A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



WATCH-MAKING 



This industry has been carried on for some 

 two centuries in South-west Lancashire, in par- 

 ticular in Liverpool, Prescot, and the district 

 lying between these two places. It seems im- 

 possible to fix the exact date of the introduction 

 of the industry into Lancashire, though Baines 

 attempts to do so. Speaking of watch-making 

 he says, ' This branch of manufacture was intro- 

 duced about 1730 by Mr. John Millar from 

 Yorkshire.' ^ This, however, is certainly incor- 

 rect, as the following entries in the Index to 

 Wills proves ^ : — 



1663 Christopher Horrocks, of Warrington, watch- 

 maker 

 1694 Henry Higginson, of Liverpool, watchmaker 



1699 Peter Lewis, of Liverpool, watchmaker 



1700 Charles RatclifFe, of Liverpool, watchmaker 

 1705 Matthew Gleave, of West Derby, watch- 

 maker 



1716 John Burges, of Toxteth Park, watchmaker 

 1726 Robert Whiteficld, of Liverpool, watchmaker 

 1726 Samuel Williamson, of Croxton, watchmaker 

 1729 John Plumb, of Wavertree, watchmaker 



From another source we learn that watch- 

 making was established at the time of the 

 Commonwealth ; ' but some watch-making was 

 practised in Lancashire before this, as a Robert 

 Wilson, of Manchester, watch-maker, died in 

 1638.^ 



Prescot has been famous chiefly as a centre for 

 the making of watch ' movements ' — that is the 

 frames, barrels, fusees, detent works, indexes, 

 silver pieces, wheels, pinions, ratchets, springs, 

 &c. Besides these, other branches of watch- 

 making were located in the Prescot district, such 

 as those producing balances, hands, rollers and 

 levers, pallets and wheels, verges and motions. 

 Watch-tool making also had its seat in Prescot ; 

 lathes, turn benches, mandrels, nippers, pliers, 

 sectors, sliding tongs, vices, files, broaches, 

 gravers, &c., all being manufactured in the 

 vicinity. 



In the later part of the seventeenth century 

 William Houghton devised the system of pinion 

 wire-drawing, which was first carried on at Hale 

 Bank, near Prescot, and afterwards at Huyton 

 and Appleton, villages in the neighbourhood. 

 Most of this trade has since been absorbed by 

 the borough of Warrington, which supplies home 

 and foreign watch-makers with the wire there 

 made. In 188 1 there were 1,883 ^^^^ ^^^ 

 77 women wire- workers in the county ; in 1 89 1 



' Hist, of Lane, iii, 706. 

 ' Lane, and CAes. Rec. Soc. xviii, xx, xxii. 

 ' The Lane. Watch Company, Ltd. its Rise and Pro- 

 gress, 9. 



' Index to Wills (Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc), iv. 



the numbers had increased to 2,409 and 1 16 re- 

 spectively, and in 1901 to 3,897 and 286 

 respectively. Two other important inventions 

 originated in this neighbourhood during the 

 eighteenth century. The first was the invention 

 of the wheel-cutting engine by John Wyke, and 

 the second that of the pinion engine by Joshua 

 Hewitt some twenty years later. 



In order to show more definitely the sites of 

 the watch-making industry in its various forms, 

 we may have recourse once more to the Index 

 to Wilh} Watch-makers died at Prescot in 



1765 (2), 1769, 1771, 1773, 1782, 1785(2); 

 at Liverpool in 1743, 1747, I754, and 1767; 

 at West Derby in 1767 ; at Wavertree in 1773; 

 at BickerstafFe in 1737 ; at Ormskirk in 1754 ; 

 at Bold in 1768; at Warrington in 1750 and 

 1776 ; at Rainhill in 1786 and 1798 ; and at 

 Eccleston in 1798. Watch-tool makers died at 

 Speke in 1726; at West Derby in 1749; at 

 Toxteth Parkin 1754; at Upholland in 1755 

 and 1776 ; at Sutton in 1760 ; at Prescot in 

 1761, 1782, 1788, and 1797; at Liverpool in 

 1764, 1770, 1785, and 1789; and at Hale Bank 

 in 1790. Other references are to file-cutters at 

 Liverpool in 1761, 1767, 1778, 1790, and 1794, 

 and at Hale Bank in 1770; watch-case makers 

 at Liverpool in 1756, and at West Derby in 

 1747; watch-spring makers at Liverpool in 



1766 and 1777 ; a watch-gilder at Liverpool 

 in 1753; a pinion wire-drawer at Aughton in 

 1742 ; a watch-engraver at Bootle in 1796 ; a 

 wire-worker at Liverpool in 1795 ; a wire- 

 drawer at Prescot in 1 791 ; a watch-finisher at 

 Liverpool, 1789 ; and at Prescot a watch-motion 

 maker in 1784 ; a watch-hand maker in 1784 ; 

 and a watch-wheel furnisher in 1774. 



The system of manufacture in vogue was 

 domestic. The manufacturer gave out his orders 

 on the Monday morning and received the work 

 from the job-masters on the Saturday. Having 

 assembled the parts, he dispatched them to cus- 

 tomers in other towns. 



At the end of the eighteenth century, Aikin 

 gives the following account of the watch-making 

 industry ' : — 



Prescot is particularly distinguished as the centre of 

 the manufacture of watch tools and movements. The 

 watch tools made here have been excellent beyond 

 the memory of the oldest watch-makers. . . . The 

 drawing of pinion wire originated here, which is 

 carried as far as to fifty drawings and the wire is 

 completely adapted for every size of pinions to drive 

 the wheels of watches. . . . They make here smaller 



Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xxii, xxv, xxxvii, xxxviii, 



xliv, xlv. 



° J Description ofManchester, 1795, 311. 



366 



