THE SILK INDUSTRY IN WESSEX. 85 



of them belonged to Sherborne, the wages paid to girls being 

 5s. psr week and to children Is. : Italian silk was chiefly 

 worked, and the witness was of opinion that the throwing 

 trade could be restored only by reinstating the former duties 

 on imported wrought silk. John Sharrer Ward, of Bruton, 

 also gave evidence to a similar effect. 



The undertaking ultimately passed into the possession 

 of Mr. Albert Willmott, a son of John Willmott ; but the 

 changed conditions of trade, which compelled the throwster 

 to buy his raw silk and find a market for it when thrown, 

 proved too heavy a burden for the owner. Consequently a 

 limited liability company (J. and R. Willmott, Ltd.) was 

 formed about 1885 under the guidance of the late Mr. B. 

 Chandler and the Rev. J. Ogle, in order to avoid the 

 threatened loss of employment in Sherborne. The new 

 Company substituted silk weaving for throwing, and happily 

 turned the tide. After twenty-one years working, the mill 

 was purchased by Messrs. A. R. Wright and Co., in 1907, 

 as previously stated. As a matter of fact, the original 

 Westbury mill is no longer used for the purposes of the silk 

 trade, which now flourishes in a large building erected by the 

 Willmotts about 1840 on the opposite side of the road. The 

 old mill, which has a picturesque garden alongside the river, 

 now serves as a builder's warehouse and workshops. 



The foregoing notes necessarily relate only to Sherborne 

 and its offshoots ; but Canon Mayo has described in S. and D. 

 N. and Q. (Vol. XIV., pp. 289 and 329) the history of a 

 similar undertaking at Gillingham, Dorset, from the time of 

 its foundation in 1769. 



II. DOMESTIC ECONOMICS IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 



Among the collection of Sherborne papers is a parcel of 

 receipted bills of various dates between 1773 and 1800, some 

 of which relate to the silk mills and others to the household 

 expenditure of the Willmott family. From these bills and 



