Mr. Arthur Young, in 1771, published his “Tour of England” in the form of Letters, some of which relate to the eastern counties, and Letter XII. to Norwich. It contains a curious statement, derived from some manufacturers, respecting their trade. At that time, the population of the city was about 40,000, mostly employed in manufactures, and the merchants were rich and numerous. Mr. Arthur Young says:—
“The staple manufactures are crapes and camlets, besides which they make in great abundance damasks, satins, alopeens, &c., &c. They work up the Leicestershire and Lincolnshire wool chiefly, which is brought here for combing and spinning, whilst the Norfolk wool goes to Yorkshire for carding and cloths. And what is a remarkable circumstance, not discovered many years, is, that the Norfolk sheep yield a wool about their necks equal to the best from Spain; and is in price to the rest as twenty to seven.”
Mr. Arthur Young further states that men, women, and boys earned about five shillings per week, but that they could earn more if industrious, so that wages were not higher a century ago than at present. In reference to the exportation of goods, he observes:—
“They now do not send anything to North America, but much to the West Indies. Their foreign export is to Rotterdam, Ostend, Middleburgh, all Flanders, Leghorn, Trieste, Naples, Genoa, Cadiz, Lisbon, Barcelona, Hamburgh, all the Baltic except Sweden, and the East Indies.
“The general amount of Norwich manufactures may be calculated thus—
| A regular export to Rotterdam, by shipping every six weeks, of goods to the amount of yearly | £480,000 |
| Twenty-six tons of goods sent by broad-wheeled waggons weekly to London at £500 a ton, on an average, 13,000 tons per annum, value | 676,000 |
| By occasional ships and waggons to various places calculated at | 200,000 |
| £1,356,000 |
Therefore the trade had increased in fifty years from £200,000, according to the “English Gazetteer,” up to £1,356,000!
Mr. Young further observes in reference to the estimates he had given:—
“Upon a reconsideration of the table, it was thought that the £676,000 by waggons was rather too high. Suppose, therefore, only 10,000 tons, it is then £520,000, and the total £1,200,000!
“Another method taken to calculate the amount was by adding up the total sum supposed to be returned annually by every house in Norwich, and this method made it £1,150,000. This sum coming so near the other, is a strong confirmation of it.
“A third method taken was to calculate the number of looms (in county and city); these were made 12,000; and it is a common idea in Norwich to suppose such, with all its attendants, works £100 per annum. This also makes the total £1,200,000, which sum upon the whole appears to be very near the real truth.
“Respecting the proportion between the original material and the labour employed upon it, they have a sure and very easy method of discovering it. The average value of a piece of stuff is 5s.; so the material is a tenth of the total manufacture. Deduct the £120,000 from £1,200,000, leaves £1,080,000 for labour, in which is included the profit of the manufacturer.
“The material point remaining is to discover how many people are employed to earn the public one million per annum, and for this calculation I have one datum which is to the purpose. They generally imagine in Norwich that one loom employs six persons on the whole; and as the number is 12,000 (in city and county), there are consequently 72,000 people employed in the manufacture. And this is a fresh confirmation of the preceding accounts; for I was in general told that more hands worked out of Norwich, for many miles around, than in it; and £1,200,000 divided by 72,000, gives £16 each for the earnings of every person.”
This, Mr. Young confesses, appears to be a large sum for men, women, and boys to earn. The population of Norwich being then under 40,000, the number of looms at the time Mr. A. Young wrote could not be 12,000, nor the persons employed 72,000 in the city and county. Six persons to a loom never were required at one time. The proportion was more likely only half, or three persons to a loom. Consequently, the number employed would be only 36,000 in both city and county. Divide £1,200,000 by 36,000, and it gives £33 for each adult yearly, including the profits of the manufacturer. Deduct £200,000 for their profits, and it leaves £1,000,000 for labour; divide that by 36,000 persons, and it leaves only £28 each, yearly, which is nearer the mark.
Mr. R. Beatniffe, a bookseller in Norwich, copied the statement of Mr. A. Young, and published it in his “Tour of Norfolk.” He said some gentlemen of intelligence had doubted it, as well they might, but he believed it was true. However, in his last edition of the “Tour,” published in 1807, he gave a very different account. He said that the merchant was shut out of the home market by fashion and out of the foreign market by war, so that the annual value of the goods was estimated at £800,000, and the cost of labour at £685,000, leaving only £115,000 for the raw material