A HISTORY OF SUFFOLK 



the same suspicion and are of considerable 

 interest. 



First there is made in the said county about 30,000 

 cloths which are transported every year in Eastland, 

 Russia, Spain, Barbary, France, Turkey and other 

 places, and which are dyed in wool ere they be 

 draped, of which number there are, we will suppose, 

 7,000 coloured blue, 20,000 azures, and 3,000 

 plunkets, all which are dressed in this land, 

 whereof we suppose 20,000 are transported in the 

 same colour they received in wool, and 10,000 at 

 the least dyed in cochineal, in violets, murreyes, 

 silver colour, peach colour, and other colours, for all 

 which the King's Majesty had custom of the stuff 

 that dyeth them. 



Every vat set with woad and indigo for dyeing 

 the wool is said to require 4 cwt. of woad 

 paying 2x. custom and 12 Ib. of indigo paying 

 4*. >d. This amount of dye-stuff will dye the 

 wool for three blues, six azures or twelve plunkets 

 or watchets. The custom on the cochineal used 

 for those cloths that are dyed after they are 

 draped comes to is. ^d. the cloth ; and the total 

 custom reckoned on this basis is ^2,589 I is, Sd. 

 The statistician then proceeds to calculate how 

 much the ' handicrafts and labouring men ' have 

 for dyeing the wool and dressing the 30,000 

 cloths, supposing half to be coarse cloths and 

 half fine. 



For making wood and caring for fire to 



dye with and for burning ashes and 



carriage and for carrying the dyed 



wools to be washed and dried for each 



cloth 1 2.J. 



For grinding the indigo at zd. the pound, 



each cloth 6ii. 



For shucking the wool of every cloth . 4^. 



For dyeing the wool of each cloth to 



the setter and wringer 21. 



For burling every coarse cloth 12</. every 



fine cloth 4/. 



For dressing (to rower and shearer) a 



coarse cloth 5^. a fine cloth . . . 1 21. 

 For mantling, foulding, pressing, and 



tilloting each cloth zod. 



The total amount paid in wages is said to be 

 j3>75> to say nothing of the twenty ships em- 

 ployed in fetching from foreign countries woad, 

 indigo, cochineal, and other dye-stuffs, ' where- 

 in is maintained 400 mariners continually. 1 ' 



In this connexion we may cite a computation 

 of almost exactly the same date which is given 

 by Reyce in his Breviary of Suffolk, written in 

 1618. 



It is reckoned (says Reyce) that he which maketh 

 ordinarily 20 broad cloths every week cannot set as 

 few awork as 500 persons for by the time his wool 

 is come home and is sorted saymed what with breakers, 

 dyers, wood-setters, wringers, spinners, weavers, 

 burlers, shearmen, and carriers, besides his own large 



1 Cott. MS. Titus, B. v, fol. 254. 



family the number will soon be accomplished. Some 

 there be that weekly set more awork, but of this 

 number there are not many.* 



Of the movement which has just been men- 

 tioned towards the consolidation of industrial 

 interests by means of incorporation, Suffolk 

 presents some of the most interesting examples. 

 Although springing out of the progress made by 

 the industry, the movement was marked to a 

 considerable extent by a reactionary spirit, and if 

 it had achieved more permanent success, it would 

 probably have retarded the industrial development 

 of the nation. It will have become evident 

 from the above description that the old local 

 limitations of the industry had been outgrown. 

 A more economical division of labour on a 

 national, and to some extent on an international 

 basis, was being rapidly brought about. The 

 fact that the wool could be grown in one county, 

 spun in a second, woven in a third, and finished 

 in a fourth, while it necessarily involved a decay 

 of one or another of these occupations in many 

 localities, carried with it large possibilities of 

 increased national production. But this advance 

 was dependent on the freedom of capital con- 

 stantly to enlarge the scope of its operations and 

 to break through the barriers erected by local 

 organization. The first step in this direction, 

 the control of the town handicrafts by the local 

 capitalists, the draper or clothier, was achieved 

 without great difficulty, since the capitalist was 

 in possession of the town council. The vain 

 protest of the organized weavers of the towns is 

 to be heard in every clothing centre throughout 

 England during the sixteenth century. The 

 draper in the town had become practically the 

 employer of spinners and weavers in the sur- 

 rounding country. But capital could not be 

 confined to the towns. With the advent of 

 national peace and security, it found more 

 freedom in the country. And the country 

 producer was not limited to the local market. 

 As the operations of trade expanded, London 

 merchants, who were in touch with a much 

 wider demand, became acquainted with the best 

 sources of supply, and invaded with their larger 

 capital what the local draper had considered as 

 his own preserve. The vested interests of the 

 local capitalist were now found to be opposed to 

 the free expansion of trade. An attempt was 

 made to force the manufacture of several of the 

 most important clothing districts into dependence 

 on one or more of the towns of that district. 

 Much Tudor legislation had this object, and 

 throughout Elizabeth's reign the corporate towns 

 were busy reorganizing the cloth industry on a 

 capitalistic basis with the same purpose. 



In the General Assembly Book of Ipswich 

 for the year 1590 are recorded the ordinances 

 for establishing a new company of clothworkers, 



' R. Reyce, The Breviary of Suffolk (ed. by Lord 

 Francis Hervey), p. 26. 



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