,435,225 pounds per annum. After The years 1858 and 1860 are crucial ones in the history

the of silk in India. In the first of these the Mutiny had

Mutiny, been finally suppressed, and the rule of the Honorable East India Company, so strangely and imperially successful in its unique harmonizing of administrative and commercial

SILK FROM INDIA.

385

powers, had come to an end. It had already ceased After to exercise any influence in regard to silk, but no one could the foresee what might be the results of so sweeping a change, Mutiny, although it was clear that trade in all directions could not fail to be affected at least temporarily. The year 1860 was also important in the annals of the industry in Great Britain ; it was then that the duties on foreign manu- factured silks were removed, and the products of the French and ItaUan looms poured in like a flood. The results of that policy as far as India is concerned were immediate and significant, as will be seen from the following table, which has been compiled by the courtesy of the Board of Trade.

United Kingdom. Imports of Raw Silk prom British India.

	186C	)-1870.
Year.	Imports of Raw Silk
	lbs.
1860		.	60,510
1861			162,121
1862			469,985
1863			208,029
1864			167,774
1865			183,224
1866			123,561
1867			2,469
1868			32,103
1869			17,845
1870			123,600
The fluctuations {	ire rer	aarkab	ie, and not altoi

easy to explain, for sUk was in considerable demand, while able the crinoline, the wearing of which was associated with Trade the employment of a large quantity of material in dresses had fluctua- not disappeared. Probably, as a result of the aboUtion of tions. duties on manufactured sUk, the greater part of the Indian production was absorbed by France, and reached England in the form of dress fabrics and trimmings. In the next few years little happened that it is necessary to record,

3 S

386

SILK INDUSTRY.

Remark- but a new chapter was opening, whose close is not yet able written, and is likely to be of lasting effect in the corn-

Trade mercial annals of our Eastern Empire, fluctua- The year 1878 saw the first practical step made towards

tions. the utilisation of the wild or Tussore silks, which has

since had an extraordinary influence on fashion and industry alike. The actual cost of winding and using these silks had been discussed in 1857 in Europe, and at first they were looked upon as mere curiosities. Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Wardle had, however, conducted exhaustive experiments with them, and showed in the Paris Exhibition of 1878 hanks of bleached and dyed Tussores, and the first lengths of plush produced from them. Naturally the exhibit attracted great attention, and a gold medal for it was adjudged to Sir Thomas Wardle, which, however, he asked should go to the Secretary of State for India, on whose behalf the researches had been made. Messrs. Field and BottriU, of Skelmanthorpe, near Huddersfield, took up the further development of Tussore, and brought out the seal plush, which enjoyed a great popularity for jackets and mantles. The effects of this discovery were immediate. For the mulberry-fed sUk that had recovered its market position, there was a diminished demand, while for the wild Tussore the demand increased, and the returns of the Lyons Conditioning House began to show a steady expansion.

That, however, is looking somewhat ahead, inasmuch as before the full advantage could be taken of the new discoveries, it was necessary to definitely determine the sources of supply. In 1880 Mr. Geoghegan, whose name has already been mentioned, undertook a thorough survey of the subject. In the Bhagulpur, Chota, Nagpur and Tussore Orissa districts of Bengal, and in several divisions of the Silks. Central Provinces, and the Santhal Parganas, it was found

that the Tussore sUk-worm was widely distributed. It has (for as many as 200 years) been employed for the weaving of the coarser sUken fabrics of native wear. The problem which in these earher days presented itself to the Indian Government was whether it would be profitable to collect these wild cocoons and reel them for European

SILK FROM INDIA. 387

exportation. China could, of course, also send in practically

any quantity, and the question was what would be the

result of the competition ? It is not necessary td discuss Improved

here the intricacies of the improved methods of reeling Methods

upon French or Itahan principles that were introduced of

as this wild silk was introduced into European factories. Reeling.

It is of more interest to record the fact that it

proved adaptable to many uses, and no one devoted

more carefiil experiment to it than Sir Thomas Wardle.

French experts also took a keen interest in the product,

beheving that it was bound to exercise a considerable

influence in fashionable fabrics. It had its technical

drawbacks, and in these early stages was regarded as an

inferior product. None the less, it lent itself to an ever

widening range of uses, and when seal plush rather passed

out of fashion, it was employed for braids, trimmings,

fringes, chenille and elastic webbing. In the heavier

makes of furniture, brocades and draperies, it could also

be advantageously used, for, after long experiment, it was

found practicable to bleach it sufficiently for it to take

in dyeing the palest colours — a difficulty that at first seemed

likely to limit the uses of Tussore sUks.

By the year 1887 the exports from India of these wild silks had risen to 38,875 lbs., worth £195,704, and in 1890 they amounted to 91,124 lbs., valued at £412,803. Since then, exports have been steadily progressive, but it is perhaps hardly necessary to set the figures out in detail. The following table compares the relative quantities of mulberry-fed and wild silks : —

Mulberry-fed Year. Raw Silk. Wild Silks.

lbs. lbs.

1906-7 .. .. 210,823 167,519

1907-8 .. .. 189,483 139,659

1909-10 .. .. 46,873 328,651

These figures, it should be said, do not represent any- Large thing like India's annual silk crops, of either type, and oi use both France is a much larger purchaser than Great Britain, of Wild Two further and later efforts to put sUk cultivation on a Silks, sounder basis in India must be noted. The first of these

388

SILK INDUSTRY.

The use was started under the auspices of Mr. Cunliffe Lister, of Wild afterwards Lord Masham, at Dehra Dun, where he spent Silks. something hke £50,000 upon the experiment. His idea

was to cultivate the silk-worm in rearing houses under skilled supervision, and it was with Bombyx mori — the mulberry feeding variety — that his chief endeavours were made. But the experiment could not be described as successful, and in 1892 it was finally given up. The second effort was an official one. The Government of Bengal in 1890 was seriously impressed with the way in which disease was checking silk production. These epidemics in the silk- worms took various forms, but in aU they had the effect of reducing the sUk crop to a marked degree. Pasteur, years before, had given his attention to the subject as " pebrine " had wrought havoc with the worms in France and Italy, and in other sUk raising countries. Accordingly, it was decided to send Mr. Nitya Mukerji, a native gentleman of high scientific attainments to study the question of recognising and deahng with these diseases in Pasteur's own and other laboratories. He has not only written a most exhaustive Handbook of Sericulture, which was pubhshed under Government order, but in connection with the Civil Engineering CoUege at Sibpur he was able to obtain the starting of a sericultural school at Rampur Boalia to train cocoon rearers in the knowledge that would enable them to avoid these epidemics. The effort has been fully justified, in the sounder and healthier cocoons that have become available.

Among the most important and interesting of recent

efforts to extend silk culture has been that made in

Kashmir, which may be held to be due to a suggestion

from Mr. John Lockwood Kipling, the father of

Mr. Rudyard Kipling. The former was for many years

director of the Art School of Lahore, and after a visit to

Srinagar in 1889 he laid his views before Sir Thomas

Epi- Wardle, who in due course brought the idea to official

demies notice. It so happened that Colonel Nisbet, the then

check Resident in Kashmir, was much interested in sericulture.

Develop- and had his own views as to the benefit that it might

ment. be to the State, and as soon as he had entered into

SILK FROM INDIA.

389

commumcation with Sir Thomas, he submitted samples of Experi- the natural raw silk for examination. During the early ments nineties, several pounds were sent to this country, and a in length was woven for exhibition at the display held at Kashmir. Stafford House in 1894, but it was not until two years later that Sir Adelbert Talbot, who had succeeded Colonel Nisbet as Resident in Kashmir, called upon Sir Thomas to take any active steps in the matter. Private speculators had heard of the possibOities of the sUk, and were anxious to be first in the field regarding it, but both the Maharajah of Kashmir and the Durbar were anxious that it should be made a State industry, and in this ambition they had the full support of Lord Curzon. Sir Thomas Wardle was instructed by the India Office to visit Continental centres of sUk rearing in 1897. He was accompanied by CaptaiQ Chenevix-Trench, the Assistant Resident in Kashmir, and bought cocoon reehng machinery and the best type of sUk-worm eggs to the value of £600. The beginning of the effort was highly successful, and the next year eggs to the value of £1,500 were bought, and in 1899 more than twice this sum was spent in a similar way. Moreover, the Continental distributors of raw silk reported very favourably as to its merits for reehng and weaving, and it soon fetched prices only one to two shillings a pound below those paid for the very finest Itahan sUk. After three years' working in 1903, the balance-sheet of the undertaking showed a provisional profit of £40,000 — a result pronouced by aU acquainted with the history of sUk in India to be a wonderful return. This, however, was but the beginning of greater things, for the campaign has made rapid progress, as is indicated by the increased production of silk itself, and in the sohd and improved prosperity of the people. Kashmir, therefore, has entered the arena as a producer of raw silk of real influence in Work the world's markets, and in this important service under- of Sir taken by Sir Thomas Wardle in the industry he knew so Thomas well, he would have wished no better memorial to Wardle. himself and his labours than the estabhshment of a source of welfare to the country whose resources he thoroughly examined before he made the recommendations that have had such remarkable results.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

Waste Silk. Origin and Uses.

It was not until the factory era that waste silk became

an article of prominent commercial importance in Great

Britain, but there is evidence that it had a recognised

Early value in relatively early times. At least, silk " nubbs "

Imports were imported into England, and the King's Subsidy

of Nubbs. was paid upon them, before the close of the 16th century.

The Cecil Papers {Historical MSS. Commission IV, f. 574)

contain an entry dated 1594, being :

" A note of aU sorts of silks brought into the port of London in one year from Michaelmas, 1592, to the same feast, 1593 :

	By	The
Englishmen.	Subsidy.
	£ s. d.
Spanish and other fine
silk	. 11,452 lbs.	572 12 0
Bridges silk	. 1,664 „	62 8 0
Floret silk	. 5,013 „	104 8 9
Paris and Filozel silk .	360 papers.	9 0 0
Thrown and Organzin .	. 12,379 lbs.	412 12 8
Long raw silk . .	. 1,202 „	40 1 4
Silk nubbs	700 „	1 3 0
	£1,202 5 9

390

silk . . Bridges silk Floret silk

Thrown and Organzin Long raw silk . . Short raw silk . .

Subsidy- Customs

WASTE SILK.	391
By Strangers. ler fine	Early Imports £ s. d. ofNubbs.
.. 12,283 lbs. 32 „	614 3 0 14 0
.. 1,888 „ nzin .. 3,252 „ .. 2,129 „ 403 „	39 6 8 108 8 0 70 19 4 5 0 9

£839 1 9 209 15 5

£1,048 17 2

The evidence does not show silk knubs to have had more than a trifling employment at this date, but it does suggest that Floret silk occupied something more than a nominal place. The name is not a household word and perhaps some explanation is necessary. Ephraim Chambers, in his monumental Cyclopcedia of the Arts and Sciences (1728), gave an outline of French and Piedmontese practice, which sets the meaning of the name beyond doubt :

" All silks cannot be spun and reeled ; either because the balls have been perforated by the silkworms them- selves ; or because they are double or too weak to bear the water ; or because they are coarse &c. Of aU this, The together they make a particular kind of silk caUed floretta ; use of which, by being carded, or even spun on the distaff or Floret the wheel, in the condition it comes from the baU makes Silk. a tolerable silk."

" As to the balls, after opening them with scissors and taking out the insects (which are of some use for the feeding of poultry), they are steeped three or four days in troughs, the water whereof is changed every day to prevent their stinking. When they are weU softened by this scouring and cleared of that gummy matter, the worms had hned the inside with, and which renders it

392

SILK INDUSTRY.

The impenetrable to water, they boil them half an hour in a

use of ley of ashes, very clear and well strained ; and after Floret washing them out in the river and drjdng them in the Silk. sun they card and spin them on the wheel &c., and thus

make another kind of floretta, somewhat inferior to the former."*

Fleuret is the French form of the word floret, and Porter's Treatise of the Silk Manufacture (1830) describes the method of making fleurets from soufflons (i.e. very imperfect) and perforated cocoons as practised at this later date. After boihng, drying and beating, the cocoons were placed on a distaff and opened by drawing out fibre from each end at arm's length. The fleurets were carded — sometimes after boiling and beating — with the purpose of obtaining a brighter and more beautiful colour. The completion of one ounce of fleurets was considered a fair day's work for a good spinner. Porter, too, noted the production of an inferior fleuret yarn made by spinning coarse floss and the refuse from the reeling process. Fleurets de soie is stfll an intelligible term in France, although dechets de soie (hterally waste of silk) has replaced it in the same way that " waste " has replaced " floss " in England. The word has been employed also in German, and Zeising, in a monograph Uber Schappe Spinnerei (Leipzig, 1911), uses " schappe " and " florette " as synonymous terms, f Some The word is akin to the Enghsh flower or flowret, and

Alterna- it might be thought to be by distortion that Floret became tive Ferret in some documents of the 16th and 17th century.

Names. The name occurs in the Book of Rates (1583), and " Ferret " silk from Flanders, 7,012 (lbs.), figured in the imports of 1668-69. Mr. Ernest Weekley, in his Romance of Words (1912), shows that Ferret or Feret is flowret in a semi- Italian form, corrupted from " floretto," a httle flower. Ingoldsby, in the Housewarming , used the word as a name for tape :

* Specimens of fabrics made from floretted silk in Italy in the mid-sixteenth century are extant, and one example in which a warp of fine spun was woven with a weft of coarse linen was exhibited at the Manchester Royal Jubilee Exhibition (1887). Vide History of Silk, Thomas Wardle, a pamphlet descriptive of the Manchester Exhibition.

t " Dieaen gesponnen seidengame die in Handel den Namen Schappe oder Florette fuhren."

WASTE SILK.

393

e{ n

'Twas SO fram'd and express' d no tribunal could Some

shake it, Alterna-

And firm as red wax and black ferret could make it." tive The word is well understood in this sense still in Leek, Names. where tape is woven.

The Paris and FiloseUe sUk, of which 360 papers were entered at the port of London in 1592-3, was presumably sUk ready for the use of embroiderers whose craft was then a well-estabhshed one, and it is noteworthy that filoselle is still a trade name for a spun silk thread suitable for use with the needle and formed of very lightly united strands. The learned author of Textrinum Antiquorum (1843), who shows incidentally that silk waste was a recognised commodity in the Seville of the 6th century, derived the Enghsh " floss " and French " filoselle " from the Greek "plocium," described in a.d. 575 as "the tow or coarse part of silk." In this work, Mr. Yates wrote : " Floss is evidently an altered form of Plocium, and Floss silk is what the Greeks and Latins called by that name. It is the loose silk which sur- rounds the outside of the cocoons, together with the waste produced from imperfect cocoons. The French name for it is PiloseUe, analogous to the Greek word, meaning ' a lock of hair.' " The New English Dictionary traces " floss " to the Italian " floscia," and French " floche," and suggests a relation to the Scandinavian word rendered in Enghsh " fleece " ; all or any of which may be related to the " plocium " of Yates and of Isidor of Seville. " Filosello, sleave and feret " silk are used as synonymous by Florio for the Itahan " sciamito."

A reference in the Annual Register (1759) to the " duties Puzzles now payable upon raw short silk, or capiton, and silk of nubs or husks of silk " raises one unfamihar name for silk Nomen- material and strengthens a suspicion. In the imports clature. by Enghshmen in the document of 1592-93, " Long raw silk " is followed by " Silk nubbs," and in the imports of Strangers is followed by " short raw silk." Capiton is an unrecognised term, but either " raw short " or " short raw " silk is a description implying silk waste,

394

SILK INDUSTRY.

Early the produce of reeling, rather more definitely than it uses of suggests anything else, and the 403 lbs. of it may be Silk added with some confidence to the fist of sUk waste and

Waste. its products imported in that year.

SUk waste was obviously produced ages before it was imported into this country, for the material has an antiquity co-extensive with that of sUk itself. A pro- portion of defective cocoons from which the fibre cannot be continuously wound is an inevitable incident of the act of rearing silk-worms. Of every cocoon formed by the worm some portions are unfit for reefing, and thus it can be said with hteral truth that waste silk has been generated for as long as there have been worms to spin silk or persons to gather and reel cocoons. Waste is created still, both in reeling silk and in the later operation of throwing, in face of all that scientific observation and mechanical ingenmty have been able to effect toward the improvement of the culture and of the methods of reefing. The quantity of the by-product stifi exceeds that of the net produce, and in ancient times the waste must have been relatively greater. It is interesting to inquire, but difiicult to ascertain, what became of the by-product in the far-off ages in China before silk in any form was sent into Europe. The substance is not readily destroyed ; it neither burns spontaneously nor decays easily, even in circumstances favourable to the decomposition of animal matter. It must have accumulated in appreciable quantity, and the very difficulty of voiding it as a nuisance would induce a people as thrifty and ingenious as the Chinese to make experiments to turn it to useful account. One of the most elementary purposes to which the waste might be put would be to use it for stuffing, and there is evidence that up to a fairly recent date the material was so employed. * Fifty years ago waste which had palpably Its served as stuffing was imported from China under the

Employ- name of " Soldiers' beddings " into this country, and ment was converted in Yorkshire miUs into spun sUk.

as The "unchanging East" is a proverbial term, and it is

Stuffing, always a fair inference that practices found in vogue at

* A sample of " waste silk of the cocoons of the mulberry-fed silkworms ; stuffing of the bed of the Queen of Burma ; brought from Mandalay," was exhibited in Manchester at the 1887 Exhibition.

WASTE SILK.

395

one date in the past had an indefinitely long history Manu- behind them. To use waste silk as a padding for the facture wadded garments of the country, or to make mattresses, of might naturally be the first purposes to which it was SUk applied. Cord.

The interesting question is whether the Chinese dis- covered for themselves any means of improving the material. It is certain that they made use of some process, although at what point of time cannot be stated. Travellers in China have not distinguished too carefully between the manufacture of waste sUk and of net silk, but in China and the Chinese (1840), by H. C. Sirr, occurs a passage proving that imperfect cocoons were treated then for the production of twine : "Of the ashes (mulberry prunings), they make a lye into which they throw imper- fect cocoons and those which have been bored by the butterflies ; the lye causes these to swell, and they are then spun into a strong silk cord."

This is neither the earhest nor the most advanced form of application of waste of which there is a record. It may be recalled that the Chinese practised and under- stood the manipulation of wool and cotton, so that it is improbable that with their skill they failed to put " floretted " silk to any purpose superior to the manu- facture of cord. Du Halde's History of China (1736) gives a proof that a couple of centuries ago the Chinese knew how to convert waste sUk into comparatively fine yarn. " The Province of Chan-tong," said tins author, " produces a particular sort of silk found in great quantities on the trees and in the fields. It is spun and made into a stuff called Kien-tcheou. This silk is made by little insects that are much like caterpillars. They do not spin an oval or round cod Hke the silkworms, but very long threads. The worms are wild, and eat mulberry and others indifferently." The goods woven from this silk are described as "like unbleached cloth, or coarse sort of Chinese drugget ; very much valued by Chinese, and sometimes Spun as dear as satin or the finest silks." ^ Yarn.

It is apparent that this fibre could not have lent itself conveniently to continuous reehng, but direct proof that

396

SILK INDUSTRY.

Raw

Material for Cloth Weaving.

Eri SUk of India.

the Chinese had discovered the uses of waste silk as a raw material for weaving cloth is found in a further passage from the same work :

" As the Chinese are very skilful at counterfeiting,

they make a false sort of Kientcheou with the

waste of the Tchi-Kiang silk, which without due

inspection, might easily be taken for the right."

Yet a further reference to the carding of silk in China

is found in the Society of Arts Journal, 6 November, 1863,

in course of a reference to the ailanthene {i.e. tussah)

silk-worm :

" In China . . . even the carded silk of this worm is abundantly used ... it forms the most durable dresses of the peasantry, dresses which are often handed down from father to son." The earliest of these references is modern in relation to the antiquity of silk manufacture in the East, but it is not to be supposed that the dates quoted assign the beginnings of the practices named, and at all events Du Halde's evidence is old enough to warrant the behef that the practice was native and not a Western graft. Nor is it not only in China that one may look for early instances of the manufacturing use of waste or unreelable silk. The Eri silk of India and Assam, famous for its long-wearing properties, has been utiHsed in India certainly for hundreds of years, and it can never have been manu- factured otherwise than by the waste silk process.

An entry in the diary of one of the East India Company's Agents (quoted in The Silk Cloths of Assam, B. C. Allan, I.C.S., Shillong, 1899), refers specifically to Eri silk, the produce of worms living upon castor oil plants. The goods made from this thread went by the name of arundee, and 600 pieces of the cloth and four bales of the yarn were directed to be sent to England in 1679 by the Madras agent of the Company. The diary records that :

" 'Twas called arundee, made neither with cotton nor silk, but of a kind of herba, spun by a worm that feeds on the leaves of a stalk or tree called arundee, which bears a prickly berry, of which oyle is made. . . . 'TwiU never come white, but

WASTE SILK. 397

will take any colour ; 'twill not rot or receive Eri Silk any damage by wet . . . and wears to admiration of India, in so much that, when the cloth is first made, 'tis given up and down to poor people to wear and to lay in shops to be footed upon before it is fit to be sold." The mode of worMng Eri sUk in vogue in recent years

has been described with praiseworthy exactitude in his

Monograph on Silk Fabrics by Mr. A. Yusuf Ah, I.C.S.

(Allahabad, 1900), and the method is manifestly a

traditional one :

" Eri silk is not reeled but spun, and treated hke cotton. The cocoons are first boiled for two hours in an alcohohc solution containing either sajji (native carbonate of soda) or ashes of plantain leaves or of indigo plants." " Eri silk is spun with the usual Indian spinning wheel. . . . The spinner takes a quantity of the silk fibre in her hand, deftly spins out of the mass a piece of thread between her fingers and attaches it to the spindle of the wheel. Resting the wheel against her toes she patiently sits for hours on the ground, moving the handle of the spinning wheel and thus giving a rapid motion to the spindle." " The yarn ... is coarse. It is twisted by ... . Method a simple instrument called the taken or batni. of This consists of a big needle about the size of that Working, used for sewing leather, the lower end of which carries a wooden baU. . . . The needle with the ball is suspended from above, free in the air. The point of the needle is at its upper end and Just below it is a small notch hke that of the leather needle. The thread is attached at a point near the ball ; two or three turns are given round the needle, and then it is made fast in the notch. About three feet of thread is let out above the needle. The twister quickly roUs the needle between his fingers and his left thigh, which sets the baU rotating rapidly until the impulse

398

SILK INDUSTRY.

Method is exhausted, when the process is repeated. After

of two or three repetitions the yarn let out is found

Working. to be sufficiently twisted. It is then wound

round the needle and the end of the twisted

portion is made fast again at the notch. More

thread is now let out above, and this goes on

until aU the thread has been twisted."

The use of a lye of ashes as a detergent is seen to have

been common to India, China and Southern Europe, and it

also appears from Mr. Yusuf All's work that the process

appUed to the Eri sUk is similar to the method used by

Indian craftsmen in deahng with the unreelable portion

of the cocoons of other species.

"In the case of the mulberry feeding silkworm,

after the glossy portion has been reeled off there

is a small quantity of fluffy fibre which cannot

be reeled and is called waste silk or chashm. * This

is mixed with some peaflour and boiled, thus

dissolving any mucilaginous matter that there

may be in it and rendering the substance soft

and phable. After being dried this chashm of

bombycide sUk is spun and twisted in the same

manner as Eri sUk."

Again, in Watt's Dictionary of the Economic Products of

India (1893) there occurs a specific reference to the native

use of waste silk in Burma :

" As much sUk having been obtained from the

cocoons as is possible by the crude methods used,

the pods are taken out of the pot and, while still

moist and warm, are stretched into a kind of

coarse knubby thread, which finds a sale in the

market for coarse uses."

Practice Indeed the use of silk in its discontinuous form has

in been recognised in communities more primitive than

West those of the East. Mr. F. W. Barwick, who has made

Africa. the subject of African or Anaphe silk his own, reports

that in West Africa this brown tussah-hke sUk, pulled

from the cocoon, is mixed by natives with an indigenous

brown cotton and spun and woven by them into a

* In commerce : Chassum.

WASTE SILK. 399

khaki-coloured cloth. The cocoons, which are formed Carded

in nests in the forks, or along the boles, of trees, are Silk in

practically unreelable, and are much more easUy utilised if Africa, carded.

The Course of Invention.

It has been seen that waste silk was used to make embroidery yams in France in the 16th century, and there are reasons for supposing that hand-spun waste sUk had also been used in knitting. M. Bon, a Frenchman who invented at the beginning of the 18th century a means of dealing with spider silk, prepared it by carding and made stockings of it. The accounts of inventors are not invariably unprejudiced either in respect of the merits of new materials or the demerits of old ones, but from his statement that spider silk stockings weighed two ounces against the seven or eight ounces of stockings made with common silk, it can at least be deduced that coarse silk yarn was used sometimes for this purpose. The complaints of Katherine EHott,* nurse to the Duke of York, in 1636 are a little vague as to whether spun yarn was employed in the silk stockings and waist- coats of the period. Her specific charge was against the passing-off of Spanish as Naples silk, and woven for knitted goods, but the probabilities do not preclude the use of "floret." The earliest expUcit reference to the employment of silk waste to make cloth in this country is accompanied by assurance favouring the supposition that the invention was new.

The Domestic State Payers for 1672 contain an entry Refer- bearing upon the purpose to which silk waste — or a ences in particular kind of silk waste — ^had been applied in this State country up to that time. It was a waste " never before Papers, known to be useful in this kingdom except for stuffing quilts, or sold into ^ HoUand or Germany at 8d. or lOd. per lb." The information is to be found in the certificate of five mercers of the city of London, made in respect of an invention for which letters patent No. 165

* See Appendix.

400

SILK INDUSTRY.

Refer- were granted to Edmond Blood, " of our Citty of London, ences in Merchant," in 1671. The document differs from modern State grants in containing no drawings or detailed description.

Papers. It opens with an abrupt form of the royal greeting :

" Charles the Second &c., to all to whome theise

presents shall come, greeting. " Whereas by the humble peticon of Edmond

Blood and alsoe by the certificat of

divers of our loving subjects, cittizens, and trading mercers within our Citty of London, wee are given to understand that with considerable charge and paines hee, the said Edmond Blood, had found out ' A New manufacture, being a rich Silk Shagg comodious for Garments, made of a SUke Wast, hetherto of little or noe vse, and shagged by TezeU or Rowing Cards, hke as Enghsh Bayes, Rowed Fustians or Dimatyes, a sort of Manu- facture never before knowne or made in this our Kingdome.' And whereas the said Edniond Blood hath humbly besought vs to grant him our Letters Patents for the sole vse and such his Invencon for the tearme of fowerteen yeares, according to the statute in that case made and provided." Early The nature of the silk waste in question is not precisely

Enghsh described, and it is open to doubt whether it was the Methods direct produce of silk reehng or was the noU or by-product of of some established waste silk combing industry. How-

using ever, the character of the cloth can be determined by

Waste. deduction. A shag is a cloth, commonly wooUen, with a rough surface, and the document makes it plain that the silk shag was to be roughed (technically " raised ") by the use of teazles or of roving cards. In other words, the fabric was to be treated in a manner corresponding to the treatment of most blankets and all flannelettes, and to be made somewhat to resemble baize with a trailing pile of fibre upon its surface. The modern clothier might describe this as " blanket cloth," " fleece-faced," or " moss finished," according to the degree of the roughening or raising. It was apparently intended to make the shag

WASTE SILK. 401

alternatively of silk or silk and linen, for the certificate Shag of the mercers states that none of them had known or Over- heard of " any such manufactory in this kingdom or else- coatings, where as the making of a stuff fit for garments of sUk, or sUk and hnen, shagged hke Enghsh bays." It is note- worthy that Blood's idea has met with modern adapta- tions, and that there are periodical demands from the United States for sUk waste in the form of noUs to mix with wool and form the fleecy face of " shag " over- coatings.

The language of the patent has sonorous quahties of its own, and with the avoidance of repetitions and some circumlocution the document is further quoted :

" Know Ye, that wee, haveing a more especiaU and favourable regard to the Invencon aforesaid, and being willing to cherish and encoorage all laudable endeavours and designs of such our subjects as shall finde out vsefull and profitable arts, misteries and invencons by granting and appropriating vnto them for some tearme of yeares the fruite and benefitt of theire industry, whereby not onely a marke of our favour may bee sett vppon such theire ingenuity but alsoe theire labor and expences in the attainment thereof may in some measure be recompenced and rewarded vnto them, have given and granted .... and doe give and grant vnto the said Edmond Blood, his executors admstrators and assignes especiall hcence, power, priviledge and authority that hee and they .... by him and themselves and their deputies, servants An early and workmen and such others onely as he shall Patent

agree with and noe others shall and described.

may vse, practice, exercize and enjoy the said

Invencon "

The fee exacted was modest, the grant being condi- tional simply on payment of " the yearely rent or sum of six shillings and eight pence of lawfuU money of England att the twoe most vsuall feasts in the yeare, that is to say, att the Feast of the Anunciacon of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Feast of Saint MichaeU the Archangell,

402 SILK INDUSTRY.

An early by even and equal porcons." The document extended Patent warnings to those who might infringe the patent, detailed described, the powers of search in cases of supposed infringement, and required " all and singular justices of peace, maiors, sheriffs, bayliffs, constables, headboroughs and aU other officers and ministers " to be " favouring, helping, ayding and assisting vnto the said Edmond Blood." This paper, sealed with the private seal of the monarch, made the grant revocable in case " it shall bee made appeare vnto vs .... or any six or more of our privy counceU that this our grant is contrary to law or prejudicial! or incon- venient or not of publique vse or benefitt or ... is not a new Invencon."

Patents of more intrinsic importance also involving the treatment of waste silk have been taken out since Blood's, but in none of these is there an equal charm and quaintness of language, and the fact must condone a digression not absolutely necessary to the proof that waste silk has a long history. Inven- Various patentees of the 18th century enumerated

tion in silk as one of the fibres capable of manufacture upon the 18th machines of their invention. Dr. Cartwright did so in

Century, respect of the machine-comb which he devised primarily for treating wool, but this and other references have to be dismissed as speculative and self-protective claims by patentees. The invention of Thomas Wood, manu- facturer of cotton, Holcombe, Bury, Lanes. (No. 1130 of 1776), may be mentioned not specifically for its utihty or importance — for it does not appear that the machine described could have worked — but as some evidence that waste silk was then occupying attention in Lancashire. Wood invented a " machine or instrument for carding and roving silk, cotton and sheep's wooU." Silk is placed first in the title, although the body of the document treats of " cotton, sheep's wool &c." in one instance, and solely of; "the cotton" in another. A patent taken out by Sharp and Whittemore in 1799 for a machine to make cards for carding, cotton, wool and silk gives firm evidence that silk was then being carded, and the fact is well attested in other wa^s.

SILK SPIHmrlO. I, ReciEi*ilHf topenins raw tr

Silk Spinning, Receiving and Opening Raw

Material — Silk IVaste.

Plate XLIII. Silk Spinning, Boiling or De-gumming — Silk Waste.

WASTE SILK.

403

The most momentous technical development within the Notable English spinning industry of the last hundred years is Tech- one that has been almost totally disregarded by the larger nical pubhc. Attention has been drawn to new sUk combs Develop- and to the utilisation of new-old forms of silk waste, ment. but these are not of supreme consequence. The great and the distinctive change was the supersession of the old^ method imder which a fibre naturally long was cut dehberately into short lengths and prepared and spun in the manner proper to fibres naturally short ; in fact by means not very different from those used for cotton. Long fibres are more valuable textile materials than short ones, and to make long ones short is a step contrary to good management. The improvement which exceeds aU others in importance was plainly that which abohshed the old necessity for depreciating and disfiguring the raw material and allowed advantage to be taken of the inherent quality of good length. The change implied the pro- duction of a stronger and more lustrous, although not necessarily more even yarn. And to set at rest any doubt of the reality and magnitude of the improvement it suffices to point out that it has been adopted by every spinning firm in the Enghsh trade, and with not more than three exceptions is the only system in use in English mills now, or for many years past.

In tracing the course of the change which led Enghsh Gibson sUk spinners to abandon the example of cotton and to and make the methods pursued in spinning worsted or long Camp- flax as their model, it is necessary to refer at some length bell to the Enghsh patent 7228 of 1836. Under this, John Patent. Gibson, of the City of Glasgow, throwster, and John Gordon Campbell, of the same place, merchant, obtained pro- tection for a " new or improved process of manufacture of sUk, and silk in combination with certain other fibrous substances." Eight claims were registered :

(1) Discharging from silk waste when the same is

in the state of the shver or rove.

(2) Dyeing silk waste in the sliver.

(3) Spinning from dressed waste of long fibres, either

in the gum or discharged.

404

SILK INDUSTRY.

Spinning (4) Spinning silk waste of long fibres in combination

of long with flax of a similar length of fibre,

fibre Silk (5) Spinning yarn from silk waste of long fibre in

Waste. combination with wool.

(6) The appHcation of a new process to the throstie

machine, on the principle of the long ratch, for the new and useful process of spinning silk waste.

(7) Improvements in the throstle machine by which

its utihty in spinning silk waste is greatly augmented.

(8) The appHcation of water to silk waste with long

fibres in the process of spinning with the long ratch. This patent is the earhest upon the British register relating to the spinning of silk waste of long fibre, and is the one responsible for the name " Patent Long Spun " that is sometimes still appHed to English yarn. Long and costly htigation arose out of the grant of this patent, and the decisions therein dispose of the idea that this was the first successful attempt to avoid the reduction of the fibre. Indeed a distinction must be drawn between yarn technically entitled to the name " Patent Long Spun " and yam produced on the throstle machine and upon the principle of the long ratch.

The specification outlines the processes hitherto adopted for spinning yam from silk waste :

(a) Passing the waste through a breaker to clear

out the more stubborn or knotty ravehngs. (6) Passing the waste through dressing machines — either in the gum or discharged state.

(c) Cutting the dressed silk into lengths of two inches,

more or less, in a cutting machine, and if need be discharging and drying.

(d) Scutching the material before carding.

Old (e) After carding, preparing the roving by a similar

and engine to that used for cotton and spinning

New on the mule jenny, on a similar principle to

Methods, that of the cotton jenny.

WASTE SILK.

405

These processes correspond with, those in use to-day Adop- in the few mills in which the short-spun method survives, tion of

There follows in the patent a description of " our novel Flax process by which we produce our new or improved yarn Spinning or thread," a few lines of which are enough to proclaim the Process, source from whence the patentees drew their inspiration : " The silk waste having been dressed in the usual way . , . either discharged or in the gum, we submit it to the drawing, roving and spinning machinery, thereby entirely obviating the sup- posed necessity of cutting or shortening the fila- ments of silk waste, a destructive process, which has heretofore been considered as an indispensable sacrifice. . . . " The kind of machinery we have found to answer best for the drawings and rovings of dressed, heckled or carded silk waste of long fibres is the same as that used by flax spinners, and we adopt the same methods as are practised by them with long or cut line flax." An action at lay*^ disposed of the validity of the salient claims in Gibson and Campbell's patent, and the printed specification issued by the Patent OflS.ce is followed by a disclaimer. The claims (6), (7) and (8) referring respectively to the use of the throstle machine, improve- ments in that machine and to the process of web spinning are formally abandoned. The action Gibson v. Brand, although an industrial cause celebre, would seem to be generally unknown to the present generation of silk spinners. The case is a leading one in the annals of Patentee Enghsh patent law, and the various legal points disposed in the of in the judgment give it an important place in hand- Law books of the law of patents. As many as a dozen references Courts. to Gibson v. Brand occur in one standard manual of British patent law, and the case is reported at length in Webster's Report, p. 627, Manning and Granger I, p. 79, Scott's New Report, p. 844, Law Journal Report, New Series, Common Pleas, p. 177. The case was heard in 1840, when plaint was made that the defendant had " directly and indirectly made, used and put in practice the said

406

SILK INDUSTRY.

Patentee invention, and counterfeited, imitated and resembled the in the same." The defendant pleaded that Gibson and Campbell Law were not the first inventors and that the invention was

Courts. not new. It was proved that Brand had ordered sUk waste to be spun by certain persons by a process similar to that described and had sold the silk so spun. It was held proved that the yarn produced by the plaintiff's process was very superior in value and beauty to that spun on cotton machinery. Evidence was given on the part of the defendant that long before the date of the patent, silk waste in the long uncut fibre had been spun by the common machinery for spinning flax, and had been sold in large quantities. Mr. Chief Justice Tindal, Mr. Justice CressweU, Mr. Justice Coltman and Mr. Justice Erskine concurred in upholding the decision given in the Court of Common Pleas. The remarks of the last-named deal exphcitly with the question of originahty. He observed :

" It appears that the process of spinning silk waste

with an uncut fibre had been before practised.

" It is said indeed that this was done in secret, and

that it had not been made pubhc, and undoubtedly

if this fact were made out I should agree that this

would be no objection to the patent. But I think

there was abundant evidence to show that to

some extent — and indeed to a considerable extent

— the process had been pubKcly practised before

the patent was taken out ; although it had not

been carried to such a state of perfection as under

the plaintiff's patent."

An The judicial decisions give substantial assurance that

Im- a process having the same main effect as that patented

portant by Gibson and Campbell had been carried on before 1836,

Judg- and after the formal disclaimers made by the patentees,

ment. little of the original subject matter remained. The patent

became one for —

(a) Discharging in the shver or rove.

(b) Dyeing in the shver.

(c) Spinning long fibres, either in the gum or dis- charged state.

WASTE SILK.

407

{d) Spinning silk in combination with flax. An

(e) Spinning silk in combination with wool. Im-

The word " New " was struck out from the title, and portant only " An Improved Process of Manufacture " remained. Judg-

The information gleaned from Patent Office records ment. is supplemented by additional facts extracted with great care and patience by Messrs. J. and T. Brocklehurst and Sons, Limited, throwsters and spinners of Macclesfield, from the archives of their firm. From these it has been learned that the methods pursued by Gibson and Campbell proved very successful, and that yam produced by them was used in many fabrics with good results. A number of manufacturers introduced similar methods without hcence from the patentees, and the legal proceedings against these parties brought both Gibson and Campbell to insolvency in 1840. In this year Messrs. Brocklehurst, together with Mr. WiUiam Wanklyn, silk manufacturer, of Manchester, came to the aid of the patentees, raised money for their assistance, and pressed the proceedings to the conclusion that has already been detailed. In consideration of their help, Messrs. Brocklehurst and Wanklyn were given the right to use the process, free of further cost, and to participate in any extension or renewal of the amended patent rights.

The patent rights were extended. The Enghsh and Irish rights expiring in 1850, and the Scottish rights expiring in 1851, were each extended for six years by the Privy Council, for the principal reason that the patentees had lost considerably upon their undertaking up to that time. Under the terms of the agreement made ten years before, Messrs. Brocklehurst were automatically to benefit Exten- from any extension without further expense. They came sion of again, however, to the assistance of the owners of the Life of patent in the expense of the renewal. Mr. Wanklyn, on Patent. this occasion, took no part in the matter, but James Holdforth and Son, of Leeds, joined in the costs of the appeal, and became entitled thereby to exercise the right of manufacture on the same terms as Messrs. Brocklehurst. John Gordon Campbell had meanwhile died, and his brother Charles Campbell stood as sole representative of

408 SILK INDUSTRY.

Licenses the original holders of the patent. The right, therefore, to Manu- to discharge silk waste in the shver, and to apply to yarn facturers. the name " Long Spun," and to stamp the yam with the words " By Royal Letters Patent and Letters of the Licence," vested principally with the firms of Campbell of Glasgow, Brocklehurst of Macclesfield, and Holdforth of Leeds. Terms were made, however, with certain other spinners, and the following firms held hcences until the expiry of the extended patents in 1856 and 1857 : Hind and Co., Lancaster. Briggs, Castleton Hill, Rochdale. Thomas Atkinson, Booth Town, Hahfax. Muir and Co., Port Dundas, Glasgow. The ruling in Gibson and Brand proved that silk waste of long fibre had been spun independently of any patent before 1836, and there is contemporary testimony that long fibre, discharged not in the shver but in the undressed state, was spun in Brighouse before 1852 ; in other words, before the expiration of the extension of the patent. Burrow and Monk, who were pioneers of the silk spinning trade in Brighouse, practised the short-spim method originally, but with the assistance of workmen obtained from Holdforths of Horsforth, Leeds, manufacturers began to use the long-spinning process in the manner in which it is still carried on in the town. On the other hand, certain old-estabhshed spinners waited until the expiration of the patent rights. < At the short-spinning mill at Galgate the machinery for long-spinning was installed in 1863, and was set to work in 1864. At Triangle, near Hahfax, Mr. Hadwen, who had begun as a cotton spinner in 1800, added short-spun silk to the fist of his manufactures in the year 1826 and long-spun in 1858. At Congleton, A Messrs. Reade, who became short spinners in 1829, after

Pioneer carrjdng on silk-throwing and weaving from 1784, began Firm. long-spinning in 1859, or later. The pleas before the Privy Council made on behalf of the Glasgow patentees, suggest that the improved system of working was not im- mediately lucrative, and it is a matter of tradition that some persons hastened to take up long-spinning before the method had been brought to a satisfactory degree of perfection.

I I

Silk. Spinning, Dressed SilJ^ Spreading — Silf^ Waste.

Plate XLIV.

Silk Spinning, Conribing — Silk Waste.

WASTE SILK.

409

Tlie defendant Brand in the momentous action was Scottish probably a neighbour of Gibson and Campbell. That Spinners, he was not a spinner of silk waste, but had spinning done for him by others appears from the evidence. Harvey, Brand and Co., and Robert Brand and Co., of 1, Ingram Street, Glasgow, were throwsters and silk gauze manu- facturers, and it is possible that the defendant belonged to one or other of these firms. The connection of the first-named firm with the silk industry is mentioned in an article in the 7th edition of the Encyclcypedia Britannica (1842), which expresses the writer's " grateful acknow- ledgments to Messrs. Harvey Brand and Co., of Glasgow, whose beautiful silk-throwing factory at Blackball, Paisley, was opened to him."

The same article refers to silk-spinning in Edinburgh in terms which leave no doubt of their meaning :

"Messrs. Wm. Casey and Co., of Castle Mills, Edin- burgh, have it in contemplation to introduce such alterations in the spinning of silk waste as wiU supersede the cutting, carding and scutching processes. This improvement they mean to effect by adopting the principles of flax-spinning, in place of treating the waste in the manner of cotton, the uncut filaments being drawn into a sliver by a modification of the flax gUl." Messrs. Casey presumably had the result of the Gibson lawsuit in mind, and at aU events made no secret of their intentions. Whether Michael Wheelwright Ivison, silk- spinner, residing in Hales Street, Edinburgh, was con- nected with their firm remains an open question. * What is Work known is that Ivison took out the Enghsh patent 7600 of of 1838 for objects similar to those of Gibson and CampbeU Edin- and of WiUiam Casey and Co. A single sentence suflSces burgh to show that projects for long-spinning engaged attention Firms. in several Scottish quarters in the later 'thirties :

" In carrying out my invention,- silk waste is to be obtained in the condition it is dehvered from the combing without having undergone the process of cutting and carding."

'* The name of M. W. Ivison appeared in the Glasgow Directory of 1835-36 under the head " Silk Spinner," but was absent from the edition of 1839-40.

410

SILK INDUSTHY.

A John Gibson, with Thomas Muir, described as silk

Glasgow manufacturers, Glasgow, took out in 1840 a further patent Patent. (No. 8641) to clean foul sUk waste. The waste, converted into a shver or rove and reeled into hank, was immersed in water until saturated, then wrung well at a wringing post and scutched. " We find," says the specification, " this saturation has the effect of making the fine fibres adhere to each other more closely, while the scutching, without disturbing the natural adhesiveness of the fine fibre, throws out or partly detaches the nibs and coarse or unequal filaments." It does not appear that any notable results followed.

The spinning of waste silk has been shown to have a longer history than can be inferred from the date of the foundation of any existing spinning mills. It was, how- ever, to the age of existing mills that the Silk Club of Manchester referred in contesting Mr. Samuel Cunliffe Lister's right to be regarded either as the founder of the spinning branch of the trade or as the first to employ the waste silks of India. A letter from this Association of sUk spinners appeared in the Bradford Observer, 24 March, 1887, and this, with Mr. Lister's reply, effectually disposes of both points : " Sir,

With reference to the accounts which have appeared recently concerning Mr. S. Lister and his connection with the spun-silk industry, we venture to ask the following question : (1) Seeing that there are some firms (or their pre- decessors) which have been engaged in spinning waste silk for nearly 100 years, how is it that Mr. Lister can be said to be the introducer of this branch of the trade? Lister's (2) Inasmuch as some are now hving who over 50

Entry years ago worked the waste sUks of India,

into the can it be explained how Mr. Lister was the

Trade. first to introduce the use of this material?

(3) What is the quality of the waste silk that Mr. Lister purchased originally at ^d. per lb. ? We ask these questions without the sMghtest desire to throw any doubt upon the services that Mr. Lister

WASTE SILK. 411

has conferred upon the branch of industry in which he is engaged, but we feel that it would be more satisfactory if some explanation of the above could be given.

The Silk Club. Victoria Hotel,

Manchester,

March 22nd, 1887."

To this letter Mr. Lister sent the following reply : — " To the Editor of the Bradford Observer.

Sir, — Allow me to reply to the queries of my friends A Reply of the SUk Club, pubhshed in your issue of Thursday. to Criti-

It would just be as true for someone to say that he cism. was the first to use pig iron as for me to say that I was the first to utihse silk waste. All sUk-producing nations have from time immemorial used their waste silk of the better class with more or less skUl, and do so now. It is nothing but our superior machinery and mode of treat- ment that enable us to pay a higher price than the native user, and that causes it to come to our markets. With regard to its use in England, I should imagine — although I have no positive data — that it would be about the time I was born, say some seventy or eighty years ago, when it was first spun by machinery in this country. I remember weU the first time that I saw anything of the kind was at Messrs. Holdforths' miU at Leeds — I think in 1846. Having at that time gained some notoriety in wool- combing, Mr. Holdforth asked me to come over and see his silk-dressing machine, and to improve it if I could. I thought then, and still think, that it was one of the rudest and crudest of machines, but, as I know to my cost, very bad to beat. I had no idea, when examining it carefully for the first time, of the long years of toil and trouble, and the ruinous sums it would cost me before I should be able to master it — and I am not so sure that I have succeeded even now, after forty years (that is, for all sorts) — but I can, at any rate, say that I have. First so far as I know, invented and patented the first self- Self- acting dressing machine, with plenty of room for improve- Acting ment for those who may come after me, as I consider Dressing my working days are now over. Machine.

412 SILK llsrDUSTRY.

Foreign Then as to the waste silks of India, I believe that Com- Messrs. Holdforth were using at the time I visited their

petition, works the J.R.W. chassum, known as European filature, and I have no doubt other people were also ; but the waste silk that cost me so much time, trouble, and expense to use profitably was the native filature chassum. The late Mr. Spensley, who, no doubt, will be remembered by many members of the Club as being one of the chief waste sUk brokers, first called my attention to it — ^that would be about 1857 — and he said, laughing, that they had tried to use it as manure, but that it would not rot. At that time I had no knowledge of silk waste, and to my inexperienced eyes it looked more like oakum than any-- thing else. However, after some experiments, I bought a few bales, say thirty or forty, at ^d. per pound, and afterwards cleared the lot at Id. to l^d. Years afterwards, when I had perfected my machinery at a vast cost, I had almost the entire trade in my hands, and imported regu- larly, year after year, several thousand bales — ^in fact, at that time I scarcely used anything else — and now I scarcely use a bale. It aU goes abroad, where aU our trade wiU eventually go. Long hours, cheap labour, and hostile tariffs wiU tell more and more as time goes on. There were two reasons why the trade could not and did not use native filature chassum, and other low wastes ; and the same may be said even to this day, although not to the same extent. First, at that time good waste was so cheap, and the cost of dressing low materials so high, that it did not pay with the ordinary machinery, and required special machinery iavented and constructed before it could be used with profit. Then again, supposing it could have been dressed at that time with the comparatively rude giU boxes then in use, no one could make level yarn from it. The intersecting gill — the invention of my last High partner, Mr. Warburton — has changed all that, and made

Quahty it now comparatively easy, whereas, when the shver of of combed native chassum was drawn from my patent silk-

Manning- combing machine, it was as level as a roving, and no one ham in Europe could or did make any yarn comparable to it.

Yam. When Manningham Mills were burned down, in 1872

Silk Spinning, Drawing Preparatory for Spinning —

Silk Waste.

Plate XLV . Silk Spinning, Drawing Preparatory for Spinning — ■

Silk Waste.

WASTE SILK. 413

I think, I had orders for a year's production. The raw Waning material was costing me from 6d. to Is. 2d., and I was Pros- selling on the Rhine two-fold 60s. for 24s. per pound, perity. My respected friends of the Silk Club, we should all like those very pleasant and prosperous days to come back again, but, alas ! I am afraid they wiU never. In these evil days the raw material is double the price, and the yarn less than one-half, and if there be any profit at all, it goes to the foreigner. In conclusion, let me say I sincerely wish prosperity to the Club and the trade.

I am, &c.,

S. CuNLiFFE Lister. Swinton, March 26th, 1887.

P.S. — I suppose that the reason of the Silk Club asking for explanations arises from the terms in which the Albert medal was awarded to me ; but I had nothing to do with that, as I was 01 in bed at the time. I quite agree in thinking that some alteration ought to be made more in accordance with the facts, and I shall endeavour to have such alteration made by the Council of the Society of Arts, as I have not the shghtest wish to have accorded to me that to which I am not fairly entitled."

Mr. Lister was as good as his word lq the matter of the award of the Albert medal, bestowed upon him in 1886.* A letter from him was received by the Society, suggesting some amendment of the terms in the final clause of the award. The Council of the Society of Arts were of opinion that it would not then be possible to vary the terms which had been made public about a year before.

In Lord Masham's Inventions a more extended account is given of that which Mr. Lister did invent. Lord Masham wrote : The

" In 1859 we succeeded — I and my partner, Mr. James First Warburton— in making the first silk comb, which Silk we patented in our joint names. From the begin- Comb, ning it made a first-rate shver and fairly clean

* The terms of the award to Mr. Lister of the Albert Medal of the Society of Arts are thus reported in the Journal of the Society, June 4, 1886 : —

" The Council of the Society of Arts have (with the approval of the President, H.R.H. the Prince of Wales) awarded the Albert Medal to Mr. Samuel CunliSe Lister for the services he has rendered to the textile industries, especially by the substitution of mechanical wool-combing for hand-combing, and by the intro- duction and development pf a new industry and the utilisation of waste sillf."

414

SILK INDUSTRY.

The work, but its great fault — a fatal one — ^was that

First it produced so little top and made so much noil

Silk that it did not pay. . . . The mechanical arrange-

Comb. ment was admirable, and it did what had never been

done before. It produced a splendid, regular and even sliver, just what was wanted in the spun silk trade. " Net silk, ItaUan, was at that time (1859) worth over 40s. a pound, and was anything but level and free from lumps and other imperfections, whereas our Manningham spun sUk yarn was in many respects superior and was used as a substitute. " I was greatly helped by my partner .... but he took httle interest in working it." The Lister silk-comb upon this confession shared the common defect of other substitutes for the flat dressing frame which, now as in 1846, remains the mainstay of the English silk-spinner. The intersecting gill — a drawing machine with teeth above and teeth below — used nowa- days by spinners in preparing the shorter fibres for spinning, and employed principally upon yarns made from the third and fourth drafts of dressed silk, is claimed both in the letter and book as Mr. Warburton's discovery. Lord Masham's book says :

" The best thing Warburton did was to invent the

intersecting screw giU, which may be said to work

two sets of faUers or giUs, one up and the other

down, but intersecting each other.

" I have no copy of the patent, nor do I remember

when it was invented, but in after years I had

The good reason to know something about it. At first,

Inter- and for many years, the English spinners would

secting not look at it, but after a time Messrs. Greenwood

Screw and Batley took it in hand, and being always

GiU. first class in their work, made it work so admirably

that the foreign spinners adopted it, and with such success as to make nearly as good yarn out of hand-dressed silk as I could with the comb, which they had never been able to do before, as with the ordinary preparing machinery they

WASTE SILK.

415

could never make it level and free from thick and Silk thin places. It is very remarkable, but absolutely Comb true, that this very machine was the means of super- kiUing the silk comb, which for some years was seded. immensely profitable. " At one time, especially for velvets. Lister and Co. could command almost any price for their yarns, but this intersecting giU changed this, as the yarn from the hand-dressed silk was nearly as level and good as the machine-combed." It appears that Mr. Lister was more appreciative of the merits of the intersecting gill machine than were some of his Enghsh competitors. Lister and Co. were amongst Greenwood and Batley's earliest customers for the machines, and it may be supposed that the intersecting gill assisted the Lister silk-comb in producing an excep- tionally uniform yarn. The supposition is favoured by Lord Masham's repeated declaration that his advantage vanished when his Continental competitors adopted the same machine.

The comb was superseded in its inventor's own miU, The and he has added : Self-

" We had, much against my will, to adopt the old acting system of hand-dressing, and we have some now. Dressing The hand-dresser could always beat the comb Frame, in the yield, the proportion of top to noil, so that it could always produce a cheaper yarn ; and when by improvements in preparing and drawing they succeeded in getting a level yarn, the comb became obsolete and worthless except for some special purposes, especially making a very superior sKver. " We had not many hand-dressing machines, and when one day, walking round and looking at them with vexation and disdain, as I thought it a terrible humihation that I (of aU men) should be obliged to adopt them, it suddenly occurred to me that I could make a self-acting frame. " To my great dehght, my self-acting frame went to work, so far as I remember, without a single

416

SILK INDUSTRY.

The alteration, and is, I believe, at work to-day. It

Self- did not make a sliver (it made a lap). The shver

acting was an improvement that was made afterwards.

Dressing It is an immense and costly machine, and requires

Frame. a great deal of room and power. The first twenty

cost us considerably over £1,000 each. . . . Mr. W. Watson has considerably improved them, for which he has taken several patents." The two pieces of machinery, the silk-comb and the self-acting dressing frame, are the inventions that the waste sUk spinning trade owes to Lord Masham's initiative. Their influence has been less felt than his part in the development of the Reixach plush loom, but to arrive at a complete estimate of the great manu- facturers' mechanical achievements one has to go outside the silk trade and consider the work done by him in per- fecting the wool-comb. The In the course of its manufacture, spun yarn is " gassed,"

Yarn- i.e., is passed through a gas flame to bum off protruding Cleaning ends of its constituent fibres, which, left untouched, Patent. obscure the play of Hght, and hence the lustre of the thread. Some ash remains to suUy the colour of the yarn, and it was at one time usual to send yam out in a distinctly dirty-looking state. Then came the invention by which yarn was gassed as one part of the operation, and cleaned as the other part, and the name " gassed and cleaned " came into being. The improvement is traceable to two inventions of Mr. W. H. Prince and Mr. James Tomhnson, machine maker of Rochdale, who took out patents Nos. 141 and 2194 of 1868, for a means of drawing yarn from the bobbin, gassing it and passing it " round a number of caps to obtain friction enough to clear the loose fibre and smoothe the yarn." These patent rights and the machines for the purpose were sold to Lister and Co., of Manningham Mills, in 1871 or 1872. Subsequently according to information which has been supphed by Tomlin- son (Rochdale), Ltd., licences to work the machines were granted by Mr. Lister, or by Lister and Co., to various other spinners. The caps or bars are referred to as " Lister's cleaning bars " in machine catalogues of the present day.

5(7^ Spinning — Spinning Silk. Waste.

Plate XLVL.

Silk Spinning, Gassing and Cleaning Yarn — 5r7^

Waste.

WASTE SILK. 417

Tlie imports of waste silk afford an index to the growth The of the spinning industry, although not at aU times a Growth perfect one, because spinners have had much larger of Silk- quantities of home waste at their disposal in some periods spinning, than in others. The English silk-throwing trade has undergone great fluctuations, and the importation of waste has not always been equally practicable. The Enghsh duty on silk waste in 1787 was fourpence a pound, a charge which would represent one shilling a pound on the yarn_ produced from it. In 1819, the tariff stood at the prohibitive level of four shilhngs a pound, or £22 8s. per cwt., and 3s. 9d. a pound on waste from India. The impost- was reduced in 1824 to threepence a pound, regardless of origin, and so remained until 1826, when it was further reduced to one penny. In 1829 the tax of a penny a pound was changed to the nominal rate of one shilling per hundred- weight, and later this rate was halved in the case of material from British Possessions, and, later still, was removed entirely. The imports of waste during the earher years of the factory era have been stated in suc- cessive Parliamentary papers as follows :

Average. lbs.

1815, 1816, 1817 .. .. 27,000

1821, 1822, 1823 .. .. 74,000

1831, 1832, 1833 .. .. 688,369

1839, 1840, 1841 .. .. 1,055,737

The foregoing statement does not disclose the fact that Imports imports for consumption in 1834 were over one million of lbs., over one milhon in 1835, and over IJ millions in Waste. 1836. Such totals are sufficient signs of the existence of a considerable consumption, and there are numerous independent evidences that the spinning trade was becom- ing estabUshed. Fuller particulars are to be found in the chapters relating to local industry concerning the mill opened at Galgate in 1792, in Leeds before 1812, in Hahfax before 1822, in Congleton in 1829, in Brighouse in the 1840's, and that described by Arthur Young in Kendal in 1769.

In 1844, according to Geo. Dodd in British Manufac- tures, mills devoted to silk-spinning in contradistinction

8»

418 SILK INDUSTRY.

Man- to silk-throwing, had "increased to an astonishing

Chester extent in the last few years, and are situated chiefly- Spinning in Manchester." The yarn produced was "for cheap MiUs. shawls, handkerchiefs and other articles, by a, process

nearly resembling cotton spinning ; thus opening up an entirely new manufacture and bringing into use a com- modity which was formerly almost useless."

Some other contemporary information is found in McCulloch's British Empire (1837), in which it was said :

" A great many Bandanas (particularly in 1834) were manufactured from spun silk for the advan- tage of claiming the drawback of 3s. 6d. allowed on exportation, the amount of which in many cases reahsed a large percentage on the manufactured value. On the opening of the trade in 1826 a great stimulus was given to the manufacture of low silk goods generally, and this in particular, owing to the drawback allowed on aU manu- factured goods above the value of 148. per lb. ; a certificate or debenture for a corresponding weight of Itahan organzin imported being produced to entitle the exporter to this advantage. Many Bandanas were in consequence made of so inferior a silk as barely to exceed the manufactured value required by the Act. This trade was also pro- moted by the low price of the debenture certificate, which in the first instance was to be obtained at ld.-2d. per lb. ; but the demand for debenture increasing in consequence of the large quantity of low manufactured silks bought for exportation, the price speedily advanced ; in 1834 it was selling at Is. 3d. per lb., and its present price is 2s. 7d., with every prospect of a further increase. The inducement, therefore, to export the low goods has to a great extent ceased, and the manufacture of them has consequently been Low much reduced. The low price at which Indian

Grade Bandanas could be purchased in the market

Goo^s. interfered with this manufacture, and has led tp

WASTE SILK. 419

the production of better qualities and more tasteful patterns in order to meet this com- petition."

The employment of spun waste in this direction was mentioned also by Mr. R. Baggally in evidence before the House of Commons Committee of 1832, when it was said " spun silk may be purchased at Macclesfield for 3s. a lb., woven into bandanas, and receives a bounty on exportation of 3s. 6d."

The adventitious demand for Bandana handkerchiefs The was probably responsible for the appearance of numbers Trade in of new spinners about this time, and the same demand Bandana may have tempted silk throwsters into the spinning Hand- business. Indeed a firm in Congleton, founded long kerchiefs, before as a throwing and weaving concern, commenced sUk- spmning in 1829, or three years after the opening of this trade by which time the import duty on waste had been reduced to a nominal charge. Soon after 1834 silk warps began to be used in manufacturing stuff goods in Bradford, and to provide a more constant market for yarn than the bounty-fed and short-hved Bandana business. " Bandanas, plain and figured Barcelonas, and fancy and gauze hand- kerchiefs of entire sUk " — to quote further from McCulloch — constituted the handkerchief trade of the period. He added that " the bulk of the silk employed is consumed at Manchester and Macclesfield in the manufacture of Bandanas and Barcelonas," the remainder was used at " Paisley, Glasgow and elsewhere in the manufacture of gauze and fancy handkerchiefs." Paisley used spun-sitk for many of its famous shawls and table cloths, and a hving spinner remembers the good trade with Paisley in 1848.

Further developments in the consumption of waste Spun silk are reflected in McCuUoch's presentation of the average Silk for imports in certain later years. From the average shghtly Paisley exceeding one million lbs. in 1839-41, the progress was as Shawls. follows :

1850-52 1,693,000^65.

1861-65 3,349,000 „

1865-67 3,126,000 „

(Subsequent to the Anglo-French Treaty.)

420

SILK INDUSTRY.

The Intro- duction of Long- spinning.

A Short Era of Pros- perity.

The decade of the 'thirties may be distinguished as that of Bandanas and the introduction of the principle of long-spinning. The 'forties stand out as the period of development in and around Manchester, and of the inception of silk-spinning in Brighouse. The 'fifties were the years of the demand from Bradford and Paisley and the beginnings of spinning in Bradford. The 'sixties brought the Anglo-French Treaty and the removal of duties from foreign manufactured silk. In 1861 the American Civil War broke out, and in 1862 the supply of cotton from that country was equal only to one-third of the requirements. The next two years brought no rehef, and not until 1865-66 did the cotton supply resume the normal course. The Cotton Famine, the greatest of all the calamities that have befallen Lancashire, put a premium on aU materials capable of replacing cotton, and fortunes were made out of substitutes. Beddings stuffed with silk waste found their way into the market, and men who picked up the material at three-halfpence a pound sold it again at half-a-crown.

Silk materials were high in price in the period between the Cotton Famine and the outbreak of the Franco- Prussian War, and their values at the end of the decade are shown in this quotation from a broker's circular :

Circular or T. and H. Littledale, of Liverpool.

7 Jany., 1869. Foreign : Gum waste

Do. good to fine Do. knubs and husks . . Turkey do.

East India Chassum , . ,, ,, Cocoons . . Raws — Tsatlees Canton . .

So weU informed an authority as the late Mr. Joseph Boden called the period 1870-6 " the most prosperous in the history of the trade," and as in his own person he " paid buyers 10s. per lb. clear profit upon their purchase of a year before," the opinion was well founded, Without knowing precisely what profits

rib. 5/3 to 6/6
6/3 ,	, 8/-
2/- ,	, 4/6
3/6 ,	, 7/-
1/2 ,	, 2/8
2/- ,	, 4/-
20/- ,	, 26/-
„ 15/- ,	, 20/-

WASTE SILK. 4^1

spinners did make in this period, lie estimated that those A Short who avoided too heavy contract obUgations may have Era of made as much as 15s. per lb. upon yarn. The demands Pros- of the lace and fancy dress goods trades, coupled with perity. the disabilities under which Continental competitors suffered during this time of war, created these abnormal opportunities of money-making.

The 'eighties brought plushes which were close imitations of seal fur into favour, and created a large demand for tussah yarn, and the profits were still good enough to tempt Yorkshire capital from other trades into the busi- ness. The early 'nineties, after a discouraging opening, provided a large business in Balernos of Bradford make, in which spun-sUk was used in conjunction with worsted and cotton for stripes. Creye de Chine, blouse cloths and moirette skirt cloth came into new prominence and consumed large quantities of yarn. The advent of mercerised cotton in the later 'nineties may have exercised some influence in giving the decade 1900-1909 a humdrum tone. The American panic of 1907 adversely affected the business, and, allowing for incidental fluctuations, there was a general increase in the price of raw materials. The opening years of the succeeding decade have brought a renaissance of the demand for pile fabrics made from tussah yarn and, in view of the inroads made by com- peting bright materials, the development must be regarded as a fortunate one. Raw materials have risen to higher peaks than in the decade preceding, and classes of silk waste formerly neglected by Continental spinners have now to be bought in competition with them.

The history of the effective employment of the waste The of brown silk, the produce of the wild or oak-fed worm Waste of began in the 'eighties of the last century. The product Brown had been known before that decade, and Mr. Lemuel Silk. Clayton, of Hahfax, spoke in 1879, at a meeting of the Society of Arts, of seeing a large quantity four or five years before in the Lower Thames Street Dock ware- houses. The material was said to have been unfavourably regarded in London and to have been removed to Man- chester, where it remained unsold for two or three years.

422

SILK INDUSTRY.

The Mr. H. T. Gaddum, of the eminent Manchester merchant

Waste of firm, in a communication to Sir Thomas Wardle, declared

Brown his inability to say when the importation of this article

Silk. began. Before the last months of 1883, it had been

consumed at prices ranging from 6d. to lOd. a pound to

make " a low-priced yarn for the manufacture of a variety

of different goods requiring a glossy cheap silk." Up to

that date the material had apparently owed its market

rather to its comparative cheapness than to the especial

characteristics distinguishing it from white and yellow

silks, the produce of the cultivated worm.

Sir Thomas Wardle ehcited from the Lyons Chamber of Commerce the information that until the 'eighties tussah silk waste was even less known there than in England. The Chamber had no knowledge of any importation before 1879, nor did several Lyons and St. Etienne merchants, whose experience was sought. In 1879, 53 bales of raw tussah and 59 bales of tussah waste were brought into Lyons, and in the following year 375 bales of raws and 147 bales of waste. Although the exact date of the intro- duction of tussah silk has not been found, there is a refer- ence in British Manufacturing Industries (1877) which seems to assign an earher date than that suggested by Mr. Clayton. In a contribution by Mr. B. F. Cobb, Secretary of the Silk Supply Association, these passages occur : The " The great stimulus given to the consumption of

Advent tussahs has been the invention of machinery

of Tussah for dressing, carding and spinning these cocoons

Yarn. with waste and floss silk of a higher class."

" What beautiful fabrics may now be made from

tussahs and waste silk was shewn by the exhibits

of manufactured spun silk in 1873."

This allusion to an invention is obscure, for none was

needed. Tussah and white silk are dressed on precisely

the same machines, and for occasional purposes are still

intermingled in one yam. Spinners -prefer, however, to

dress them separately and to blend the two sorts in course

of the drawing operation, and it is improbable that a

system of mixing the wastes together at an earher stage

WASTE SILK. 423

could have presented any advantage. The materials are The mixed in order to obtain a lighter " natural " {i.e. undyed) Advent colour than is given by tussah alone, and they may also of Tussah be mixed in yarns for dyeing to relatively dark shades. Yarn. The admixture is rather exceptional than usual, but the suggestion that it was in mixtures that tussah first came into use is of interest on the technical side. It is probably to the Paris Exhibition that the further passage refers, and the " beautiful fabrics " doubtless include the specimen of silk sealskin in which tussah waste found its supreme utihty.

In 1883, or thereabout, the special quaUties of tussah obtained recognition, and the price rose from lOd. to 2s. 3d. per lb. under the influence of the demand for imitation sealskin cloth. Re-action followed, and the price, after falling to is. 6d., rose to 3s. 3d. in 1887, at which date imitation sealskins were having a great vogue in America. Tussah waste became a more marketable article than tussah net silk, and spinners began to buy tussah raws at 4s. a pound and to cut the hanks and reduce them to the form of waste. They paid — according to Mr. Gaddum's letter — as much as 5s. 3d. per lb. Then the manufacture The of sealskins having been seriously overdone, prices feU Demand back to 3s. 4d.-3s. 6d. for raw tussah, and Is. 2d.-ls. 3d. for Imi- for tussah waste in 1891, and ten years later the waste tation was once more a drug at prices lower than in 1883. These Sealskin particulars emphasise the truth that silk values are Cloth, singularly subject to fluctuation. The experience has been repeated since, and tussah waste in 1912, again in response to a fashion for long-piled plushes, reached 2s. 3d., the price attained when it first came into pubhc favour.

In a paper in June, 1891, before the Society of Arts, Sir Thomas Wardle related his share in the turning of tussah waste to its highest economic purpose. Being unable to interest English manufacturers in tussah, he caused a quantity to be dyed black and took it to Crefeld with an offer to pay a German manufacturer to convert it into cloth. This was in 1872, and the fabric then made and pubhcly displayed first at the Paris Exhibition and afterwards in the South Kensington Museum, was beheved

424

SILK INDUSTRY.

by Sir Thomas Wardle to be the first plumose fabric

Effect ever made from this species of material. If Crefeld was

of the cradle of the trade, England was its growing ground,

McKinley and at Manningham, Saltaire, Queensbury, Huddersfield

Tariff. and Rochdale large manufacturing developments followed.

Exports of seal plushes from the Bradford district to the

United States rose from a value of £11,000 in 1883 to

£535,000 in the year 1888. For two years longer the

trade was maintained at a value of £400,000, to be cut

down to a nominal total by the McKinley Tariff guillotine

and the sating of American demand. Crefeld and Elberfeld

made their original plushes by hand-loom, whereas the

Enghsh makers used power machines to produce the

two millions worth sent to America in 1883-1890, and

the large quantity sold in the home and Continental

markets.

Silk-spinning has had its reverses as weU as its successes, and although the trade as a whole is larger than ever, its path is strewed with the wrecks of fallen firms. Before Mr. Chamberlain's Tariff Commission in 1905, Mr. A. J. Solly deposed that of 24 silk-spinning concerns existent in England in 1870, only nine then remained. There had been newcomers, but of the older firms nine had failed and six withdrawn from the business. Thirty separate undertakings existed in 1886, and by 1904 this number had contracted to that of 1870. In thirty-four years there occurred seventeen failures and eleven voluntary stoppages. Allowing duly for those processes of growth and decay which take place in the industrial as in the physical world, the record is stiU a significant one and hardly matched in the larger branches of the textile trade.

Spinners follow the changes of numerous and fickle trades, and there is every assurance that the defection of large markets has been prejudicial to them. However, Decline it is not alone to the closing of markets that we are to look of for the reasons of this formidable list of mortahty among

British firms engaged in the business. Silk is subject to fluctua- Silk tions, and spinners caught unprepared, or lacking capital

Spinning, beyond that demanded for their daily needs, are exposed

WASTE SILK. 425

to heavy risks. In rising markets the spinner short of surplus funds is unable to buy as freely as he would wish, and upon a fall of values he is not strong enough to hold in stock materials which may fetch better prices later. Fortunes have been made out of fluctuations in value, and A similarly fortunes have also been lost. Rapid rises followed hazard- by sudden falls are bad alike for rich spinners and poorer ous ones, for the spinner cannot escape from his obligations Business, to his suppUers of waste, and the yarns sold at top prices in the period preceding the fall are too often never dehvered. Prices have only to rise high enough and fall low enough and they strain the resources of the strongest. When the fluctuation is less extreme, aU the difference between success and failure lies in the ability to tide over a time of adversity. Those who buy too late and sell too soon are manifestly imable to hold their ground in the struggle to survive.

Sudden fluctuations in the price of silk waste have been traced to different reasons. Short crops, due to disease among sUk-worms, war and large speculative buying, have at different times driven up the price. The heaviest falls have been attributable to financial panics, commonly having their origin in America. It is easy to appreciate the consequences of a doubling of the price of raw material within a period of months, followed by a headlong descent to a lower level than at the beginning. Such movements have been known in the purchase price of waste, and they are magnified three times in the cost price of yarn. The late Mr. Joseph Boden, of Manchester, named some of the extreme limits of fluctuation in his paper to the Silk Association in 1905. He showed that in the year 1793 spinners paid about 5s. for waste to make into yarn seUing at about 17s. a pound. In 1870-76 two-fold 60s. yarn sold at 27s. to 31s. per lb., and it was added — " as good yarn as that sold at 27s. has within the past three years been obtainable at 6s. 3d." There are Fluctua- long intervals between these dates and the fluctuations tions •noted in the waste market occurred within a long span, which " During the past 40 years," Mr. Boden said, " the prices speU of silk have varied enormously — China waste between 2s. failure.

426

SILK mDtJSTRY.

Fluctua- and lOs. 6d., mixed French between Is. lOd. and 9s. 6d., tions China tussah waste between 5|d. and 3s. Id." Periods of

which quiescence have fortunately been known, but a trade is spell unmistakably speculative in which fluctuations of from

failure. 500 to 700 per cent, are possible. At its lowest recorded prices silk waste is still relatively an expensive commodity. The yam made from it fetches much more than cotton yam or worsted, but the by-products generated in the course of dressing and spinning waste are not correspondiugly valuable. The effect of this disparity is easy to appreciate. As yarn, the waste spun and dehvered may be worth 9s. a pound in an ordinary case, but as spoilt material its value is more Uke mnepence. Therefore unless the spinner checks the production of waste upon his own machinery at every point, and adopts every available means of reducing this source of expense, a heavy and insidious drain is made on his resources. The possible number of leaks in a spinning miU is great, and it is not in spinning silk alone that an unregulated and unsuspected excess production of spinners' waste has brought disaster to individual concerns.

The lowest reaches of the waste silk industry have a greater antiquity than might be supposed, and in poiut of age the production of sUk shoddy may rival that of wool. The present wooUen rag-pulhng industry of the West Riding is dated from the setting up of a rag-grinding machine in Batley in 1813 by Benjamin Law. There are vague rumours of an earher beginning in Brighouse, and in any case it is certain that fibre recovered from worsted yarn had been introduced into cloths at much Silk more distant dates. It was in 1801 that three Scotsmen,

Shoddy. Thomas Parker of Broomward, Glasgow, Esquire, and William Telfer and Alexander Affleck of the same city, mathematical instrument makers, patented (No. 2469) " improvements in preparing and manufacturing flax, hemp, silk and other materials."

So far as it related to sUk, the patent was for a machine " for preparing wove sUk .... from articles that have been wore " ; in short for reducing silk rags to their ultimate filaments. The machine is substantially that

WASTE SILIt. 427

whicli the woollen trade knows as a grinding machine SUk or " devil," and its product might by similitude be called Shoddy, sUk shoddy. The nature of the machine can be learned from the description given by its inventors :

" Fig. 1. A, a cylinder set with sharp teeth in rows across the cylinder in a standing direction, for carding or reducing the article to be prepared or teazed. B, a circular brush placed below the cylinder, and made to go at greater speed than the cylinder, by which the article teazed or carded is brushed off, and the teeth kept con- stantly free to produce their full effect. C, a pully that drives the cylinder, &c. D, the rollers through which the articles to be teazed pass to the teeth of the cylinder, the upper roller being sufficiently weighted to keep the articles firm between the rollers. E, a flat brush placed across the cylinder, to keep the articles to be carded down to the teeth of the cylinder, and also to displace them by a motion given to the brush endways. F, a worm on the end of the cyhnder A. G, a face wheel on the end of one of the rollers D. H, the feeding cloths, represented by Fig. 2, or the under cloth a. The articles to be teazed are spread, in order to be drawn under the upper feeding cloth 6, by which they are conveyed smooth to the rollers, and through them to the teeth of the cyhnder. " Fig. 3, rollers attached to the same machine, or placed on a separate frame, with cutting wheels raised on the rollers to cut articles of silk into breadths required, in order to their being teazed." The by-product of one branch of textile industry becomes the raw material of another as a matter of course. The spun-silk trade is fed with the remains of silk-reeling and sUk-throwing, much as the woollen industry is supphed with the leavings of the worsted processes. The manufacture of spun yarn of long fibre involves the production of Spun large quantities of noUs and of smaller quantities of Silk spuming waste, all capable of further employment Trade.

428

SILK INDUSTBY.

in yam of another class. Producers of short-spun yarn take the noils from the dressing-frames of the long-spinners and re-comb them, extracting in the process aU fibres of a certain length suitable for their purposes. The soft waste engendered in spinning is freed from its oil and dirt and made to do service in company with material from other sources. The one process is the complement of the other in making the fullest use of the supply. Noil When the short-spinner has taken out from the noils

Spinning, such portions as he can employ, there remains a residue of some 80 or 90 per cent, of exhaust noUs, too short, and too much curled into " nibs," to be eligible for yarn of fine count. This supply is the natural food of the noil spinner, whose products serve a different range of purposes. Noils are mixed with woollen to give " snow- flake " effects in tweeds, or thick slubs in grotesque novelty yams. CheniUe yarn is made from noils, and by virtue of their non-inflammable nature and cheapness they are employed also for making cloth for ammunition bags. Yarn suitable for stripes in tweeds and for embellishing the ends of pieces of cotton or wooUen cloths is made from the better and brighter quahties of material. Noils suitable for no higher purpose are consumed in a lower department of the waste silk industry, the manufacture of sponge-cloths for the cleaning of machinery. The natural afiinity of silk for oil, which is as marked as its antipathy for water, promotes their use in this direction, as does the immimity from risk of spontaneous combustion, which is to be gained by using cloths of pure noil silk. Products The products of the waste silk industry lend themselves and By- in the main to a summary in this form : — products. Waste silk from the reeler and throwster

Drafts for long-spinning

Drafts for short-spinning.

Noils for recombing.

Long noil fibres for short-spinning.

Exhaust noUs for inferior purposes.

WASTE SILK. 429

The spun yarn, the produce of the drafts manufactured Products in this country, is distinguished for its strength, lustre and By- and purity, and is mainly used for one or other of the products, following purposes :

Weaving : Plain cloths, plushes, stripings or border- ings, handkerchiefs, ribbons, upholstery goods and trimmings, small wares.

Knitting : All silk or wool and silk, garments and undergarments, ties, &c.

Lace making : Calais and Nottingham laces.

Sewing : Machine twist, embroidery, crewel, crochet. The consumption on weaving account is the chief one, and the requirements of the plush trade have for some time been the largest. The hosiery trade takes a small but increasing proportion of the whole, and is a trade which in itself has undergone a wonderful expansion of late years. Material that washes well and wears well is indispensable for many knitted articles, and in these qualities spun-silk possesses an advantage over its nearest competitors. The lace trade is singularly susceptible to dictates of fashion, and although Continental tariffs have a discouraging effect on the consumption of Enghsh silk, Enghsh yarn is exceptionally suited for the funda- mental needs and commands a sale in foreign centres of lace manufacture despite the handicap of the lace market. Sewing silks, in which class are included those for needle- Sewing work in general, are a speciahty of Enghsh spinners, Silks. and the solid virtues that make Enghsh silk threads best for lace assist the demand for sewing silks. Dyed sewing silks are better able to resist wear and atmospheric influences than the mercerised cotton that has replaced them for many purposes. The railway and steamship companies in charging ultra-heavy rates of carriage on consignments consisting in large part of wood and paper, embarrass this branch particularly, and the natural dis- parity of price between silk and cotton is accentuated disproportionately by the heavy retail profits taken on threads for domestic use.

At present waste silk is spun into yarn by some 22 mills established in Yorkshire, Lancashire, Cheshire and

430

SILK INDUSTRY.

Sewing Staffordshire, concerning which fuller particulars are given Silks. in the chapters treating of these localities. It is found

from analysis of the import and export returns that there was retained for consumption in the five years 1907-11 an average of seven million lbs. of foreign knubs, husks and waste of silk. To this may be added nearly the whole of the waste produced in winding and throwing net silk in this country ; a quantity of probably 40,000 lbs. Applying the customary formula that 3 lbs. of waste yields 1 lb. of yarn, an output of 2,347,000 lbs. of yarn may be estimated. The estimate does not materially differ from the 2,306,000 lbs. returned as the output m the 1907 Census of Production. There are signs that the production has increased since the taking of the census. Imports of raw material have been larger in the later years of the quinquennium ; trade has been brisker and new and more efficient machinery has been brought into use.

SUk is too much exposed to variations ui price to make

quotations a good basis of comparison, but its values are

always high relatively to those of wool or cotton, and if

in comparison with the output of worsted or cotton yarns

that of waste silk looks small, it has to be remembered

that the volume recorded for 1907 gave a value of roundly

one million sterhng.

Output The approximate output being known, it is simple

and arithmetic to calculate the number of spindles required

Values. for its production. There may be a diference of opinion

as to the average count of yarn produced at any one time

and the number varies with the demand, but spinners

for the most part have proportioned their machinery to

produce 2/60's.

" Two-thirds of the whole of the yarn produced in the spun silk trade in England is made in two-fold 60's," said Mr. WOham Watson to the Tariff Commission in 1905. Yarn of this denomination is made by combining two threads of 120's (120 x 840 yards), and the output of one ring spindle is some 13 lbs. per annum of thread of this fineness. Were aU the spuming frames ring-frames, it could be shown that 177,400 spindles would be required to spin 2,306,000 lbs, of yarn. Many thousands of the

WASTE SILK.

431

slower flyer frames remain in use however, and the Output estimate must be increased. A total of 200,000 spinning and spindles does not appear to be an excessive allowance, the Values, less so in view of the information obtained from the manager of a large spinning mill. Adding together coarse yarns and fine ones and including frames which must be run slowly with those which may be run fast, the records of the mill show that 209,000 spindles would be required to turn out in one year the quantity named in the Census.

Some of the machinery required is very expensive when compared with the average cost of conventional textile machines ; the raw material is costly ; the time consumed in process is relatively long, and consequently the capital engaged is correspondingly greater than for an equal number of worsted or cotton spindles. An amount between £4 and £5 per spinning spindle is not an excessive sum to allow, and it may be computed with rough accuracy that the British waste silk spinning industry employs a capital sum of one million sterling at the present time.

Both in methods and in products the English silk spinning industry differs from that of the Continent. The typical product of Enghsh miUs is a yarn of long fibres, spun from materials from which the natural silk gum has been thoroughly boiled out. That of the Continental mills is a yarn of fibres shorter than the Enghsh, and from which the gum has been more or less incompletely removed by a process of fermentation. The English yarn is the stronger of the two, and the more lustrous in the first instance, for the lustre of " schappe " or Continental yarn is developed in subsequent processes. ' The presence of sericin or animal gum facilitates the working of silk in certain forms of machine combs and assists in the production of a round thread from British relatively short-fibred materials. Continental spinners and are able to use shorter fibre than the majority of Enghsh Foreign mills, and, with the assistance of cheap labour, to turn Trade out a cheaper but different yarn from the Enghsh. Conti- com- nental spinners of certain quahties of yarn compete with pared. Enghsh users of the short-spun process for the noils rejected ip. dressing long silk,

432

SILK INDUSTRY.

British According to Mr. Boden's address, to which earlier

and reference has been made, J. S. Ahoth and Co. started

Foreign the first spinning factory in Europe, beginning in 1822 in Trade Basle, and transferring their machines to Arlesheim in 1824. com- By amalgamation their firm became Chancel, VeiUon,

pared. Ahoth and Co. in 1872, and later La Societe IndustrieUe de Schappe. Old as the hand-spinning process is known to be upon the Continent of Europe, the larger develop- ments of factory spinning are a product of the last half- century. One of the witnesses before the Tariff Com- mission (1905), speaking partly upon hearsay, said :

" In 1861, my information is that there was practically

only one silk-spinning firm on the Continent,

and that was in France. In 1866 there were

three firms alone spinning more than aU the

English firms put together and many small ones.

At the present day there are two foreign spinners

who certainly spin more than all the 24 English

spinners together."

EngUsh The rapid advance after a relatively late start owes

Textile much to the employment of Enghsh textile machinery,

Machi- with which certain departments of Continental spinning

nery mills are generally equipped. Lord Masham's reference to

Abroad, the introduction upon the Continent of the Enghsh iater-

secting gill machine (j?. 415), bears upon this point, and

there is a suspicion that the example of a Manchester

firm also had its effect. So long as the machines used

by this firm for spinning waste were confined to a secluded

valley in the Canton Vaud there was a marked superiority

in their product over that of Continental mills in general.

When the machines were removed to near MUan, their

existence became more generally known, and their adoption

by foreign spinners followed. On the Continent, spinning

has made most progress in the countries identified with

the production and manufacture of silk at large, and

these countries in general have pursued a protective fiscal

pohcy.

An estimate quoted from a French source places the current annual production of spun waste yarn in the whole world at 5,500,000 kilogrammes (roughly 12,000,000 lbs.).

WASTE SILK.

433

The German production, disclosed by the census of 1907, is 2,457,000 lbs. ; an amount produced upon only 69,590, spindles. The inference is that the yarn is not com- parable with British and consisted mainly of spun noils. Mr. Boden, in 1905, assessed the world's production at about 15| million lbs., allotting 11 millions to the Continent, 3 millions to England, and 1| millions to China, Japan, America and India. The production has increased since that year, and notably so in the case of Japan.

Japanese sUk-spinners have cheap, if not very efficient Japan labour at their service, and are supposed to derive Trade, advantages in more than one way from their proximity to the sources of supply. Freight is saved, and they are able to receive the waste wet from the cocoon-reehng machines with its gum in a condition lending itself more freely to discharging than had the material been dried for transport.

The export trade is detailed in the following tables : —

EXPORT OF SILK SPUN YARN FROM JAPAN.

	(Official Tables.)
Countries.	1908.	1909.	1910.	1911.
	Ws.	lbs.	Ws.	0)8.
America . .	118	3,216	50	3,331
British India	126,973	214,413	302,751	375,586
Great Britain		1,978	31,782	29,951
China	661	9,363	1,452	338
Other Countries	131	2,668	107	8,364
	127,883	231,538	336,142	417,570

There is an additional export from Japan of silk drafts, i.e. of waste silk freed from gum and dressed in readiness for lapping, drawing and spinning.

The spinning industry of the United States is a com- Spinning paratively small one, employing some 130,000 spindles, in the according to the Census of 1909, and the spindles are United distributed over six States. There were 24,000 in Con- States, necticut, where the Cheney Brothers started the first American silk spinning mill in 1868, obtaining their machines from England. In 1909 there were in Massachusetts 11,500 spindles, in New Jersey 34,000, in New York 26,000, with a similar number in Pennsylvania, and in Rhode Island 7,000. No distinction is drawn between spinning and twisting spindles in the official

2 E

434

SILK INDUSTRY.

Spinning return, so that of the spindles enumerated only a certain

in the number are as productive in the initial sense. It

United would appear from the census reports that the greater

States. part of the waste sUk spun in America is for consumption

by the producer, not for sale in the state of yam. The

quantities spun for sale have been returned at their

different dates as :

1899. 1904. 1909.

lbs. lbs. lbs.

437,459 570,529 779,462

The spun sUk used in America includes the imports,

which are considerable, and the totals recorded as used

have been :

1899. 1904. 1909.

lbs. lbs. lbs.

1,550,291 1,951,201 2,212,972

The following share quotations of large schappe spinning

companies, contained in a circular of August, 1912, testify

to the prosperity of the industry upon the Continent :

Filature Lyoimaise de Schappe Filature de Schappe de Lyon Filature de Schappe de Russie Filature de Schappe de Bale

One other highly successful Continental undertaking

is an Itahan one, the Societa per la Filatura del Cascami

di Seta, Milan.

Waste Of late years Continental spinners have become users

Silk of forms of waste such as the Steam Waste from Canton

Statistics. — ^long the staple material of the English industry — which

formerly they did not use. They employ also some

wastes of filatures and throwing mills in Western countries,

and the following tables of exports from the Far East

indicate at least roughly the consumption within the

countries named :

EXPORTS OF SILK WASTE FROM CHINA.

(Messrs. Amhold Karberg and Co.'s Tables.)

Countries. 1909-10. 1910-11. 1911-12.

Picul BaUa. Picul Bales. Picul Bales.

France 49,202 57,680 63,988

England 26,763 23,116 28,139

Italy, Sweden and Germany .. 14,927 18,232 22,074

Japan 14,740 17,371 12,754

Capital. Francs.	Share. Franca.	Quoted.
2,000,000 12,000,000 5,000,000 12,000,000	500 1,000 1,000 1,000	1,200 4,000 3,500 4,000

WASTE SILK.

435

Countries.

America Trieste, Austria Sundry

Total for three seasons

1909-10.	1910-11.	1911-12.
ioul Bales.	Picul Bales.	Picul Bales.
1,568 658 504	2,407 1,070 273	3,922 616

108,362

120,089

131,492

Messrs. Arnhold Karberg's table relating to the whole Chinese of China is followed by that of Messrs. Herbert Dent and Figures, referring exclusively to Canton :

Co

EXPORTS OF SILK WASTE FROM CANTON. (Messrs. Herbert Dent and Co.'s Tables.) Seasons 1902-3 to 1911-12 (June 1— May 31).

Seasoni	3.		England.	Continent.	America.	Bombay. Total
Picul Bales.	Picul Bales.	Picul Bales.	Picul Bales. Picul Bales
1902-03 ..		. 19,261	10,218	979	3,591 34,059
1903-04 .			. 19,043	10,981	1,201	2,606 33,831
1904r-05 .			. 16,318	11,135	2,657	3,949 34,059
1905-06 .			. 16,267	10,338	2,410	3,823 32,838
1906-07 .			. 14,255	9,759	2,811	3,319 30,144
1907-08 .			18,907	12,477	2,251	4,491 38,126
1908-09 .			. 20,214	8,502	3,301	3,116 35,133
1909-10 .			. 12,328	16,199	4,681	3,631 36,839
1910-11 .			. 14,084	14,978	8,026	4,032 41,120
1911-12 .			9,618	11,349	7,055	2,772 30,794

Totals for ten seasons

160,295

115,936

35,372

35,330

346,933

It is shewn by the official return of exports of waste silk from Japan that the Japanese production obtains greater appreciation from Continental than British con-

sumers :
EXPORT OF SILK WASTE CURLIES AND	KNUBS FROM	JAPAN.
	(Official Tables.)
Countries.	1908.	1909.	1910.	1911.
	lbs.	lbs.	as.	lbs.
America	227,715	179,611	220,901	289,968
Austria-Hungary	482,219	405,305	260,400	485,761
France	7,306,141	6,777,688	7,127,554	6,100,272
England	251,133	75,789	41,774	402,439
British India . .	129,291	56,143	69,807	91,062
Italy	2,008,598	1,374,202	2,186,264	1,823,556
Switzerland	1,038	11,653	694	373
Other Countries	30,051	24,031	19,361	31,287
	10,436,186	8,904,422	9,926,755	9,224,618
	Bales.	Bales.	Bales.	Bales.
	77,305	65,958	73,524	68,331

A difficulty in the way of presenting a complete record British of the imports of silk waste into Great Britain hes in the Import inclusion of waste noils along with knubs, husks and waste, Statistics

436

SILK INDUSTRY.

British Import

Statistics,

in the Statistical Abstracts for the United Kingdom, from whence the following particulars have been derived. The Abstracts fail to show the re-exports, and only when these are deducted is the net quantity available for consumption known.

IMPORTS INTO tWITED KINGDOM.— STLK KNXTBS, HUSKS AND WASTE.

1867		23,031	Average 3 yre.	£16.31	Average 3 yra. £16.76
1868		30,550	27,593 cwts.	16.17
1869		29,198		17.78
1870		31,360		15.68
1871		38,984		16.03
1872		33,866	Average 10 jrrs.	17.98
1873		31,815	33,005 ewts.	14.46	Average 10 yra
1874		35,141		13.27
1875		33,787		12.29	£14.13
1876		29,663		13.69
1877		24,282		13.47
1878		32,887		11.94
1879		38,268		12.53,
1880		55,002		13.64
1881		64,119		14.-
1882		44,277		13.29
1883		62,064	Average 10 yra.	14.50	Average 10 yra i^i n an
1884		67,239	63,266 cwts.	13.30
1886		53,047		12.73	£12.89
1886		68,026		11.99
1887		65,892		12.38
1888		83,466		11.83
1889		79,435		11.32
1890		70,634		11.22
1891		77,656		10.62
1892		46,392		11.40
1893		56,839		10.08
1894		58,469	Average 10 yre.	9.68	Average 10 yra
1895		56,435	63,209 cwts.	8.98	£9.45
1896		62,923		• 8.66
1897		64,774		8.40
1898		70,821		7.70
1899		77,266		7.81,
1900		60,720		9.- ]
1901		48,162		8.38
1902		55,782		8.57
1903		66,782		7.98
1904		71,450	Average 10 yra.	8.	Average 10 yra
1905		72,065	64,039 cwts.	7.72	£8.48
1906		66,348		8.17
1907		66,299		9.49
1908		64,669		9.10
1909		68,132		8.50
1910		78,028	Average 2 yrs.	8.701	Average 2 yra.
1911		81.261	79,644 owta.	9.06J	£8.88

The Fall in Prices.

From the grouping by decennial periods it appears that the gross imports of waste silk and noils rose from about half that amount to 63,000 cwts. in 1880-89, and for two decades remained at that level, with a rise to nearly 80,000 cwts. in 1910-11. The average prices reveal a long fall, but with some appreciation in the last decade,

Waste sil:^:.

437

A more exact account has been summarised from the Annual Statement of Trade, covermg a period of five recent years.

	Imports.
	Gwts.
1907 .	. . 64,245
1908 .	. . 61,388
1909 .	.. 65,149
1910 .	72,320
1911 .	. . 73,171

Exports Foreign and Colonial, Knubs, Husks and Waste.	Available for Home Consumption.
CwtB.	OwtB.
4,254 2,022 4,362 6,999 7,727	59,991 59,366 Average 60,787 6,965,500 65,321 lbs. 65,444

Separating the years to accord with the decennial grouping, it appears that since 1909 the industry has had 65,000 cwts. of waste at disposal, in heu of the 60,000 of the preceding triennium.

Imports of waste silk noils are inconstant in quantity and are not all retained for consumption. Of late there has been a marked rise in these imports :

WASTE SILK NOILS (FOREIGN AND COLONIAL).

Exports Available for

Imports. Foreign and Colonial Home Consumption.

Cwts, Cwts. Cwts.

1907 . .

1908 . .

1909 . .

1910 . .

1911 ..

2,064 3,281 2,983

5,708 8,090

753

402

198

1,198

2,521

1,301

2,879 2,785 4,510 5,569^

The export of silk noUs, the by-product of EngUsh sUk spinning also exhibits variation :

EXPORTS WASTE AND WASTE NOILS,

1907 . . . . 6,753 cwts. 1910 .

1908.. .. 6,571 „ 1911 ,

1909 . . . . 7,743 „

PRODUCE OF THE U.K. 10,995 cwts. 19,024 „

Marked fluctuations occur in the imports into United Kingdom of foreign spun yarn, and these

attributable instance.

a

to changes in the good demand for

fashion for goods, velvets stimulates

the are For the

purchasing of schappe weaving yarns for Enghsh looms.

IMPORTS OF SPUN SILK YARN

Germany . .

Belgium . .

France

Switzerland

Italy

Other foreign Countries

1907. lbs.

16,877 33,850 64,678 147,507 64,458 5,091

332,461

1908.

lbs.

34,983

25,381

68,844

156,722

11,018

800

297,748

(DYED

1909.

lbs.

30,682

23,548

96,147

172,867

21,811

2,500

347,555

OR NOT).

1910.

lbs.

41,592

29,461

153,213

210,338

33,028

43,197

510,829

1911.

lbs.

43,406

22,997

218,168

228,409

78,610

32,542

624,132

British Import Statistics

Influ- ence of Fashion.

438

SILK INDUSTRY.

RE-EXPORTS SPUN SILK YARN.

Mis- leading Returns.

1907.	1908.	1909.	1910.	1911.
lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.
20,144	21,928	21,425	20,965	10,915

FOREIGN YARN RETAINED FOR CONSUMPTION.

1907. 1908. 1909. 1910. 1911.

312,317 275,850 326,130 489,864 613,217

The origin assigned to the import entries cannot in all cases be trusted imphcitly, as goods passing in transit through several countries are apt to be ascribed to the country of last departure. It may be — for example — that portions of the imports from the Netherlands and Belgium have their real origin in Switzerland, France or Italy.

In the same way the destinations ascribed to exports are not always final, and confusion is common in goods passing overland through the nearer European ports. A detailed table of the exports of yarn in five past years is appended :

EXPORTS BRITISH SPUN SILK YARN (DYED OR NOT DYED).

	1907.	1908.	1909.	1910.	1911.
	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.	lbs.
Germany . .	109,394	45,238	81,762	99,053	77,180
Netherlands	26,542	12,134	7,261	4,484	2,160
Belgium . .	8,312	4,981	1,140	2,094	6,297
France	126,036	105,049	81,504	64,582	45,690
Switzerland	15,932	18,312	11,427	13,464	10,806
Spain U.S. America	314	10,803	11,165	9,513	10,124
535,948	359,460	779,616	924,864	956,061
Other foreign Countries.	40,532	61,745	53,246	70,206 1,188,260	58,326
	863,010	617,722	1,027,121	1,166,644
British India	95,309	90,835	83,967	106,578	54,626
Straits Settlements	37,837	52,812	43,363	46,963	67,791
Australia	16,267	32,070	17,175	28,896	30,334
Canada	19,403	12,568	23,682	39,073	37,456
Other British Countries	3,721	15,514	5,450	10,093	6,489
	172,537	203,799	173,637	231,603	196,696
	1,035,547	821,521	1,200,768	1,419,863	1,363,340

Yarn The table is headed " dyed or not dyed," and it will be

Exports, understood that the particulars include thread for sewing, embroidery and kindred purposes, as weU as yarns for lace making, knitting and weaving. Read in conjunction with the Census of Production (1907), it becomes clear that roughly one-half of the sUk yam spun in England

WASTE SILK. 439

is exported, unwoven or imworked. The balance finds Yam its way into home industry, but is not aU ultimately con- Exports, sumed within the Kingdom, as portions enter into manu- factured goods which are subsequently sold abroad. It is the case also that a small proportion of the yam exported finds its way back into the home market in the form of later stage manufactured materials, perhaps most frequently in the form of lace or embroidery than of woven tissues. No statistics display either these exports of spun silks woven or these re-entries of British yam in the form of lace.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Various Branches of Silk Manufacture.

Silk, in its development from the cocoon of the silk- worm into the finished product of the loom, passes through several processes, each process giving occupation to a different set of more or less skilled operatives and forming a separate branch of sUk manufacture. This will have been realised by the reader from the general statements in previous chapters, but it now becomes necessary to describe more in detail the operations themselves and to point out the necessity for these different departments of the trade.

Sericulture and Reeling, Throwing, Conditioning, Spin- ning,* Dyeing, Winding, Warping, Beaming, various classes of Weaving — including Trimming and Braid-making — Silk Finishing, Textile Machine-making, Mounture and Harness- building, Designing and Draughting on ruled paper, and many other minor trades, as well as the wholesale and retail dealing in the raw or manufactured material or the finished products are all comprised under the general name of SUk Manufacture.

Introduced at first from abroad, aU branches of the trade, except sericulture, gradually became settled departments of British industry. They give to-day, as they did in the past, interesting and useful occupation to large numbers of British people.

The first-named branch, viz., the breeding of sUk-worms and the reeling of raw sUk from the cocoons has never been commercially successful in this country. Although many attempts have been made to introduce this branch, especially in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,

* See Chapter XXXIII, Waste Silk, Origin and Uses. 440

VAUIOUS BRANCHES OF SILK MANUFACTURE. 441

they liave always for some reason or other failed. In its first stage, therefore, the preparation of raw silk has never become a British industry.

Silk-throwing is the name given to the process of twisting the combined threads of raw silk in such a manner that Silk the silk is rendered hard and even enough to be used for Throw- weaving and other purposes requiring strength, elasticity, ing. and regularity of size. "In the throwing mill the raw silk fibre goes through many processes including sorting, washing, drying, winding, cleaning, twisting, doubling or folding, second twisting,- steaming, sizing and reefing or skeining, and in aU these infinite care has to be exercised in order to produce a perfect thread."*

The Itahans have, ever since they learned the art of manipulating silk from the East in the twelfth century, been the manufacturers of the best thrown silk, and they are continually studying to improve their processes and appHances for the work. They jealously guarded the secrets of their inventions, and it was not until 1717, when John Lombe returned to England, after fiving some years in Italy, where he had learned the secrets of the process while working as a journeyman, that perfectly thrown silk was manufactured in Great Britain. f

Introduced by John and Thomas Lombe, who erected successful sUk - throwing mills at Derby, silk -throwing became in the eighteenth century an important branch of British industry : not only at Derby, were silk-throwing mills established, but at Southport, Macclesfield, Congleton, Leek, St. Albans and other places. Many of these throwing mills are stiQ at work, for it is gratifying to know that, although other countries produce the raw silk fibre, Engfish manipulation of it is still superior in many respects to that practised in other countries. J

Silk-conditioning is a process of testing, through which Silk freshly imported raw or thrown sUk is passed in the interest Condi- of the purchaser. It is rendered necessary by the natural tioning. aflinity which the beautiful thread produced by the silk-worm, especially in its natural undyed state, has for

* Silk, by Luther Hooper.

t See Silk Manufacture in Derby, p. 198.

i See note in Appendix, Statistics of Silk-throwing.

442

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk water. As much as one-third its own weight of water

Condi- may be absorbed by a given weight of raw silk without tioning. its feeling wet to the touch. It is obvious, therefore, that considerable loss might faU on the purchaser of a bale of sUk, which is sold by weight at a price varying generally from 16s. to 24s. per lb., unless some means of ascertaining the quantity of water absorbed and retained in it could be accurately determined.

As early as 1799 an agreement was come to by merchants in the sUk trade* for regulating the allowances to be made for tare and tret on bales of silk as they arrived from abroad, but in this agreement nothing was allowed for humidity, and it was not until 1851 that attention was called to the fact that a further allowance was reasonable on this account, and a scientific means of discovering the exact weight of water absorbed by the silk was intro- duced into this coimtry. At the International Exhibition held in London, in that year, an apphance was shown by means of which a few skeins of silk from the centre of each bale could be dried by applied heat and weighed in grammes with the greatest ease and exactness both before and after the drying. Any diminution in weight after this testing indicated the extra allowance for hunu(fity to be made to the purchaser on the whole bale. Some- times this super-allowance on a bale of sUk amounts to as much as six pounds sterhng.f

The attention of sUk merchants and manufacturers having been directed to the matter soon after the Exhibi- tion, a French merchant named De Larbe purchased the necessary machinery and commenced business in London as a silk conditioner.

This undertaking, probably because it was a private

venture, was not much supported, and would have been

discontinued had not a scientific gentleman, a Mr. Chabot,

of Huguenot descent, who had been interested in silk

Allow- dyeing, induced several manufacturers to form a limited

ance for company to take over M. De Larbe's business in their

humidity, own interest. The first Directors were Thomas Brooks,

* For a list of these merchants see Appendix, note.

t It was agreed that 11 per cent of water is natural to the fibre, accordingly tare is allowed only on moisture in excess of that amount. For a scientific description of the machine and prooese, see Appendix.

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SILK MANUFACTURE. 443

Martin Cornell, Edward Fox, Richard Harrison, George Work Kemp, William Kemp and Henry Soper. The company of commenced operations in 1859. The first premises were London in Alderman's Walk, Bishopsgate Churchyard, and the Com- Company afterwards removed to Worship Street, Fins- pany. bury.

In 1901, in consequence of the falling off of the volume of trade, it was decided to approach the London and India Dock Company* with a view to their purchasing the business and plant. This they consented to do, and the plant was re-erected in a building attached to their up-town warehouses in New Street, Bishopsgate.

The Directors of the Company at the time of the transfer were Arthur W. BaUey, Frank Warner, Henry J. Offord, W. R. Fox, Herbert A. Walters and WiUiam Stokes. Henry A. Titford was Secretary and Manager, and he stiU supervises the work for the Port of London Authority.

Winding and re-winding play an important part in the operations of silk-throwing, but beyond this there is a great deal of winding required in preparing silk for different uses in the textile industry, as well as for sewing, embroidery and kindred arts, in which a vast quantity of silk thread is used. This being so, sUk-winding is an im- portant separate branch of sUk manufacture. Winding silk from the long skeins on to reels or bobbins has been done by means of special machinery from very early times. Machines capable of winding a great many Silk bobbins at once were not uncommon in the Middle Ages ; Winding, small machines of cranks and pulleys were worked with foot treadles, but larger ones were actuated by a heavy wheel turned by water or other power. Since then, how- ever, innumerable contrivances have been, from time to time, invented and utilized in this branch of the sUk industry, with the result that mechanical silk -wind- ing at its best, falls little short of perfection. Large factories are organised and devoted to this work alone, and an immense number of workers, especially women and children, are employed in it. Doubhng, sizing and winding of differently twisted threads, both dyed and

* Now the Port of London Authority.

444 SILK INDUSTRY.

undyed, for an infinite variety of purposes is carried on in these factories, and much skill, as well as very exact, elaborate and costly machinery, is required in preparing the thread for modern silk-weaving by hand and power, and for other works in which silken thread is used. SUk With the single exception of weaving, there is no branch

Dyeing, of silk manufacture of such paramount importance as that concerned with dyeing. At the same time, there is no textile material that lends itself so kindly to the processes of the dyers' art as sUk, or so well repays the artificer for the necessary care and skiQ expended on it.

The importance of the Dyers' Craft was fully reahzed in the Middle Ages and the period of the Renaissance ; but nowhere in Europe was it appreciated and fostered more than in France, after the introduction of silk-weaving to that country from Italy in the fifteenth century. It was perhaps rather in the beauty of the colours and the excellence of the dyes used than in their dehcacy of handling and ingenious weaving that the French silk manufacturers finally excelled the Italians, who had hitherto monopohzed the craft of sUk-weaving in Europe. In France laws were made and strictly enforced regulating the methods of dyeing, especially with regard to silk. There were two separate guilds of dyers recognised by law. These were Great called respectively the grand and lesser dyers, and the and Little dyes themselves were called great and little dyes. Only Dyes. common goods were allowed to be dyed by the lesser dyers, because the httle dyes, although brighter and more various in colour than the great dyes, were not permanent, and were therefore considered unworthy to be used for colouring such precious material as silk. The test exacted for classification in the great dye class was : " Twelve days' exposure to the summer sun and the damp air of night." If the dye stood this test, there could be no doubt as to the class under which it should be ranked.

All materials dyed by the great dyers were examined by a Government official appointed for the purpose, and were stamped with his mark as a guarantee of good quahty. The penalties for deceitfully using inferior dyes on good material were heavy fines and suspension or expulsion

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SILK MANUFACTURE. 445

from the GuHd of Dyers. If the latter penalty were enforced, it rendered the offender an outcast from the trade either temporarily or permanently.

The colouring pigments used by the Guild of Great Dyers Vegetable were few in number, and were, with the exception of the Dyes, crimson of cochineal,* extracted from vegetable substances. Woadf furnished the blue tints ; the yellows were derived from Welds J ; and the reds from Madder root.§ Welds dyed upon woad produced greens ; Welds upon Cochineal, orange ; cochineal upon woad, purple ; while cochineal upon a tin mordant gave a briUiant scarlet. A great variety of colours were also obtained from the same dye- stuffs by using different mordants] | when preparing the silk for the colouring process.

In England the art of extracting colours from vegetable substances was practised iu very early times. That woad was used as a colouring matter for personal adornment by the ancient Britons is common knowledge, and there can be no doubt that many simple vegetable preparations were used for colouring the homespun wool which was the famous staple product of Saxon England, but httle is recorded of the practice of the dyer's craft in this country untU the fifteenth century, when the Company of Dyers was incorporated by Edward IV (1472). In the reign of Edward VI, an Act of Parhament was passed limiting the variety of colours the dyers might use to " Scarlet, Red, Crimson, Murrey, Pink, Brown, Blue, Black, Green, Sadnew Colour, Azure, Watchitt, Sheep's Colour, Motley and Iron Grey." It is impossible now to assign the exact tints to some of the colours thus quaintly named, but no doubt they aU resulted from the manipulation or blending of the few natural dye-stuffs named above.

It was not until the eighteenth century that Indigo The (introduced to France from India) superseded woad Coming as a blue dye. It was known much earher, but its of use was strenuously resisted, notwithstandiag that Indigo.

* Cochineal is derived from an insect of the species. See note in Appendix.

t Woad, a plant of the Cruciferous order, common in Europe.

j Welds, a plant of the Kesedacese order, common in Europe.

§ Madder, a plant of the Rubiacea order, very widely distributed.

II Mordants, a variety of the alum or other chemicals in solution. In vegetable dyeing, the

silk has to be steeped in such a preparation, in order that it may take the dye-stufi

evenly and permanently.

446 SILK INDUSTRY.

Prohibi- the colouring matter of the Indigo plant is precisely tion of the same as that of woad and that the intensity of the blue Logwood, extract is much greater. In England in like manner, Logwood, which was introduced in the time of EHzabeth, and from which many beautiful dyes were derived, was prohibited under severe penalties. The Statute* not only authorised, but directed the " burning of it wherever found within the realm," Logwood was only clandestinely used for nearly a hundred years, but the Act of EHzabeth was repealed in the time of Charles Ilf by another Statute in the preamble of which it was declared that, " the in- genious industry of modern times hath taught the Dyers of England the art of fixing colours made of logwood, so as that, by experience, they are found as lasting as the colours made with any other sort of dyewood whatever."

Many other Acts of Parhament passed from time to time testify to the importance attributed to the art of dyeing in England. These Acts were not only intended to regulate the use of the dye-stuffs themselves, but, which is of more importance iq the permanence and fastness of the colour, the methods of preparing and working the materials to be dyed in preparation for the colouring process. ,

Aniline With the rapid development of the textile industries

Dyes. following the introduction of power-weaving, the art of dyeing became of the greatest commercial importance, and the production of new inexpensive dye-stuffs and easy rapid methods of applying them to textile materials engaged the attention of many eminent chemists.

Mr. (afterwards Sir William) Perkin early in the last century made the important discovery of a means of extracting dye-stuffs of various brilliant colours from coal- tar. The discovery, however, was not commercially applied untU experiments had been conducted, both in England and Germany — particularly in the latter country — for at least thirty years. It was between 1855 and 1860 that the new coal-tar or aniline dyes were brought to a sufficient degree of perfection to warrant their use

* 23rd Elizabeth. t Uth Charles II.

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SILK MANUFACTURE. 447

for common manufacturing purposes, and they were Aniline accordingly at that time put upon the market. Dyes.

At first the coal-tar colours were very crude, but this fault was gradually corrected, and when they were skilfully blended they became equal in quahty of tint to the dye-stuffs they superseded, but, hke the little dyes of ancient times, they were rather fugitive, and had the additional disadvantage that they faded to a colour that made them unsuitable for use by recognised silk manufac- turers. Had they been employed to any degree by the industry, the degradation of silk would have been of a two- fold character, as the artificial weighting of silk had at this period of the 19th century reached a maximum development. It had been found as early as the sixteenth century that silk had a special affinity for certaia metallic salts, and that bulk and weight could be largely increased by their use, but it remained for the dyers of the nineteenth century to carry this art to such perfection that sixteen ounces of silk could be and were made to weigh as much as thirty or more ounces.

In course of time some of the aniline dyes were con- siderably improved in permanence, but it was not until the aKzerine * colours were introduced that artificial dyes could be considered as at aU satisfactory in com- Ahzerine parison with the ancient vegetable dyes. When the Dyes, ahzerine dyes are properly applied, they are as per- manent, if not more so, than the ancient great dyes, but no manufacturer who values his reputation would make use of these materials without the necessary guarantees. It may be safely asserted that whatever may have had to be done under the stress of manufacturing conditions during the Great War, there has never been shown any tendency during periods of normal trading for silk manufacturers to use any colouring materials less fast than the vegetable dyes.f

There are, broadly speaking, two branches of dyeing in general use in silk manufacture, viz., yarn dyeing and piece dyeing. Most of the best silken materials are dyed before being woven, but many of the cheaper kinds of stuff,

• Alizerine Dyes.

t Fpr Statistics of Silk Dyeing in Great Britain at the present time, tee note in Appendix.

448

SILK INDUSTRY.

both for dresses and furniture, are woven of hard, unboiled

sUk, and are afterwards boiled off and dyed in the piece.

Warping Warping and beaming were under the old system of

and silk manufacture which is described in the section on

Beaming. Spitalfields, separate branches of the trade, but since the

factory system has prevailed, the warping and beaming

are simply departments of the silk-weaving manufactory.

Warping ensures that the requisite number of threads

of any desired length are laid in such order that when

threaded in the loom the weaver can trace and mend

any threads that may be broken during the weaving

process. The success of the weaver in his work depends

greatly on the delicate process of warping being accurately

done. *

Beaming or Cane spreadingf is the name given to the operation of transferring the warp from the warping mill to the back roller of the loom, and is also a work requiring great care and exactitude. Weaving. The most important branch of all in sUk manufacture is that of weaving, and this branch is again divided into two, viz., the Broad weaving division and the Narrow, In ancient times the number of operatives employed in weaving narrow goods — ribbons, tapes, braids, fringes, laces, galloons, etc., — ^which were aU woven in single widths, far exceeded that of the weavers of broad sUks for dresses, hangings, furniture, etc. When, however, after much opposition, the loom for weaving narrow goods, in several breadths at one operation, was introduced, the narrow branch of weaving sank into insignificance, in point of the number of operatives employed by comparison with the broad weaving branch.

At the present time almost all narrow goods are woven

on power-looms, governed by Jacquard or other machines,

thirty or forty breadths at a time. In the very best

Survival work, however, and for special upholstery orders the

of old ancient method of weaving one breadth at a time is still

methods, in use, and it is interesting to know that within a hundred

* See Handloom Weaving, Luther Hooper. f See Chapter I,

Plate XLVII.

Weaver of Narrow Wehs.

VARIOUS BRANCHES OF SILK MANUFACTURE. 449

yards of Piccadilly Circus, in the heart of London, a Survival factory may be found in which such looms as that depicted of old in the accompanjdng illustration are in use. On these methods, looms, some of which are more than a hundred years old, the pattern is tied up by the weaver himself on the harness of string and wood in such a manner as to work out automatically, and is woven in single breadths exactly as in the old times. The reason for this survival is that the trimmings made in this factory, and a few others in London, are for special upholstery orders for which only comparatively short lengths of a particular design are required. All orders for large quantities would now be woven on power-looms several breadths at a time.

The broad silk weaving branch is again sub-divided into others for particular kinds of work. There are four sub-divisions of broad silk weaving. These are the plain and fancy branches for the weaving of dress materials, and the plain and figured branches for weaving stuffs for furniture and hangings.

Materials for costume, as well as mixed goods for furniture and hangings, are now, for the most part, woven in factories on power-looms. A considerable quantity, however, of the best webs, especially in the furnishing branches of the trade are still made on hand-looms, and notwithstanding the perfection to which modern textile machinery has attained, there are certain quaUties in good hand-woven materials which it seems impossible to obtain by machine weaving.

SUk-finishing, as a separate trade, may be regarded as a Silk modern branch of silk manufacture, but the after-finishing Finish- of certain classes of silk and silk-mixed goods by hot ing. pressing and steaming has probably been practised for a long period. Well woven webs, in which good sUk or silk mixed with other yarns has been used, rarely require more expert finishing than the weaver himself can give them when he has completed the weaving. Inferior goods, however, whether their inferiority consists in their workmanship or the poverty or adulteration of the materials used in their manufacture, invariably owe the appearance, which renders them saleable, to the clever

450 SILK INDUSTRY.

SUk processes of finishing to which they have been subjected

Finish- by the expert silk-finisher. At the present time the trade ing. of silk-finishing is a very extensive one, and exceedingly

ingenious chemical and other processes, as weU as expen- sive and elaborate machinery, are made use of in the factories where it is carried on.

The other departments of trade depending on silk manufacture, mentioned at the begiuning of the present chapter, do not require detailed description here ; their scope and importance wiU be gathered from references to them in succeeding chapters, if they have not already been described in the earlier portion of the book.

CHAPTER XXXV.

The Designer and Designing — 18th and 19th Centuries.

It was not until the beginning of the nineteenth century Silk that the demand for designs, which had been made possible Design- by the mechanical inventions of the eighteenth century for ing. the production of pattern in textile work, became so urgent that the profession of designer became a separate branch of the textile industry. At the same time it is known that as early as the first half of the eighteenth century there were in Spitalfields a few artists who devoted their talents to the production of such designs and drafts as the silk weavers from time to time required.

It is generally supposed that these early designers of silk fabrics were all of French nationality, but that this is not the case is proved by the existence of a very large and beautiful collection of sketches for silken fabrics which may be seen in the department of designs and drawings of the Victoria and Albert Museum.

A very valuable purchase of a set of early eighteenth century designers' sketch books was made by the authorities of the Museum in 1869. The books contain more than six hundred designs for silk damasks, brocades, brocatelles and all other varieties of figured silk fabrics. Each book contained also a beautifully written index, with the names of the manufacturers by whom the designs were purchased and appropriated. Many of the drawings bear interesting written directions for working out the drafts on ruled paper, as weU as for the mounture or harness builder, and the weaver.

451

452 SILK INDUSTRY.

Eight- The earliest of these interesting drawings do not bear

eenth the names of the designers, but in one dated 1705 the Century name of Anna Maria Garthwait appears, and from that Designers, time forward most of the drawings are unmistakably by her hand. On one of them she has written " Before I came to London," and on another " When I was in York- shire," but these brief notes are the only biographical references to be found on them. These early designs, though very graceful and pretty, are not so particularly adapted for reproduction in silk as some of her later work. It is most interesting to trace, as it is quite possible to do, the gradual development of the artist's power of design and adaptability to the requirements of silk textile technique. The drawings were all preserved in books and carefully numbered and indexed. The name of the manufacturer to whom each drawing belonged is also given. From this it appears that the method of procedure at that time was for the designer to make a freely-drawn coloured sketch of the subject as nearly to the size, as well as the finished effect of the proposed material as possible. If this were approved by the manufacturer, the designer proceeded to divide the sketch up into squares to correspond with the dividing Mnes of the ruled paper on which the working drawings, or drafts, were to be made. Each of these divisions was called a design, and as the ruled paper drawing was generally very much larger than the sketch or the finished woven design, this ruling in of larger squares materially assisted the draft-maker in the proportional enlargement of the drawing.*

When the draft was completed and approved it was handed over to the manufacturer, and the original sketch replaced in the sketch book and indexed as appro- priated by the purchaser. Some of the names which appear in these books are to be found in old documents of the period. Amongst the signatories of the bye-laws Methods of the Weavers' Company, which were issued in 1737, three of names occur, Peter Le Keux, in the design book caUed

Working. Captain Le Keux, and James Leman, assistants of the

* The draft being divided into squafes al^o assisted ^fae weaver in tying up the design 9n the " simple " cords,

Figured Velvet Loom, worked by draw boy, before the invention of the Jacquard machine.

XLVIII.

Loom for Weaving Silk. Brocade, worked by the

same method.

THE DESIGNER AND DESIGNING.

453

Court, and Henry Baker, Liveryman. In the index in one place, Mr. Baker is also called Captain Baker. These master silk weavers were probably captains of the " trained bands " so frequently mentioned in eighteenth century records.

Although so various in style and scale and representing the work of over thirty years, most of these drawings appear to be by one hand, and point to the fact that Aima Maria Garthwait was not only an industrious and prohfic artist, but one of great individuality. Born in Yorkshire and early showing a natural and becoming 'taste for orna- mental design, she removed to London. Here her rare talent for arranging floral design was more or less quickly appreciated by manufacturers, to whom she had probably been recommended by friends in Yorkshire. After in- dustrious apphcation to work and eager study of the tech- nicalities of sUk-weaving, there came assured success and constant employment. The first signed drawing is dated 1705, and the last 1735, and if the high remuneration paid to persons having the rare talent for design, at that time, be taken into consideration, we cannot but conclude that this enterprising lady's business career during the first half of the eighteenth century was most successful. Seldom indeed has such a complete record of an artist's work, connected with manufacture, been preserved.

The invention of the Jacquard machine at the end of the eighteenth century, and its introduction to Great Britain early in the nineteenth, had the effect of vastly increasing the demand for textile designs so that the occupation of a designer became one of the most remunera- tive to which a youth with a taste for drawing could be apprenticed.

The fundamental idea of this machine consists in the substitution of a band of paper, perforated with holes to correspond with the ruled paper draft of the design, for the weaver's tie-up on the cords of the simple. This device was first apphed to the draw-loom in 1725, but in 1728 a chain of cards was substituted for the paper and a perforated cyhnder was also added. *

• For a description of the draw-loom and its mechanism, see Report of Lectures on the Loom and Spindle, by Luther Hooper, Royal Society of Arts, London, 1912 ; also Hand-loom Weaving, John Hogg, London, 1911.

An

English Lady Designer,

The

Jacquard

Machine.

454 SILK INDUSTRY.

The These early contrivances were placed by the side of the

Jacquard loom and worked by an assistant. In 1745 Vauconson Machine, placed the apparatus at the top of the loom, and caused the cylinder to rotate automatically. But it was reserved for Jacquard to carry the contrivance to such perfection that, although many shght improvements have since been made to it, it remains to-day practically the same as when it was introduced in 1801, and this notwithstanding the astonishing development of textile machinery during the nineteenth century and the universal adoption of the machine both for hand and power-loom weaving.

Although the invention was introduced in 1801 to the French pubhc, it was not until 1820 that a few Jacquard machines were smuggled into England and secretly set up. In spite of much opposition, it soon came into general use, first and particularly, for hand-looms and silk pattern weaving, but afterwards for power-looms, so that now all kinds of fancy and ornamental webs are woven by its means.

As a piece of mechanism this machine is a wonderful invention. It can be made to govern aU the operations of the loom except throwing the shuttle and actuating the lever by which it is put in operation. It opens the shed for the pattern, changes the shuttle boxes in proper succession, regulates the take-up of cloth on the front roller and works out many other details, all by means of a few holes punched in a set of cards. At first the machine was only adopted in the silk trade for the weaving of rich bro- cades and other elaborate materials for dress or furniture ; but, ever since its introduction, its use has been grad- ually extending both in hand-loom and power-loom weaving.

The most striking change the use of the Jacquard

machine effected in the textile arts was the facility it

gave for quickly substituting one design for another. It

Influence was only necessary to hft down one endless band or set

on of cards and substitute another in order to change the

Design. pattern.

The result of this facihty was that the early part of the nineteenth century witnessed a perfect orgie of fantastic,

THE DESIGNER AND DESlGNINa. 455

inappropriate ornamentation. The manufacturers of all Influence sorts of ornamental silk and fine woollen textiles vied on with each other in the number and originality of their Design, designs. The profession of designer may almost be said to be an outcome of Jacquard's invention. Previously to this time the master weaver, or some person in practical touch with the looms, had arranged or adapted the design, which, when tied up on the loom, was in some cases good for a hfetime, and a few good designs were all that a master weaver required. But with the introduction of the new draw-engine, as the machine was called, all this was altered and a restless change of pattern and fashion in design was the result.

In a sensible article deprecating this state of things, a writer in the Journal of Designs, April, 1849, says : " Nothing would be a better comment upon our previous remarks as to the inordinate desire for new patterns than the sight of our table loaded with spring novelties ; it would at once illustrate the present aimlessness of design, and the hopelessness of any good arising with such a condition of trade. Novelty ! Give us novelty ! seems to be the cry, and good or bad, if that be obtained, the pubhc seems to be satisfied ; perhaps we should say that the had, being generally the most extravagant is the most satisfactory to the ignorant pubhc ; and that nothing is too outre to be purchased — aye, and even worn by those who would be indignant were their good taste called in question."

In another part of the Journal it is stated that a Common's Vicious paper in 1846 (No. 445), reports that, out of 8,000 designs Fashions, registered, 7,000 belonged to woven fabrics, 500 to paperhangings, 175 to metal work, and the remainder to pottery, glass, etc. At the same time the Customs report of the value of exports confirms the statement, for textUe exports were valued at £29,000,000, metals £7,000,000, and pottery, glass, etc., £1,000,000.

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries designing for textiles and other manufactures was rightly considered to be a most important part of the manufacturing business. The designer's shop was looked upon as one

456 SILK INDUSTRY.

Status of tlie principal departments of the factory or group of

of the factories with, which it was connected. Young people

early aspiring to this highly paid work were carefuUy selected,

Designer, and, after a prehminary trial, formally apprenticed for

seven years to learn the business. High premiums were

often paid for this introduction to and training for a lucrative

occupation. It is a pity that so few of the original drawings

produced in these old designing shops have been preserved,

for those that have escaped destruction, such as the

Garthwait collection already described, are of the highest

excellence and entirely appropriate for the materials for

which they were designed.

As soon as the Jacquard machine was introduced, the demand for original designs so vastly increased that the drawing departments of the manufactories to a great extent discontinued the work of designing and were entirely occupied in translating the more or less amateurish sketches of the numerous tribe of artists who, without any technical training, found it profitable to make designs and carry them round for sale to the various manufacturers. To this casual system of originating patterns for textile and other manufactures, many are inchned to attribute the terrible state of degradation to which the art of ornamental designing had fallen by the middle of the last century. It was from this state that the National System of Art Education, after much mistaken poKcy and many futile experiments, as well as the teaching and example of such artists as Digby Wyatt, Owen Jones, Charles Dresser, Wilham Morris, Walter Crane, and many others whose The names are associated with the revival of arts in England,

Degrada- raised the art of commercial designing to the undoubtedly tion of high position it had reached by the beginning of the present Design. century.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

The Manufacturer — New System.

Tlie first half of the nineteenth century witnessed the passing away of the old class of small master craftsmen and the organisers of domestic manufacture as already described, as well as the establishment of the new order of great manufacturer. It was the members of this new order who, adopting all kinds of inventions and scientific pro- cesses, built large factories, filled them with machinery, sought out all new inventions, employed multitudes of " hands," opened trading accounts with the whole world, and proudly set Great Britain in the fore-front amongst the nations in manufacture and commerce.

Owing to the value of the raw material of silken thread, and the skiU and delicacy required in its manipulation, the silk weaving trade was slow to adopt the changes which in other branches of textile work had so rapidly taken place. Writing as late as 1831, Mr. Porter, in his treatise on silk manufacture, says that "it is doubtful whether the use of the power-loom, however it may be modified, is susceptible of much extension in any save the commonest branches of the silk manufacture."

Since the time that the above was written the improve- Intro- ments in weaving sUk by power have been so rapid and duction so successful that now almost aU plain and fancy silk of the dress materials, as well as low-class furniture sUks and Power- sUk mixed goods are woven by power in iarge factories. loom.

In the preface of a pubHcation written by the late Sir Thomas Wardle, in which he describes the improve- ments in power-looms which he saw in France in 1890,

457

458

SILK INDUSTRY.

Intro- the author writes as foUows : " The object of this brochure

duction is simply to caU the attention of the British silk manu-

of the facturer to the gradual but certain displacement by the

Power- power-loom of the traditional hand-loom for silk weaving

loom. for which Lyons has for centuries been so famous, and to

show how economics in production in silk weaving are

being effected by the change." One of the changes

referred to by Sir Thomas was the replacing in France of

the old style of domestic manufacture by a counterpart of

that which obtained in England through the machine factory

system.

In recent years, therefore, not only in England and France, but wherever silk is woven to a large extent, the hand-loom is giving place to the power-loom, and the system of domestic weaving to factory work. The triumph of the factory system over that of domestic manufacture is, perhaps, more pronounced than that of the power-loom over the hand-loom, for in those branches of the trade where the hand-loom stiU holds its own, the hand-looms fitted with Jacquard machines are for the most part grouped together in large factories where better oversight and superior economic arrangements are possible.

Although it was in London that one of the first large silk-weaving factories was estabhshed, more than three- quarters of a century ago, the system has seldom proved a success in this ancient centre of the silk trade. Most of the factories since set up have been smaU branches of larger ones estabhshed by firms in the provinces. First The first important and successful silk-weaving factory

London in London was that of Messrs. Walters and Sons — after- Factory, wards known as Stephen Walters and Sons. This was estabhshed in the year 1824. Shortly after that date, however, the firm estabhshed another factory at Ket- tering, where power-looms were set up, whilst in the London factory only hand-looms were used. Messrs. T. Kemp and Sons also had, a few years after, a small silk factory in Spitalfields and an extensive one at Sudbury in Suffolk. The Spitalfields factory was estabhshed about 1830, and the Sudbury one was organised rather later. Messrs. Vavasseur and Rix's London factory established

THE MANUFACTUREJl-NEW SYSTEM. 459

in 1850, was first fitted up with hand-looms only, but The

afterwards power-looms were introduced. This firm is Modem

still carrying on business in the old district, and owns Industry.

the only old estabhshed silk factory in London still at

work. Silk factories were also started and carried on

more or less successfully for some years by Messrs. Robinson

and Co., Sanderson and Reed, Foot and Sons, and J. Kemp

and Co. At a much later date, Messrs. Bailey, Fox and Co.

opened a factory chiefly for power-loom weaving in Old

Ford.

The organisation of a modern silk factory on a large scale differs little, if any, from that for the manufacture of any other modern commodity of commerce. Such a business, if it is to succeed under the stress of modern conditions, requires an ample supply of free capital, so that the management may be relieved from the strain of mere finance and be able to make purchases to the best advantage and to take all the discounts which are associated with orders for cash or prompt payment. The foundations of success lie in the ability to buy the necessary raw materials at the right time, in the best way and on the most advantageous terms.

The site selected for the factory should be in a neigh- bourhood where there is an ample supply of water suitable for use in dyeing operations, but, unfortunately, in Great Britain it is almost impossible to find a district where water can be used for power purposes except at inter- mittent periods. The factory should also be built in a district which is as free as possible from the grime and smoke of great centres of population, and yet at the same time in a locahty where there is a plentiful supply of the right type of female labour. It has been stated, and the available statistics support the contention, that the silk trade gives employment to a higher proportion of female labour to male labour than almost any other British industry, the ratio of women to men so employed being A about eleven to five. An ideal factory should, and indeed Field does, enable every operation from the time the raw for material enters the works until the finished product is Women consigned to the customer, to be performed. In order Workers.

460 glLIt mDUStRY.

Self- that the manufacturing operations may be properly carried

contained out, and advantage taken of the latest applications of Organisa- science to industry, the works must possess an adequate tion. staff thoroughly trained on the technical side and the

necessary number of skilled workers.

The various stages of the work in a modem silk factory consist of the throwing or the spinning of the raw materials, as described in earlier chapters.* The equipment of the factory comprises machinery for the winding, warping, and beaming of the silk, as well as for weaving, dyeing, finishing, printing, blocking, folding or boxing. This chain of operations implies a large expenditure, not merely in providing the main machinery, but the auxihary plant necessary for repair work, as well as other auxiliary mechanics' shops. In addition there would be a card- cutting shop and departments for the building of the mounture and the harness and for the processes of warp cleaning and entering.

The general management of such a business should be in the hands of broad-minded, energetic, capable men, who would take care that the high standard of efficiency they set for themselves should be present in the depart- mental managers and in all sections of the business. The technical staS would naturally include a works chemist, as well as a laboratory, in which research work could be carried out under the supervision of the technical expert. There should also be a designer's studio and a draughts- man's ateUer for the preparation and extension of the designs on the ruled paper. If the firm is to be a successful enterprise, equal care should be bestowed on the selection of those responsible for the commercial side of the under- taking. There should be a complete organisation for dealing with the finished products in home and foreign markets. Those engaged in overseas trade should be able to speak and read the necessary foreign languages, and The have instilled into them the necessity for quoting to

Com- foreign buyers in the currency of the country which is

mercial being canvassed for business, and to meet in other ways Side. the wishes of customers abroad.

• Silk-throwing, see Chapters XVIII and XXXIV. Silk-spinning, see Chapters XX and XXXIII.

THE MANUFACTURER— NEW SYSTEM. 461

Beyond all this, the management should be ready to adapt Itself to changes of fashion and to initiate new modes by showing originality in cloth construction and in design and colour effects. There should also be evident a wiQing- ness to scrap machinery the moment it shows signs of being out of date, and only to work with the most modern equipment. There are, fortunately, in Great Britain many factories which fulfil these somewhat exacting require- ments, and which have attained prosperity by a rigid observance of the conditions on which success is foimded.

The factory system made more rapid progress in the provinces than in London when modern methods of manu- facture began to permeate the industry. At Leek, Lead Macclesfield, Coventry and Manchester the power-loom from was adopted at an earlier date, and forced upon manu- the facturers the employment of the factory system. In the Pro- early stages of the industrial revolution, of which one of vinces. the chief outward signs was the building of workshops where large numbers of machines could be installed, there was a partial attempt, to which reference is made in the chapter* dealing with the particular centre of the industry, to combine the power system with cottage working, and for this purpose arrangements were made for a supply of power to be available in the homes of the workpeople. Modem business conditions, however, demand that manu- facturing costs shall be reduced to the lowest possible level, and this result can only be achieved by the con- centration of work in a factory estabhshed and managed on the lines indicated and in which the various stages of manufacture are under constant and skilled supervision.

♦ Chapter XI, " The Coventry Ribbon Trade."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

The Operative Silk Weaver — Old Style and

New.

The old The difference between the old and new methods of

type of manufacture and their effect on the persons employed

Worker, in them is strikingly illustrated by the general characteristics

of the hand-loom sUk weaver of the old style and the

machine factory operative of the present day.

The manipulation and management of a complicated silk hand-loom required a high degree of skill, delicacy of handling, patience and ingenuity on the part of the weaver; the result was that the old hand-loom silk weavers, especially those engaged in the higher branches of this interesting employment, were, for the most part, men of character and high ideals. They loved nature, poetry, philosophy and science, a fact proved not only by the many hterary and scientific clubs and societies which flourished in old Spitalfields, but by the honourable roll of weavers who have distinguished themselves in various departments of art, science and invention.

A Lancashire writer contrasting the old and new style of cotton and linen weaver in that county says : " The Old Handloom weavers were broad-minded and had visions of a world happy in the beauty of brotherhood, lofty conceptions of the purpose of existence and high hopes for the future destiny of the human race ; whilst the factory operatives of to-day are narrow and un- developed in mind and body. They, as a class, ignore Mechan- all serious thought or study in their leisure hours, and ism and seek all that is frothy and exciting in amusement and Mentality hterature. Put into concise summary, the factory peoples'

468

THE OPERATIVE SILK WEAVER. 463

houses, clothing, food, education, amusement, morals, Mechan- and religion are all manufactured goods mixed with a ism and deal of shoddy. The stuflS:ness, narrowness, frailness and Mentality machine automatism of the factory are part of their lives and souls. In short the factory folk have been reduced as far as their work is concerned hteraUy from human beings into mere hands,"

The depressing contrast between the old hand-loom weavers and the modern factory hand is still more pronounced in the higher branches of the sUk trade. A vivid picture of a sUk weaver and his environment, as well as many interesting references to the state of trade at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth, is given in a rare pamphlet preserved iq the GmldhaU Library, London.

Samuel Sholl, the author of the pamphlet,* was, as he tells us, "bom at Taunton in Somersetshire, on the 28th January, 1752, of poor though not mean parents." Both his father and mother were weavers and belonged to families in which weaving was the traditional occupa- tion. Like most of the children of the working classes of his time, he had very Httle schooling.

Young ShoU continued with his parents, and took very kindly to his father's trade, especially to the inventive part of it. Before he was able, for lack of strength, actually to weave, he could, as he writes, " put up a foot figure," which means that he could, reading from a sketch, tie the headles and treadles of a loom together in such a way that when the treadles were worked in a certain order by the weaver, a small ornamental pattern could be woven.

Samuel, when fourteen years of age, feeling himself An capable of working at his father's trade, and having his Instruc- parents' consent, left home and made his way to London, tive There he soon found that he was less proficient in the trade Record, than he had supposed and underwent much privation. However, he learnt much more of his business, gained experience of hfe, and by application and economy, as he

* A Short History of the Silk Manufacture in England, by Samuel Sholl. Printed •n4 published in Brick Lone, London, 1811.

464

SILK INDUSTRY.

Extracts says, " surmounted all his troubles." Although he found from work in various shops, ShoU did not remain very long

an old in London. He had an offer of a good situation in his Pamphlet, native town, which he accepted.

At this time Sholl says of himself : " I was always fond of old men's company, and used to think they knew every- thing better than ipayself, in fact I used to think this of every person I met. It took me a considerable time to persuade myself out of this opinion. However, as various things in so large a town as Taunton were frequently wanted', I thought, after some inspection, that I could make improvements in looms and weavers' tools. Thus, under every disadvantage, I became handicraftsman, and by the time I was twenty-one could make and mend looms, shuttles, etc. I soon provided myself with such a set of tools that I could do almost anything that weavers wanted."

Thus prospering in Taunton, Sholl, before he was

twenty took to himself a wife. Mrs. ShoU had a sister

Uving in London, married to a silk weaver, and from this

London sister she constantly received glowing descriptions of the

in the attractions of the great City and the advantages of a

18th silk weaver's occupation and chances there. After he had

Century, been married five years, ShoU, in response to a pressing

invitation from his brother-in-law, and at the earnest

desire of his wife, was persuaded against his inclination

again to try his fortune in London. Accordingly, on

July 23rd, 1776, he set off by himself, having sold his goods

and left his wife and children with his parents tUl he could

arrange to send for them.

ShoU was disappointed at first by finding that his wife's relations could not help him to any work, but after a good deal of privation and iU-health, which he describes in detaU with gruesome enjoyment, he at length got into regular employment as a sUk weaver, sent for his wife and cMldren, set up his home and httle workshop in Bethnal Green, where he continued, made many friends, and brought up his family. ShoU soon became known in the weaving district as a skilful sUk weaver and an ingenious inventor, as weU as an organizer of Weavers' Clubs and Benefit

THE OPERATIVE SILK WEAVER.

465

Societies. One of his inventions was an improved loom London for silk weaving, for which the Society of Arts in 1789 ia the awarded him a silver medal and thirty guineas.* 18th Remarking on this, he quaintly says : " It may be proper Century, here to say a word or two by way of caution to young men of a speculative turn or their ingenuity may otherwise prove a serious injury to them, as has been the case with many to my knowledge. This imprudence has prevented others from meeting with that assistance which might have been useful to them and beneficial to the community. I weU weighed any projects before I set out, and always found the trouble worth the pains. My plan was to get up early, perform a certain portion of work, and thereby earn sufficient to pay every one their just due, then devote the remainder of the day to my speculations. "f In com- mon with so many mechanicians, ShoU sometimes found that others had been before him. This was the case, he teUs us, with one of his most brilliant iaventions, but the nature of it he does not describe.

On the whole, the autobiography graphically portrays a skilful, ingenious, self-respecting, Calvinistic — but not un- kindly— ^respectable artisan of the period in which he lived. He may be taken as a type of the best class of silk weavers at the end of the eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth.

The pamphlet is rounded off at the end with a few pages of moral reflections, concluding thus : " I have done with temporal things. They were of use to me to procure a Uvelihood, but now I have done — Farewell ! All is A worn out with me. Weaver

My Loom's entirely out of square, and a

My rollers now wormeaten are ; Philoso-

My clamps and treadles they are broke, pher.

My battons they won't strike a stroke ; My porry's covered with the dust, My shears and pickers eat with rust ;

* Society of Arts Report.

■j" It is similarly recorded of Samuel Crompton, the inventor of the mule for spinning, that his mother, though always kind, was strict and insisted that he should weave a certain length of cloth daily. He was then allowed to amuse himself with mechanical speculations and music.

i 9

466

SILK INDUSTRY.

A

Weaver and a Philoso- pher.

Workmen Inven- tors.

My reed and harness are worn out, My wheel won't turn a quill about ; My shuttle's broke, my glass is run, My drohe's shot — my cane is done."

The first part of the pamphlet written by Samuel Sholl is of great value and interest to the student of industrial development. It gives a vivid and evidently truthful account, from the operative silk weaver's point of view, of the attempts made by the most intelligent workmen to maintain their privileges and customs, to improve themselves in the technicalities of their trade, to maintain a fair price for their work, and to defend themselves against foreign competition at a time when, from causes which have already been discussed, the silk industry of Spitalfields was gradually declining. It is possible to gather from this artless but graphic accoimt by the illiterate but ingenious silk weaver some of the admirable char- acteristics of the author and his associates, and one cannot but admire the courage, self denial and perseverance which they displayed in their endeavours to carry out schemes for bettering the conditions of their fellow workers, not- withstanding the fact that most of their plans fell short of success.

A consideration of this part of the pamphlet rightly belongs to the section treating of Trade Unions, and will be found in Chapter XXXIX, p. 494, but it may with advantage be read at this point in the above connection.

It would be easy, were it necessary, to multiply instances of the admirable characteristics of those who followed the gentle craft of silk weaving under the old regime. The annals of the Royal Society of Arts and many other learned societies record the names of operative silk weavers who were awarded medals and money prizes for additions to the mechanism of the loom, for new pro- cesses of weaving, for inventions or improvements of tools, or for their achievements in mathematics, astronomy, natural history and other branches of science. These things apart, however, from the old silk weaving trade, when thoroughly mastered and industriously practised under

THE OPERATIVE SILK WEAVER. 467

a good employer, must have been full of interest and have A

had a refining influence. Few of this old breed of silk vanished

weavers are left, although they often hved to a great age. Type.

One such died a year or two ago who had been weaving

for just upon ninety years. Amongst the things he had

treasured were a most interesting collection of samples

of the work he had done, drafts for tie-ups, which he and

his father before him had used, as well as tools and aU

sorts of small weaving apphances. He had begun life

as a drawboy* and had worked his way up to a perfect

mastery of the weavers' craft in several of its branches.

In contrast to the variety and interesting activity of the hfe of the old hand-loom silk weaver, the work of the machine factory hand in a great silk-weaving mill would appear to be drab and uninteresting. The modern silk loom almost does the work by itself with unerring exactness. Everything is most carefully prepared before the silk is put into the loom by different workers, each trained to do only one small thing and to do it perfectly. Several looms are supervised by a mechan- ical engineer, whose duty is to keep aU their parts in working order. One set of workers spend all their time clearing the warp threads — ^that is cutting out knots and small knubs of untwisted silk — as these would hinder the weaving by frequently breaking the threads when brought into contact with the harness and reed. Another class, called joiners or twisters, joins the new warp, thread by thread, to the old warp ends, which are left in the loom for that purpose. The actual weaver has little to do but keenly watch the loom, hour after hour, as it works, The on the look-out for broken threads of warp and weft, modem and for the emptying of the spools in the shuttles. It is factory one of the ironies of industry that the supreme skiU of hand, one man in devising new mechanical processes will often reduce his fellow workers to the rank of machine minders, until fresh channels for the exercise of their skill can be opened up.

* A weaver's assistant, whose duty was to draw the cards in order to form the design.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

Parliament akd Silk Manufacture.

Although it has been necessary in previous sections of this history to refer incidentally to the action of Parhament in relation to manufacture and trade, it has not been possible to convey to the reader a clear con- ception of the amount of consideration given to the subject of silk and its manipulation by the British Legislature, nor to give any adequate idea of the number and wide scope of the statutes which have been passed from time to time.

From the date of the Great Charter, and even in earlier years, a very large proportion of the enactments agreed to by — to quote from the preamble of the first statute of Edward 1, 1275 — "the King and Council with Archbishops, Bishops, Abbotts, Priors, Earls, Barons, and aU the com- monalty of the Realm," were for the regulation of the prices of the necessaries of hfe — ^bread, meat, wine, beer, etc., — the price, methods and details of unskilled labour and handi- craft, and the rights, duties, responsibilities and hmitations Legisla- of masters and servants and of traders and trading, tion The Statute Book of the reign of Edward III is particu-

m the larly rich in records of this kind of legislation ; no Four- less than one hundred and forty statutes relating to teenth trade are there stated to have been discussed by Par- Century, liament and confirmed by that monarch during the fifty years of his reign— 1327 to 1377. Two-tMrds of these laws had reference to textile manufacture, and amongst them the first actual reference to silk occurs, as stated in the chapter on " Beginning of Silk

468

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 469

Industry." The text of this interesting statute freely Legisla- translated from the antique French, in winch it is written, tion is as foUows : — in the

^' 37 Edward III, Cap. VI. Made at Westminster. Four- " Handicraftsmen shall use but one Mystery, but teenth

Handiworkwomen may work as they did. Century.

" It is ordained that artificers or handicraftsmen, merchants and shopkeepers shall be restricted to working or trading in one kind of manufactured goods only. They shall declare their choice before the feast of Candlemas to a Justice of the Peace. The Justices are directed to punish offenders against the Statute by imprisonment for half a year, or a fine at their discretion. But the intention of the King and his Council is that female brewers, bakers, weavers, spinsters and other women employed upon works in wool, linen or silk, in embroidery and all other handiwork may work freely as they used to do before this time." From this time forward (1363) there are occasional references to silk in the statutes, especially in the laws which were framed for the purpose of regulating the traffic of foreign merchants and the dress of different orders and classes of persons. For instance, in the ordinance for " The Diet and Apparel of Servants," after directing that the servants of the gentry are not to be extravagantly fed or clothed, but are to be treated in accordance with the estate of their masters, it is expressly First forbidden that their garments should be embroidered Refer- with gold, sUver or silk." Other statutes direct that ence to neither handicraftsmen nor yeomen nor their wives or Woman children are to wear siHc in any form. Again, " gentlemen Workers under the estate of knights," unless they own " two hundred mark land " may not wear " cloth of gold, silk or silver embroidered vesture." Those having the latter quahfica- tion, however, may wear " cloth of silk and a ribbon sash reasonably garnished with silver."

There is no direct reference to silk manufacture or silk workers in the printed statutes for nearly a century from the date of 39 Edward III, Cap. VI, where women

470

SILK INDUSTRY.

workers in silk are first mentioned. It is certain, however, that the trade was gradually growing in importance, Protec- and that it was regulated, together with other branches of tion for textile work, by the laws and ordinances made for the Enghsh governance of handicraftsmen in general. In 1455 Traders. (33 Henry VI) an urgent appeal to Parliament for pro- tection against the competition of foreign traders, who brought ready wrought silken goods into the country, was made by the silk women and spinsters of the City of London. They complained that great detriment was done to their industry by the intrusion of these strangers. The appeal was successful, as described in the section on alien immigration, and an experimental measure to take effect for five years was ordained for their protection.

Arguments for and against prohibition, protection, reciprocity and free trade, not only as regards foreign countries, but between different home districts, seem to have exercised the minds of our forefathers and the ingenuity of their law-makers to a great extent. Previous to the reign of Edward III the disputes which required authoritative adjustment and regulation were for the most part between the municipalities and the more or less organised trade guilds and fraternities, or between handicraftsmen or traders engaged in different branches of manufacture and commerce. With the accession of that monarch, however, an advance from a municipal to a national commercial policy took place ; and foreign artificers were invited to settle in England, in spite of the persistent opposition of the guilds of native merchants and craftsmen Politics to the settlement of the strangers. The general action of the and King in Council, as proved by the frequent confirmation

Industry, of the edicts in its favour, was also towards freedom of import and export trade. It is true that occasional ordinances were promulgated prohibiting the import or export of certain commodities, but these had usually some pohtical bearing, as when the export of wool from Great Britain to Flanders was forbidden in order to force the Flemings to abandon the French Alhance.

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 471

A good specimen of the early statutes which embody Politics this generous pohcy in regard to foreign merchants and crafts- and men is furnished by Cap. I. of the 2nd of Richard II (1378). Industry. This is also interesting as giving in its preamble a graphic idea of the opposition of the native craftsmen and traders to the intrusion of strangers. The statute may indeed be quoted almost at length, with advantage. It read : — " Statutes made at Gloucester, Anno 2 Rich. II, A.D. 1378.

" Our Lord the King, at his Parhament holden at Gloucester the Wednesday next after the Feast of St. Luke, the second year of his Reign, amongst other things there assented and accorded, hath made certain Statutes and Ordinances, as well for the common Profit of the Realm, as for the main- tenance of Peace in his said Realm, in the form following :

Cap. I. "AU Merchants may buy and sell within the Realm

without Disturbance. " First. Because that before this time in the time of the noble King Edward, Grandfather of our Lord the King that now is, in his Parliaments holden at York and Westminster, and also in this present Parliament, great complaint hath been made to our said Lord, for that in many Citties, Boroughs, Ports of the Sea, and other Places within the Realm of England, great damages and outrageous grievances have been, and yet be done, to the King and to aU his Realm, by the Citizens, Burgesses and other people of the Citties, Boroughs, and other Towns and Places aforesaid, A which have not suffered, nor yet wiU not suffer Notable Merchants, Strangers, nor other that do bring, carry Enact- or convey by sea or by land Wines, avoir de pois ment. Sustenance, Victuals, or other things vendable, profitable, and necessary, as well for the King, the Prelates, and Lords, as for all the Common- alty of this Land, to seU or dehver the said Wines, Sustenance, or Victuals, nor other things

472

SILK INDUSTKY.

A

Notable Enact- ment.

A Wel- come to Merchant Strangers.

vendable to any other than to them of the same Cities, Boroughs, Ports of the Sea, and other places, to which such Wines, Sustenance, Victuals, or other things vendable were and be brought, carried and conveyed.

(2) And by so much those things have been, and yet be sold and let to the Eang, to his Lords and to all his People, by the hands of the Citoyens, Burgesses and other people Denizens, to a great and excessive Dearth over that they should have been, if the Merchant Strangers and other which bring such things into the Realm might freely have sold them to whom they would.

(3) They also would not nor yet will suffer the Mer- chant Strangers that do come, or would come within the Realm, to buy woolls and other Mer- chandises growing within the Realm, to go, travel and merchandise, or abide freely as they were wont to do, to the great damage of the King, Prelates, of the Lords and all the Realm, and against the common profit, and against the Statutes and Or- dinances thereof made in times past in the said two Parhaments.

(4) Our Lord the King considering clearly the coming of Merchant Strangers within the Realm to . be very profitable for many causes to all the Realm, by the assent of the Prelates, Dukes, Earls, Barons, and the Commons of the Realm, hath ordained and estabhshed that all Merchants, Aliens, of what Realms, Countries, or Seigniories that they come, which be at amity with the King, and of this Realm, may from henceforth safely and surely come within the Realm of England, and in all Cities, Boroughs, Ports of the Sea, Fairs, Markets, or other Places within the Realm, within Franchise and without, and abide with their goods and all Merchandises under the safeguard and pro- tection of the King as long as they shall please them, without disturbance or denying of any person.

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 473

" (5) And that as well those Merchants, Aliens and A Wei- Denizens, and every of them that wiU buy and come to sell com, Flesh, Fish, and aU Manner of other Merchant Victuals and Sustenance, and also aU manner of Strangers. Spicereis, Fruit, Fur, and all manner of Small Wares, as Silk, Gold Wire or Silver Wire, Cover- chiefs, and other such small ware, may from hence- forth freely and without denjdng or any manner of disturbance as well in the City of London as in all Cities, Boroughs, Ports of the Sea, Fairs, Markets, and other places within the Realm, SeU and Buy in Gross and in Parcels to whom and of whom they please, Denizens or Foreign.

" (6) Except the King's Enemies and except that all manner of Wines shall be sold by the said Strangers in gross and by whole vessels and not by retale by any in the said Cities, Boroughs and other Towns Franchised, but only by the inhabi- tants and Freemen of the same.

" (7) And as to aU other great wares as Cloth of Gold and Silver, Silk, Sendal, Napery, Linen Cloth, Canvas, and other such great wares, and also aU manner of other great Merchandises not above ex- pressed whatsoever they be, from henceforth as well ahens as Denizens, as weU in the City of Home London as in other Cities, Boroughs, Ports of the Re- Sea, Towns, Fairs, Markets and Elsewhere through tailers the said Realm, within Franchise and without, may Pro- sell the same in gross to every person foreign or tected. Denizen that wiU buy the same free and without denying (except to the King's Enemies and their Realms) as well as by the Bale, Cloth, or by whole Pieces at their pleasure, and not at Retail, upon pain of Forfeiture of the same Merchandises, but only the Citizens and in their own Cities and Boroughs, and other good Towns franchised, to whom (and to none other strange merchant of their Franchise) they may.

" (8) And it shall be lawful for them without Impeach- ment, to unfold, undo, and cut in their same proper

474

SILK INDUSTRY.

Privileges

for

Aliens

Some Trade Regula- tions.

Cities, and Boroughs, the great Merchandises and other great wares aforesaid, and as weU the same, as Wines and other Merchandises whatsoever there to sell in gross and by retail at their pleasure, paying all the Customs and Subsidies due, notwith- standing any Statutes, Ordinances, Charters, Judgments, Allowances, Customs, and Usages made or suffered to the contrary.

(9) Which Charters and Franchises, if any there be, they shall be utterly repealed and annulled, as a thing made, used, or granted against the common Profit of the People.

(10) Saving always to Prelates and Lords of the Realm wholly their hberties and Franchises, that they may make their purveyances and Buyings of Victuals, and of other their necessaries, as they were wont to do in old time.

' (11) And saving that the Ordinances made before this time of the Staple of Calais be holden in their force and virtue.

• (12) And it is not the King's mind, that Merchants, Strangers or Denizens, that will buy and seU their Woolls, WooUfels, Wares, Cloths, Iron and other Merchandises, at Fairs and Markets in the Country, should be restrained or disturbed by this Statute to seU or buy freely in gross or at retail as they were wont to do heretofore.

' (13) And if it so happen, that from henceforth Dis- turbance be made to any Merchant, Ahen or Denizen, or other, upon the sale of such things in City, Borough, Town, Port of the Sea or other place that hath Franchise, against the form of this Ordinance ; and the Mayor, Bailiffs, or other that have the keeping of such Franchise, required by the said Merchants or other in their name, thereof to make remedy, do not the same, and thereof be attainted the Franchise shall be seized into the King's hand ; and nevertheless, they that have done such Disturbance against this Statute, shall be bound to render and restore to the Plaintiff

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 475

his double damages that he hath suffered by this Regula- occasion. tions for

" (14) And if such disturbance be made to such mer- Alien chants or to other in Towns and Places where no Traders. Franchise is, and the Lord, if he be present, or his Bailiff or Constable or other Warden of the Towns and Places, in absence of the Lords thereof, required to do Right and do not, and therefor be duly attainted, they shaU yield to the Plaintiff his double Damages, as afore is said, and the Disturbers in the one case and in the other, as well within Franchise or without if they be attainted shall have one year's imprisonment and be ran- somed at the King's will.

" (15) And it is ordained and estabhshed that the Chancellor, Treasurer, and Justices assigned to hold Pleas of the King in the places where they come, shall diligently inquire of such Disturbances and grievances, and do Punishment according as afore is ordained.

" (16) And nevertheless the King shall assign by Com- mission certain people, where and when shall please him, to inquire of such Disturbances and griev- ances, and to punish the offenders in this particular as before is said."

Two interesting points in the above Statute, amongst Effect on many others, are : (1) The Freedom of Trading by Alien Home Merchants set forth in the Act was such as would only Industry, affect the rich wholesale Merchants of the cities and sea- ports, and not the local retail traders who alone had the right of cutting up bales of cloth and parcels of goods and selling stuff by the yard or small weight or measure. (2) The lists of wares mentioned in clauses 5 and 7, small and great wares, in both of which classes silk holds a most important place.

This Act of Richard II, which embodied in itself aU the previous political legislation as regards trading and the treatment of ahen merchants, may be taken as setting forth the prevailing attitude of the EngUsh lawmakers

476

SILK INDUSTRY.

Effect on

Home

Industry.

Laws

not

Enforced.

in those respects throughout the following centuries. It is true that owing to local complaints and agitation, in seasons of more or less temporary distress, petitions were often made to the authorities to curtail the privileges of alien merchants and craftsmen, to whose operations and competition were generally, and very naturally, attributed the distressful circumstances of the petitioners. More or less temporary and local edicts were, on such demands frequently issued; a common reason for the departure from the ordinary pohcy being, that, " the poor people may be set on work." Legislation, however, hmiting the liberties of foreign craftsmen or merchants was clearly the exception rather than the rule, and there are indications that whenever these demands were acceded to, to any great extent, or for any long period, the trades and crafts which they affected gradually declined in point of excellence of workmanship.

Although the good treatment of foreign merchants would appear to be sufficiently provided for in the statute quoted, it was evidently found necessary, probably because the law was not strictly enforced and had fallen into abeyance, to restate more clearly this provision of the Ordinance in the fifth year of Richard II. An Act passed by Par- hament in that year was as f oUows :

" First it is accorded and assented in the Parhament, that aU manner of Merchants Strangers, of what- soever nation or country they be, being in amity of the King and of his Realm, shall be welcome, and freely may come within the Realm of England and elsewhere within the Eling's power, as well within Franchise as without, and there to be conversant, to merchandise and tarry, as long as them hketh, as those whom the said Lord the King by the tenour hereof, taketh into his protection and safeguard, with their goods, merchandises and all manner of familiars. (2) And for so much the King wiUeth and commandeth that they and every of them be well, friendly and merchant-like intreated and demeaned in aU parts within his said Realm and Power, with their Merchandises

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 477

and all manner of Goods, and suffered to go and Laws come, and unto their proper Country peacefully not to return, without disturbance or Impeachment Enforced, of any." Nor did this suffice, for in the eleventh year of the reign of Richard II it was again found necessary to re- state the whole Statute, and still further to strengthen it by many references to the statutes of the " Noble King Edward, Grandfather to the King that now is," in which fuU freedom and protection was given to the ahen merchants to traverse the land and to sell their merchandise whole- sale where they would. It ended with the clear announce- ment— ^in Clauses II and 12 — as follows : —

" Our Lord the King seeing clearly that the said Statutes if they were holden and fuUy executed, should much extend to the profit and wealth of all the Realm, hath ordained and estabhshed, by the assent of the Prelates, Dukes, Earls, Barons, Great Men, Nobles, and Commons in this present Parliament assembled, that the said Statutes shall from henceforth be firmly holden, kept, main- tained and fuUy executed in aU points and articles of the same, notwithstanding any Ordinance, Statute, Charter, Letters Patents, Franchise, Proclamation, Commandment, Usage, Allowance, or Judgement made or used to the contrary. (12) And that if any Statute, Ordinance, Charter, Letters Patents, Franchises, Proclamation, Com- mandment, Usage, Allowance or Judgement be made or used to the contrary, it shall be utterly repealed, avoided, and holden for none." The 16th of Richard II, Cap. 1, was evidently Ebb and framed as the result of a petition of the Citizens of London. Flow of This class, who were becoming very wealthy and influential, Legisla- represented that great damage was done to their business, tion and the business of traders and craftsmen in general, by the alien merchants bujdng and selling preferably with one another, and making a corner to themselves in certaia manufactured goods and raw materials. By this Statute it was made illegal for an ahen merchant to sell to another

478 SILK INDUSTRY.

Ebb and alien merchant either foreign goods or goods purchased Flow of within the realm.

Legisla- There followed at intervals, evidently in response to tion. petitions of interested manufacturers and traders, more

or less temporary and partial statutes against carrying certain manufactured goods or raw materials — the latter generally wool in one form or another, or food stuffs, or gold or silver out of the country. In 1429, for instance — 8 Henry VI, Cap. 24 — it was ordained that " None shall pay ahen merchants in gold, but in silver only, and that no credit was to be given to foreigners."

The 25th Henry VI, Cap. 4, is a Statute of Reciprocity, for it enacts that " If cloth manufa'ctured in England shall be prohibited in Brabant, Holland and Zealand, then no merchandise, growing or wrought there within the Dominion of the Duke of Burgoins, shall come into England on pain of forfeiture."

The 27th Henry VI, Cap. 3, ordains that "Merchant Strangers must bestow all the money they receive for their merchandises upon merchandises — Enghsh goods — and carry forth no gold or silver, on pain of forfeiture."

A Statute made in the second year of Edward IV, Cap. 3, is headed : " Whosoever shaU bring into this Realm any wrought silk to be sold, concerning the mystery of sUk workers, shall forfeit the same."

The text of this Act is given in the chapter on " Alien

Immigration from Italy." It clearly states that it was

enacted in answer to the petition of the silk workers

and throwsters of London, where a great industry for

spinning silk and making small silk wares had been

developed. In Cap. 4 of the next year a much more

comprehensive and definite statute was framed, as the

Prohibi- complaints and petitions of the, makers of small wares of

tion of different sorts were added to those of the silk workers.

SUk The list of small wares named is so interesting as to be

Imports, worth quoting in fuU : " Woollen caps, woollen cloths,

laces, corses, ribbands, fringes of silk, fringes of thread, laces

of thread, silk twined, silk in any wise embroidered,

laces of gold or of silk and gold, saddles, stirrups, or any

harness pertaining to saddles, spurs, bosses of bridles,

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 479

andirons, gridirons, any manner of locks, hammers, pinsors, Restric- firetongs,^ dripping pans, dice, tenis baUs, points, purses, tion of gloves, girdles, harness for girdles of iron, latten, steel. Imports, tin or of alkemine, any wrought of any tawed leather, any tawed furs, buskins, shoes, galoches, or corks, knives, daggers, woodknives, bodkins, sheers for tailors, scissors, razers, chessmen, playing cards, combs, pattins, pack needles, any painted ware, forcers, caskets, rings of copper, or of latten gilt, chaffing-dishes, hanging candlesticks, chaffing bells, facing bells, rings for curtains, ladles, scummers, counterfeit basons, ewers, hats, brushes, cards for wool, white wire or any of those wares or chaf- fers."

In the first year of Richard III, 1483, an Act was passed for the further restriction of Alien — especially Italian — Merchants. This was in response to a petition of the Citizens of London, in which they complained of the great prosperity of the large number of alien merchants who had taken up their abode in London and not only traded and competed with English merchants, but intro- duced alien handicraftsmen and servants to the detriment of native workmen and servants in London and other great cities. In consequence of this petition, the Act 1 Richard III, Cap. 9, was framed. In it, in addition to the restrictions of former Acts, aliens were forbidden to be hosts to aliens, to have servants or workmen other than natives of England, to practise any handicraft them- selves or to take apprentices. Merchants were not to hold wares they had purchased or brought from abroad longer than eight months ; they must carry them away Alien to other parts at the expiration of that time or forfeit Traders them. Moreover, aliens might not deal at all in Enghsh lose woven cloth. Privi-

In Cap. 10 of the same year's Parliament the prohibition leges. of small silk goods is extended for ten years longer.

During the reign of Henry VII, 1485-1509, only one small Act relating to, this subject is recorded. It is Cap. 21, year 19. It continues the prohibition of small silk wares, but gives free admission to all great works as well as sUk in a raw state.

480

SILK INDUSTRY.

Regula- From this date the Parliamentary authorities seem to tion of have concerned themselves for a considerable time more Home about the perfecting of the productions of manufacture Trade. in the country and the welfare of the English handi- craftsmen than the regulation of the trade of ahen merchants. The examination and official sealing of goods ; the production of raw material and safeguards against adulteration ; the number of apprentices a master might keep in proportion to the number of his journeymen, as weU as the hours of their labour and the periods for which they might be hired ; how the servants were to be housed ; the food with which they were to be fed and the holidays they were to enjoy, and the number of times in the year they were to attend church, were all regulated by a bewildering number of special Statutes.

These Statutes had, by the year 1562, the fifth year of

the reign of Queen Ehzabeth, become so numerous and in

some respects so contradictory that it was found necessary

to codify and revise them. This was the origin of the

The great Act of Elizabeth known as the " Act of Apprentices,"

Great and . although from time to time this Act was modified,

Act of and sometimes partially feU into abeyance, it continued

Eliza- for more than two centuries and a half the beneficent

beth. Charter of the artisan and labourer and in great measure

the safeguard of the industrious poor from the oppression

of capital. It is remarkable that it was while this Act

was in force that the most prosperous period the silk

industry in England has ever known was enjoyed by

both masters and journeymen ahke.

As this Act, its provisions and its effects both when in force and in neglect, has been several times referred to in this book, it is not necessary to recapitulate in fuH the details of its forty-eight clauses. It will be sufiicient to quote its Preamble and briefly to enumerate the subject matter of the clauses as given in the marginal notes of the Statute Book.

" Anno Quinto Reginse Ehzabethse. " Cap. IV. " Although there remain and stand in Force presently a great number of Acts and Statutes concerning

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 481

the Retaining, Departing, Wages and Orders of The Apprentices, Servants and Labourers, as well in Great Husbandry as in divers other Arts, Mysteries and Act of Occupations ; (2) yet partly for the imperfection EUza- and contrariety that is found, and doth appear in beth. sundry of the said Laws, and for the Variety and number of them ; (3) and chiefly for that the Wages and allowances limited and rated in many of the said Statutes are in divers places too small, and not answerable to this time, respecting the advancement of prices of aU Things belonging to the said Servants and Labourers ; (4) the said Laws cannot conveniently, without the great grief and burden of the poor Labourer and hired Man, be put in good and due execution ; (5) And as the said several Acts and Statutes were, at the time of the making of them, thought to be very good and beneficial for the Commonwealth of this Realm (as divers of them yet are). So if the Sub- stance of as many of the said Laws as are meet to be continued, shall be digested and reduced into one sole Law and Statute, and in the same an uniform Order prescribed and hmited concern- ing the wages and, other Orders for Apprentices, Servants, and Labourers, there is good hope that it will come to pass, and that the same Law (being duly executed) should banish Idleness, advance Husbandry and yield unto the Hired Person, both in the time of scarcity and in the time of Plenty, a convenient proportion of Wages." In the first and second clauses of the Statute aU former Repeal laws with regard to keeping, hiring, working and dis- of charging handicraftsmen, servants, labourers and many apprentices are repealed. former

The third clause enacts that no servant or craftsman Laws, shall be hired for a less time than a whole year. A long fist of crafts is given to which this rule appfies and in this Mst silk weavers and other textile workers occupy a place.

482 SILK INDUSTRY.

Repeal The fourth clause enacts that every unmarried person

of old under thirty years of age shall marry, and, having no Laws. occupation or property, shall be compelled to undertake some kind of service.

The fifth clause forbids discharging a servant before the end of his or her agreed term of service except " consent be given by two Justices of the Peace or the Mayor of the City or Town where the parties inhabit."

Sixthly, " No servant shall depart or be put away but upon a Quarter's Warning."

The seventh clause provides that any persons having no occupation or property shall be compelled to serve in husbandry.

The next fixes the punishment of persons who discharge their servants without due warning and of servants who leave their employers in the same manner.

The ninth clause provides for the punishment of servants who " perform not their duty."

The tenth prescribes that no hired person shall be absent from or leave his occupation without a written permit.

The eleventh that no person may be hired without a testi- monial from his last master, and " If any person be found with a false testimonial he shall be whipped as a vagabond." In the twelfth clause the hours of labour are fixed. The thirteenth states " No artificer or labourer shall depart before his work be finished."

The fourteenth clause is an amplification of the

thirteenth.

Fore- The fifteenth clause is a very important one, and is of

runner great interest in connection with the SUk industry, for

of on it were based, two centuries later, the noted Spitalfields

Spital- Acts of 1773, 1792 and 1811. This clause instructed the

fields Justices of the Peace yearly to assess the wages of artificers

Acts. and aU hired persons. This clause is the longest and

most elaborate in the whole Statute, and it is followed

by five others in which arrangements for publishing the

price lists, the hearing of appeals, the fines for Justices

neglecting their duty and for masters and servants

giving or taking more or less than the rates of wages

fixed.

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 483

The punishment of servants who assault their masters Fore- or overseers is defined in the twenty-first clause, and runner the three following clauses provide for the extraordinary of work of the hayfield and harvest. Spital-

After that the Statute deals with the taking and keeping fields of apprentices as follows : — Acts.

Clause XXV. Husbandmen may take apprentices. (XXVI.) Every householder dwelling in Town Corporate may take an apprentice for seven years. (XXVII.) Mer- chants may take no apprentice but such as whose parents have property of the clear yearly value of forty shillings by inheritance or freehold. Various regulations for apprenticeship and apprentices are arranged for and stated in the remaining twenty-one clauses of the Act. The most important points being that *' No master may keep more than three apprentices unless he employs one journeyman, and for every other apprentice another journeyman," and that " no person may practise any art or mystery unless he has served an apprenticeship of seven years to it."

With the exception of one Act for the prohibition of small wares ready wrought from foreign countries, two for regulating some details of the making of woollen cloth, and three forbidding the use of inferior dye-stuffs, there are no more Parliamentary Acts on record dealing with trade or handicraft between 1562, the date of the passing of Elizabeth's "Act of Apprentices" and 1662, the 34th of King Charles 11.

The absence of any legislation during aU this time — exactly a century— seems to point to the fact that the arts, handicrafts and trade in general in England were prosper- ing. There is other evidence to show that this was the case, as well as that population and wealth were rapidly increasing. It may also be inferred that the regulations of the Act of Elizabeth in regard to apprenticeship, labour and wages were generally approved, together with those of Pros- the other three Statutes which had to do with the rights perous and privileges of alien merchants, artificers, and traders Indus- and the prohibition of certain foreign goods. trial

In the above-named year, however (34th Charles II, Condi- 1662), complaints seem to have been made to Parliament tions.

484 SILK INDUSTRY.

Pro- that the prohibition of small wares provided for in pre-

hibitory vious Statutes were being evaded. A new Statute was

Enact- therefore passed, embodying the former prohibitory Acts

ments. and reviving and adding to the penalties for attempting to

evade them. As is so often the case with these old Statutes,

the Preamble is most instructive and should be quoted :

" Anno decimotertio and quarto Caroli II. Regis

Cap. XIII. " An Act prohibiting the Importation of Foreign, Bonelace, Cut work, Imbroidery, Fringe, Band- strings, Buttons and Needlework. " Whereas great numbers of the Inhabitants of the Kangdom are imployed in the making of Bonelace, Bandstrings, Buttons, Needlework, Fringe and Embroideries, who by their industry and Labour have attained and gained so great skill and Dex- terity in the making thereof, that they make as good of aU sorts thereof, as is made in any Foreign part, by reason whereof, they have been able heretofore to reheve their poor Neighbours, and Maintained their families, and also enabled to set on work many poor Children, and other Persons who have smaU means or maintenance of living other than by their labours and endeavours in the said Art ; (2) And whereas the persons so em- ployed in the said Mystery have heretofore served most parts of this Kingdom with the said wares. And for the carrying on, and Managing the said trade, they have procured great quantities of Thread and Silk to be brought into the Kingdom from Foreign parts, whereby his Majesty's Customs and Revenues have been much advanced. (3) Until of late, that great quantities of Foreign Bone-lace, Band strings, Needle-work, Cut-work, Fringe, Silk Buttons and Embroidery were brought into this Eangdom by Foreigners and Inhabitants of this Kingdom, and sold to shopkeepers and Acts of others Dealers in the said commodities, as well

Charles Wholesale as Retail, without ever entering of the

IL same in any of his Majesty's Custom houses, or

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 485

paying any duty or custom for the same. (4) By Acts of means whereof the said Trade and calling is of Charles late very much decayed, those imployed in the II. said calHngs very much impoverished, the Manu- facture much decreased and great quantities thereof already made, left on their hands that make it, his Majesty defrauded and many thousand poor people, formerly kept on work in the said Art, like to perish for want of imployment. (5) There being daily great sums of money exported out of this Kingdom for the buying and fetching in of the said commodity, to the great impoverish- ment of the Nation and contrary to several statutes made 1st King Richard III, 3rd King Edward IV, 19th King Henry VII, 5th Queen Elizabeth, and to a late proclamation made by his Majesty that now is, dated the 20th Day of November last, for the putting of the said Laws into Execution." In Cap. 15 of the same year of Charles II, an Act for regulating the Trade of Silk Throwing was passed, and Regula- from its preamble the importance of that branch of silk tion of manufacture in the seventeenth century may be gathered. SUk The large number of persons stated to be employed at Throw- this time in the industry has been by some authorities sup- ing. posed to be exaggerated or the figures to be a misprint. But it must be remembered that the machinery in use for silk-throwing at that time in England was of a very primitive construction, so that the necessary doubling and twisting required by the exceedingly fine thread of raw silk, in order to make it thick and strong enough for use, gave employment to a great many more persons than was the case when more perfect machinery had been invented and introduced at a later period. The preamble of the Act is as follows : —

" Whereas the Company of SUk Throwers, within the City of London and Liberties, and all their ser- vants and apprentices within four miles thereof quinto Caroli primi are incorporated and made one Body Politick, and are known by the name of the

486 8ILK INDUSTRY.

Regula- Master, Wardens, Assistants and Commonalty of

tion of the Trade, Art, or Mystery of Silk Throwers

Silk of the City of London. (2) And whereas the

Throw- said trade is of singular use, and very advan-

ing. tageous to this Commonwealth by imploying the

poor, there being imployed by the said Company in and about the City of London (as is expressed in their petition) above Forty Thousand Men, Women and Children, who otherwise would unavoidably be burdensome to the Places of their Abode. (3) And Whereas the present Governors of the said Company by their petition, pray an enlargement of their Charter, whereby they may be the better enabled to avoid the many deceipts and inconveniences they daily meet withal by Intruders, who have not been brought up Apprentices to the said Trade, and others who settle themselves beyond the Mmits of the said Charter, on purpose to avoid the searchers and Supervision of the said Governors, by which means they are at liberty to make and vend what wares they please, to the Disparagement of the said Trade and Dis- couraging of the Petitioners, and aU others of the said Trade that have duly served Apprentice there- unto, according to the known Laws of this Nation." The Statute of ten ordinances following this preamble was passed, making it punishable by a fine of forty shillings for every month if any person not belonging to the Company of Throwsters practised the trade within twenty miles of London. Pains Mention of silk is again made in a curious Act entitled :

and " An Act for Burying in Woollen only." The opening

Penalties, clause of which is as follows : —

" 48 Caroli II Regis, Cap. IV. " For the encouragement of the wooUen Manufactures in this Kingdom, and Prevention of the Exporta- tion of the monies thereof, for the buying and importing of Linen. (2) Be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent Majesty by and with the

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 487

advice etc no person or persons whatso- ever shall be buried in any shirt, shift, or sheet made of or mingled with Flax, Hemp, 8ilk, Hair, Gold or Silver or other than what shall be made of Wool only, or be put into any coffin lined or faced with anything made of or mingled with Flax, Hemp, Silk or Hair, (3) Upon pain of the forfeiture of the Sum of Five Pounds to be imployed to the use of the poor of the Parish where such person shall be so buried." In 1668 another Statute for silk throwsters was passed, I^aws which indicates that throwing machinery was being affecting improved, and by this means many people were thrown Machi- out of employment. The purpose of the Bill is to limit nery. the number of spindles a throwster might have at work on his machines at one time.

There is no mention in the Statutes of James II of the most important event in the whole history of the British silk manufacture : the immigration of the Huguenot silk weavers from France (1685). There is extant a copy of a Petition to Parliament promoted by the Weavers' Company of London against the refugees being allowed to set up in business on the score of their not having served apprenticeship in the country, but the petition was refused and no action was taken by Parliament.

In 1690, 2 William and Mary, Cap. 9, the importation of thrown silk froin Turkey, Persia, East India and China was forbidden, but from Italy and Sicily it was allowed if brought direct in Enghsh ships. This exception in the case of Italian thrown silk is due to the fact that, although English thrown silk at that time was equal in quality to that imported from the East, none but Itahan thrown organzine silk was evenly twisted and strong enough for the warps of the rich damasks, brocades and other broad works which were becoming such an important branch of British industry.

The next Act of Parliament of interest in connection War with silk manufacture is that of 2 WiUiam and Mary, Taxa- Cap. 14, which was introduced with a view to raising tion.

488

SILK INDUSTRY.

money for prosecuting " War with France and reducing Ireland." Amongst a very large number of commodities it was proposed to tax, the^ following are named : " All CaUicoes and aU other Indian hnen, all wrought silks and other manufactures of India and China (except Indigo). AU wrought silks from any other place at half the duty, and aU raw silks imported from China or from the East Indies." Parlia- In 1693 the attention of Parliament was called to the

ment fact that the difficulty of obtaining fine thrown silk — ^the and production of Italy, Sicily, and Naples — ^was proving

Itahan greatly prejudicial to the silk manufacture of the nation, Thrown and if longer continued would result in its total loss. It Silk. was therefore enacted that " It shall be lawful for any

person or persons who do or shall reside in their Majesties' dominions, to bring into this Kingdom from any port or place whatsoever without any restriction (excepting the Ports of France) fine Thrown silk of the growth or produc- tion of Italy, Sicily and Naples." A few years later this permit was extended to Leghorn.

By the provision of the second part of 7 and 8 of William III, Cap. 20, a penalty of forty pounds and forfeiture of the goods is to be exacted from any person exporting a stocking knitting frame or any parts of such a machine. The matter is explained in Clause VIII as follows : —

" And whereas a very useful and profitable Inven- tion, or Mystery, hath been lately found out for the better and more speedy making and knitting of Silk and Worsted Stockings, Waistcoats, Gloves, and other wearing necessaries, whereby great Quan- tities are wrought off in a little time, his Majesty's Dominions abundantly supplied, and great Quantities exported into foreign Nations, to the increase of his Majesty's customs, and the improvement of Trade and Commerce ; And whereas several of Prohibi- the Frames or Engines for the making and Knitting

tion of of such Stockings, and other wearing necessaries have

Machinery been of late exported out of this !^ngdom whereby

Exports. the said commodities have been made in Foreign

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 489

parts which were heretofore made in this Kingdom only to the great discouragement of the trade in general, and detriment of the said Mystery of Framework Knitting, and the impoverishment of many famiUes which have been thereby main- tained. For the prevention of which inconveniences for the future be it enacted," &c. Several special Acts of ParUament were passed during Sanction the reigns of WiUiam and Mary and Queen Anne for the to a purpose of strengthening the position of a Chartered Mono- Company caUed the Royal Lustring Company. The poly. Huguenots had introduced the weaving and particular finishing of a class of sUken materials called lustrings (lutestrings), alamondes and reinforces. There being a great demand for these goods, it was deemed advisable to grant a monopoly to a company for examining, sealing and guaranteeing the quality of all such silks produced in London. The Company also had powers to seek out and claim all unauthorised works and smuggled goods of the kind, which, owing to the heavy taxes imposed on foreign sUks, were frequently to be found. The Lustring Company was very prosperous while the fashion for wearing these materials lasted, and at one time the shares which were issued at £5 2s. rose to £105. The monopoly was granted for fourteen years, but before that period expired the fashion changed, the demand almost ceased, and the Company was wound up.

Silks, both wrought, raw and thrown, are frequently Restric- mentioned in the many Acts for special war taxation tion of passed in the latter part of the seventeenth century. Imports Duties varyhig from 10 per cent to 20 per cent were put on or repealed as the advice or petitions of various interested persons or the exigencies of the Government seemed to require. In 1700, the importation of aU wrought silks from the East was prohibited, and heavy penalties imposed not only for importing but for wearing them. Buttons and button-holes covered, and sewn with other materials than silk, exercised the minds of the law- makers of this time, and three lengthy Statutes were framed and grievous penalties threatened to button makers,

490

SILK INBIJSTHY.

tailors, sempstresses and wearers of button-holes sewn with any thread other than silk, and to persons making use of buttons covered with material which had no ad- mixture of silk. Proposed In the year 1713, at the conclusion of the Treaty of Trade Utrecht, a commercial treaty with France was also signed Treaty provisionally, under which the manufactures of each with kingdom were to be admitted into the other upon the

France, payment of low ad valorem duties. This treaty was, however, violently opposed by the English manufacturers, especially by those engaged in textile trades. Innumerable petitions were presented to Parhament against its ratifica- tion ; and, after many heated debates, the BiU for rendering the treaty of commerce effectual was rejected in the House of Commons by a small majority.

In the petition presented on this occasion by the Weavers' Company of London, it was stated that " all sorts of black and coloured silks, gold and silver stuffs and ribands were made here as good as those of France " ; and that the silk manufacture at that time — 1713 — ^was " twenty times greater than in the year 1664."

Mention also is made in a Statute of 8 George I — 1721 — of the great increase of the silk trade in Great Britain, and encouragement is given for exporting manufactured silk goods. The preamble is as follows : —

" May it please your most excellent Majesty, whereas

the Wealth and prosperity of this Kingdom doth

very much depend on the Improvements of its

Manufactures, and the profitable Trade carried on

by the Exportation of the same, which Trade

ought, by all proper means to be encouraged, for

the more comfortable support and maintenance of

great numbers of your Majesty's subjects employed

in the making and working of such goods, and

for the enlargement of the commerce of Great

Britain ; and whereas the manufacture of silk

stuffs and of stuffs mixed with silk, which is one

An of the most considerable Branches of the Manu-

Act of facture of this Kingdom, has, of late years, been

George I. greatly improved in this Kingdom, and there is

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 491

reason to believe that the exportation of them An into Foreign' Ports would considerably increase, Act of were it not obstructed and hindered by reason of George I. the high duties payable upon the importation of Raw and Thrown silk, without any allowance being made upon the said silks when wrought up and exported ; and in Regard the said Raw and 'Thrown Silk when exported unmanufactured, do draw back great part of the duties paid inwards ; and it seems just and reasonable that the said silks should also enjoy the same Benefit and Allowance upon the Exportation of them. Therefore we, your Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Great Britain in Parliament assem- bled, do humbly pray your Majesty that it may be enacted ; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty &c." Here follows the Statute allowing a rebate on exportation on (1) all ribbons and stuffs made in Great Britain of silk only ; (2) all silks and ribbons made in Great Britain of silk mixed with gold or silver ; (3) all silk stockings, silk gloves, silk fringes, silk laces, and stitching or sewing silk ; (4) for all stuffs of silk and grogram yarn ; (5) for all stuffs of silk mixed with linen or cotton ; (6) for all stuffs made of silk mixed with worsted. The rebate allowances ranged from six- pence to four shillings per pound weight avoirdupois. In 1725, 12 George I, Cap. 34, the first of the Statutes known as the Combination Acts was passed. These became more severe in their provisions at a later date, and at the same time the custom of regulating workmen's wages by the justices — ^arranged for by the Act of EHz- abeth — ^feU into abeyance, in consequence of which the artizan had no defence against the oppression of a bad master.

In 1732, 5 George II, Cap. 8, a special Act of Parliament Grant to was passed awarding fourteen thousand pounds to Thomas Sir Thomas Lombe, who had at great expense to himself Lombe. and by the patient labour of fourteen years — during which time his original patent expired — perfected the art of

492

SILK INDUSTRY.

The silk-throwing and erected large mills and machinery by

Grant means of which the work could be done in England even to more perfectly than in Italy.*

Thomas During the reign of George II two Statutes against Lombe. fraud in the silk trade were passed and some changes in the duties payable on foreign imported goods were made. Reductions were also made in the duties on raw and thrown silk, but the most significant and most frequent theme of the petitions presented to ParUament by the silk weavers and manufacturers of London at the period was that of the total prohibition of all foreign- wrought silks. This object was not gained tiU 1773, when an Act strictly prohibiting the importing and wearing of all foreign-wrought silk was passed and remained in force until 1826.

Of this time of strict prohibition, Mr. Porter, writing in the year 1831, points out that British manufacturers of silken goods being thus secured in the monopoly of the home market, and in the British dependencies, gradually became careless, and their productions deteriorated ; he also admits that, though the volume of trade was steadily increasing notwithstanding frequent seasons of depression due to changes of fashion, the position of the operative weaver, even in times of prosperity for the manufacturer, was always one of uncertainty and wretchedness. Regula- The operation of the local Spitalfields Acts, for the tion of regulation of the London silk weavers' wages — 1773, 1792 Wages. and 1801 — has already been described in the section dealing with Spitalfields. The beneficence, or otherwise, of these Acts was much discussed during the time they were in force ; and their opponents finally succeeded in obtaining their repeal in 1824, at the same time that Parlia- ment decided to abandon the pohey of prohibition.

Beginning in 1826 with the imposition of duties on imports of wrought silks varying from 25% to 40%, and on raw and thrown silks of from one shilling to five shillings per lib., the tariff was gradually reduced, from time to time, until in 1846 the duties had been lowered to less

* This story is fully told in the History of Silk in Derby, and the Act is quoted (for it is very instructive) in the Appendix.

PARLIAMENT AND THE SILK MANUFACTURE. 493

than half the above amounts ; but it was not tiH 1860 that the pohcy of free trade so prevailed in Parliament as to allow the Government to abolish aU restrictions on the free importation of both wrought and raw sUk.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

Trade Unions and Associations in Silk Manufacture.

Methods

and

Practices.

The primary and fundamental object of Trade Unions, like that of the ancient Craft Guilds, is to secure their members in the independent, unimpeached, and regular earning of their daily bread by means of their trade or craft.* The origin and development of the fraternities which flourished in the Middle Ages, having this object in view, is a most fascinating study. Their history begins at the time when families began to be gathered together into communities, and is closely interwoven with that of all the large towns and cities of mediaeval Europe. The general history of Guilds and Trade Unions is much too extensive a subject to be dealt with at length, but it is necessary, in a history of silk manufacture, to give some account of the formation and work of such trade societies as have affected that branch of commercial activity.

In the first place it is necessary to note that some of the methods and practices of Trade Unions, to which in certain quarters much objection is taken, are not by any means modern innovations specially designed to obstruct trade and cause public inconvenience, but are attempts to regulate the conflicting rights of the individual worker, his employer, and Society at large, and are just such as were practised by the craft guilds of earlier times.

Owing, however, to the great volume of modern trade operations, the competitive system of business, and the discoveries of science, the modern unions and associations differ in one important particular from their prototypes,

♦ For a full account of the ancient guilds, see Brentanp on Quilda. 494

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 495

the ancient Craft Guilds. It is in this difference that the Corn- cause of most of the evils complained of is to be found, parison This point of difference is the division of Trade with Associations into two separate opposing parties — one of old masters, the other of men — each keenly jealous of any Guilds, advantage the other may gain. But even here there is evidence that as early as the fifteenth century there were disputes and division in some of the largest trades, where, contrary to the usual rule, many journeymen were employed, and masters and contractors were beginning to accumulate capital. As a rule, however, the ancient guild was an association of masters and journeymen, its purpose being the defence and regulation of the rights, privileges and duties of aU the members of a trade.

The extraordinary development of commerce and manu- facture during the course of the eighteenth century made it impossible for the officials of the ancient Companies to retain control of the trades as was intended when they were incorporated. They accordingly gradually ceased to attempt the performance of this task. Such as had no haUs, or valuable privileges or property of their own, or other interest, coUapsed entirely; whilst those with possessions continued to administer their property, but retained no vital connection with the crafts they were established to protect and foster.

As long as the Statute of Apprentices,* passed during Statute the reign of Elizabeth, was in force, the position of the of workman in most trades was secure. By this enactment, Appren- which revised or embodied all previous legislation of the tices. kind, no one could lawfully exercise or carry on, either as master or journeyman, any art, mystery or manual occu- pation except he had been brought up therein and had served seven years as an apprentice. Every householder dwelling in city or market town might take apprentices for seven years at least. Whoever had three apprentices must keep one journeyman, and for every extra apprentice one other journeyman. As for a journeyman, it was enacted that, in most trades no person should retain a

* 5th Elizabeth, Cap. 4. See Appendix.

496

SILK INDUSTRY.

Statute servant under one whole year, and no servant was to of depart or be put away but upon a quarterly warning,

Appren- The hours of work were fixed by the Act at about twelve tices. hours in summer and from daydawn till nightfall in the

winter. Wages were to be assessed by Justices of the Peace or by town magistrates at every General Sessions first held after Easter. The same authorities were to settle aU disputes between masters, journeymen and apprentices, and especially to protect the last-named. A later Act* expressly extends this power of the justices and magistrates to fix the wages of all labourers and work- men whatever.

There is evidence that as early as 1710 this Act, especially as regards the assessment of wages by the justices, had to a great extent become non-effective.f In that year the justices fixed a rate of wages in the woollen weaving trade, but it was not carried into practice. This led to attempts at further lowering of prices by the masters and induced the men to combine, and many struck work. In 1723 an Act prohibiting combinations of workmen in that trade was passed, but so much discontent continued that another Act in the following year ordered the justices once more to fix a rate of wages. Against this the masters petitioned, and the justices refused to act ; whereupon the weavers again revolted in very large numbers, and it was not untU after much loss by the masters and suffering by the men that the former agreed to abide by the provisions of the Act. When at last they did so peace was restored. The The industrial history of the eighteenth century abounds

Combina- in stories of trade riots and strikes, appeals and petitions tion to Parhament for the regulation of different trades, the

Act. passing of new and the confirmation of old Statutes, which

proved for the most part useless, and Acts more or less severe against combinations of workmen culminating ia the Combination Act of 1799, with its very severe penalties. Through it aU the status of the operatives in almost all trades was falling lower and lower. There is no better

* 1st James, Cap. 4.

•f Brentano on Trade Unions, p. 104.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 497

illustration of this tendency in the industrial world The than is furnished by the story of the change from the Combina- old order to the new in the manufacture of hosiery, an tion important department of which trade was concerned in Act. the use of silk.*

Machinery was, at a very early time, introduced into the manufacture of hosiery in England. The invention of the stocking-frame, as the machine for knitting stockings was called, by a poor student of St. John's CoUege, Cambridge, appears to have given the first decided stimulus to the silk trade on anything approaching to a large scale. In addition to its having the effect of causing the abandonment of the clumsy woollen hose of the period and replacing them with a hght and elegant fabric made at a comparatively low cost, the use of the stocking-frame enabled production to be so increased and cheapened as eventually to cause the estabhshment of a regular trade with the Continent. Keyser, in his Travels through Europe in 1730 writes that, " at Naples, when a tradesman would highly recommend his silk stockings, he protests they are ' right EngMsh,' and of course his contemporary on the banks of the Thames also protested that the goods made on the same machine at the same time in the Httle Enghsh town of Leicester, were ' right French.' " It was about the year 1589 that WiUiam Lee invented the stocking-frame, but it was not until after his death in France, to which country despair- ing of success in England, he had carried his invention, The that the manufacture of hosiery on the stocking-frame Influence became fairly established in this country. Lee lived of Inven- and struggled on in Paris tiU 1610, when he fell into tion. great poverty, and died neglected and broken-hearted in a garret. In 1620 it is recorded that the immense value of the stocking-frame had been established in England, and that great numbers of them were being made.

The trade of framework-knitting was not well estabhshed in the fifth year of the reign of Elizabeth but in the

* During the 18th century English silk stockings were in great demand in all the principal countries of Europe. 5ee Felkin's History of the Hosiery Trade,

2 I

498

SILK INDUSTRY.

The year 1663, Charles II incorporated "several persons,

Influence by the name of Master, Warden, Assistants, and Society

of Inven- of the Art and Mystery of Framework-Knitters, of the

tion. Citties of London and Westminster, the Kingdom of

England and the Dominion of Wales, for ever, with power

to exercise their jurisdiction throughout England and

Wales ; and from time to time to make Bye-laws for the

regulation of the said business of Framework-knitting,

and to punish persons who should offend against such

Bye-laws." By paragraph 33 of the Charter, the Master

was directed to " inforce the Statute of the 5 Elizabeth,

Cap. 4, or any other Statute as respects apprentices and

the occupations of the trade."

By this ordinance of the Charter, therefore, the trade of framework-knitting came under the authority of the Ehzabeth's Act of Apprentices. Little notice seems to have been taken of the Act, and the masters employed apprentices in large numbers, often in the proportion of ten and more to one journeyman. This abuse of fixed legal restrictions is not surprising, as besides the lower wages to be paid to an apprentice, the parishes often paid bounties to the amount of £5 for every boy taken from the workhouse.

By this system adult workers, after the expiration of Early their apprenticeship, often fell into great poverty.* They Strikes therefore, in the year 1710, petitioned the Company to and carry out the regulations of the Charter with regard to

Riots. apprentices. The Company refused. This refusal was followed by a riot of the workmen ; they destroyed about 100 frames and threw them out of the windows. A peace was patched up between the masters and men but as the system of parish apprentices was continued, the trade became overstocked with lawful journeymen without em- ployment. In 1727 an Act was passed prohibiting under the penalty of death the breaking of frames, which was the men's chief way of revenging themselves on their masters, t

* The management of the knitting-frame required comparatively little skill, as there was little to learn, so that the apprenticeship merely added to the numbers of unskilled adult labourers, for whom there was no employment.

t Felkin.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 499

On May 22, 1745, the Company ordained new bye-laws,* Intro- which were confirmed by the Lord Chancellor. These duction bye-laws contain the first direct mention of the practice of of letting out frames on hire to the workmen. After the Hiring making of the new bye-laws, the Company tried to enforce System, its authority throughout the whole country, but, not succeeding in obtaining the assistance and sympathy of the justices and magistrates, lost entirely what httle influence it had till then retained.

One of its last efforts was to send deputies to Nottingham, the greatest centre of the trade, to maintain its privileges, but the Nottingham manufacturers remained recalcit- rant. They were already employers of the modern style ; they had not served a seven years' apprenticeship them- selves, and employed unlawful workers, such as journey- men who had not served their legal term and did not belong to the Company, as well as women and children ; they often worked with large numbers of apprentices, one having forty-nine, without employing any journeymen. The Company, relying on its ordinances, confirmed by the Lord Chancellor, threatened to enforce these masters' submission by law. The retort was that the members of the Company did not themselves keep the bye-laws ; and that instead of preventing frauds and oppressions, they rather committed them themselves. It was said that the London manufacturers were in the same cate- gory as those of Nottingham. The latter, threatened with lawsuits by the Company, petitioned Parliament and accused the Company of ruining the trade by monopohes. Parliament seems to have been of the same opinion ; the Company became quite unable to enforce its bye-laws legally, and therefore ceased henceforth to exercise any Decay influence over the trade. of the

All this time the trade of framework-knitting was Society rapidly expanding, and the manufacturers were exceed- of ingly prosper ous.f Until its retirement from the fray, Frame- the workmen seem to have had hopes that the Com- work pany would find means to better their condition, but Knitters.

* Journals of House of Gammons, vol. xxvi, pp. 790-794.

t Felkin,

500

SILK INDUSTRY.

when they found it to be powerless to help them, and all hope was gone, they formed a Trade Union under the Stocking name of the " Stocking Makers Association for Mutual Makers Protection in the Midland Counties of England." Its Associa- special object was to make regulations as to apprentices, tion. This body soon became so powerful in Nottingham that it

strongly influenced the elections of Members of Parha- ment. Mr. Abel Smith was thus returned without opposi- tion in 1778, when the members of the Association marched in procession before his chair, accompanied by two Assistants, the Clerk, and other deputies of the London Framework Knitters Company. * " This formerly authoritative body had," says Mr, Felkin, " another opportunity thus given them, by wise and timely measures, to have rendered themselves useful between the master hosiers and their workmen. The high rents exacted for frames, with certain other charges, had not yet settled into a legalised custom ; the best of the journeymen and the wisest of the masters might have been conciMated, and the Charter of the Company revived ; but the time was wasted in squabbles about fees, and the Company lost its last hold on the trade."

Except for the mutual support afforded by their own recently formed Union, the membership of which in- creased and which improved and extended its organi- zation, the workmen had no protection from the oppression of their employers. The laws intended to regulate the trade equally both for masters and their servants were not yet repealed, but they had become inoperative by reason of the lax administration of the justices and magistrates. In one case, indeed, where the moribund London Company bestirred itself to prosecute Law a manufacturer for taking apprentices contrary to law,

a Dead the manufacturer was condemned certainly, but only to Letter. pay one shilling damages. Towards the end of the eighteenth century, notwithstanding that the hosiery trade flourished more and more, and, from the manufacturer's point of view, became very successful, the workers benefited httle and wages feU to a very low level.

* Felkin.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 501

In 1778 the Framework Knitters Union petitioned Parliament for a legal regulation of the rates of payment, humbly representing that " in consequence of low wages, payment of frame rents and excessive employment of child labour, they were unable to maintain themselves and their famihes." The master hosiers made a counter petition, and as a result a Committee was appointed to enquire into the complaints of the workmen. In the end the motion for enacting a law according to the petition of the workmen was vetoed. When this happened, the em- ployers in the silk branch of the trade attempted at once to further reduce wages 25 per cent, and a strike was the immediate result. *

In February of the following year the framework- knitters of Nottingham again petitioned the House for the regulation of their trades. This petition was followed by others from Tewkesbury, Godalming, Derby, London, Westminster, and Northampton. Witnesses from all these places were examined by a Committee, with the result that shameful exactions on the workmen by their employers were unveiled. According to the evidence of witnesses examined, wages had steadily fallen whilst the prices of food had risen. The deductions the workpeople had to submit to for frame rent, winding, seaming, needles, candles, &c., had, it was stated, so reduced their wages that few could even earn the six shillings named as the average wage in the former petition. The chief abuse was in connection with frame rents, and as the same thing occurred in the following century, although cer- tainly in a modified form, with regard to the Jacquard machines hired out to the weavers in the silk weaving trade, it will be useful to quote particulars of this evidence.

" The value of a frame is from £6 to £8." " For its use the workman has to pay rents from Is. 3d. to 2s. a week." " The workman is obliged to hire these frames if he wishes to get work." " If a workman has a frame of his own he is refused work." " This rent the workman has to pay whether he has work or not, during sickness, for Sundays or hohdays, or when he has no materials, which the

Earnings of

Frame Knitters.

The Case of the Workers.

* FelkiQ

502

SILK INDUSTRY.

The Case employer has to furnish." " Many employers stint their of the workmen from making more than a certain number of Workers, stockings a week, although they could make more " — evidently that they might thus be able to deduct the more frame rent from a certain amount of wages. The report goes on to say that " The workmen had to buy from the employers the materials for making the stockings. The latter then re-bought the stockings from the workmen. But they also often made excuses to leave them on the men's hands,* The workmen," says the Report, "were in a state of starvation. They had to submit to any conditions of their employers. A number of workmen who had signed the previous year's petition to Parliament had had to leave off work. They desired a Bill fixing prices, which would, as they thought, produce a wholesome effect."

The House of Commons considered this report, and on May 10th, 1779, a Mr. Meadows, one of the members for Nottinghamshire, introduced a BUI for regulating the trade of framework-knitting, and for preventing the frauds and abuses therein. It was ably supported by Mr. Robert Smith (afterwards Lord Carrington), who said " the measure was moistened and saturated by the tears of the poor distressed families of the framework- knitters, "f Leave was given to bring in the BiU, with only one dissentient voice. Upon this the employers counter petitioned. They said that if the Bill should become law, this " from various causes " would be most injurious to the petitioners and to the wholesale merchants in the trade of framework-knitting. Another Committee was appointed, which was once more to inquire into the state of the workmen. On the 9th of June, it reported that the former statements of the workmen were true, and A proposed only a few amendments to the BiU as it stood.

BUI in The second reading was carried by twenty-four against Parlia- twenty-three. On the tMrd reading, it was thrown out ment. by a majority of fifty- two to eighteen. |

* The same system was later in operation at Coventry in the ribbon weaving trade.

t Felkin.

j Journals of the House of Commons, vol. xxxvii, pp. 386, 396, 421, 441.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 503

Mr. Felkin says that "Upon the rejection of the Bill Reform great excitement of the workmen ensued. They crowded Riots, to Nottingham, broke the frames of the manufacturers, threw them out of the windows, burned a house down, and destroyed much property belonging to the employers. More than three hundred frames were broken on this occasion. The whole of the employers then promised, if the riots should at once cease, to remove all grievances. On this peace ensued. Pubhc opinion seems to have been on the side of the journeymen, for the workman accused of setting fire to the house was acquitted.

The workmen found, however, that there was no legal remedy for their grievances, and the district was thrown into a state of ferment, which in varying degrees lasted tiU the end of the century. The system of rent-charge for the use of stocking frames became fuUy estabMshed, and for about thirty years the construction of machinery was a thriving business. The cost of a machine bore so small a proportion to the rent exacted, that many persons, not in the trade, purchased them with a view to letting them out on hire, and reahzed a handsome profit in the business. Partial strikes and lock-outs were of constant occurrence ; the use of child labour vastly increased, and wages became more and more precarious and dependent on the will of the employers. This state of things con- tinued till 1812, when the Union again applied to Parliament for the enforcement of payment by statement lists of prices, a system which had been in use in the cotton weaving trade for many years, but though a BiU embodying this suggestion passed the Commons, it was unsuccessful in the Lords and was abandoned. On this the workmen in all branches of the trade entered into the Union (1814). In 1813 the repeal of the Act of Ehzabeth was considered Act of in Parliament, and notwithstanding that petitions in Ehzabeth overwhelming numbers poured in deprecating its repeal. Repealed, but suggesting its amendment, the counsels of the interested manufacturers, who were in a small minority, prevailed, and in 1814 the Act was repealed.* By this decision Parhament appeared to encourage industrial

* 300,000 for amendment ; 2,000 for repeal. Hansard, vol xxvii, p. 574.

504

SILK mDlTSTRY.

Act of disorganisation. This condition soon became the prevailing Elizabeth one in many trades, as is shown by the ParUamentary Repealed, reports on the condition of the ribbon trade and silk manu- facture at Coventry, Nuneaton, Macclesfield and other places which had become great centres of silk weaving. *

From the pamphlet of Samuel Sholl,t the Spitalfields silk weaver, one may obtain a conception of the formation of the first Trade Union in the Broad Silk Weaving branch of manufacture. Sholl's narrative of the origin, con- stitution and results of this Union, as it is that of one who took part in its formation, and was himself an active member of it, is of the greatest interest. Speaking of the interval between the prosperous time of the Spital- fields industry, and the depression which prevailed before its close, Sholl says : —

" But in process of time, as there was no established

price for labour in England, there was great oppression,

confusion an(i disorder. Many base and ill-designing

masters took the advantage, in a dead time of trade, to

reduce the price of labour. The oppression became so

insupportable that a number of journeymen, at the hazard

of their hves, resolved to make examples of some of the

most oppressive of the manufacturers by destroying their

works in the loom. This they effected, but, for want of

prudence in their conduct, several fell victims to the

cause and lost their lives." ShoU here probably refers

to the same incident as Felkin, in his history of the

Nottingham lace trade, quotes. That author speaks of the

"gruesome sight of Spitalfields weavers hanged in front of

houses where they had destroyed works in the looms

Joint during a riot." Sholl continues : " These considerations

Action awakened the feehngs of some of the thinking and weU-

by discerning part of the journeymen and others. They

Masters apphed to the magistrates, particularly Sir John Fielding,

and who said he was very sorry for and pitied the journeyman

Men. weavers much, and recommended a few of them to meet

and draw up a list of prices for their various works. They

* For the details of this story of the frame knitting trade, indebtedness to Professor Brentano's research is acknowledged by the author.

t The biographical portion of this pamphlet was summarized in Chapter XXXVII.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 505

should also get some of their masters to sign it, and he Joint would try to obtain an Act of Parliament to enforce Action the same." by-

Acting on the advice of Sir John Fielding, a Committee Masters of Journeymen and Masters was formed and a list of and prices drawn up. The provisions of the Committee were. Men. however, often evaded. There were certainly frequent dis- putes between the parties concerned, and it was not until the enactment of 13th George III, Cap. 68,* that, as ShoU says, " Peace was produced." According to this Act, the justices of the peace or the Lord Mayor, were on July 1st, 1773, and from time to time, after demand to do so had been made to them, to assess the wages of the journeymen in the silk manufacture. Employers giving more or less than the assessed wages to their work- men, or evading the Act, as well as journeymen entering into combinations to raise wages, were to pay certain fines, the amount of which, after the deduction of the necessary expenses, was to be apphed to the relief of needy weavers and their famihes.

It was soon found that, as Sholl explains at some length, in order to carry out the provisions of the Act and benefit the workmen it was necessary to raise money for legal and other expenses, and as it could not be expected that the masters would subscribe for such a purpose, the jour- neymen must do it themselves. Moreover, they had to be careful not to offend against the Combination Act. Having stated their difficulties, Sholl continues : " In First the following manner, to their everlasting honour, some Mutual zealous, spirited and virtuous men proposed to form Aid themselves into a Society in the year 1777, or thereabouts. Society, for mutual assistance should any of their masters oppress them or refuse to abide by the prices for work authorised by the Justices according to Act of Parliament. The Society or Committee was known by the name of the Union, and was held for many years at the sign of the ' Knave of Clubs, ^ in Club Row, Bethnal Green. It was governed by as wise a set of articles for that purpose as could be passed. The principal author was my friend

* The first Spitalfields Act.

506

SILK INDUSTRY.

First Adrian Beaumanoir, a man of great ingenuity and

Mutual ability."

Aid Shell's account of the formation and vicissitudes of this

Society. Society are rather involved and obscure, but from it it is possible to gather that it took the form of a Committee of delegates from each of the Benefit Clubs and Friendly Societies which were so numerous among the Spitalfields weavers. *

The objects of Beaumanoir and his associates were stated in the preamble of the rules as follows : —

" To secure the price of labour in the broad silk weaving trade, and to defray the expenses of law should any master or journeyman transgress the provisions of the Act of Parliament passed in 1773." There was to be a Committee and a paid secretary, but how the Committee was to be elected ShoU does not state. The principal work of the Committee seems to have been to coUect contributions from the members of existing benefit societies and others who were silk weavers. The payment of a small sum weekly seems to have been the only condition of member- ship, and ShoU complains bitterly that except in times of excitement little interest was shown, and that conse- quently the subscriptions were not forthcoming. The officials were to meet regularly at an appointed " House of Call," in order to receive reports from the trade and weekly subscriptions. The stipulated payment was a penny a week.

In course of time ShoU mournfully records there were

divisions and jealousies about procedure and management

in this Union, which in 1791 culminated in the formation

of a second Society, having the same objects in view as

Its the first.

Status Although separated, this Society appears to have been

and on friendly terms with the original one. It is probable

Consti- that about this time other branches were formed, meeting tution. at different public-houses and representing the various

* It is claimed by the descendants of the Huguenot immigrants that their progenitors were the first to form Benefit Societies amongst working folk in this country. If this be true the Clubs thus formed by the immigrants in London for mutual help in a strange country — where they had no claim on the rates — formed the model for the Friendly Societies which have since grown to such colossal proportions. W. H. Manch^e (Proceedings of Huguenot Society, vol. 10).

THADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 507

branches of the silk weaving trade. On aU important occasions, however, all the societies acted together. ShoU gives an account of one such occasion. He writes : " then that great struggle was made against the intention Ban- of introducing Bandanna handkerchiefs in a wrought danna state in this country from India. They surreptitiously Hand- introduced a clause into the Bill to answer their purpose, kerchief This was in a great measure successfully opposed, and Agita- £302 3s. 5d, contributed to pay the expense. After aU tion. expenses had been paid, a compliment was given to each of the men employed on this important occasion, being five in number, of £10 each, besides their daily allowance when on business." A silver medal also was given. " For the men to wear on their breasts on all suitable public occasions." Even then there was sufficient cash in hand to purchase £150 bank stock, " The money to be used only for the purpose of opposing the introduction of silk handker- chiefs in a wrought state into this country in the future."

In 1795 a Committee, consisting of delegates from the Union of Journeymen and from a Trade Society which the masters had formed, met and agreed on a general rise of prices. They also decided the rates for newly intro- duced works of silk mixed with other materials which had by the Act 42 George III, Cap. 44, been brought within the scope of the original Act. This list the justices sanctioned, and the advance in wages was as ShoU records obtained " by peaceable and orderly means."

In 1802 an attempt was made by ShoU and some other men of like disposition to unite all the trade in one Benefit Society, men, women and children, in five different classes. They were : —

(1) To maintain the sick, (2) To bury the dead.

(3) To support old age. (4) To educate children. Attempt (5) To reward merit in the several branches of to the trade. ^ Amal-

ShoU's account of this proposal is very lengthy, but gamate the concluding paragraph is so characteristic as to be Benefit worth quotation : Societies.

" It was intended to have given every year to the two best boys in the trade a gold and sUver medal ;

508

SILK INDUSTRY.

Some to the first best boy the gold medal, and to the

quaint second the silver one, with appropriate devices

Regula- and inscriptions. They were to wear them on

tions. their breasts and walk in public one on the right

hand of our president and the other on the left, on our yearly feast day, and to sit in the same manner at table. " It may be asked by some how is all this to be paid for ; I answer by every member in the trade (as provided in the benevolent articles pointed out), in the first three classes to pay 6d. per quarter, and 3d. per do. in the other two. If the trade were united, how soon would they have a great stock, with no other need for it than to apply it to the above benevolent purposes ; as there would seldom be offenders, for they then would know that there was plenty of money to prosecute them, whereas the disunited state we are now in leads them to think we are not able to do so. To encourage genius and industry, it was also intended to have lectures at ap- pointed intervals, which would tend much to improve the youth of our trade, in its true art and mystery." By general consent the Society was duly started and called the " Benevolent Society of United Weavers." A considerable number of members joined, although very important impediments occurred at the same time, chief ^mong them being " the Act to arm the people en masse, passed on the general alarm of an invasion from France (as it was said), so the people, dreading being made soldiers, fled in aU directions. However, we persevered, and after considerable trouble, we got money enough to buy some bank stock." Benevo- Unfortunately, this well-planned Union was doomed lent to failure, for after surmounting aU the difficulties of its

Society initiation the treasurer became insolvent and, compounding of with his creditors, was only able to pay five shillings in

United the pound. This so disheartened the majority of the Weavers, members that they withdrew. After some deliberation

-'I'/- '..,/-^'- '

(,n'KKN''.S MOST KAT!-;!,!. JiXT ^J A.J HST'i'

, ... /,,„,,/„„,. ,,.■/..,. I..A,,../ 'f„j

./f,.„..y /.. ... ,..y./.,..,.y

Plate XLIX.

The Weavers' Flag.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 509

the few remaimng subscribers divided what was left of the money and broke up the Society.

One of the many works intended by the United Society United of Weavers, which thus came to an untimely end, was Society the production of an example of silk weaving of such of superlative excellence as to confound those persons. Weavers, especially amongst the " Nobihty and Gentry of this Country," who protested " much to the injury of the nation at large and of the sUk trade in particular," that British ingenuity in silk weaving was not equal but far inferior to foreign, especially to that of the French.* The proposal was to weave one or more curious flags and pubUcly exhibit them. By this means the authors of the scheme hoped to put an end for 'ever to such humihating aspersions. Notwithstanding the failure of the great scheme, this detail was considered by some members to be of such importance and so hkely to appeal to the popular feeUng that the idea of weaving the flags sur- vived the general wreck and after a time was proceeded with.

On March 7th, 1807, a Committee of five of the original promoters of the Union met at the Knave of Clubs, and took such measures as resulted in subscriptions to the amount of £60 being collected by August 1st of the same year. One of the Trade Societies meeting at the Golden Key, Church Street, was then applied to to make choice of such persons as they thought fit for this " great design." Five were selected, viz. : Samuel ShoU, T. Atkins, E. Fletcher, W. Carter and J. Roquez, these being the five original promoters.

This Committee of five, feehng — as the reporter says — National too few to deal with so important an undertaking, apphed Flag to two other Trade Societies for additional members to Com- help in the work. They also applied to the Permanent mittee. Committee of Financef for the same purpose. Two delegates from each Society were chosen. By this means

* Samuel ShoU.

t This appears to have been a standing Committee elected by the trade for the purpose of raising money for legal and other trade expenses. It frequently appears in Parliamentary reports as " The Finance or the Society of the Friends of Oood Intent. '

510

SILK INDUSTRY.

National The National Flag Committee was made up to the number Flag of eleven members. The additional names were J. Benson,

Com- J. McFarhn, S. Agambar, J. Lemere, J. Randall and

mittee. T. Frank.

On the 18th June, 1807, a biU was printed and issued with a view to raising more money. This appeal was sufficiently successful to warrant a start being made with the actual work, though some thought it would have been more prudent to have waited a httle longer. On the 13th August it was agreed to print 100 letters and direct them to the most skilful persons in the silk weaving trade inviting them to bring to the Committee such plans as they may have thought worthy and suitable for such a work. As the result of this invitation at the appointed time, various plans were submitted and discussed. The form and dimensions of the banner, as well as the arrange- ments for weaving it, and the emblematic figures and devices to be embodied in the design, were aU settled. They are described in Sholl's narrative as follows : — " The work was to be two yards wide, a rich crimson satin, on both sides ahke, brocaded on each side ahke. Within, an oval was to appear (1) a female figure, of pensive aspect, recHning on a remnant of brocade, lamenting the neglected state of her favorite art, with some of the implements of her trade lying by her. (2) Enterprise, finding her in that situation, drops on one knee to her, takes her by the right hand, and raises her from the sitting position. She now points with the other to a cornucopia pouring out the horn of plenty on the undertaking, as an emblem of the liberality of the British Nation to support any laudable work. Next stands Genius, touching Enterprise on the shoulder with the left hand, same time pointing with the right, to teU the weavers that what she is lamenting is now revived. A flag is made, the Weaver's Arms in it, and placed on the Temple of Fame. Owing to the border going straight, there must be large blanks iu the corners ; those are to be filled with Descrip- emblems of Peace, Industry and Commerce ; whilst above tion of appears the aU-seeing Eye of Divine Providence. The Design, whole edged with a beautiful border, forming at one view

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 511

a combination of figures and devices emblematical of Descrip- an over-ruling Providence, and favoured by Heaven with tion of the blessings of Peace and Commerce, the Enterprising Design. Genius of British Artists would convince surrounding nations that their abUities are inferior to none, if encouraged and protected."

For making this elaborate drawing a designer named G. Blatch received three guineas. Various suggestions embodied in it were paid for by sums of a guinea, others only received the thanks of the Committee.*

Having settled the design, a workshop was taken, preparations for weaving were made, and a draughtsman and operative weaver were chosen. The actual weaving was started at the beginning of 1808, and by October of that year subscribers were invited to see the work in progress. According to Sholl, a " number of people came and spread a report that the work exceeded aU their expectations."

The next step taken was to approach the Society of Arts asking for inspection of the work and encouragement for the weavers. The Council of the Society accordingly sent some of its members to view it. The visit is thus reported in their Journal.

•f" The Society attended with pleasure to the request of the silk weavers, and appointed a Committee to inspect the performance in the loom, who reported to the Society that the specimen of weaving then exhibited to them was superior to anything of the kind they had ever seen or heard of ; and that it was weU deserving of the attention of the Society. The Committee recommended to the Society that their silver medal set in a broad gold border and inscribed to the Patrons and Committee of the Flag Association should be Grant of presented as a Bounty to them and as a mark of Society encouragement for the great exertions they had of Arts made and the many ingenious devices and Medal, improvements now shown in this valuable branch of weaving."

* For technical details of the work, see note in Appendix. I Vol. 27, 1809, Transactions of the Society of Arts.

512

SILK INDUSTRY.

• The Society agreed with the Committee, and the medal

inscribed was delivered by the hands of his Grace the

Duke of Norfolk, the President, on May 30th, 1809.

Lack of The Committee imagined that this ceremony would

Public afford a good opportunity for pubhc advertisement. They

Interest, therefore had a thousand bUls printed with an appeal for

subscriptions, and distributed them to the people attending

it. The result, however, did not answer their expectations,

little notice being taken of their appeal. Other plans were

tried in order to revive the interest of the trade, as by

this time money was so badly needed that they feared

the work would have to be abandoned and the two years'

work wasted. Sufficient was collected to pay the

operators engaged in the weaving, but debts were sadly

accumulating.

In April, 1810, still another attempt was made to interest the pubhc. Advertisements were inserted in the Times, the Morning Chronicle and the Morning Post of April 30th and May 1st, inviting the fashionable world to visit and inspect the banner in course of manufacture. To this invitation only one person responded — Mr. Eancaid — and the treasurer suggested that he should attempt to interest the Queen and Princesses in the work. A copper-plate of the Flag was engraved, and a framed impression, together with a letter from the Committee to the Queen, entrusted to that gentleman to convey to her Majesty and their Royal Highnesses, who were then at Windsor. Upon receiving them the Queen replied that although she much appreciated the present of the engraving and gladly allowed it to be dedicated to her, she could not at that time arrange to visit London to see the work.

Thus, grudgingly supported by the trade, ignored by the members of fashionable society whom they had hoped to astonish, and disappointed of Royal patronage, the The Committee bravely persevered until March 23rd, 1811,

Com- at which date the work was completed. It had taken

mittee two men, T. Frank and T. Atkins, Junr., three years, in less five days, to draft and weave. The total contributions

Debt. amounted to £571 17s. 4d., and the Committee found

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 513

themselves in debt to the sum of £381 4s., exclusive of their own expenses. The weavers' trophy, after having An thus cost nearly a thousand pounds, was first sent to the unfor- Society of Arts, who, having inspected it, voted a bounty tunate of ten guineas towards the expenses. It was next fiasco, exhibited, probably at a pubhc-house in Bethnal Green, where few besides the poor weavers themselves saw it. After a short time, it was so neglected that it disappeared. It was generally supposed to have been stolen by some emissary of the weavers' hated rivals, the French.

The Union of representative Silk Weavers, burdened with debt, seems to have survived this crushing dis- appointment but a httle while, and the Flag Committee, if one may judge from the remarks of the author of the quaint pamphlet in which the story has been preserved, bitterly regretted the unfortunate undertaking.

It is probable that many more or less permanent Committees of the Trade were subsequently formed for special purposes, such as petitioning Parliament, prosecuting offenders against the Spitalfields Acts, or getting out new lists of prices, but with one exception there seems to be no record of them extant. During the time the local Acts were in force — 1773 to 1824 — there were no strikes in the silk trade in London. In the higher branches of the trade the operatives required great sMll, and were consequently few in number. There was generally, therefore, enough work to keep them reasonably well employed. But in the lower branches, although prices were justly regulated, the poverty of the weavers resulted from insufficiency of work for the great numbers seeking it, and the faulty system of domestic manu- facture already described in the Spitalfields section. These conditions obviously could not be altered by means of Trade strikes or combinations. Condi-

There is an account of one such Trade Committee in tions at the Morning Chronicle, February 9th, 1824, just before end of the repeal of the Spitalfields Acts. The Society or 18th Committee of Engine Silk Weavers* were urged to join in Century.

a * The Jaoquard machine was popularly known in Spitalfields as the Draw Engine when first introduced. This was, therefore, the Committee of Jaoquard Machine Weavers.

514 SILK INDUSTRY.

Trade a petition to Parliament for the repeal of the Combination Condi- Acts. When the proposal came before the meeting, the tions at following resolution was proposed : " That protected as end of we have been for years under the salutary laws and wisdom 18th of the legislature, and being completely unapprehensive

Century, of any sort of combination on our part, we cannot there- fore take any sort of notice of the invitation held out by Mr. Place." When this resolution was put by the Chairman, " an unanimous burst of applause followed, with a multitude of voices exclaiming, ' The law, cling to the law, it wiU protect us.' "

Although during the course of the nineteenth century many attempts were made to organise and maintain Trade Unions amongst the London silk weavers, they were never continued for any length of time, nor were they successful in improving the conditions of their own members, much less those of the silk weavers as a class. This was because the evils which the mass of London silk weavers suffered from in the nineteenth century were not such as could be obviated either by combined action or individual effort. The abject poverty which they endured resulted not so much from low prices or from the competition of the power-loom, as some have supposed,* but from the fact that in the lower branches of the trade there was seldom enough work to keep the overwhelming number of candi- dates for it fuUy suppHed.

At special crises in the trade when unemployment was more than usually prevalent, it was easy enough to organise great demonstrations, such as are described in contemporary records as having paraded the streets with drums beating and flags flying to petition Parliament against some obnoxious enactment or encroachment of the hated foreigner, or to intimidate some oppressive master or unauthorised rival craftsman. Such demon- strations sometimes degenerated into riots, and had to Causes be dispersed by mihtary force ; at other times they were of Unem- successful in their immediate object and having attained it ployment. were disbanded. Occasionally flushed with unusual success,

* It was not till quite late in the century that silk to any great extent came to be woven by power or machine looma.

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 515

a Umon or Society was formed, but as these generally- required a regular subscription from members, they were always short-Uved, the weavers being too poor to spare even the smaU amount at which the subscription was invariably fixed.

It seems that almost all records of these short-lived unions are lost, as they were naturally considered to be of Union httle value after the breaking up of a society. An excep- of Spital- tion, however, to this rule must be made in the case of the fields last Union of Spitalfields Silk Weavers, which was wound Silk up at a special general meeting held on January 17th, 1908, Weavers, at the "Lord Nelson," Type Street, Bethnal Green, at which only eleven members were present. At this meeting it was agreed that as so few weavers supported the Union it could not be continued, and that after all expenses had been paid the balance of cash in hand should be returned in due proportion to the subscribers. An original copy of the Rules which governed this Society bears the date 1877. It is entitled " Rules of the London Broad Silk Weavers' Society held at The 'Duke of Glo'ster,' Seabright Street, Bethnal Green Road." The first Rule discloses the fact that the Society was not only to be a Trade Society, but a Burial Club as well. The subscription for a major loom was one penny a week and for a minor loom a halfpenny.

In 1890, the weaving of furniture silk having been revived Revival by a few firms who had adopted modern methods of of manufacture, the principal one being Messrs. Warner Furni- and Ramm, of HoUybush Gardens, Bethnal Green, a ture Society caUed the " Amalgamated Furniture Silk Weavers' Silk Union " was estabhshed. It had a membership of between Weaving, one and two himdred weavers, and although few if any difiiculties on the score of prices arose, it had a fair degree of prosperity. It was soon after this reconstruction of the Union that the Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck and her daughter, now Queen Mary, arranged to visit the different centres of silk manufacture as described in her memoirs.* The visit of the Princesses to the factory in Hollybush Gardens was much appreciated by the weavers,

♦ A full quotation from the memoirs will be found in the Appendix note.

516 SILK INDUSTRY.

Revival who expressed their gratification in a letter addressed

of ofl&cially to her Royal Highness by the members of the Union.

Furni- " It is the greatest pleasure that falls to us to see your

ture Royal Highness and also your executive Committee,

Silk exerting yourselves in the interests of British Silk

Weaving. Industries, and we believe and trust that through your

kind endeavours a trade that was one of the foremost of

English Industries wiU take its place once again, and

we feel convinced that, under the guidance of your Royal

Highness and the noble ladies working with you, we are

capable, with the assistance of our employers, of producing

in the Enghsh markets silks of all descriptions to suit the

class they are intended for."

To this letter the Princess Mary directed the following reply to be sent : —

" Her Royal Highness is much touched and gratified by the expressions of gratitude which you have expressed to her and the Committee of Ladies working with her in promoting the interests of the Silk Industry in England. Her Royal Highness is convinced that if the work be carried on as it has been begun, success is sure to attend the effort of those who are endeavouring to revive the industry ; for it is not to be denied that the beautiful examples of silk both for dresses and furniture of Enghsh manufacture recently exhibited at Stafford House abundantly prove that they can compare favourably with foreign productions of the same kind, and that the trade in England has only to be fostered and encouraged in order to raise it to its former important place among Royal the principal industries of the country. This is the hope Interest, of her Royal Highness, which she cordially wishes to be reahzed."

When the works of Messrs. Warner and Sons were removed from Bethnal Green to Braintree, the Union was moved as well.

There is a strong trade union spirit among the Macclesfield operatives. The Hand Loom Weavers' Union dates back to 1849, at which date a general price- list for the Macclesfield Silk Trade was compiled. The outside weavers have gradually diminished in number and

TRADE UNIONS AND ASSOCIATIONS. 517

seceded from the Union, but the hand loom weavers em- ployed on premises of the various Manufacturers have continued the Association up to the present time. In 1919 the few outside hand loom weavers remaining re-entered the Hand Loom Weavers' Union, so that again it is repre- sentative of the whole of the hand loom trade.

The principal Union of Workers in the Macclesfield Silk Trade is the National Silk Workers' Union, which was Trade formed in February, 1903, under the title of The Maccles- Unions field Power Loom Weavers' Association, and was for three at or four years confined to power loom weavers only. It Maccles- gradually increased its operations until it now practically field, embraces aU workers engaged in the manufacturing sections.

In 1917 its rules were revised, and registration ceased; like many other Societies it demanded freedom of action, which registration precluded.

The Designers became organised as a Trade in October, 1913, and eventually joined up to the National Silk Workers' Union as a separate Section. In September, 1919, the Designers, Card Cutters, Overlookers and Ware- housemen, formed what is termed an Administrative Section of the National Silk Workers' Union, holding separate meetings and having a separate Executive Com- mittee, but with one representative on the Executive of the National Silk Workers' Union.

The Dyers and Finishers of the town are all well organised, being members of the National Amalgamated Society of Dyers and Kindred Trades, whose headquarters are in Bradford.

Apart from afiiliations to the General Federation of Trades Unions, the connecting link of the different Silk Workers' Unions operating in Macclesfield is the National Association of Unions in the Textile Trade, whose head- quarters are also in Bradford.

The National Silk Workers' Union has never had any connection with the Hand Loom Weavers' Association.

A later development is the formation of the Joint Industrial Council for the Silk Trade, which Hnks up various sections of the Trade throughout the country on both the Workers and Employers sides.

518 SILK INDUSTRY.

The The other Trade Union claiming a considerable member-

leading ship amongst Macclesfield workers is the Amalgamated Women's Society of Women Workers, Throwers and Spinners, whose Union, headquarters are at Leek. To this body the bulk of the

hard silk hands belong.

There has also recently sprung up the Macclesfield Power

Loom Tacklers' Union, wMch has its own agreement with

the Employers' Association.

CHAPTER XL. The Smuggling Trade.

There is a false halo of romance around smuggling which masks the fact that it is mere law-breaking, and many have assigned the smuggler a higher place than he deserves. He hved by outwitting the revenue officer and bringing to groaning taxpayers the benefits of cheap silks, spirits, and tobacco, and might, therefore, from some points of view, be regarded as a pubhc benefactor. Regarded at close quarters his business was only sordid and linked with mean stratagems and violent actions. It was, how- ever, a soulless entity that he defrauded, and the fact that somewhere in the background honest traders and workmen may have been suffering from the effects of his wholesale depredations has too often been overlooked. That the smugglers' operations were an embarrassment alike to traders and to the rulers of the coimtry, and demoral- ising to those who took part in them, may be readily seen from an examination of the pubhc records.

The stuff of which the silk smuggler was made can be judged from an examination of the record of one band, the scourge of Kent. The Hawkhurst Gang, which was the Notorious name given to this notorious body of men, was tolerated Gangs by its decent neighbours untU its aggressions could be no in longer withstood. A declaration was signed expressing Kent, abhorrence of and determination to oppose its practice, and a young army officer named Sturt placed himself at the head of a troop of vigilantes — the Goudhurst Band of Mihtia. An action was fought in 1747 against the smugglers, led by Thomas Kingsmill, alias Staymaker, which cost three smugglers' lives and caused many wounds.

619

520 SILK INDUSTRY.

Notorious It was Kingsmill's fate to be executed two years later, Gangs with two companions, and his body was hung in chains, in Two others of his band were executed for housebreaking,

Kent. and two for horse-stealing, and of the rest some were lodged in Newgate. Furley's History of the Weald of Kent teUs their story, and that of seven Dorset smugglers con- demned at Chichester in 1749 for the murder of an Excise ofl&cer and of a shoemaker who had turned informer.

Perhaps because they were further from the capital the contraband traders of the south-western coast dealt less in silks than their south-eastern contemporaries. Yet if the lines of the Rev. W. Crowe, apostrophising Burton Cliff, Bridport, have any meaning, silks formed part of the iUicit cargo :

" Burton and thy lofty cliff where oft

The nightly blaze is kindled ; further seen

Than erst was that love-tended cresset, hung

Beside the Hellespont ; yet not hke that

Inviting to the hospitable arms

Of beauty and youth, but Ughted up, the sign

Of danger and of ambush' d foes to warn

The stealth-approaching vessel, homeward bound

From Havre or the Norman Isles, with freight

Of wines and hotter drinks, the trash of France

Forbidden merchandise "

The Dorset smugglers were " ever remarkable," Charles

Roberts wrote in his Social History of the Southern Counties,

" for their quiet manner of pursuing their illicit calling."

Instances of brutahty there manifestly had been, but

" never a series of violence and bloodshed such as has

disgraced so often the south-eastern coast." They did

not, however, lack courage or determination, for at Lyme

Dorset the " White Wigs " sheltered and refreshed themselves

Smug- in preparation for business in a seaward chamber not a

glers. hundred yards away from the former Custom House,

and it is written that while avoiding the use of superfluous

violence they would not allow themselves to be deprived

of their goods when their numbers were strong and those

of the revenue officers weak. They were the servants

of one Gulliver, who hved to a good old age and amassed

THE SMUGGLING TRADE. 521

a large fortune at the business. The band was forty or fifty strong, and its members wore a hvery of powdered hair and smock frocks, so acquiring their distinctive name.

Trade jealousies account for some allegations of smuggling made in past records, and Thomas Violet's address to the Parliamentary Committee for the Mint (1650) is manifestly not free from a spirit of jealousy. He wrote : " The Customs oflficers can tell you of the Effect disadvantage and ruin brought on by shopkeepers and on another sort of disorderly and unskilful traders called Shop- interlopers, made up of factors, clothworkers, packers keepers, and drawers, who are the importers of fine spices, silks both wrought and unwrought, fine linen and other fine commodities, made up in small parcels in purpose to be stolen on shore without paying Customs or Excise."

Whether the size of the package was controlled by the desire to defraud or by the limitations of trading in a small way may be a moot question. Violet is not an unprejudiced witness, but it may, indeed, have been that the smaller and spasmodic importers of the day gave more trouble to the Customs ofiicers than those whose affairs were more regular and in large bulk. Violet's evidence is tainted with jealousy, and in the case of Nicholas Kennard of Rye, prosecuted in 1650 for frauds upon the revenue, there hangs the suspicion of a smuggler's quarrel. The general character of the testimony offered in the records which have been preserved constitute, apart from questions of personal guilt, an engaging rehc of the period. The papers are conclusive at least in showing that the connection with smugghng was not limited to any one section of the seaward population in the counties nearest France.

The preamble of an Act of 1696-7 for the Further The Encouragement of the Manufacture of Lustrings and Royal Alamodes relates to the " subtU practices of evil disposed Lustring persons " guilty of importing foreign silks without paying Com- the " rates, customes, impositions and duties," and bears pany. directly on a matter of some historical importance :

" Whereas there are great Quantities of Alamodes and Lustrings consumed by His Majesties Subjects

522

SILK INDUSTRY.

The which till of late Yeares were imported from

Royal forreigne Parts, and thereby the Treasure of the

Lustring Nation much exhausted, but are now manufactured

Com- in England by the Royall Lustring Company

pany. to as greate Perfection as in any other Countrey,

whereby many Thousands may be imployed. And whereas Provision hath been made by diverse Laws for the Encouragement of the said Manu- facture and for preventing the Importation of such Forreign SiUis without paying the duties charged thereon which have been frequently eluded by the subtil practices of evil disposed Persons." Going further, the Act attests the existence at this time of a system that was to be continued and developed more highly later, for it menaced those who :

" Shall by way of Insurance or otherwise undertake

or agree to dehver . . . any such Goods or

Merchandize and every Person . . . who shall

agree to pay any Sum of Money Premium or

Reward for insuring or conveying any such goods

as shall knowingly receive or take the same into

.... House, Shopp or Warehouse."

An earUer Act (4th William and Mary) had laid a penalty

of £500 on the import of prohibited goods or goods brought

in without payment of duty. This further Act apphed

the same penalty to the insuring of smuggUng transactions

in silks and prescribed :

" For the more easie and certaine Recovery of the

same itt is hereby further enacted that it shall

and may be lawfuU for any person ... to sue

for or prosecute and to recover the said

Penalty."

A This provision was soon to have effects of great moment

notable to a number of silk merchants in London. Seven of

Prosecu- them, John Goudet, David Barreau, Peter LonguevUle,

tion. Stephen Seignoret, Rhene Baudouin, Nicholas Santiny,

Peter Dehearce and a solicitor, John Pierce, were indicted

in 1698 " for High Crimes and Misdemeanours." Importers

had been punished before for trespasses against the interests

of the Lustring Company, but not to such purpose as in this

THE SMUGGLING TRADE.

523

case in the unfolding of which an elaborate mesh of A duplicity was revealed. The conspirators were charged notable among other offences with contriving the ruin of the Prosecu- Lustring Company. It is certain iadeed that smugghng or tion. some other cause brought the Enghsh manufacture near to extinction, for of the 768 looms at work on alamodes and lustrings in 1695-6, less than fifty were working in 1698. There was a hint of a foreign plot in one item of evidence. A Mr. Hoffman, merchant of Lyons, who in 1694 offered alamodes for sale to Gabriel Tahourdin, was reported as saying that " for 100,000 crowns the patented company might be broke," and that he was sure the town of Lyons would willingly find the money. A Mr. Grubert, French merchant, " owned there was a contribution made by the French traders to secure them- selves in their practices of running French silks against the Company," and that he paid twenty guineas as his proportion to one Lambert, a goldsmith. Grubert's testimony points to a mutual insurance scheme rather than to an organised attempt to break the Company by subsidy.

The circumstances had another spice of interest arising lUicit from the collusion of subjects of the realm with the King's Trade enemies. John Brady, master of the 30-ton craft in Providence, held a passport from the King of France, French empowering him to bring over his vessel in ballast to Silks. Dieppe and Calais, and giving him liberty to go to Holland to load French silks. One Captain Joseph Sanders, who declared himself the employer of Brady, testified to receiving 5s. per lb. freight for silks and 6s. for laces. Brady carried for Goudet and Barreau, who were apparently the chief powers in the iUicit import of French silks from Rotterdam to England. The conspirators used a code for their written messages, in which " Gara^ce " meant alamodes. When they wrote " Carts " or " Calosches," boats was intended. " Geneva and Bruges " meant City of Lyons, " Ostend " stood for Calais, " Oxford " for London, and "Martin Francar," "Daniel Smith," and " John James White " were aU sjmonyms for Goudet and Co. The directions were sometimes more mysterious,

524

SILK INDUSTRY.

Illicit for the orders of Samuel BlundeU, of the Thomas and Trade Ellen, were to dehver his cargo of silks to " persons who in should set a white handkerchief upon a stick."

French A chief of this traflac in Holland was De la Motte, with

Silks. whom the witness Daniel Baudouin had hved two years.

De la Motte owned a dozen looms, and in two years sent nearly 400 pieces of his own manufacture to England, as weU as 25,000 pieces of French goods. The book- keeper told the witness the goods were for Seignoret, Baudouin, Goudet, Barailleau and LongueviUe. The cloths came from Lyons to HoUand via Antwerp and Lille, and Dutch seals were put upon the cloth in Rotterdam. Mr. Rape conducted a search of the houses in London in which French merchants lived, and in the lodgings of one Ravaud found a piece of French alamode under the bed, and a quantity of Lyons seals in a cupboard. In Peter Montbrun's house 47 pieces of French silk were discovered. At this time, Lyons had, according to Peter Lauze, 4,000 looms, each making ten or twelve pieces of alamode yearly. The statement was disputed by the prisoner Seignoret, who said there were not more than eight hundred.

Had the French goods been superior, but cheaper, the

competition would still have been a harassing one, but

it appears that they were inferior. " For proof of the

goodness of the Company's manufacture," some of its

goods were seized, by arrangement with the Government,

Superi- as though they had been French, and were sold side by

ority of side with French cloths at pubhc sale. Some of the

English Company's alamode fetched 7s. 9d. per ell, and none of

Silks. the French goods more than 7s. French and English cloths

were mixed to give another demonstration, and the Enghsh

ones were adjudged by arbiters to be worth 6d.-9d. an ell

more than the French. An account of the sale of Enghsh

goods at the Custom House in 1695 is given in the Report

of the Committee of the House of Commons, 1698. The

record of the first lot is quoted as an example of the

rest.

THE SMUGGLING TRADE.

525

AN ACCOtTNT OF A SALE OF FRENCH SILKS, BY INCH OF CANDLE, THE 17th of FEBRUARY, 1695-6, AT THE CUSTOMS HOUSE.

Lot 1.

Five pieces Narrow Allamode at 5s. 2d. per ell, to advance Id. each. bidding.

Weight. Ells. Workmen. lb. ozsi

62J James Plantier . . 3 4

No. 8428

No. 8099 Buyers. John Mire, No. 8177 6s. 2d.

No. 8162

No. 8092

65i

64J

Mark Mulers . . Jacob Aubry Samuel Clark

64J James Dargeut

3 3|

3 6i

3 6

3 5

Prices of the Lustring Company. I 2J per cent discount. 5s. per ell.

The trial ended in the fining of the eight principals no less a sum than £19,500, and pending its payment they were lodged in Newgate. The money was paid in the succeeding year, and applied by the special request of the House of Commons to the erection of the noble Hospital for Seamen at Greenwich, then in course of erec- tion after plans prepared by Sir Christopher Wren, The contribution wrung from the erring silk merchants, supple- mented by the proceeds of lotteries, the jdeld from malt tickets and royal and other subscriptions, was turned thus to a purpose of which the nation has ever been proud.

The royal subscription and the smugglers' fines are mentioned in the public archives. The Treasury papers contain a note signed by Evelyn, the diarist and treasurer of the Hospital, desiring William Lounds to " put their Lordships in mind of his Majesty's £2,000 due at Christmas, and the great arrear due to the workmen " employed on the building. The Royal reply noted on the document was terse, and betrayed signs of irritation :

" The King, when he gave intirely to ye hospitaU the

fines of ye smuglers was pleased to declare this

payment might not be made for the last year."

The law providing regulations for the disposal of seized

silks infringing the Lustriug Company's monopoly

prescribed the manner of their sale, and forbade their

retention in the home market. The clause read :

" That no Alamodes and Lustrings . . , that shaU be seized . . , shall be consumed or used in this Kingdome, but shall be exported againe and not sold otherwise on Condition to be exported, And for preventing their Consumption ia England the

Super- iority of English SUks.

The

Seamen's

Hospital,

526

SILK INDUSTRY.

Pro- same shall immediately on Seizure be carried to

tection the Custome House Warehouse in London, and

of those such as are forfeited shall be sold by Inch

English of Candle on Conditions to be exported. . . ."

Manu- The Royal Lustring Company, as instigators of the

facturers. Act, displayed at once their own foresight and their appreciation of the astuteness of the silk merchants by obtaining one more provision :

" And forasmuch as there is no Reason that any of his Majesties Subjects should have Lustrings and Alamodes att a cheaper rate than the Inhabitants of the Kingdome or that it should be more profitable to export forreigne Lustrings and Alamodes . . . than such as are made in this Kingdome .... That ... the Exporter shall not be intituled to receive Drawback or be repaid the Duties. . . . Any Law, Statute, Customs and Usage to the contrary notwith- standing." The exemplary punishment of the eight Frenchmen was not without deterrent effects, for in 1703 Henry Baker, Supervisor of Excise in Kent and Sussex, reported to his superiors :

" But for fine goods, as they caU them (viz., silks,

laces, &c.), I am well assured that the trade

goes on through both counties, though not in such

vast quantities as have been formerly brought in

— I mean in the days when (as a gentleman of

estate in one of the counties has within this

twelve months told me) he has been att once,

besides at other times, at the loading of a wagon

with silks, laces &;c., till six oxen could hardly

move it out of the place. I doe not think that

the trade is now so carried on as it was then."

Effects The sterner measures would seem to have gradually

of lost their effects, as in the year 1746 the Government of

Exem- the day made the crime of assembling " to the number of

plary three or more with fire-arms or other offensive weapons

Punish- to aid and assist in the illegal landing, running or carrying

ment. away of any prohibited goods" a felony punishable by

THE SMUGGLING TRADE. 527

death. While the high duties remained in force, smugghng, Effects and the degree of comphcity in smugghng indicated by of the purchasing of contraband goods, was not contrary Exem- to the moral sense of the time. The author of the Wealth plary of Nations saw that association in smugghng led to con- Punish- sequences deplorable enough, but his blame descended on ment. the system of which the smuggler was only a product. " To pretend," said Adam Smith, " to have any scruple about buying smuggled goods, though a manifest encourage- ment to the violation of the revenue laws and to the perjury which almost always attends it, would, in most countries, be regarded as one of those pedantic pieces of hypocrisy which, instead of gaining credit with any- body, seems only to expose the person who affects to practise them to the suspicion of being a greater knave than most of his neighbours. By this indulgence of the public, the smuggler is often encouraged to continue a trade, which he is thus taught to consider as, in some measure, innocent ; and when the severity of the revenue laws is ready to fall upon him, he is frequently disposed to defend with violence what he has been accustomed to regard as his just property ; and from being at first rather impudent than criminal, he, at last, too often becomes one of the most determined violators of the laws of society."

Kent and Sussex, Essex and Suffolk were the English counties concerned principally in contraband, and McCulloch, in his Dictionary of Commerce (1844), said that in the two first-named :

" The whole body of labourers may be said to be in combination with the smugglers ; and numbers of them are every now and then withdrawn from their usual employment to assist on their desperate adventures. Lawless, predatory and ferocious habits are thus widely diffused ; and thousands who, but for this moral contamination, would Adam have been sober and industrious, are trained to Smith despise and trample on the law, and to regard on the its functionaries as enemies whom it is meritorious Moral to waylay and assault." Aspect.

528

SILK INDUSTRY.

Smug- gling English Goods into France.

Contem- porary Records.

A report by Mr. ViUiers (later Lord Clarendon) and Dr. Bowring sheds light on the smuggUng of silk in the 19th century. French silks were conveyed into England without duty, and to an extent described by the Director- General of French Customs as vraiment ejfrayante. Enghsh goods were landed secretly in France. Enghsh bobbinet was a prohibited article, but the Director-General at a period circa 1830, estimated the imports at £400,000 a year, and said that bobbinet and other British articles were to be met with everywhere. The French inter- national trade was mainly over the land frontiers, but there was an appreciable sea-borne traffic. Owing to the numerous octrois the cost of smuggling into France was greater than into England, and to get goods through to Paris cost on the average 25 to 30 per cent. ViUiers and Bowring reported that — varying with the nature of the goods — 12 to 40 per cent was the commission paid in England. So highly developed was the business that smuggling agents attended regularly on 'Change, and security was given for the completion of the contracts made there.

" It is their constant practice," says the Report, " to deposit the value of the goods . confided to their care in a banker's acceptance, as a security for the owner."

McCulloch's opinion was that in about the year 1840 silks, gloves, ladies' shoes and similar articles were smuggled more extensively than spirits. French writers cited, but not named, in the Dictionary of Commerce, estimated the average exportation of silks from France to England between the years 1688-1741 at £500,000 yearly. The estimate may err on the side of liberahty, but after allowing for exaggeration it is clear that the trade was a considerable one.

A notice from the London papers of April, 1837, supports the supposition that the underground traffic in silk was expanding at that time :

" Notice has been issued by Mr. W. Stuckey, inspec- tor of silk of St. Botolph-lane, near the ' Customhouse, intimating that representations made to him inform him that there are a variety

THE SMUGGLING TRADE. 529

of persons in the metropolis who annually defraud Contem- the revenue of nearly £50,000 by the smuggling porary of foreign manufactured silks. A reward of Records. 35 'per cent is therefore offered to any person who shall be instrumental in the detection or the conveyance of such goods and likewise seizure ; with a further reward on the conviction of the _ parties according to the penalty inflicted." Additional evidence that the amount of smuggled silk was large is found in Mr. Huskisson's speech in the House of Commons in defence of the removal in 1826 of the absolute prohibition upon the import of foreign-wrought silks. He said :

" I have lately taken some pains to ascertain the quantity of smuggled silks that has been seized inland throughout the Kingdom during the last ten years ; and I find that the whole does not exceed £5,000 a year. I have endeavoured, on the other hand, to get an account of the quantity of silk goods actually smuggled into this country. Any estimate must be very vague ; but I have been given to understand that the value of such goods as are regularly entered at the Custom- houses of France, for exportation to this country, is from £100,000 to £150,000 a year; and this of course is exclusive of the far greater supply which is poured in throughout all the channels of smuggling without being subjected to any entry." " In fact, to such an extent is this illicit trade carried Parlia- that there is hardly a haberdasher's shop in the mentary smallest village of the United Kingdom in which Refer- prohibited silks are not sold ; and that in the ences. face of day and to a very considerable extent." Huskisson, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, had emphasised the reahty of the illicit sUk trade in a more dramatic fashion :

" Honourable members of this House are well aware that bandana handkerchiefs are prohibited by law, and yet " — he said, drawing one from his

3%

530

SILK INDUSTRY.

Parlia- own pocket with a flourish — " I have no doubt

mentary there is hardly a gentleman here who has not

Refer- got a bandana handkerchief."

ences. Thus there is justification for McCulloch's contention that :

" The vigilance of the Custom house officer was no match for the ingenuity of the smuggler. At the very moment when the most strenuous efforts were made to exclude them, the silks of France and Hindostan were openly displayed in the drawing-room of St. James's and in the House of Commons in mockery of the impotent legislation that, sought to exclude them." The silk goods conveyed privily by night into this country were not at all times of foreign manufacture. Such were the pecuhar circumstances created by the tariff change in 1825 that it became more profitable to circulate certain British-made silks through the smuggling agents than by direct sale in the home market. The goods were sold out of the country for the express purpose of being smuggled back after a Customs drawback had been received upon them. When the statutory monopoly was removed and replaced by duties on manufactures of 25 or 30 fer cent, taxes were stiU imposed upon the raw materials from which silk was woven in this country. In order to rid manufacturers of an impediment to their foreign trade, it was provided that on exporting sUk goods they should be entitled to draw back from the Custom-house the duty paid on an equivalent weight of Itahan thrown silk exported. The exporter had to produce a receipt or " debenture " showing that Itahan silk had been imported, and these debenture certificates passed from hand to hand. They were bought by sellers of wretchedly inferior qualities of silks. It was nothing to the Customs that the goods exported contained no Smug- thrown silk — Itahan or other — but were made solely gling with a view to reaping the bounty. If the cloths presented

British for export appeared to be worth more than the 14s. a Silks pound specified in the regulations, and if it were shown

into that some one had indeed paid duty on Itahan thrown

England. sUk, the debenture had to be honoured.

THE SMUGGLING TRADE.

531

From his place in the House of Commons, Mr. Huskisson dealt trenchantly with the facts as to this branch of trade :

" I believe it is universally known,"^ he said, " that Ban- a large quantity of bandana handkerchiefs are dana sold every year for exportation by the East India Hand- Company. But does any gentleman suppose that kerchief these bandanas are sent to the Continent for the Frauds, purpose of remaining there ? No such thing ! They are sold at the Company's sales to the number of about 800,000 to 1,000,000 a year at about 48. each ; they are immediately shipped off for Hamburg, Antwerp, Rotterdam, Ostend or Guernsey, and from thence they nearly all illicitly find their way back into this country." The importer of the thrown sUk on which the refund was obtained sold his privileges, and may with the proceeds have cheapened the articles into which the material entered. So much has to be allowed in considering the distortion of the purpose for which the drawback was provided. It may not have mattered to Parliament whether the original Itahan thrown silk or some other was exported, and the Enghsh throwster may or may not have had cause of complaint against a system tampering with the margin of Protection granted to him, but it was clear that Parhament could not countenance indefinitely a system which resulted on the one hand in cheating the revenue and on the other in despoiling the consumer.

" These bandanas," Mr. Huskisson pointed out, " which had previously been sold for exportation at 4s., are finally distributed by the retail trade at about 8s. each."

Debentures could be bought at first for a penny or two- pence a pound, although later the price rose to nearly three shillings. Certainly in the beginning the trade would seem to have offered extraordinary opportunities of profit to middlemen. A drawback of 3s. 6d. was collected on a 4s. article, and the remaining sixpence of cost, swelled somewhat by the cost of the debenture. Large double sea-freight and inland charges, resulted ultimately Profits in a realisation of 8s. at the drapery counter. Realised.

532 SILK INDUSTRY.

End of Organised smuggling ended only when the inducement

Organ- to smuggle was removed by a reduction of duty to a

ised level at which the evasion no longer paid. So long as

Smug- the duty on woven silks stood at 30 fer cent, and men

ghng. could be found to undertake the evasion of duty in return

for a commission of 12J to 15 fer cent, the business

flourished. On the one hand, the revenue lost a large

part of its due and on the other was put to an extravagant

outlay in its preventive services.

In 1825, when a House of Commons return was made of the value of goods seized by the preventive ofl&cers, it was shewn that the 900,000^6*. of tobacco, the 135,000 gallons of brandy, the 42,000 yards of silk and 2,100 pieces of India handkerchiefs rescued from smuggling hands reaMsed on sale some £282,400. The upkeep of the preventive service exceeded £2,000,000 in the same year. The credit of the smugglers was lowered as soon as the duties were changed by Peel. The induce- ment and the glamour departed together, and the Commissioners of Customs reporting on the change said : " With the reduction of duties and the removal of all needless and vexatious restrictions, smugghng has greatly diminished, and the public sentiment in regard to it has undergone a very considerable change. The smuggler is no longer an object of general sympathy, as a hero of romance ; and people are beginning to awaken to a perception of the fact that his offence is not only a fraud upon the revenue, but a robbery of the fair trader." Smug- Peel's Commutation Law, reducing the duties to a

gling in level which destroyed the economic basis of the Scotland, professional smuggler's trade, rankled in the minds of the smuggling population. The " Burning and Starving Act " was the name found for it by smugglers in Dumfrieshire and GaUoway, of whose operations some account is given in an Additional Note to the novel Guy Mannering. History and fiction are blended together in Sir Walter Scott's portrayal of Dick Hatteraick in that book. History in the shape of the Additional Note says : " The prototype of Dick Hatteraick is considered as having been a Dutch skipper named Yawkins , . . sole proprietor and master

THE SMUGGLING TRADE. 533

of a smuggling lugger called the Black Prince." Yawkins Smug- and colleagues had as their principal articles of unhallowed gling in commerce spirits and tea ; although Hatteraick, in the Scotland, novel, drew no hard and fast line as to the nature of his commodities. His men wore silk handkerchiefs, and it would be unwarrantable to assume that ever they paid duty on them. Juha Mannering's description of the fight at Hazlewood shows the band " stripped to their shirts and trousers, with silk handkerchiefs knotted about their heads and all well armed with carbiues, pistols and cutlasses." Hatteraick was a " gude sort of blackguard fellow — smuggler when his guns are in ballast — ^privateer, or pirate faith, when he gets them mounted."

The Scottish traffic went by the names equally of the " fair trade " and " the free trade," and Scott's exciseman friend, Joseph Train, testified to seeing frequently upwards of two hundred men assemble at one time on the Galloway coast and go off into the interior of the country, fully laden with contraband.

It will be of interest to deal briefly with the British customs regulations as to silk imports,

SUk manufactures were not to be imported ia any British vessel under 70 tons burden, except by licence. . . . Customs

SUk goods, the manufacture of Europe, are not to be Regula- imported except into the port of London or the port of tions. Dublin direct from Bordeaux, or the port of Dover direct from Calais (3 and 4 William IV).

When the shoot or the warp only is of sUk, the article is to be considered as composed of not more than one-half part of silk, and subject to the ad valorem duty of 30 fer cent ; but if the shoot or the warp be entirely of silk, and a portion of the other be of sUk also, the article is to be considered to be composed of more than one-half part of sUk, and subject to the rated duties at per lb., or to the ad valorem duties at the option of the officers. (Minutes, Commission of Customs, 14th August, 1829.) But in aU cases where the duties charged by weight upon mixed articles would manifestly exceed 30 per cent, by reason of the weight of wool or other ingredient thereof besides silk, the article is to be admitted to entry at value. (Minute, 19 December, 1831.)

BOOK FOUR.

CHAPTER XLI. Royal Patronage,

Refer- Silk has been identified with great ceremonial from

ences in time out of mind, and if we accept the view that the Chaucer. Samite of Early Enghsh was a silken fabric, as it well may have been, there is allusion to it in very ancient records, or royal marriages, burials and progresses. To actual silk there is reference in the Morte d' Arthur in the lines —

" The King hyme selfen sette Under a sylure of sylke." In Chaucer's days, too, it was known, as witness : " Of donne of pure dove's white I wd yeve him a fether bad, Rayed with gold and right sell died, In firm black satin d' outre mes, And many a pillow and every vere Of cloth of Raines to sleep on soft." But in the history of silk nothing is more striking than the frequency with which royal effort has been made to promote its culture and to encourage the industry. Kings and Governments and Chartered Companies have not only abroad, but in this country, given it a direct support that they have accorded to no other branch of commerce.

In medieval days there were sumptuary laws which limited the wearing of silk to the great only, not so much as is often supposed, to prevent undue extravagance, as to fix the position and calling of the wearers plainly before others. Thus the Act of 1464 ordained that " None

634

ROYAL PATRONAGE.

535

of the Garters or their wives should be allowed to wear purple or any manner of cloth gold, velvet or sable furs under a penalty of 20 marks. That none below Knights, Bachelors, Mayors and Aldermen and their wives should wear satin or ermine under a penalty of 10 marks." Gradually these restrictions ceased to be observed. After the Wars of the Roses, great prosperity dawned for aU classes. The rich silks and satins, hitherto reserved for Use of the use of the great ones of the land, were more generally Silk for worn and the importance attached to such costly fabrics Corona- in connection with Coronations received emphatic testi- tions. mony in various directions. It was under Henry VI that silk was first manufactured in England.

The Library of Westminster Abbey possesses no greater treasure than its manuscript of Liber Regalis, which may weU have been the actual copy used by Richard II at his crowning.

In this, which to this day guides the Order of the Sacring of our Kings in minute details, there is exphcit reference to the use of silk, as in the direction that " a lofty seat shall be prepared in the royal haU and be suitably adorned with silken cloths of gold on which the King that is to reign is to be raised with all gentleness and reverence " ; the clergy are to go " in silken copes with textus censers and the other things suitable to the procession " ; the three swords are to be borne by " three earls clothed in silk " ; the canopy held during the Anointing is to be a " square cloth of purple silk carried on four silvered lances," and the King himself is to wear a silken tunic and shirt.

Some light, too, is thrown on the quantities of silk A required at a Tudor Coronation by the document from Record the Lord Chamberlain's Series I, preserved at the Pubhc of Record Office, detailing the " Emption and Provisions Henry of Stuff " for the Sacring of Henry VII. The patronage VII. was wisely distributed, and the " iyne blue cloths," " the russet clothe for the King's Confessors," " the rede worstedde," and " the rishe clothe of gold tisshue of purpull grounde for a longe gowne for ye King " were bought from diverse good citizens described sometimes as " +--"-— "

trillours

536 SILK INDUSTRY.

A or drapers. But presently there is the whole account

Record due to " Cecyly Walcot, Silk woman," who supplied

of 25 ounces and three-quarters of " Riban of damask gold,"

Henry " Riban of Venys gold" for the King's gloves, and a

VII. quantity of other gold laces and ornaments. Another

" sUk woman," Kateryn Walshe, received a very similar

order, and at the end is the amount due to " George the

Kinge's TaiUour," who among many other things made

up a " longe manteUe with a trayne of crimson saten

furred with menever, at a cost of twenty shillings,"

" a longe gowne of purpuU velvet furred with ermyns,"

" a cote of crimson satyn lined with white fustian," " a

doublet of crymson satyn," and " two dalmatics, one of

crymson satyn and one of white sarsinet."

The Holbein portraits of Henry VIII leave no doubt as to his admiration of velvet trimmed with fur, but it is recorded that his hose were actually of cloth unless by chance someone brought him a pair of sUk stockings from Spain, Gascoigne, the poet, who accompanied Elizabeth's suite on her visit to the Earl of Leicester, and wrote of " I'he Princelye pleasures at the Court of Kenilworth," makes a reference to knitted silk stockings and Spanish leather shoes as the greatest ornaments of dress, and certainly Sir Thomas Gresham, wishing to make a valuable offering to Edward VI, could find nothing more desirable than a pair of sUk stockings.

Elizabeth's overwhelming vanity expressed itself of course in the most magnificent silks and velvets thait the looms of the Continent could supply, and her SUk-woman, Queen Mrs. Montague, delighted her with the gift of a pair of Elizabeth silk stockings. In industrial history, there is perhaps no and story better known than the Queen's chilling attitude

WiUiam towards WiUiam Lee, the inventor of the mechanism for Lee. frame-work knitting.

Hand-knitting in these days had become an almost universal art, though in this country it was rarely applied to silk. Lee's first productions were made of stout woollen yarn, and when Lord Hunsdon, who had held an important command in the military force raised at the time of the Armada, induced her Majesty to come to Bunhill Fields

ROYAL PATRONAGE.

537

to see the inventor at work, she showed little admiration Queen

for the finished product. Lord Hunsdon, however, Elizabeth

believed much in the invention, and later begged that a and

patent or monopoly might be granted to Lee. The reply Wilham

is interesting, and indicates how this imperious woman Lee. might have expressed herself in regard to the modern Trust :

" My Lord," she wrote to Hunsdon, " I have the much love for my poor people who obtain their bread by the employment of knitting to give any money to forward an invention that would tend to their ruin by depriving them of employment and thus make them beggars. Had Mr. Lee made a machine that would make silk stockings, I should, I think, have been somewhat justified in granting him a patent for that monopoly, which would have appealed only to a small number of my subjects, but to enjoy the exclusive right of making stockings for the whole of my subjects is too important to be granted to any individual." Lee worked at his mechanism, and by 1598 was able to make sUk hose of so good a texture that when he presented a pair to the Queen, she was able to congratulate him upon their elasticity and even- ness, though she did not do much to advance his efforts, and the inventor's hopes for better things under James I, his disappointments, and his unfortunate experiences and death in France belong to that chapter that tells the story of unrewarded genius.

J^jmes I, who by the way had borrowed in Edinburgh from the Earl of Mar a pair of silk hose in which to make his appearance in England, saying, " You wd. not have your King appear like a scrub before strangers," deserves a leading position among the English sovereigns James I who have fostered and assisted the silk industry. On assists the site on which Buckingham Palace now stands he had the his own Mulberry Gardens to the extent of four acres, Industry", and he had ideas of following the example in this direction to Henry IV of France. At Theobald's, his favourite country seat in Essex, he also maintained a silk rearing centre, and there exists yet the warrant to pay one Jennings, " Keeper of the Garden at Theobald's, £50 for

538 SILK INDUSTRY.

James I making a place for the silk worms and for providing

assists mulberry leaves." It would seem, too, that he hked to

the watch and observe the habits of the worms, as a request

Industry, for three months' expenses on the part of one of his grooms

of the chamber, Richard de Lacairlle, was duly accorded,

and that these were incurred " whilst travelling about

with the King's silk worms whithersoever his Majestic

went."

Beyond this, too, James made a really serious effort

to popularize sericulture, and as early in his reign as 1607

he granted a licence to WiUiam Stallinge to print a book

for general circulation of instructions as to mulberry

planting and culture, the breeding of silk worms and the

reeling of silk. Moreover, his Majesty addressed the

deputy heutenants of the counties and other landowners

as to their duty in regard to the planting of mulberries,

with the further practical information that 10,000 mulberry

trees were available at the rate of 6s. a hundred, while

among the State Papers at the Public Record Ofl&ce

is still preserved the Diary of Francis de Verton, who

travelled over the Midlands and Eastern Counties, covering

something hke 1,100 miles to distribute no fewer than

100,000 trees.

Encour- By 1611 StaUinge had 9 lbs. of silk spun, and he received

agement the sum of £258, disbursed by him in various directions

of Seri- in the effort. Meantime, Thoresby, the diarist, has a

culture, reference to the length of satin that he saw woven for the

Princess of Wales from Enghsh reared silk.

The annals of James's reign abound, indeed, with allusions to the King's desire that silk should be pure and well dyed. Adulteration was obviously practised in spite of sharp enactments and the threat of heavy fines, until in a charge preferred against a certain partnership the comment occurs "there never was worse sUk made than by these persons." The King's efforts were not successful in creating an English industry in the growth of silk, but his policy was watched with great interest on the Continent, and brought in large numbers of throwsters, weavers and dyers, who settled in London, and whose demands stimulated the efforts of the early East Indian

HOYAL PATRONAGE.

539

Companies to bring in the "goods rawe sUk," to which such frequent reference occurs. James, however, through- out his reign, believed in sericulture, and it is quite characteristic that towards its close he caused a letter to be addressed to the Treasurer, deputy and others of the Virginian Company, recommending them to pay attention to the bree(hng of silk worms in preference to the cultivation of tobacco.

In the troublous reign of Charles I, when the Cavaliers wore velvets, brocades and lace, there appears to have been little attention paid to the home industry, and the State Papers make Uttle reference to it save to record an occasional effort to evade the payment of duty. With the Puritans, silk was of course a mere worldly vanity, and the falluig off in the demand for it was quickly reflected in diminished imports from India and elsewhere. Beauty and colour were under a cloud when dress and surroundings were of sombre severity. The Restoration brought about a revival, but the adulteration begun under James I was not forgotten, and unscrupulous weavers used weighting and bad dye to such an extent that a BUI was promoted in Parhament by the honest manufacturers to enable them to deal with frauds which were hopelessly discrediting English silk. Delays arose in connection with the Bill, and ultimately relying on the sympathy of the King, manufacturers resolved to petition him direct. That his reception of their pleas was gracious may be assumed, for a few years later a BiU went through with the express object of encouraging silk manufacture in this country.

Two other events, moreover, show that the Kiag was really interested in the industry, for an effort was made in Barbadoes — one of our oldest Crown Colonies — to establish silk rearing, and in 1668 a small deputation arrived on the Cornish coast bearing the first four hundred- weight of sUk raised there as a gift to the King. The second event was that the King, whose interest in science and progress is perpetuated in the Royal Society, was the first to grant a patent for the use of waste silk. This was apphed for by one Edmund Blood, of Blackfriars, entitled to describe himself as "Merchant to the King,"

Encour- agement of Seri- culture.

Work of

Charles

II.

540

SILK iNDtJSTRY.

Work of who set forth how he " had invented a manufacture as Charles to making a rich and profitable stuff — a silk shag, com- II. modious for garments of silk waste, which was never

before known to be useful in this Kingdome except for stuffing quilts or sold into HoUand or Germany at 6d. or 8d. a lb." On the certificate of five worthy citizens in trade as mercers that they had never before met with a fabric like it, the Attorney General commended the apphcation to the King, and it would be interesting if it could be traced to know how the claim of the inventor was justified.

Both WiUiam and Mary showed a considerable interest

in sUk manufacture, and received a petition from a number

of throwers, " who had brought to practice a certain useful

and cheap way by engines of winding the finest raw silk

which was formerly brought ready wound, spun and

twisted from Italy." They asked for a Charter of

Incorporation, and, at the Royal command, the Solicitor

General made enquiry as to how far it might be advisable

to accord it. That he went about his task sympathetically

and conscientiously is shown from his report preserved

among the State Papers of the reign. " I do not see,"

he said, " but that such a Charter as is desired will be

good in point of law, if it shall be your Majesty's pleasure

to grant it, but that which seems to require the chief

consideration is how far it will be convenient and for

the public good. Of the subject matter of the petitioners

relating to the silk manufacture, wherein great numbers

of your Majesty's subjects are employed, I have

endeavoured to inform myself, touching the facts alleged

in the petition and also what influence it might have

upon the employment and business of your Majesty's

subjects, concerned in the winding, spinning and weaving

of sUk in case you should be graciously inclined to gratify

The the petitioners. To this end I have discovered several

Company throwsters and others concerned in the making of sUk,

for who acknowledge it to be true that the finest sort of sUk

Winding is not wound in England, that a great deal of it being used

Fine here is imported ready wound, and also that that sort

Silk. of silk can be wound in no other way than by the engines

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 541

mentioned in the petition. TKey also say that if the The winding of fine sUk in great quantities was carried on ia Company England, the throwsters wiU have the same at cheaper for rates, and many of your poor subjects will be employed in Winding the spinning and twisting of the sUk as wound here." Fine The King and Queen decided, therefore, to accede to the Silk, request, and thus came into existence the Company for Winding Fine SUk."

During 1693 King WilHam was conducting the cam- paign in Flanders Landen. Queen Mary administered home affairs alone, and among other matters to which she directed her attention was the condition of the sUk weavers. She instructed the Earl of Nottingham to ascertain on her behalf with all possible dispatch what quantity of fine silk there was at the time in England, in the manufacture of which the poor were usually employed, and for how long the supplies would last them at the ordinary rates of consumption. There was good reason for the enquiry for the year as far as the imports from India were concerned had been a bad one, and was one of three at the close of the 18th century in which the East India Company had to record a loss in this com- modity.

Under Queen Anne, there was a foreshadowing of modern " dumping " methods both from Lyons and from Holland, then rather famed for plain black silks as " rez de gennes," " Peau de soys," and " black mantua," but of direct Royal intervention on behalf of the industry there is httle sign. The same was the case under the Georges, and even Fanny Burney's intimate revelations as to the dresses and jewels of Queen Charlotte and her daughters do not throw much Kght as to how" far they encouraged Spitalfields and the home products.

Coming to George IV, however, and his gorgeous George Coronation, we find a direct patronage of the industry. IV. Not only did it furnish a hberal share of the velvets and satins of royal mantles and Garter robes, but it was Spitalfields that produced the splendid Palhum that we have again recently had the opportunity of seeing. After more than ninety years its soft and supple cloth of

542 SILK INDUSTRY.

gold came out as brilliant and untarnished as when it was first worn. Brocaded into it in exquisite colouring was the Rose, the Shamrock, the Thistle and the Eagle of Sovereignty. It was a triumph of the weaver's craft, and aU who saw it closely realised how far English skill had advanced in this direction. The Queen Victoria also had her Pallium made in

Victorian Spitalfields, and this was also a brocaded cloth of gold. Era. Throughout her long reign, Queen Victoria was a very

consistent supporter of the Enghsh silk industry in that she gave warrants to weU-known firms to supply her with the fabrics she required. Poplin also was much liked by her, and a well known Irish firm used to provide her annually with considerable quantities. The reign of Queen Victoria witnessed, however, the heaviest blow ever inflicted on the home industry in the abohtion of the duty on manufactured sOks. The " black decades " from 1860 to 1890 saw factory after factory closed down, and skilled craftsmen either in penury or turning to some other trade.

The modem revival of Enghsh silks, which is an

estabhshed fact, and is recognised by the artistic sense

of Europe and America, is due more than to any to our

present gracious Queen Mary and her beloved mother,

Influence the Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Perhaps

of it would be more strictly accurate to put the latter name

Duchess first, for it is not saying too much to state that her Majesty

of Teck. had from her mother the education which has enabled

her in her exalted position to bestow an encouragement

so wise, so discriminating and so appreciative of the vast

commercial interests involved that the industry stands

to-day in a position infinitely stronger than it has had

since the duty on foreign manufactured silks was abolished.

In the early 'eighties of the last century, taste in dress and domestic surroundings was very low indeed. The much ridiculed " aesthetic " cult had not shed its eccentricities and excrescences, though there were signs of revolt against the stodgy utilitarianism — the rosewood and reps-^of the 'sixties. And the silk industry had fallen very low indeed. The Duchess of Teck, patriotic to her

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 543

finger tips, and a firm upholder of every British. Influence institution, was one of the first to reahse that a great of source of employment and prosperity was fast dying out, Duchess and indeed was almost on the verge of extinction. Her of Teck. circle of friends was wide, and touched fife at many points, and she viewed with much satisfaction an effort made by the Hon. Mrs. Percy Mitford, to bring about a fashion- able demand for Enghsh silk fabrics in 1882. It was about this time that a number of ladies had combined, not wholly unsuccessfully, to draw attention to the merits of British wooUen materials, and it was believed that what had been done in that connection might also be tried in regard to silk. Thus in 1882, a httle effort was launched, but it had scant effect, in spite of influential approval, for dressmakers could not be induced to move out of their usual grooves of purchase.

The Manchester Exhibition of Queen Victoria's Jubilee year marked a slight movement towards better things. More exhibits were shown in the Enghsh silk section than had been anticipated, and it was beginning to be recognised that a whole new field of enterprise was opening up in connection with tussore and wild silks. Among other members of the Royal Family to visit the Exhibition, which enjoyed the honour of inauguration by Queen Victoria, was the Duchess of Teck, and she permitted it to be announced that she should do aU in her power to bring about a fashionable and general demand for the silks woven on Enghsh looms. A direct outcome of this Estab- exhibition was the estabhshment of the Silk Association lishment of Great Britain and Ireland, uniting the leading manu- of Silk facturers of the Kingdom for their mutual advantage, Associa- and destined to become the important organisation tion, of the industry. At the outset, however, it was not very clear how this body could come into any effective touch with those it was most important to influence, namely the fashionable ladies and their dressmakers. A Ladies' Committee was therefore suggested, and was duly formed, including Lady Egerton in the chair, the Duchess of Abercorn, the late Countess Spencer, the Countess of WharncliflEe, the late Countess of Lathom,

544

SILK INDUSTRY.

Royal Lady Arthur Hill, the late Baroness Burdett Coutts, President Lady Rothschild, Lady Wantage, the late Lady Knutsford, of Ladies' and the Hon. Mrs. Mitford. The Duchess accepted the Com- presidency, Lady Egerton of Tatton taking upon her the mittee. Honorary Secretary's duties.

By 1890 the scheme was in working order, and the Duchess herself drew up and signed the first report. In the course of this, she said : " We consider that the time has come to invite the attention of the ladies of England to the revival of this ancient industry. In order to do this, the Committee proposes to form a ' Ladies' Silk Association ' on an extended scale. Its numbers wiU not be pledged to the exclusive purchase of English made sUks, but they will be asked to interest themselves and their friends in this British industry and to make enquiry for and inspect English silks before deciding to purchase those of foreign origin,"

The next step was to organise the first Exhibition of

EngKsh silks ever held, apart, of course, from displays

made at large general exhibitions. It took place at the

house of Lord and Lady Egerton of Tatton, and was

surprisingly good considering how slight had been the

encouragement previously given to manufacturers to devote

themselves to fine designs and the best craftsmanship.

The movement grew, and before many months were over

something hke 800 ladies had enrolled themselves as

supporters. It was an undertaking into which the

Duchess of Teck threw her heart and soul, and early in

1893 she decided to make a tour of inspection of the chief

centres of silk weaving to include Macclesfield, Leek and

Bradford. She commenced it, however, at Spitalfields,

at the old works in Hollybush Gardens of Messrs. Warner.

Now that things can be seen in their true perspective,

it is not too much to say that this visit was a turning

point in the development of silk manufacture in this

First country. Accompanying her Royal Highness was

Exhibi- Princess Mary, and by her command her usual dressmaker

tion of was also present. No detail of the work of weaving was

English passed over by her ; even the processes of " rea^ng "

Silks. the design of a sumptuous brocade and transferring it

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 545

to the perforated cards, which are so hopelessly bewildering Royal to the uninitiated, she grasped in all details. With some President of the bolder designs then apphed chiefly to curtains and of wall hangings she foreshadowed the modes that have Ladies' since become fashionable, reahsing that they would be superb Com- for Court trains and evening cloaks. She inspected lengths mittee. on the looms, and more than once made a singularly happy suggestion as to a change in the colouring. To the men at work at the looms she addressed the Mndest words of encouragement, and she left amid the ringing cheers of those who vaguely hoped for the coming of better times.

On May 3, 1893, the nation received with the profoundest dehght the news of the engagement of Princess May to the Duke of York. Then it was that the first proof of the importance of the visit of the Royal ladies to Spital- fields was made plain. For both the Duchess and her daughter decided that every item of the trousseau should Wedding be of English manufacture. To Messrs. Warner came Dress of the honour of providing the wedding dress, and for so Queen historic an occasion as the marriage of the future Queen of Mary. Great Britain no effort was too great to produce something splendid and distinctive. The ground was of white satin, thick and rich, yet soft and susceptible of taking graceful folds. The design introduced the Tudor rose, in that form heraldically adopted since the wedding of Henry VII. with Elizabeth, daughter of Edward IV, united the erst-wMle rivals of Lancaster and York, and with it were clusters of May, symbohc of the name by which the royal bride was affectionately known. Linking these were silver ribbons brocaded into the fabric and tied at intervals with true-lovers' knots. The beauty of the design and the weaving were the fullest vindication of the merits of English sUk, and those who saw it, as some were privileged to do before it left the dressmaker's, or upon the fair and gracious wearer at the beautiful marriage ceremony, reaUsed that it was to have far-reaching industrial effects.

The ceremony was indeed a triumph for English silk weavers, for in deference to the known wishes of the bride, the ten young Princesses who accompanied her as

546

SILK INDUSTRY.

Wedding

Dress

of

Queen

Mary.

Work of Duchess of Teck.

bridesmaids were aU dressed in English made silk and lace. According to a long-established tradition of the Royal House, its brides wear white for their "going away " dress, and it was a rich cream silk, also made in Spitalfields, sumptuously embroidered in gold, that the newly wedded Duchess assumed when she drove with the Duke from Buckingham Palace to Liverpool Street Station, amid the enthusiastic demonstrations of the thousands who had turned out to testify to the popularity of both bride and bridegroom. In the trousseau were several dresses for day and evening wear of rich brocades, and the hghter fancy silks, as weU as some in Irish poplin.

After her daughter's marriage, the Duchess of Teck continued her active campaign to arouse interest in the revival of silk. She visited Stafford to open an exhibition there of silks, and both at Leek and Macclesfield made short speeches expressive of her intention to do aU in her power to encourage the movement. Moreover, it was largely due to her advice that the technical schools of silk weaving in the chief centres of the industry have paid the fullest attention to design, which was a primary necessity in competition with the products of foreign looms. As Duchess of York, her present Majesty continued to manifest a practical interest in the revival, and no one rejoiced more sincerely than she did, as it became evident that the industry was once more becoming vitalised. It fell to her Royal Highness to be able to commend it to the daughter nations over seas, for when the great tour that the Duke and Duchess undertook in 1901 through the Dominions and Colonies was under consideration, she again gave orders that aU her dresses should be of British manufacture. The death of Queen Victoria occurred, as win always be sorrowfully remembered, only two months before the Duke and Duchess were to have started, and for a week or two it was uncertain whether the great progress would be carried through. But King Edward understood how widespread would be the disappointment everywhere, if plans were changed, while the underlying idea of the tour had never been that of mere pleasure or sightseeing. There were high Imperial duties to be fulfilled throughout,

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 547

and it was therefore appropriate even that they should be performed at the outset of the new reign. One thing, however, was a matter of some difficulty, and that was to prepare an adequate outfit in deepest mourning for the Duchess in the limited time available. It was done, nevertheless, and never were dresses in black silks and satins, crepes de chine and wonderful gauzes more beautiful or varied as to design, whUe everywhere that they were worn they constituted an unsurpassable demonstration of what English manufacturers could achieve.

Then came King Edward's Coronation. Two generations Corona- — ^sixty-two years to be exact — ^had passed since the tion of British people had witnessed a ceremony so august, or so King deeply charged with rehgious significance, and there was Edward a search into all precedents and records, for there were VII. hardly any whose memory could be rehed upon as to the details observed in 1837. Queen Alexandra was asked to give encouragement to the English silk weaving industry, and she expressed the hope that ladies attending the Coronation would wear English woven silks and velvets, a wish that naturally carried great weight.

King Edward's patronage of English skill in this direction was very marked. One of the most important of the ceremonial vestments that the Sovereign assumes in the course of the Sacring is the Pallium or Imperial mantle. It is placed over his shoulders by the Dean of Westminster, and clasped by the Lord Great Chamberlain. As soon as the King is seated again, the Archbishop of Canterbury delivers the Orb with his hands and pronounces this exhortation : — " Receive this Imperial Robe and Orb, and the Lord your God endue you with knowledge and wisdom, with majesty and power from on high ; the Lord clothe you with the Robe of Righteousness and with the Garments of Salvation. And when you see this Orb set under the Cross remember that the whole world is subject to the Power and Empire of Christ our Redeemer."

Custom immemorial has ordained that this Pallium The should be of cloth of gold. Other Sovereigns before Pallium King Edward have had the National Emblems interwoven of Cloth as a brocaded figuring into the fabric itself. His late of Gold.

548

SILK INDUSTRY.

The Majesty, with that kindly thoughtfuhiess that was bo

Palhum characteristic of him, desired that the ladies of the Royal of Cloth School of Art Needlework should have a part in the of Gold, preparation of this vestment by embroidering upon it the symbohc devices, and it was to Messrs. Warner, of Braintree, that the task of producing the most perfect ground possible in plain cloth of gold was entrusted. It was not an easy task ; there were technical difficulties over it that the uninitiated would not reahse. A flat smooth surface would have been wanting in light and relief, but at last, after patient experiment, the problem was solved by using for the weft a twist composed of one round and two flat strands of gold thread of infinitesimal fineness. The gold was the purest that could possibly be used, and contained even less proportion of aUoy than the sovereign or half-sovereign. For the weft, the finest gold-coloured silk was used, and the result was a truly magnificent fabric which carried the lovely embroideries of the Rose, Shamrock, Thistle and Eagle, as well as the Lotus for India which was employed emblematically for the first time upon the robe of a monarch who was Kaiser- i-Hind as weU as King of England.

Again, the Princess of Wales wore an Enghsh woven

dress — a lovely satin of creamy tint, and worked iu a

design of leaves and berries in gold of three shades, with

her train of violet velvet made at Sudbury. Others of the

Princesses had followed her example, and never in modern

times had these looms been so busy as in turning out the

purple velvet of royal wear, or that in rich crimson for

the robes of the peers and peeresses. King Edward's

reign saw further advances towards the real renaissance

Encou- of the industry, and again the Princess of Wales, upon

ragement her Indian tour in 1905, gave to sUks of Enghsh make

of Indian the foremost place in her outfit, including some of the

Industry, fine washing types. Nor must the encouragement of

Queen Alexandra and her present Majesty to the effort

to establish sUk weaving in Kashmir be forgotten. The

raw silk had been woven in England for the Maharajah of

Kashmir, and Sir Thomas Wardle suggested that they

should be shown to Queen Alexandra. The Maharajah,

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 549

tlirough the India OJOfice, asked if her Majesty and her Royal Highness would accept lengths of them in the form of beautiful black brocades, and both royal ladies received Sir Thomas Wardle as their bearer, and expressed much admiration of the quahty and texture of the woven silk.

After the country had somewhat recovered from its crushing blow in the unexpectedly sudden death of King Edward, and it became possible to think again of the solemnities of the Coronation, their present Majesties The gave early consideration to the welfare of the industry in Corona- connection with it. The Royal Robe Makers were tion of instructed that the long velvet mantle that would be King borne by eight pages was to be of English velvet, but George V. for a time there was some uncertainty as to the Pallium with which his Majesty would be invested. Eventually the King decided to use the magnificent specimen of Spitalfields weaving already described as having been prepared for his last namesake on the Throne. But the Supertunica worn under the Pallium had to be made afresh, and the cloth of gold had to match precisely the ground of the Pallium. Moreover, his Majesty had greatly gratified the Girdlers' Company by consenting to accept from them the belt to which his Sword would be girt, and the ArmiU or Stole. Enough cloth of gold had there- fore to be prepared for these purposes, and the Armill is of especial interest, as it introduced aU the emblems of the daughter nations for the first time into ceremonial use on such an occasion. In addition to the Rose, Shamrock, Thistle and Red Dragon and the Eagle of Sovereignty, there was the Lotus for India, the Maple for Canada, the Southern Cross for Austraha, the Four Stars for New Zealand, and the Mimosa for South Africa, thus constituting a new precedent of the highest historical interest.

The Queen's dress and train were also of much Queen's significance, as her Majesty had them designed in view dress and of their importance and symbohsm, not only in Westminster train. Abbey, but also for the Imperial and splendid scene at Delhi, when she would appear beside the King in fuU Durbar. The groimd of the dress was white satin of the

550 SILK INDUSTRY.

The most sumptuous character it was possible to weave. Upon

Corona- it, the workers of Princess Louise's School in Sloane Street

tion of worked the beautiful scheme, which showed the Enghsh

King rose and the cable that links the other lands with it, while

George V. in prominent place was the Star of India and the Lotus,

which is the more appropriately employed, as it is not only

the sacred flower of the country, but in some of the older

mythologies of the East is associated with the Sovereignty

of the waters.

The Queen did stUl more for the industry in her Coronation year. Early in the season she caused it to be announced that all her dresses would be of English fabrics, and loyally her costumiers carried out her orders. Special designs in brocades were reserved for her, and she gave a new note of dignity and splendour to them in some bold and striking effects. These had a direct influence upon fashions, and rich materials became imperative for Court trains and sumptuous evening cloaks.

The next outstanding event in Royal patronage of the

Silk industry was the personal interest that the Queen mani-

Exhibi- fested in regard to the great Silk Exhibition at Prince's

tion of Rink in 1912. This project had occupied more than a year

1912. in preparation ; it had united aU the heads of the industry

in a common purpose, and it enjoyed the fuU recognition

of the Silk Association, whose President, Mr. Frank Warner,

was also Chairman of the Committee. Not only did most

silk weaving, dyeing and printing houses of importance

take part in the display, but famous modistes and shops

in high repute came forward to illustrate the superb

effects of British silks both for fashionable wear and

for artistic draperies and hangings. Mme. Paquin,

MM. ReviUe and Rossiter, Messrs. John Barker,

Messrs. Waring and GiUow, Messrs. Cowtan, Messrs.

WooUand were only a few among those who gave this

valuable form of demonstration.

The Exhibition was opened on Jime 6th by the Princess Christian, and the following day it was visited by the Queen. Upon a loom in the Warner display from Braintree a Court train for her Majesty was being woven in a lovely shade of jade green, with a gold brocading so

Plate L.

Loon at the Silk Exhibition, Knightsbridge, 1912 — Weaving Brocade 63in. wide for H.M. The Queen.

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 551

complex that 30,000 strands were involved in the pattern. Silk The Queen expressed her admiration of it, and made a Exhibi- thorough inspection of every exhibitor's stand, giving tion of several orders, and showing a knowledge of technical 1912. details that surprised many of the experts. This visit, exhaustive and thorough as it had been, was, how- ever, far from the end of her Majesty's gracious support. On June 12th, the welcome and gratifying announcement came that the King intended to honour the Exhibition with a visit of inspection, and that the Queen would accompany him. It was desired that the inspection should be strictly private, and in order to call no pubhc attention to the presence of their Majesties, even the usual red cloth was not laid across the pavement. The President and the Vice-Presidents, among whom were Mr. A. Barnard Cowtan, Mr. Francis Durrant, Mr. E. W. Cox, Mr. H. C. MariUier, Mr. A. Pether, Col. Herbert Walters, Mr. Arthur E. Piggott, and Mr. H. Langridge, received their Majesties, and others present were Lady Algernon Gordon Lennox and the Hon. Ivy Gordon Lennox, the Hon. Mrs. Percy Mitford and Mrs. Frank Warner. After a few general comments, his Majesty began his round of inspection, the Queen frequently calling his attention to particularly noteworthy features. Some- thing thus early singled out was the magnificent cope with which the Archbishop of Canterbury had been vested at the Coronation of King Edward and of King George. For ground it had a sumptuous silk of Braintree weaving, upon which the correct ecclesiastical and heraldic decoration and symbohsm had been designed by Miss Beatrice Cameron and worked by Miss Sheffield. The raw silk from Kashmir was also examined by his Majesty with extreme interest as likely to become a valuable commercial product.

A lovely silk carpet of such close weaving that a hundred Visit of knots were employed in the square inch was ordered King by the King from Messrs. Charles Hammonds' display, and and the Queen was so much pleased with its harmonious colouring Queen, that she ordered a rephca in fine wool. Messrs. Fleming and Watson, who had a series of reproductions from Georgian designs, showed a beautiful length in rose colour

55^

SILK INDUSTRY.

Visit of that had been executed to the order of the Princess Royal. King At the fine exhibit of Messrs. Brocklehurst, some surprising

and statistics were mentioned to the King, who smiled with

Queen. gratification at the statement that the firm has in constant employ a thousand workers, " every one your Majesty's British bom subject." A hke number are in regular work at Messrs. Grout's factory in turning out exquisite crepes, ninons and soft draping materials. At Messrs. Cowtans' the King paid special attention to some rich lengths that were being executed for a private order, and at Messrs. Stephen Walters', with its record of 170 years' silk weaving in England the King was interested in the silk made for men's ties and mufflers. Meantime the Queen was examining much that she desired to see in fuller detail than upon her former visit. Arrived at Messrs. Warner's stand, his Majesty gave one of those proofs of his sympathy with the workers that have endeared him to aU classes by inspecting the Court train that Mr. T. Wheeler and Mr. H. Spooner, two of the oldest and most experienced of the Braintree employes, were weaving. His Majesty asked many questions as to the technical aspect of the work, and the complications of " reading " so elaborate a design. The King was informed that the same man had woven the cloth of gold for the ceremonial vestments of his Coronation, and his Majesty at once congratulated him on " his very excellent work."

Nothing escaped the King's attention. When at length the tour of inspection, that would have been tiring to many, was at an end, his Majesty graciously expressed to Mr. Warner not only the great pleasure that the visit had afforded him, but his satisfaction with his continued efforts to advance an industry which showed itself so Notable well worthy of national encouragement and support. Exhibits. A few days later Queen Alexandra paid the exhibi- tion a long visit, and placed a number of orders. Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, was another deeply interested royal visitor, and in her case, concerned so much as she is with the beautiful embroideries often executed to her own designs at the Ladies' Needlework Society, the inspection had the direct purpose of revealing

ROYAL PATRONAGE. 553

what was available as a ground for the most artistic needlecraft.

As a memento of the Exhibition, the Queen graciously- accepted a magnificently bound volume containing photo- graphs of each exhibitor's display. The outcome of the Exhibition, to the success of which her Majesty's personal example and encouragement had so signaUy contributed, was a net profit of £455 5s. lOd. Of this sum, £400 was invested for the permanent benefit of the Association's income, and the balance was applied to the practical purpose of enabling the Association to become an incor- porated body.

CHAPTER XLII.

The Weavers and Other Kindred Livery

Companies.

Ancient In his masterly essay on the " History and Development Trade of Guilds and Trade Unions," which although written in Guilds. 1870, still remains the best exposition of the subject, Dr. Lujo Brentano traces back the connection between the Livery Companies of London, which still for the most part survive, and the ancient Guilds, which played such an important part in the development of Trade and Craftsmanship in former times. These ancient corporations continued to exercise more or less control in the various branches of trade, with which they were formed to deal, until, in the eighteenth century, the operation of varied causes shifted the centre of manufacture from London to the North of England. This revolution in trade and manufacture, together with the individuahst tendencies of the nineteenth century, reduced some of the Livery Companies to the position which they now occupy, that of being associations for mutual benefit and good fellowship. It is probable that these corporations would have disap- peared altogether long since had it not been that many of them, becoming in course of time very wealthy, had de- voted large sums of money to charity and to the promo- tion of the best interests of their crafts through technical education.

The triumph of the Handicraftsmen and their Association in Guilds having the right to elect their own Wardens or Deans, and other officers, and having power to regulate the details of all trade matters which concerned their various branches of industry, had — after several

554

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 555

centuries of strife — ^become complete in the early part of the fifteenth century. In London, to quote again from Brentano, " the Craft Gilds appear in full possession of the mastery in the reign of Edward III. The privileges which they had tiU then exercised only on sufferance ^ or on payment of fermes, were now for the first time generally confirmed by charter to them by that monarch. The authorities of the City of London, who had in former times contended with aU their might against the Craft Gilds, now approved of their Statutes ; and by the end of the fourteenth century most of the trades had appeared before the Mayor and Aldermen to get their ordinance enrolled. At the same time, they each adopted a particular Livery, and were henceforth called Livery Companies.* Edward III himself became a member of one of them, that of the Linen Armourers, as the TaUors were then called, and his example found numerous imitators amongst his successors and the nobihty of the Kingdom, "f

AH the Livery Companies, at the time of their incorpora- tion, as well as the Craft Guilds, of which they were the successors, had a vital interest and exercised a practical supervision and control of the branches of industry and commerce with which they were nominally connected. They bargained with Kings and Over-Lords for Parliamentary rights and privileges which, when obtained, they defended with aU their united strength. They elected members of the City Corporation, and consequently had the municipahty under their control. They defended their various trades and crafts from the encroachments and competition of unattached artificers and foreigners. They also exercised a more or less wise supervision of the internal affairs of the Guild, maintained the standard of workmanship and the quahty of the goods manufactured, and also fixed the amount of the wages of the journeymen and apprentices and the profits of the masters. They regulated the number of apprentices and workmen a master might employ, looked after the welfare of members in sickness and misfortune, assisted widows and orphans, settled disputes of all kinds

* Fraternities had worn liveries previous to this time, but now they became official and distinctive.

•J- Brentano on Quilds, p. 58.

Ancient

Trade

Guilds.

Livery Com- panies.

>

556

SILK INDUSTRY.

Livery between members, insisted on a due observance of reKgious Com- rites, and in fact exercised what would now be resented

panies. as a grandmotherly supervision and vexatious control

over aU members of the fraternity.

Associa- The close association of masters and men seems to have

tions of been at once the strength and the weakness of the ancient

Masters Trade and Craft Guilds and Companies. It answered weU,

and and worked without friction, so long as the amoimt of

Men, capital invested in business was small and the master

laboured in close association with his men, but with the

increase of capital and the expansion of trading operations,

a gulf between the master and the artisan opened out and

graduaUy became wider and wider as the interests of the

two classes, instead of being as they once were identical,

became more and more antagonistic.

During the eighteenth century this division of masters and men into two opposing camps spread into aU branches of industry, but was specially noticeable in the silk, cotton and woollen weaving trades in London and wherever else they were practised. Whilst this separation of interests was proceeding, many outbreaks of animosity took place and there was much smouldering fire of discontent, which was only kept in check by severe legislation against com- binations of workmen. But when in the nineteenth century, the formation of Trade Unions became legalised, the opposi- tion generally broke out into open warfare, the weapons being strikes and lockouts.

A very large proportion of the total number of the Livery Companies of London — ^nearly one-fourth — were concerned with the regulation of the silk trade. These were : The Weavers, the Company of Merchant Adven- turers and the several other Companies formed for trading in foreign countries. The Mercers, The Haberdashers, The Drapers, The Girdlers, The Merchant Tailors, The Cloth- workers, The Dyers, The Broiderers, The SUk Throwsters, The Upholders, The Silkmen, The Hatband Makers, and The Frame KJnitters. The The Weavers justly claim to be the most ancient of

Weavers' the Enghsh Handicraft Guilds.* There is evidence that

Company * Their first Charter was granted by Henry II, but like the Woolmen their Guild was

formed long before his time.

Plate LI.

Charter granted to the Weavers' Company by

Henry II. — about 1155.

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 557

a Fraternity of Weavers existed in Saxon times under The the name of Tellaij. Weavers'

But the history of the Weavers' Company of London Corn- has never yet been adequately treated ; and much research- pany. work remains to be undertaken before it wiU be possible to clear up aU the doubts which arise as to the organisation of the weaving trade in London between the first charter of the Company in the 12th century and the first of the Minute Books now extant, which dates from the reign of James I. What is written here must, therefore, be taken as subject to revision in the fight of fuUer knowledge. The earfiest charter of the Weavers' Company, which is preserved in the Companies' archives, is an Inspeximus of Henry II, confirming the privileges granted to the Gmld by a Charter of Henry I, and although undated it can, from internal evidence, in particular the names and offices of the attesting witnesses, be attributed with some certainty to the occasion of the holding of a Great Council at Winchester in the month of September, 1155. By the charters of Henry I and II, it was granted to the Weavers of London to have their Gmld in London, and that none should intermeddle in their mystery within the City or in Southwark or in other places appertaining to London, except he were a member of their Guild, and the Guild became hable in return to the payment of an annual rent or Ferma Gildse to the King of 2 marks of gold. Some indication of the date of the first incorporation of the Guild, under Henry I, is to be gathered from the fact that the payment of the Ferma Gildee is duly recorded in the earliest Pi'pe Roll preserved at the Record Office, which is now generally attributed to the year 1130.

The Weavers' Company is therefore not merely the Oldest oldest of all the City Companies, but was incorporated of City at least sixty years before the grant of a Commune to the Corn- City itself in 1191. Nor is this early incorporation a panies. pecufiarity of the trade in London. The same Pipe Roll of 1130 records payments of their Ferms on behalf of the weavers of Lincoln and Oxford, and the Fife Rolls of Henry II refer to weavers' gmlds at Winchester, Hunting- don and Nottingham.

558

SILK INDUSTRY.

Oldest The new civic authorities quickly came into conflict

of City with the Weavers' Guild. On March 20th, 1201-2, Com- King John, in return for an undertaking by the grantees

panies. to pay an annual ferm of 20 marks of silver in heu of the 18 marks theretofore paid by the Weavers, actually granted a charter to the City, suppressing the Guild of Weavers in London. For reasons which are still unknown this attempt at suppression failed. The City quickly fell into arrears with the payment undertaken, and by the year 1203-4 the Weavers were once more credited in the Pipe Rolls with their annual payment, but at the increased rate. In 1223 we find the Weavers' Guild depositing the Charter of Henry II in the safe custody of the Treasury for fear it should be extorted from them by the City, and in 1243 the same charter was inspected and confirmed by a charter of Henry III. Dispute This dispute between the Corporation and the Weavers between of London is not an isolated event. Traces exist of similar Weavers trouble in other towns, where the Weavers were incor- and porated at an early date, and notably at Oxford, where

Corpora- the Weavers in the ninth y^ar of Henry III, were fined tion. a cask of wine to the King for a writ commanding the

Mayor and Provosts to let them have their former liberties. Dr. Brentano, in his preface to the Early Enghsh Text Society's volume on Early Craft Guilds, published in 1870, arguing from Continental analogies, saw ia these disputes the steps by which the wealthier merchant classes sought to subdue the handicraftsmen. Subsequent authors, how- ever, and notably Dr. Gross and Archdeacon Cunningham, founding their opinions upon fuller evidence, doubt the existence in England of such a class struggle, and it is suggested that the early incorporation of, and subsequent attacks on the weaving trade were due to the fact that from the time of the Norman Conquest it was largely in the hands of foreign immigrants. If that theory is correct, a history of the Weavers' Company might weU have as a subsidiary title " Eight Centuries of Alien Immigration."

Whatever the cause of these quarrels, they appear, so far as the London Weavers are concerned, to have been

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 559

concluded at least as early as the 28tli year of Edward I (1299-1300), for in that year the Commonalty of the Guild duly presented their baiMs to be sworn before the Mayor and Aldermen, and acknowledged the jurisdiction of the Mayor to determine such matters touching the craft as could not be determined by the Guild Court. The Guild did not gain a long respite from their troubles by sub- mission. The Letter Books of the City give ghmpses of constant disputes caused by the increasing sub -division of labour in the cloth-working industry, and the consequent rival claims of jurisdiction of the weavers, fullers, dyers, tailors, hurdlers and fullers. This was, no doubt, due largely to a healthy expansion of the industry, and the difficulties appear to have been more or less accommodated by the arbitration of the Mayor and Aldermen, when the members of the Guild were called upon to face a far more serious rivalry. The commercial poUcy of Edward III, which marks an advance from what may be called a municipal to a national point of view, beginning with the sporadic encouragement of weavers from the Low Countries to settle in England, developed into a general statute passed in 1337, in which protection was extended to aU foreign weavers practising their craft within the realm, and the import of foreign cloth was prohibited. The export of wool from Great Britain having been prohibited in the previous year in order to force Flanders to abandon the French alliance, there followed a great influx of Flemish weavers into England. The effect upon the rigid trade organization of the time must have been considerable, and the pages of the City Letter Books and the material pubhshed by Madox in his Firma Burgi, make it possible to trace through the course of the next century the repeated efforts of the native weavers in London by petitions to Parliament and actions in the Courts to force the foreign weavers to come into their Guild, or at least to contribute in the yearly ferm. These efforts do not appear to have met with much success. Not only were the foreign weavers expressly exempted from the necessity of joining the native Guild, but they were actually granted the benefit of independent incorporation, and from 1372 onwards

Dispute between Weavers and

Corpora- tion.

Amalga- mation of Guilds.

560

SILK INDUSTRY.

Amalga- the Flemish and Brabant Weavers, and from 1415 a new mation Guild of linen weavers, yearly presented their officers to the of Mayor and Aldermen Side by side with those of the original

Guilds. Guild. When and how these rival Guilds were finally absor- bed by the Weavers' Company has not yet been discovered.

The fusion would appear, however, to have taken place about the commencement of the reign of Henry VII. The ordinances of the Company, dated the seventh year of that reign, provide that one of the Bailiffs shall be a woollen and the other a linen weaver, " according to the olde ol*dince," which would seem to show that the Guild of Linen Weavers had been absorbed some time previously, and a deed forming part of the title of the site of the Company's HaU in Basinghall Street, dated the fourteenth year of the same reign, makes mention of three Bailiffs apparently holding office at one and the same time. If that is so the unusual number may have been the result of a further fusion of the woollen and linen weavers with the Flemish and Brabant weavers, who appear to have united in one body of foreign weavers between the years 1371 and 1390. By the reign of Henry VIII, a return had been made to the normal number of two Bailiffs. The constant rivalry of the native and foreign weavers during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries may perhaps account for the fact that in London the Weavers' Guild failed to obtain that position in the City which would have been won if they had obtained the exclusive control of what was then the principal industry of the country, agriculture apart. Instead we see the rise of the great corporations of capitalist wholesale merchants, who exploited the industry of the craftsman, and permanently relegated the craft guilds to a minor place in the civic organisation. The Mercers (incorporated 1393), the Haberdashers (1407), and the Drapers (1439) may all owe their importance to the inabihty of the parent company to assert itself in more than one direction at a critical period. Control Legal proceedings were often taken to enforce the

of Trade, control of the trade by the Company, and ordinances were made for limiting the practice of the craft to Enghsh

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 561

weavers. The right of exercising this control was further Control confirmed by an Act of Henry VII, and the Com- of pany's rights were also recognised by charters of Trade. Henry VIII and Phihp and Mary. Bye-laws regulating their control of the trade were made and approved by Lord Bacon in the reign of Ehzabeth, and further charters were obtained from James I and Charles I. During these reigns, too, numerous proceedings were taken to estabKsh the Weavers' Company's rights, and James II extended their jurisdiction to 20 miles round London. The ultimate extent of their rights was settled by a charter of Queen Anne, granted in the year 1707, under which they still remain incorporated. This document confirms their former charters and entrusts to the ofiicials of the Company extraordinary powers of supervision and control over the silk-weaving trade.

Economic causes were at work during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, which gradually limited the scope of the industry of which the Weavers' Company was the guardian. Other companies had been formed for dealing with the different branches of the trade. The crafts of woollen and linen weaving became separate industries ; the weaving of braids, tapes, laces and ribbons became quite separated from the broad- weaving branch ; the preparation of thread and both skein and piece-dyeiag also employed large numbers of craftsmen and women. These speciahsed industries aU became incorporated in separate chartered fraternities. Mercers, drapers, tailors, dyers, clothiers, broiderers, framework-knitters, girdlers, silkmen, silk throwers, and even hatband makers aU became thus incorporated, so that to the Weavers' Company was left only the branches dealing with broad silk textiles. In the meantime, however, this department of the industry had become of such great importance, owing chiefly to aUen immigration, that, notwithstanding the separations referred to, the Weavers' Company of London stiU flourished.

In the century following the immigration of the Hugue- Huguenots the silk industry in London grew to enormous not proportions, and it became impossible for the Company Immi- to exercise the supervision of the trade which its charter gration.

2w

562

SILK INDUSTRY.

Hugue- not Irami- gration.

Imper- fectly Trained Opera- tives.

Policy of

Prohibi- tion.

allowed. Much spasmodic activity was, however, exercised by the Company in endeavouring to maintain their control of the industry, and the prevention of competition. Appeals and petitions to the King in Council were con- stantly being prosecuted to suppress improved machinery, the sale of foreign yam, and the exercise of the Art by foreigners. At one time, Daniel Defoe was employed to conduct a periodical called the English Manufacturer, advocating the use of English-made goods only.

During the course of the eighteenth century the mass of operative weavers in Spitalfields and the district seem to have become very turbulent and unmanageable. On one occasion, for instance, they made a demonstration to demand Parliamentary prohibition of the use of printed cahcoes. Troops and trained bands were sent to disperse them, but they were not prevented from tearing off, in angry protest, the printed cahco garments of ladies whom they encountered in the streets.

By the middle of the eighteenth century the silk weavers of London as a class, if one may judge by references to them in contemporary newspapers and Parhamentary reports, were very much changed from the prosperous, orderly and respectable craftsmen of the Huguenot immigration. The causes of this change have already been pointed out and need not be repeated, but the fact that such a change had taken place accounts for the gradual antagonism of interest and feeling which had sprung up between the Master Weavers, who were mostly Freemen of the City and Liverymen of the Weavers' Company, and the mass of imperfectly trained operatives, who competed with each other for employment in the less skilful branches of the weaving trade. Disputes and riots were of very frequent occurrence, and appeals and counter appeals to Parhament were often made, with more or less success, by the Weavers' Company, the Manufacturers, the Traders, or the operative weavers by their own representatives. Towards the end of the century these disagreements seem to have somewhat decreased, and a certain degree of prosperity in the sUk weaving trade resulted from the adoption by Parliament of the policy

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 563

of prohibition, or heavy taxation, on all manufactured silk goods.

In common with the other City Companies, the Weavers' Company, during the eighteenth century and the early part of the nineteenth, gradually lost control of the trade in which it had originated, and retaining only the name and endowments, of increasing or decreasing value as the case might be, of the ancient Corporation, became little more than a benefit society for those born or elected to a freeman's rights in it.

Of late years, however, some of the City Companies have endeavoured to be of use to the industries for the benefit of which they were originally incorporated, and the Weavers have not been behindhand in this movement. They have tried to stimulate the declining energy and skiU of the few remaining silk weavers in the East of London by offering rewards of money, badges, certificates and the Freedom of the Company, which carries with it the Freedom of the City of London, to successful com- petitors for their prizes.

Quite recently the Company ha;Ve undertaken the task Weavers' of furnishing to the Board of Trade a panel of competent Com- jurors to serve at international exhibitions in the depart- pany ment of textile industries. They have thus been brought and into friendly relations with French and Belgian representa- Textile tives of these industries. A Standing Committee has Indus- been formed to act as occasion may require to diffuse tries. information or to develop the industries with which they are nominally connected. This keeps them in touch with the requirements of to-day, and they officially state that they are prepared, to the extent of their resources, to aid in any movement tending to advance the interests of the silk weaving craft.

The day is past for the Weavers' Company to attempt autocratically to govern the silk industry, but it can and does give the benefit of its prestige and material support to well directed efforts for the improvement and extension of British sUk manufacture. In this endeavour it may well be inspired by its ancient motto, " Weave Truth with Trust."

564 SILK INDUSTRY.

The Weavers' Company was very zealous in support of the Repubhcan Party during the Civil War, and was greatly impoverished thereby ; it never wholly recovered its former prosperity. Curious evidence of the Company's poverty is afforded by many old documents still preserved, of which the following record of the proceedings of the Court of Aldermen of the City of London, dated 10th Oct., 1721, is an example : —

" This day the humble Petition of the Bayliffs,

Wardens and Assistants of the Company of

Weavers was presented to this Court and Read

praying to be excused from their attendance on

the Lord Mayor's days for the Term of Five years

in consideration of their great Poverty and

Incapacity of Defraying the Expenses, and after

hearing several of the Members of the said Company

relating thereto, this Court doth excuse them from

their attendance on the next Lord Mayor's Day."

The ancient HaU of the Weavers' Company, which

stood in Basinghall Street, was destroyed in the Great

Fire of London, 1666, but was subsequently rebuilt on

the same site. The new building was described as a " Fine

and commodious HaU, the interior being neat and good

and furnished with a chaste screen of the Ionic order."*

In 1856 it was pulled down to make room for suites of

offices. Since then the Company has had no Hall in

which to meet.

Charities. The Charities administered by the Weavers' Company

are as follows : —

Rowland Morton gave, in trust, the 28th July, 1664, several parcels of land to trustees, the income to be dis- tributed to the poor almsfolk, etc.

Alexander Hosea gave, 19th March, 1684, property in Holborn, the receipts to be distributed to the poor of the Company. John Hall, Richard Gervies, John Brigue, and Samuel Saunders also left legacies, the interest to be given to the poor of the Company.

James Limborough, the 25th July, 1774, bequeathed to his executors a fund (now represented by £2,633 4s. 8d.

* Haitland.

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WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 565

India 3 per cent. Stock) to be by them transferred, after Charities, the death of his wife, to the Company in trust, the dividends to be applied yearly for ever for the support of an evening lecture, to be preached every Sunday for eight months in the year, beginning in September and ending in April. The lecture is given at Christ Church, SpitaMelds, the dividends being paid as foUow : £50 to the lecturer, who is appointed every three years ; about £21 to the officers of the church, for the expenses of lighting, etc., and the balance to the Company,

Nicholas Garrett, of Wandsworth, gave to the Company, the 16th of July, 1725, £1,000 in East India Stock, in trust, after the decease of his wife, to lay out part in the purchase of six almshouses, for six decayed members of the Com- pany, the remainder to form the endowment. Land was purchased in Porter's field, now Blossom Street, Norton Folgate.

Thomas Carpenter gave, the 29th April, 1731, £300 in trust, that the Company should, with the annual interest, purchase coals and candles for the six poor almspeople.

Several legacies were left to the Company for the purpose of founding almshouses. James Kymier, Henry Baker, Samuel MiUs and Thomas Cook were among the donors. They were originally erected in Old Street Road, but are now transferred to Wanstead, the inmates being twelve poor freemen or weavers by trade, and twelve poor freewomen or widows of freemen or weavers by trade. The men receive £20 each per annum, and the women £12 10s. per annum.

Lady Morrison, in the year 1871, bequeathed to the Company a sum of £2,000 free of legacy duty, for the purpose of founding two pensions for one almsman and one almswoman, the recipients to be called " Lady Morrison's pensioners."

There are pensions of £13, £12, £6, and £5 per annum, payable to decayed members of the Company, male and female, or weavers by trade.

The fees payable to the Company are as foUows : — Upon taking up the freedom, by patrimony, £3 15s. Od. ; by servitude, £3 7s. Od. ; by purchase, £23 16s. Od. Upon

566 SILK INDUSTRY.

admission to the livery, £25 ISs. Od. Upon election to the Court, £157 10s. Od.

The Woolmen.

An Although the Weavers claim to be the most ancient

Ancient of the London Livery Companies, the Woolmen are by Livery some authorities supposed to be of even greater antiquity. Company. Their association is probably coeval with the wool trade of the Kingdom. They seem, however, always to have been considered of less importance than the Weavers, and are only a community by prescription and have no charter. They have, however, the right of ranking among the City Companies, and have a Master, Wardens, and Assistants. According to Maitland's account of the Woolmen's Company, it would appear that they were not only a London Company, but their control of the wool trade extended over the whole country, they having fifty-two halls, with Masters, Wardens, Assistants, and Liverymen in different centres of trade. They had in Maitland's time no hall in London, and no recognised livery. .

The Merchant Adventurers.

The Society, afterwards known as the Hamburg Company, was incorporated by Edward I in the year 1296.

This was a Trading Company, and its object was to obtain exclusive privileges in trading with foreign countries. Although this Company became extinct in the eighteenth century, it is of Mstorical importance from the fact of its being the Association of Merchants which laid the foundation of the vast maritime trade of Great Britain. The merchants of the Staple (1389), the Hudson's Bay Company (1497), the Russia Company (1555), the Eastland Company (1579), the Levant or Turkey Company (1579), the East India Company (1601), the African Company (1553), and the South Sea Company (1710), all had their origin in the Fraternity of Merchant Adventurers, and many of them in greater or less degree, as they traded in the com- modities of the East, had influence on the development of the sUk trade in Great Britain.

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 567

The Mercers.

The Mercers take precedence of aU the Companies of First in London. They are not only the wealthiest but claim Rank, to be the first of aU the fraternities formed in London to be incorporated. Their charter was dated a.d. 1393, the seventeenth year of Richard II. They had the monopoly and control of aU deahngs in the 'City of London in silk and small fancy goods such as laces, fringes, girdles, buttons, etc. They became so wealthy, that, as an old writer says, " when the Company in the year 1698 accepted Dr. Ashton's project for providing a maintenance for clergymen's widows, etc., they settled, for that purpose, a fund of about fourteen thousand pounds per annum." " In addition to this, they paid about three thousand pounds per annum in charitable benefactions."

Sir Henry Colet, Bart., Citizen of London, Prime Warden of the Mercers' Company, and twice Lord Mayor of the City of London, was father to Dr. John Colet, Dean of St. Paul's, who in the year 1509 founded and endowed St. Paul's School.* Amongst other provisions, written by the founder himself in the Old Statute Book, are the following : —

" And ordained there a Master, a Sur-Master and a Chaplain, with sufficient and perpetual stipends ever to endure ; and set Patrons, Defenders, Governors, and Rulers of the same school, the most honest and faithful Fellowship of the Mercers of London."

The Drapers. Third in precedence amongst the Livery Companies Livery of London is the Drapers or Linen Drapers as they were Com- originally called. The members of this fraternity seem panies to have at first been limited to dealing in linen goods, of It is probable that they were forbidden to handle woollen London, or silken goods for fear of their encroaching on the privileges of the Woolmen or Clothiers on the one hand and the Mercers on the other. Later they were allowed to deal ID. silken manufactured stuffs wholesale, but it

* For full account of St. Paul's School, see Maitland's History of London, p. 932.

568

SILK INDUSTRY.

was not until quite late in their history that restrictions

on their selling silken goods retail were withdrawn or fell

into abeyance.

Frater- The Fraternity of Drapers was incorporated by Letters

nity of Patent of Henry VI, a.d. 1439, by the title of The Master,

Drapers. Wardens, Brethren and Sisters of the Gild or Fraternity

of the Blessed Mary the Virgin, of the Mystery of Linen

Drapers of the City of London. Their arms were granted

at the time of their incorporation by Sir William Brugges,

Garter Eang at Arms, and confirmed in 1561 by

Clarencieux King at Arms.

The Merchant Tailors.

The next Company in order of precedence (the seventh) more or less interested in the use and manufacture of sUk is that of the fraternity at first denominated the Taylors and Linen- Armourers.

This Company was incorporated by Edward IV, A.D. 1466, but many of the members of the Company being great merchants, and Henry VII himself being a member, he, by Letters Patent, a.d. 1503, re-incorporated the Company by the name of the Master and Wardens of the Merchant Taylors, of the Fraternity of 8t. John the Baptist, in the City of London. In an early account the Company is said to have a stately and spacious hall to treat of their business in, and to be possessed of great estate.

The Haberdashers.

Livery The dealers in narrow silk goods and other small wares

Com- from Italy were called Haberdashers and Milliners or

panics Milaners. They were incorporated by Henry VI, a.d. 1407.

of They soon became of great importance and very wealthy,

London, ranking eighth in order of precedence.

The Dyers.

This Company, one of the twelve most ahcient of the City Fraternities, was incorporated by Edward IV, A.D. 1472, by the name of The Wardens and Commonalty of the Mystery of Dyers, London.

WEAVERS & KINDRED LIVERY COMPANIES. 569

The Broderers (Broideres). This Society, to whose members sUk in many forms ^ ^^^ was of great importance, was incorporated, a.d. 1591, by society. Elizabeth in the third year of her reign. Their name was the Keepers and Company of the Art or Mystery of the Broderers of the City of London.

The Framework-Knitters.

The Company of Stocking Knitters, unhke the other City Companies, would seem, by the title given to them at their incorporation by Charles II in 1663, to have had control of the trade of frame-knitting, not only in London, but throughout England and Wales. Their title was : The Master, Wardens, Assistants and Society of the Art or Mystery of Framework-Knitting in the Cities of London and Westminster, the Kingdom of England, and the Dominion of Wales.

At the time of the incorporation of this Company the silk stockings made by the frame-knitters of England were famous throughout Europe for excellence of quaUty.

The Girdlers.

The girdle was anciently a very important article of dress, and girdle-making in which much sUk was used a thriving trade. The Girdlers were incorporated by Henry VI, a.d. 1449, and their charter was confirmed by Elizabeth, a.d. 1568.

The Gold and Silver Wire Drawers. This Company was incorporated by Letters Patent of Livery James I, a.d. 1632, and re-incorporated by charter of Com- WOliam and Mary, a.d. 1693. The members of this panies Company not only had the monopoly of drawing ordinary of wire, but, as specially mentioned in their title, " the London. making and spinning of gold and silver thread " for use in rich silk brocades, etc.

The Hatband Makers.

The Company of Hatband Makers was incorporated by Charles I in 1638. Maitland has a note on this Company as foUows : — " This Company during the wear of rich

570

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk Dealers and Im- porters.

silk Hatbands, was in a very flourishing condition, but the same having for many years been in disuse, the trade is almost dwindled to nothing, insomuch, that there are at present but two or three of the Profession."

The Silkmen.

By the seventh year of Charles I the importers and dealers of raw silk had become numerous and thriving enough to warrant their being incorporated as a City Company. They obtained their charter in the month of May of that year, a.d. 1631.

The Silk Throwers. During the course of the Sixteenth Century the art of silk throwing became an important branch of the silk industry, and large numbers of people obtained their livelihood by practising it. It was recognised as a Fraternity, and was constituted a Fellowship, probably in association with the Weavers' Company, in the time of James I. A separate Charter of Incorporation was granted to the Silk Throwers by a Statute of Charles I in 1629, with the title " The Master, Wardens, Assistants, and Commonalty of the Trade, Art or Mystery of Silk Throwers of the City of London."

In common with the Merchant Adventurers and the

other Foreign Trading Companies, the Hatband makers

and the Silk men, the Silk Throwers' Company has not

survived to the present time. This is probably due to

Associa- their having no accumulated property in trust to

tion of administer. Until very recently even their records and

Silk Charter had disappeared, but the latter has been found

Throwers, amongst some old deeds in a City office, and is now in the

possession of Wm. Brouncker Ingle, Esq., the Upper

Bailiff of the Weavers' Company, 1915-16. The recovered

Charter and Bye-Laws are in a perfect state of preservation,

but the Minute Books, which would be of great interest,

have not yet been found.

CHAPTER XLIII.

The Silk Association of Great Britain and

Ireland.

In medieval times most important industries had their Founded Guilds for the regulation and support of their respective by Sir industries, and the ancient Guilds of the City of London Thomas bring down to modem times the names of some of those Wardle. interesting Corporations. It was only, however, in the latter portion of the 19th century and the opening years of the 20th, that there was a resuscitation if not of the old Guild idea at all events of the congregating together in an Association, whether as a self-contained organisation or as a section of a Chamber of Commerce, of those who are engaged in a particular trade or industry. A notable example is the Silk Association of Great Britain and Ireland. It was felt a quarter of a century ago that in regard to the silk industry an attempt should be made by those engaged in it to come together and devise some scheme for the common weal. The time and the man were found in the year of the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. The notable Royal Jubilee Exhibition held in Manchester in 1887 was the occasion for the late Sir Thomas Wardle, then Mr. Wardle, of Leek, to organise a silk section in connection with that undertaking. This showed to the millions who visited the Exhibition that the silk industry of the United Kingdom had not by any means been extinguished, but that the root of the excellence of British manufacture remained in it. It was therefore decided by those responsible for the section to take steps, in the spirit of self help, to form an Association for the trade.

It was in October, 1887, that a Conference was held at the Exhibition to discuss the question. The Conference,

671

572

81LK INDUSTEY.

Founded which was presided over by the late Sir Joseph C. Lee,

by Sir was attended by the most important Silk Manufacturers,

Thomas Throwsters, Raw and Waste Silk Dealers, Merchants,

Wardle. Spinners, Dyers and Finishers in the country, and secured

the attendance of nearly 400 persons, and it was

unanimously resolved that a National Committee be

appointed to form an Institute or Association of persons

engaged in the Silk industry, either as manufacturers,

merchants, or retailers.

The Association was formed, and Mr. (afterwards Sir Thomas) Wardle was appointed President and Mr. Arthur E. Piggott, of Manchester, Secretary.* He remained Secretary until 1919, when he was succeeded by Mr. A. B. Ball. The offices of the Association were removed to London in the same year. One of the first actions taken was the formation of sections representing the various special interests of different members to work in co-operation with the London and other Chambers of Commerce in regard to such matters as the following : Silk labour questions, the estabhshment of SUk agency centres in India, the Colonies and other parts of the world ; the training of teachers for mercantile schools ; the estabhshment of commercial museums and exhibitions ; the establishment of tribunals of commerce ; the regis- tration of firms ; the amendment of the Bankruptcy Law ; the amendment of the Employers' Liability Act ; the modification of the Law of Arbitration ; the consideration of the Merchandise Marks Act ; the Early Closing Bill ; the Rating of Machinery, etc.

The Sectional Committees appointed were the Weaving and Power Loom Committees ; the Dyers ; Printers and Finishing ; the Parhamentary ; the Publication ; and Forma- the Finance. It was also resolved that the Trade Silk tion of Conditioning Co. Ltd. be asked to provide better facilities Ladies' to English manufacturers to have their silk conditioned. Com- In May, 1889, in consequence of action taken by the

mittee. President and Lady Egerton of Tatton, a Ladies' Com- mittee was appointed, of which H.R.H. the Princess Mary

* Mr. Piggott, in June, 1912, was presented with a testimonial by the members of the Association in recognition of his 25 years of service.

THE SILK ASSOCIATION. 573

Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, became President, and Forma- Lady Egerton Hon. Secretary, and it would seem that in tion of the following year, after the exhibition which was then Ladies' held, the Ladies' Committee became merged in a Ladies' Corn- National Silk Association. It ought to be pointed out mittee. that the movement owed much to the Hon. Mrs. Percy Mitford, sister to Earl Egerton, of Tatton, who as long since as 1882 visited Spitalfields for the purpose of ascertaining the state of the trade there, and although she retired from her official position on account of ill- health, has never down to the present time failed in her interest in the industry, according further generous help and assistance to the exhibition held in London in 1912. The Ladies' Association has done much good work, and has owed much to those in high social positions who have taken an interest in its fortunes. H.R.H. the Duchess of York, now Queen Mary, on the death of her mother, the Duchess of Teck, succeeded her as President.

The efforts of the parent Association, as well as of the Ladies' Silk Association, which has from its foundation been under Royal patronage, have enlisted the sympathetic Royal recognition of King George and Queen Mary. In the Patron- year 1901, when King George was Prince of Wales, he first age. became Patron of the Association, a patronage which was renewed on his accession to the throne, when Queen Mary also graciously consented to become a Patron.

The Association had felt the need of a Journal in which general information in connection with matters of interest to or affecting the industry could be dealt. Finally, in the year 1892, the Textile Mercury was appointed the oflSicial organ of the Association. This arrangement has continued until the present day, and the Textile Mercury has very ably and devotedly served the Silk Association and the industry generally during the last twenty-one years.

The SUk Association has not always been given full credit for its work. One feature, however, that has been steadily kept in view has been the promotion of technical education, and in 1892 action was taken

574 SILK INDUSTRY.

Tech- witli the object of establishing a Silk School in nical Manchester in conjunction with the Technical Instruction

Educa- Committees of the Corporation of Manchester and tion. the County Palatine of Lancaster. A statement of the

necessary apphances and plant, with an estimate of the cost, were supphed by a Committee of the Council of the Silk Association, at the request of the Lancashire County Council Technical Instruction Committee, and the scheme was incorporated in the plans of the new building. It was a satisfaction to find on the completion of the building and its equipment in 1902, that the recom- mendation of the Association had been more than carried out, and that there had been brought into existence an ade- quate provision for a higher grade technical education in various branches of the silk industry. This has taken the form of a centre for training and research at Leeds University, the committee which had the scheme in hand having decided after visiting Manchester, Leeds and Bradford, that Leeds was the most suitable College of University rank on which could be grafted a silk school. The financial problem has been solved by the offer of the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers to provide the buildings if the silk industry would undertake to find the capital for equipment. The Council of the SUk Associa- tion decided to accept this offer, and an appeal was made for a sum of £15,000. The maintenance charges wiU, it is estimated, be provided partly by a scheme of research and partly by the help of the University and the Board of Education. The principal aims of the school are to provide scientific instruction for those preparing to take positions in the industry, to promote research work, to make available a source of information on scientific questions bearing upon industry, and to stimulate the apphcation of science to industrial processes and the development of artistic tastes in relation to texture, design and colour.

In the autumn of the year 1893 the Silk Associa- tion again arranged for a British and Irish SUk Exhibition, her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland having offered the use of Stafford House for such an

THE SILK ASSOCIATION. 575

exhibition. The Exhibition, which was opened on the 8th of May, 1894, by H.R.H. Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, proved an unquaHfied success in drawing the attention of the pubUc to the high position held by British silk manufacturers in design and craftsmanship. At the close of the Exhibition, there was purchased by the principal London distributors a large quantity of silk from Enghsh manufacturers, and the iadustry secured the adhesion of the principal distributing firms iu London, and also several of the leading Court dress- makers.

In 1896 the President of the Association — ^Mr, Thomas Wardle — received the honour of knighthood and the congratulations of his many friends upon this expression of appreciation in high quarters of his untiring services on behalf of the silk industry. About this time a deputation attended upon Mr. Joseph Chamberlain, then Secretary for the Colonies, and represented to him the views of the Association as to the desirabihty of H.M. Government affording some encouragement and assistance in the development of the sUk industry, particularly suggesting that the Indian Government should lend an expert to examine carefully and report upon the prospects of the industry in Cyprus. This Mr. Chamberlain con- sidered was a very reasonable request and worth the consideration and adoption of the Government. The Colonial and Foreign Offices were also approached with a view to securing an exhibition of samples representing the silks manufactured in other parts of the world which compete with home products in India and the Colonies, such Exhibition to be arranged through the Chambers of Co-op- Commerce in London, Manchester, Nottingham, Maccles- eration field. Leek, Coventry, Glasgow, etc. As a result there with was received a considerable collection of silk samples from Govern- many places abroad, together with various reports and ment information in connection therewith, from H.M. Consuls. Depart- The samples were a series of silk textiles woven in China, ments. and an interesting group of the production of Swiss looms.

576

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk At the Women's Exhibition in 1900, an interesting

Section Silk Section was formed, under the auspices of H.R.H. the

at Duchess of Teck, President of the Ladies' National Silk

Women's Association, and her Executive Committee, in which

Exhibi- some beautiful silks of British and Irish manufacture

tion. were exhibited. These demonstrated the fact that British

and Irish silks were not inferior in design, colouring, or

quahty, and were not more costly than those produced

by more successful rivals abroad.

In this section there was also a splendid exhibit by his Highness the Maharajah of Kashmir of raw silks and beautiful brocades manufactured from the Kashmir silk by Messrs. Warner and Sons, London and Braintree. This interesting case illustrated the very successful attempt within the previous four years to introduce sericulture into Kashmir, in which Sir Thomas Wardle played so important a part, and as to the possibiHty of which Sir George Birdwood, a vice-president of the Association, had called attention as far back as the year 1861.

In the year 1901 commenced the agitation by the Association for the amendment of the Carriers' Act, as affecting silk, which the Association has persistently carried on from time to time since, but so far without the desired effect. The matter is a simple one, but none the less important. By the provisions of this Act, passed in 1830, and before railways were in existence, " to secure the more effectual protection of mail contractors, stage- coach proprietors, and other common carriers for hu-e, against the loss of, or injury to parcels or packages delivered to them for conveyance or custody, the value and contents of which shall not be declared to them by Carriers' the owners thereof." It was enacted, therefore, that Act mail contractors, coach proprietors, and carriers should

Agita- not be Uable for loss of certain goods above the value of tion. £10, unless the value and nature of such shall have been

declared by the sender, and increased charges paid in regard to the same as a " compensation for the greater risk and care to be taken for the safe conveyance of such valuable articles for which a receipt acknowledging the same to have been insured shall be given if required."

THE SILK ASSOCIATION. mi

The application to the Board of Trade for the release of Carriers* silk from this Act led to a conference, under the auspices Act of the Board, of representatives of the Association, the Agita- SUk Club and the Silk Section of the London Chamber of tion. Commerce, with the representatives of the Railway Companies, in December, 1913. It was not found possible to obtain the assent of the Railway Companies to the repeal movement, but as from September, 1914, the Railway Companies agreed that whereas in the past goods con- taining 30 per cent, and over in value of silk came under the operation of the Carriers' Act, the percentage was raised from 30 to 50 per cent. ; the Act now apphes, there- fore, to parcels of goods containing more than 50 per cent in value of silk. The agitation will, however, be continued untU an absolute repeal of the Act as far as it relates to silk goods has been secured. This can only now, it is clear, be obtained through the action of Parhament.

The question of the unification of the numbering of the counts of yarn is another subject which has received attention and satisfactorily arranged. It was in the year 1902 that the union with the SUk Club, Manchester, and the Silk Association was decided upon, and the peri- odical joint meetings between the two bodies arranged.

The Association, in co-operation with the Silk Club, has also taken steps to remedy anomalies which exist in connection with the carriage rate of silk on spools. Silk Railway on spools was charged for as if the whole contents of the Rates, package were silk goods, whereas the proportion of silk to the weight of wood contained in spools, boxes and cases is very small. As a result, a meeting was arranged at the Board of Trade between representatives of the Silk Association and of the Railway Companies, for a discussion of the rates in question. The meeting was held on March 15th, 1905. Finally, the offer was made to come into operation in January, 1906, for reduced rates for silk on reels or bobbins from Leek to various specified places, the offer being accepted, though disappointment was expressed that better terms had not been secured.

The year 1904 was the occasion of an important exhibition in Bradford, which established the reputation

% 0

578

SILK INDUSTRY.

of that town as one of the most important silk manu- facturing centres and also demonstrated the remarkable advance made in recent years in the manufacture of the cheaper kinds of silk goods and of fabrics in which silk is used in conjunction with other yarns such as wool, mohair, cotton, etc. In 1905 the Association interested itself in matters of Adultera- the adulteration and false description of silk, and was tion in communication with the Marquis of Salisbury, President

and of the Board of Trade, The Board expressed its wiUing-

False ness to consider most carefuUy any case that might be

Descrip- submitted to them in accordance with the regulations tion. made by the Merchandise Marks Act, 1691. It was not,

however, until 1912 that a case was sent up to the Board of Trade and a prosecution instituted, and it is satisfactory to record that this case and several others that followed in the same year and in 1913 and following years were successful in obtaining decisions of great importance to the silk industry.

In July, 1908, arrangements were made between the Silk Club and the Silk Association for a joint visit to the Franco-British Exhibition in London. The various exhibits were closely inspected by the party, who had an excellent opportunity of comparing the respective merits of the British and the French manufactures. On the whole the balance of opinion seemed to be in favour of the French exhibits, and criticism was centred on the lack of combination and method shown by British exhibitors. It appeared to be a source of considerable satisfaction to the members of the Silk Association and the Silk Club that practically the sole Enghsh exhibit upheld so worthily the best traditions of British manu- facture. This function was the last occasion at which Sir Thomas Wardle had the opportunity to meet the Franco- general body of members, his long and useful career British terminating on the 3rd of January, 1909, at the age of Exhibi- seventy-eight. An account of his life and work is included tion. in the chapter on Leek.

The Association had previously (during 1908) suffered loss by the death of Mr. Benjamin Warner, in his eightieth year. Mr. Warner was the head of the firm of

THE SILK ASSOCIATION. 579

Messrs. Warner and Sons, and father of Mr. Frank Warner,*

who subsequently became President of the Association.

The Association further sustained a loss by death of Mr. Some

James Kershaw, J.P. for Macclesfield, which took place on Notable

the 28th March, 1908, at the age of seventy. A very useful Members.

and much respected member of the Council was removed by

the hand of death on November 6th, 1908, in the person of

Mr. Matthew Blair, aged seventy-one. In character, as stated

in the Glasgow Herald, Mr. Blair was modest and unassuming.

An old-fashioned courtesy pervaded his manner to those

below as well as those above him.

In Sir George Birdwood, who died in 1917 full of years and honours, the Association lost an original member, who maintained an active interest in its work up to the time of his death. He acted as a Vice-President for many years. The Association gave recognition to his varied qualities by electing him in 1915 as the first honorary member.

Another notable member whose loss by death took place in 1917 was Sir Arthur Lazenby Liberty, who was also a Vice-President. It was claimed for him that he was the first to embark on a persistent effort to raise the artistic standard of goods, and he was closely associated with the revival of the British sUk industry. Mr. Frank Debenham was another eminent Vice-President, whose loss by death in the year 1917 removed a contemporary of those who founded the Association. Mr. Thomas Hebert Hambleton, who died in 1918, and who occupied an important position in the Macclesfield trade, was for many years a member of the Association. Other recent losses by death include Mr. J. M. Campbell, Mr. Edward EUis Marsden and Mr. Wilham T. Hall.

Following the decease of Sir Thomas Wardle, Mr. Joseph Boden, of Messrs. Kidd, Boden and Co., Manchester, was elected in January, 1909, as President of the Association, and held office for the ensuing year. At the annual meeting of the Association in 1910 Mr. Frank Warner, of Messrs. Warner and Sons, was elected President of the Association, a position he retained until he accepted a special war appointment at the Board of Trade in 1917. On his retirement, Mr. Francis Durant was elected

* Now Sir Frank Warner, K.B.E.

580

SILK INDUSTRY.

President, and he in turn was succeeded by Mr. H. G. Tetley, of Messrs. Courtaulds Ltd.

In September, 1910, a joint visit of the members of the

Silk Association and of the Silk Club to the Brussels

Exhibition was organised. The then President of the

Visit to Association, who was a member of the Royal Commission

Brussels for the Brussels, Rome and Turin Exhibitions, conducted

Exhibi- the party to the Exhibition, where it was officially received

tion. by Mr. U. F. Wintour, the Commissioner General of the

British Section. The disastrous fire in August had

destroyed the magnificent display of British silks, but

most of the 17 firms who at first participated had

again installed beautiful exhibits, which were much

admired.

It was also decided in this year that ladies actively associated with the sUk trade could become members of the parent Association. The Ladies' National SUk Association, the circumstances leading to the formation of which have already been detailed, is a social body having no trade members, and ladies who have become members of the Association itself are those who in the ordinary way would be inehgible for membership of the Ladies' Association. A special feature of the work of the year 1911 was in the important direction of securing the closer co-operation of manufacturers and distributors, and good results to the industry have followed the steps then taken.

The principal event of 1912 was the holding of a British

Silk Exhibition in London, under the patronage of H.M.

the Queen. A strong list of patronesses was secured

including H.R.H. Princess Christian, who opened the

Exhibition, which was visited by the King and Queen and

other members of the Royal Family. The Exhibition also

Admis- attracted many other distinguished visitors, and it is

sion of satisfactory to be able to record that the income was not

Ladies only sufficient to cover the expenditure, but to leave

to a surplus of about £460, which was handed over to the

Member- funds of the Association. Of this sum, £400 was invested,

ship. the balance being set aside to meet the cost of incorporating

the Association, which has since been carried out. The

year of the Exhibition was also distinguished by the

THE SILK ASSOCIATION.

581

organisation of the members of the Association into sections Incor- including throwsters, spinners, manufacturers, dyers, poration merchants and wholesale and retail distributors. of

One very important matter which has recently been Associa- under consideration has been the question of the tion. adulteration of silk. The Committee appointed to deal with the matter, representative of all branches of the trade, made the following recommendation : —

" That pure silk shall contain no added mineral or

other matter, that it may contain all or part of

its natural gum, and that any unavoidably added

weight caused by the ' bona-fide ' process of

dyeing is permissible."

At a meeting of the Council of the Association held in

Manchester on October 27th, 1914, this recommendation

was unanimously adopted, and a copy of it forwarded

to the Board of Trade.

Perhaps the most important action undertaken by the Association, and one which promises to have the most valuable and far-reaching results for the industry, was the inauguration in March, 1915, of a scheme of scientific research in silk. At first it was decided to raise the necessary funds by an appeal to the London City Guilds for financial help to supplement the subscriptions to be raised from those engaged in the industry, but the estab- hshment by the Government of the Scientific and Industrial Research Advisory Council provided an opportunity for the adequate treatment of this subject, and a Silk Research Committee having been formed, it was resolved that the assistance of the Scientific Advisory CouncU should be invoked on behalf of the venture. The appeal was success- ful, and a three years' course of investigation has been Silk carried out at the Imperial College of Science at a cost Research of £1,000, towards which sum the Government provided Com- £600 and the Association £400. In order to conform with mittee. the conditions laid down by the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, an approved Research Association for the silk industry has been formed. As a result of the formation of this body, research work wiU be carried out on a larger scale, and a sum of £2,000 has been allocated for this purpose.

CHAPTER XLIV.

The Exhibition of 1851.

When we remove ourselves to a sufficient distance from an imposing pile of buildings, or a vast natural object, we are able to estimate truly and to judge correctly of its proportion, importance and relation to other buildings or features of the landscape, although we may have failed to realise these values at a closer view. It is so with the events which make history about which contemporary opinions differ and heated partizans have held fierce debates.

The World's Fair, as the great International Exhibition of 1851 was called, held in London, was such an event. We are now, however, at a sufficient distance from it, in point of time, to be enabled to view the undertaking and its effects in true perspective, and to realise that it was the most original and important sociological and industrial undertaking of the nineteenth century.

The idea of bringing the works and productions of aU

the nations of the earth together for comparison and

peaceful rivalry was a truly regal one, and its carrying

out and consummation was, as the event proved, a marvel

of skilful organisation. Moreover, the after effects of the

Exhibition in many directions were as far reaching and

beneficial as they were unexpected.

A far- The idea of holding an Industrial Exhibition in England

reaching similar to such as had proved successful in France and

Event. Germany was first mooted by Mr. Francis Whishaw,

Secretary of the Society of Arts, at one of the Society's

meetings in November, 1844. Some encouragement was

given to the suggestion, and that gentleman visited the

es2

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851. 583

various centres of industry and endeavoured during several Work months to bring the scheme to a practical issue. He of met, however, with little success, and it was not until Prince the idea had been taken up and expanded to international Consort proportions by his Royal Highness Prince Albert, who had become President of the Society of Arts in the mean- time, that the scheme seemed likely to be carried into effect.

One of the earliest public annoimcements of the proposed Exhibition was made in the Journal of Design* as follows : — " From all we hear, we believe that his Royal Highness, as President of the Society of Arts, is engaged in organising the means of forming a . great collection of the works of industry of all nations, to be exhibited in London in 1851, and that measures are in progress for ascertaining the willingness of our manufacturers to assist in the gigantic undertaking. With this view we believe his Royal Highness has authorised two or three gentlemen to proceed to the manufacturing districts to coUect the opinions of the leading manufacturers and evidence of their desire to assist his Royal Highness in order that the results of this inquiry may be submitted to her Majesty's Government."

Never, perhaps, was a proposal made which at once pro- voked so much pubhc discussion in the press, not only in Great Britain, but through the whole civUised world. A quotation from one specimen of the most reasonable of the opposition effusions may be given, as it no doubt voiced the narrow opinions of a large class of manufacturers of the time. " And it (the scheme) will come to nothing if the people of England will only examine what its effects will be upon native industry, and at once pronounce their A decision, as they ought to do for their own safety, against Subject it."t III the course of an address on the subject of the of Exhibition, a conversation with a French manufacturer World- was quoted by Mr. Hammersley, Master of the Manchester wide School of Design. " The French gentleman said, speaking Dis- of the Designers in a certain town which shall be nameless : cussion,

* Journal of Design, vol. a, p. 44. t Tracts for the Million, no. vn.

584 SILK INDUSTRY.

Attitude ' I understand .that a number of your designers, manu-

of facturers and artizans are not going to exhibit in the

Manu- Great Exhibition in 1851.' I said I thought that was

facturers, hardly correct, as I had never heard in England that

they were not. He said, ' Oh, but it is true.' I thought

it was queer that a man 500 miles from that town should

know them better than myself, and I asked him his reason

for stating what he had said. He replied, ' Because you

dare not exhibit.' That was a stunner to me, to use

anything but classical language, and I told him that

I did not see why they dare not. He said, ' The fact

is you dare not exhibit because by the Exhibition you

will show how much you are indebted to us for what

you do.'"*

The Mayor of Nottingham, f speaking on the subject of the Exhibition, said : " We have acted too much as if we were the only producers of goods, and that mankind must come to our markets. It wiH be made plain that we have able as well as numerous competitors, and that they have not sacrificed quahty to price to the extent that we have done." Again, " It is high time we Enghsh add to our capital and labour a much larger proportion of handicraft skill and good taste."

On July 14th, 1849, a meeting was held at Buckingham

Palace, at which it was decided to ask the Government

to appoint a Boyal Commission to consider the

possibihties of, and, if possible, to carry out the proposed

scheme for exhibiting a collection of the works of all

nations in London in 1851. This Commission, with his

Royal Highness Prince Albert as President, was duly

appointed, and at once commenced work. It was from

the first stipulated that although the Government of the

time agreed to countenance the scheme, no financial

Appoint- help would be given to it, and that all guarantees and

ment of subscriptions were to be of a private and voluntary nature.

Royal In the face of much active and often scurrilous opposition

Com- from one section of manufacturers, the press and the

mission, pubhc, and stolid indifference on the part of others, the

* Speech delivered at Nottingham, October 15th, 1850.

t W. Felkin, F.I.S., author of the History of Machine-Made Lace.

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

585

promoters of the scheme pluckUy set to work and, over- No coming all difl&culties, gradually brought it to perfection Govern- on the appointed day. One writer describes the event ment thus : " On the 1st May punctually to the very day Financial announced so long as sixteen months before, the Exhibition Aid. was opened and submitted to the criticism of the world. .... If in the progress of the great work there has been a httle friction it is now altogether forgotten in the brilliant success of the undertaking. The task was a great one, and even some failures would have been excused; but the success hitherto has been quite unmixed, and has surpassed aU expectations. Perhaps never since the world began have so many well satisfied faces been assembled together as are now daUy congregated in the Crystal Palace. Every one is charmed. As for the opening ceremony, it is pronounced by all as perfect," and so on.

The daily attendances were so large that by the end of the first month, pecuniary success was assured, and discussion at once began as to the disposal of the profits at the end of the Exhibition.

The Times, in a leading article, describes the exhibition thus : " The Great Exhibition has kiUed everything else. The Court, the two Houses of Parhament, the NobUity, the Gentry, the Commonalty, the Army, the Pohce, Carriages, Cabs, and Omnibuses are all dancing attendance upon it. The shops are unfrequented, the places of public amusement are deserted, even the railways lose their summer excursionists, Hampton Court and Greenwich exhibit in vain their horse-chestnuts in bloom and their whitebait in season. We question whether even the great Derby day wiU attract so large a fraction of a million as it usually does. The Exhibition is London, &c., &c."

Of course, the omniscient critics who are ever so ready to deprecate the productions of their own times and their own people took advantage of this opportunity. For Success instance, in a pamphlet on the Great Exhibition called in spite " Stone the First at the Great Glasshouse," the author of writes : " The foreigners have the best of it. The Difficul- Americans have beaten our ships — ^picked our locks, — ties.

586

SILK INDUSTRY.

Caustic the French have utterly routed our attempts at goldsmiths' Criti- work, reduced Jiors de combat our shining wares. The

cism. Austrians have shown us what can be done in carving and

upholstery. Ours has been the workmanship and muscularity, that is all. Nobody doubted we had that. The arts of design and the fine taste that deals with rough materials, alas, as far as we are concerned, are nowhere. The people's mind as at present educated does not admit of it. We are good carpenters, but very bad cabinet makers. We have a world at command, but we have not the divine spirit to reduce it to beauty."

At the reception of the Foreign Commissioners by his Royal Highness, Prince Albert, on the 14th April, 1851, M. Salandronge de la Mornaix was deputed to express the sentiments of the Governments severally represented. In his energetic expressions of their respect, the Commissary told the Prince that " Thanks to the influence of her Majesty and his Royal Highness, the era of barbarous warfare might be considered as terminated, but new lists for combat were offered to the world, in the struggle of progress and civilisation to overthrow by their over- whelming moral force the remains of former antipathies and prejudices."

Of course, it has long been evident that both the optimistic and pessimistic prophecies of the effects, local and universal, of the Exhibition were falsified by quickly following events. But, broadly speaking, it may be A claimed for this Great International object lesson that it

Great was the first time in history that the idea of the possibility Object or even the desirability of the friendship of nations, and Lesson. the advantages of their interdependancy in art and manu- facture, had been practically demonstrated. This tempting general subject of discussion must, however, be declined as irrelevant to our subject, for it is the effect, for good or ill, of the Exhibition, on British manufactures, especially on that of silk, which has to be considered in this work. From the first rumour that an International Industrial Exhibition was proposed to be held in England, the idea was welcomed and eagerly taken up by foreign manu- facturers, but especially was this the case in France, where

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

587

the British market for French silks was considered to be of great importance.

In order to incite British manufacturers to emulation, reports from foreign centres were translated and pubUshed in England by the promoters of the Exhibition. From one of these reports a paragraph, part of a speech on the subject given by M. Dupin,* may be quoted as exemplifying the prevalent feeling in France on the matter. Speaking of silk goods in particular, M. Dupin said : " I now come to the most briUiant of our textile products, to the maiiufacture of silks. Notwithstanding the high duty which England ■ continues to levy on French silk goods, which is a flattering admission, we have here the propor- tions which England buys from us in comparison with the rest of the world " :

Woven Silks in France.

	To	To all
Figured Silks.	England.	Countries.
Figured Silks	20	100
Plain SUks	47	100
Silk Ribands	57	100
Silk Mixed Goods	50	100
Silk Lace	51	100
Fancy Goods	56	100

According to the above table, it wiU be seen that nearly half the sUk goods manufactured in France were bought by England. It was not surprising, therefore, that the French manufacturers readUy took advantage of this opportunity offered them of showing in London the products of their looms under such favourable circumstances.

It was probably such reports as these that eventually induced the Silk Manufacturers of London to overcome their scruples and consent to offer their woven silks for exhibition on equal terms with those of their traditional rivals, although they had at the outset announced their intention of abstaining.

The reasons of this reluctance to exhibit were various, but the chief one appears to have been the fear that some

* Extract of address o£ M. Dupin ; translated and published by Westminster Social Committee.

The

Rivalry of France.

Attitude

of

British

Silk

Industry.

588

SILK INDUSTRY.

The relaxations of the duties charged on foreign goods admitted

Rivalry into this country would result from their exhibition on of equal terms with those produced in England. This

France. timidity was the natural result of long periods of pro- hibition and heavy duties which, according to the best authorities of the time, demoralised the trade and rendered it panic stricken at the least sign of relaxation. Few, if any, efforts had been made by manufacturers to improve English silken goods, either technically or in point of design, although no pains had been spared in order to imitate foreign goods and to cheapen their manufacture so as to undersell the foreigners' high priced materials and at the same time yield a good profit to the manufacturer.

The higher branches of the trade, in which design and colour were of course all important, had by the London manufacturers, been for the most part, abandoned to the French. Except in the growing power-loom industry of the North, almost all enterprise or enthusiasm had ceased to exist. Although it was stUl estimated that there were between fourteen and fifteen thousand silk A Low weavers in the East of London, they were languidly Grade engaged in weaving low grades of work which could be Home made by children, or equally well produced on power- Industry, looms.

The high prices at which French silken materials were sold in London were obtained because they alone had any pretensions to refinement of design and beauty of colour. The high prices given, and the great demand for these goods, do not seem to have inspired the Spitalfields manufacturers to emulation to any appreciable extent. They probably found it much easier and more profitable as well as immediately advantageous to supply the demand 'for cheap grades of plain or quite simple fancy silks to suit the tastes and pockets of the consumers who could not afford to purchase high priced fashionable goods of French make. Under these conditions, the desire and, consequently, the ability of Spitalfields to produce fine goods in sUk, such as those for which the district had originally won its reputation, were becoming less and less.

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851. 589

Referring to the decay of the Silk trade in England at Low the time of the Exhibition, a contemporary writer says : Grade " Of late years there has been a constant tendency to Home avoid the production of decorated silks and to pay more Industry, attention to those of a plain character. This has arisen since the time when restrictive duties were taken off French silks ; and the manufacturer who formerly depended on his clandestine means for obtaining patterns of these fancy productions and using them as designs for his own trade was compelled to forego his piracies and depend upon some original source. Now, unfortunately, he had altogether neglected the cultivation of the taste and talent around him, and in his hour of need the slender artistic means, which he had been compelled to provide for the purpose of copjdng, failed him as a source of that originality by which alone he could now hope to stand.

" The disquietude, therefore, of the Silk manufacturers of this country, and more particularly of Spitalfields, is to be accounted for by the fact that they were totally unprepared for such a competition as that in which they were called upon to take part. Having been so long used to depend upon others rather than themselves, they were certainly not in the best possible condition to exert themselves with any effect."

Fortunately, however, though thus decayed, the old spirit and handicraft cunning of the Spitalfields weavers were not quite extinct, and the Master Weavers, having been persuaded to consent to enter the lists in competition with their foreign rivals, set to work and though the time was short., acquitted themselves well. The result of their efforts, when displayed at the Exhibition, was surprisingly successful, not only in the quantity and variety of the goods displayed, but in their technique and design when compared with the silk works of other nations.

In an article describing the Exhibition in its different A sections, the reporter of the Illustrated London News wrote : Stimulus " There are few departments of the Exhibition which to Spital- will be examined with more interest than that of the Silk fields. Manufacture, since it is one of those in which the well-known

590 SILK INDUSTRY.

reputation and well-tried skill of our French neigh- bours will subject us to the severest test. Many well- meaning and intelligent persons believed that in the Silk trade, if in no other departments of manufacture, the Exhibition would have a fatal tendency, since it would inevitably show us the poverty of our own productions, especially in an artistic point of view." Support Manchester and Coventry seem to have been the only from places, as regards the Silk trade, where the idea of the

Man- Exhibition was acted upon from the first with enthusiasm.

Chester The reason of this attitude on their part was, no doubt, and their having adopted the power-loom in conjunction

Coventry, with the Jacquard machine for the weaving of low grade silks and silk mixed goods. They did not expect to excel so much in artistic merit as in the low prices of their goods.

In spite of all obstacles and forebodings, there is ample evidence that the British Silk Section of the Exhibition made a much better show than might have been, or indeed was, expected. In quantity, judging from the hst of exhibits in the catalogue, England and France, together sent about half the total number of silk fabrics shown in the proportion of one-third English and two-thirds French.

The correspondent of the Illustrated London News describes the SUk Section in detail thus : —

" Ascending the first staircase on the south side of the western nave, the examples of British Silk Manu- facture will be found to occupy the gallery at the head of the stairs north and south. The Spitalfields or Metropolitan silks and the Coventry ribbons being dis- played in glass cases next the nave, and the Macclesfield and Manchester productions in a parallel fine on the other side of the staircase. Nearly every class of silk goods is represented, and manufacturers and wholesale and retail Opinions dealers are strangely enough found in competition or at of least in comparison with each other. Messrs. Campbell and

Contem- Harrison show excellent examples of figured moire antiques, porary damasks, rich brocades, and velvets ; Stone and Kemp, Critics. a rich assortment of plain and fancy silks ; Isaac Boyde

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

591

sends excellent samples of silk furniture damasks, and An other houses keep up the reputation of Spitalfields for Account parasol silks, Gros de Naples, satins and velvets.* Two of Silk specimens exhibited by the Spitalfields School of Design Section, as productions of pupils of that institution are practical Olustrations of its utihty when properly directed. The crowning representation, however, of Spitalfields is the trophy in the Central Avenue. The structure consists of an arrangement of mirrors and curtains, the latter being of the richest furniture silk damasks of well selected designs in the richest colours. The trophy is erected in three tiers, and rises to a height of forty feet, above which are placed flags and a banner. In the second and third tiers the silks of smaller pattern are arranged. . . . Great credit is due to Messrs. Keith and Co. for the spirit and energy they have displayed in taking up this costly illustration of their trade single-handed, and the examples of silk of which it is formed are, with a few exceptions, equally creditable to their skill and taste in manu- facture.

" Messrs. J. Holdsworth and Co. are the principal exhib- itors of silk from Manchester. A large silk banner is noteworthy as being woven entirely from silk grown and spun in England. Their power-loom woven silks are specially interesting."

Several other exhibitors are mentioned in this article, and the writer concludes with a reference to the Coventry ribbons, particularly describing the ribbon manufactured especially for the Exhibition, its cost being defrayed by a town subscription.

By reading through the mass of narrative and criticism, laudatory and otherwise, which of course abounded in the newspapers and magazines of the time, a more or less clear idea can be formed of the general effect and heterogeneous nature of the vast collection of industrial exhibits. From the mass of material three reports may An be selected as specially interesting in their references Account to Silk Manufacture at the Exhibition. These are : (1) of Silk " A Lady's Glance at the Great Exhibition " : (2) " The Section.

* For a list of firms exhibiting see Appendix.

592 SILK INDUSTRY.

Exhibition as a Lesson of Taste* " ; (3) " A Report made for the Institute of France by two French gentlemen sent to England for the purpose."f A The lady begins her report of the Silk Section with a

Woman's general description of the exhibits and a comparison of Criticism, the EngHsh specimens with those of France : " My personal investigation of the various descriptions of silk in the Exhibition having commenced in that department of the South GaUery entirely set aside for the productions of the Spitalfields looms, it is to them that I wish now to direct the attention of my readers. Having been frequently informed of the great advantages possessed by the manu- facturers of Lyons in the climate and water (used for the purposes of dyeing), which enable them to produce a brilliancy and perfection unattainable in England, I was fuUy prepared to see even the best of our British silks excelled in effect by their foreign competitors. In the French department there are certainly some plain satins, and Gros de Naples, the chief illustration of which consists iu their bright and vivid tints, and which are in this respect unequalled, but, as the Enghsh exhibitors have in general selected for exposition pieces possessing so much elegance of design as to render them less dependent on colour for their beauty, the effect produced by them on my mind was one of unmingled admiration. I think that those ladies who have from patriotic feelings systematically patronised the productions of their own country wiU be enabled to pursue their principle without any sacrifice of taste or inclination."

The writer then gives a detailed and interesting description of the brocades designed by the students of the Spitalfields School of Design. She writes : " On two Spital- silk dresses contained in glass case 16, and exhibited by fields Mr. Dear, I shall have to touch longer than I have on any

School that have yet passed under review. They are, in my of opinion, almost the Chef d'Oeuvres of Spitalfields, and

Design, I must recommend them to all lady visitors to the

* By R. M. Wornum — a prize essay written for the Art Journal lUuatrated Catalogue for which a price of a hundred guineas was awarded. '

t Translated and published in the Illustrated London Newa

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851. 593

Exhibition. They are made by Campbell and Harrison, A and designed by the pupils of the Spitalfields School of Woman's Design, to whose successful progress they bear ample Criticism, testimony. The pattern in both dresses is the same. It consists of bouquets of rather small flowers connected with each other, and this forming elegant stripes. The ground is of ribbed silk, in one instance white and in the other black, the effect of both bemg equally beautiful. The material appears to be of the thickest and richest texture, but entirely devoid of that stiff unyielding appearance often presented by silks of premiere qualite, which although looking as if they could justify the usual encomium and certainly ' stand alone,' appear also likely to resist every attempt made to impart grace or elegance to their folds. I am informed that a dress of the pattern just described either has been or will be presented to the Queen, whose steady patronage of British manu- factures has so essentially benefited this class of her subjects. ... In case 27 is a silk the property of Howell and Co., the pecuharity of which is that it is watered in the loom, or rather that the effect of watering is given by alternations of silk and satin, the narrow stripes of which foUow the pattern usually given by the process of watering. On this ground i« brocaded a large pattern in green and lilac. The tout ensemble, though it must be called hand- some, is somewhat too showy to suit the taste of ladies in general. . . . Messrs. Carter, Vavaseur and Bix (No. 50) have among other contributions a brocade dress, which, being somewhat of a novelty as well as being very pretty, it would be unjust to omit from my list. The ground is dark blue, adorned with a pattern of leaves and tendrils in gold colour satin. The designer appears to have been ambitious of producing an effect of more than ordinary excellence, since, not contented with the simple repre- Praise sentation of leaves, he has also successfully imitated their for shadows. This is done in Gros de Naples of a shade English rather deeper than that of the prominent leaf. . . ." Exhibits.

Amongst the French silks, the writer notices " two dresses, pink and green with scalloped flounces ornamented with bouquets very elegant . . . crimson and black

»p

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SILK INDUSTRY.

French brocades, and one with a white ground and a small palm Silks. • leaf pattern in blue. ... A portrait of the Pope woven to imitate an engraving and bearing an inscription with the information that it was woven at Lyons in 1848 * In syn di profonde reneraxione.' . . . One of the most elegant brocades in the building has a white ground, thickly covered with a pattern of delicate green. Part of the front breadth, however, is woven of a much darker shade of green in imitation of a petticoat from which the dress is represented as being looped back at intervals by bunches of flowers. The effect is admirably given, and at a distance one would not easily suppose it to be one flat surface. . . . Handsome as are many of the materials already noticed, they completely sink into insignificance when compared with some moire antique shot with gold and silver. Of these dresses, the most magnificent I ever saw, there are four specimens in different colours — ^white, yeUow, pink and green. The last is shot with silver and forms a most beautiful material conceivable for Court or full dress. . . . More pictures and portraits of which," the writer no doubt with truth says, " the utmost praise that could be awarded them would only be to compare them with very inferior engravings." The lady writer was disappointed with the French velvets, but considered the Genoa velvets to be unrivalled. Clumsy It is interesting to note how frequently the terms " good

Designs taste " and " elegance " are mentioned by all writers as and crude essential quahties in architecture, furniture and dress at the Colours, period in which the Exhibition was held, and how little of these essentials were exemplified in the works with which the Exhibition was crowded. Not only from the report of the Lady writer above quoted is this to be gathered, but from actual specimens of both French and English textiles — especially silks — a few of which remain, out of the many bought by the Commissioners from the exhibits, in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum. These are almost without exception debased by clumsiness and inap- propriateness of design as well as extreme crudity of colour. In Mr. R. N. Wornum's essay on the subject of " The Exhibition as a Lesson in Taste," he says : " It is evident

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

595

that taste must be a paramount agent in all competitions Lack involving ornamental design when the means and methods of of production are equally advantageous ; but when this Origin- is not the case, the chances are still very greatly in favour ality. of taste over mere mechanical facihty, provided low price be not a primary object." After a general discussion of style and ornamentation and a survey of the various classes of objects in the International collection, the writer draws the conclusion that " There is nothing new in the Exhibition in ornamental design ; not a scheme, not a detail that has not been treated over and over again in ages that are gone ; that the taste of the producers is generally uneducated, and that in nearly all cases where this is not so the influence of France is paramoimt in the European productions ; they are designed almost exclusively in the two most popular traditional styles of that country, the Italian Renaissance and the Louis Quinze — with more or less variation in the treatment of details. There are very few designs of any European country that do not come within the range of these two styles. The few Greek — so called — specimens and the Gothic samples in the singularly styled Mediaeval Court are almost the only exceptions as regards European design. . . . All the most able designers of Italy, France, Austria, Belgium and England have selected this (Renaissance) style for the exhibition of their skill ... in silks, satins, ribbons and in shawls, there does not appear any very evident disparity, but it is notable that many of the best Lyons' specimens are manufactured for English houses." In an article on the textiles in the Exhibition, the writer of the Art Journal Catalogue, says : " In shawls, silks, damasks, laces, carpets, etc., it would be difiicult to pronounce any decided opinion as to superiorities ; we venture to assert, however, that no ribbon in the Exhibition can compare with the ' Coventry ' ribbon, woven from Praise a design of Mr. Clack, of the Coventry School of for Design." Coventry

The third critic's description of the Exhibition referred Ribbons, to originated thus : — At an early stage of the Great Exhibition, the Institute of France deputed two of its

596

SILK INDUSTRY.

British members, the eminent pohtical economists, MM, Michel and Chevaher and A. Blanqui, to examine and report upon

French the great undertaking. The following is taken from a digest Exhibits of the lengthy report drawn up by M. Blanqui. In the com- opening remarks, speaking of the Exhibition generally,

pared. the opinion is expressed that " Never was a finer opportunity afforded for the study of the phenomena of production and distribution of wealth throughout the world." After a description of the building in which the collections were housed, which filled them with admiration, the report proceeds : " The Enghsh nation has allotted to itself half the space contained in this magnificent two-decked vessel ; the other half has been distributed among the other nations. . . . One important matter was wanting in the catalogue, viz., the prices of the objects exhibited, . , . The first fact noticeable was that France and England appeared as the two great rivals, and aU the other nations seemed to be present as witnesses to the contest for supremacy. As far as mechanical processes go, France and England seem to be about equal. .... But when we quit the domain of the mechanical arts and enter that of taste, the difference and the genius peculiar to each nation immediately begin to be felt. The Universal Exhibition has brought to fight this fact to the honour of France, and has furnished us with new arguments in favour of commercial freedom. . . ," A critical review of the manufactures of England is then made, which ends thus : " The distinctive nature of the Exhibition of English products is strength, sohdity and extent. All the elements of material wealth are there displayed in a methodical order from coal to the most complicated machinery. . . . But it is in the manufacture of woven fabrics of every kind that France has displayed a power and flexibility of production which are incom- parable. ... In the manufacture of silks, Lyons has even surpassed itself at the Great Exhibition. . . . The true prosperity of our country, therefore, rests upon the progressive development of her natural industries, that Lyons is to say, on nearly all the arts on which skilfulness of Silks. hand and purity of taste are able to exert their influence."

THE EXHIBITION OF 1851.

597

" To these alone France owes the high position she Lyons has taken this year at the Universal Exhibition. They Silks. only require air and hght for their extention ; they form the foundation of the manufacturing power of France, and rest upon the firm, imperishable basis of national genius instead of existing by rule and artifices like those under the control of machinery and capital."

So far as can be estimated, at this distance of time, from the illustrations in newspapers, magazines and catalogues, as weU as from descriptive reports, the superiority of the French exhibits — ^in the silk department at least — ^was more in imagination than fact. But, however it may have been in the middle of the nineteenth century, the developments of recent years have clearly shown that France has had no exclusive possession of sMll or taste either in Art or handicraft, as will be demonstrated in the succeeding chapter on the Arts and Crafts movement in relation to Silk Manufacture.

Before quitting the subject of the 1851 Exhibition, it is worthy of notice that although there were in the Indian and other Oriental sections of the collection fine specimens of Textile Art and Craft — especially of ornamental silken and woollen goods — ^little notice was taken of them by the critics or the pubhc. This is more remarkable when we consider that the influence of Oriental art, both at previous and succeeding periods, has been so great and so beneficial. One reference, indeed, was made by a writer when describing the shawls of Paisley — ^woven by means of a Jacquard machine in imitation of the shawls of India — ^to the effect Paisley that the designs of Paisley were better in detail than and those of Cashmere, although the general effect was not Indian perhaps quite so good. Shawls.

The Great International Exhibition came to a close in the October of 1851, after being in many respects a huge success. The organisation seems to have been almost perfect, although trouble began when the difficult matter of awarding the prizes came to be dealt with.* The attendances of the public were so vast that a surplus

* The prize lists were not published till after the close of the Exhibition, and the system of awarding them seems to have given great dissatisfaction.

598 SILK INDUSTRY.

of three hundred thousand pounds remained in the hands of the Commissioners after all expenses had been paid. By the Exhibition a great impetus was given to British manufacture in its higher branches, and in the Silk Trade this was particularly the case. A few of the Spitalfields Silk Manufacturers discovered that if they exerted them- selves they could produce goods that were equal to those of their traditional rivals the French, and so took heart to continue the endeavour still further to improve their manufacture, both in technical and artistic quaUties. That they were particularly successful in the case of the furniture silk and rich dress material* branches of the trade, suc- ceeding Exhibitions have clearly demonstrated.

• For men's wear.

CHAPTER XLV.

The Arts and Crafts Movement in Relation to British Silk Manufacture.

The germinating idea which found expression in the Exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Society, held in London in 1888, had characterised industrial activity throughout the first half of the nineteenth century, and had been exemplified in full activity at the World's Fair of 1851.

It cannot be denied that, early in the century, architecture and all the arts attendant upon it had fallen into a state of lifeless classicism and degraded utilitarianism. The few persons — and they were very few — who claimed to have judgment in matters of taste, were the sole patrons as well as the professors of art ; and even these had no appreciation of any but lifeless imitations and degenerate replicas of the works of a past age. The general pubhc, especially the trading and manufacturing classes, were obsessed by admiration and astonishment at the achievements of mechanical and scientific invention and its application to manufacture, locomotion and the development of material prosperity. They, therefore, had no time or desire for the cultivation of aesthetic delights. All the legal regula- tions and safeguards touching the relations of masters and men had fallen into disuse, and in the early years of the nineteenth century were repealed. So little was skilled labour in demand that the working classes were for the most part steeped in poverty and hopeless degra- dation, the consequence of low wages and fierce competition amongst themselves.

Chief among the early signs of the renaissance of art in England were the revival of a taste for Gothic

099

Influence of me- chanical inven- tions.

600

SILK INDUSTRY.

Architecture, owing to the influence of Pugin, and the original work of Turner, the sturdy self-rehant father of natural English landscape painting. Next to Turner and Pugin came the band of enthusiastic young painters known Pre- as the pre-Raphael Brotherhood, chief amongst whom

Raphael was Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The prophet of this new Brother- movement was Ruskin, who, in 1843, while yet an under- hood. graduate at Oxford, pubhshed the first volume of his great

work, " Modern Painters," which at once took its place in the front rank of Critical Art Literature. In the preface to this noble book, the author stated that it was begun as a vindication of the work of Turner in face of the storm of hostile criticism with which the conventional critics of the day were in the habit of greeting each new pro- duction of the great painter. One passage may be quoted : —

" But the public taste seems plunging deeper and

deeper into degradation day by day, and when

the Press universally exerts such power as it

possesses to direct the feehng of the nation more

completely to aU that is theatrical, affected and

false in art ; while it vents its ribald buffooneries

on the most exalted truth and the highest ideal

in landscape, that this or any other age has ever

witnessed, it becomes the imperative duty of all

who have any perception or knowledge of what

is great in art, and any desire for its advancement

in England to come fearlessly forward, regardless

of such individual interests as are likely to be

inspired by the knowledge of what is good and

right, to declare and demonstrate wherever they

exist, the essence and authority of the Beautiful

and the True."

Influence The influence of Ruskin not only on the professional

of exponents of art, but on the pubhc taste during the

Ruskin. nineteenth century was incalculable. His influence was

for good, because he undeviatingly pursued the course

definitely indicated in the beginning of his first work,

from the preface of which the above quotation was

taken.

Plate LIIL

WiUiam Morris.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 601

One instance of the importance of Ruskin's work was Influence its effect on the enthusiastic coterie of undergraduates of who became associated in a life-long friendship at Oxford Ruskin. between the years 1853-1855 ; and to whose persistent devotion to the principles then and there adopted the world owes the inception and development of the Arts and Crafts Movement.

At the end of January, 1853, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones met within three days of their arrival at Oxford. Morris came from Walthamstow, where he was born in 1834, and Burne-Jones from Birmingham. Within a week they became inseparable friends. In a short time a little group of undergraduates, congenial spirits, was formed around them, which some years later, with the addition of Rossetti, founded the firm of Morris and Company, Fine Art workmen in painting, carving, furniture and metals. It is remarkable that the friendships thus formed at Oxford lasted, in spite of many vicissitudes, until the death of Morris in 1896 ; this was owing no doubt to the astonishing personahty and fascination of Morris himself, who was always the central figure of the group.

Originally both Morris and Burne-Jones intended to enter the Church ; accordingly, theology and literature were their first studies at Oxford, but soon the intention of taking holy orders was abandoned, and painting, architec- ture, Gothic decoration and illuminating took places along with literature in their daily interests, and in aU these studies the writings of Ruskin, as Morris's biographer says, "were gospel and creed" to them.* The same writer says that " it was from Ruskin's Edinburgh lectures that Morris and Burne-Jones first heard the name of Morris Rossetti and the Pre-Raphaelite school of painters from and which they received and to which they imparted so pro- Burne- found an influence." Jones.

Although the Arts and Crafts Movement was particularly associated with the name and personahty of Morris, it must not be forgotten that by the time Morris and Company

* Mackail, Life of WiUiam Morris, Longman, Green and Co.

602

8ILK INDTISTRY.

Revival started their business venture in Red Lion Square, London,

of there had arisen a certain demand for more artistic work

Gothic in many departments of manufacture than could readily

Taste. be supplied. The revival of Gothic architecture and

decoration, and the " Oxford movement," with its

insistence on gorgeous ritual, furniture and vestments

in religious worship, had contributed to this demand, and

the " application," as it was called, of Art to Manufacture

was exercising the minds not only of the amateurs of

Art, but of business men, who began to see that there

was " money in it." Government schools of Art and

Design were being requisitioned and founded in different

centres of industry, and the terms and catch words of

the studios were made familiar to a wider circle by the

publicity given to the new movement in the Press.

Although there was abundant evidence at the Exhibition of 1851 of the virihty and extensive scope of British manufactures, there was, as pointed out in the last chapter, little evidence of any revival of the art of decorative design, or of judgment and taste in the use of colour, throughout the huge collection of ornamented objects shown. Nor was this peculiar to the British Section, but applied to all European nations, as far as can be gathered at this distance of time. One writer describes the general effect of the display as " one of over ornamentation and crudity of colour," and judging from the illustrations in catalogues and magazines of specially representative exhibits, this criticism was just. The numerous works in the silk classes of aU sections, as will have been gathered from the previous chapter, were particularly open to the above charges. Design The only signs of the revival of the arts of design in

at 1851 England to be found at the Exhibition of 1851 were in Exhibi- the Furniture of the Mediaeval Court, which, according tion. to a writer in the Art Journal, " formed one of the most

striking features of the Exhibition, and attracted a great deal of attention."* The design of these articles, which were mostly pieces of Church Furniture, were by Pugin,

* It is true this was not a unanimous opinion.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 603

and the execution was by Mr. Grace. The illustrations Design given of some of these objects testify to the justness of at 1851 this opinion. It is evident that church decoration was Exhibi- the first department of art work to be affected by the tion. new movement, and accordingly we find that the earliest improvements in the design of Silk; textiles were to be seen in materials intended for use as church hangings and ecclesiastical vestments.

The International Exhibition held in Paris in 1855 does not seem to have shown much improvement in the Silk department of the British Section ; in fact the interest taken in it by the Silk manufacturers of England was very languid. There were only thirty British exhibitors in the whole section, but as soon as the arrangements for a second Exhibition to take place in England in 1862 were announced, interest seems to have revived, and the improvement displayed in the technique, design and colouring of the silken webs of all kinds which were shown at that Exhibition, was very remarkable as compared with the exhibits of 1851.

It was arranged by the Society of Arts, acting in con- junction with the Royal Commissioners, that the Inter- national Exhibition of 1862 should not be a repetition of that of 1851, at which no restrictions were made as to the quality and kind of goods admitted, but that it should be an Exhibition of works selected for their excellence, illustrating especially the progress of industry and art. Silk at and arranged according to classes rather than to countries. Exhibi- Foreigners were to be admitted on the same terms as the tion of British. Of the Silk Section, which it was agreed by all 1862. reporters, showed a great advance in merit, a writer in the Art Journal speaks highly, but singles out for special notice the exhibits of Messrs. Daniel Walters and Sons, of London, which consisted of " Furniture silks in great variety of texture and design." The writer goes on to say that " This firm have long been leading manufacturers of this important class of fabrics at their mills at Braintree and Notley in Essex. We give illustrations of four examples of their very beautiful productions, copied for the most part from natural leaves and flowers." On

604

SILK INDUSTRY.

Silk at another page of the catalogue some works of the same

Exhibi- firm are reproduced with this description : " This column

tion of contains engravings of two of the damask silks for furniture

1862. manufactured and exhibited by Messrs. Daniel Walters

and Son. They are of the highest quality in manufacture,

and successfully compete with the best productions of

the Continent. The designs are in all cases of considerable

excellence, and in various styles, but are generally quiet

in colour and pattern. Messrs. Walters are, we believe,

the most extensive manufacturers in England of these

productions."

Other manufacturers showed silken materials of designs and colouring, which testified to a revival of decorative art, that was taking place in all branches of manufacture.

The report of the Jury in the Silk Section stated that " Our silk manufacturers have made remarkable progress since 1851 in aU that constitutes superiority. Whether in design, colour, or texture, or in all combined, we com- pare the specimens of Silks in the Enghsh department with what were exhibited in that year, the improvement is immense. To single out any for special notice would be to make an invidious distinction where there is so much general excellence. The articles in which this improvement is perhaps most obvious are moire antiques, and fancy goods of almost every variety that is exhibited. But if all this applies to broad goods, much more so does it to the ribbon branch. Coventry has made strides for which we were not prepared, and their portion of the Exhibition rivets the attention of the most careless visitors, be they natives or foreigners. In no respect are they, as a whole, inferior to those of St. Etienne, while, as com- pared with the productions of Switzerland and the ZoUverein, they are much superior." Later in the report, referring to the different varieties of plain silk goods which are spoken of very highly, the "jurors say: "Buyers of Improve- all nations have already availed themselves of the ments opportunity of comparison which the present Exhibition in affords, and texture for texture and value for value,

English it cannot be gainsaid that these goods of English pro- Silks, duction are evener. more free from knots and floss, and

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 605

generally cheaper than foreign silks of the same nominal Improve- character." ments

Similar reports were made of the British SUk Exhibits in in the Paris International Exhibition of 1867, but it will English be sufficient to quote a few lines from the official report Silks, of that Exhibition, which shows the remarkable progress made between the years 1851 and 1867 in the developing of the Silk trade in Great Britain :

" Since the year 1851, the Enghsh silk trade has made great progress, notwithstanding the many difficulties which beset its path. Between the years 1850 and 1861, the number of silk factories in the United Kingdom increased from 277 in the former year to 771 in the latter." This increase in the number of factories, although showing, as it does, that the silk manufacturers were adapting them- selves to modern conditions, does not indicate as great an increase of trade as would appear, for side by side with the growth of the factories, the decline of the system of domestic manufacture took place as we have already seen. The important fact, however, is made clear by these reports that the quality of British silk goods, both from a technical and an artistic point of view, was steadily improving.

In the Decorative Art Section of the catalogue of the Decora- Exhibition of 1862 is found the name of the firm of Morris, tive Marshall, Faulkner and Co., and in the volume of reports Art of the juries, the following reference to their work is made : — " Messrs. Morris and Co. have exhibited several pieces of furniture tapestry,* etc., in the style of the Middle Ages. The general forms of the furniture, the arrangement of the tapestry and the character of the details are satisfactory to the archaeologist, from the exactness of the imitation, and at the same time the general effect is most excellent."

The story of the circumstances which led to the estab- lishment of this firm, so closely associated with the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society of London, which was formed several years later, is given fully in the biography

* These fabrics were of course embroideriea. It was not till many years afterwards that Morris took up tapestry weaving.

606 SILK INDUSTRY.

Decora- of Morris, already referred to, and is full of interest, but, tive as it is not essential to the present history, must be passed

Art. over with a short notice. The actual association of the

members of the firm began on the 11th of April, 1861, and, to quote from the biography : " Seldom has a business been started on a smaller capital. Each of the members held one share, on which they paid £1. On this and on an unsecured loan of £100 from Mrs. Morris, of Leyton, the first year's trading was done. Premises were taken from Lady Day, 1861, at 8, Red Lion Square. . . . The ground floor of the house was occupied by a working jeweller ; the firm rented the first floor for an office and show-room, and the third floor, with part of the basement, for workshops." The circular issued by the new firm is so interesting and informative that it is necessary to quote freely from it. It is headed " Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co., Fine Art Workmen in Painting, Carving, Furniture and Metals." The names of eight of the members of the firm then follow in alphabetical order, and it proceeds : " The growth of Decorative Art in this country, owing to the efforts of English Architects, has now reached a point at which it seems desirable that artists of reputation should devote their time to it. Although no doubt particular instances of success may be cited, still it must be generally felt that attempts of this kind have hitherto been crude and fragmentary. Up to this time, the want of artistic supervision, which can alone bring about harmony between the various parts of a successful work, has been increased by the necessarily excessive outlay, conse- quent on taking an individual artist from his pictorial labours. " The artists whose names appear above hope by association to do away with this difficulty. ... It is anticipated that by co-operation the largest amount of what is essentially the artists' work, along with the constant supervision, will be secured at the smallest possible expense, while the work done must necessarily be of a much more complete order, than if any single The artist were incidentally employed in the usual manner.

New " These artists having been for many years deeply

Spirit. attached to the study of the Decorative Arts of all times

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 607

and countries, have felt more than most people the want The of some one place, where they could either obtain or get New produced work of a genuine and beautiful character. Spirit. They have, therefore, now established themselves as a firm, for the production by themselves and under their supervision of —

1. Mural Decoration, either in pictures or in Pattern Work, or merely in the arrangement of colours as applied to dwelling houses, churches, or public buildings.

2. Carving generally as apphed to architecture.

3. Stained glass, especially with reference to its harmony with mural decoration.

4. Metal work in all its branches, including jewellery.

5. Furniture, either depending for its beauty on its own design, on the apphcation of materials hitherto over- looked, or on its conjunction with Figure and Pattern painting. Under this head is included embroidery of all kinds, stamped leather, and ornamental work in other materials, besides every article necessary for domestic use.

"It is requisite to state further, that work of all the above classes will be estimated for, and executed in a business-like manner ; and it is believed that good decoration, involving rather the luxury of taste than the luxury of costliness will be found to be much less expensive than is generally supposed."

It is amusing to note the superior and grandiloquent tone of this circular and the magnitude of its promises* in comparison with the inexperience of the firm and the insignificance of the capital invested in it. It was not surprising, therefore, that the advent of Morris and Co. was the cause of much ridicule, criticism and jealousy on the part of many established firms of decorators of the time. But in spite of opposition and lack of capital, the virility and freshness of the work produced by the Work firm, the versatility of the members of the firm, especially of the of Morris himself,t and the general revival of pubhc Morris interest in decorative art enabled the Company to overcome School.

* Mr. Maekail attributes this to Rossetti, who, although not a member of the firm, was the trusted adviser of the young men at the beginning.

t Not only so, but Morris was independent of the business for his livelihood, and was able to finance the firm when necessary.

608

SILK INDUSTRY.

Work its first difficulties and carried it forward with increasing of the success year by year.

Morris The spirit of adventure and daring which is evidenced

School. by the circular, and the inevitable subordination of craft to art, which resulted from the members of the firm being aU artists only by training, proved to be both the strength and weakness of the firm. This has also been the case with the numerous associations which have made up what has since been known as the Arts and Crafts Move- ment. They were strong because of the enthusiasm which was daunted by no technical difficulties, and weak because the artist was naturally inchned to be satisfied with an aesthetic effect, and too apt to neglect the fundamental quahty of technical perfection necessary to aU works of industrial art.

A more forcible and characteristic example of the fatal disadvantage of a neglect of technical knowledge could not be given than that furnished by an important piece of decorative work impulsively undertaken by Rossetti, Morris, and some of their artist friends, some of whom afterwards formed the Company as just described.

Rossetti's friend, Benjamin Woodward, architect, was engaged in building a debating Hall for the Union Society at Oxford. The hall was just roofed in, and the authorities agreed with the architect that the painted decoration of the roof and walls should be entrusted to Rossetti, who was at liberty to choose his assistants for the work. As soon as this was settled, Rossetti enlisted Morris, Burne-Jones and four other young artists to begin the work at once. Morris's biographer says in his account of the under- taking : Art and- " The story of these paintings, of which the mouldering

Technical and undecipherable remains still ghmmer like faded

Training. ghosts on the walls of the Union Library, is one of

work hastily undertaken, executed under impossible conditions, and finally abandoned after time and labour had been spent on it quite disproportionate to the original design. A scheme of mural decoration which was practically new in England, and which involved the most careful preparation

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 609

and the most complete forethought, was rushed Art and

into with a Ught heart; all difficulties were Technical

ignored, and many of the most obvious precautions Training.

neglected. None of the painters engaged in it

had then any practical knowledge of the art of

mural painting, nor do they seem to have thought

that any kind of colour could not be applied to

any kind of surface. The tradition of the art of

fresco painting was then so whoUy lost,* that

paintings in distemper were commonly spoken

of as frescoes, and were expected to last as a fresco

painting would. The walls were newly built,

and the mortar was damp. Each of the spaces

to be painted over was pierced by two circular

windows, and the effect on the design as weU as on

the hghting of the pictures may be imagined.

No ground whatever was laid over the brickwork,

except a coat of whitewash, and on this the colour

was to be laid with a small brush, Uke water-colour

on paper."

It is needless to pursue in detail this sad story, which

inevitably ended in failure. Before six months were

completed, the picture entrusted to Morris had so faded

that nothing plainly appeared but a soUtary head above

a row of sunflowers, and aU the other pictures were in

more or less the same condition.

It could not, of course, for a moment be implied that Strength in the work which Morris and his associates afterwards and imdertook, the technical side was as hght-heartedly Weak- ignored as it seems to have been in this first disastrous ness experiment ; but it cannot be denied that even if Morris of the himself gave sufficient consideration to the craftsmanship Move- of the various kinds of work to which he from time to ment. time devoted himself so ardently, the general tendency of the rank and file of the adherents to the Arts and Crafts Movement has been to rest satisfied with a low degree of technical merit in the works they have produced. It is questionable whether any advance in workmanship has

♦ This is not correct, although it was no doubt unknown to the artists here concerned.

3 Q

mo

SILK INDUSTRY.

Strength been made as the result of the movement, but it is and unquestionably true that the gradual improvement in the

Weak- artistic qualities of the industrial productions of Great ness Britain, of which textile manufactures form so large a

of the part, is due mainly to the influences which led to the for- Move- mation of the Arts and Crafts Societies, which, as we ment. have seen, were the teaching and work of Pugia, Ruskin, Rossetti, and the Pre-RaphaeUtes, to which brotherhood Morris and his associates belonged.

The art of silk-weaving in its highest branches, although stiU a handicraft, is of such a compHcated nature that, although many local guUds, village industries, and societies of art and craft, have made considerable progress in weaving hnen, cotton, waste or spun sUk and other materials, the weaving of fine silk, has scarcely, if ever, been attempted by them. With two or three exceptions, therefore, the improvement in the artistic character of British silks has been due to the virility and enterprise of old-estabhshed firms who, surviving the disastrous period of transition ia the middle of the last century, adapted themselves to the new conditions of the trade — adopted new methods of organisation, and were especially careful to keep in touch with the Victorian revival of decorative art.

Morris and Co. was one of the exceptions referred to.

Later It was not until 1887 that Morris turned his attention

Work of to the weaving of silk, and, as usual with him, became

Morris. absorbed and fascinated with the work. His letters of

that time are full of enthusiastic references to the splendid

silk-weaving he intended to do in emulation of the Eastern,

early Sicihan and Italian brocade and velvet weavers.

He was recommended by his friend, Mr. T. Wardle,* of

Leek, to engage a Lyons hand-loom silk weaver to set

up an experimental loom in the workshop. Morris was

soon deep in the study of the mystery and idiosyncrasies

of the Jacquard machine.

In the diary of a member of the firm we find such entries as this : " Bazin (the French weaver) began to

* Afterwards Sir Thomau Wardle, founder of the Silk Association of Great Britain and Ireland.

Plate LIV.

Benjamin Warner.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 611

weave, but the machinery not being in good order, he Later was unable to get on very far." And again : " The cards Work of were making an absurd pattern. W.M. did not know Morris, what to make of it." But the initial difficulties were at last overcome, and Morris busied himself in designing and working out patterns and dyeing silks for the damasks and brocades, which afterwards became so well known as the work of the firm.

In course of time more weavers, drawn from Spitalfields and other traditional centres of silk-weaving, were engaged, and the work went forward and became an estabhshed department of the manufacture of the firm. In the hst of exhibits of Morris and Co., in the first Exhibition of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society held in 1888, is the following : " No. 50a, Eight specimens of silk damask, hand-woven ; designed by WiUiam Morris, executed by Morris and Co."

It is, however, to the work of Warner and Sons, established in the year 1870, that the strong position of British manufactured silks in the higher branches of the trade has been attributed. This firm was founded by the late Mr. Benjamin Warner. He was born in the silk-weaving district of London at a time when the trade was in a state of great excitement and disorganisation.

His father came of a family which had long been associated with silk-weaving and possessed many rehcs of the Huguenot immigration, amongst which was a book of patterns, some of which had been woven in Canterbury by the refugees who settled in that city and afterwards removed to London.* The elder Warner was a harness maker, mounture builder and Jacquard machinist, a business which required great skill, ingenuity and exactness in order to carry it on successfully. He was also one of the founders of the East London Pension Society, and was its Honorary Secretary from its formation on April 16th, 1824, till his death, which took place in 1839, at the age of forty years.

Benjamin Warner was an only son, and at his father's Benjamin death, though but eleven years of age, was taken from Warner.

♦ Canterbury Book, see Appendix.

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SILK INDUSTRY.

Benjamin school in order to help his mother to carry on the business. Warner. His education was, however, continued by his attendance at evening school, and later at the Spitalfields School of Design, the first State-aided Art School founded in this country. He thus became especially proficient in manu- script, and augmented his slender income by working at night for a firm of law stationers in Chancery Lane. He was throughout hfe distinguished for his beautiful handwriting.

At first the Warner business was only that of harness building and machine making, but one Monsieur Bernier, designer and draughtsman to the trade, wishing to return to his native city of Lyons, sold his business to Benjamin Warner, who was able to add the business of designing to that which he had already carried on in Punderson Place, Bethnal Green. After several years of this quiet development, Mr. Warner saw his way to further enlarge the business by the addition of another branch. In 1870, Mr. Warner, in conjunction with two partners, Messrs. Sillett and Ramm, estabhshed a small silk-weaving factory at Old Ford. Here the most intricate and important work was done on the premises, but a great deal of weaving was given out in the usual way to domestic or cottage weavers. The business, however, soon out- grew the Old Ford factory, and a larger one was built and furnished in HoUybush Gardens, Bethnal Green. A warehouse and showrooms were also estabhshed in Newgate Street, London, almost on the same site as the buildings the firm now occupies.* Notwithstanding the depression of the silk trade in England at the time of its founding and after, as weU as the serious competition of the French manufacturers, the new firm steadily progressed, and became known in the decorative trades not only for excellence of material and technique, but for fine artistic qualities, which had undoubtedly for many years been lacking in webs of British weaving. History Owing to the renaissance of Art in England, which

of the took place during the middle portion of the nineteenth business, century, the work of British artists in all kinds of decorative

* These are in the temporary occupation of the Government.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 613

designs gradually became appreciated and in demand Renais- throughout Europe. Those manufacturers who were wise sance of enough to keep abreast of the movement found a ready Art in market for their commodities not only in Great Britain England, but in all the Continental centres of art and fashion, and in America. The Warner firm was one of such, and the silken webs manufactured in HoUybush Gardens worthily maintained the reputation of the British manu- facturer, even when displayed in Paris amongst the choicest productions of the French looms.

In 1893 the Bethnal Green factory was rendered historic by a visit of H.R.H. Princess Mary of Teck, accompanied by her daughter the Princess May, now her Majesty the Queen. It was here that the silk brocade for the wedding dress of the Princess May was woven, and since that time the firm has had the honour of receiving other Royal orders, amongst which were the Coronation robes of King Edward VII and those of his present Majesty King George V and Queen Mary.

In 1891 the title of the firm was altered to Warner and Sons, Mr. Alfred Warner and Mr. Frank Warner being taken into partnership after the retirement of Mr. Ramm. The firm had been for some years known as Warner and Ramm, Mr. Sillett having retired in 1875.

In 1895, after the firm of Daniel Walters and Sons, of Braintree, had ceased operations, the Ofiicial Receiver made an offer of their mills, plant, and machinery to Warner and Sons. The offer was accepted, and after the pur- chase, about sixty families of London silk weavers were at once removed from Spitalfields to Braintree. Many, however, refused to leave London, and for some years both factories were kept going ; but finally the HoUybush Gardens factory was closed and all the work concentrated at the Braintree miUs.

Thus, by means of strenuous good work, foresight, Warner pluck and perseverance, Benjamin Warner, in spite of Factories many obstacles, guided the fortunes of the firm from removed its beginnings in the little East London workshop to the to position it now holds. As a craftsman, the distinguishing Brain- characteristics of his work were fine colour and perfection tree.

614

SILK INDUSTRY.

Notable of drawing. He could not tolerate careless technique or English indifferent design. It has been truly said that "In his Work. striving after perfection the webs he manufactured approached more nearly to the highest productions of France, in its best periods, than those of any other EngUsh manufacturer." And also " that much of the present recovery in the Enghsh silk industry generally, and the world-wide reputation which Enghsh furniture silks in particular have of late years obtained, are due to his persevering efforts." Mr, Warner continued actively to conduct the business of the firm until his 78th year, which he attained in 1907, 12 months before his death. His successors have endeavoured to maintain the reputation he built up.

In 1887 Messrs. Warner exhibited specimens of their work at the Jubilee Exhibitions at London and Manchester. They also took part in successive exhibitions in various places, but it was at the International Exhibition held at Paris in 1900 that they were awarded their first gold medal. This success has been added to from time to time. Another firm which, although short-hved, did some remarkable work in the best branches of furniture sUk- weaving, was the Enghsh Silk-Weaving Company of Ipswich. The interesting story of this undertaking it is unnecessary to relate, but it must be mentioned that some of the productions of the Ipswich firm were acknowledged by competent judges to be equal in design, colour, and technique, to any sUk- weaving of the present or any other period. It was found impossible, however, to keep up the character of the work and make sufficient profit to warrant continuing the business. So after ten years of development, the Company, which was a limited one, was wound up and the work discontinued.* Two or three more or less prosperous sUk- weaving businesses owe their origin to the Ipswich Company, the most successful. Furniture perhaps, being the Gainsborough Silk- Weaving Company, Silk of Sudbury, Suffolk. Mr. Reginald Warner, who directs

Weaving, this business, learned the art of silk-weaving in the Ipswich

♦ A spacious factory was built, and over thirty looms were at work at one time.

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 615

factory, and the high merit of his work, both technically Furniture and artistically, is widely recognised. Silk

The several exhibitions held by the British Silk Weaving. Association since its foundation have borne witness to the gradual advance in the artistic achievements of the British silk industry, but as they are dealt with in the special chapter on the work of the Association, it is unnecessary to particularise them here.

A steady advance in the art and craft of silk-weaving in Great Britain has been clearly demonstrated at the several International Exhibitions held since that of 1867, referred to in the last chapter. It would, however, prove tedious to quote from the numerous reports and critical articles referring to British silk exhibits, all testifying to the same fact. It will suffice to give some extracts from the Commissioners' report of the silk section of the Brussels and Turin Exhibitions of 1910 and 1911, and briefly to review the Art and Craft Sections of the Ghent Exhibition of 1913 and the special British Art and Crafts Exhibition held in Paris in 1914, in so far as they have to do with the art of silk-weaving. At the Brussels Exhibition the report of the Royal Commission states that " The extent and beauty of the silk exhibits formed a striking feature in the important collection of textiles in the British section of the Brussels Exhibition. Silk goods, always attractive and interesting, and more easily adaptable to effective exhibition than any other textile, have always held a prominent position in foreign sections, particularly in that of the French, whose display at Brussels was both refined and elegant. Excepting the French collection of gowns . . . the exhibit of Enghsh silks or other dress materials was unsurpassed in variety and excellence by any other country. ... In fabrics, almost every type and variety of goods was shown. Dress silks, both plain and broche of great excellence, showed the ability of English manufacturers to cater for this important branch Success of the Silk Market. . . . The great feature of the British at silk section was the magnificent display of decorative Foreign and furnishing silks. The display received universal praise, Exhibi- and the warmest expressions of admiration from foreign tions.

616

SILK INDtlSTRY.

Success experts and manufacturers, who are the keenest

at appreciators of skilled artistic workmanship.

Foreign "It had long been known that in this branch of silk

Exhibi- manufacture our products occupied a high position, but

tions. the display at Brussels estabhshed beyond doubt that in

beauty of design and colour, in the variety and suitabihty

of cloth structure, and in excellence of manufacture,

they are not excelled by the productions of any country,

and are only equalled by those of France. The goods

shown were brocades, damasks, brocateUes, lampas, and

figured and antique velvets, in the styles of the sixteenth

and seventeenth century, Italian, and in the French

periods from Louis XIV to the Directoire. In addition

to designs of the modern Enghsh school, there were

specimens representative of the olden English periods,

such as EMzabethan, Stuart, WiUiam and Mary, Queen

Anne, Chippendale and Adam. A feature of the collection

was a display of gorgeously coloured fabrics richly wrought

with gold and silver metal threads, for ecclesiastical

purposes.

" At Turin the British manufacturers of decorative and furnishing silks again made a most worthy display, equal if not superior in design, colour and texture, to anything shown in the foreign sections."

An independent report of the Brussels Exhibition directs special attention to the exhibit of Messrs. Warner and Sons and their success in the silk section. " Six isolated show-cases were fiUed with a great variety of this notable firm's choicest productions, bearing witness to its great resources in the manufacture of the highest classes of furniture fabrics. Two Grands Prix, with the felicitations of the Jury, were awarded to Messrs. Warner and Sons for their exhibit.

At Turin iq 1911 the same firm exhibited silk textiles, Recog- tapestries and printed fabrics in one of the stately rooms, nition 60 ft. by 30 ft., which were provided in place of the glass at case method of exhibiting. The awards to Messrs. Warner

Brussels and Sons at Turin were four Grands Prix, with fehcitations. and At the Ghent Exhibition of 1913, in the British Arts and

Turin. Crafts Section, there were exhibited forty-five specimens

THE ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT. 617

of Messrs. Warner and Sons' hand-woven silks, fourteen Ghent of Mr. Edmund Hunter's, of Letchworth, and twelve of and Messrs. Morris and Co. There were also numerous Paris, interesting specimens of the use of silk in embroidery and of silk mixed with other materials in simple domestic hand-loom weaving. In 1914, at the invitation of the French Government, a British Arts and Crafts Exhibition was arranged in a salon of The Louvre. The principal exhibitors of woven silk in this collection were again Messrs. Warner and Sons, Messrs. Morris and Co., and Mr. Edmund Hunter ; Messrs. Warner and Sons showing fourteen, Messrs. Morris and Co. nine, and Mr. Hunter six specimens of their finest work.

The Arts and Crafts Movement has stimulated many efforts to weave artistic silken fabrics, most have had a transitory existence, but some remain. Amongst the latter are the London School of Weaving in Davies' Street, W., the Cullompton Weavers in Devon, and the industry at Windermere, where more than 20 years ago Miss Annie Garnett added to what is known as " The Spinnery " Schools of Spinning and Weaving, the first silk " factory " in the district.

" The Spinnery " weaving sheds are quite primitive, and only hand labour is employed, many of the villagers working at their own homes in spare moments. The textiles woven include silks, brocades, satins, muslins, throwans, tweeds, linens, etc., and all embroideries are worked only on materials made in " The Spinnery," the designs being all original with the exception of a few suggested by ancient things. The work is done in a quiet leisurely way, entirely from an artist's point of view, to which all other considerations are sacrificed, and the aim of the workers is always to reach the best, beheving that joy in labour is the first principle of true art. Each web is a centre of interest, built up in design and colour from the beautiful surroundings in which " The Spinnery " is placed. Further, to carry out this idea colour schemes British are specially grown and planned in the garden, whose Schools flowers pass into the designs used in the brocades and of Silk embroideries. Weaving.

618 SILK INDUSTRY.

Sir It would be impossible to close this chapter without

Arthur reference to the late Sir Arthur Liberty, who, although Liberty, not engaged in the production of silk goods, brought a great influence of an artistic nature to bear on the work of those who were. About 35 years ago, Sir Arthur, then Mr. Liberty, introduced the soft dress satin now universally known as " Liberty " satin, the graceful charms of which were brought prominently before the public at the Paris Exhibition of 1889. Then, of course, followed the Continental imitations, and now it is of world-wide manufacture. It may be claimed for " Liberty " satin that it was the parent of the multitude of soft clinging silken fabrics which are now generally in vogue to-day. Certainly, as far as dress fabrics are concerned. Sir Arthur Liberty, trained in an appreciation of colour by handling Eastern productions such as Chinese embroideries, Persian carpets and Indian shawls in his earlier days, greatly widened the range of colourings and established a taste for certain tones of colour which are now generally referred to as " art shades." Credit is also due to him for endeavouring to create a popularity for Enghsh silks by holding from time to time exhibitions of home productions at his premises in Regent Street.

CHAPTER XLVI.

Technical Societies and the Industry.

The teclmical aspect of silk manufacture has been discussed in other chapters, but no history of the industry would be complete which did not contain some reference to the work done by certain of the technical institutions towards the encouragement of improved methods of manufacture.

The Royal Society of Arts has been more closely associated with this work than any other institution of the kind, and indeed the records of the Society show that it has always given attention to the encouragement of the textile industries.

The first paper on silk contributed to the transactions appears to have been that read by the Hon, Daines Barrington, and is published in the second volume of the Royal Transactions, issued in 1784. In earher years than this, Society however, the Society had offered awards in connection of Arts, with various branches of the silk industry ; the breeding and rearing of sUk worms, the improvement of mechanical appliances, and in other fields. It is true that although the names of textile machinists such as Hargreaves, Arkwright and Orompton do not appear on the records of the Society, these do contain the name of John Kay, who may be said to have revolutionized the textile industry by his invention of the fly shuttle. It was not this, however, which introduced Kay to the Society, but his apparatus for making cards, and he demonstrated the working of this machine before one of its Committees. His youngest son, WiUiam Kay, worked at the same invention and received an award of 50 guineas for an

619

620

SILK INDUSTRY.

Royal improvement of his father's apparatus, Robert Kay, an Society elder brother of William, brought before the Society an of Arts, improvement of the wheel shuttle, which it is believed was in the form of the drop box. This feature, which was introduced in the year 1760, is believed to have been the first device for weaving cross striped fabrics con- tinuously, it being unnecessary by this arrangement to stop the loom for the purpose of changing the shuttle. A year or two later a prize of £100 was offered for improve- ments in the stocking frame. The machines submitted were set up in the Machine Room of the Society, and operated by expert workmen. Two prizes were awarded in connection with this competition, one of £80 in the year 1765 to Samuel Unwin, and one of £100 in the following year to John Whyman. The encouragement thus given to the stocking weavers was a great advantage as at that time the trade was in a very depressed condition, owing to the competition of the French weavers.

Concurrently with the steps thus taken to place the manufacturing side of the industry on a firmer foundation, the Society lent its aid towards the various projects for the encouragement of the breeding of silk worms, and a letter pubhshed in the Transactions, bearing the date October 19th, 1777, describes the experiments carried out by Mrs. Ann Williams, of Gravesend, who at that time had 47 silk worms spinning, and who describes the methods she adopted to rear what she refers to as " her favourite reptiles." She was awarded a prize of 20 guineas. The Transactions of the Society also contain reference to the attempt made to obtain silk from the garden spider, but it appears to have been finally decided that the Enghsh climate was not suitable for the rearing of sUk worms except in abnormal seasons. In the early part of the 19th century the Society resumed its scheme of making awards for improvement in the mechanical apparatus of the trade. Thus, in the year 1807, a prize was given to A. Duff for an improvement in the drawboy, the name Breeding given to the mechanical apparatus which superseded of Silk the boy who acted as the weaver's assistant. The Worms. Transactions also make reference to the work of J. ShoU,

TECHNICAL SOCIETIES AND THE INDUSTRY. 621

who in the year 1810 obtained an award for the further improvement of the drawboy, and prizes were given for improvements on the Jacquard invention which came a little later, the most important of these being that effected by W. Jennings, a weaver or loom maker of Bethnal Green, who suggested a method by which the height of the Jacquard apparatus could be reduced and the machine made in a size which enabled it to be installed in the weaver's own homes. Other improvements which obtained the recognition of the Society included a new form of machine for winding silk for Spitalfields' weavers, which was introduced in 1843. The main feature of this improve- ment was the substitution of friction wheels for hst bands. There are few references in the Transactions of the Society for the first half of the 19th century to papers submitted on the sUk industry, but a number of important contri- butions were made during the second half of last century. Sir Thomas Wardle read his first paper dealing with the wUd silks of India in 1879. He made subsequent con- tributions in the years 1885 and 1891, and in 1895 put on record the improvements which had taken place in the designing, colouring, and manufacture of British sUks. His successor in the presidential chair of the SUk Association, Mr. Frank Warner, continued the story of the British silk industry in two papers, which were read in 1903 and 1912. An important series of articles which appeared in the Transactions of 1873 from the pen of Mr. Francis Cobb bore the title " Hints to Colonists on the Cultivation of Silk," and the same authority at a later date made a contribution on the rearing of sUk worm eggs in Great Britain. Another weU-known contributor to the Society's Transactions was Mr. Thomas Dickens, who in 1855 read a paper bearing the title " Commercial Considerations of the Silk Worm and its Products," and in 1869 discussed the question of silk supply. Contribu- tions from other authorities dealt with such subjects as the improvement of sUk cultivation in India, British sUk manufacture from the commercial standpoint, the possibilities of silk culture in New Zealand, and Enghsh brocades and figured silks. It is a fairly comprehensive

Im- prove- ments in

Machi- nery.

Notable Papers on Silk Trade.

622

SILK INDUSTRY.

Notable Papers on Silk Trade.

London Chamber of Com- merce.

programme for a Society which has had so many other outlets for its activities, but which, as was indicated by the reading of a paper by Mr. J. A. Hunter on " The Textile Industries of Great Britain and of Germany," six months after the outbreak of war, has not lost its interest in one of the oldest of British industries.

Some useful work on behalf of the silk industry has also been done by the Silk Sub-Section of the London Chamber of Commerce. This was only constituted at the annual meeting of the Textile Trade Section in 1909, but it at once set to work to deal with the many subjects calling for attention and has done good work.

One of the principal matters dealt with in the year 1909 referred to outstanding questions with Japan which related more particularly to the designation of the various types of silk. This subject was considered of such import- ance that deputations waited on the Japanese Ambassador, the Japanese Minister of Commerce and Industry, and the Japanese Consul General.

In the year 1910 the formation of a Silk Trade Section of the Silk Sub-Section of the Chamber was approved.

A subject which has received special attention of the Section recently is the imjust operation of the Carriers' Act of 1830 in regard to the carriage of silk goods on British railways, and to which more detailed reference is made in the chapter dealing with the work of the Silk Associa- tion. Special attention has also been given by the Section to cases of misdescription of silk goods, to artificial silk problems, adulterations and classification of silk, export of silk piece goods, the Japanese and Belgian tariffs, and the general question of railway rates.

Another technical society which has given attention to silk trade questions, both on the technical and com- mercial sides, is the Textile Institute, which has its head- quarters at Manchester, and whose activities cover the whole field of textile manufacture.

ADDENDA. 622a

The firm of John Hind & Co. Ltd., dress and blouse Wyke, manufacturers, was estabhshed by John Hind in 1851. He Bradford, was Joined by his brothers, James and Adam, in 1853 and the business was carried on by the three brothers until 1881. In that year Irvine Hind, the son of John, succeeded James and Adam Hind and the business was carried on as Jolm Hind & Company until 1887. From that year Irvine Hind appears to have been the sole partner until 1904, when the business became a private limited company with Irvine Hind as Managing-director.

The present Governing-director and Chairman, is John Sugden Smith, who received his art and technical education at the Bradford Schools and was a Silver Medalist in the Examinations of the City and Guilds of London Institute in 1885. His personal interest in the Silk Association, of which he is Vice-Chairman of the Council, the British Silk Research Association and the Advisory Committee on Silk Production at the Imperial Institute, has been of marked value to the deliberations of those institutions.

The firm, which has gained much credit for its enterprise and abihty, speciahses in the production of dress and blouse materials and in shirtings of almost endless variety.

The business which was started at Wyke Mills in 1851 was carried on there for more than half a century. In the year 1907 it was transferred to new works at Woodside Mills. This is a typical modern establishment in which electricity is used both for power and lighting purposes.

Another firm, A. Hind & Sons, who are manufacturers of plain and fancy silks for the blouse and dress trade ; silk and other sleeve linings ; linings for ladies' mantles ; plain and fancy moirettes in silk and cotton, also have their works in Wyke.

The business was established in 1881 by Adam Hind, who retired in 1894. The present principal of the business is Fred Hind, who is a Justice of the Peace for the West Riding of Yorkshire. In 1918 Fred Hind took into partner- ship his two sons, A. R. Hind and F. M. J. Hind, who now assist him to carry on the business.

The works at City Shed, Wyke, were re-constructed in accordance with the latest practice in 1899.

622b

ADDENDA.

The firm does an extensive trade in the United Kingdom and abroad.

Great Since the Chapter on Norfolk and Norwich was written,

Yar- the firm of Grout & Co. Ltd., referred to on pp. 287-289, mouth, has made considerable strides, there having been a marked increase both in the number of people employed and in output. This satisfactory development is due to new machinery, speeding up of manufacturing processes and in- creased efficiency in every department.

Nor has the social side been overlooked, a Club House, Bowling Green and Tennis Courts having been provided for the workpeople. Profit sharing is a feature of the firm's pohcy and by means of a factory magazine, the employees are kept regularly informed on all matters affecting the silk industry in this country and abroad. Frank J. FarreU who became Joint Managing Director with Wilham T. Hall in 1909 has been sole Managing Director since the death of the latter in 1916. As first Chairman of the Joint In- dustrial Council for the Silk Industry and Chairman of the Council of the Silk Association, Mr. Farrell has, by his hard work and conspicuous ability, won for himself a foremost place in Enghsh silk circles.

APPENDIX A.

BRITISH

Silk: — Knubs or husks and waste, per owt. Raw, per lb. . . Thrown, not dyed —

Singles, per lb.

Tram

Organzine & crape silk Thrown, dyed —

Singles or tram per lb.

Organzine or crape silk Manotaottjbb OF Silk, ob or Silk Mixed

WITH ANY OthHB MaTBBIAL, THE Pro- DUCE OF EtTBOPB :

Silk or satin (plain) per lb.

Or and at the option of the officer of the Customs for every £100 value . .

Figured or brocaded, per lb.

Option, £100 value

Gauze (plain) per lb.

Option, £100 value

Gauze, striped, figured or brocaded, per lb.

Option, £100 value

Crape (plain) per lb. . .

Option, £100 value

Crape, figured, per lb.

Option, £100 value

Velvet (plain) per lb.

Option, £100 value

Velvet, figured, per lb.

Option, £100 value

Ribbons (embossed) per lb., or figured with velvet

Option, £100 value

And further, if mixed with gold, silver, or other metal, no addition to the above rates when the duty is not charged ac- cording to the value, per lb.

Fancy silk, net, or tricot, per lb.

Plain silk lace, or net, called tulle, the sq. yd.

Manufactures of silk, or of silk mixed with any other material not particularly enumerated or otherwise charged with duty, for every £100 value

Millinery of silk of which the greater part is silk- turbans or caps (each) hats or bonnets (each) dresses (each)

Or option of £100 value

Manufactures of silk and any other materials or articles of the same wholly or in part made up, per every £100 value. .

TARIFFS ON	SILK.
1844. Trom Foreign From British Countries. Possessions.	1819.	1787.
I. s. d.	I. 8. d.	I. a. d.	I. 8. d.
0 10	0 0 6	22 8 0	I 17 4
0 0 1	0 0 1	0 5 6	0 3 0

0 1 0

0 2 0

0 0 6

0 1 0

0 14 8

2 5

0 7 4

1 4 9

0 11 0 —

Prohibited. Prohibited.

26	0	0
0	16	0
30	0	0
0	17	0
30	0	0
1	7	8
30	0	0
0	16	0
30	0	0
0	18	0
30	0	0
1	2	0
30	0	0
1	7	6
30	0	0
0	17	0
30	0	0
0	10	0
1	4	0
0	1	4

30 0 0

5 0 0

0 15	0	0 15	0
1 5	0	1 5	0
2 10	0	2 10	0
40 0	0	40 0	0

30 0 0 30 0 0

BRITISH CUSTOMS REGULATIONS.

Silk manufactures were not to be imported in any vessel under 70 tons burden, except by licence ....

Silk goods, the manufacture of Europe, not to be imported except into the port of London or the port of Dublin direct from Bordeaux, or the port of Dover direct from Calais.

(3 and 4 William 4th).

When the shoot or the warp only is of silk, the article is to be considered as composed of not more than one-half part of silk, and subject to the ad valorem duty of 30 per cent. ; but if the shoot or the warp be entirely of silk and a portion of the other be of silk also, the article is to be considered to be composed of more than one-half part of silk and subject to the rated duties at per lb., or to the ad valorem duties at the option of the officers — (Minutes Commission of Guetoms, 14th Aug., 1829). But in all cases where the duties charged by weight upon mixed articles would manifestly exceed 30 per cent., by reason of the weight of wool or other ingredient thereof besides sOk, the article is to be admitted to entry at value. (Minute, 19th Dec, 1831.)

623

APPENDIX B.

Maitland's History of London, 1775, p. 799.

" Next to this Field, in which are now Duke Street and Stuart Street, was the dissolved Priory and Hospital of our blessed Lady, commonly called St. Mary Spital, founded by Walter Brune and Rosia, his wife, for Canons Regular. Walter, Archdeacon of London, laid the first stone ia the year 1197. William, of St. Mary Church, then Bishop of London, dedicated it to the honour of Jesus Christ, and his Mother, the perpetual Virgin Mary, by the name of Domas Dei et Bentse Mariae extra Bishopsgate, in the Parish of St. Botolph." At p. X. of the Report : —

" From Spitalfields your Committee took evidence of a Mr. Ballance, a respectable Manufacturer, who stated that the weaver could earn at the time he spoke from 7s. 6d. to 8s. a week clear of deductions : but that to do this he was compelled to work 14 hours a day : and that this labour is excessive and is incompatible with the Weaver's health ; that in 1826 he could earn 14s. ; and that 20s. would be sufficient pay ; that it is impossible for them to support them- selves at their present earnings ; that their distresses are truly appalling, there being many men who used to support their families with credit, who are mere paupers." At p. XII. of the Report it is stated : —

" The weekly wages a fair average weaver can, if fully employed 14 hours a day, now (1835) earn at the work the majority of weavers are employed on (in Great Britain) is stated in evidence by weavers, manufacturers and other witnesses to be as follows : —

At Aberdeen	. 3/6 to 5/6 net.	At Perth . .	. 4/9 to 7/9 net.
Dundee	. 6/- „ 7/- „	Preston	. 4/9 „ 6/1 gross
Forfar	. 6/-	Spitalfields	. 7/6 „ 8/- „
Glasgow	• 4/- „ 8/- gross.	Stockport	. 9/-
Huddersfield .	. 4/6 „ 5/- „	Nuneaton	. 4/8
Do., a few .	. 16/-	Coventry	. 7/6 net.
Lanark . .	. 5/1 net.	Drogheda	. 2/4 „ 4/- „
Manchester	. 5/- „ 7/6 „	Belfast . .	. . 3/6 „ 6/6 gross
Paisley . .	. 6/- „ 7/- gross.

Note that these prices are for weavers in full work, which they declared was 14 or 16 hours a day.

In 1817 Handloom weavers' wages throughout the country averaged 4/3^ per week. At this time wheat was 126/- per quarter. This was the worst time. In 1800 the average wage was 13/10, and wheat then sold at 113/-, to which price it suddenly rose from 67/- of the previous year. — Professor J. E. Thorold Rogers in Six Centuries of Work and Wages.

The vast majority of silk weavers in the London Trade were employed on the commonest work, for which 4Jd. to 6d. a yard was paid. It was notorious that, what with waiting for work and other hindrances, scarcely half a weaver's time was occupied in actual weaving, hence the estimate of 5/- average wage.

Evidence of Dr. Kay before the Poor Law Commissioners in 1837 says : — " A weaver on a Jacquard Loom can earn 25/- ; on a Velvet or Rich Plain Silk, 16/- to 20/- ; on a Plain Silk, 12/- to 14/- ; or with bad silk, 10/- or even 8/-."

In the same Report a witness, Mr. WiUiam Fletcher, of Coventry, is stated to have given evidence as follows : —

" There was a middleman called an undertaker, who took work (warps, wefts, &c.) from the Manufacturers and gave it out, at hMlf the usual rate of wages,

624

APPENDIX B. 625

to young weavers who were bound apprentice to him. He paid himself with the other half. These young weavers bound to him for 5-7 years were from 12 to 18 years of age, and the best workers could earn 3/- a week, but most of them earned less."

Norwich Chapter.

Samuel Lincoln, bom at Hingham, Norfolk, baptized there 24th August, 1622. Died 1690 at Hingham, Mass.

Great, great, great, great, grandfather of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President United States.

Samuel Lincoln was apprenticed to Francis Lawes, Master Weaver of Norwich, with whom he took ship on the 8th April, 1637, for Boston, in the American Colony, where he arrived 20th June of the same year.

" The Ancestry of Abraham Lincoln." J. Henry Lea and J. B. Hutchinson. Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston and New York, 1909.

2 R

APPENDIX C.

Restrictions on Silk.

Sumptuary Legislation.

1337. No man was allowed to wear anjrthing but English cloth, except the King and royal family ; nor any man to wear any facings of silk or furs but such as could expend an hundred pounds a year.

Acts for Silkwombn.

Lombard Whereas it is shewed to our Sovereign Lord the King in his said Parliament

Importation by the grievous Complaint of the Silk Women and Throwsters of the Mystery and

of Worked Occupation of SUkworking within the City of London, how that divers Lombards

Silks. and other Strangers, imagining to destroy the said Mystery and all such virtuous

Occupations for Women . . . , to enrich themselves and to put such

occupations to other lands have brought and daily go about to bring into the

Realm wrought silk throwen. Ribbands and Laces falsely and deceitfully wrought.

Corses of silk and all other Things concerning the said Mystery and Occupation

ready wrought, in no Manner wise bringing any good silk unwrought, as they

were wont to bring heretofore . . .

For Reformation whereof our Sovereign Lord the King . . . hath ordained . . . That if any Lombard, or any other Person, Stranger or Denizen bring any wrought SUk . . . Corses which come from Genoa only except . . . the same . . . shall be forfeit.

The 1482-3: Whereas by a piteous Complaint ... by Men and Women

Prohibition of the hole Craft of Silkewerk of the City of London and aU other Cities Towns

of Boroughs and Villages of this Realm of England, it was shewed how . . .

Importation a Restraint was made that certain Things of Silk-work ready wrought should

Extended. not be brought into the Realm ; after which Restraint expired, so great Multitude

of SUks ready wrought as Corses, Ribbands, Laces, Call Silk and Colein Silk

thrown have been brought ... by Merchants Strangers and other, that all

the Workers . . . have been grievously impoverished for Default of

Occupation.

Our Sovereign Lord the King . . . hath . . . ordained, that no Merchant Stranger nor other person after the Feast of Easter next coming shall bring into this Realm . . . to be sold any Corses, Girdles, Ribbands, &c.

1483-4. Continued for 10 years.

1485. And for 20 years.

Velvet 1566. " No Man under the Degree of a Knight or of a Lordes soone . . .

and the shall wear any Hatte or upper Cappe of Velvet ... or covered with velvet

Knighthood, on payne to forfayte Tenne shillings."

Detriment 1590. Handicraftsmen of the Mystery of Skinners of London to the

to the Queen :

Pur Trade. " The usual wearing of furs . . . utterly neglected and eaten out by the

too ordinary lavish and unnecessary use of velvets and silks drinking up the

wealth of this realm." — {Cecil Papers.)

626

APPENDIX C.

627

1602. Prize Carracks.

Notes of the price obtained at the sale.

Raw silk. 30/- little pound.— (CeaZ Papers.)

snk

Prices.

1600-02. Expenditure on Lady Anne Clifford's education.

Item p'd. for sleave silk, xxxiiis. Purchase

,, „ „ litel silkworms, vs. for a child.

,. ,, „ a pair of grene worsted stockynge for my lady, iiiis. iiid. — {Papers at Skipton Castle.)

1594. The average price of all sort of [imported] silks one with another, per pound, 15/-.

2J lbs. of such sorted silks will make 5\ yards of the best " Millame tuffed Official taffatas " amounting to 37/6. Calculation.

The customs on this to the Queen 1/9. Every yard of tuffed taffata rated at 9/- the yard, so that five yards yieldeth in customs 2/5^, so that her Majesty loseth in the customs of every pound of silk made into tuffed taffata, of that she should have if the same silk were woven on the other side of the seas and brought hither 4Jd.

Say that there were 500 pieces of tuffed taffataes made yearly in the realm, as there is no such number made ; and every piece 22 yard and 6 lbs. of silk to every piece, so there were but 2 /I J lost in every of the custom that it would yield if it were made beyond the seas, it would amount in loss to the Queen £54 2s. 6d.

The sealing of 500 pieces of tuffed taffataes at 6d. the piece were but £12 10s. M.— (Cecil Papers.)

1666. An Act for Burying in Woollens Onely.

For the Encouragement of the Woollen Manufactures of the Kingdome The and prevention of the Exportation of the Moneyes thereof for the buying and Mortuary importing of Linnen. Bee it enacted . . . that . . . Noe person or Use of persons whatsoever shall be buryed in any Shirt, Shift or Sheete made of or mingled Silk, with Flax, Hempe, Silke, Haire, Gold or Silver or other then what shall be made of WooU onely, or be putt into any CoflBn lined or faced with anything made of or mingled with Flax, Hempe, Silke or Haire upon paine of the forfeiture of the summe of Five pound to be imployed to the use of the Poore of the Parish . .

Provided that noe penaltie . . . shall be incurred for or by the reason of any person that shall dye of the Plague.

1667 and 1668. An Act to Right the Trade of SUk Throwing.

Whereas the Art of working and throwing of Silk for many yeares past hath Restrictions of late been obstructed by reason that the present Master and Wardens — part upon of the Assistants and Commonalty of the Trade Art or Mystery of Silk Throwers Output, of the City of London — ^have endeavoured to put into execution a certaine By-law by them made neere forty years since restraining and stinting the Freemen of the said Company that they shall not worke with above the Number of One hundred and forty Spindles att one time and the Assistants of the said Company with above the number of Two hundred and forty . . . which is an hindrance to the Growth and Improvement Of the said Art and a restraint to the working of Silks in this Kingdome . . . and puts the Traders in that Comodity upon a necessity of using Forreign Thrown Silk : Be it therefore enacted that the said By-law is hereby void and null and the said Company are hereby disabled from making any By-law for the future which shall restrain or limit the Number of Mills Spindles or other Utensils to be imployed , . .

628

APPENDIX C.

And be it further enacted That no By-law already made or hereafter to be made . . . shall or may limit or confine any Freeman^ of the said Company to take a lesse number then three Apprentices att any time.

1621. Scots Law. Servants' " Servants shall have no silk on their cloaths except buttons and garters

Clothing. and shall wear only cloth fusteans, canvas and stuffs of Scotch manufacture."

1634. Note by Secretary Windebank (of the Star Chamber).

Home " The customs of silks manufactured were wont to be £14,000 yearly, now

Industry they yield barely £6,000 yearly, the reason of this decay is the manufacturing

and the of silks by strangers here in England. An imposition to be laid upon the

Revenue. strangers' looms." — (Dom. S.P.)

A Dyer's 1630. Warrant to prepare a pardon for John Trott of London, silkman,

Fine. fined £3,000 by the Court of the Star Chamber for false dyeing of silk on payment of

£2,000 by way of composition. — (Dom. S.P.)

1630. An informer's letter.

Method " Some three or four rich silk dyers in dyeing raw silk use slip of grindlestones

of Silk and dust of iron and steel and keeping the same thirty or forty days in working,

weighing. the silk draws into it the dross of the said stones and iron, so that 16 oz. they

make 36 oz. The writer prays that he and such as he shall employ to endeavour

about the reformation of this abuse may have some reasonable consideration

for the same."

Disposal of a Fine.

Reformers and Silk Dyeing.

Deceits in the Stocking Trade.

A Sealing Monopoly.

A Dyeing Ordinance.

1631. An informer's reward.

" George Melvill and others for discovering the abuse of false dyeing, £1,500 out of fines of offenders."

1636. Alleged that the silkmen who in 1631 obtained a charter and pretended to work a reformation had since been the worst offenders in the false dyeing of silks.— (Dom. S.P.)

1636. Katherine Eliott, wet nurse to the Duke of York, represented to King Charles I that :

" Divers persons being of no corporation profess the trade of buying and selling silk stockings and sUk waistcoats as well knit as woven, uttering the Spanish or baser sort of silk wherewith the said commodities are made, at as dear rates as the finest Naples and also frequently vending the woven for the knit although in price and goodness there is ahnost half in half difference, there being no usual way or mark to deceive the subtilty. Prays a grant for 31 years of the sealing of silk stockings, halt stockings and waistcoats, to distinguish the woven from the knit, receiving from the salesman Is. for every waistcoat, 6d. for every pair of silk stockings and 4d. for every half pair." — {Dom. S.P.)

1638. Grant to Thomas Potts of the newly erected office for surveying and sealing foreign silks with a fee of 4d. for every piece sealed, for 31 years. — {Dom. S.P.)

1637. Petition of the Governor and Company of Silkmen of London com- plains that they have been commanded that no silks should be dyed before the gums were boiled offand that no black but Spanish black be used. (Dom. S.P.)

APPENDIX C.

629

1635. Star Chamber case against John Milward, Governor of the Company False of Silkmen, and John Aubrey and others assisting, for combining to cause great Dyeing, quantities of silk to be corruptly dyed and sold. — (Dom. S.P.)

1635. Petition of Edward, Viscount Conway and Killultagh and Endymion The

Porter, that no plushes, tuff-taffities, damasks, wrought or figured satins, silk Width

grograms, silk calimancoes, wrought grograms or stitched taffities be made of of Silk, less breadth than full half yard and a nail within the list. — (Dom. S.P.)

1639. Tuft-tafieta and broad silk weavers complain of the great quantities China Woven of sUk stuffs lately brought from China and sold at very low rate. Goods.

1639. Complaint that by a certain proclamation they are compelled to pay Dyers' 16d. the pound for dyeing which was wont to be done, accordingly as they dould Prices, agree, for lOd. or 12d. the pound at most. — {Dom. S.P.)

1639. Order of the King in Council in consequence of differences between London and Canterbury silk weavers :

" That there shall be as has been since the erection of the Silk Offtce, 6d. Differential the pound paid upon every pound of silk both by natives and strangers, also Fees for 6d. more by strangers and 2d. by natives upon aU silks manufactured." — {Dom. Sealing. S.P.)

1639. Representation that " whereas raw silk is so much fallen in price as A Fall that from 32/— the pound it decreased to 25/- and at this present 16/- and that of Price, there is only 8d. in the pound paid thereupon to his Majesty, the whole surplus accruing to the benefit of those trading in that manufacture. — (Dom. S.P.)

1623. East India Company.

Cost in India. Raw Silk . . . . 8/-

(Malyn's Centre of the Circle of Commerce.)

Sold in England. 20/- per lb.

Company's Profits.

1599. Charter granted on 31st December to George, Earl of Cumberland, The East and 215 knights, aldermen and merchants, constituting the East India India Company. Company's

Charter.

1697. Assaults by mobs on the East India House.

1680. " The English formerly wove or used little Silk in City or Countrey, Silk in only Persons of Quality pretended to it ; but as our National Gaudery hath Common increased it gre more and more into mode and is now become the Common Wear, Wear, nay the ordinary material for Bedding, Hanging of Rooms, Carpets, Lining of Coaches and other things ; and our Women who generally govern in this case must have Foreign Silk ; for they have got the Name and in truth are most curious and perhaps better wrought." — {Britannia Languens.)

1680. " Silk is now grown nigh as common as wool and become the Silk oloathing of those in the kitchin as well as the Court ; we wear it not onely on our Stockings, backs but of late years on our legs and feet and tread on that which formerly was of the same value with gold itself." — (Howell's History of the World.)

1648. " One of the new Captains of the Hamlets, a Silk-Throster and a Lay Tub-Preacher." Preaching.

630

APPENDIX C.

Silk for the Scrofulous.

False Packing in Turkey.

A Silk Robbery.

Imports 1668-9.

1664. Church wardens provided " silk striags " and " ribbond " for the poor children of either sex that had the king's evil, at a cost, about the year 1664 of 5d. and 7d. each ; sometimes the charge was 9d. The strings for the poor of the parish of Minchinhampton and for ribbon in 1688 amounted to £1 5s. Od. ; in 1689 to 7s. 4d. ; in 1690 to 4s. 8d. . . . The entries continued up to 1736. — (Roberts' Social History of the Southern Counties.)

1670. Letter of the Levant Company to British Ambassador complains of the foul condition of the raw silk received from Turkey and asks for endeavours to gain a full allowance of tare, " which may be done by enjoining the factors, out of each parcel they buy, to clean a portion and according to that to estimate the tare of the whole. — {Dam. S.P.)

1665. Advertisement about a robbery on the ship " Prince William of Emden," lying at the Half way Tree by men who killed the master, shut up the men and stole a bale of raw silk value £135. — {Dom. S.P.)

" The case of the English weavers and French merchant truly stated," giving reason for discouraging the importation of foreign wrought sUks.

The entries of silk at the port of London from Michaelmas 1668 to 1669.

Wrought	Silk.
Foreign
Manufactured.
Italy	39,457
Holland	.	10,557
East Indies		14,370
Flanders	.	226
France	•	1,400

Thbown Silk. Imported and Manufactured

in England. Italy . . 87,216

Holland . . 2,878 Flanders . . 3,027

Raw Silk.

Italy . . 14,563

Turkey .. 249,502 East Indies.. 248

The

Alamode Renforce and Lustring Company.

A Drawback Privilege.

Deceits at Smjrma.

A Countess at Fault.

Employ- ment of the Silk Trade.

71,010 93,121 264,313

Ferret silk from Flanders, imported and manufactured in England, 7,012. —{Dom. S.P., 1671.)

1692. Grant to Paul doudesly, Peter Le Keux, Hilary Renew and 132 others concerning " the new invention of making, dressing and lustrating of silks called black Alamode, Renforce and Lustrings.

Incorporation of the Grovemor and Company of Alamode, Renforce and Lustrings. — {Dom. S.P.)

1695. The Lustring Company were allowed £2,400 abatement on silk imported from Piedmont. — {Dom. S.P.)

1654. Letter of the Levant Company to the British Consul at Smyrna : " Our factors abuse us in passing great bales of silk as coals, see this amended and charge what is short of our due consulage." — {Dom. S.P.)

1651. Instructions of the Council of State to the Committee of Examiners ordering the silks seized ia comiug from foreign parts, belonging to the Countess of Devonshire to be delivered to her, she paying the duties. — {Dom. S.P.)

1681. " England hath already the principal Trade of Woollen Manufactures and now a quicker vent and export for them than ever it had in the memory of any man living. But throughout Christendom I have ever been of the Opinion that generally speaking there are more Men and Women in Silk Manufactures than in Woollen ; of which likewise England hath obtained a considerable part,

APPENDIX C.

631

The East India

Company's Imports.

considering the short time since our Silk Broad Weaving began ; which was but since Mr. Burlimach brought in Silk Diers and Throwsters, towards the end of the late King James or beginning of King Charles the First's Reign. And I am credibly informed the number of Families already imployed therein in England doth amount to above 40,000. Now what should hinder but that in a few years more, this Nation may treble that number in such manufactures ; since the East India Company have of late years found out a way of bringing raw silk of all sorts into this Kingdom cheaper than it can be afforded in Turkey, France, Spain, Italy, or any other place where it is made. Insomuch, as with East Indian Silks we serve Holland, Flanders and some other markets from England. — (" A Treatise Wherein is Demonstrated That the East India Trade is the most National of aU Foreign Trade.")

1681. " The SUks which the Company commonly bring in are the main part of them Taffaties and other plain or striped Silks and Pelongs, such as are not usually made in England but imported from France, Italy and Holland ; where lately when Pelongs were scarce, many were made and imitated at Harlem and and from thence imported into England . . .

" Taffaties, Sarcenets, &c., which are brought from India cheaper than than they can make them at Home. Whereas in England our Silk Manufacture consists not in these plain silks but in Flowered Silks and Fancies, changed still as often as the Fashion alters . . ." — (A Treatise, v. supra.)

1681. " The Dutch have a standing Contract with the King of Persia for The Dutch all his Silk ; which may amount to 600 Bales yearly." — (A Treatise, v. supra.) and Persian

Silk. 1689. An Act for the Discouraging the Importation of Thrown Silke : Whereas the Importation of some sorts of Throwne Silks with th's Realme Silk is greatly prejudicial! to the Exportation of the Woollen Manufactures thereof and the and tends very much to the Impoverishing great Numbers of Artifioiers whose Woollen Livelyhood and Subsistance depends upon the Throwing of Raw Silk and if longer Manu- permitted may endanger the Overthrowing of that Art or Mistery in the Nation : facture. And whereas of late great quantities of Throwne Silke have beene imported from severaU Parts — Places in Europe which are not the places of its Growth or Pro- duction and thereby the true interest and meaning of the Art made in the twelfth years of King Charles the Second Entitled An Act for the Encouragement and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation is evaded : For the prevention of which mischiefs and for the better Encouraging the severaU Manufactures of this Kingdome and of that usefuU and NationaU Trade with Turkey and the better supporting the Art of Throwing SUke in this Realme and the Poore therein employed. Bee it declared and enacted . . . That the Throwing of Silk is not nor ought to be construed a Manufacture within the intention of the said Act for the encouraging and Increasing of Shipping and Navigation and that noe Throwne Silke of the Growth or Production of Turkey, Persia, East India An or China or of any other Country or place (except onely such Throwne SUke as Embargo is or shall be of the Growth or Production of Italy, Sicily or of the Kingdome of on Eastern Naples and which shall be imported in such Shipps or Vessells and navigated SUk. in such manner as in the said Act of Navigation is directed or allowed . . . and which shall come directly by Sea and not otherwise) shall at any time after the five and twentyeth day of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand six hundred and ninety be brought or imported into the Kingdome of England Dominion of Wales the Islands of Jersey or Guernsey or the Towne of Berwicke upon Tweede under the Penaltie and Forfeiture of all such Throwne Silke soe imported . . . one moyety whereof shall be to the use of the King and Queene Majestyes . . . and the other moyety thereof to such person or persons as shall seize informe or sue for the sume to be recovered by BiU Plaint

632

APPENDIX C.

Information or other Action in any of their Majesties Courts of Record wherein

noe Essoigne Protection or Wager of Law shall be allowed.

1693. An Act for the importation of fine Italian, Sicillian and Naples Thrown

SUke:

The " Whereas it hath been found by experience that the importation of Italian,

Use of Sicillian and Naples Silk by the ways prescribed by (Act 2 W. & M.) in regard

Italian of the great difficulties and hazard occasioned by the present War with France

Silk. . is greatly prejudicial and if longer continued will endanger the losse of the Silk

Manufactory of this Nation be it therefore enacted . . . That from and

after the Twentieth day of December One thousand six hundred ninety and

three it shall and may be lawfuU to and for any person ... to import or

bring into this Kingdom from any Part or place whatsoever (excepting the Ports

of France) during the pressent Warr with France and three months after fine

Throwne Silk of the growth or production of Italy Sicily or Naples.

Names of Provided always That this Act nor any thing herein contained shall extend

Italian to give liberty to bring over land and import any Italian thowne silke that

Qualities. shall be courser then a sort thereof knowne and distinguished by the name of

Third Bolonia Nor any Sicilian Throwne Silk that shall be courser then a sort

knowne ... by the name of Second Orsoy nor any sorts of Silks commonly

called Trams of the growth of Italy Sicily or Naples . . .

1662. 14 Car. II, p. 407, Vol. V. An Act for regulating the Trade of Silk throwing : The Whereas the Company of Silke throwers within the City of London and

Throwsters Liberties and all theire Servants and Apprentices within foure Miles thereof were Company. quirdo Caroli primi incorporated and made one body politique and are known by the name of the Master Warders Assistants and Commaltie of the Trade Art or Mystery of SUke throwers of the City of London : And whereas the said trade is of singular use and very advantageous to this Common wealth by imploying the Poore there being imployed by the said Company (as is expressed in theue Petition) above Fourty thousand Men Women and Children who otherwise would unavoidably be burthensome to the places of theire aboade : And whereas the present Govemours of the said Company . . . pray an Enlargement of their Charter whereby they may be the better enabled to avoid the many Deceipts and Inconveniences they dayly meet withall by Intruders who have not beene brought upp Apprentices to the said Trade and others who settle themselve beyond the limitts of the said Charter on purpose to avoide the Searches and Supervision of the said Govemours by which meanes they are att Liberty to make and vend what wares they please to the disparagement of the said Trade and discouragiag of the Petitioners and all others . . . that have duely served Apprentice : Throwsters' For remedy whereof Bee it enacted . . . That from after the Twenty

Apprentices, fifth day of December ... in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty and two no Person or Persons whatsoever shall directly or indirectly use exercise continue or sett up the said Trade Art or Mystery . . . unlesse such as are or shall be Apprentices ... or shall have served seven yeares Apprentiship thereunto att the least upon pain that every person so offending . . . shall pay forfeit and lose the sum of Forty shillings for every moneth the said persons shall use and exercise the said trade . . .

Be it further enacted . . . That all and every person persons whatsoever now using or exerciseing as Masters the said Art Trade or Mystery ... att the least within the said Cities of London and Westminster and the several suburbs thereof or within twenty miles compasse of them . . . shall be admitted and are enjoyned to enter themselves into the said Societie or Corporation . . . Thefts And whereas there is a necessity lying upon the Silk throwers to deliver to

of Silk. these Winders or Doublers considerable quantities of silke which being of good

APPENDIX C.

633

value is by evil disposed person many times unjustly deceitfully — falsly purloined imbezieled pawned sold and detained to the great damage and sometimes the utter undoing of the Thrower whoe employes the said person. Bee it further enacted . . . That every such silke winder and doubler who shall att any time . . . purloyn imbezell &c. any part of silk delivered ... by any Silk thrower . . . that in every such case ... the Winder or Journey man so offending as the buyer and Buyers Receiver and Receivers of such Silke being thereof lawfully convicted by confession of the party . . . or by one Witness upon Oath in give and make to the party and parties greived such recompence and satisfaction for such theire damage and losse and charges . . . as by the said Justice or Justices or Cheife Officers shall be ordered and appointed.

Provided that no more damage be given or awarded then the party greived shall prove hee is damnified and hath erpended . . . And if the party or parties shall not be able or sufficient to make recompence . . . nor doe make recompence or satisfaction within fourteen dayes . . . then the Party or Parties . . . shall be apprehended and whipped or sett in the Stocks in the place where the Offence is committed or in some Markett Towne in the said County neare unto the place . . . and for the second Offence to incur the like or such further punishment by whipping or being put in the Stocks as the Justices of the Peace . . . shall in their discretion thinke fitt and convenient . . . Provided alwaies that it shall and may be lawfuU to and for any Freeman of the said Company of Silk Throwers to sett on work and imploy any Person or Persons being Native Subjects to His Majesty and no others whether they be Men Women or Children to turn the Mill tye threads double Silke and wind Silke as formerly they have used to doe although such Person or Persons . . . shall not have served or been bred up as Apprentices to the Trade . . .

Provided and be it enacted that the said Corporation shall not by vertue of this Act . . . make any Orders Ordenance or By-Lawes to sett any Rates or Prices whatsoever upon the Throwing of Silk to bind or inforce their Members to worke att but that theire respective Members shall be left att Liberty to contract with their respective Imployers and also with the Person that they imploy at such Rates as they . . . shaU agree upon.

1692. A Joint-stock Throwing Company.

Proceedings upon the petition of John Sherbrook, Samuel Howard, Robert Aldersey and Humphrey Simpson of London, merchant, Thomas Bates, Barton Hollyday and Thomas Lessingham of London, silk throwers on behalf of them- selves and others. They show that they and several others concerned with them have, with great expense and industry, brought to practice a certain useful and cheap way, by engines, of winding the finest raw silk which was formerly brought ready wound, spun and twisted from Italy. They propose to bring raw silk from Italy, Turkey and other countries, and by that means to employ vast numbers of poor people and save considerable sums of money paid for the silk now imported ready twisted from foreign parts. In regard such undertaking will require several thousand pounds stock for the management of the same, which amount be raised nor the undertaking so well managed as by a joint stock, they pray to be incor- porated by the name of the Governor's Company for working fine raw silk. —{Dom. S.P.)

1692. Warrant to prepare a Bill. Provisoes to restrain the Corporation from throwing or winding anj' Turkey silk.

1696-7. Portions of an Act for the Encouragement of the Manufacture of Lustrings and Alamodes.

The Stocks for offenders.

Improve- ments in Silk Throwing.

034 APPENDIX C.

A Relief And whereas several Weavers have certaine Pieces of Black Alamodes and

from Lustrings by them which have been sealed by the Officers of the Customs or

Sealing. Royal Lustring Company and are lyable by Law to be forfeited . . . and the said Weavers would incurr other Penalties yett in Commiseration of their condition itt is hereby further enacted that all and every such Pieces of Alamod.es and Lustrings as doe' or shall appeare upon both by One or more_ credible Wit- nesses (who have never been prosecuted for importing Goods without paying the Duties . . . ) to be manufactured within this Realm ... shall be brought to the Royal Lustring Companies Warehouse and the Evidence . . . being there produced shall be marked and sealed gratis . . .

And be it further enacted That all Black Alamodes and the Lustrings where- soever manufactured which shall be formed in the Custody or Possession of any Person or Persons not marked and sealed with the Mark and Scale of the Custom House or of the Royal Lustring Company ... are hereby declared and adjudged to be forfeited.

1697-8. An Act for settling and adjusting the Proportion of Fine Silver and

Silk for the better making of Silver and Gold Thread : Regulations " No guUt wire shall be couloured with Verdigrease or Dead Head or any

for other forced Colour . . . And for all Gold and Silver . . . reduced into

Wrapping Plate there shall be allowed at the least Six Ounces of palate to cover Four Ounces Wire. of Silk the finest of which Silk shall not run above Sixteen Yards to the Peny

Weight Troy . . .

" For the future all Gold and Silver Plate shall be spun close upon well boiled

and light dyed Silk only (except Frost being run thin and spun upon differing

coloured Silk)."

1697-9. The Lustring Company's Silk. And whereas the said Royal Lustring Company have Seventeen Bails of Fine Italian Thrown Silk in Amsterdam . . . (Statutes.)

1709. An Act for employing the Manufacturers by encouraging the Con- sumption of Raw Silk and Mohair Yarn : The Whereas the Maintenance and Subsistence of many Thousands of Men Women

Regulation and Children within this Kingdom depends upon the making of Silk Mohair Gimp of Button- and Thread Buttons and Button-holes with the Needle and great Numbers of Covering Throwsters Twisters Spinners Winders Dyers and others are employed in pre- and paring the Materials . . .

Button-hole And whereas the Silk and Mohaii- ... is purchased in Turkey and

Bindings. other Foreign Parts in Exchange for the Woollen Manufacture of Great Britain . . . an Act was made in the Tenth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty King William the Third (of glorious memory) intitled an Act to making or selling Buttons made of Cloth Serge Drugget or other Stuffs . . . but that the intended Encouragement by the said Act has in a great Measure been rendred ineffectual by a late and unforeseen Practice of making and binding of Button- holes with Cloth Serge Drugget or other stuffs ... to the great Discourage- ment of and Abatement in the consumption of Raw Silk and Mohair Yam and the utter ruin of numerous Families. Be it enacted . . . that no Taylor and other Person whatsoever . . . shall make sell set on use or bind . . . on any Clothes or Wearing Garment any Button or Button-Holes made of or used or bound with Serge Drugget Frize Camblet or any other Stuff of which clothes are usually made upon Forfeiture of the Sum of Five Pounds for every Dozen of such Buttons and Button Holes.

appeot)ix c.

635

1719. Defoe on the Spitalfields Riots.

" This is certainly a Truth that none can Contradict, that the Humour of Calico the People running so much upon the wearing painted or printed Callicoes and and Linnen, is a great Interruption to our Woollen and Silk Manufactures, lessens Silk, thus Consumption, and by Consequences takes from the Poor so much of their Employment as bears a Proportion to the Decrease of Consumption.

" . . . The universal Female Fancy that pushes us upon such a great Consumption of Callicoes gives room for ; and sets all our Trading and Sea-faring People upon running in a prodigious quantity of Foreign Callicoes, that is to say Callicoes printed by Foreigners." — (Mist's Journal, June 27.)

1719. " We are oppressed and insulted here in the open streets . .

we are abused frighted, stript, our clothes torn off our backs every day by Rabbles, under the pretence of not wearing such clothes as the Weavers please to have us wear." — (Mist's Journal, Aug. 15.)

1719. " We will find out particular Manufactures suitable for our wear, and fix our fancies upon them, beautify and adorn them in our own Work, and make them as gay and as Pretty together as Callicoes, such as Spittlefields never saw . . . Let the Weavers therefore consider . . ." — (Mist's Journal, Sep. 12.)

1739. Goods made of long wool, sUk, mohair and cotton mixed : —

Norwich crapes. Stockings. Alapeens. Northamp-

Silk druggets. Spanish poplins. Anterines. tonshire

Hair Plush. Caps and gloves. Silk sattenets. Manu-

Hair camblet. Venetian poplin. Bombasins. factures.

and divers sorts of different stuffs both figured, clouded spotted, plain and striped, too tedious to name. — (" Observations on Wool, and the Woollen Manufacture by a Manufacturer of Northamptonshire.")

1760. The East India Company introduced the Italian mode of reeling silk into India.

1783. The English Silk Duties.

The saying of Dr. Swift that in the arithmetic of the Customs two and Dr. Swift

two, instead of making four, make sometimes only one, holds perfectly true in on the

regard to such heavy duties, which ought never to have been imposed. — (Ency. Silk Duties. Brit.)

1783. The Export Bounties.

The bounties sometimes given upon the exportation of home production Re-Landed and the drawbacks which are paid upon the re-exportation of the greater part of Goods, foreign goods have given occasion to many frauds and to a species of smuggling more destructive of the public revenue than any other . . . The goods, it is well known, are sometimes shipped and sent to sea, but are soon aft^r clandestinely re-landed. — [Ency. Brit.)

1800-25. Bombazines in Keighley.

These goods were made with silk warps and worsted weft spun from fine Yorkshire Norfolk or Kent wool, the worsted being thrown upon the face. There were Bom- two widths of this article, the narrow about 18-19 inches and the broad 40-60 bazines. inches wide. They were principally sent abroad. The late John Rishworth, Fell Lane, made this class of goods in the first quarter of the 18th century. — {Textile Manufacture in Keighley, John Hodgson, 1879.)

636 APPENDIX C.

1822. British Crape. Worsted Stephen Wilson patented (No. 4714) his " British Crape," employing two

Crape. wefts of worsted on a common worsted or other warp ; these wefts being spun

from five to seven times harder than for ordinary weaving and having their twist

in opposing directions.

,, , „ , , 1825. Advertisement at Macclesfield, 19th February.

WorkneoBle " -"^^ overseers, guardians of the poor and families desirous of settlmg m

^ ^ 'Macclesfield.

"Wanted immediately from 4 — 5,000 persons from seven to twenty years of age to be employed in the throwiag and manufacturing of silk. The great increase of the trade having caused a great scarcity of workmen, it is suggested that this is a most favourable opportunity for persons with large families and overseers who wish to put out children.

" Applications to be made, if by letter post-paid, to the printer of this paper."

1825. Advertisement at Macclesfield.

" Wanted to be built immediately one thousand houses."

1826. Manufacturers' Costs.

" Some of these statements make the cost of manufacturing plain goods in this country 44 per cent, above that in France and considerably more on figured and fancy articles."

Mr. John Williams, Member for Lincoln :

" The business of silk-throwsters occupied about one-third of the capital in the Trade."— j?a?warrf, 23/2/1826.

(Mr. Ellice's Motion for a Select Committee on the State of the Silk Trade.)

rrr , t 1835. Failures of Throwsters.

Want of . .

Capital. " "^^ ^^^ failure among the English throwsters may be ascribed to their

want of sufficient capitals in a trade so susceptible of variation from the caprices of fashion and from the fluctuation of the money market. — (Ure's Philosophy of Manufactures.)

PATENT SPECIFICATIONS.

Some 17th Centuby Patents.

1681. No. 213. John Joachim Becher ; a new way or instrument for the winding of silks.

1690. No. 265. John Barkstead ; the winding and throwing of silks.

Lombe's Patent.

Some 18th Century Patents.

1718. No. 422. Thomas Lombe : " Found out and brought to perfeccion three sorts of engine ; one to wind the finest raw silk, another to spin and the other to twist the finest Italian raw silk into organzine in great perfeccon, which was never before done in this our kingdom.

1725. No. 482. Thomas Teeton : " An engine or machine called a straiter for the better and more easy perfecting the throwing and manufacturing of all sorts of fine, single and double raw silk."

1703. No. 519. Richard Wilder : Improvements in throwing.

APPENDIX C. 637

1733. No. 542. John Kay : The fly-shuttle.

1744. No. 611. George Garrett : Method of combing wool with silk to be used instead of mohair yam for " lutherines, rufferines, princes stuff or prunellas which was chiefly used in making clerg3rmen's gowns."

1765. No. 823. Richard Williams : Making flne thin and light cloth of silk and wool with the same appearance as superfine Spanish cloth and Irish ratteen ; the warp of slack thrown silk, the shoot " superfine Spanish abb yam."

1769. Richard Arkwright : Water frame.

1770. No. 960. Peter Noaille : Crossiag silk in throwing.

1770. No. 974. Thomas Crawford's Winding, tramming and doubling.

1772. No. 1009. Samuel Unwin : Machinery for " winding, doubling and ranning of silk, &c."

1772. No. 1013. John Grumpier : Throwing to make silk and tiffany.

1776. No. 1123. James Woolstenholme : " New kind of goods ' velvateena,' being an improvement on velvarets, ' far superior.' "

1784. No. 1437. Joshua Bennett : A stuff called " Prince's everlasting union " of worsted, mohair and silk.

1786. No. 1524. Nicholas Gordelier : Throwing and winding.

1787. No. 1606. Thomas Sandys : Throwing and organzining.

1792. No. 1896. Peter Atherton r Machine for twisting, winding and doubling.

OLD ADVERTISEMENTS. 1813. Tottenham Mills.

TO SILK-THROWSTERS, Manufacturers, and others, requiring sub- stantial and extensive Premises, most judiciously planned, capable of carrying on one of the first concerns in the Silk Line in all its branches, with a powerful Steam Engine on the most approved principle, well supplied, four miles from London, and near the navigable river Lea. — To be SOLD, by Private Contract, all those newly-erected Itemises, called Tottenham Silk Mills, comprising a good family House, with three others, and one foe the superintendent, with large garden, yards, engine-house, and requisite buildings ; two factories, four stories high, one of which is completely fitted up with machinery, on the new and most approved principle, ready for use, and warmed by steam pipes ; the whole is inclosed by a high boundary wall ; adjoining which is about 10 acres of very rich meadow land, well supplied with water ; the whole held under a very long lease, at a moderate ground-rent. For particulars apply personally on the premises. Time will be given for payment on approved security. — (Advertise- ment.) The. Times, 31st Dec, 1813.

638 APPENDIX C.

1813. Parish Oiildren.

TO PARISH OFFICERS. Wanted immediately, 10 or 12 HEALTHY STRONG GIRLS, for a silk manufactory in the country, from the age of nine to twelve years — ^the utmost care will be taken of the children's morals and health. School will be kept of a Sunday, for their education ; 20 or 30 more will be wanted soon. Enquire at No. 18, Paternoster-row. — (Advertisement.) T?ie Times, 1st Dec, 1813.

1813. A Sales Notice.

AUTUMN and WINTER DRESS, in all seasonable colours, of the best quality, in velvets, superfine Merino wool cloths, poplins, lustres, bombazeens, cottage stuffs, sarsnets, satins, elegant long and square silk India shawls, veils, hosiery, &c., to the amount of 20,000Z. ; together with an entire new elegant article for Dresses, peculiarly adapted to the autumn season, and warranted for durability, at only 3s. a yard, worth 5s., the whole of the above having been purchased in lots for ready money, from the needy manufacturers, which enables the proprietors to submit them to the inspection of the fashionable world, on singularly advan- tageous terms, viz., from 20 to 50 per cent, cheaper than the regular trade prices ; by way of explanation of the charge of the whole, the prices of the velvets and Merino wool cloths for pelisses and mantels, are from 3s. to 6s. under the regular charge ; the satins, lustres, bombazeens, poplins, and plain and twilled sarsnets, from Is. 6d. to 4s. under price ; the long and square India silk shawls, and all articles of family moumiug, are equally cheap. This will well suit ladies or gentlemen who have commissions. No abatement is ever made from the marked price. — R. Thomas and Co., 193, Fleet Street, comer of Chancery-lane. — (Advertisement.) The Times, 17th September, 1813.

1813. Fashionable Goods.

SUPERFINE CLOTHS and VELVETS for Ladies Dresses, in the foUowing and other fashionable colours : emerald greens, beet roots, rubies, maroons, crimson, scarlets, carmine purples ; also innumerable shades in elegant drabs, together with black and white, and various other colours ; also sattins, poplins, bombazeens, lustres, sarsnets, and family mourning. The largest stock in London of the above prime articles are offered to the fashionable public by Thomas and Co., west-comer of Chancery-lane. The above stock wUl be an acquisition to Ladies or Gentlemen who have large commissions, or traders, who have to recharge their goods, having been purchased under peculiar circumstances, 20 to 40 per cent, saved. T. and Co. make no profession of manufacturing, but remind purchasers that ready money is the loom amongst makers and other dealers that commands goods at the lowest prices. No abatement from a regular marked price. Letters must be paid. — (Advertisement.) The Times, 27th November, 1813.

1813. The Shawl Trade.

ORIENTAL and EUROPEAN COSTUME.— EVERINGTON respectfuUy announces to the Nobility, Merchants and the Public, that he has on sale a splendid Selection of Indian, Scotch, Parisian, Abyssinia, Patent Seal Wool, Cashmere, Vigonia, La Plate, Valencia, Merino, Welch Whittle, and Don Cossack Shawls. The designs are the most magnificent of Oriental and European costume, the colours beautifully variegated, and of matchless brilliancy. To be had exclusively at his Warehouse, wholesale, retail, and for exportation. The full value given for India shawls, fine worked muslins, &c. — 10, Ludgate-street, near St. Paul's. — (Advertisement.) The Times, 29th November, 1813.

APPENDIX C.

639

- 1813. Satin Gattzb.

We understand that the grand article now in request among the most distmguished Belles of Fashion is the beautiful Cossack Satin Gauze, manufactured solely by Layton and Shears, No. 11, Henrietta-street, Covent -garden ; it is an article oi unprecedented beauty. The superb collection of white and coloured satms, rich figured sarsnets, &c., are sold at the above celebrated house, at 5s. m the pound cheaper than any where else in the metropolis." — (Advertisement.) The Times.

QUOTATIONS.

A Kachari Proverb (Assam) :

" If the milk is good what matters the quantity ; If the cloth is silk, what matter if it be torn." —{Silk Cloths of Assam, B. C. Allen.)

1541. An Act for Greate Horses : Silk-weaving

" And all and every other person temporall . . . whos Wiff . . . and the

shall were any goun of sylke ... or any Frenche hood or bonnet of Velvett National

. . . shall kepe one (charger) for the SaddiU." Defence.

1699. " The Weavers and Silk and Mohair Throsters of London are so very Numerous a Company, that according as they flourish or fail, most other Trades feel the good or ill effects of it.

"... From the Restoration of King Charles the Second, to the beginning of the present Revolution, this profitable and necessary Broad-Weaving Trade was increased 19 parts in 20 to what it was before.

"... That happy and Ingenious Invention of both Silk and Worsted Crapes, gave new Life both to the Wooll and Silk Manufactory.

"... This profitable and necessary Trade of Silk throwing and weaving, by which vast Multitudes of People . . . lately lived comfortably. First in the winding it raw, whereby Thousands of Seamens Wives and Children and other People many miles round the City (who now starve) earned their Bread, to perfect it for the Throster.

"... When our London and Canterbury Weavers against the Spring- trade have provided many Thousand pounds worth of Lustrings Tabby's, and other as good Silks as the World can afford, in comes an East India ship freight with Dammask and Sattins, which being exposed on their Stage makes the Mode for that Spring ; and the English Fabricators must keep that years Goods, or sell them to vast loss . . . Thus for several years have the London and Canterbury Weavers been disappointed . . . and fallen into worsted Weavers." — " England's Advocate." "An Intreaty for Help in Behalf of the English SUk-Weavers and Silk Throsters." 1699.

Contem- porary Progress.

Seamen's Wives as Silk- workers.

Eastern Com- petition.

1719. " How can we sit stiU and see the Bread-taken out of our labouring The

Peoples Mouths, even by those very Men who ought to be equally concerned Competi-

with us to prevent it ? The Weaving and Use of CaUicoes is evidently the Ruin tion of

of our Manufactures. . . . 'Tis a great Mistake to suggest that Spittlefields Cotton, alone complains. . . ." — " A Brief State of the Question between CaUicoes and the Woollen and Silk Manufacture." 1719. Anon.

"It is not the printed CaUicoes or Linens that hinder the Manufacture of Dutch and Raw Silk, but the great Quantities of wrought Silks imported from Holland Italian and Italy."— "A Brief Answer." Mr. Asgil, 1719. Silks.

640

APPENDIX C.

1735. The Silken Trade in Ireland.

The " Eight Silk-Throwers may work fine and coarse Silk Weekly 300 Weight,

Irish besides Italian-thrown Silk made use of. Ribbons and SUks made in Ireland

Industry, are good, as are their Shaggs, Velvets and Garden-Sattins, and Brocades of Silk,

Gold and Silver, equal those made in England ; but the Expence attending the

several Operations Silk pass through, before compleatly Manufactured, being much

the same in Ireland as in England ; Irish-made Silks are not to be exported to

Profit." — " Thoughts on Trade " (presented in MS. to several Members of

Parliament). By E. A. Lloyd, Silkthrowster.

1828. Average Rates of Throwing in England.

Simple FA90N or Weight and Waste.

			Deniers.	s.	d.
Italian or	Bengal Tram	. - for	24 to 30	2	9
Do.			30 „ 40	2	3
Do.	Singles		40 „ 50	1	9
Do.	Do.		50 „ 70	1	6
Organzine	. .		18 „ 22	5/- to 5	6
Do.	• ■ . . *		24 „ 29	4	6
Do.	• .		30 „ 48 a	vg. 4	0

per lb.

N.B. — At these prices no washing of silk is allowed. If washing be allowed, the Throwster would gladly undertake it at 1/- per lb. less.

Grande FA90N (Weight for Weight). Deniers.

Organzine Do.

for

24 to 28 28 „ 50

5. d.

6 0 4 9

Fine Singles . , Middling Do. Coarse Do.

Brtttia Silks.

Simple Fagon.

21-

Grande FoQon. 2/9

Costs in France and England.

England. s. d.

Cost in Italy . . . . 20 0

Export Duty, Lombardy .. 10

Expenses to Calais . . 5

Import Duty . . . . 1

Throwing in England . . 2 9

Waste, say 5 per cent. .. 1 2J

France. Cost in Italy Export Duty Expenses to Lyons Throwing . . Waste, say 5 per cent.

s. d.

20 0

10 0

2

2 2J

1 If

25 3i

24 4J

Average Price of Weaving per Yard.

Gros de Naples Figured dress silks . . Light Satins Heavy Satins -A View on the Silk Trade, 1828.

In France.

6d. 8d.— 9d. 6d. lOd. Richd. Badnall, London.

In England. 7d.

1/- 7d.

1/-

1828. " I cannot avoid expressing ray decided opinion, that where a Silk factory is fully employed and where the machinery is good, at the present price of Throwing Silk, and at the present low rates of wages, the Silk Throwster can have no cause whatever to complain." — (Badnall.)

APPENDIX C. 641

BRITISH MUSEUM AND GUILDHALL RECORDS.

The records of the Guildhall and the British Museum throw considerable light on conditions in the silk trade at various periods, and in what follows some of the more interesting of these records are reproduced in chronological order. Those at the Guildhall it will be noted date from the early part of the 16th century and those from the British Museum from the early years of the 17th century.

The records deal with a great variety of subjects particularly with the relations between immigrants and home weavers and the inactments made from time to time to preserve the purity of silk fabrics.

Guildhall Records.

17th June. Thomas Exmewe, Mayor [1518].

Att this Court came George Medley and Edmund Wotton Wardens of the Mercers and presented to the same Alverey Ravson mercer to whome they have geven th'office of Coen Weier of Silks in the stede and place of Thomas ffisher decessed. Et admissus etc.— Letter Book, N, fo. 82b,

11th February, 9 James I [1611-2].

Whereas the righte honorable the Lord Maior having receaved informacion of a greate quantity of corrupte and folse silke comonly called heavy Waighte silke which was locked opp in a great Chest in the house of Josephe Cocke a silkeman free of this Citie did therevpon send some officers to make searche for the same, who being resisted by the said Cocke and absolutely denyed to have righte or searche thereof his Lopp. did therevppon comit the said Cocke to prison for his contempt and disobedyence therein. And afterwardes conventing him to this Courte upon Saterday last who in open Courte being demaunded whether he wold submitt himselfe to the authority of his Lop. and suffer the said silke to be serched and seene and so to be enlarged of his ymprisonment he utterly refused so to doe offering bayle for his fourthcominge and thine king thereby to avoyd any course that should be taken by his lop. for the serche and vew of the said sUke. Wherevpon the said Cocke being convented before the righte honourable the Lordes and others of his Matyes. most honorable Privy Councell vpon Sunday last and there Lopps. having heard at large what could be obiected by Cocke in his excuse. And finding his aunsweare fuU of obstinacy and neglecte of his Lops, authority in this behalf e did order and decree that Mr. Sherifies or either of them should repayre to the house of the said Cocke and there take Inte order for the searche and vewe of the said silke in the presence of the said Cocke and to proceed with it yf it shoud be found false and defective according to the vsage and custome of this Citye in like cases. And further the said Cocke was by there Lops, comitted to the Marshallsey vntill other order be taken where he now remayneth. Now this day Mr. SherifEes made reporte to this Courte That they in the prsence of Mr. John Gore Mr. Aldram Deputy Mr. Dyos the cities remembrauncer and other good citizens, and also in the presence of the said Josephe Cocke hunselfe who was sent for to that purpose caused the chest to be opened and ther found two hundreth thirtye fewer poundes and six ounces of heavy dyed sUke which they caused to be delivered to the custody of the Chamblaine of this citie. This Courte (approving and allowinge the carefull proceeding of Mr. SherifEes) doe order that an Inquest of Office be presently drawne and a Jury sumoned to be sworne tomorrowe mominge in the Kings Courte holden before the Lord Maior and Aldren of this City to enquire whether the said silke be falsely and corruptly dyed to the deceipte of his Matyes. subiects yea or no. To th'end such further proceedings may be taken as shalbe fitt. — Letter Book, E.E., fo. 36.

8 8

642

APPENDIX C.

Letter from Sir Thomas Bromley, Lord Burghley, the Earl of Sussex, Sir James Croft, Sir Cihristopher Hatton and Sir Francis Walsingham.

From Letter Book Z, fo. 134. Also entered in Journal 21, fo. 104.

After our right hartye comendacons. Whereas the Queenes Matie. ys geven to vnderstand that of late the pryces of Velvets and all other sylkes are verye much enhaunced w'thout any iust cause, onelye vppon a greedye desyre of Gayne to sell the same at their pleasure at this tyme appoynted for a solempne assemblye. fforasmuche as suche gentlemen as are to gyve their necessarye attendance vppon her Maties. p.sone fynde themselves, verye muche agrieved wth the excessive charge thereof, And we are credyblye enformed that not longe sythen the same were solde at suche rates or at lesse as are contayned in a scedule hearin inclosed. Wee have thught convenient to signyfye so much vnto you and to requyre you in her Maties. behalf e furthwth vppon receipt herof to send for all such psons. of anye the companyes of that Cytye as comonlye vse to sell anye such sylkes and wares and to comaunde them that from hencefurthe they forbeare to sell anye sortes of suche stufEe, but accordinge to such rates as are conteyned in the said scedule as they and everye of them will vppon her highnes indignacon and theire pill answere theire contempte. And so prayenge you that hereof there be no defaulte, we byd you right hartelye farewell, ffrom St. James the seconde of ApriU 1581.

Yor. lovinge frendes,

Bromley Cane. W. Burghley. T. Sussex.

James Croft. Chr. Hatton. Fra. Walsingham.

A BATE OF CLOTHE OF GOLDE AND SlIiKE.

*Clothe of golde of two threedes . . Of syngle threed Of Myllen makinge Velvet Crymosyn and purple

)

xxviijs, xxvjs.

Velvet black

Velvet of Colors

m Grayne Of three pyles Of two pyles Of pyle Di . . Of Resortat Of 2 pyles . . Of pile Di . . Of Resort' . . Sattyn Crymosyn and purple, in grayne

Of Genoa Of Bolonia best Of Bolonia Second Of Florence best Of Ordynarye Damaske of the kyndes for the lyke pryces. Taffjrtas Cr3Tnosyn and purple in grayne the ell

Rych Taifitas black and Colors I Second

Ordynarye . .

viijrf.

Sattens blacke and Colors

liijs. m\d.

xxxvs.

xxxs.

xxvjs. viijaf.

xxiijs. iiijd.

xxjs.

xviijs.

xxs.

xviijs.

xvjs.

xiijs. m.]d.

xiijs. m]d.

xiijs. uijd!.

xijs.

xjs.

xs.

xvjs. xvs. xiijs. uijd.

xjs.

* Explanation of the prices is as follows : — 53/4, 35/-, 30/-, 28/-, 26/8, 26/8, 23/4, 21/-. 18/-, 20/-, 18/-, 16/-, 13/4, 13/4, 13/4, 12/-, U/-, 10/-, 16/-, 15/-, 13/4, 11/-, 9/-, 8/-, 6/8, 5/-, 4/-, 13/4, 10/-.

APPENDIX C.

643

Taffetas Sarcenett the ell

Sylke grograyne

The seconde of Aprill 1581 T. Bromley Cane' James Croft.

Guildhall Journal I, 726.

Geon wtout corde

Wyth corde

Seconde sorte

Thyrde sort

Ordynarye Of the best Of the Second

W. Burghley. Chr. Hatton.

1x5.

viijs.

vj«. vi\\d.

vs.

iiijs.

xiijs. iiijt?.

as.

T. Sussex.

Fra. Walsingham.

(29 Feb., 1419-20.)

Die Jouis ultimo die rebruarii Anno Henrici V«, septimo Maior Recordator Knolles Merlawe R. Chichelo Waldem' Crowmer Fauconer Wotton H. Barton W. Seuenoke Norton Widington Pyke Perueys Michell Reinwell Radulfus Barton Pyke [sic] aldermanii J. Botiller.

Licet tamen nullus operaretur [sic\ infra Civitatem nisi per dispensacionem istius Curie* vel nisi liberus fuerit istius Civitatis Quia tamen alieni textores panni Imei sunt pauperes et necessarii communi proficuo tocius populi Ideo per dispensacionem istius Curie admittuntur in priuatis venellis locis et sameris suis operari Ita quod dum exercent operacionem lineam sint sub scrutineo et superuisu Magistrorum liberorum Telariorum linei panni &c.

[Tranahticm.]

On Thursday the last day of February in the 7th year of Henry V. The mayor, recorder, Knolles, Merlawe, R. Chichelo, Waldem, Crowmer, Fauconer, Wotton, H. Barton, W. Sevenoke, Norton, Widington, Pyke, Perveys, Michell, Reinwell, Ralph Barton, Pyke [sic], aldermen ; J. Botiller.

Although no man may work within the city except by dispensation of this court, or unless he be a freeman of this city, yet because foreign weavers of linen cloth are poor and necessary to the common profit of the whole people ; therefore by dispensation of this court they are admitted in private lanes, places, and their chambers, to work. So that while they exercise liaen work they be under the scrutiny and supervision of the Masters of the free weavers of linen cloth, &c.

Ghiildhall Journal 4, 576. 23 Hen. VI. [1444r-5].

Die Veneris viij. die Januarij M. et Aldr. vt supa.

Isto die consideratum est quod telarii extranei recipiantur ad juramentum suum ut [solet ?], et quod soluantur annuatim camerario civitatisf quinque marcas sterlingorum ad quod fideliter faciendum ipsi annuatin die recepoionis Juramenti sui inueniant quator de retabilioribusj personis mistere sue qui se obligent per vium recognitionis ad soluendam summam supradictam Anno tunc sequenti ad quam ordinacionem perpetuis temporibus observandam ipsorum custodes astringuntur vinculo iuramenti et eorum successores imperpetuum erunt conformatim obligati pro quo summa dicti telarii erunt examinati de contribucione quacunque facienda domino Regi de pensione xx. marcarum ei annuatim soluendarum et crescente ipsorum numero crescet dicta pensis secundum ratam porcionem dicte sum me ad numerum xxj. personamm predictarum [sic].

* Interlined : Videlicet festo Finis Pasohe proximo.

t Interlined : " ad festum lohannis Baptiste et Vatalis Domini per equalea poreionea.'

j sic : atabilioribus t

644 APPENDIX C.

[Translation.]

On Friday the 8th of January. Mayor & Aldermen as above.

On this day it is considered that foreign weavers be received to their oath as [is wont] and that .they pay yearly to the chamberlain of the city 5 marks sterling, and that faithfully to do this they find yearly, on the day of the receipt of their oath, four of the more [substantial] persons of their mystery who shall bind themselves by way of recognizance to pay the sum aforesaid in the following year ; to observing the which ordinance for all time their wardens are bound by the chain of an oath and their successors shall be for ever conformably bound for which sum the said weavers shall be examined of every contribution to be made to the lord King of the pension of 20 marks payable yearly to him, and as their number grows the said pension grows according to the due portion of the said sum, to the number of the 21 persons aforesaid.

28 Nov., 1497. Mayor and Aldermen.

Memorandum that on Tuesday the 28th November in the 13th year of the reign of Henry the Seventh it was agreed by the Mayor and Aldermen that the Indenture and Composition between the Weavers denizens and Weavers strangers should be on their Petition entered of Record : — This Indenture made &c. bet wen the Bailliffs Wardeyns and fEelauship of Weuers denezyns on the one ptie. and Rowland Marten henr. Asshe Willam. Taute hobard Stakeman MicheU Passe, James Willamson henr. Busshe John Shillyng Simon Marten Petre Deffle Willam. Marten CJomelys Wanderwell Mathewe laurens Andreau Clerk Philip Deboke Deryke Wanelew Mark Kyng Reyngnold Arde Andrewe Busshe John Holand Angell Selonder Barnard Reymond Comeles lukenor henr. Gonner and Watkyn Wandoffe Weuers alienes enhabited in the Cite of london and the suburbes of the same and in the Burgh of Southwerk on the other partie Witnesseth that where vppon dyeds variaunces and Cont'uersies before this tyme hadde and moued betwen the said parties dyeds accordes agremenfcs and composicions haue ben had and made before this tyme, And sithen that dids variaunces and Cont'uersies hath ffallen betwen the said parties aswell for the breche and non p'fourmance of the said Agrements and Composicions as for dids other maters and causes conc'njmg the said pties. in and for the exc'cisyng of their said Crafte and otherwise not comprised in the said Agrements nor Composicions, And therfore nowe for the adnowdyng and eschewyng of ye said variaunces cont'uersies and debates and for a fynale peas accorde and vnytie to be had and p'petuaUy to contynue betwen the said parties in tyme to come. It is nowe fynally accorded Aggreed and couenanted betwen the said parties as hereaft. doeth ensue any Corporacion concord Aggre- ment and Composicion heretofore hadde or made betwen the said parties and their p'decessours or any of them in anywise not wt.stondyng that is to say :

the first It is accorded and aggreed betsven the said parties that the said Weuers denezeyns

Article Citezyns and the said Weuers alienes enhabited and all they that hereaft. shall entrite in the said Cite Suburbes and Burgh shalbe from hensfurth hadd reputed and taken as one entier ffealiship of the said Gilde of Weuers denezeyns any Corporacion or ordenance heretofore had or made notwithstondyng.

the sode. And also yt is aggreed and couenanted betwen the said parties that the said Rowland Marten henr. Asshe WiUam Taute hobard Stakeman Michell Passe James Willamson hem. Busshe John Shillyng Simond Marten Petre Deffle Willam Marten and Comelys Wandewell at the specyall labor of the said Weuers denezyns shalbe accepted taken and enhabited to be ffremen of the said Citie in the said Crafte of Weuers and have and enioye all the libties. and priuelages appteynyng and belongyng to the same. Also it is couenanted and agreed betwen

the Uide. the said parties that the said Mathewe lawrence Awdrean Clerk Philip Debloke

APPENDIX C. 645

Deryk Wanclewe Markas Kyng Reynold Arde Andrewe Buashe John holand Angell Selonder Barnard Remond Comelys lukenor henr. Gonner and Watkyn Wandeffe and all other Weuers of Wolen or lynnen alienes that nowe be or hereaft' shaU come and be in this Realme of England shall at their pleasur set up shopp and vse their Crafte and occupacion within the said Cite Suburbes and Burgh wtoute geynsaying int'vpcion or impedyment of the said Weuers denezeyns or of the Weuers Citizeyns of the said Cite or any of their Successours paying at the settyng vp of their said Shoppes to the Weuers denezeyns and their suc- cessours iiijs. or a juell of the same value and also paying for eu'y loome aswell lynnen as wuUyn to the said Weuers denezeyns Citezyns and their Successours yerely aft' the rate as the same Weuers denezeyns Citezyns shall pay toward their charges of their ffeoSerme to the kyng our sovreign lord. And also it is couenanted and aggreed that if the said Weuers denezeyns Citezyns or their the mith. successours hereaft' shall enhable any of the said Mathewe lawrence Awdrean Clerk Philipp Deboke Derike Wanclewe Markas Kyng Reynold Aide Andrewe Busshe John holand Angell Selonder Barnard Remond Comelys lukenor henr' Gormer or Watkyn Wandoffe or any oth' Weuers aliene or Straunger that shall hereaft' sette vp shop in the said Cite Suburbes Burgh to be accepted ffremen in the said Cite of the same Crafte that then aU such p'sones as they shall so enhabile shalbe come firemen of the said Cite of the same Crafte if the pryuelages rules and ordenances of the said Cite will it suffre withoute any thing paying to the said ffealiship of Weu's denezeyns but to pay such charges as shalbelong onely to the Chambre of london. And also it is aggreed betwen the said parties the Yth. that the said Mathewe laurence Awdreaw Clerk Philip Deboke Deryk Wanclewe Markas Kyng Reygnold Arde Andrewe Busshe John holand AngeU Selondre Barnard Remond Comelys lukenor henr' Gonner and Watkyn Wandoffe and all oth' Weu's aliens Straungers that shall sette vp shopp in the said Cite Suburbes or Burgh shaU accept and sette aworke all workemen instructed in the said occupacion aswell foreyns and alienes as denezeyns wt'oute lette or Int'upcion of the said Weuers denezeyns or Citezyns or their Successours. And also it is the vith. aggreed that the said Rowland Marten henr' Asshe Willam Taute hobard Stakeman Michell Passe James WiUamson henr' Busshe John ShiUyng Simond Marten Petr Deffle WiUam Marten Comelys WanderweU Mathewe lawrence Awdreaw Clerk Philip Debocke Deryk Wanclewe Markas Kyng Reyngold Arde Andrewe Busshe John holand Angell Selondre Barnard Remond Comelys lukenor henr' Gronner and Watkyn Wandoffe shall have and enioye all such Apprentices Journeymen an S'aunts as they nowe have accordyng to fcheir Couenantes and Aggrements withoute lette or int'rupcion of the said Weuers Citezeyns or their successours. And that from hensfurth the same Weuers Straungers shall in the vvth. nowise take an App'ntice but if he be bom vnder ye obleyzaunce of the Kyng our sov'reign lord. And also it is aggreed betwen the said parties that the said the vmth. Mathewe lawrence Awdrean Clerk Philip Debocke Derik Wanclewe Markas Kyng Reyngnold Arde Andrewe Busshe John holand Angell Selondre Barnard Remond Comelys lukenor henr' Gtonner and Watkyn Wandoffe and all others Weuers alienes Straungers that hereaft' shall sette vp Shopp wt'un the said Cite Suburbes or Burgh their s'aunts or Journeymen shalbe vndre the obedience rule correcion and gov'nance of the said Weu's denezeyns Citizeyns and their successours. And also it is aggreed that eu'y eleccion of the Baillies or Wardejms of the said the ixth. Glide or Weuers denezeyns ij. p'sons of the Weu's Straungers for the tyme beyng ffremen of the said Cite shalbe chosen and admitted to be Baillies or Wardyns of the same crafte with other p'sons to be chosen by Englisshmen so that one of the said Weu's aliens so chosen and admitted to be one of the BaiUies of the same Crafte and that the other so chosen and admitted to be a Wardeyn of the

same Crafte And also it is aggreed that aswell as James Cok the xth.

shall have either of them wekely of the Aliens of the said Weu's Citezeyns and

646 APPENDIX C.

their Successours vij. during their lyue^ &c. Also it is ordeigned and aggreed the xith. betwen the said parties that the said Weuers Straungers at noo tyme hereaf t' amonge them self shall make assembles or Congregacione of any Guyld or Brederhed oute of the ffeauliship and Guyld of the said Weuers denezeyns in eschewyng of dyverse Inconvenyences that might ensue thereof but that they ^^J joyntly and holly hold assemble with the said Weu's denezeyns flFurther- the :suth. more it is aggreed betwen the said p'ties that what p'son so eu' of them or of their Successours that breketh or disobeyeth the said Composicions and Aggre- ments or any of them shall forfait and lese for eu'y such breche or disobeysaunce X5. st'l the one half th'of to be applied to th' use of the Chambre of london and the other half to the co'em boxe of the said ffeauliship. — Journal 10, fo. 113.

Court of Aldermen. 15th May, 9 Elizabeth [1567].

Item yt was ordered that the Wardens of the Carpenters and Hurp' the Carpent' of the bridge house shall view the Weavers newe hall and esteme as nere as the[y] can whither the carpenter that made yt did ou'see himselfe in making of the price for the doinge thereof or not and make reporte here of there opinions therein wt. convenyent sped. — Repertory 16, fo. 208.

Court of Aldermen. 1st October, 1605.

Item the peticion of William Lee Mr. of Arts first Inventor of an Ingene to make silk Stockings made to this Court for his freedome of this Cittye by Redempcon, and for certein roomes to be granted vnto him in Brydewell to work in is by this Court referred to the consideracion by Sir Stephen Soame Sir John Garrard Sir Thomas Bennett Sir humfrey Weld and Sir William Romney Knights or anye three or more of them and they to make report to this Court of their opinions touching the same. — Repertory 27, fo. 87.

Court of Aldermen. 19th December, 1606.

Item. Whereas Wm. Halshierst Estranger havinge in his possession nine papers of black silk all of it verye rotten not merchantable nor fitt for anye good vse, and hee as himself confessed here in open court knowing the same to bee defective as aforesayd procured one Henrye Sands a broker to offer the same to sell for him with intent to deceive the Kinges maiesties subiects therewith. And aswell the said Halshierst as the sayd Sands being for the cause aforesayd convented before this Court and they bothe confessing the same ; It is therefore ordered and adiudged by this Court that all the sayd rotten silk saving one paper to be kept for a sample shalbe this p'sent daye burnt at the standard in Cheapesyde. And both the sayd partyes for their sayd fraudulent dealing to stand openly vppon a stage at the burning thereof wth. either of them a skajme of the sayd silk about their necks, to shewe the cause of their punishment. — Repertory 27, fo. 320&.

Court of Aldermen. 10th February, 1606 [1606-7].

Vppon the peticon of certein silkmen of this Cittye shewing to this honourable Court the greate abuses vsed by the Silkdyers in and about this Cittye in dyeing of Coale black silks, co'enly called London heavye dyed silk wch. silks to the greate deceipt of the buyers thereof have of late tyme bene vsuallye augmented by dyeing to double waight That is to saye, everye pounde to waighe two pound or more, Whereuppon the lord Maior and this court called before them all the said Silkdyers. And vppon examinacon it playnely appeared that the sayd deceiptfuU abuse was much encreased by certain of those dyers who have vsed to buye silks for themselves to dye and sell agayne to others and to rayse greater gayne to themselves have by deceiptfuU meanes added and p'cured in their owne

APPENDIX C. 647

silks a greater and extraordinarye enorease of waight and afterwards put the same deceiptfull dyed silk to sale to the king's subiects, and that some of the sayd dyers for favor or other respects have deceiptfuUy dyed some p'ticular mens silk with a greater enorease of waight then to others for reformacon of which abuses it is ordered that all the sayd dyers shalbe everye of them bound to the kings Matie. by Recognizance in Cti. a peece wth. this condicon following vizt. : —

The Condicon of this Recognizance is such, That if the sayd Recognitor nor anye other for him, by his meanes or to his vse, neither directly nor indirectly shall after the last daye of March now next coming dye or p'cure to be dyed anye sort of rawe silk in skeynes, into the color co'enly called Coaleblack or London heavye waight black sUk But shall dye all such rawe silk as he shall after the sayd last of March dye black, into the color comonlye called light waight black, nor shall augment p'cure know or suffer to be augmented by dyeing or otherwyse howsoever the waight of anye sort or kind of rawe silk whatsoever above the quantityes hereafter mentioned, That is to saye for everye pound haberdepoitz waight of organzine silk the quantitye of aixe ounces encrease and not above and for everye pound haberdepoitz waight of throwen silk, or of anye other sort or sorts of rawe silk the quantitye of eight ounces encrease and not above, and so for everye pound of silk in greater or lesse quantityes after that rate and p'porcon, nor shall after the sayd last of March for favor gayne or anye other respect by dyeing or otherwyse make or encrease or suffer consent or procure to be made or enoreased the waight of any rawe silk of any sort or kind whatsoever, to anye person or p'sons what- soever more to one then anye other, nor shall dye or p'cure to be dyed after the sayd last of March any rawe silk for himself to sell the same againe. That then etc. or else etc. — Repertory 27, fo. 4306.

Court of Aldermen. 21st April, 1607.

Item forasmuch as Wm. Pixley, Barborsurgeon, exercysing the trade of a silkedyer and dayly vsing greate deceipt in dyeing of silks to the hurt of divers his maiesties subiectes refuse to become bound by Recognizaunce to his maiestie for his true and iust dealing accordinge to an order of this Court lately taken for avoyding of such lyke deceipts in such sort as the rest of the silkedyers within this Cittye libertyes and suburbes are alreadye entred into It is therefore ordered that the sayd Pixley shall for his contempt in that behalf be comitted to the gaole of Newgate there to remayne vntill he shalbe willing to be bound as the others alreadye are. — Repertory 28, fo. 11.

Court of Aldermen. 12th March, 1610 [1610—1611].

Item. This day the SUkemen of London p'ferred their peticon to this Court complayninge of divers deceites and fraudes vsed by sundry silke dyers in dyinge of blacke and coloured silke Whervpon it is ordered by this Court that aswell the p'sons therein ofEendinge as also any witnes whome the Silkemen shall produce shalbe examined upon certaine Interrogatories for the better manyfestinge and attestacon of the said frauds and deceites and that my Lord Maior shall appoint some Citizens of experience to be p'sent to see a quantitie of the said false dyed Silke washed and scoured and the Corruption taken out of the same, so as the fraud may be apparently discovered and knowen. — Repertory 30, fo. 856.

Court of Aldermen. 2nd April, 1611.

Item. It is ordered by this Court that John Stubbes one of the S'rienats of the Chamber shall p'sently this aftemoone and at other tymes hereafter as shalbe thought convenyent attend certaine of the Silkemen of this Citty who shall repaire to the seu'all houses of George Pitt, John Deardes, Thomas Deardes, Robert

648 APPENDIX C.

Smyth and John Milles, Silkedyers and others that vse to dye silke wth. increase of waight wthin. this Citty or the liberties thereof and shall there make diligent search whither they have any silke in their custodye that is not yet dyed and whose silke the same is and also what quantitie of silke they have ready dyed or now in dyinge wth. increase of waight in their seu'aU keepinges and to whome the same belongeth. And the said Silkmen shaU also make enquyrye and informe themselves as neere as they can what and how much silke the said silkdyers or any of them have received to be dyed wth. increase of waight since the xixth day of March last. And for the better aide and assistance in the p'mysses it is further ordered and this Court have appointed the Wardens of the Dyers to accompany the said Silkemen if they shalbe by them thervnto called and requested. And it is lastly ordered that the said John Stubbes shall specyaUy warne the said Silkedyers and eu'y of them p'sonally to be and appeare at the Sessions of the peace to be holden for this Citty at the GuildhaU tomorrowe momynge by seaven of the clock as they will aunswere the contrarye yf they make default. — Repertory 30, fo. 916.

Court of Aldermen. 30th July, 1611.

Item where3.s at a Court heere holden the Tenth day of ffebruary 1606 and in the tyme of the Maioraltie of Sr. John Wattes knight vpon complainte made vnto that Court of the great abuses vsed by the Silkdyers in and about this Citty in dyinge of Coleblack Silke comonly called London heavy died silke for reformacon therof it was ordered that aU the said Dyers should be eu'y of them bound to the Kinges Matie. by Recognizaunce in Oti. a peece wth. Condicon That after the last day of March then next foUowinge they should not dye any sort of Rawe Silke in Sakynes into the Color comonly called Coale blacke or London heavy waight black silke but into the coulor comonly caUed light waight blacke nor should augment by dyinge or otherwise howsoeuer the waight of any sort or kynd of Rawe Silke whatsoeu' above the quantities hereafter menconed that is to say for ev'y pound haberdepoitz waight of organzine silke the quantity of sixe ounces increase and not above and for eu'y pound haberdepoitz waight of throwen silke or of any other sort or sortes of Rawe silke the quantity of eight ounces increase and not above and so for eu'y pound of silke in greater or less quantities after that rate and proporcon as in and by the said order and Condicon more at lardge appeareth. Now forasmuch as this Court p'fectly vnderstandeth that the toleratinge of such increase of waight as is before menconed hath bred further abuses and deceiptes so as by such deceiptfuU dyinge they have increased and made one pound of silke to waigh above two poundes to the great defraudinge of his Maties Subiects and ScandaU of the gou'nite of this Citty, Therfore after often examynacon of the said abuses and deceipts and due deliberacon had thervpon this Court doth gen'ally thinke fitt and so order that from henceforth it shall not be lawfull for any p'son or p'sons whatsoeu' woh. now or hereafter at any tyme shalbe a dyar of silke or wch. shall vse the exercisinge or dyinge of silke wthin. this Citty or the liberties therof to dye consent or p'cure to be dyed any sort of Rawe silke before the Gumme be clearly discharged out of the same nor in any sort wherby there shalbe any increase of waight other then of necessitie must be to make the Coulor by the dye added thervnto nor shaU augment procure consent or suffer to be augmented by dyinge or otherwise the waight of any sort of Rawe silke whatsoeu' and shaU dye all blacke silke into the Coulor comonly called black spunysh silke or Spanysh dye silke or such like dyed silke, The said Toleracon in the tyme of the Maioraltie of Sr. John Wattes or any other order to the contrary not wthstandinge. — Repertory 30, fo. 162.

Court of Aldermen. 15th April, 1624.

Item; It is thought fitt and so ordered by this Court that Mr. Mosse the Citties Soliciter shall att the Cittie Charges take care for the drawinge of an Act to be

APPENDIX C.

649

p'ferred to the house of p'liament for refom^acon of Corrupt and heavie dyed Silke throughout the Realme of England. And to attend Sr. Heneadg fEynch Knight and Recorder Mr. Comon Srieant and Mr. Stone about the penning of the said Act wch. is to be p'sented unto this Court for allowance thereof before it bee exhibited to the house of ■p'lisLmt.— Repertory 38, fo. 1086.

Court of Aldermen. 28th September, 1624.

Item. This dale vpon the humble peticon of Thomas Worsleye dyer, this Court doth authorize the said Thomas Worsleye so farr as in them lyeth to search and f ynde out by aU the best wayes and meanes hee can in all places within this Cittie and libties thereof from tyme to tyme all corrupt and heavye dyed silke, either in silke or in lace or wares made thereof or mingled therewith and the same silke lace or wares so found to seaze and bringe to the Guildhall there to be keept till order be taken by this Court for the disposinge thereof accordinge to the Act of Comon Councell made in that behalfe. — Repertory 38, fo. 2366.

Court of Aldermen. 2nd December, 1624.

Item. This dale the matters complayned of to this Court against Edward Worsleye Silkdyer who haveinge authoritie from this Court to search and seaze all corrupt and heavie dyed Silke and lace within this Cittie and libties hath without the licence of this Court and contrary to Lawe made Composicon with divers persons in whose handes hee had seazed divei-s quantities of silke as Corrupt and heavie dyed and made restitucon of the same to the p'ties and for and con- ceminge some other his misdemeanors and by this Court referred to the hearing and Examinacon of Sr. Thomas Middleton and Sr. Martyn Lumleye Knights and Aldermen, and Mr. Aldr'an Hamersleye or any two of them and theye to certifie this Court of their doeinges and opinions and vpon theire report the said Worsleye for the same his offence was by this Court committed to the Gaole of Newgate there to remayne until other order bee taken for his enlargement. — Repertory 2,9, fo. 36.

Court of Aldermen. 15th October, 1721.

This day the humble Petition of the Bayliffis Wardens and Assistants of the Company of Weavers was presented to this Court and Read praying to be excused from their Attendance on the Lord Mayor's days for the Term of Five years in consideration of their great Poverty and Incapacity of Defraying the Expenses and after hearing several of the Members of the said Company relating thereto, this Court doth Excuse them from their attendance on the next Lord Mayor's Day. — Repertory 125, fo. 558.

Records feom the British Mtjsbtjm. The Ballance of the Trade of Forreign Wrought SUkes.

We pay for Silk from Holland Custom 2 p. Ct.

For Comission and all Charges there

Charges in Bringing by the Packet boate

Our Custome here pays . .

Our Merchants cannot expect to gett Less for the Bringing

them hithen to a Markett . . The Silk man that Sells to the Weavers The Workmanship cheaper there then here when made in

Silkes

Insurance by Sea

ti. 2 1 1 5

5 4

5

2

Harleain MS. 1243, f. 2076.

25

650

APPENDIX C.

The greatest Weavers bring their Silkes from Italy on their own Aooot. and so have their Goods made Cheaper by 25 p. Cent, then wee at present^ without a further Impost on throwne Silkes which the house is at present about.

The totalis of the seueraU kindes before Written- as Marchant Strangers [last of February, 1601].

Harleain MS.	Veluett
1878,	Satten
f. 826.	Taffeta broade
	Spanish taffeta
	Towers taffeta
	Sticht taffeta
	Siluered taffeta
	Leuen taffeta
	Tustaffetta broade
	Tustafeta narrow . .
	Sarcenetts . .
	Spanish silk and fine silk
	Orgasine and thrown silk
	Rawe silk, longe silk
	Shorte silk
	Brigges silk
	Ferret silk . .
	Paris silk. Felozel silk
	Cambricks
	Lawnes
	Sletia lawnes

Lansdowne

MS. 172,

ff. 297-335.

-entred aswell by English

39349 yardes. 33274 yards. 99318 yards. 00566 yardes. 01007 yardes. 02251 yardes. 00146 yardes. 09716 yardes. 01517 yardes. 01457 yardes. 21891 EUes. 24226 poundes. 32975 poundes. 22722 poundes. 05173 poundes. 01002 poundes. 16862 poundes. 00714 poundes. 16085^ di. peeces. 15684| di. peeces. 13893 di. & q'ter peeces.

Extract. Marginal Summary.

This Indenture made the 13 day of July, 2 James I [1604] between the Kings Majesty of the one part and Thomas Bellott and Roger Houghton of London Grentlemen of the other part.

Demise to them and their assigns all Manner of Customs and subsidies of Velvets* Sattens taffetaes sarsenets silke grpgrames, and aU manner of silks and aU manner of raw silk and lawnes.

During the space of 15 years to be accompted from our Lady day last past before the date of these presents.

to be brought into any port or Creek of England Wales or Towne of Berwicke directly or indirectly.

they paying to the King at the receipt of the Exchequer the sum of [£]8977 9s. Id. at Michaelmas and Lady Day by equall portions.

none of the said goods to be landed without a certificate under the hand of the lessees or their deputy that they be satisfied for the customs and subsidies of the same.

That none [of his Majestys] Officers but the said lessees and their deputies shall grant any bill of store provision or portage for any of the said goods.

All forfeitures of the said goods seized by others then the said lesses or their deputies shall owe their custome to the lessees, for which they shall defalte so much of their half yeres rent.

No part of the Said Goods so forfeited and seized by the lessees or their deputies shalbee pardoned by the King.

* These are more fully detailed in the body of the document.

APPENDIX C. 651

the said Goods not to be vttered or vented abroade before they bee sealed and the sole sealing thereof is here given and demised to the said lessees and their deputies.

even such Kindes of Wares made within the Kings dominions shall not bee vented or vttered till they l)ee sealed by the said patentees and lesses or their deputies.

Authority given to Gl. L. Treasurer, ChanceUor etc. uppon complaint by the lessees of any grievance received by them to the premisses of theise presents by the sd. Act to deminish and abate so much of the said rent etc.

if the rent reserved vppon this demise bee vnpayed, or any part thereof, by the space of 60 Daies after any day of payment, then this demise to bee vtterly void.

the lessees shall from time to time under their handes notify what persons they have appointed for their deputies in every port for the exectution of the premisses.

[Endorsed.]

The farme of Velvets Silkes and Lawne. 13 July, 2 R.R. Jac.

To the Queues most exceUente Ma tie.

Humbly besechethe your most Excellente Majestic, your highnes faiethfull Lansdowne and humble servauntes Thomas Bullocke and Roberte Redhedd, that it may MS. 107, please your Majestic of your aboundante grace to graunte, that they and there f . 54.

assignes, maye have the whiteninge of aU suche rawe silke as now is, or at army tyme hereafter shalbe browghte oute of any the partes beyonde the Seaes into this your Majesties Realme of Englande, before the same be converted into any other dye or culler. They takeinge for there so doinge, vid. of every pounde accordinge the usuall rate now acustomed withoutb any other imposition or exaction, And that it shalbe lawfull for theme, there deputies and assignes from tyme to tyme, to sease uppon, and take into there handes (as goodes forfeited), All suche Silcke, as they shall hereafter finde to be died, before the same be, by them or there deputies, (and no other), whitened : accordiage your Majesties most gracius graunte in that behalf. That thereby the abuses used to your Majesties subiectes, conteined in certeine particulars hereafter foUowinge maye be dewly reformed. And your poore and faithfull servantes, as they ar there unto most dewtifully bounde, shall delaye praye for the continewall preservation of your most excellent Majestie in all blessed felicitie longe to reigne over us.

The abuse used in dienge of Rawe SUke before the same be whitened.

Whereas all rawe silke generally oughte to be whitened before the same be died into any other cullor, aswell for the avoydinge of the Drosse, which other- wise it will take in the dyeing, as for the better receauinge of suche culler as the same shalbe converted into. The Merchauntes and Retaylors of those silkes, doe only cause suche parte thereof to be whitened, as they doe converte into anny riche or lighte culler, bycause the deceite therein will sonest be discouered. But all suche silke as is died into blacke culler. Whereof is made sowinge silke, buttons, lace, firindg and suche like comodities used amongeste the greateste multitude and meaneste sorte of your Majesties Subiectes, is not whitened at all. By reason whereof it receauCi/h suche drosse in the dyeing, as every pounde in weighte, is increased to as muche more after it is died : to the great losse and detriment of your Majesties Subieots, aswell thorowgh the increase of the seid weighte, as thorowgh the rottennesse of the said silke receaueth by the drosse, not being whitened before the dicing.

652 APPENDIX 0.

(f. 556.) [Endorsed.]

The humble petition of your Majesties faithful! and obedient servauntes Thomas Bullock and Roberto Redhedd.

for The whitening of all suohe rawe silke as shalbe brought into this your Majesties Realme of Englande.

Lansdowne In Queene Elizabeth daies, was an Acte of Parliament made that no made

MS. 152, ware, (that is to saie) any made ware that is wrought by handie-craft-men, because f . 237. she should sett her owne people at work, but after that the English men were not so skilfull in trades, to make all kinde of wares, Therfore there was a tolleration graunted that merchaunts brought in, payinge theire custome as they did before, But how is the people mightely increased bothe in number of people and in all good skill, and skillfull of all kinde and manner of trades as foUoweth, Silke weaving of silke lase of silver and gould lase, and broode tufted taffities, all kinds of broode stufEe and fustians but especiaUie the throinge of rawe silke by silke throsters, which be mightelie increased and dothe an number of poore people at worke in London and about London and in Middlesex, and can be proved that many thousands of poore people are imployed by windinge and throinge of silke and gett theire lyvinges by yt. Now further some a fewe merchaunts do bringe in so muche throwne sUke, likewise died silke, that it dothe hurte this number of poore people, that they cannot be imployed and sett at worke, that they cannot gett theire lyvinge with the trade that they have learned, because there is so muche made ware daylie brought into this land, especiallie throne silke and dyed silke. Therfore wee crave in the behaulf of the number of poore people, because all kinde of vytteUs groweth scant and deare, and the number of poore people do dailie increase.

Therfore it shall please his highe maiestie in his greate wisdome to consider the greate number of the poore handie-craft-men to sett a new taxation or imposition uppon all made ware that shalbe brought heureforat or hereafter into England, as for throne silke, died silke and orgessine and naples and fferrett, two shillings or haulf a crowne uppon every pound of throne sUke, or died, besids the old ancitient ordynarie custome, and whosoever bringeth in any by stealth it shalbe forfeyted and the partie laied in prison, and this wilbe the right occasion, wherby the merchaunts will bringe in the sUke rawe and unwrought, and soe the kings people shalbe imployed and sett at worke, by theire trade and handy crafte.

f. 238b. [Endorsed.]

Touch, an imposition desired to be put uppon wrought silk beyond the seas that poore people here, uppon the rawe silke may be set on work the more plentifully. 13 July, 1608.

6 Aug., 1612. Lansdowne Touching the stay of importation of all manner of silke wrought by itself,

MS. 152, or with any other stuf in ribbons, laces, girdles, and points. f . 332. 19. H. 7. cap. 21. silk weavers I the importation of silke ribbons,

3. E. 4. cap. 6. Embroderers ) laces, pieles points and imbrodered

1. R. 3. cap. 12. by strangers J stuf prohibited.

(f . 3336.) [Endorsed.]

Notes touching the silke weavers petition. 6 Aug., 1612.

APPENDIX C.

653

The Bailieffe of the fratemitie of Silkweavers of London did heretofore preferre their petition to the Maior, and Aldermen of the said citie, desiringe thereby that their said petition might by them be commended to the right honour- able the Lords and others of his Majestie's most honourable privye councell. The which was done accordinglie. And thereupon the same was by their Lordships referred to the right honourable Sr. Julius Cesar and the right worshipfull Sr. Francis Bacon.

The said petitioners by their said petition did shewe that it was enacted in Anno 19no. H. 7, that no man should bringe into this realme to be sold any manner of silke wrought by it self, or with other stuff in Ribbands, Laces, girdles &c. upon panic to forfeite the thinge so brought.

The said petitioners did further shewe, that the same Lawe was at that time a very necessary Lawe for the settinge of many people on worke, and is now much more necessarye, then at that time it was, for that the kingdome doth now much more abound with people, then at that time it did.

This statute beinge dispensed withall by (non obstante) wares ready wrought are brought into this kingdome to the greate preiudice of the petitioners.

The humble suite of the said petitioners is that the said wares may not be brought in ready wrought, but may be wrought within the kingdome as by lawe and equitie they ought to be.

(f. 3315.)

The Imbroderers petition. 6 Aug., 1612.

[Endorsed.]

1. 2.

1. 2. 3.

4.

5. 6.

7. 8.

10.

10 Sept., 1612. The silkeweavers and imbroderers of London.

The multitude of Strangers of those trades to be restreyned. And the statute of restraint of bringing into England forreine manufactures of that kind to be put in practise.

The Farmour of the silke farme. That the rawe silkes will amount to a such custome and the said wrought

commodities. That an infinite number of subiects shalbe set on work. That bad stuf and falsely wrought is brought over which would be

amended here. That this importation is flat against the statute of 19 H. 7, 21 cap.

The fiarmour of the general! Customes. The Kings custome thereby wilbe diminished. Leagues and treatises wUbe broken. Our necessary commodities wilbe restrejmed in other countries to a greate

losse of our nation, then gaine to these few petitioners. The first ground of that lawe was uppon a contention of sphere betwene

E. the 4 and the then Duke of Burgundy. That the use of that lawe hath here allwais suspended. That our clothes were at that time forbidden in the lowe Countries, and

sent onely breighd from time to time. That proclamations have been made against the practise of that lawe. All informations in the Exchequer, and elsewhere in the statute alwais stayed,

and none executions uppon it. That by like and the same statutes the like manufacturers prohibited to be

imported, but never practised, (f. 2356.) If the prohibition desired should be granted it were nedeles ; for

time hath drawn the custome of such commodities from 2,000<i. yearly

to an other, by reason of our peoples making here of these manufactures.

Lansdowne

MS. 152,

f. 330.

Lansdowne

MS. 152,

f. 235.

654 APPENDIX C.

[Endorsed.] (f. 2366.) 10 Sept., 1612. The sUke weavers and the embroderers for the prohibition of the importation of silke manufactures. 1 Rich. 3, cap. 9. Strangers artifices in this kingdome.

Additional A Com. under the greate scale of England dated xxvi° die JuniJ Anno xviii°

MS. 29975, Re Jacobi Angl etc. made to Sr. Thomas Coventrye or. Sollicitor generall, f. 39. Sr. Thomas Lowe Alder, or. of Citty of London, Sr. John JoUes Alderman of the Citty of London, Sr. ffrancis Gofton one of or. Auditor of or. Imprestei Sr. William Pitte, Knights, Robert Heath Recorder of or. said Citty of London, Richard Deane one of the Sheriffs of or. said Citty of London, Esquires. Or any f ower or more of them the said Sr. Tho. Coventrye and Robert Heath being two. The said Com. are aucthorised to calle before them or any ffower or more of them whereof the said Sr. Thomas Coventrye and Robert Heath to be two all such Silkedyers Silkmen Silkeweavers and other persons as they shall thinke fitt by whome the truthe may best appeere (as well by examination of them upon oathe as by any other good wayes and meanes as to them shall soonne meete) to discover what abuses ffraudes and deceipts have beene or are in any sorte put in practice, used done or committed in the dying of any manner of silke eyther Blacke or in Colors by any person or persons as well in those silkes which come ready dyed from fforraigne parts as in those which are dyed within this Realme of England and in the dominion of Wales or eyther of them whereby there hath beene any increase of weight more then of necessity ought to be to make the Colours by the dye added there unto, without corrupt matter or stuffe applyed or used to increase the weighte thereof, And in what manner the same is or hath beene done. What corrupt matter or stuffe hath beene soe used in dyinge such silke, and generally what other fraudes deceipts and Abuses have beene or nowe are usually done or put in practise in the dying of Silke for private lucre or gaine to the deceipte of his Mats. Subiecte buying useinge or weareinge the same. What plotte Combinations conclusions or Agreemts. have beene made betweene merchante Silkemen, Silkedyers Weavers Haberdashers or other persons to contynewe the said deceipts frauds and abuses in false dyinge of silkes. What meane unexpert dyers or other unskilfuU persons not trayned upp in the trew dying of Silkes have beene and are used and ymployed in dying of silkes for the private benifitt and avayle of themselves or of any mer- chante Cittizen or any other person or persons whereby the Subiecte hath beene endamaged hindered and deceived as aforesaid. And all other matters circum- stance and things within their discretions they shall thinke fytt to be knowne founde out and discovered concerning the premisses, whereby the said Abuses Corruptions falseties and deceipts may be the more playnelye manifested and a corse of reformation therby the better and more speedely understood sett downe and put in execution.

(f. 396.) And ffurther the said Com. or any ffower or more of them whereof the said Sr. Tho. Coventrye and Robert Heath to be two are aucthorised to conferr with the said Silkmen SUkdyers and Weavers or other persons aforesaid of the best and fittest courses, waies and meanes to be used and taken for reformation of the said falseties and deceipts as well in the Silkes dyed in fforraigne parts and ymported, as in the silkes dyed within this Kingdome. And ho we the meane unexpert dyers and other persons unskilfuU in the trade of dyinge of silkes by whome the greatest parte of the said abuses are committed may be barred and excluded from dying of sUke and such as are skUfuU honest and well experienced in the arte or mistery may be therein whoUie ymployed to dye the said silk truly without increase of weight above his true nature.

APPENDIX C.

655

And for the better effecting thereof to conferr with the said merchants Silk- men or other persons what reasonable prices and allowances are fitt and Requisite to be paid and given to the Silkdyers by the pounde for theire paynes in dyinge the said silke truly without fraude or deceipts, and what courses the said skilfull silkdyers will yeild unto for engageing themsealves unto his Maty, to dye all manner of silkes hereafter without such fraude or deceipt. And what Allowance the said Silkdyers wil bee contente to yeild upon the pounde of silke dyed to such person or persons as his Maty, shall from tyme to tyme ymploye carefully to searche and look unto the execution of such courses of reformation afe shalbe sett downe therein.

And upon examination conference and discussinge in and about the premisses and upon consideration thereupon had and of any other matter or circumstance tendering to the execution of his Mats, pleasure here informerly declared. The said Commissioners or any ffower or more of them as aforesaid are aucthorised and required to sett downe in writeinge under their hande the substance and effecte of theyre proceedinge upon this his Mats. Com. Togeather with their opynions and Judgments what they should finde and hould fittest to be done and the best and lykelyest Course to take effecte for reformation of the said frauds corruptions deceipts and abuses and settlemente of the said trade of Silkedyinge in a just and true Course whereupon his Maty, may give such further direction as in his highness Judgment shalbe thought meete.

Aucthority given to the said Com. or any ffower or more of them as aforesaid by warranto or otherwise to call all such persons before them who yf they shall refuse to come or comeinge before them shall refuse to be examined upon oathe or otherwise then his Mats, pleasure is the said Com. should certefy the names of such person or persons for refuseinge whereby his Maty, might take such ffurther Course as to Justice shall apperteyne for doeing of all which his Mats, letters pattents shalbe unto every of them a sufficient warrante and discharge, ffor the more ease and expedition in the said service, his Maty, hath commanded that such of his Mats. Officers whome the said Commissioners shall thinke fitt and require shalbe ready and attendante upon them etc. The said Commission is to continue in force and the said Commissioners to proceed in the execution thereof, albeyt the said Commission be not contynued from tyme to tyme by adioumament.

(f. 40&.) [Endorsed.]

An abstracte of the Com. for dyinge of Silkes.

Hen. 8. A project for bringing in the weyning of Silke into England. The transcript of Antony Gwydot's Letters to my Lord.

To my most honourable Lorde.

Knowing myself unhabil to satisfie to the obligacons and debts which I owe unto the kings Majestic our Souveraigne Lorde dayly labouring in mynde and contynuaUy thinking in what manner I may in any parte shewe my dewtie towards his highenis, and being fewe days passed at Messina I took fantasie to speke with certaine weyvers of Silken cloth and maistres of that Crafte, which ben those kinds of workemen that haue within these 15 years so proffited the said Citie which (destroyed as it was) at this daye is chief and principall Citie of the Realme of CecUe, and the Citizens of the same growne so Riche that it is marvail to see them and all by the same said crafte.

Ffor the which considering the Towne of Hampton for lacke of exercise of Workemen to be almoste destroyde and also howe good it wolde be to haue such a crafte in the said place. Cheefely for the commoditie of the Kings Majectie and the benefite of his Subiects. Also that (the sayd crafte increased in the said place,) (which I doubt nothings so that by your Lordeship the same may

Cottonean

MS.,

Titus B. v.,

f. 195.

656 APPENDIX C.

be favoured) the Normands and Britons which haue gon to Lyones, three or four &c. myles for Clothe of Silke, schall haue more commoditie to repairs to Hampton for the same, for that they may bring and Carye their merchaundizes thither by See, where as to Lyones they cannot, and they schall haue of aU sorts of silke as good Chepe as at the said Lyones. I Resolued with myself secretly to haue communication with one of the best maistres of the said crafte in the said Citie of Messina, also at florentyne. Nevertheless making hym Large offer, and to such effecte that in the (f. 1966.) name of God the 24th day of february last with 24 persones men and woomen practised in the said craft, he schippyd hymself upon a schip of Eaugey (?) for hamptun. Among the which ben eight maried men with their wyves and chyldren, and all necessaries that may peitaigne to their said Craft. The which (I assure you) hath not ben done with lytell daunger of my lyfe, and without grete expensis to conveye them a waye with all their necessaries for their said craft. And aU things with my labour I schall thinke well bestowed, when I perceive that your good Lordeship shall take it for well and that I haue made good determynation as I perswade my self to have done. And because I wolde knowe parte of your Lordeschip is mynde upon the said besynis, that is to say that the same may be desirous the said Crafte to be well applyed at this present, as it is my desire, being never so good occasion as nowe for these preparations of warre in all thies parties, which given small courage to such crafte, I wiU if ye scha,ll thinke good take mo men at florence, Luke, Jeane, and Venyce to the number of six or eight famylyes the connyngest men of all Italy, for they cannot be without their wives and servaunts practysed in their crafte, they must haue also all their necessaries pertajmjm-g to the same, which muste needs be grete travaile and ooste to Remoove their habitation so hoolly, nevertheles if ye encourage me, let me alone with the rest, notwithstanding that the burden is much weighty and hevy for my schulders that I shall haue neede of some helpe, as I haue written to my father in La we at Large (f . 196). Wherfore it may please your Lordschip to be so good that I may be answered by the same or sum other for you. One onely grace I demaunde of your Lordeschip in this affaire, which is to be intermediator to the Kings Majestic to give me privilege for 16 or 20ti. years. No man to may within the Realme make or let make any such kinde of worke but under me and my name, which me seemyth no unreason- able Request, having ben at such labour charge. And I haue good confidence when ye schall see the saide Crafte in Hamptun, and that the Kings grace the qualities of the men brought thither, ye wilbe Intercessor to the same to give me sum helpe and courage to amplifie the said Crafte the which (I doubt not) but in fewe years shalbe as well practised by thinglysch nation as any other.

Themperors Majestie twoo years passed being here in NapoUs dyd give grete privilege and gifts unto ye brethren named frauncys and Augustin Cordes Wyllames for to set up the said Craft at Antwarpe, which (I understand haue so done being a crafte of great proffit and Reputation) humbly beseeching your Lordeschip to write half a dozen words to the Maior of Hamptun to well intreate the 24ti. persones which I haue sent thither, that they be not preiudiced but privileged in what parte so ever they dwell. And when they of Hamptun might have commoditie for a certayne tyme to give them eight or ten howses of two or three nobils by the yere Rentfree. It shuld be well Imployed upon them by whoes writing of their good entertaynement, within fewe monethis without any costs or chargs to us they wold resorte thither to dwell. But being the Towne poore (f . 1966.) I will not require you to desire it of them, notwithstanding it wolde make to a good purpose and also the Towne of Hamptun shuld be gretely refreshed to haue SOU. or 40ti. howseholds of one craft. And bycause your Lordeship can consider the same better then I, I enlarge no ferther in the same mater.

Yf the Kings Majestie or your Lordeship may be pleased that I shall bring over a maistre that worketh upon tellets or other cloth of golde, ye shall see other

APPENDIX C.

657

workemen then ever I have seene there. And it may please you to be advertised that the maistre that is with the 24<i. persones for to work damasks, Satyins, velvets, crymysen and taffata, all Italye hath no better, ye may set hym to what thinge ye will whether badge or any other thing and schortly he will speede you.

Likewise if it may please you to have a coonnyng palar maker after the manner of Italy or for gardynes or a pajTiter I haue commoditie to prove your desire with such as ye never had in those parties.

When I may haue your Lordeschip'is answer I will departe from this cuntrey, and if I may be hable to prove the Kings Majestie, your Lordeship or yours in Napolls, Rome, florence, or Venyce, or any place wheresoever I am moste redy to beye according my dewtie, for I desire nothing so much as to do you service, and bycause your Lordeschip understandeth more sleeping then I can do waking I enlarge no ferther. I haue preferred certain things for the Kings Majestie, and for the queens'is gaine not forgetting your good Lordship. I trust by the feast of Mydsomer to, be in Ingland desiring you to contyneu good Lord unto my father in Lawe, who truly hathe suffered enough for me.

CATALOGUE DESCRIPTIONS OF CHARTERS.

G. 22. Indentura qua Maria filia Johannse Savage pomit se ipsam Harl. Ch. 55. apprenticiam Roberto Udale, aurifabro London, et Katerinse uxori ejus, sylke- [Photo- woman, ad artem qua dicta Katerina utitur, erudiendam, ad finem septem graphed.] ammorum. Test. Thoma Myrfyn, tunc Mayore Lond., Thoma Aleyne et Jacobo Spencer, vicecomitibus. Dat. 22 Feb. 10 Hen. VIII [1519]. Signata " p. me Robtu Udale." 2 Seals.

Release from the Crown to Samuel Dashwood, Stephen Evance, Henry Add. Ch. Fumese, Knt., Frank Dashwood, merchant of London, and others, of the moieties 44892. belonging to the Crown of three consignments of raw silk imported into the Port of London from Amsterdam, contrary to the Statute. Dat. 14 Oct. 5 William and Mary [1693]. Great Seal.

Warrant addressed to Thomas [Pelham] Holies, Duke of Newcastle, Keeper Add. Ch. of the Privy Seal, for the issue of Letters Patent to William Martin of Fenchurch 29385. St., London, hosier, and Ann Robinson of Wobum, co. Bedford, spinster, to protect for 14 years their invention of a new method of manufacturing silk mitts and silk gloves. Westminster, 17 Jan., 1766. Paper Seal and Revenue Stamp.

" Extract."

" Whereas William Martin of Fenchurch Street in Our City of London, Hosier and Ann Robinson of Wobum in Our County of Bedford Spinster have by their petition humbly Represented unto us that they have by long study application and Great Expence invented a method entirely new and not hitherto practiced of making and manufacturing of Silk Mitts and Silk Gloves which said Invention they have with great Application and at a Considerable Expense brought to perfection so as to be of General Utility and benefit to the Subjects of this Our Kingdom."

2 T

APPENDIX D,

"The demolition of all Protestant temples throughout France; the entire proscription of the Protestant religion ; the prohibition of private worship, under confiscation of body and property ; the banishment of Protestant pastors from France within fifteen days ; the closing of Protestant schools ; the prohibition of parents to instruct their children in the Protestant faith ; the injunction, under a penalty of five hundred livres in each case, to have their children baptized by the parish j)riest and brought up in the Roman CathoUc rehgion ; the con- fiscation of the property and goods of all Protestant refugees who failed to return to France within four months ; the penalty of the galleys for lite to all men, and of imprisonment for life to all women detected in the act of attempting to escape from France."— T'^c Huguetiois, p. 157. Smiles.

Revocation of Edict of Nantes — What it involved.

"At this time (1687) a dreadful persecution raging in France against the distressed Protestants, they were obfiged to seek refuge in most Protestant countries ; many thousands of them came into this ICingdom, as appears by fifteen thousand and five hundred of them being relieved in this year, by money arising from a brief, whereon was collected the sum of sixty-three thousand, seven hundred and thirteen pounds, two shillings and threepence. Thirteen thousand and five hundred of the said refugees settled in this city and parts contiguous, besides such as wanted no charity. On this melancholy occasion the Citizens of London exerted themselves in a very laudable manner, striving to out-do one another in their charitable benefactions, for the support of their afflicted Christian brothers." — Maitland's History of London, vol. 1, p. 485.

Assistance to

Destitute Huguenots.

Boyde, J., Spital Square, E. List of

Brooks, T., Spital Square, E. Silk Manu-

Campbell, J. & Co., Spitalfields, E. facturers

Campbell Harrison & Co., Friday Street, E.C. from the

Carter Vavasour & Rix, 9, Trump Street, Cheapside, E.C. Art Journal

Casey & Phillips, 13, Spital Square, E. Catalogue of

Cornell & Co., Nuneaton, and 15, St. Paul's Churchyard, E.C. Exhibition,

Courtauld & Co., Nor^vich. 1851.

Duthoit, I., 26, Steward Street, Spitalfields, E.

Graham & Sons, 31, Spital Square, E.

Grout & Co., Foster Lane, City.

HiU & Co., 30, Spital Square, E.

Houlds worth & Co., Manchester.

Le Mare & Sons, 27, Spital Square, E.

Robinson, I. & W., Port Street, Spitalfields.

Stone & Kemp, Spital Square.

Vanner, J. & Son, Spitalfields.

Walters & Son, Wilson Street, Finsbury, and Kettering.

Winkwork & Co., Manchester.

The above are all manufacturers of one or more kinds of furniture or dress silks. There were many other exhibitions of silk fabrics, but they were only defers in silk goods which had been made for them,

65Sa

658b appendix D.

Illustrated London News, February 28th, 1860. Advertise- 1. " Jas. Spence & Co., of 77 & 78, Saint Paul's Churchyard, beg to state

ments. that, in. consequence of the proposed abolition of the duty on IVench silks and

Note 2. the competition already begun to be exhibited in the Home Markets, they have

succeeded in securing several large lots of new spring silks at 6d., 8d. and 1/-

per yard under the regular prices."

March 16tb.

" Knight & Company having secured at immense discount the entire stock of a French manufacturer, are offering dress lengths of silks at prices far below the cost of production."

" French SUks at 13/9 the Robe ! A manufacturer's entire stock of striped Chene and checked French washing silks at 13/9 the full dress."

"Spring Silks duty free."

" New French breakfast dress silks."

" Commercial Treaty with France ! ! (Spring silks Duty free.) "

" Dress sUks, Half price ! ! ! "

" Fanuly Mourning and Black SUks at half price ! ! ! "

Etc. Etc.

Reports from The Select Committee appointed to examine the Petitions presented to

Committees the House of Commons during the last and present Sessions from Handloom

of House of Weavers, and to Report their Observations thereupon, and who are empowered

Commons, to Report the Minutes of the evidence taken before them from time to time in

Vol. XIII, the House :—

Session 19th " Have examined the matters referred to them, and have agreed to

Feby. to the following Report."

10th Sept., The Report fills over four hundred pages of closely printed matter, and

1835. presents in every clause an unmitigated picture of industrial misery.

Note I.

At p. X of the Report : —

" From Spitalfields your Committee took evidence of a Mr. BaUance, a respectable Manufacturer, who stated that the weaver could earn at the time he spoke from 7/6 to 8/- a week clear of deductions : but that to do this he was compelled to work 14 hours a day ; and that this labour is excessive and is in- compatible with the Weaver's health ; that in 1826 he could earn 14/- ; and that 20/- would be sufficient pay ; that it is impossible for them to support themselves at their present earnings ; that their distresses are truly appalling, there being many men who used to support their families with credit, who are mere paupers."

At p. xii of the Report it is stated :—

" The weekly wages a fair average weaver can, if fully employed 14 hours a day, now (1835) earn at the work the majority of weavers are employed on (in Great Britain) is stated in evidence by weavers, manufacturers and other witnesses to be as follows : —

5/- to 7/6 net. 6/- to 7/- gross. 4/9 to 7/9 net. 4/9 to 6/1 gross.

7/6 to 8/- „

9/- 4/8

At Aberdeen	3/6 to 5/6 net	At Manchester
Dundee	6/- to 7/- „	Paisley
Forfar . .	6/-	Perth . .
Glasgow	4/- to 8/- gross	Preston
Huddersfield . .	4/6 to 5/- „	Spitalfields
„ (A few).	16/-	Stockport
Lanark . .	6/1 net	Nuneaton , .

APPENDIX D.

658c

Coventry . . 7/6 net Drogheda . . 2/4 to 4/- net.

Belfast . . 3/6 to 6/6 gross

Note that these prices are for weavers in full work, which they declared was 14 or 16 hours a day.

Extract from a List of Prices in the several Branches of the Silk and Silk- mixed Manufactures as settled from time to time by the Lord Mayor, Aldermen and Recorder of the City of London and the Justices of the Peace for the County of Middlesex and the Liberty of His Majesty's Tower of London in their respective Quarter Sessions, in pursuance of Two several Acts of ParUament made and passed in the 13th and 32nd Years of the Reign of George III, commencing in the year 1795. Compiled by James Buckridge, Senr., and printed by E. Justins, 34, Brick Lane, Spitalfields.

PERSIANS.— .4pn7, 1805. 2 threads in the reed, 120 shoots to the inch, or under.

		s. d.
20 inches in width or under	— 1100 or under, per yard	0 5
From 20 to 23 inches	~ 1400 ditto ,, „	0 7
„ 23 to 27 inches	— 1600 ditto „ „	0 8
„ 27 to 31Unches	— 1800 ditto	0 10
„ 3 U to 36 "inches	— 2200 ditto „ „	0 lli

PLAIN TAFFITmS.— April, 1806. 1 thread in a reed, single or double, 2,600 or under, at yard, if 2 threads in a reed, 1,800 or under, at yard, single or double.

s. d. 27 inches or under . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 8

0 10

27 to 31-1 inches 32 to 36 inclusive 37 to 42 42 to 45

1 0 1 2 1 3

Taffities not to exceed 75 shoots to an inch ; should it exceed 75 shoots, to be paid as Sarsnet.

PLAIN TWO-THREAD SINGLE SARSNETS.— 4pn7, 1805. 120 shoots to the inch or under.

1,000 or under, 17 inches or under, per yard For every 100 in the reed, exceeding 1,000, extra

SARSNETS SHOT COTTON.

80 shoots to the inch or under.

1,100, 2 threads single, 20 inches or under For every 100 in the reed, extra . .

FLOWERED SARSNETS.— Jj3r»7, 1806. 20 inches or under.

1,000 2 thread Single, 50 lines or under, per yard

1,100 „ „ „ „ „

1,200 „ „ „ „ „

If any of the above are made 2 double to advance

s.	d.
0	6
0	Oi
s.	d.
0	6
0	Oh
s.	d.
1	0
1	1
1	2
0	U

658d

APPENDIX D.

MANTUAS SHOT COTTON.— 4prt7, 1805.

80 shoots to an inch, or under.

1,100, 3 or 4 threads, or under, 20 inches or under, per j'ard 1,300 or under, from 20 to 22i inches . . „ „

1,400 „ „ „ 22i to 24" „

1,500 „ „ „ „ „ „ .. „ „

s. d. 0 8 0 10

0 11

1 0

MANTUAS SHOT SILK. 120 shoots to the inch, or under.

1,100 or under, 20 inches or under, 3 or 4 threads in the

reed, per yard From 20 to 22 J inches, 1,300 or under, per yard „ 224 to 24" „ 1,400 „

PLEATED TABBY.

6 double, 36 shoots or under, per yard

Pleated tissues, on mountures, with binders out of the

ground — 45 lines or under For every line extra One thread extra binder Two threads ditto Plate three-quarters . . Ditto one-half . . Ditto one-quarter

0	9
0	11
1	0
s.	d.
3	6
3	6
0	1
0	3
0	6
2	n
1	9
1	0

HANDKERCHIEFS.— .Iprj7, 1805.

Black Fringed TvviUed. Two or three threads in the reed, made with Dounce Warp.

For Twilled Handkerchiefs, 3 Thread Dressed, per dozen

27 inches and under 30 36 42 48 54

LOVE HANDKERCHIEFS.— -l?/fir., 1795

28 inches and vmder, 2,200 or under, per yard 30 ditto 32 ditto

34	ditto
37	ditto
41	ditto

"Phjs ipcludes the price for the bprder shuttle a,nd the dressing also,

£	s.	d.
0	6	3
0	7	6
0	12	0
0	17	3
1	4	6
1	12	6
£	s.	d.
0	5	6
0	6	0
0	6	9
0	8	0
0	10	0
0	12	6

Appendix t).

658E

MODES.
Half-ell two or three (liread Modes. 20 inches or under.		d. 4 4J 5' 5J 1
800 or under per yard 0 900 ditto ditto 0 1,000 ditto „ 0 1,100 ditto „ 0 All above 1,100 to advance .... „ 0
CHAIN TABBIES.— J«?«/, 1796.		,7
1,000 or under, 6 double, per yard. . 1,100 „ „ „ 1,200 „	5. 1 1 1	2 3
VELOUR A LA REINE.- Jw?y. 1795.		d. 8 2 10 4
1,000 or under, 6 double, mtli 1 lost shoot, per yard Ditto mth 2 lost shoots „ Ditto terry velour, with 1 lost shoot Ditto with 2 lost shoots	S. 1 2 1 2
BARETi'ES.		d. 3 41 6 6
1,000 or under, 4 double, or under, per yard 1,100 „ „ „ „ „ .. . 1,200 „ „ „ .,„,... 1,000 or under, from 4 to 6 double „ „ For every 100 reeds extra . .	S. 1 1 1 1 0
BROGLIOS.		d. 4 5 6i
1,000 or under, 4 double, or under 1,100 „ „ „ 1,200 „ „ „	5. 1 1 1

FLORENTINES.— .-Ipn7, 1806. Twenty inches in width, or under.

1,000 or under, 4 double, or under

1,100 „

For every 100 reeds extra

If treble in the leish, extra . .

If 4 threads in the leish, extra

per yard

s.	d.
1	1
1	•>
0	n
0	2
0	4

SOI DE DEVIL.

1,000 or under, 4 single, or under, on 12 lambs, and 12

treadles . . per yard

1,000 or under, from 4 to 6 single, ditto . . „ „

For every 100 extra . . . . . . . . ,, „

s. d.

1 li

1 3i

0 1

essF

APtiiNDtx b.

POPLINS AND TABBINETTES.— ^2»-tZ. 180B.

Hcdf-dl, 20 inches or under, 2 threads, single in the leish.

1,000 or under . . . . . . . . . . per yard

1,100 1,200 1,300 1,400 1,500 For every 100 extra

TABIRETT.— ^pri?, 1805.

Four double, or under, shot yarn or cotton.

800 or under, 35 shoots to the inch, or under, per yard 900 or under, 35 shoots, or under . . „ „

1,000 or under, 35 shoots, or under . . „ „

If more than 35 shoots to the inch, to be paid for every 5 Unes extra The master to find the yarn or cotton, wound on bobbins.

GINGHAMS.

1,000 or under, on thread tabby, with bias stripe, 3 double or under, where bias no tabby, shot incle or cotton, 24 inches or under, per piece . .

7 yards in length plain

If barred with 4 changes, or less, per piece

SAXAGOTHAS.

800 or under, 1 or 2 threads in a reed, with a single or double cord, price the same as Ginghams, widths, shoots, bars, &c., the same.

VELVETS.

Narrow Velvets. Two thread ground, 1 thread double pole, or under.

1,000 reed or under, 21 inches or under . . per yard

1,100

1,200

1,300

1,400

If part double, and part treble pole, to be paid as all treble. .

Stocking-tie ditto

On the above article, no count under 1,200 to be made with a bias leizure.

s. d.

0	61
0	7
0	n
0	8
0	^
0	9
0	1

d.

8

9

10

0 Oi

s. d.

s.	d.
4	0
4	3
4	6
4	9
5	6
0	3
0	3

SILK GENOA.

900 reeds or under, 21 A inches or under 1,000 „ If any double in the ground, extra

per yard

d. 9 3 6

Appendix to.

FOOT FIGURED VELVETS.

From 700 to 1,000, 4 double, or 4 single, on tabby or twill ground, made barred, 2 cut and 2 terry, more or less, on 1 roll . . . . . . . . . . per yard

1,000 counts or under, 6 thread, satin ground or under —

per yard

Tying in the whole of the ground . . „ „

668G

s. d.

6 0

6 6

7 6

SHAGS FOR HATS, OR OTHERWISE.

1,200 or under, from 21 to 24 inches, with 2 threads, stocking or tabby ground, 1 thread double pole or under, on 1 roll or 1 treadle . . . . per yard

25 inches, 1,250 or under

26 inches, 1,300 or under

27 inches, 1,350 or under

28 inches, 1,400 or under

SATINS.— April, 1806.

1,000 four or under per yard

All counts under 1,000 to be paid as 1,000, and all counts above 1,000 to be paid as 5 thread. 1 ,000 or under, five thread per yard

six thread . .

seven thread

eight thread. .

nine thread . .

ten thread . .

eleven thread

twelve tliread

s. d.

4	1
4	3
4	6
4	9
5	1
s.	d.
0	H
0	8
0	lOi
	1
	^
	4
	5
	7
	9

DAMASKS.— July, 1805.

1,200, 5 thread or under, 50 lines to the inch or under —

per yard 1,000, 6 ditto ditto

1,100, 6 1,200, 6

To advance for every 100 above 1,200 And for every 5 lines above 50, to advance If shot with any other material than silii and made

upon the same principle as sUk damask, to be paid

the same prices.

2	0
2	0
2	2
2	4
0	2
0	1

At a General Meetingi

OF THE

BIANUFACTURERS of the CITY oe NORWICH,

held at the

Hall in the Market Place

ON Friday, the 5th of July, 1822.

JOHN W. ROBBERDS, Esq., in the Chair.

The following Prices for Weaving were agreed to be paid from

THIS DAY.

Bombasines.

Rate. 24-3 26-3 28-3 30-3 32-3 33-3 34-3 36-3 38-3 40-3 42-3 44-3 46-3 48-3 50-3

Pence. 10

m 11

12 12

124

13

14

144

15

154

16

164

17

Camblets.

Per

dozen.

Coloured Bombazines. Four-pence per Dozen advance for Coloured Silk and Coloured Shoot.

Plaid Bombazines. Two-pence advance for the Ground Shuttle, and One Penny for every additional Shuttle.

Batavias. 20-2 from 2s. 6d. to 2s. 9d. per Dozen.

	Brilliants.
Rate.	Pence.
14-4	16 '
15-4 1		Per
16-4	17	dozen
17-4 1
18-4	'. '.'. ."! 18 ,

Rate.

12-4. 13-4. 14-4. 15-4. 16-4. 17-4. 18-4. 19-4. 20-4. 21^. 22-4. 23-4. 24-4.

18 to 24

Inches.

Sing. Dou.

Per Per

Doz. Doz.

d. d.

12 11

124 114

13 12

134 124

14 13

144 134

15 14

Above 24 to 27

Inches. Sing. Dou. Per Per Doz. Doz.

d. d.

13 12

134 124

14 13 144 134

15 14 154 144

16 15

Above 27

Inches.

Sing. Dou.

Per Per

Doz. Doz.

d. d.

14 13 144 134

15 14 154 144 164 154 164 154 17 16

16

17 18 19 20 21

15 16 17 18 19 20

17 18 19 20 21 22

16 17 18 19 20 21

18 19 20 21 22 23

17 18 19 20 20 22

Rate. 18-2 19-2 20-2 21-2 22-2 23-2 24^2 25-2 26-2 18-3 18-3

Cambletees, under 18 inches. Pence.

plain

checked

plain

checked

plain

checked

plain

checked and upwards, plain and upwards, check.

11

124

114

13 12

14

124

144

13

15

Per dozen.

Spotted Cambletees, Threepence per dozen more than Plains.

658h

APPENblX i).

6581

Clouded Cambletees, One Penny per dozen

more than Plains. N.B. — Exceeding 18 inches, to be paid as

an equal rate of Camblet.

WoESTEAD Plaids. To be paid the same as Camblets, ad- vancing One Penny per dozen for every Shuttle after the first.

Lustres. Rate. 70-4

50-4 To advance or fall Sixpence for every

Ten Score. If 27 inches Drawn, Sixpence per dozen

more than Narrows.

Calimancoes.

Pence. 10

10| lOi 11

114

12

12|

Per dozen.

Rate. 18-3 14-4 15-4 16-4 17-4 14-5 15-5 16-5

Clouded, One Penny per dozen extra.

Spotted do. Threepence per dozen more than Plain.

Flowered Calimancoes. Rate. Pence.

14-4 16 1 Per

15-4 17 dozen.

16-4 17 '

Checked, One Penny per dozen extra.

Brocaded Cahmancoes, from 2s. 3d. to 3s. per dozen.

Old Norwich Coloured Crapes.

Narrow and Broad.

21-2 . . 12 Pence per dozen.

DORSETTINE. DUROYS.

Rats. Pence.

19-3 figured . . . . 12 \ Per

19-3 flowered . . . . 14 j dozen.

Florentines, 12 Pence per dozen. Floretts, SCO Toys.

Rate. 22-4 23-4 24-4 25-4 26-4 27-4 28-4

Hairbinbs.

Pence.

16

161

17

17-1

18

181

19- ,

Per

dozen

from

18 to 27

inches.

One halfpenny per dozen advance above

24 to 27 inches. One Halfpenny per dozen more advance

above 27 inches.

Mecklbnburghs . 20-2 from 2s. 3d. to 2s. 6d. per dozen.

Rate. 21-2

22-2

20-3 22-3 24-3 26-3 28-3 29-3 30-3

Corded Poplins.

Pence.

13 1 Per

13 / dozen.

Prunells.

11 12 13 13|

14 15 15

Per dozen.

14 „

15 „

per dozen

Crapes. 50 score to 59 score White 12 Pence. 60 score to 69 score do. 13 70 score to 79 score do. 80 score to 100 score do. Coloured Crapes Twopence

more. Twilled Crajjes One Penny advance above

plain. Figured Crapes Sixpence per dozen ad- vance above Plain. Plaid Crapes, as Coloured, and to advance One Penny for every additional Shuttle.

ROSBTTS

13d. per dozen.

658L

APtteNDiX £).

Twilled Nets, 2d. per doz. extra. Cotton Nets, Id. per doz. below Silk

Nets.

Fancy Spun Bottobi Shawls.

Ground White.

Rate. Per doz.

d.

45 and under . . . . 8

46 to 50 8 J

51 to 55 9

56 to 60 94

Coloured Warp, Id. Ditto Shoot, Id. Satin to be paid by ChalM List. Shuttles to be paid the same as other fabrics.

First Set of Treadles (above the ground). Id. per dozen extra, and one half- penny for every additional set.

Doubling Silk or Cotton, 2d. per dozen.

Twelve Treadles, being a round Tread, Id. per dozen extra.

Cotton Bottom Shawls to be paid as Spun Bottom Shawls.

Stoved or Washed White Warp and Shoot to be paid as coloured.

Havds.

- 10

12

Rate.

50-5 & under 51-5 to 55-5 56-5 to 60-5 61-5 to 65-5 66-5 to 70-5 50-6 & under 51-6 to 55-6 56-6 to 60-6 61-6 to 65-6 66-6 to 70-6

Single.

Per doz. 16 \^ 17

m

18

18

18J

19"

19^

20

Tammbt Pbincettas and Double Worsted Wabps. Broad and Narrow White. Rate. Single. Per doz.

d.

28-2 & under 9

30-2 „ 32-2 „

34-2 36-2 38-2 40-2 42-2

9J 10 lOi 11

1^

12

124

Camlets White.

Thibet Shawls.		Rate.		Per doz.
Rate. Per doz.			d.
d.	15-4 ..		13
26-2 and under		9	16-4 ..		13
28-2 „		9i	21-4 ..	. .	15
30-2 ,		10	23-4 ..		15
32-2 „		104	21-4 Colored	Coating, Treble Shoot,
34-2 „		11	19d. per dozen.
36-2 „		114	Mohair Warp	, Id., and Shoot	Id. per
38-2 „		12	dozen extra.
40-2 „		. 124	Spots ok Brilliants White.
Full Satins.	Havels.	Rate.	Per doz. d. 12 124 13
Broad and Narrow White. ave,ls. Rate. Single. Per doz.	S & under	36 & under 38 „ 40 „
d. 6 50-3 & under . . . . 12	„	42 „ 44 „	134 14
- 51-3 to 55-3		124
- 56-3 to 60-3		13	Spot	OR Split White
- 61-3 to 66-3		134	Havd".	Rate.	Per doz.
- 66-3 to 70-3		14			d.
8 50-4 & under		14	12 & under	40 & under	12
- 51-4 to 55-4		144	M W	42 „	124
- 56-4 to 60-4		15	)J tt	44 „	13
- 61-4 to 65-4		154	3' W	46 „	134
- 66-4 to 70-4 .		16"	„ „	48 „	14

APPENDIX D.

658m

Crapes, or Chalus, Broad and Narrow White, per dozen.

S\Tix Stripes.

Rate.	Plain.	Ends.
		500 and	501 to	1001 to	1501 to
		under.	1000.	1500.	2000.
	d.	d.	d.	d.	d.
60-1 and under	8	9	91-	10	101
61-1 to 68-1	8J	Oi	lO'	101	ll"
69-1 to 76-1	9"	lO'	101	n"	111
77-1 to 84-1	n	101	ll"	HI	12
86-1 to 92-1	10'	11	111	12'	121
93-1 to 100-1	10.V	11,',	12'	121	13'
101-1 to 108-1	n"	12"	121	13'	13i
109-1 to 116-1	iH	121	13'	131	14
117-1 to 124-1	12	13'	13i	14	141
125-1 to 132-1	m	13J	14	14i	15

Mock (or TwiU) Satins Id. per dozen above plain ChaUi price.

If above six Satin Havels, one half -penny per dozen extra ; and one halt-penny per dozen lor every additional six Satin Havels. If above 12 Treadles, Id. per dozen extra. If 12 Treadles, or more, being a cross tread, Id. per dozen extra.

For every additional 500 ends, half-penny per dozen extra.

FiLLOVERS.

Width.

6k

8i

Inches.

55

outwidth from 55 to CO

64 outwidth from 64 to 70

73 outwidth from 73 to 79

Rate.

30 to 50

Per Caver.	Rate.
s. d.
2 6	51 to 70
2 9	i> J)
3 0
3 3	rr ''
3 6
3 9

Per Cover.

N.B. — Doubling Shoot, 2d. to the Shilling for the colours doubled. 6 Satin Havels and under, 3d. per Cover extra. 8 Satin Havels and under, 4d. per Cover extra ; and Id. per Cover for

every additional 2 Satin Havels. 500 Satin Ends and under, 4d. per Cover, and 2d. per Cover for every

additional 500 Satin Ends. Presses, 3d. per Cover. For cutting Tiers, 2s. 6d. per day wthoul boys ; with boys, 3s. 6d. per

day.

Lustres.

Rale

1000-2 Double 1100-2 Do. 1200-2 Do.

Per dot.

d. 21

21J 22

Rate.

1300-2 Double 1400-2 Do. 1500-2 Do.

Per doz.

d. 22i 23' 23i

14 inch, 3d. per dozen above the common width. Extra Treadles, Id. per dozen extra. Satin paid same as on other fabrics.

65 8n

APPENDIX D.

BOMBAZBTTES, BEOiD AND NARROW WhITE.

24-3 26-3

28-3 30-3

Bale.

& under

Per doz. (/. 10 lOJ 11

Rate.

32-3 34-3 36-3 38-3

Per doz. d. 12 121 13' 131

Checked Mouslin de Lains.

Bate.

64-1 & under 65-1 to 70-1 71-1 to 76-1 77-1 to 82-1

Per doz
d. '
10	two shuttles
lOJ	do.
11	do.
111	do.
Per doz.
d.
10	two shuttles.
lOJ	do.
11	do.
Hi	do.

Ceoss-Bak Dresses. Bate.

64-1 & under . .

65-1 to 70-1

71-1 to 76-1

77-1 to 82-1

N.B. — Colouring and Checking on the Worsted Shoot Fabrics to be paid for as follows : — Coloured Shoot Id. per dozen above White. Ditto Ground Warp, Id. ditto. Checking first Shuttle, Id. per dozen advance each additional one, id. ditto. With extra Treadles, Id. ditto above common Checking. The Checking Silk to be calculated and paid as Yarn.

{Printed by order of the Norwich Hand Loom Weavers' Union.)

M. Smith, Cliairman. G. Lynes, Secretary.

(Fletcher and Alexander, Printers, 8, The Walk, Norivich.)

APPENDIX D.

6580

Anthony Francis Haldimand ; James Vere Nephew & Co. ; James Cazenove & Co. ; Francis Menet & Co. ; Charles Theo. Cazenove & Batard ; A. & A. Favene ; Prinsep & Saunders ; Edward Gwatkin ; Doxat & Divett ; Zaccaria Levy ; Nathaniel & James Pattison ; Charles Morris & Co. ; Marling & De Ferre ; J. Matteux & Co. ; Macrill, Hutton & Barber ; Rongement & Fisquet ; Charles & J. P. Robinson ; Wombwell, Gautier & Co. ; Francis Baring & Co. ; W. Bosanquet.

For regulating the allowance for tare and tret, but which was of a very crude nature and no account taken of the varying humidity, and a month allowed to the buyer to send in any claim to the seller, which often led to disputes, it was not until the great Exhibition of 1851 held in London, that attention was called to the fact that a further allowance was reasonable on account of the weight of moisture absorbed by the silk itself, and a scientific means of discovering its exact weight was introduced into this country. An apparatus was shewn, and is still in existence and being used, by means of which a certain number of heads or skeins are drawn, after the bale has been weighed nett, from different parts of the bale, and divided into three parts of about one pound each, which are each weighed in most accurate scales to grains troy of which 7,000 go to a pound avoirdupois. Two portions are opened out and cotton loose ties placed on them so as to hang inside the apparatus heated by gas, and kept there so long as they cease to lose any more weight, which could be seen by a balance, and a ther- mometer placed inside to shew that the heat did not exceed the required tem- perature, for if it did so it would render this test and also the samples useless.

The third portion is kept in reserve in case of the two tests shewing more than half per cent, difference when this third test is tried, and added to the two others, and an average taken of the three.

After the samples have been dried absolutely, they are weighed, and the difference between the received and the dry weight, plus 11 per cent., the recog- nised and accepted natural moisture of the raw reeled silk gives the weight for invoicing.

These skeins are placed again in the bale, which is packed in a sealed wrapper with the necessary notes shewing the working.

A small beetle, which feeds on a variety of the cactus plant that is peculiar to Central and South America. A valuable crimson colour is obtained from it by boiling, which becomes scarlet, if the boihng takes place in a tin vessel, or a small quantity of tin in solution be mixed with the boiling liquid. Cochineal was not known in Europe until after the conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards in 1518. In 1858 it was cultivated successfully in Teneriffe, but the vines failed through disease. 260,000 lb. of cochineal were imported by England in 1830 ; 1,081,776 lb. in 1845 ; 2,360,000 lb. in 1850 ; 3,034,976 lb. in 1859 ; 47,790 cwt. in 1870, since which year, owing to the introduction of coal tar colours, its use has rapidly declined.

An Act providing a recompence to Sir Thomas Lombe for discovering and introducing the arts of making and working Three Capital Itahan Engines for making Organzine Silk and for preserving the Invention for the benefit of this Kingdom.

Whereas the Riches, Strength and Prosperity of this Kingdom depend upon the Trade thereof ; and whereas the introducing and improving such new arts and inventions, as will employ great numbers of our poor, keep our money at home and increase the profitable trade carried on by the exportation of our own manufactures, tend greatly to the securing and enlarging of the general trade and commence of Great Britain, and ought by aU proper ways and means to be

List of Merchants in 1799.

Silk Con- ditioning.

Cochineal Insect. (Coccus cacti).

5th George 11.

Cap. VIII. A.D. 1732.

658P APPENDIX D.

encouraged ; and whereas Thomas Lombe of London, Merchant, now Sir Thomas Lombe, Knight, did with the utmost difficulty and hazard and at very great expense, discover the arts of making and working the three capital engines made use of by the Italians to make their Organzine Silk and did introduce those arts and inventions into this Kingdom ; and whereas his late Majesty, King George, was graciously pleased, by his Letters Patents bearing date the Ninth Day of September, in the fifth year of his reign, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, to give and grant unto the said Thomas Lombe, now Sir Thomas Lombe, his Executors, Administrators and Assigns, especial Ucence, full power, sole privilege and authority to exercise, work, use and enjoy, his new invention of three sorts of engines by him the said Thomas Lombe found out, never before made or used in Great Britain, one to wind the finest raw silk, another to spin and the other to twist the finest Italian raw silk into Organzine, within that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed ; and the whole Profit, Benefit, Commodity and Advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing and arising by reason of the said Invention, during the full term of Fourteen Years from the date of the said Letters Patents, according to the Statute in that case made and provided and did thereby require every other Person or Persons, Bodies Politic and Corporate, within that part of the Kingdom of Great Britain called England, the Dominion of Wales and the Town of Berwick upon Tweed aforesaid, that neither they nor any of them do directly or indirectly make, use or put in practice the said Invention ; or any part of the same during the said Term ; and whereas the said Sir Thomas Lombe since the granting of the said Letters Patents both at a further great expense erected large buildings and therein set up the said engines or machines and put the said Invention in use and practice on the River Derwent, at the Town of Derby, for making Organzine Silk and appHed himself with the utmost care and diligence to improve the same, in order to render it of the greater use and benefit to this Kingdom ; but by reason of the long time required to finish and complete the said buildings and Engines and to instruct so great a number of people as were necessary to work the said engines and the great obstruction this under- taking received by the King of Sardinia's prohibiting the exportation of raw silk which the said engines were made to work and afterwards by reason of the great difficulty of bringing the manufacture to full perfection, which could not be effected by the most diUgent appUcation, until about a year ago, the said Sir Thomas Lombe has been deprived of the benefit intended by the said Letters Patents ; therefore for providing of a proper Recompence to the said Sir Thomas Lombe and preserving the said Invention for the benefit of the Trade of this Nation ; may it please your Majesty that it may be enacted. And be it enacted by the King's Most Excellent llajesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords S'piritual and Temporal, and Commons in this present Parliament assernbled and by the authority of the same, that out of any or all of the aids and supplies granted to His Majesty for the service of the year. One Thousand, Seven Hundred and Thirty Two, there shall and may be applied and paid to the said Sir Thomas Lombe, his Executors, Administrators and Assigns, the sum of Fourteen Thousand Pounds, as a Reward and Recompence to him for the eminent service he has done this Nation in discovering, introducing and bringing to full perfection, at his own great expense as aforesaid, a work so useful and beneficial to the Kingdom ; and the Lords Com- missioners of His Majesty's Treasury, or the Lord High Treasurer, for the time being, are hereby authorised and empowered to direct the payment of, and issue the sum of Fourteen Thousand Pounds to the said Sir Thomas Lombe, his executors, administrators or assigns accordingly.

II. Providing always and it is hereby enacted that it shall be lawful for His Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, under His or Their Sign Manual, to appoint any person or persons from time to time, to view and inspect the said Three Engines, to

APPENDIX D.

658Q

take a perfect and exact model thereof and to deposit the same in such a place as His Majesty, his Heirs or Smxessors shall appoint, to secure and perpetuate the art of maldng the. like engines for the advantage of this Kingdom ; and in case the said Sir Thomas Lombe shall refuse or not permit such person so authorised to take such model, he shall forfeit and pay the sum of Fourteen Thousand Pounds to the use of His Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, to be recovered by Information in any of His Majesty's Courts of Record at Westminster.

The following is a summary of an Act containing divers Orders for V^tificers, Labourers, Servants of Husbandry and Apprentices.

1. A Repeal of all former statutes which concern the Hiring, Keeping, Departing,

Working or Ordering of Servants, Labourers, Handicraftsmen and Apprentices. These are all repealed in order that a new Act may be framed prescribing and limiting the wages and other orders for appren- tices, servants and labourers, so that idleness may be banished, husbandry and handicraft improved and service be made to yield to the hired person both in the time of scarcity and the time of plenty, a convenient proportion of wages.

2. Certain statutes excepted from the general repeal.

3. No person shall engage or retain a servant, labourer or apprentice for a

shorter term than one year.

4. All persons having no other means of support shall be compelled to

serve in some art craft science or labour according to the tenour of this statute.

5. No person shall put away his servant, nor any servant depart from his master

before the end of his term unless so determined and allowed by a Justice of the Peace or Mayor.

6. No servant shall depart or be put away but upon a Quarter's warning.

7. All persons between the ages of twelve years and sixty years not being lawfully

retained in service or apprenticed to any trade or craft, shall be compelled to be retained to serve in husbandry by the year -nith any person who may require such service.

8. Forfeiture for putting away a servant withui his term or at the end of his

term without warning.

9. Punishment of a servant for refusing to do his duty in service or departure.

10. None may depart from a city, town, parish, etc., without a testimonial.

11. Any person retaining a servant without a testimonial shall forfeit for each

offence five pounds, and any servant forging or using a forged testimonial

shall be whipped as a vagabond. The times of labour shall be, in summer from five of the clock in the morning

till betwixt seven and eight of the clock at night, and in winter from spring

of the day in the morning until night. Two and a haH hours being allowed

during the daj' for meals and drinking. Any artificer undertaking to do any special work may not depart until it is

finished on pain of imprisonment, so long as his wages are paid. Masters also are to fulfil their contracts. Wages of Servants, Labourers, Artificers and Apprentices shall be assessed

by the Justices of the Peace or Sheriff, etc., proclamations of the rates

of wages to be made pubUcly every year.

16. Alterations in rates of wages also to be publicly made.

17. Justices to be fined for neglecting to fix rates of wages.

18. Fine for paying more than the legal rate of wages.

19. Punishment of servants that take more than their legal rate of wages.

20. All engagements, whether in ^vriting or not, contrary to the above, to be

void.

12

13.

14. 15.

The

Apprentice

Act,

5th

Elizabeth,

Cap. IV.

658r

APPENDIX D.

Technical Details of the Weavers' Flag and its making.

21. Severe punishments for assaulting master, mistress, or overseer.

22. All artificers may be called on to work in pay-time and harvest.

23. Provision for extra work in neighbouring counties.

24. Unmarried women between the ages of twelve years and forty years may

be compelled to service if they have no means of support.

25. Husbandmen may take apprentices by indenture.

26. Every householder over twenty-four years of age and exercising any art or

craft, may take an apprentice for seven years by indenture.

27. Merchants or traders may only take apprentices whose parents have freehold

property of the yearly value of forty shillings.

28. Special rules for taking artificer apprentices in market towns not corporate.

29. Special rules for taking merchant apprentices in market towns not corporate.

30. Apprentices may be instructed in one craft only.

31. None may use any manual occupation unless he has been instructed in the same.

32. The parents of apprentices to woollen weavers must have freehold property

to the annual value of three pounds at least.

33. He that hath three apprentices must keep one journeyman.

34. Some exceptions to the liberties of Norwich.

35. The punishment for refusing to be apprenticed. The remedy for the

Apprentice who is misused by his master and for the master when the Apprentice does not do his duty ; also why and where an Apprentice may be discharged of his Apprenticehood.

36. None can be apprenticed but those under 21 years of age.

37. The duty of Justices and other Officials to see these statutes carried out.

38. Payment of Justices, etc., for these duties.

39. Who shall benefit by the fines forfeited under this Act.

40. A proviso for the Cities of London and Norwich.

The eight remaining clauses of the Act are concerned with matters of detail in its working out, but are not of general interest.

From a " Short Historical Account of the Silk Manufacture in England," by Samuel Sholl, 1811. The Design. — The Proposer and Founder of the work was Samuel Sholl.

The plan for brocading on both sides aUke was invented by

John Lemere of London. Mr. Geo. Blatch of London suggested aU the figures in the

pictvu-e and the all-seeing ej^e. Mr. W. Lovel of London suggested a bee-hive as an emblem

of industry. W. Carter of London proposed the border and the Weavers'

Arms. The outlines were drawn by a famous artist and were drafted

by a native of London. Thomas Franke wove the work. He was a native of Canterbury. Description of the loom and apparatus : —

Height of loom frame

Pulley Frame for ground harness in three rows on top of

loom Highest part of table from ground floor Lowest

Width of tables with 25 rows of mullets Tables in depth Comber Board, depth of From ground harness to Breast roll , .

ft.	in.
6	6
2	10
10	0
7	0
2	9
4	4
0	4i
1	3

APt»ENDlX i).

658s

fi. 1

tn. 4

From ground to figured harness Two simples, with lashes, to draw the ground harness to obtain a ground, opening with two powerful engines, first from loom . . . . . . . . . . 16

Second engine from loom, with a stand to support the

ceiling, and row of pullies above . . . . 5 8

" The above simples were made of double bruckle cord ; and as no cord would stand the pull of the engines, the weight was so great, we put wire in its stead, to the harness. To prevent the tail to the mounture from being too wide it was parted in four : the bottom ones crossed through the top part. The mounture was curiously curved to make room for the cords, aU tied up very neat, and does great credit to the builder. Account of the work : — 2,448 double, 34 dents to the inch, making in the whole in single threads 63,648, planned for 48 lines to the inch ; 13 double threads to the maU, each mail maldng a dent's threads, and of course tile same number of cords as mails, that is 2,448 ; the weight of lead in the work, upwards of 500 lbs. There were five roUs used to this work, one for top satin, one for bottom, one for binder, another for breast roll covered with flannel, for the work to run over to the knee roll where the work took its span, two strong cheese and suns to the same.

" The weight on the spand or canes 2,000 and upwards, to draw in the notch of the work with two iron tantoes, and a tliird to move round the breast roll to help it at the same time, or perhaps the plate may have been injured. To make the cross border required, 18,470 lashes and 36,940 brocade sheets. The body of the work, on an average, took to the inch 4,500 lashes and 9,000 brocade sheets to the inch. The figure mthin the oval measures six feet six inches ; to the extremities of the border, seven feet and a quarter of an inch : blanks and all, making seven feet eight inches and a quarter. The quantity of lash and number of simples would have been so great, that it was deemed impossible to perform the work in the usual way, so the workman read in two inches and a half at a time ; when that was wove, reeled out the lash, and read in the same quantity again."

" Time employed on the Flag concern, from beginning to end : —

To strengthening loom . . . . . . . . 3 weeks

To Building Monture . . . . . . . . 5

To reading in figure and reeling out lash . . 46

To mending threads 26

To dark days when no work could be done . . 26 To exhibiting the work while in progress . . 7

To doubling and winding silk, plate, etc. . . 4

To holidays, sickness, waiting for sundi-ics . . 13

Neat time left to make the work . . . . 26

Making the whole just three years from the commencement to the com- pletion, wanting five days.

At the Manchester Exhibition in 1887, great pains were taken to draw atten- tion to the claims of British manufactures, and after visiting the section set apart for the exposition of EngUsh silks, Princess Mary caused it to be known that she would do all in her power to bring about their reinstatement in public favour.

This pronouncement was followed almost immediately by the formation of " The Si\k Association of Great Britain and Ireland," and once more the uphill task was essayed of restoring the commercial activity that formerly prevailed in the silk districts of this country. Again the obstacles in the way were found insuperable, and in spite of every effort to prevent the further decline of the English silk trade, several factories had to be closed, with the natural consequence that numbers of operatives were thrown out of work. It seemed impossible to

A Memoir of H.R.H. Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, 1900. Vol. II, p. 268-271. Kinloch Cooke.

658T AI>I>END1X D.

make headway against public opinion, and even the stoutest hearts began to despair of success.

Matters were in this position when it was decided to appeal to Princess Mary for advice and assistance. Without hesitation, her Royal Highness threw herself into the spirit of the undertaking, and putting herself at the head of a Ladies' Committee which, with Lady Egerton of Tatton as Honorary Secretary, was subsequently formed, entered heart and soul into the cause she had espoused. Grasping easily the economic difficulties, as well as those arising from the un- bending laws of fashion, she devised a scheme which, it it did not at once accom- phsh the purpose in view, at any rate checked the downward movement and saved the home of many a bread-winner. The purport of this scheme is perhaps best explained by the following extract taken from the first report of the Ladies' Committee of the Silk Association, which the Princess herself drew up and signed in her capacity as President : —

" We consider that the time has come to invite the attention of the ladies of England to the revival of this ancient industry. In order to do this, the Committee propose to form a ' Ladies' Silk Association ' on an extended scale. Its members wiU not be pledged to the exclusive purchase of English- made silks, but they toU be asked to interest themselves and their friends in this British industry, and to make enquiry for, and inspect EngUsh silks before deciding to purchase those of foreign manufacture. . . . We trust that before long ocular demonstration of the excellence of EngUsh silks may be afforded by an Exhibition. Should success crown the efforts of those who have been working on behalf of the siUc operatives of England, Scotland, and Ireland, they wiU feel rewarded by the knowledge that the time and energy they have devoted to this enterprise have residted in increased prosperity to their working brothers and sisters in silk factories." In less than three months from the date her Royal Highness's proposal was made pubUc, the first Exhibition of British Silks took place at Lord Egerton of Tatton's residence in St. James's Square, when manufacturers and distributors co-operated in a manner they had never done before, whUe many distinguished ladies seized the opportunity to support Prmcess Mary in her patriotic attempt to remove the prejudice that prevailed against home-made silks. Much of the work of organisation fell upon the Princess, and it was to her unfailing energy and admirable management that the success of the Exhibition was mainly due. She enUsted the sympathy of her large circle of acquaintances in the cause, and when writing to friends rarely omitted to make some reference to the work in hand. " A Ladies' National Association," she would say, " has just been formed under my presidency to encourage our silk industries, and I enclose one of our forms, ■with the request that you will not only join it, but persuade as many of your friends as you can to follow your good example."

The duty of carrying out the Princess's idea of a Ladies' National Silk Association was for the time entrusted to Lady Egerton of Tatton, and the results achieved showed beyond doubt that substantial progress was being made in the growth of the British silk industry. Slowly but surely Princess Mary's influence began to make itself felt, and year by year the demand for English silks increased, not only in this country, but also in the United States. MeanwhUe, her Royal Highness determined to make herself more thoroughly acquainted with the practical aspect of British silk- weaving at the present day, and to carefully study its possibilities. The Princess had placed herself at the head of a national move- ment, and rightly considered that before advising others she must herself be well-informed on aJl points, a matter regarded by her as the more necessary since her appeal was based on the assurance that the requirements of ladies could be as readily satisfied by British as by Continental looms. Accordingly, a series of visits to the principal silk centres was arranged, in conjunction with Mr. Wardle, the President of the parent Association.

APPENDIX D.

668TT

Spitalfields was the place first selected, and thither on a cold bleak day in March, 1893, the Duchess and her daughter journeyed from White Lodge to visit East London Silk Mills, where a whole afternoon was spent inspecting the old jjattern-books, dating from the Edict of Nantes, watching the men at work, and making a minute examination of the beautiful brocades and other silks which were being woven for dress and furniture purposes. Each step from the weaving of the pattern to the completion of the finished length was shown and explained to the Royal ladies ; in fact, Prmcess Mary insisted upon seeing everything, and made many pertinent inquiries concerning the people employed, especially as to the number of hours they worked and the amount of wages they received. Her Royal Highness had instructed her own dressmaker to be present, in order that she might convince herself that silks made in England are equal if not superior in beauty to those imported from France.

The weavers were much gratified at the personal concern shown in their welfare by the distinguished visitors, and were not a little astonished to learn that the Duches.s of Teck and Princess May had sat down to tea in " the Master's Office." An incident occurred, when going over the factory, which illustrates Princess Mary's excellent memory for names as well as faces. Pointing to a particular hxjm, her R(jyal Highness was heard to remark, " Why, May, there's Mr. Clark who was ^veaving those lovely brocades at Lady Egerton's " ; and, advancing to the loom, the Princess spoke a few kind words to the man, pleasing him greatly by saying that she hoped to see him weaving on some future occasion. Before leaving the mills, the Duchess ordered a dress to be made for her daughter, at the same time expressing a wish that EngUsh women might be led to take a deeper interest in silks of home mamifacture, and so benefit their fellow-countrymen. A few months later, Mr. Warner's firm received the Royal commands to make Princess May's wedding-gown.

The Canterbury Book of Patterns, which had been jealously preserved for over two hundred years, was really a most valuable historic record of silk weaving from its first introduction to South-Eastern England, by the Huguenot refugees, at the end of the 17th Century. The book in its ancient parchment binding was composed of paper which had been carefully examined by experts and found to bear the water-mark of that early period (1685). On its pages were pasted cut- tings of all kinds of fancy and brocaded sUks and beautifidly written descriptions of them, together with the names of the operatives who had woven them.

The book was sent for show to the Exhibition at Brussels in 1910, and there unfortunately destroyed in the disastrous fire, in which so many things of artistic value were consumed, none, however, being of such historic interest as this ancient pattern book.

Henry, King of England and Duke of Normandy and Aquitain and Earl of Anjou : To the Bishop, Justices, Sheriffs, Barons, Ministers, and to all his liege- men of London, Greeting : Know ye that I have granted to the Weavers of London their Guild, to be had in London, with all the Liberties and customs which they had in the time of Henry, my grandfather : and so that no one but through them intermeddle within the City concerning their mystery, and unless he be in their Guild : neither in Southwark, or in other places appertaining to London, otherwise than was used to be done in the time of I^ng Hem-y, my grandfather, wherefore I wiU and firmly command that they may be everywhere la^vfully treated and have all the aforesaid, as well, and in peace, and freely, and honourably, and wholly as they better and more freely, and honourably, and wholly had, in the time of King Henry, my grandfather. So that they yield thenceforth every year to me Two Marks of gold at the feast of St. Michael. And I forbid that anyone do unto them thereupon any injury or contumely, upon the forfeiture of Ten Pounds.

Witnesses — I, the Chancellor, and Warin the Son of Gerald the Chamberlain, at Winchester.

The

Canterbury

Book.

Translation of a Charter Granted by Henry II (about 1160) to the Weavers' Company. Tested by Thomas A. Beckett, Chancellor.

6S8V

APPENDIX t).

TABLE I.

THE NUMBER OP PERSONS EMPLOYED IN THE SILK INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED KINGDOM DECENNIALLY FROM 1851 TO 1901.

Statistical Tables.

Year.	Males.	Females.	Total.
1851	53,936	76,787	130,723
1861	43,732	72,588	116^320
1871	29,225	53,738	82,963
1881	22,205	42,630	64,835
1891	10,090	32,937	52,027
1901	11,058	26,422	37,480
1907	8,805	21,905	30,710

The figures for 1911 have not yet been published.

TABLE II.

IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF RAW SILK, 1900—1920. Raw Simcs to Great Britain.

Year.

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

			Remained for
hiiports.	Expo)'	Ifi.	British
			Consumption.
lb.	£	lb.	£	lb.
1,413,320	916,421	192,616	100,917	1,220,704
1,332,480	768,390	244,566	153,086	1,087,914
1,252,848	728,020	152,463	83,751	1,100,385
1,109,930	738,602	178,458	112,786	931,472
1,337,579	884,769	186,174	114,342	1,151,405
1,160,265	762,378	188,246	114,216	972,019
1,036,258	732,681	92,124	59,469	944,134
1,195,366	916,890	80,645	57,747	1,114,721
1,110,481	667,267	42,898	25,698	1,067,583
1,043,846	600,501	44,216	27,553	999,630
996,565	589,872	39,782	23,362	956,783
1,237,775	732,603	379,102	202,503	858,673
1,199,448	689,353	130,821	72,628	1,068,627
969,633	619,427	44,167	26,050	925,466
1,030,502	667,034	22,008	17,215	1,008,494
1,465,285	880,650	120,135	78,900	1,345,150
1,200,459	1,059,185	40,964	36,111	1,153,495
1,280,682	1,306,615	13,169	18,190	1,267,513
2,230,725	2,610,440	326,179	380,877	1,904,546
1,278,748	1,934,910	117,490	178,454	1,161,258
982,795	2,227,712	36,913	81,629	945.882

APPENDIX D.

658W

TABLE III. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF THROWN SILK, DYED OR NOT DYED.

1905—1920. Prior to 1905, the Returns were not classified separately.

1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

Imports.

Exports.

Quantities.

lb.

538,787

598,373

605,651

511,832

483,157

445,522

462,176

501,136

478,823

289,175

45,063

29,518

48,037

70,670

157,573

141,268

Yalue.

£ 517,294 583,211 602,114 505,007 465,813 421,976 438,924 478,181 464,996 277,942 37,859 32,761 62,376 126,568 355,706 352,120

Quantities.

lb.

47,117

41,490

61,129

72,148

80,814

81,959

118,905

133,519

113,308

80,708

8,141

1,562

965

54

1,097

3,146

Value.

£

42,262

37,621

64,956

69,141

72,115

72,681

101,994

113,542

97,673

69,354

7,173

1,721

1,537

70

2,752

6,301

Remained for

British

Consumption.

Quantities.

lb.

491,670

556,883

544,522

439,684

402,343

363,563

343,271

367,617

365,515

208,467

36,922

27,956

47,072

70,616

156,476

134,967

TABLE IV. IMPORTS AND EXPORTS OF SILK MANUFACTURES.

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920

Imports.

1900—1920.

14,281,102 13,030,321 13,416,400 13,663,771 12,793,402 12,466,211 12,782,466 12,585,405 11,621,609 11,930,043 12,651,479 12,481,112 13,261,158 14,003,659 12,628,836 14,375,070 12,857,839 11,040,669 16,645,271 22,149,449 35,505,770

Exports. British Foreign and Colonial

Manufactiire. £ 1,637,915 1,429,381 1,393,314 1,436,734 1,604,554 1,693,314 1,858,634 2,009,613 1,344,537 1,478,687 1,767,034 1,744,640 1,767,058 1,671,430 1,416,217 1,231,986 1,686,295 1,646,750 1,820,405 3,235,064 4,222,076

Manufacture.

£ 1,381,546 1,397,948 1,735,032 1,709,844 1,872,625 1,783,606 1,221,364 1,936,039 2,004,934 1,753,886 1,924,284 1,816,676 1,735,761 1,536,481 1,915,377 2,004,045 2.632,181 1,553,552 1,530,510 2,528,980 5,967,853

658x

APPENDIX D.

TABLE V.

THE WORLD'S PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF SILK FOR

THE YEAR 1911 IS ESTIMATED AS FOLLOWS:—

Peoduction. Consumption.

Kilos.		Kilos.
. —	United Kingdom			502,000
	United States . .			9,215,000
402,000	France . .			4,077,000
3,490,000	Italy			1,100,000
—	Switzerland Germany. .			1,628,000 3,445,000
350,000	Austria- Hungary			894,000
88,000	Spain			150,000
292,000	Greece, Salonica and Crete .		25,000
120,000	Bulgaria . .		12,000
50,000	Serbia and Roumania		13,000
783,000	Russia and Caucasus, including Turkestan . .	1,720,000
145,000	Turkey in Europe (Adrianople)	\ 250,000
1,265,000	Turkey in Asia (Brouasa and Syria)
*300,000	Persia			— ■
224,000	India			605,000
*5,940,000	China			—
* 1,730,000	Canton |. .			—
*9,370,000	Japan			—
*16,000	Tonkin			—
5,000	Egypt and Cyprus			2,000
—	North Africa and Various Countries . .	416,000
24,570,000	24,054,000
* Export figures only ; the internal con	sumptii	■)n of these countries is unknown.

TABLE VI. IMPORTS, EXPORTS AND RE-EXPORTS OF SILK MANUFACTURES DECENNIALLY FROM 1851 TO 1911.— VALUES.

	Imports.	Exports.	Exports.
Year.		British	Foreign dh Colonial
		Manufacture.	Manufacture.
	£	£	£
*1851	. ; Not obtainable.	Not obtainable.	Not obtainable.
1861	. ' 5,906,029	1,395,582	2,421,329
1871	8,397,938	2,053,086	683,307
1881	11,727,397	2,564,730	263,826
1891	. : 11,179,588	1,744,645	900,740
1901	13,030,321	1,429,381	1,397,948
1911	12,481,112	1,744,640	1,816,676
1920	35,505,770	4,222,076	5,967,853

* The regular issue of the Annual Statement of Trade of the United Kingdom on modern lilies only commenced with the year 1854.

INDEX.

Ackroyd, James, and Son, 237.

Adulteration and False Description, action of Board of Trade, 678.

Advertisements, curious, 284.

Alien Merchants, Protective Laws, 18, 19.

AJizerine Dyes, 447.

Alpaca, 218-222.

America, Spinning in, 433 ; Trade with, 330.

Aniline Dyes, 446.

Antwerp, rise of, 27 ; sack of, 33.

Appendix, British Tariffs on Silk, 624.

Apprenticeship, 57, 495, 498.

Arkwright, 149, 174.

Art and Technical Training, 608.

Artificial Silk, first, " Vanduana," 369.

Arts and Crafts Society, 599-618; Ex- hibition, London, 1888, 599 ; Paris, 1914, 615.

Aylesbury, 322.

Bandana handkerchiefs, 418 ; frauds, 530.

Baville, 38.

Beaming, 448.

Benevolent Society of United Weavers,

508. Berkshire, 323-325. Besant, Sir Walter, 91. Bethnal Green, 53, 58 ; population of, 59. Blockley, 327. Bocking, 300, 302, 307. Bombazines, 30. Bradford, 218.

Braintree, 299, 302, 307, 613. Brighouse, 247. Bright, John, 80, 263. British Silk Exhibition, 1912, 580. British sUk weaving, beginning of, 20. Broderers Company, 568. Buckinghamshire, 321. Bume-Jones, Edwd., influence of, 601. Button Trade, 128, 138, 146, 328. Byzantine Industry, 44.

Callaway, John, 313.

Canterbury, 51, 312-317.

Canterbury weavers (modem), 317.

Carriers' Act, agitation, 576.

Chaucer, references to Royal patronage,

534. Chelmsford, 305. China : first home of Industry, 44 ;

various manufactures in, 394-396 ;

waste sUk exports, 434, 435. Christ Church, Spitalfields, 64. Cobden, attitude of, 80. Colbert, 37.

Colchester, 31, 33, 304. Combination Act, 1799, 496. Conditioning Company formed in London

1859, directors of, 1901, 443. Conditioning Office, 96. Congleton, 146. Continental Industry, 120. Cord, SUk, manufacture of, in China, 395 . Coronation Robes, use of Silk for, 100, 309,

317, 535, 541, 547, 549. Cotton, sewing and knitting, 218 ; warp,

224. Courtauld, Messrs., 298, 302, 306, 307. Coventry, 107. Crape Manufacture, 148, 306 ; Norwich,

285, 299. Cullompton Weavers, 617. Customs Regulations to end smuggKng,

531, 532.

Damico, 23.

Derby, 198.

Desborough, 325.

Designers and Designing, 451 ; methods

of working, 452. Devonshire, 341, 342. Doree, George, 74, 100. Dorset, 333-337; smugglers in, 519. Dover, 40, 313. Drapers Company, 567. Dubhn, 371, 373.

669

660

INDEX.

Dunfermline, 369.

Duties on Silk, 160.

Dyeing Industry, 142, 255, 444 ; Alizarine,

447 ; Aniline, 446 ; experiments, 446,

447 ; Vegetable, 445. Dyers Company, 568.

Early MiUs, 298-305.

East India Company, 378 ; Agent's diary

quoted, 396 ; Dutch competition with,

381. Edict of Nantes, 36, 38, 40, 274. Edinburgh, 369. Elastic Web Trade, 216. Emperor Charles, 28. English Silks, first Exhibition of, 1893,

544 ; Exhibition of 1912, 550. Eri Silk, 396-398. Essex, 297-311 ; smugglers in, 520.

Factory, first English, 201 ; Committee,

191 ; modem conditions, 459 ;

System, 91. Fashion, effects of, 288, 306. Felkin, 185, 190. FUoseUe (floss), 393. Finishing, 449. Flax Spinning, 258. Flemish Immigrants, 24, 33 ; privileges

of, 348. Floret SUk, 391. Fox, Paul, 297. Framework Knitters Company, 181, 568 ;

decay of, 499. France : 16th Century Silks, 35 ; rivalry

of, 587 ; smuggUng between France

and England, 527. Franco-British Exhibition, 1908, 578. Free Traders and French Treaty, 80. French Immigrants, 39. French Revolution, effect of, on Indian

trade, 382. French SUks, 50. French Treaty of 1860, 78, 119. Fulton, Humphrey, 360. Furniture Silks, 303, 309, 515, 614.

Garrick, David, 54.

Garthwait, Anna Maria, first designer mentioned by name, 452, 453.

Gauze, 360.

Gilhngham (Dorset), 336.

Girdlers Company, 569.

Gladstone, and Silk Duties, 162 ; Budget

of 1860, 79. Glasgow, Incorporation of Weavers, 1528,

359. Glastonbury, Flemish Weavers in, 337. Glemsford, 320. Gloucestershire, 326. Gloves, 146, 185, 337, 358. Gold and Silver Wire Drawers Company,

569. Great Charter, 17. Great Privilege, grant of, 28. Grout, Joseph, 286. Guilds, Ancient Trade, 554.

Haberdashers Company, 568.

HaUfax, 235; Firms, 245.

Halstead, 300.

Hampshire, 329, 330.

Hand Loom Weaving, 151, 154 ; in Ireland, 374, 375.

Hanover, House of, and Silk Industry, 541.

Hargreaves, 149, 174.

Hatband Makers Company, 669.

Haverhill, 319.

Hawkhurst Gang, smugglers, 518.

Heathcoat, John, 341.

Hertfordshire, 321.

Heywood, 263.

Hinckley, 212.

Huddersfield, 252.

Huguenots, Immigration of, 35 ; in Spital- fields, 56 ; persecution of, 36 ; initiate SUk Industry in Ireland, 371.

Imports : India, 385 ; Persia, 380 ; waste silk, 390; 417, 436.

India, 378-389 ; Native prejudices, 381.

India Dock Company, 443.

ladia SUk, 143 ; Eri SUk, 396-398.

Indian Commerce, foundations of, 379.

Indigo, introduction of, 445.

Industrial unrest, 133, 277.

International Exhibitions : London, 1851, 77, 442, 582-598 ; criticisms of, 586- 598 ; success of, 597 ; Illustrated London News on, 590, 591 ; The Times on, 585 ; London, 1862, 603 ; Paris, 1855, 603; 1867, 605; 1872, 423 ; 1878, 143 ; 1900, 309.

INDEX.

661

Invention, influence of, on workers, 498. Ipswich, 33, 320. Ireland, 371-377. Italian Weavers, 35, 44. Italy : Silk throwing in, 441 ; waste Silk Industry in, 434.

Jacquard, 113 ; machine invented by,

453^56. Japan, waste Silk Trade, 433 ; exports,

435.

Kashmir : Sericulture experiments, 388, 389 ; Silk weaving established by Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, 548.

Kay, Wimam and Robert, 619, 620.

Kendal, 172.

Kent, 312-317 ; smugglers in, 518, 526.

Kettering, 76.

Kidderminster, 327.

King Edward VII., Coronation of, 547.

King George, Coronation of, 549.

Labour Troubles, 17th Century, 356, 357.

Lace, machine made, 187, 195.

Lace net, 341.

Lancashire, migration to, 320.

Lancaster, 170.

Lawsuit, important Judgment in, 1840, 405-407.

Leadenhall Market, 63.

Lee, William, 175, 497, 536.

Leeds, 258.

Leek, 138 ; manufactures, 141 ; School of Embroidery, 143.

Legislation, 91, 128, 186, 359, 372, 445, 446, 468-493, 495, 496, 502, 520, 621, 534; 14th Century, 468-477; 15th Century, 478, 479; 16th Century, 480-483; 17th Century, 483-488; 18th and 19th Centuries, 490-493.

Leicester, 212.

Letchworth, 323.

Liber Regalis, reference to Silk in, 535.

Liberty, Sir Arthur, 618.

Licences granted, 408.

Limborough Lectures, 96.

Linen Manufacturers, 38.

Lister, Samuel Cunhffe, 221, 230, 248, 410- 416.

Little Hallingbury, 297 ; Holman (1720)

on, 298. Livery Companies, 554^570. Lombe, John, 149, 199, 441. London : Industrial Statistics, 99, 103 ;

Silk Markets, 63 ; Weavers, 41. Long-spinning introduced, 420. Loom, FiUover, 293. Louis XIII, 36 ; Louis XIV, 37. Low Bentham, 261. Low-grade goods, 418. Lyons, beginnings of Industry, 35.

Macclesfield, 127 ; Manufacturers, 135. McCulloch, on smuggling, 526. Machinery, British, abroad, 432. McKinley Tariff, effect of, 424. Maistone, 312. Maldon, 305. Malmesbury, 331. Manchester, 33, 149 ; Exhibition of 1887,

543 ; Testing House, 169 ; Trade

Protective Society, 166 ; Wool and

Silk Conditioning Company, 169. Manufacture, Domestic System, 101. Manufacturer, Old School, 67. Marabout Silk, 341. Masham, Lord, 226. Mazarin, Cardinal, 37. Mercers Company, 566. Merchant Adventurers Society (later known

as Hanburg Company), 566. Merchant Tailors Company, 568. Middle Class Weavers, 62. Milverton, 340. Mixed Silk, 50. Mochado, 30. Mohair, 219. Monasteries, 14. Moorish Industry, introduction into Spain,

44. Morley, John, 162. Morris and Company, Messrs., 605-607,

610. Morris, William, 143, 329, 456 ; influence

of, 601. Mutual Aid Society flrst, 505.

Narrow SUk Weaving, 105. National Flag Committee, 509. National Silk Workers' Association, 517.

662

INDEX.

Netherlands : Free Cities of, 26, 47 ; Industrial Supremacy of, 25 ; In- dustry, 47.

New MUk Manufactory, 1681, under Royal patronage, 353.

Noil spinning, 428.

Nomenclature, 392-394.

Norfolk, 265.

Norman Conquest, 13.

Northamptonshire, 325.

Norwich, 29, 33, 50, 236, 265; famous Firms of, 295 ; visit of Queen Eliza- beth to, 32.

Nottingham, 174.

Nubbs, silk, import of, 390, 391.

Oriental Weavers, 16, 44. Origin of Industry, 44. Oxfordshire, 325.

Paisley, 360-364 ; old Silk Firms in, 362, 363.

Paris Exhibitions : 1855, 603 ; 1867, 605 ; 1872, 423 ; 1878, 143 ; 1900, 309.

Patents : Early, quoted, 401 ; Gibson and Campbell, 1836, 403; Yam- cleaning, 416.

Pedlars, 129.

Pepys Diary, 31.

Peri-lusta, 142.

Perkin, Sir Wm., 446.

Persia, imports from, 380.

Perth, pioneer work in, 346.

Petitions, 181.

Plaid Silk, use in Scotland, 345, 346.

Plush Trade, 263, 301.

Poplin Industry, 327, 375.

Power Looms : Introduction of, 117, 152, 457 ; failure in Ireland, 375 ; &st in Scotland, 366 ; use at present day, 448.

Pre-Raphael Brotherhood,' influence of, 600.

Prices, fluctuations in, 425.

Prince Consort, 77.

Products and by-products, 428.

Queen Elizabeth, 32, 53, 177, 267, 536.

Queen Mary, and modem revival of Silk Industry, 542, 546 ; wedding dress of, 545.

Queen PhiKppa, 266.

Queen Victoria, 542, 543.

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 54.

Raw SUk, 378; imports of, 385.

Reading, 324.

Reeling methods, 46, 387.

Refugees, 29.

Ribbon Industry, 327.

Richelieu, Cardinal, 36.

Ripley, 264.

Rivalry of France in Silk Trade, 587.

Rochdale, 262.

Roe, Charles, 131.

Royal Lustring Company, 520.

Royal Patronage, 534-553, 573, 580, 583, 613.

Royal Society of Arts, 77, 619 ; " Trans- actions," organ of, references, 619- 622.

Ruskin, John, influence of, 600, 601 ; on the pubhc taste, 600.

Rye, 39.

Saffron Walden, 299.

St. Albans, 322, 323.

St. Bartholomew, Massacre of, 36.

St. Mary Spittle, 54.

SaUsbury, 332, 333.

Salt, Sir Titus, 221.

Sandwich, 31, 312 ; Flemish immigrants,

33, 51. School of Design, 76. Scotland, 343-370 ; currency problems in,

351 ; imports prohibited, 350 ; Kirk

against use of Silk, 344 ; smugghng

in, 531. Sealskin cloth, 423. Seamen's Hospital, Greenwich, 524. Self-acting dressing machine, first, 411

415. Sericulture, 45, 338, 440, 538, 620. Sewardstone, 297. Sewing Silks, 429. Shawls : Norwich, 290 ; Paisley, 363,

364, 419, 597. Sheffield, 257. Sherborne, 333. Shoddy, 426.

INDEX.

663

Sholl, Samuel, 463-466. Silk Association of Great Britain and Ireland, 543, 571-581 ; Ladies' Com- mittee, 572 ; notable members, 579 ; Presidents, 579 ; visit to Brussels Exhibition, 580.

Silk Comb, invention of, 228, 402, 413 ; superseded by intersecting gill, 415.

Silk, laws restricting use of, 343, 344.

Silkmen's Company, 569.

Silk Research Committee formed, 1915, 581.

Silk thread, 199.

Silk Throwers' Company, 570.

Silk throwsters, 298, 301, 336.

Sixteenth Century work, 35.

Skipton, 264.

Smith, Adam, on smugghng, 526.

Smugghng, 518-533 ; effect of on shop- keepers, 520 ; prosecutions and fines for, 521, 524 ; effect of, 526 ; records of, 527 ; smugglers in Scotland, 531.

Somerset, 337-341.

South of Scotland, 370.

Southwark, Alien colony in, 328, 329.

Spanish Fury, 33.

Spinning Industry, 148, 405 ; decUne of British, 424; in Scotland, 409.

Spitalfields, 41, 51, 52 ; dispersal of workers, 88 ; industrial decay of, 84 ; migration from, 300 ; modem, 95.

Spital Sermon, 54.

"SpuneUa," 321.

Spun SUk Trade, 427.

State Papers, references to Silk in, 399.

Statistics : 99, 115, 225, 234 ; Essex, 310, 311 ; Gloucestershire, 326 ; Lace, 195 ; Manchester, 151-159 ; Norwich, 275 ; Paisley, 361 ; Waste Silk im- ports, 436.

Statute of Apprentices, 495.

Stocking Makers Association, 500.

Stocking Trade, 198-213, 323, 326, 353- 355; Frame, 175; Loom, 177.

Strikes, 121, 498, 503.

Stroud VaUey, 326.

Strutt, Jedediah, 185.

Stuart patronage of Silk Industry, 538- 540.

Sudbury, 76, 308, 319.

Suffolk, 318-321 ; smugglers in, 526.

Surrey, 328, 329.

Sussex, smugglers in, 526.

Tapestries : Flemish, 47 ; 15th and 16th

Centuries, 49. Tarifis : Foreign, 164, 232 ; McKinley,

424 ; Mr. Chamberlain's Tariff Com- mission, 1905, 424. Taunton, 338-340. Technical Societies of the Industry, 619-

623. Teck, Duchess of, and modem revival of

Industry, 542, 546. Textile Institute, 623. Throwing Industry, foundation of, 131,

441. Tiverton, 341. Trade : Colonial, 280 ; Indian fluctuations,

386, 387 ; conditions at end of 18th

Century, 513 ; early protection of,

470 ; failures, 240 ; Foreign, 281 ;

regulations, 19 ; various branches of,

440-450. Trade Unions and Associations, 484-517 ;

case of workers, 501, 502 ; methods

and practices, 494. Travellers' Tales, 378, 379. Tring, 321, 322.

Tudor patronage of Silk Industry, 535-537. TuUe Trade, 342. Tussore (Tussah), or wild silk, 143, 378,

386 ; yarn, 422.

UmbreUa ^Iks, 319, 321.

Vegetable Dyes, 445.

Velvet, 49 ; loom, 229 ; weaving, 301.

Vestings Trade, 253.

Victoria and Albert Museum Collection,

50 ; 18th Century sketch books in,

451. Victorian Era, and the SUk Industry, 542. Victorian Records, 59. Violet, Thomas, 520. Voltaire, 38.

Wages, 134, 140, 156, 279, 294, 365. WaUoon Settlers, 313-316. Walters, Daniel, and Sons, 603, 613. Walters, Stephen, and Sons, 320, 458,

552 Wardle, Sir Thomas, 142, 386, 422, 423,

457, 458, 548, 571.

664

INDEX.

Warner and Sons, Messrs., 304, 306-310,

515, 516, 544, 576 ; Coronation robes,

548 ; exhibits at Exhibition of 1912,

550-552 ; history of Firm, 611-615 ;

success at Foreign Exhibitions, 614-

617. Warner, Mr. Benjamin, biographical, 611-

612. Warp and warping, 102, 448. Waste Silk, 49, 194, 219, 255, 390-439

course of invention, 399 ; output and

values, 430 ; production abroad, 432

uses of, 394. Weavers : English, in Scotland, 355

Foreign, 269 ; old and modem types

462, 46'7 ; Spitalfields, distress of, 83

work and recreation, 65. Weavers' Company, 51, 556-565 ; Hall

of, 55, 564 ; Hall in Dublin, 376, 377 ;

Charities of, 564, 565 ; Corporation

of, 1706, 372. Weavers' Societies, 59, 64, 515, 517. Weaving, 20, 105, 448; first London

factory, 458.

Weighing, illicit, 182.

West Africa, carded silk in, 398.

West of Scotland, survivals in, 368.

Willmott's, 333-336.

Wiltshire, 331-333.

Winchelsea, 40.

Windermere " Spinnery," 617.

Winding Industry, 443.

Wokingham, 323.

Women Workers, 20, 139, 197 ; field for,

459 ; first mentioned, 469. Wood, Thomas, 402. Wool, 14.

Woolmen's Company, 566. Worcestershire, 327. Workers : Alien, 269 ; English, child,

20 ; condition of, 214 ; protection of,

21 ; Hiring System introduced, 499. Workhouse labour, 335. Worsted : First spinning mill, 171 ; origin

of name, 265.

Yam-cleaning Patent, 416.