« Reply #2 on: Wednesday 11 April 18 14:03 BST (UK) »
Maybe the years of 1837 and 1845 are an important factor where occupation is concerned.
Spinning and manufacturing encompassed raw materials such as silk; wool; imported cotton; and also flax to make linen. These made various types of cloth, such as cheap muslin at the bottom end to expensive silk at the top end.
Until the industrial revolution the above jobs were families operating their own cottage industries at home. For instance there's still the cottage industry of making Scottish woollen (Harris) Tweed on remote islands of Scotland, where the father could state he is a cloth manufacturer because he spins and weaves the wool into cloth. The industrial revolution started with the invention of steam machinery at the end of the 1700s which produced much cheaper cloth. Cotton and Wool Mills manufacturing and mass producing much cheaper cloth sprang up all over the country in the next few decades.
I think your ancestor was probably an independent cloth manufacturer who eventually lost his customers and found himself working in a mill as a Spinner.
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