A HISTORY OF DORSET 



were retaken. In 1750 one hundred and twenty six 

 ships belonged to this port including brigs, snows, 

 bilanders, sloops, whereof there were in the harbour 

 58, on the stocks 8, Abroad 60. In 1770, two hun- 

 dred and fifty ships belonged to the town."* 



About 1 790 there belonged to this port two hun- 

 dred and thirty sail of shipping, with burden 21,301 

 tons, and employing about 1,500 men ; about one 

 hundred and forty ships were employed in the foreign 

 trade, and the remainder in coasting and fishing : 

 besides the number of men actually employed in 

 navigating ships, there were annually a very consider- 

 able number of men employed in the fishery on the 

 coast of Newfoundland."'' 



Later the building of Leith smacks and revenue 

 cutters gave employment for many hands."*^ Be- 

 fore 1 86 1 the building of yachts proper was 

 begun, and in 1903 one ship-yard had 



a patent slip capable of hauling up vessels of 200 

 tons, and another added in 1892 capable of hauling 

 up vessels of over 400 tons.*" 



When Lloyd's last Yacht Register was drawn 

 up there were thirty-five yachts afloat which had 

 been built at Poole, varying in burden from 3 to 

 lOi tons ; but the largest, the Sperenza, has been 

 broken up this summer.^*' Although the yachts 

 built are few in number, some of them are very 

 fast,^" but of course they do not in any way 

 compete in popular estimation with the world- 

 femous yachts built at Glasgow and Newcastle. 



It is said that 4,000 women and children were 

 employed at Shaftesbury in 1793 in making all 

 kinds of shirt buttons,^' the rate of payment 

 being 5c/. per gross of twelve dozen, the worker 

 finding her own thread.-' Mr. Atchinson was 

 the chief employer of labour. In 1812 he had 

 1,200 women and children in his employ, for 

 the latter of whom he established schools in 

 different parts of the county. While learning 

 their craft, which usually occupied from three to 

 four weeks, the children received no pay, as they 

 'spoilt much thread.'"' At the expiration of 

 that time they were paid id. a day for two 

 months, then u. a week for two months more, 

 with an increase for a year, the best hands 

 earning from \os. to i2j. a week.^° The 

 farmers, we are told, objected to this in- 

 dustry, as it drew the women from the fields, 



"* Hutchins, Hist, of Dorset (1774', i, 10. 



""Ibid. (1874), i, 44, 45. 



"■= Pigot, Z)/>. (1823), 261. 



"■i Kelly, Dir. 1 903. 



'^ The Tacht'tng Monthly, June, 1907. 



"'Kelly, Dir. 1903. 



" Claridge, Agric. of Dorset, 39. This industry 

 was ' taken to ' by Shaftesbury, according to a modern 

 writer, ' in despair,' and, according to the same 

 authority, the town 'fared somewhat indifferently' at 

 the new departure. Treves, Highways and Byu.\.ys in 

 Dorset, 7. 



" Stevenson, Agric. of Dorset, 449. 



"Ibid. "Ibid. 453. 



where they could only earn <^d. a day, to the 

 button factories.'" The price of mould buttons, 

 when finished, was from %d. to 31. per dozen, 

 wire work being ix. bd. to 4^. a gross. Girls have 

 been known to make twelve dozen a day, though 

 the average was from six to seven dozen. The 

 first operation, that of casting, or covering the 

 wire, was performed by children of six or eight, 

 the filling being done by more expert hands. 

 The manufacture of fine wires for the button 

 trade was largely carried on in the town in 

 1830." 



At Blandford in 1797 the women and children 

 were chiefly employed in making thread and 

 wire buttons for shirts, a few being similarly 

 employed at Durweston.'^ 



The manufacture of stockings has been largely 

 carried on at different places in the county. At 

 Wimborne in 1793, 1,000 women and children 

 were engaged in knitting worsted stockings, the 

 worsted costing from id. to 'Z\d. per oz., the 

 finished stocking selling at from 3^. itd. to \s. 

 per pair.'' Stalbridge stockings, ' the finest, best, 

 and highest prized in England,' were in high 

 repute in Defoe's time,'* the industry continuing 

 to flourish until the introduction of machinery 

 dealt the inevitable blow at this as well as at 

 other home industries. Poole was making silk 

 stockings in 1756.'* A few women were knit- 

 ting stockings at Corfe in 1802.'^ 



The industry seems to have been underpaid, 

 and the districts where it was carried on are 

 generally noted as being very poor. It was con- 

 nected with Wimborne from very early days, 

 and it would be interesting to discover if the 

 doles left by pious benefactors were in any way 

 responsible for the small remuneration gained for 

 the knitting of stockings by those whom the 

 hope of these doles had attracted to the shadow 

 of the Minster. 



Cotton yarn was largely spun at Abbotsbury 

 in 1750 for the manufacture of stockings." 



Dorset glovers seem to have escaped the notice 

 of historians, although members of the craft 

 must have been fairly numerous in the fifteenth 

 and sixteenth centuries, there being frequent 

 references in the Bridport Documents to glovers 

 who were fined for overcharging.'* No trace is 

 forthcoming, however, of the existence of any 

 gild or organization corresponding to those of 

 Perth and Worcester. Glovers, nevertheless, 

 are mentioned in Law Court Reports, and in lists 

 of inhabitants of the towns, although no topo- 

 grapher includes gloving among the local indus- 



^° Ibid. 449. " Pigot, Dir. 1830, p. 291. 



'■ Eden, $tate of the Poor, ii, 146, 150. 



^ Claridge, Agric. of Dorset, 40. 



" Defoe, Tour through Gt. Brit, i, 333. 



'' Dodsley, Descrip. of Roads, 2 1 . 



'' Brayley, Benuties of E"gl. and Wales, iv, 388. 



'" Cooke, Topog. Dorset, 62. 



•*' Wainwright, Bridport Doc. K. 31, 35, 62. 



?28 



