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The early English cotton industry

Name: The early English cotton industry
Author: George W. Daniels

by George W. Daniels

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Subjects

Cotton machinery Cotton trade -- Great Britain

In: History - Other·History - British·History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)

Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #70140.

About this book

George W. Daniels’ work is a scholarly survey of the English cotton trade, concentrating on the period from its earliest beginnings through the first three decades of the nineteenth century. The book opens with a personal preface in which Daniels explains that the material for his study was supplied by the descendants of the Manchester firm M‘Connel & Kennedy, and that his research was motivated by lectures he gave for the University of Manchester and the Workers’ Educational Association. He acknowledges a long list of collaborators, librarians, archivists, and fellow scholars, who helped him sift through parliamentary journals, newspaper archives, and maps of eighteenth‑century Manchester. The introductory sections outline the scope of the study, promising a detailed examination of cotton machinery, trade regulations, and the social dynamics of the industry, while also noting the inevitable gaps that will be addressed in a future volume.

Written in the measured, citation‑rich style of early twentieth‑century academic prose, the text reflects the period’s emphasis on exhaustive documentary evidence and a narrative that intertwines economic data with social history. Readers who relish meticulous archival research, enjoy the interplay of technological innovation and labor relations, or have a particular interest in the industrial heritage of Lancashire will find Daniels’ volume rewarding. It is especially suited to scholars, graduate students, and history enthusiasts seeking a comprehensive, source‑driven account of how cotton transformed England’s economy and society.

Who appears in The early English cotton industry

Professor UnwinMiddle‑aged academic in early‑19th‑century frock coat, spectacles, white cravat, neatly trimmed beard
Mr. J. W. M‘ConnelGentleman of late‑19th‑century Manchester, waistcoat and tailcoat, pocket watch, tidy hair, dignified posture

The opening · free to read

In view of what is said by Professor Unwin in his introductory chapter concerning the business material of the firm of M‘Connel & Kennedy, the reason why this small volume has been written requires little explanation. From the time this material was kindly placed at our disposal by Mr. J. W. M‘Connel, grandson of one of the founders of the firm, my interest has been centred mainly in the development of the English cotton industry from its beginning to about the end of the third decade of the nineteenth century.

Fortunately this investigation fitted in well with work on which I was already engaged. For some time previously the preparation of lectures for students of the Tutorial classes, conducted by the University of Manchester in conjunction with the Workers’ Educational Association, had caused me to turn my attention to the sources of the social and economic history of the late seventeenth and the early eighteenth centuries, with the object of enabling me to speak with a little more confidence than I could gain from easily accessible books.

Last summer when I began that which has developed into the following chapters my intention was to write a few pages of introduction to the succeeding letters of Samuel Crompton, and later to publish a volume dealing with the English cotton industry throughout the period mentioned. Much of what appears in this volume was intended to form the first part of that work, but the second part has been left for a separate volume. There are, therefore, many gaps and deficiencies in the present volume. Some of these gaps, I trust, may be filled and deficiencies supplied at a later date.

My obligations are very numerous and in some cases extend to much more than appears in this volume. To the late Humphrey Chetham I am indebted for providing in Manchester the library which bears his name, in the reading-room of which I have spent so many delightful hours.

Mr. H. Crossley, the present librarian, has rendered me untiring assistance in searching out the authorities that I have used, as have the librarians of the Manchester Reference Library and the Christie Library. Miss F. Collier has assisted me in many ways, but particularly in the tedious task of wading page by page through the Journals of the House of Commons and the files of The Manchester Mercury and making extracts therefrom. Miss P. Heap has sketched the map from the one published in 1795 with Aikin’s Thirty to Forty Miles Round Manchester. The Corporation of the Royal Exchange Assurance, through its Manchester manager, Mr. J. Loudon, has granted me permission to reproduce the photograph of the model of Manchester in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. The model has been constructed by Mr. H. Yates of Moss Side, Manchester, and is a remarkable piece of work. It is based upon “A Plan of Manchester and Salford, taken about 1650” (referred to on p. 25) and must have involved an enormous amount of research, as by far the greater part of its detail is based upon contemporary documents and prints. It is to be hoped that before long the model may find a permanent resting-place in some Manchester public institution.

Too late for me to avail myself of the information they contain, I find that Mr. Loudon has published a series of articles in The Royal Exchange Assurance Magazine, entitled “Manchester Memoirs.” In writing these articles Mr. Loudon has made use of such records of the Corporation as were not destroyed when the Royal Exchange was burned down in January, 1838. Sufficient remain, however, to indicate their value in the elucidation of the social and economic history of the Manchester district in the eighteenth century, and the part that was played by the Corporation in its development. Records are still in existence of policies taken out by prominent Manchester business men at that time, including one by Richard Arkwright, in 1785, when he insured his Manchester factory for £5000.

In addition to the persons already mentioned, I am indebted to Mr. Thomas Midgley, Curator of Chadwick Museum, Bolton, for valuable information and for the photograph of Crompton’s statue; to Mr. J. Wadsworth, of the staff of The Manchester Guardian, for important references; to Mr. H. L. Beales, of the University of Sheffield, for compiling the index; and to Professor D. H. Macgregor for reading my proofs. To Mr. H. M. M‘Kechnie, the Secretary of the University Press, I am deeply grateful, as he has advised my every step while the book has been passing through the press, and has helped me in many other ways.

But my greatest debt is to Professor George Unwin. Whatever taste for social and economic history I now possess, or may acquire, I owe to him. He has contributed far more to this volume than the introductory chapter. But my deepest obligation is for his companionship, which for many years has been to me a constant source of encouragement and inspiration.

G. W. D.

THE UNIVERSITY, MANCHESTER, June, 1920.

I.--The stimulus given to research in economic history by the discovery of Messrs. M‘Connel’s records and of Crompton’s letters; central position in economic history occupied by commerce and industry of textiles; Lancashire cotton industry a graft on this old stock.

II.--Beginning of cotton manufacture in Europe; mediæval gilds in textile trades; rise of an organised journeyman class in fourteenth century; but in the sixteenth century the centre of the labour problem was the small master, whose well-being was dependent on free flow of capital and credit.

III.--Industrial conditions in seventeenth-century Lancashire resembled those in mediæval Florence and Douai, but differed vitally by the absence of a monopoly of capital; such a monopoly was developing in the Merchant Adventurers and other companies in Elizabeth’s reign; and led to a crisis in the textile industries in 1586-1587; the expansion of the northern textile industries due to its exceptional freedom.

IV.--The removal of restrictions on the free flow of capital a main factor in the Industrial Revolution; illustrations of this from the careers of William Radcliffe, David Dale, and Nathan Meyer Rothschild.

The Development of a Cotton Manufacture 1-29

I.--The development of the English cotton industry the classic example of the Industrial Revolution movement; its importance as an indication of what the transition from the domestic to the factory system of organisation involved, 1-2; cotton and cotton-cloth common articles of import before the sixteenth century; “cottons” a prominent Lancashire manufacture in the early sixteenth century; unsuccessful attempts to regulate the manufacture, 2-6; necessity for caution in accepting the view that cotton was not used in the manufacture of Lancashire cloths in the sixteenth century, 7-8.

II.--Authentic evidence of a considerable manufacture of cotton in Lancashire; petition of London merchants (1621); testimony of Lewis Roberts (1641); fustian manufacture probably introduced in second half of the sixteenth century, 8-12; extent of the manufacture indicated in petitions from Lancashire (1654); possible effect of Thirty Years’ War; Fuller’s account of Lancashire fustian manufacture (1662); Bolton the staple place for fustians in the seventeenth century, 13-16.

III.--Countries from which cotton-wool imported in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; cotton-yarn and fine cotton-fabrics imported by East India Company, 16; John Barkstead’s schemes (1691) for manufacture of calicoes and muslins and their failure, 16-19; opposition of silk and woollen trades to import of dyed or printed calicoes; resulting Act (1700) followed by import of plain calicoes which were printed and dyed in England; Act (1721) prohibits their wear or use; opposition to Act from manufacturers of cotton in Dorset, 19-21; increasing prominence of fustians rouses opposition; petitions from Lancashire, Cheshire, and Derbyshire result in “Manchester Act” (1736); use or wear of printed goods made of linen-warp and cotton-wool declared lawful; progress of cotton manufacture, 1730-1764, 22-24.

IV.--Development of Manchester trade, 1650-1750; distinction between smallware, check, and fustian branches; fustian especially regarded as the cotton manufacture; some goods made entirely of cotton in first half of eighteenth century but majority probably of mixed character; worsted and silk utilised and linen largely manufactured, 25-29.

The Organisation of the Cotton Manufacture 30-71

I.--Clothiers in the Northern cloth district; Martin Byrom of Manchester (1520); statute (1543) refers to Irish merchants and others who sell linen-yarn and wool on credit in Manchester; petition of Lancashire clothiers against restrictions on middlemen (1577), 30-31; wealthy men engaged in Lancashire cloth trade--_e.g._ the Tippings, Mosleys, Chethams; their charitable bequests; extent of their concerns, 32-34; Humphrey Chetham bought goods for London market; employed workpeople in spinning yarn and in weaving and finishing cloth; typical clothier of the domestic system, 35-36; small independent producers not typical workpeople in Manchester district in early eighteenth century; evidence of statutes; changes in organisation of fustian manufacture; testimony of Ogden and Guest, 36-39.

II.--Organisation of smallware trade; manufacturers, undertakers, journeymen, apprentices; changes in first half of eighteenth century; combination of workpeople; articles (1747-1753) aim at enforcing apprenticeship and limiting number of apprentices, 40-42; increasing price of food and consequent disturbances; smallware weavers attempt to raise wages; prosecution and submission at Lancaster Assizes (1760), 42-45; Lord Mansfield’s charge on combinations in Lancashire (1758); combination of check-weavers; dispute with employers and strike in Manchester area; the “document”; demand regulation of trade under statute 5 Eliz.; proposals for settlement of dispute by weavers and Mr. Percival; submission and prosecution at Lancaster Assizes (1759); Lord Mansfield’s comments on Statute of Apprentices; later history of smallware weavers’ combination; economic and social significance of the combinations; their relation to earlier associations and to modern trade unions, 45-55.

III.--Distribution of manufacturers and workpeople in Manchester area in first half of eighteenth century; connections maintained by “putting out” system, 56; trade in raw materials; cotton imported through London, Liverpool, Whitehaven, Lancaster; wool reached manufacturers through inland traders; linen yarn spun in England and Scotland, but Ireland and the Continent most important sources of supply; qualities of yarn, and goods in which used; cotton merchants and yarn merchants in Manchester; foreign trading-connections; Manchester goods exported to West Indies, Africa, Italy, Germany, North America, Russia, Asiatic Turkey, 57-60; inland trade carried on by travelling merchants with pack-horses; partly displaced from early eighteenth century by “riders-out” who solicited orders; goods forwarded by carriers; development of communications; importance of petty-chapmen; links between manufacturing centres and country districts; organisation of their trade and capital involved; economic development during century preceding great inventions in cotton industry, 60-66; tables relating to manufacturers, merchants, crofters, and carriers in Manchester area (1772), 67-71.

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