[470] Infra, p. 172.
[471] J.H.C., lxvii., pp. 468, 476. Hansard, xxiii., 747-748.
[472] French, ibid., pp. 188-189. Infra, pp. 176, 182.
[473] Infra, p. 192.
[474] French, ibid., pp. 187-188.
[475] French, ibid., pp. 196-198.
[476] Kennedy, ibid., p. 323.
[477] French, ibid., pp. 199-200.
[478] Kennedy, ibid., pp. 323-324. Messrs. Hicks & Rothwell along with men like Isaac and Benjamin Dobson, of the famous engineering firm, used to meet at “The Sign of the Black Horse” in Bolton, where they had formed a “prosecution” club in 1801. Crompton belonged to this club, his name appearing in 1810, and as a member of the Committee in 1819. The scheme of an annuity appears to have originated and have been carried through by this group of men along with Mr. Kennedy and others. The minutes of the club are preserved in the Chadwick Museum, Bolton. In Manchester also there was a “prosecution” society known by the name of “The Society for the Prosecution of Felons.” In both cases the society appears to have come into existence to check the small thefts and the pilfering of materials used in the businesses of the members. Cf. Dobson, Evolution of the Spinning Machine, p. 115.
[479] French, ibid., pp. 218-222.