A HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE 



beginning of the last century three silk 

 manufacturers had establishments in the town. 

 One was for spinning and two for weav- 

 ing. Hatbands, ribbons, watch-strings, shoe- 

 strings, sarsenets, figured gauzes for ladies' 

 dresses were made here. The spinning and 

 twisting mill was worked by one horse, which 

 turned a large horizontal wheel, that com- 

 municated with others, and set in motion 

 432 spindles, in a very spacious apartment over 

 the machinery. These manufactories were 

 at that time fairly flourishing and increasing, 

 and employed nearly 100 persons of all ages. 

 The men earned 30^. a week, but women and 

 children were chiefly engaged, the former 

 earning 8/. to los. a week, the latter 5*. The 

 produce was sent weekly to London. Until 

 the middle of the last century the trade of 

 silk throwing was carried on in the town. 

 The silk was imported in bales, and opened 

 into separate hanks and sorted. The coarsest 

 was used for plush poplins and handkerchiefs, 

 the finest for black silk, velvets, satins and 

 serges. The silk was washed or soaked in 

 order to dissolve the gum, and then dried by 

 hanging on poles, reeled and wound on 

 bobbins by women and children. The 

 singles were then doubled and 'thrown,' the 

 strands being twisted in a direction reverse 

 to that in which it had been doubled, and 

 so strengthened for weaving purposes. The 

 factory where this process was carried on was 

 situated in Peach Street. In 1830 it was 

 owned by Mr. John Gower. Mr. Wescott 

 bought the premises about the middle of the 

 last century, and recollects that there were 

 looms in the upper storey for weaving silk. 

 According to the evidence of old inhabitants 

 of the town a number of silk-weavers lived in 

 Rose Street and wove silk handkerchiefs. 

 Soon after the purchase of the old factory by 

 Mr. Wescott it was burnt down. On its site 

 Mr. Wescott erected his saw mills and timber 

 stores, which are now owned by Mr. G. T. 

 Phillips, and the silk industry in Wokingham 

 disappeared from the town. The Cyclo- 

 paedia published by Abraham Rees in 1819 

 records that the inhabitants of the town ' are 

 chiefly employed in agriculture, throwing 

 silk, sorting wool, and making shoes. The 

 gauze manufacture was some years ago 

 introduced.' In 1700 the silk stocking manu- 

 facture was still carried on in Wokingham. 



The manufacture of silk was also carried on 

 in Reading. In 164.0 the first notice of the 

 manufacture appears when Robert Smart, a 

 silk-weaver, was allowed to use his trade with- 

 in the borough. 1 At the beginning of the 



1 Rec. of Reading, iii. 520. 



396 



eighteenth century it was fairly flourishing. 

 In that home of all trades, the Oracle, plain 

 and figured silk dress materials were manu- 

 factured, some of which were from 1 8 to 60 

 inches broad. 2 Mr. Man tells us that this 

 manufactory ' had suffered a good deal by the 

 American embargo and non-importation Acts.' 



That Reading was considered a convenient 

 place for the trade is shown by the fact that 

 a London silk manufacturer established about 

 the year 1816 a branch business in the town, 

 and employed as his agent one Deedy, who 

 lived in East Street. This action offended 

 the journeymen silk-weavers of Spitalfields, 

 London, who brought an action against 

 their master for starting the business in Read- 

 ing. They were successful in this litigation, 3 

 but the connection between the trades of 

 London and Reading did not cease, as a few 

 years later, in 1830, we find that Thomas 

 Simmonds was carrying on the manufacture 

 of silk in Minster Street, and had also works 

 in St. Paul's Churchyard, London. 4 An- 

 other firm which had works both in London 

 and Reading was that of Messrs. Williams & 

 Simpson, who were silk manufacturers in the 

 old centre of the industry at Spitalfields and 

 also made ribbons in the Oracle at Reading. 



At the same time Matthew Green manu- 

 factured ' shag ' or rough silk in East Street, 

 and Messrs. Reynolds and McFarlane had 

 works in some part of the abbey buildings. 

 Twyford was also provided with a village in- 

 dustry, and for several years silk-throwing was 

 carried on there in houses which still exist. 

 In 1830 Mr. George Billing and Mr. Thomas 

 Billing employed several workpeople in this 

 trade. They had also a considerable silk mill, 

 which has now been converted into a corn 

 mill. The Billings came to Twyford from 

 Macclesfield, a great centre of the silk indus- 

 try, about the year 1800, and George Billing, 

 the last of the Twyford silk manufacturers, 

 died in 1835. 



At the same period there was a small 

 silk manufactory at Kintbury carried on by 

 Jonathan Tanner. There are still some few 

 persons living who worked in this factory 

 when children. Their recollections of it are 

 not very pleasant. They worked thirteen 

 hours a day for six days in a week and earned 

 one shilling, and frequent thrashings with a 

 leathern strap from a somewhat brutal over- 

 seer. Little girls from seven years of age 

 and upwards were employed there. The 

 factory came to an end in the forties, and the 



2 Man, Hist, of Reading, p. 161. 



a Reading Seventy Tears Ago, p. 48. 



Pigot's Commercial Directory, Berkshire, 1830. 



