280 DICKSON ON THE HISTORY OF 



the material into finer fibres before the spinning process can 

 begin. In the earlier stages of Flax-spinning this prepara- 

 tory process was performed entirely by adult men called 

 hecklers. As soon as the Flax-spinning by machinery began 

 to increase considerably, the demand for the labour of the 

 hecklers enabled them to obtain high wages ; as much as two 

 guineas a week, if they worked, and as they were combined 

 in trades' unions, and enforced the old limitations on the 

 number of apprentices, they became possessed of a species of 

 monopoly extremely troublesome and prejudicial to the pro- 

 gress of the trade. In fact, no large extension or well 

 organised system was practicable so long as this barrier 

 remained on the threshold. A patent for a heckling machine 

 by which this process could be performed without the assist- 

 ance of adult labour was taken out in the name of Matthew 

 Murray, about 1805. Its introduction was resisted at first by 

 the men with much violence and intimidation, but being 

 firmly persevered in, it became an established portion of the 

 system. It was introduced gradually into general use in the 

 trade, and had the effect of neutralizing the monopoly of the 

 hand-hecklers without any sudden displacement of labour. 

 The next step was the establishment of a good machine- 

 making shop, for Flax machinery by Mr. Murray, which 

 became the parent or precursor of many others, until Leeds 

 became the seat of a very important branch of business in the 

 machine- making line, chiefly for Flax-spinning. The system 

 of Flax-spinning had now become firmly established and well 

 organised, and made steady progress, but as yet was only 

 applicable to the production of the coarser description of 

 yarns up to No. 16, or 16 lea yarn, which was manufactured 

 at Barnsley into the coarser description of linens. The 

 material employed was almost entirely Baltic Flax. An 

 improvement was next introduced into the processes called 

 preparing, preceding the actual twisting of the fibres into a 



