748 



ENGLAND. 



Mr Crd. 

 licr'irtate- 

 mcni cxa- 



at lea.it amounted t.> 1..:>(X),000; tin.-, added to the for- 

 mer sum. \\ill make t!ie totil value of the raw material 

 L.5,750,000; and suppoMin; the manufactured value to 

 U> threefold, tin- total value of woollen goods will be 

 L.17,'J.'.0,(HH). 



We should not have thought of dwelling longer on 

 the state and extent ot' the woollen manufacture at this 

 period, had we not observed, that the late Mr Grellier, 

 who was deservedly celebrated for the attention he 

 paid to statistical enquiries, differs from us in various 

 points respecting it This circumstance, joined to tin- 

 consideration, that if we can determine the state of the 

 woollen manufactiire in 1 800, we shall be the better 

 able to ascertain its state at present, or at least to form 

 a comparison between its state at the two periods, in- 

 duces us to add a few observations, which, in our opi- 

 nion, will point out the instances in which Mr Grel- 

 lier is mistaken. In the first place, he gives it as his 

 opinion, that the real value ot the woollen goods ex- 

 ported is only about 38 per cent above the official va- 

 lue ; but this is certainly a mistake, and we observe in 

 the report on the state of the woollen manufacture, in 

 1806, that the committee, mentioning the very great 

 national importance of this manufacture, state the offi- 

 cial value of the exports to be L.6,000,000 ; and express- 

 ly add, or L.9.000,000 actual value. In the next place, 

 Mr Grellier deducts from the gross amount of the va- 

 lue of the manufactured goods only 10 per cent, for the 

 profits of the manufacturer, including the interest of his 

 capital ; but a little reflection must serve to convince 

 us, that 10 per cent, on the gross value, is too small a 

 sum ; and that 20 per cent, on the sum which remains, 

 after subtracting the price of the raw material from the 

 gross value of the manufactured articles, is nearer the 

 truth. In the last place, Mr Grellier, taking all classes 

 of work people, in the woollen manufactures, together, 

 estimates their wages at 8s. per week; and by this high 

 rate of wages, and a reduction in the value of the whole 

 manufactured goods, notwithstanding he allows less to 

 the master manufacturer himself, he reckons the whole 

 number of persons employed only at 440,330. But 

 when we reflect on the large proportion of women, 

 boys, and girls, that are employed in this manufacture, 

 anil at the lowness of the wages, especially of the two 

 last, we shall be disposed to consider his average rate 

 as too high, at least for the year 1800; and moreover, 

 when we consider, that in many of the manufacturing 

 parishes in the West Riding of Yorkshire, one half or 

 two-thirds of the people are employed in the woollen 

 trade; that the population of the whole Riding, in 1800, 

 was upwards of 560,000; and that the amount of the 

 value of the woollen goods manufactured there was 

 only ? of the whole goods manufactured in the king- 

 dom, we shall be disposed to estimate the number of 

 people employed in this manufacture at considerably 

 more than 440,3HO. At the same time it must be ad- 

 mitted, that on this as well :is on many other points of 

 statistical enquiry, the data are too few, or too ques- 

 tionable, on which to ground accurate and perfectly 

 satisfactory results. 



Having thus brought the historical sketch of our 

 woollen manufacture, considered generally, down to 

 the commencement of the present century, we shall 

 now proceed to consider the principal branches of it ; 

 the districts or towns in the kingdom which they oc- 

 cupy; and their actual state. 



L'nder the general head of manufactures of wool, we 

 comprehend not merely what are strictly and properly 

 denominated the woollen manufactures, but also all mn- 



nufuctures in which wool i.-, the raw material employed: PtuUttofc 

 these are naturally divided into the manufacture of N ->-""'' 

 woollen and of worsted ^oods ; or into those goods in 

 which the card or the comb are employed in the pre- 

 paration of the raw material. 



The principal scats of the former kind are the West Principal 

 Biding of Yorkshire, and the western counties of Wilt- M.-tsotV. 

 shire, Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire ; and of the 

 latter kind, the county of Norfolk ; for v. e shall omit 

 tlic consideration of the stocking manufacture at pre- 

 sent, :md consider it by itself, a* stockings, being made 

 of worsted, cotton, and silk, seem properly to tall un- 

 der none of these heads. The woollen manufactures 

 of North Wales will also be considered; they are prin- 

 cipally situated in the counties of Merioneth, Denbigh, 

 and Montgomery. 



The length of the manufacturing district of the West w 'cst R..I- 

 Riding of Yorkshire, from north to south, may In- esti- ing district 

 mated at 40 miles, and its mean width at 20 miles, Jc " cnbe *- 

 giving together an area of 200 square miles ; but this 

 space includes the hardware manufacturing district 

 about Sheffield, as well as the clothing district : the lat- 

 ter commences below Craven, ami extends over a tract, 

 of which Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, and Wakefield, are 

 the principal centres. The most important manufac- 

 ture in this district is that of woollen cloth, the gr; 

 part of which is made in the neighbourhood of Li 

 Wakefield, Huddersfield, and .Saddleworth. Leeds is 

 particularly the mart for the coloured and white bro id 

 cloths. The former are sometimes called mixed cloths, 

 and are made of dyed wool. The mixed cloth maim- Mixed rlutli 

 facturers reside partly in the villages belonging to the district. 

 parish of Leeds, but chiefly at Morley, Guildersome. 

 Adwalton, Dudlington, Pudsey, Farsley, C'alverlev, 

 Eccleshall, Idle, Baildon, Yeadon, Guiseley, Rawdon, 

 and Horsforth, in or bordering upon the vale of Aire, 

 principally to the west of Leeds; and at Batley, Dews- 

 bury, Osset, Horbury, and Kirkburton, west of Wake- 

 field, in or near the valley of Calder. Very few mixed 

 cloth manufacturers are to be found to the east and 

 north of Leeds, and there are very few in the town it- 

 self. The white cloth is manufactured chiefly at Al- White clntli 

 verthorpe, Osset, Kirkheaton, Dewsbury, Batley, Bir- dlslrict ' 

 stal, Hopton, Merfield, Archett, Clackheaton, Little- 

 town, Bowling, and Shetley, a tract of country which 

 forms an oblique belt across the hills that separate the 

 vale of Calder from the vale of Aire, be<:imim;r about 

 a mile west of Wakefield, leaving Huddersfield and 

 Bradford a little to the left, terminating at Shipley on 

 the Aire, and not coming within less than six miles of 

 Leeds on the right. The districts of the mixed and 

 white cloth are in general distinct and separate, but in 

 some places, particularly at their south-east and south- 

 west extremities, they run into each other. The prin- 

 cipal manufactures of woollen in and near Halifax, arc- 

 flannels and baizes; though cloth, especially of that 

 kind which is used for trie army, is very generally 

 made. The blanket and flushing line lies between 

 Leeds and Huddersfield ; and the manufacture of stuffs, 

 principally in the neighbourhood of Bradford and Ha- 

 lifax : narrow cloths are made in and near Huddera- 

 field. At Saddleworth, the manufacture of broad cloth- . 

 nearly equal in fineness to those of the west of Eng- 

 land, and of kerseymeres, is carried on. At Wakeficld 

 some white cloths ;irc made ; but this place is princi- 

 pally distinguished for its wool market, and for tile 

 excellence of its mode of dyeing cloths. 



The county which first claims our attention in the t \^'^. 

 west of England, for its woollen manufacture, is Glou- h , ct . 



