The early English cotton industry

by George W. Daniels

IV

In considering the development which took place from the middle of the seventeenth century to the last quarter of the eighteenth as regards other textile commodities produced in the Manchester district, a useful starting-point is given by a writer about 1650, who described the trade of the town as “not inferior to that of many cities in the kingdom, chiefly consisting in woollen frizes, fustians, sack-cloths, mingled stuffs, caps, inkles, tapes, points, etc., whereby not only the better sort of men are employed, but also the very children by their own labour can maintain themselves.”[94]

By permission of the Corporation of the Royal Exchange Assurance, A.D. 1720]

MANCHESTER IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EARLY EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES

The enumeration of commodities in this account, which is very similar to that given by Fuller in 1662, may be compared with another contained in an account of Manchester and its trade in 1751, which may be regarded as holding good in the main for a considerable time later: “Ye present Inhabitants ... are in particular known to be an Industrious people; the Reason of their being so numerous is y^e flourishing trade follow’d here for a long time known by y^e name of Manchester Trade w^ch not only makes y^e town but y^e Country round about for several miles populous, industrious & wealthy. The trade consists chiefly of three general branches, viz. The Fustian or Cotton Manufacturs, y^e Check Trade & Small Wares. The Fustian Manufacture call’d Manchester Cottons, has been long in y^e place & neighbourhood, & is of late much improv’d by several modern Inventions in dying and printing. The Check Trade includes several Articles, as Stuffs for Aprons, Gowns, Shirts, Ticking, Bolstering, &c. But y^e Small Ware Business comprehends most as Inckle, Lace of many sorts, Tapes, Filleting, &c. All these Trades employ both a great number & almost all sorts of Hands not only of Men both Rich & Poor but of Women & Children, even of 5 or 6 years old, who by Spinning, Winding, or Weaving, may earn more here than in any other part of y^e Kingdom.... There is not any Town in y^e nation excepting our Sea Ports y^t may be compared to it in Trade as appears from y^e number of Packs of Goods w^ch go weekly out of y^e Town, w^ch amount in a moderate Computation to 500.”

It will be noticed that a distinction is made between three general branches of trade, a distinction which an analysis of the first Manchester Directory, compiled twenty years later, shows to have had a sound basis.[95] At this point, however, we are concerned with the development which had taken place during the century which intervened between the two quotations, a development which can be traced in Ogden’s Description of Manchester, published in 1783.[96] Unfortunately he gives no definite dates as to the changes to which he refers, but the development of the three general branches of trade carried on in the town is fairly clearly indicated.

In addition to the manufacture of such commodities as those mentioned in the 1651 reference, he informs us that bolsters, bed-ticks, linen-girth web, and boot-straps were among the early manufactures, but that the trade in ticks and webs was soon lost to the West of England. This led to those concerned in making them turning to the manufacture of coarse checks, striped hollands, hooping and canvas.[97] As time went on “the manufacturers of check made great advances in trade and introduced new articles.” What they appear to have done was to progress in the direction of making goods consisting entirely of cotton and mainly of cotton.[98]

But there was another line of development pursued by those engaged in the manufacture of laces, inkles, tapes, and filleting. At an early stage these men added “divers kinds of bindings and worsted smallwares,”[99] and later when “it was found that the Dutch enjoyed the manufacture of fine Holland tapes unrivalled: plans were therefore procured, and ingenious mechanics invited over to construct swivel engines, at great expense, but adapted to light work for which they were first intended, on so true a principle, that they have been employed in most branches of smallwares with success.”[100]

As regards the fustian manufacture, Ogden implies that, at first, it was not carried on in Manchester to any extent, and in this respect his statement is supported by that of Fuller in 1662. Referring to an early date, Ogden states that “Fustians were made about Bolton, Leigh, and the places adjacent, but Bolton was the principal market for them, where they were bought in the grey by Manchester chapmen, who finished and sold them in the country.”[101] When we get to 1772, however, it is evident that there were a large number of fustian manufacturers in the town,[102] and in the petition which resulted in the 1736 “Manchester Act” “manufacturers of fustians in the town of Manchester” were certainly prominent. Ogden’s account of the matter is that the smallware “manufactory has not been sufficient to employ large capitals without the aid of some other branch. The fustian trade has been added to it, first as an auxiliary, and then embraced as a principal, where there was capital to support it.”[103]