INDUSTRIES 



files . . . they do not attempt making the larger files. 

 They make watch movements most excellent in kind. 

 . . . They likewise excel in what is called motion 

 work, such as dial wheels, locking springs, hour, 

 minute, and second hands, etc. Main-springs, chains 

 for movements, and watch-cases were not part of the 

 original manufacture, but are now made here. 



The watch trade reached its greatest magni- 

 tude about the middle of the nineteenth century, 

 when great numbers of watches were exported 

 to America and the colonies. After the Ameri- 

 can Civil War, heavy import duties were imposed 

 by the Americans, and the home manufacture 

 of machine-made watches was pushed forward at 

 a great rate. About the year 1865 Mr. John 

 Wycherley, who was a movement manufacturer 

 in Prescot, conceived the idea of making frames 

 on the interchangeable plan, by steam-driven 

 machinery. For a time prejudice was so strong 

 that he was imable to sell his movements. He 

 accumulated stock which he succeeded in dispos- 

 ing of when the continental watch trade was 

 disorganized by the Franco-German war. Their 

 quality was pronounced good, and his work 



became known as the J. W. movement. An 

 important effect of the introduction of steam 

 power was the replacement of the domestic by 

 the factory system. 



During the same decade another important 

 change was introduced by Mr. T. P. Hewitt, 

 who established works for the making of keyless 

 movements by machinery. In 1882 Mr. Wych- 

 erley disposed of his business to Mr. Hewitt, who 

 carried on the two concerns jointly under the 

 style of Wycherley, Hewitt & Co. The next 

 step was to undertake the manufacture of com- 

 plete watches. For this purpose the Lancashire 

 Watch Co., Ltd., was registered in 1888 with a 

 capital of ^^50,000, which has since been in- 

 creased. The existing Prescot manufacturers 

 sold their businesses to the company and became 

 merged in it on i January, 1889. Since this 

 time complete watches have been made at Prescot 

 on a considerable scale. 



In 1 88 1 there were employed as watch- 

 makers and clock-makers in the county 3,038 

 men and 79 women, in 1891, 2,704 and 133, 

 and in 1901, 2,777 ^'^'^ 444* 



ENGINEERING 



The beginnings of the great Lancashire 

 engineering industry are shrouded in mystery. 

 Contemporary writers, with the single exception 

 of Aikin, entirely ignore the subject ; and we 

 have been unable to learn whether any pamphlets 

 or manuscript materials bearing on the subject 

 exist. Of later writers Edwin Butterworth 

 gives much interesting information with regard 

 to Oldham. For the rest of our account we 

 have had to rely on early directories, the indexes 

 to wills, biographies of one or two well-known 

 engineers, and information kindly supplied by 

 various engineering firms. 



At the commencement it would seem probable 

 that the mechanical industries were regarded as 

 a branch of the trades carried on by the smiths, 

 the millwrights, and the ironfounders. Thus, in 

 1795, we find the best-known Manchester firm 

 of engineers described in the Directory as iron- 

 founders. Smiths have carried on their trade in 

 Lancashire for centuries, and the frequent mention 

 of them in the Index to Wills can be of no assis- 

 tance to us. The case of millwrights and iron- 

 founders is difi^erent. Mention of these hardly 

 ever occurs before the eighteenth century. Thus 

 three Manchester millwrights were Francis 

 Wrigley who died in 1736, Joseph Wrigley who 

 died in 1738, and Francis Wrigley who died in 

 I762.'' The will of Edmund Fletcher of Red- 

 vales in Bury, millwright, was proved in 1762.^ 

 We have no doubt that the millwrights whom 



' Lane, and Ches. Rec. Soc. xxii, xxxviii. 

 ' Ibid, xxxvii. 



we find living in Aughton, Upholland, Haugh- 

 ton, Rainow, Parbold, and Westhoughton were 

 real millwrights. On the other hand, we feel 

 inclined to think that the Wrigleys and Fletchers 

 who resided in the midst of industrial districts, 

 the later seats of the engineering industry, were 

 very possibly engaged during part of their time 

 in making some of the earliest machines con- 

 structed in Lancashire. 



If we consider the early ironfounders we find 

 most of them situated in Liverpool. The follow- 

 ing are taken from the Index to Wills : — ^ 



1776 John Pyatt, of Liverpool, ironfounder 



1785 David Walker, of Liverpool, ironfounder 



1786 William Atkinson, of Liverpool, ironfounder 

 1793 Joseph Rider, of Liverpool, ironfounder 

 1795 Robert Hankey, of Liverpool, ironfounder 

 1798 Robert Streets, of Liverpool, ironfounder 



Two Warrington ironfounders, who died in 

 1797 and 1799 respectively, were Edward 

 Birkett and John Fallows. 



As neither of these towns has at any time 

 been a centre of the engineering industry, we 

 are inclined to believe that these were iron- 

 founders in the narrowest sense of the word. 



Towards the end of the third quarter of the 

 eighteenth century various forms of the metal 

 industries had become established in Manchester. 

 Thomas Rider, of Manchester, ironfounder, died 

 in 1779.* From the contemporary directory we 



' Ibid, xxxviii, xliv, and xlv. 



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

 xxxviii. 



367 



