(from Returns of Factory Inspectors).
| 1838. | 1898–1899. | |
| Cheshire | 36,400 | 34,300 |
| Cumberland | 2,000 | 700 |
| Derbyshire | 10,500 | 10,500 |
| Lancashire | 152,200 | 398,100 |
| Nottinghamshire | 1,500 | 1,600 |
| Staffordshire | 2,000 | 2,300 |
| Yorkshire | 12,400 | 35,200 |
| England and Wales[1] | 219,100 | 496,200 |
| Scotland | 35,600 | 29,000 |
| Ireland | 4,600 | 800 |
| United Kingdom | 259,300 | 526,000 |
The distribution of the industry has varied greatly in the two periods. If it had remained constant Lancashire would only have contained 300,000 operatives in 1899, instead of the actual 400,000. Scotland, on the other hand, only contained 30,000 instead of 70,000, and in Ireland the numbers were one-tenth of what they should have been. The percentage of operatives in Lancashire in 1838 was 58.5, but this increased to 75.7 in 1898.
Why, we may naturally inquire, did not the cotton industry localize in the West Riding or Cheshire and the woollen industry maintain its position in Lancashire? Accident no doubt partly explains why the cotton industry is Lancashire advantages.carried on where it is in the various parts of the globe, but apart from accident, as regards Lancashire, it is sufficient answer to point to the peculiarly suitable congeries of conditions to be found there. There is firstly the climate, which for the purpose of cotton spinning is unsurpassed elsewhere, and which became of the first order of importance when fine spinning was developed. In the Lancashire atmosphere in certain districts just about the right humidity is contained on a great number of days for spinning to be done with the least degree of difficulty. Some dampness is essential to make the fibres cling, but excessive moisture is a disadvantage. Over the county of Lancashire the prevailing west wind carries comparatively continuous currents of humidified air. These currents vary in temperature according to their elevation. Hot and cold layers mix when they reach the hills, and the mixture of the two is nearer to the saturation point than either of its components. The degree of moisture is measured by the ratio of the actual amount of moisture to the moisture of the saturation point for that particular temperature. Owing to the sudden elevation the air is rarefied, its temperature being thereby lowered, and in consequence condensation tends to be produced. In several places in England and abroad, where there is a scarcity of moisture, artificial humidifiers have been tried, but no cheap and satisfactory one has hitherto been discovered. To the advantages of the Lancashire climate for cotton spinning must be added—especially as regards the early days of the cotton industry—its disadvantages for other callings. The unpleasantness of the weather renders an indoor occupation desirable, and the scanty sunshine, combined with the unfruitful nature of much of the soil, prevents the absorption of the population in agricultural pursuits. In later years the port of Liverpool and the presence of coal supplemented the attractions which were holding the cotton industry in Lancashire. All the raw material must come from abroad, and an enormous proportion of English cotton products figures as exports. The proximity of Liverpool has aided materially in making the cotton industry a great exporting industry.
Before the localization of the separate parts of the industry can
be treated the differentiation of the industry must be described.
We pass then, at this stage, to consider the manufacture in its
earliest form and the lines of its development. First, and somewhat
incidentally, we notice the early connexion between the
conduct of the cotton manufacture, when it was a domestic
industry in its primitive form, and the performance of agricultural
operations. A few short extracts will place before
Early
system of
manufac-
ture and organisa-
tion.
us all the evidence that it is here needful to adduce.
First Radcliffe, an eye-witness, writing of the period
about 1770, says “the land in our township (Mellor)
was occupied by between fifty and sixty farmers ...
and out of these fifty or sixty farmers there were
only six or seven who raised their rents directly from
the produce of their farms, all the rest got their rent partly in
some branch of trade, such as spinning and weaving woollen,
linen or cotton. The cottagers were employed entirely in
this matter, except for a few weeks in the harvest.”[2] Next
we may cite Edwin Butterworth who, though not an eyewitness
(he was not born till 1812), proved himself by his
researches to be a careful and trustworthy investigator.
In the parish of Oldham, he recorded, there were “a number
of master (cotton-linen fustian)[3] manufacturers, as well as
many weavers who worked for manufacturers, and at the same
time were holders of land or farmers.... The number of
fustian farmers who were cottagers working for manufacturers,
without holding land, were few; but there were a considerable
number of weavers who worked on their own account, and held at
the same time small pieces of land.”[4] Other passages might be
quoted, but these two will suffice. Weaving was not exactly a
by-employment of farm labourers, but many weavers made
agriculture a by-employment to some extent, (a) by working
small parcels of land, which varied from the size of allotments to
farms of a very few acres, and (b) by lending aid in gathering in
the harvest when their other work enabled them to do so. The
association of manufacturing and weaving survived beyond the
first quarter of the 19th century. Of the weavers in many
districts and “more especially in Lancashire” we read in the
report of the committee on emigration, “it appears that persons
of this description for many years past, have been occupiers of
small farms of a few acres, which they have held at high rents, and
combining the business of the hand-loom weaver with that of a
working farmer have assisted to raise the rent of their land from
the profits of their loom.”[5] One of the first lines of specialism
to appear was the severing of the connexion described above, and
the concentration of the weavers in hamlets and towns. Finer
fabrics and more complicated fabrics were introduced, and the
weaver soon learnt that such rough work as farming unfitted his
hands for the delicate tasks required of them. Again, really to
prosper a weaver found it necessary to perfect himself by close
application. The days of the rough fabrics that anybody could
make with moderate success were closing in. As a consequence
the dispersion of the weavers becomes less and less. They no
longer wanted allotments or farms; and their looms having
become more complicated, the mechanic proved himself a
convenient neighbour. Finding spinners too was an easier task
in the hamlet or town than in the remote country parts. But
there is no reason to suppose that agriculture and the processes of
the domestic cotton manufacturer had ever been universally
twin callings. There never was a time, probably, when weavers
who did nothing but weave were not a significant proportion, if
not the major part, of the class of weavers. All again were not
independent and all were not employees. Some were simply
journeymen in small domestic workshops; others were engaged
by fustian masters or Manchester merchants and paid by the piece
for what they made out of material supplied them; others again
bought their warps and cotton and sold to the merchants their
fabrics, which were their own property. The last class was swept
away soon after the industry became large, when by the organization
of men of capital consumers and producers were more and
- ↑ In 1838 the only other county with more than 1000 was Gloucester with 1500. 217,000 of the 219,100 operatives in England and Wales were employed in the counties enumerated. Of the 2000 operatives whose location is not given, about 1000 worked in Flintshire.
- ↑ W. Radcliffe’s Origin of the New System of Manufacturing, p. 59.
- ↑ The term “fustian” had originally been used to designate certain woollen or worsted goods made at Norwich and in Scotland. A reference to Norwich fustians of as early a date as the 14th century is quoted by Baines.
- ↑ E. Butterworth’s History of Oldham, p. 101.
- ↑ Parliamentary Reports, &c. (1826–1827), v. p. 5. See for even later examples Gardner’s evidence to the committee on hand-loom weavers in 1835.
