WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE. 



I In the table that will be afterwards given, it will be feen 



f that the quantity of yards of different woollen articles ex- 



] ported, which are not included with cloths, greatly exceeds 



! that of broad and narrow cloths. Taking this as a ftandard, 



I it would appear that the cloth returned at the fulling-mills in 



the Weft Riding of Yorkftiire is not more than one-third of 



the total quantity of woollens and worfteds of every defcrip- 



tion made in the Weft Riding of Yorkfhire, and the borders 



of Cheftiire and Lancafhire. Now to make the quantity of 



broad and narrow cloth given in the returns of the Weft 



Riding, would require about one hundred and ten thoufand 



packs : we may therefore ftate the annual confumption of 



wool in thefe diftrifts to be from two hundred and fifty to 



three hundred thoufand packs of 240 pounds each ; and we 



may further ftate the amount confumed in thefe diftrifts to 



exceed that of all the other parts of England and Wales 



' colleAively by one-third, including hofiery and all other 



articles made of wool. This will make the total amount of 



wool manufaftured in England to be nearly what we have 



before eftimated, or five hundred thoufand packs. 



The number of perfons immediately employed in the 

 various branches of the woollen manufafture in England 

 was ftated, in the year 1800, to be 1,500,000, and that the 

 trade direftly and collaterally employed double the above 

 number. This was aflerted in the fpeech of Mr. Law, now 

 lord Ellenborough, in the houfe of lords, as council for the 

 petitioners againft the export of wool to Ireland. But we 

 apprehend that the ftatement greatly exceeds the aftual 

 number employed in this trade, including their families. 



The amount of the population of the Weit Riding of York- 

 fliire is nearly afcertained, and perhaps two-thirds of the 

 wliole may be engaged in the woollen manufafture, including 

 the famiUcs of the perfons employed. If we ftate thefe to be 

 340,000, exclufive of the woollen manufafturers in Chefhire 

 and Lanca(hire, we (hall certainly not underrate them. 

 A large part of the Weft Riding being agricultural folely, 

 snd in the manufafturing diftrifts cutlery, as at Shef&eld, 

 and cottons in the more weftern parts, employ no incon- 

 fiderable portion of the people. If then we take 340,000 

 as the amount of perfons, with their families, engaged in the 

 woollen trade in the Weft Riding, exclufive of Lancaftiire 

 and Cheftiire, and if we fuppofe that they are one-third 

 , of the total number of perfons employed in the fame manu- 

 i {afture in England, it will make the whole rather exceed 

 1 ,000,000 of manufafturers, including their families, which 

 'Afe apprehend is not far from the true eftimate. We (hall, 

 however, give the precife words of Mr. Law's fpeech in the 

 houfe of lords on the above occafion, the objeft of which, it 

 muft be recollefted, was to enhance the importance of the 

 woollen manufacture. " In order to give your lordfhips 

 fome idea of its magnitude, I may venture to ftate, that 

 there are no lefs than 1,500,000 perfons who are imme- 

 diately concerned in the operative branches of this vaft 

 manufafture; and if what Dr. Campbell ftates in his ' Poli- 

 tical Survey of the Kingdom' be true, that from the 

 wool-grower to the confumer a piece of broad-cloth pafles 

 through 100 different hands, and that there are nearly the' 

 fame number of hands dependent on the woollen manu- 

 fafture, though not aftually concerned in it, I may affume 

 that the trade direftly and collaterally employs double the 

 above number of hands, or 3,000,000. If we eftimate the 

 magnitude of this queftion (the export of wool) according 



to the number of perfons interefted in it, it goes t« nearly 

 one-third of the entire population of this kingdonif etti- 

 mating that population at what i« generally reckoned, 

 namely between 9 and 10,000,000." Though the woollen 

 manufadtures of England have confiderably increafed within 

 the laft fifty years, we do not apprehend the number of 

 hands employed is greater than before the introduftion of 

 mechanical inventions for carding, fpinning, and combing. 

 The working up of one pack of wool, particularly of 

 combing- wool, formerly employed a great number of hands, 

 and was divided into fmaU portions, to be fpun in the 

 houfes of cottagers in remote diftrifts. This afforded 

 employment to the wives and families of labourers who were 

 engaged in agriculture ; but fo much time was occupied in 

 taking out and collefting in the work, that at the period 

 we refer to, few, if any, of the mafter manufafturers in 

 Yorklhire confumed more than one pack of wool per week 

 in their trade. At prefent there are numerous manufac- 

 turers in Yorkfhire and Lancafhire, who confume from 

 twenty to fifty packs of wool per week. 



The cotton manufafture, which may be regarded as of 

 recent date, has employed the population that would other- 

 wife have been thrown out of work in the woollen trade 

 fince the introduftion of machinery, and has prevented any 

 inconvenience of this kind from being felt at prefent in 

 Yorkfhire. We may, however, obferve, that many branches 

 of the woollen and worlted trade have been gradually retiring 

 from the fouth of England, and concentrating in the Weft 

 Riding of Yorklhire and in Lancafhire. Thefe diftrifts 

 were the firft to introduce mechanical improvements into 

 the woollen manufafture, and thas gained a decided advan- 

 tage over the more ancient feats of the woollen trade. For 

 feveral years afterwards the effefts were felt in the manu- 

 fafturing diftrifts in the weft of England, and great diftrefs 

 from want of due employment for the labouring claiTes 

 was the confequence. 



At prefent all kinds of machinery that have hitherto been 

 applied to wool are extenfi velyemploy ed in the weft of England, 

 and the manufafture of fuperfine cloth is in a flourifhing 

 ftate in the counties of Gloucefterfhire, Sonierfetfhire, and 

 Wiltfhire, all ancient feats of the clothing trade. The 

 manufafture of broad-cloth in other parts of the fouth and 

 weft of England is not carried on to any great extent. 

 The manufafture of flannels, ferges, baizes, &c. though 

 branches of the woollen manufafture, are diftinft from the 

 cloth trade, and feldom carried on in the fame diftrift. 



The export of woollen goods of all kinds from England, 

 in the year 1 8 15, amounted in declared value to ten millions 

 one hundred and ninety-eight thoufand pounds. This was 

 rather an extraordinary quantity ; and in the following 

 year the exports fell under nine millions, which may be 

 taken as the regular annual amount of woollen exports at 

 prefent. 



The following table gives the amount of different kinds 

 of woollens exported, with their value, and the places to 

 which they were fent in the year 1816; a year in which our 

 foreign trade was confidered as in a declining ftate. It may 

 be worthy of remark, that though our woollen exports 

 fcarcely reached eight millions and a half, the amount taken 

 by the United States of America in that year exceeded 

 three millions ; a faft which proves the vaft importance of 

 the American market to our manufafturers. 



Ab 



