A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



BLEACHING, FINISHING AND DYEING 



For material relating to the early history 

 of these processes we are obliged to rely almost 

 entirely upon the Index to Wills at Chester, 

 from which some information of considerable 

 interest can be gathered. The following are 

 the first mentions of ' whitsters,' which is the 

 old name for bleachers : — 



1690 Robert Kenyon, of Gorton, whitster 



1693 John Worthington, of Manchester, whitster 



1694 John Dixon, of Prestwich, whitster 

 1699 John Gregory, of Crosslane, whitster 



Throughout the eighteenth century these refer- 

 ences occur, and we find whitsters in many 

 places in the neighbourhood of Manchester, but 

 very seldom in the town itself. Thus, for example, 

 whitsters lived at Prestwich, Gorton, Newton, 

 Pendleton, Blackley, Openshaw, Failsworth, 

 CoUyhurst, Audenshaw, Cheetham, Kersal, 

 Levenshulme, Droylsden, Broughton, Worsley, 

 and Flixton. The finishing industry, on the 

 contrary, was situated almost entirely within the 

 borough of Manchester. The following are the 

 earliest records, which may be quoted by way of 

 example : — 



1675 John Holt, of Manchester, Calcnderer 

 1680 William C.irrington, of Manchester, Calcn- 

 derer 



1680 John Williamson, of Manchester, Calender- 



man 



1681 George Gee, of Manchester, Calenderman 

 1688 Richard Brennan, of Salford, Calenderman 

 1690 John Millington, of Manchester, Calender- 

 man 



1692 Francis Marshall, of Manchester, Calender- 

 man 



These references to the wills of calendermen 

 of Manchester continue during the whole of the 

 eighteenth century. 



Though it is impossible to be certain how the 

 bleaching and finishing trades came to be esta- 

 blished where they were, the following would 

 seem the probable explanation. As the process 

 of finishing developed with the growth of the 

 cotton industry, it was only natural that it should 

 concentrate itself at Manchester as the chief seat 

 of the spinning and weaving industries. The 

 bleachers would likewise be drawn to Manchester, 

 but the nature of their trade, which involved the 

 use of grass land, would hinder them from settling 

 in the town itself. Thus they were led to esta- 

 blish themselves in the outskirts. The bleaching 

 process as performed in the middle of the eigh- 

 teenth century occupied from six to eight months. 

 It consisted in steeping the cloth in alkaline leys 



for several days, washing it clean, and leaving it 

 spread out upon the grass for some weeks. The 

 growing grass decomposed the carbonic acid in 

 the atmosphere, retained the carbon, and threw 

 off the oxygen, which destroyed the colouring 

 matters with which it came in contact. This 

 process was repeated several times. Finally the 

 cloth was treated with sour milk. The great 

 change came with the application of chlorine to 

 bleaching, according to Berthollet's discovery in 

 1785. Several improvements in the process were 

 made by Thomas Henry of Manchester, in par- 

 ticular the use of lime, which deprived the 

 chlorine of its smell without impairing its 

 bleaching qualities. 



Whilst the Manchester neighbourhood was the 

 home of the early whitsters, the first bleach 

 works, properly speaking, were established in the 

 Bolton district. Among the oldest bleach works 

 still in active operation are those of Richard 

 Ainsworth, Son & Co., Halliwell Bleach Works, 

 Bolton, founded in 1760 ; G. & J. Slater, 

 Dunscar, Bolton, founded in 1761 ; Eden & 

 Thwaites, Ltd., Waters Meeting Bleach Works, 

 Bolton, founded in 1770; and James Hardcastle 

 & Co., Bradshaw Works, Bolton, founded in 

 1784. Other early works were established at 

 Bury and at Tottington, near that town. 



The last important change in the bleaching 

 industry occurred in 1 900, when the Bleachers' 

 Association was formed by the amalgamation of 

 fifty-three firms and companies engaged in the 

 trade, most of which carried on business in 

 Lancashire at Bolton, Chorley, Prestwich, Little 

 Lever, Whitefield, Seedley, Adlington, Bury, 

 Eccles, Radcliffe, Ramsbottom, Salford, Middle- 

 ton, Higher Broughton, Heaton Mersey, Pendle- 

 bury, Rawtenstall, Horwich, Royton, Leyland, 

 and Tottington. The association has a share 

 capital of ^^6, 000,000, of which ^^4,500, 000 is 

 issued, and a first mortgage debenture stock of 

 ^2,250,000. 



The early evidence with regard to dyeing is 

 exceedingly slight. This is probably due largely 

 to the fact that dyeing was principally regarded 

 as a subsidiary industry, so that some of the 

 people described in old documents as yeomen 

 were at times also dyers. The first references 

 we can find take us as far back as the thirteenth 

 century. In 1295 Henry de Ancoats gave to 

 'Alexander le Tinctore [the dyer] de Mamecestre ' 

 an acre of land in Ancoats.^ In circa 1 300, 

 Robert son of Robert, son of Simon Tinctore 

 de Mamecestre, gave to Alexander of Mame- 



Lanc. and Ches. Rec. Soc. xv, xviii, xx. 



' ' Coll. relating to Manchester and its neighbour- 

 hood, compiled, arranged, and edited by John Har- 

 land.' Chet. Soc. Remaim, Ixviii, 72. 



398 



