ENGLAND. 



749 



KVJtshire 

 district. 



Somerset- 

 shire dis- 

 triet 



Statistic^ eestershire ; here broad cloths of various sorts are made, 

 "" "Y"^ but chiefly superfine, of Spanish wool; and of fine nar- 

 row goods, in the fancy way, to a very great extent. 

 This manufacture is carried on in that district which, 

 by way of distinction, is called the Bottoms, including 

 parts of the several parishes of Avening, Painswick, 

 Pitchcomb, Randwick, Minchinghampton, Stroud, Bis- 

 ly, Rodborourgh, Stonehouse, King's Stanley, Leonard 

 Stanley, Wood Chester, Horseley, and Eastington ; ex- 

 tensive works are also carried on at Dursley, Cam, 

 Uley, Alderley, Wickwar, and Wooten-under-Edge. 

 Stroud may be considered as the centre of the manu- 

 facture in this part of the country, all the surrounding 

 valleys exhibiting a range of houses or villages, inha- 

 bited by persons engaged in this business. 



In Wiltshire, the principal manufactures of woollen 

 cloth are Bradford, which is considered the centre of 

 the greatest fabric of superfine cloths in England, which 

 it shares with the surrounding towns of Trowbridge, 

 Melksham, Corsham, and Chippenham; besides these 

 places, woollen cloth, of a thin texture, is made at Wil- 

 ton ; and cloths of various qualities, but all fine, are 

 made at Warminster, Calne, and Devizes. 



The principal places in Somersetshire, where this 

 manufacture is carried on, are Taunton; here the wool- 

 len goods are principally of a coarse fabric : Frome and 

 Shippon Mallet; the former is famed for its manufac- 

 ture of second cloths, the latter for superfine, of which it 

 generally makes annually between 150,000 and 200,000 

 yards. The woollen cloths made in the west of Eng- 

 land are commonly arranged into five classes, accord- 

 ing to their thickness : the thickest are double super- 

 fine milled ; the finest and thinnest cloths are for the 

 Turkey trade ; ladies cloths are rather thicker than 

 these; cloths manufactured for the East and West Indies, 

 a degree thicker ; and the superfine are, in point of 

 thickness, next to the double superfine already men- 

 tioned. The woollen manufacture of the west of Eng- 

 land also extends into parts of Dorsetshire, Sturmin- 

 *ter Newton in that county being famous for its broad 

 cloths and flannels. 



In these two grand seats of the woollen manufacture 

 of England, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the coun- 

 ties of Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire, 

 there are three different modes of carrying it on : 1st, 

 That of the master clothier of the west of England ; 2d, 

 That of the factory system ; and 3d, That of the do- 

 mestic system. The last was undoubtedly the original, 

 and formerly the most prevalent and extensive system, 

 though the state and circumstances of society, and es- 

 pecially the improvements in machinery, hrive at pre- 

 sent confined it within narrow limits. It is to be found 

 principally a few miles below Leeds, and 14 miles to 

 the south of it. It does not extend far from Leeds in 

 the other directions. It is also found nearly at the same 

 distance round Huddersfield. The factory system, 

 however, is daily encroaching on the limits of the do- 

 mestic system, and, without doubt, will in time totally 

 extirpate it 



First Through the whole of the west of England, as well 



vyitera. ag i n the north of England, there are factories ; but the 

 master clothier of the west of England buys his wool 

 from the importer, if it be foreign, in the fleece, or from 

 the wool stapler if it be of domestic growth ; and in all 

 the distinct processes employs distinct classes of per- 

 sons, who work either at their own houses, or in the 

 factories of their master. None of those workmen go 

 beyond their own peculiar branch of the manufacture. 

 From this circumstance, and the necessary consequence 

 of it, that each is excellent and perfect in his own line, 



Different 

 model of 

 carrying on 

 the manu- 

 facture. 



it is supposed that the superior excellence of the west Statistic. 

 of England cloth arises. Previously to the introduc- -""Y *' 

 tion of machinery, it was common for the north coun- 

 try man to come into the west of England, purchase 

 wool, work it up in Yorkshire, and sell it in its manu- 

 factured state in its native country. This circumstance 

 was supposed to arise from the north country man being 

 at liberty to work himself, and employ his family and 

 others as he pleased. In the factory system, the mas- Factory 

 ter manufacturer, who sometimes possesses a large ca- system. 

 pital, employs a number of workmen in one or more 

 buildings or factories under his own inspection, or that 

 of his superintendants. It is evident that, both in the 

 system of the west of England, where the master clo- 

 thier gives the raw material to workmen, who manu- 

 facture it either in their own houses or in factories, and 

 in the factory system of the West Riding of Yorkshire, 

 the workmen have no property in the goods which they 

 manufacture. This circumstance marks the essential 

 difference between these systems and the domestic sys- 

 tem. 



The domestic system, as we have already mentioned, n omes tic 

 still exists in Yorkshire, though not to nearly so great system. 

 an extent as formerly. It is also found in Devonshire, 

 (though not in the manufacture of woollen cloth,) in 

 Wales, and in a small village in Cambridgeshire ; but 

 it is with it as it exists in Yorkshire that we are now 

 interested. According to this system, the manufacture 

 is conducted by a number of master manufacturers, ge- 

 nerally men of small capital, who, besides carrying on 

 their manufacture of woollen cloth, have small farms of 

 a few acres, partly for the support of their families, and 

 partly for the convenience of their manufacture. The 

 domestic clothiers have sometimes one loom, sometime* 

 two or three, but seldom four looms in their houses, at 

 which they themselves, their wives and children, and 

 from three to seven journeymen, are generally employ- 

 ed : during harvest, their wives, children, and servants, 

 are sent out to work. They buy their wool of the dea- 

 ler, and formerly used to carry it through all the stages 

 of its manufacture, and even dye it ; but at present they 

 make use of the mills and machinery, which may hap- 

 pen to be in their neighbourhood, for many of the pro- 

 cesses, as there are public mills near every manufactu- 

 ring village. If the distance of the domestic clothier 

 from these mills be considerable, or if he is obliged to 

 go far to a market for his cloth, he generally keeps a 

 horse, which is supported on his little farm. As there 

 is coal in all the district where the domestic system is 

 principally earned on, (which may be about from 20 to 

 30 miles long, and from 12 to 15 broad,) the domestic 

 clothier easily and cheaply obtains this article, so neces- 

 sary for his own comfort, and for the conducting of his 

 business. 



By the natural operation of very obvious causes, the 

 domestic clothiers are gradually forced from the vicini- 

 ty of large towns, since near them land rises in price 

 much sooner, and to a greater degree than at a distance 

 from them ; and it is a great convenience, if not abso- 

 lutely necessary, for the domestic clothier to have a 

 small portion of land attached to his cottage. 



The establishment and extension of the factory sys- 

 tem naturally excited the fears and jealousy of the do- 

 mestic clothiers ; and, in order if possible to put a stop 

 to it, in 1 806 they applied to parliament to put in force 

 the laws respecting apprentices, and the number of 

 looms. The first law was passed in the time of Queen 

 Elizabeth, at a time when the number of our distinct 

 trades was not above 100, whereas now they are be- 

 tween 600 and 700. The factory system creating a 



