A HISTORY OF DURHAM 



both incroached upon the river the former by Tan- 

 pitts and the latter by a stone cutter's yard, and 

 Mr. Peas (sic) appears to be encroaching upon the 

 wastes at X. 



Arthur Mowbray. 



Sherburn 20 Sept. 1795." 



The mills mentioned in the documents are 

 doubtless worsted mills ; it is said that the spin- 

 ning and weaving of worsted goods was begun 

 by the Peases in 1752 ; '^ they claim to be the 

 oldest manufacturers of this class of goods in the 

 kingdom. In these days of cut-throat competition 

 it is almost impossible to believe that a Pease from 

 Darlington used to meet the senior partner of the 

 Bradford Spinning Mill, and that between them 

 they used to fix the prices for the ensuing six 

 months. Spinning worsted by machinery was 

 begun about 1796, the machinery being obtained 

 by the Peases from Buck of Settle. But in the 

 early part of the nineteenth century the Dar- 

 lington mills were chiefly employed in spinning 

 yarn to supply the West of England serge manu- 

 facturers and the Scotch tartan manufacturers.^* 



At the opening of the nineteenth century 

 there was a large worsted manufactory where 

 spinning both by hand and machinery was car- 

 ried on ; about 300 looms, 100 combers, and 

 5,000 hand-spinners were employed. But the 

 workpeople in Darlington were not sufficient for 

 the demand ; a considerable quantity of wool 

 had to be sent into Scotland to be spun ; 

 Mr. Pease alone paid ^TSoo a year for spinning 

 in Scotland.'* Some idea of the rapid develop- 

 ment of the Darlington woollen trade may be 

 gained from the fact that the terrible fire which 

 occurred at the mill of Messrs. Edward and 

 Joseph Pease in 1817 destroyed property to the 

 value of ^^30,000, and threw 500 people out of 

 employment.'^ 



When, in 1825, the last grand septennial festi- 

 val was held at Bradford of wool-combers, comb- 

 makers, dyers, &c., in honour of Bishop Blaize, 

 said to have invented wool-combing, William 

 Clough of Darlington, who had enacted the part 

 four times previously, was elected king. '^ 



In 1832 when a dinner was given to the 

 workmen of Darlington to commemorate the 

 passing of the Reform Bill, a procession repre- 

 senting the leading industries of the town was 

 organized : wool-combers, worsted-weavers, linen- 

 weavers, bricklayers, and carpet-weavers were in 

 full force.'* 



In 1838 the factory inspectors prepared a re- 

 turn of all the worsted mills and factories in the 



" Darlington Leases. 



'^ The worsted business h.id been begun at Dar- 

 lington before 1727 ; Defoe, Eng/. Tradesman, ii, 61. 

 ^* J. James, Hist, of the Worsted Manufacture, 387. 

 " J. Bailey, op. cit. 163. 



^ W. H. D. LongstafFe, Hist, of Darlington, 3 1 8. 

 " J. James, op. cit. 596. 

 ^ W. H. D. Longstaffe, op. cit. 167. 



United Kingdom. In the county of Durham 

 only two towns — Darlington and Gateshead — 

 figure. Darlington had three mills with four 

 steam-engines of 104 h.-p., and one water-wheel 

 of 20 h.-p. Thirty-six children between the 

 age of nine and thirteen and 194 youths and girls 

 between thirteen and eighteen were employed, 

 the total number of hands being 405. Gates- 

 head had only one mill with one steam-engine 

 of 12 h.-p., and employed twenty-seven hands.'' 

 According to a similar report issued nine years 

 later, the total number of people employed in 

 the worsted trade in the county only reached 

 638.« 



At one time the Peases had three sets of 

 worsted mills in different parts of the town as 

 well as factories near Clay Row. The North- 

 gate or Railway Mills were built by the Fells, 

 but came into the Pease family by marriage. 

 These mills were employed principally in pro- 

 ducing materials, merinos, alpacas, and mohairs ; 

 but they stopped working in 1880. The Lead- 

 yard Mills are now used as an iron factory, but 

 the Priestgate Mills still continue in active 

 work, in spite of a disastrous fire in 1894, which 

 did ;^20,000 worth of damage, and threw about 

 six hundred people out of work. 



Early in the nineteenth century the Priestgate 

 Mills were worked by Edward and Joseph Pease; 

 the firm changed and became first Henry Pease 

 & Co. and then Henry Pease & Co.'s Successors 

 (i.e. Sir Joseph Pease, Mr. Henry Fell Pease, and 

 Mr. Arthur Pease) ; the firm still retains the 

 name, but is now a limited liability company. 

 In 1886 the firm went in for producing dress 

 materials, but weaving has now been entirely 

 abandoned, though the wool which is obtained 

 from Spain, Australia, and the neighbouring coun- 

 tries is sorted, scoured, combed, and spun here. 

 Between six and seven hundred hands are em- 

 ployed, chiefly girls and women ; about one- 

 third of the yarn is exported, but a great deal 

 goes to Bradford and Scotland. 



At one time Darlington had a great many 

 carpet manufactories, but the success of the 

 Durham carpet industry threw Darlington into 

 the shade, although in 1827 Francis Kipling 

 & Son and William Thompson, both in North- 

 gate, did considerable trade. 



Until within the last few years no carpets had 

 a better reputation for durability and brilliancy 

 of colour than Durham carpets. The rage for 

 cheaper and flimsier goods, the failure of the 

 American demand, and the tendency of manu- 

 facturers to concentrate in one locality for con- 

 veniences of sale, are the chief reasons for the 

 decay of the trade. 



The initial impetus to the worsted in- 

 dustry in Durham was given by a local charity. 



'' Return of Worsted Mills in the United Kingdom, 

 ordered by the House of Commons, printed 1838. 

 " Return of Factory Operatives, 1847. 



318 



