INDUSTRIES 



of machinery into the trade, statements were 

 made to the effect that in Stafford and Stone the 

 men had fought the masters on the question and 

 won. The workmen of Kendal were execrated 

 as having given way ; and it was mentioned that 

 the two or three machines in Northampton must 

 be stopped. 



On 13 February, 1858, Green & Co. applied 

 to the magistrates for protection, their work- 

 people having been threatened for using the 

 machine ; and a month later two men were 

 committed to prison for twenty-one days for 

 intimidation in connexion with the same firm. 



The 'anti-machine ' movement continued all 

 through the year 1858, several prosecutions and 

 convictions for intimidation being registered, 

 the penalties gradually becoming more severe. 

 In February, 1859, ^^° "^^" were sent to prison 

 for six weeks for the same offence. The more 

 timid manufacturers had bowed before the storm, 

 but a few made of sterner stuff and with a 

 clearer anticipation of the future of the trade 

 refused to be coerced. They may have educated 

 their fellows, for in February, 1859, practically 

 the whole of the masters came into line and 

 decided to generally introduce the machine. 

 The decision may have been precipitated by an 

 exhibition by Newton, Wilson & Co. at the 

 George Hotel, Northampton, of the machine at 

 work. At the same time a boot wholly made 

 by machinery, that is, not only the uppers but 

 the soles sewn to them by the same means, was 

 shown. 



The intelligent manufacturer quickly saw 

 that unless he insisted on keeping abreast of 

 the times, Northampton would lose its trade 

 altogether. 



This action gave a fresh impetus to the strike. 

 Within a few weeks a further 400 operatives 

 had left the town, tramping into other districts 

 in search of work. In their own town they had 

 refused to make up into boots any uppers that 

 had been closed by the machine, but in other 

 districts they found themselves forced to do the 

 very thing they were striking against at home. 



The general strike lasted but a short time. 

 By March the men's leaders were beseeching 

 them to stand to their guns, but after nine weeks 

 the opposition collapsed and the men started 

 work under the new conditions, it being twenty 

 months since the first shop was struck. 



One of the results of the long dislocation of 

 trade was that the industry became more scat- 

 tered. It is not too much to say that Kendal 

 and Leicester owed to it their start as shoe- 

 making centres at the expense of Northampton 

 and Stafford. The difficulty was complicated 

 by the operatives' fear that not only would the 

 industry be ruined by machinery but that its 

 introduction would lead to a factory system, the 

 idea of which was abhorrent to them. For 

 many years a number of the manufacturers did 

 not possess machines, but gave out their work 



to be closed at a settled price per dozen pairs, 

 and the practice even to-day is not wholly 

 discontinued. 



About the year i860 a new branch of the 

 trade was started in Wellingborough. The 

 retail bootman for years (as has been intimated) 

 looked askance at ready-made footwear, but 

 long before his prejudices were entirely broken 

 down it was found that he was willing to 

 purchase closed uppers and bottom them himself. 

 Both Northampton and Wellingborough laid 

 themselves out for this trade, and eventually the 

 latter secured the larger part of it. For thirty 

 years it has been a flourishing industry, though 

 signs are not wanting that it is a decaying one. 

 Wellingborough also produces large quantities of 

 the better class leather gaiters or leggings, to 

 which branch of the trade Northampton also has 

 not failed to turn its attention. During the late 

 war in South Africa large quantities were made 

 in both towns. 



EXPORT TRADE 



Northampton's staple trade owed much of its 

 prosperity in the middle of the nineteenth cen- 

 tury to its foreign trade. With the army boot 

 trade languishing or withdrawing to the smaller 

 centres in the county, and with the diflSculty of 

 capturing the retail shop trade ^ still unsur- 

 mounted, the West Indian and Australian 

 markets were a boon indeed. 



Trade with the former began within a short 

 time after the manumission of the slaves in 

 1838. By way of expressing their feeling of 

 equality the coloured people began to dress as 

 the whites, at any rate on Sundays ; and as they 

 could never be persuaded to attend church unless 

 shod in orthodox foot-gear, the clergy of the 

 islands were actually driven to import boots 

 with which to supply their flocks, and a con- 

 siderable business resulted.' 



Large consignments of boots were also 

 despatched to Canada and Newfoundland, but 

 Australia was the most valuable market of all. 

 The gold rush of 185 i was quickly followed by 

 increased demand for English goods and especially 

 boots. Price was no object. From miners' boots 



' The late Sir Philip Manfield, who commenced 

 business in North.impton in 184.3, remembered seeing 

 notices displayed in shops, ' No Northampton rubbish 

 sold here,' and some of the older living manufacturers 

 have informed the writer that their experience 

 coincides with this. 



' Some of the accounts were paid by the missionary 

 societies. Alderman William Hickson, president of 

 the Boot and Shoe Manufacturers' Federation, re- 

 members that a condition with some of the orders 

 was that the boots must squeak. It appears some of 

 the coloured people desired that attention should thus 

 be drawn, as they walked up the church, to the fact 

 that they were properly booted ! 



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