A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



Wishing to extend his business, he looked out 

 tor some one with capital, and was introduced 

 to Mr. Hugh Hornby Birley and his brother 

 Mr. Joseph Birley, who were cotton spinners 

 and manufacturers in Manchester. These three 

 persons, together with Mr. R. W. B:irton, 

 formed the firm of Charles Macintosh & Co. 

 in 1824, and for the purpose of carrying on the 

 waterproof business erected a building known as 

 the ' Old Mill ' next to the Birley Cotton Mills 

 in Lower Cambridge Street, Manchester. 



In 1825 Mr. Thomas Hancock obtained a 

 licence to use Mr. Macintosh's patent, and in 

 1826 an arrangement was made by which 

 Mr. Hancock and Messrs. Chas. Macintosh 

 & Co. should work in conjunction with each 

 other, but as separate concerns. About 1842 

 Hancock became a partner in Chas. Macintosh 

 & Co. On 21 November, 1843, Mr. Hancock 

 took out his patent for ' Vulcanization,' by 

 which india-rubber could be changed so as not to 

 be stiffened by cold. This enabled such articles as 

 washers, sheets, valves, printers' blankets, and 

 billiard cushions to be made of vulcanized rubber. 



A third important process of the india-rubber 

 industry, viz., the 'converting' process, not di- 

 rectly associated with Lancashire, was patented 

 by Mr. Alexander Parkes in 1846. It is applied 

 to waterproof cloths, thereby rendering them 

 insusceptible to cold. 



Of these three fundamental processes of the 

 india-rubber industry, the two principal ones, the 

 waterproofing of cloth by means of indi.i-rubber 

 and the vulcanization of india-rubber, were dis- 



covered by members of the firm of Charles 

 Macintosh & Co., who have given their name 

 to the waterproof garment now universally 

 known as a ' macintosh.' 



In conclusion the dates may be given at which 

 some of the principal rubber products were first 

 made in Lancashire. Among the earliest articles 

 made about 1825 were rubber tubes, which led 

 to the manufacture of hose-piping made of 

 rubber and cloth, air beds, pillows, and cushions. 

 From 1839 onwards pontoons were made of 

 water and air-proof cloth for the construction 

 of military bridges. In 1847 over-shoes were 

 produced here, the idea coming from America. 

 In the previous year the manufacture of vulcan- 

 ized-rubber wheel tires had been commenced, 

 and two years later vulcanized-rubber thread 

 began to be made. 



At present the principal firms in Lancashire 

 for the manufacture of india-rubber goods are 

 Messrs. Charles Macintosh & Co., Ltd., Man- 

 chester, Messrs. David Moseley & Sons, Man- 

 chester, and the Leyland and Birmingham 

 Rubber Co., Ltd., whose rubber mills at Ley- 

 land near Preston were founded over forty years 

 ago. 



During the last twenty years of the nineteenth 

 century the industry has largely expanded in this 

 county. In 1881, 1,104 '"^n ^""^ 421 women 

 were employed as india-rubber and gutta-percha 

 makers and as waterproof-goods makers. In 

 1891 the figures were 2,214 men and 1,355 

 women, whilst ten years later the numbers were 

 3,973 and 2,346 respectively. 



SOAP INDUSTRY 



It seems most probable that this industry 

 grew up in the neighbourhood of Manchester 

 alongside the bleaching industry, to which it 

 is subsidiary. Hence it probably commenced 

 towards the end of the seventeenth century. 

 The entries in the Index to IFills do not 

 contradict, even if they do not support, this 

 supposition. 



I 709 James Morecroft, of Ormskirk, soap-boiler ' 



1724 John Watson, of Manchester, soap-boiler 



I 75 I James Chadwick, of Manchester, soap-boiler 



I 766 James Thompson, of Chorley, soap-boiler 



1774 James Chorley, of Liverpool, chandler and 



soap boiler 



1784 Thomas Fleetwood, of Liverpool, soap-boiler 



In 1773 tliere appear to have been five soap- 

 boilers and chandlers in Manchester, viz. : — 



John Bagshaw, Shudehill and Long Millgate 

 Thomas Boardman, 8, Cateaton Street 



Thomas Crallen, i, St. Mary's Gate 

 Samuel Goodier, 1 7, Hanging Ditch, and 

 Richard Walker, Withy Grove ' 



As was the case with some of the other chemical 

 industries, a large part of the soap trade gradually 

 passed from Manchester to Liverpool and the 

 south-west of the county. According to the 

 Commercial Directory of 1814-15 there were 

 eleven soap-boilers in Liverpool at that time. 

 During the year 1850, 25,354 tons of hard soap 

 and 3,241 tons of soft soap were made in Liver- 

 pool and its vicinity, which was nearly one-third 

 of the total quantity produced in Great Britain.' 



The following figures are taken from the 

 census returns. In 1881 there were in the 

 county 573 men and 167 women employed as 

 soap-boilers and soap-makers. Ten years later 

 the figures were 765 and 3 1 6 respectively, whilst 

 in 1901 1,520 men and 819 women were so 

 employed. 



Unc. and Ches. Rec. Sk. xx, xxii, xxv, xxxvii, ' ^o\ei, Manchester and Saljord Directory 1773 1 



"^"^■'i'. sl'^- ' Haines, Hist, of Liverpool, 768. 



402 



