[111] The Act of Parliament for the formation of this line of railway was passed in January, 1758, and it is therein stated that Charles Brandling, the owner of the collieries, had made agreements with the owners of the lands through which it was intended to pass, “to pay yearly rent or other considerations” for the privilege. The Leeds pot works must, therefore, have been established some length of time previous to the year 1758. It may be interesting to add that by this act Mr. Brandling bound himself for a term of sixty years to bring from his collieries at Middleton, to a repository at “Casson Close, near the Great Bridge at Leeds,” “20,000 dozens, or 240,000 corfs of coals,” each corf containing in weight about 210 lbs., and in measure 7,680 cubical inches, and there sell the same to the public at the price of 4¾d. a corf. As the town increased in size, and its manufactures spread, fresh acts of parliament were applied for and obtained in 1779, 1793 (two), and 1803, by which last the quantity of coal undertaken to be supplied was increased to 1,920 corfs per day, and the price raised to 8d. per corf.
[112] In the same year (1825), to add to the perplexities of the proprietors, there appears to have been a strike among the potters. The following “Appeal” was printed for the men by Mr. Baines, who afterwards became one of our statesmen:—
“An Appeal to the Public from the Journeymen Potters of Leeds and its Neighbourhood.
“It is with painful feelings that we are under the necessity of laying before a discerning public the following brief statement of Facts relative to those differences now existing between us and our Employers.
“At a time like the present, it is very strange that our Employers should attempt an unparalleled Reduction of our Wages, amounting from 20 to 30 per cent. upon the prices we have received, when those prices were barely sufficient to support a Man and his Family, and at the same time raise the price of his goods to the Public at least 50 per cent.
“We feel confident the above Statement of Facts will at once convince every thinking individual that our conduct in standing out to oppose such uncalled-for proceedings is just and right. We should have exposed ourselves to the censure of every reasonable Man, and all who have alive in their bosom a spark of honest indignation, had we tamely submitted to the fiat of our Employers, and not have made every effort in our power to preserve that which is every man’s natural right—a fair remuneration for his labour.
“We respectfully solicit the aid of a generous Public, to enable us to withstand the unjust proceedings of those who have driven us to this alternative, by their unceasing endeavours to reduce us to a state of misery and degradation from which we hope to be preserved by your kind assistance, and enabled to withstand those encroachments which would inevitably plunge ourselves, our families, and our successors into inevitable ruin.—Dec. 13, 1825.”
[113] Jewitt’s “Life of Wedgwood.” London: Virtue Brothers, p. 177, et seq.
[114] Letter from Josiah Wedgwood, M.P.
[115] Vessels of this construction, of early Japanese make, are in existence.