INDUSTRIES 



slightly beating it, the heckler increases the quantity 

 of the tow, but leaves it fuller of bark ; by drawing 

 out the thread beyond the staple, the spinner increases 

 the quantity of yarn, but injures the quality ; by forcing 

 the bleaching, the whitester increases his profit, but 

 diminishes the strength of the yarn. The whole 

 should, therefore, be checked and regulated by the 

 weaver, with a view to his ultimate profit which . . . 

 should be deemed inseparable from the strength of 

 his cloth. 1 



The weaving of hempen cloth was at this 

 time a considerable industry at Halesworth, where 

 it is said to have found occupation for 1,000 

 hands, Bungay, and Stowmarket. It still lingered 

 in these towns as late as 1830, but had practically 

 disappeared by 1855.* Its place has been taken 

 to some small extent by the sacking industry 

 now carried on in Ipswich and Stowmarket, the 

 material for which is woven in Scotland. 



SILK THROWING AND SILK WEAVING 



The establishment of the silk manufacture in 

 Suffolk seems to have been closely connected 

 with the passing of the Spitalfields Act of 1774, 

 by which the justices were empowered to fix the 

 rates of wages for the London weavers. The 

 London manufacturers began almost immediately 

 to set up branches in the country wherever a 

 suitable supply of labour was to be obtained. 3 

 The eastern counties, in view of their nearness 

 to London, and of the decaying state of the 

 woollen industry within them, offered especially 

 favourable conditions. By paying piece-work 

 rates, which amounted to only two-thirds of those 

 fixed by the London justices, the employer was 

 able to offer the Suffolk weaver better wages than 

 he could make in the woollen industry. 3 Sud- 

 bury, Haverhill, and Glemsford were the places 

 in Suffolk most affected by this migration, and 

 the silk manufacture has continued, though with 

 considerable fluctuations of fortune, to be carried 

 on in them ever since. At Mildenhall there was 

 a flourishing industry in 1823, established from 

 Norwich, which had become extinct before 1855, 

 and probably before i84O. 4 



At first it was only a question of transferring 

 the hand-loom weavers, more than half of whom 

 were women and girls, from one material to 

 another. But later on, especially after 1824, 

 when the duty on raw silk was removed, the 

 manufacturers began to set up throwing mills in 

 connexion with the weaving centres. In 1840 

 there were three of these mills in Suffolk, at 

 Hadleigh, Glemsford, and Nayland. Steam- 

 power was used in one case and water-power in 

 the others, but the total horse-power represented 

 was only nine. The total number of workers 

 was 465, and of these 217 were under the age 

 of thirteen, whilst the rest were under nineteen. 

 A few remained in the factory after that age, but 

 as they did not become more useful their wages 

 were not increased. In this way the younger 

 part of the population was drawn away from 



1 A. Young, A Gen. View, p. 146-54. 



2 Ibid. 231. 



3 Rep. of As slit. Com. an Handloom Weavers, 1840, 

 xxiii. 



4 Pigot, Direct. 1823; White, Direct, of Suffolk, 1855, 

 p. 691. 



weaving, even silk-weaving, of which there had 

 been some at Hadleigh, whilst many of the older 

 weavers were forced to migrate to the Lancashire 

 towns. 8 A little later the industry spread to 

 Ipswich, where there were 200 female silk- 

 winders in i855. 7 The silk-throwing mills at 

 Hadleigh and Nayland seem to have ceased work 

 towards the end of the sixties, 8 a trying time for 

 the silk industry, which had some difficulty in 

 adapting itself to the newly-introduced atmosphere 

 of free trade. The mill at Glemsford, which was 

 established in 1824, and which found occupation 

 in 1874 for over two hundred hands, 9 was still 

 working in 1901, although as the number engaged 

 in silk-spinning within the county is given in the 

 census of that year as seventy, the extent of its 

 operations must have been reduced. 10 



In 1840 the silk weaving of Suffolk was prac- 

 tically confined to Sudbury and Haverhill, and 

 the employing firms all had their head quarters at 

 Spitalfields. At Sudbury there were about six 

 hundred looms, which found employment for 

 about two hundred and seventy men, two 

 hundred and fifty women and girls, and eighty 

 boys. Only some half-dozen looms were em- 

 ployed in weaving velvets and satins, in which 

 branch the weaver might earn 125. a week. 

 For weaving figured goods, at which IQJ. might 

 be earned, there were eight or ten Jacquard 

 looms. Most of the work consisted of plain 

 mantels, lutes, and gros de Naples, and the net 

 earnings for this averaged about js. There were 

 no power looms, but a number of the hand-looms 

 were worked in a factory under the eye of the 

 employer, who considered that this plan prevented 

 pilfering and was a better training for the workers. 

 The trade was subject to great fluctuations, 

 which made the wages actually received much 



5 Pigot, Direct. (1830), pp. 745, 759, 781. 

 White, Direct of Suff. (1855), pp. 307, 417, 654. 



" Rep. of Assist. Com. on Handloom Weavers (1840), 

 xxiii, 131. 



1 White, Direct, of Suff. (1855), p. 69. 



8 Kelly, Direct, of Suff. (1865 and 1869). Articles 

 on Hadleigh and Nayland. The mills are not referred 

 to in the latter year. 



9 White, Direct, of Suff. 1874, P- ! 7 8 - 

 10 Kelly, Direct. (1900), p. 144. 



273 



35 



