Messrs. John Scott and Sons, were manufacturers of woollen and worsted goods, in St. Saviour’s, from 1766 to 1800, and produced great quantities of taborets, floretts, clouded camlets, for Italy; perukeens, self-coloured camlets, for Germany; and other sorts for Spain. Some of these camlets were eighteen inches wide, and the pieces twenty-seven or thirty yards in length; some super camlets were twenty-four inches wide, and thirty yards in length, according to the pattern books yet in existence. These camlets were charged from 50s. to 100s. per piece, or an average of 80s., as we have seen in old ledgers of the firm, still preserved and in the possession of a manufacturer.
Originally, all the yarns used in Norwich were spun by hand in Norfolk and Suffolk, thus employing a large number of women, young and old. About 1720, almost the whole female population of Norfolk and Suffolk was fully employed at the spinning wheel, and this branch of industry continued till the end of the century, and though 50,000 tons of wool were produced, it was found necessary to draw supplies from other districts. Before the end of the eighteenth century, mills were at work spinning yarns, and in 1812, yarns from the mills in Lancashire were brought here and spun in bombazines, which were dyed in various colours.
The establishment of mills in Yorkshire, where coal, provisions, and labour were cheaper than in Norfolk, gave a heavy blow to the trade of the city, which would have been more severely felt, but for the fluctuations of fashion having created a great demand for bombazines, for which Norwich was famous. The Yorkshire workmen and the substitution of machinery for female hands, reduced the manufacture of the old kinds of goods to a low point, and the trade was chiefly maintained by the orders of the East India Company for large quantities of camlets for the Chinese market.
Messrs. Willett and Nephew have old pattern books full of specimens of shawl borders of very elegant designs; in fashion at the beginning of this century. These patterns are an imitation of genuine Indian designs, the pine-apple being prominent; but great improvements in the designs were made by different manufacturers. Norwich shawls had formerly a high reputation, and were in great demand in London and all large towns; but ultimately French shawls were preferred, owing to the superiority of the designs.
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, brilliantines, 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 journeyman weavers they employed with havels and slaies, free of charge, and without deduction from the prices established in the table of rates fixed in the year 1790. The list continued in force for some time, even into the next century. The camlets made, excepting those for China, were thirty yards in length, and about twenty-eight inches wide, with warp and wift dyed in the hank. Millions of pieces of camlets were made for exportation, in which nearly all the manufacturers were engaged. The orders of the East India Company amounted to a very large sum yearly. Operatives earned 40s. for each piece of camlet for the East India Company, or about £1000 weekly on that single article. Those were the palmy days for the weavers; days that will never more return.
Towards the close of the century, the prosperity of Norwich really declined. The towns of the West Riding of Yorkshire, as already stated, became her successful rivals in worsted fabrics. The increase of cottons and their general wear in England left Norwich dependent on the foreign trade, which was partly ruined by the American war, and entirely so by the war after the first French Revolution, which spread desolation over all Europe.
The Nineteenth Century.
At the commencement of the present century, bombazines, camlets, and mixed fabrics were the chief manufactures of Norwich. Soon afterwards crapes were produced in large quantities. Paramattas were next introduced, and in the course of time superseded bombazines for mourning. “Poplins” then came into fashion, and the manufacture has so much improved that the demand for this kind of goods has increased every year. Poplins were followed by a long succession of mixed fabrics, barèges, balzarines, gauzes, mousseline de laines, cotton de laines, llamas, thibets, merinoes, lunettas, organdies, stuffs, cloths, velvets, lustres, silks, satins, &c. The manufacture of shawls was also carried on extensively, and for a long time Norwich shawls, for excellence of fabric and elegance of design, were not surpassed by any made in England. A great trade was done in shawls in Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, and other large towns. The trade, however, gradually declined when French shawls came into fashion. French goods of other kinds also grew in favour, and affected the city trade in many textile fabrics.
In 1829, on December 29th, a meeting of weavers was held on Mousehold Heath to adopt means for keeping up the rate of payment, the operatives asserting their right to combine to increase wages, as well as their employers to combine to reduce them. The weavers were not paid by time, but at a certain rate for piece-work of different kinds. The rate was according to a certain printed scale, to which the operatives wished to adhere, while it sometimes occurred that the manufacturers desired to alter it.
During the early part of the present century Messrs. Ives and Robberds, of St. Saviour’s, carried on a large trade in worsted goods, chiefly for exportation to India and China, and to different parts of Europe. The goods made were all stout worsted fabrics, plain, checked, striped, or figured, in vivid colours. They were camlets, camletees, satins, satinettes, ladines, tabaretts, calimancoes, swan skins, broad bays, red kerseys, diamantines, spotted tobines, batavias, hairbines, toys, Rochdale bays, checked paolis, lustrins, dentellos, damasks, dorsettines, poplins, serges, mazarines, and grenadines. The same firm received large orders from the East India Company for camlets, in pieces 55 yards in length, 30 inches in width, and weighing 20 lbs. each. Orders were executed by various houses as follows:—