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List of Occupations associated with Weaving and Spinning Mills
(will add more info later , eg links)
Bailer , Bobbin Carrier , Billy Piecer , Bobbin Maker , Bobbin Turner , Bleacher , Carpet Weaver , Cotton Spinner , Cotton Weaver , Cotton Bailer , Clothier , Carder , Card Maker , Comber , Cropper , Doubler , Dyer , Doffer , Drawer , Dresser , Fettler , Filler , Finisher , Flax Dresser , Flax Spinner/Weaver , Frame Spinner , Factory Hand/Operative , Frame Engineer , Fustian Weaver , Mill Hand , Mill Labourer , Mill Boy/Girl , Hand Loom Weaver , Piecer/Piecner , Power Loom Weaver/Spinner , Power Loom Engineer , Presser , Reeler , Rover , Shalloon Weaver , Shuttle Maker , Shearer , Slubber , Spinner , Spooler , Stuff Maker , Shoddy Weaver , Sorter , Spindle Maker , Small Wares Weaver , Teaser , Tenter , Throstle Spinner , Twister , Warper , Warp twister , Winder , Webster , Weaver , Worsted Weaver , Woollen Weaver ,
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Some links
History , Weaving in Yorkshire
http://www.maggieblanck.com/Land/WE.html (http://www.maggieblanck.com/Land/WE.html)
Luddites , Rawfolds Mill , West Riding of Yorkshire
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maureenmitchell/luddites/luddites.htm (http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maureenmitchell/luddites/luddites.htm)
Cotton Mill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cotton_mill
Lancashire Cotton Famine/Panic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_Cotton_Famine (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancashire_Cotton_Famine)
Luddite machine breaking
http://www.luddites200.org.uk/theLuddites.html (http://www.luddites200.org.uk/theLuddites.html)
Chartist Ancestors , searchable data base
http://chartists.net (http://chartists.net)
Evidence of Richard Oastler 1832 on 'Yorkshire Slavery'
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/factmine/oastler.htm (http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/factmine/oastler.htm)
Factory Acts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Factory_Acts
Child Labour in Britain
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.htm
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Could I venture to add Mender or fine worsted mender?
Almost the final stage of the manufacturing process and in its day considered to be one of the better/nicer jobs in the woollen textile mills.
Very skilled, fine work having the advantage for married ladies with children that it could be done at home- "out-mending"., as my mother did in the 50's and 60's. The huge bales of cloth, "pieces" were brough to the house and mum did the work on the dining table.
A nice bit of extra income when times were hard.
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Hi there Bykerlads . Yes great , the more info the better :)
Thinking about a pinned topic for the good old ag labs on this board . We need to find some rootschatters with lots of ag lab knowledge ?
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OH's dad worked as a pin setter in the mill - I gather it was quite a specialist job with just one or two in each mill. I know it was something to do with the looms but sadly Google just seems to know the job as someone who manually re-sets bowling pins!
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OH's dad worked as a pin setter in the mill - I gather it was quite a specialist job with just one or two in each mill. I know it was something to do with the looms but sadly Google just seems to know the job as someone who manually re-sets bowling pins!
Best I could find at short notice; http://gazette.slv.vic.gov.au/images/1948/V/general/703.pdf
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Thank you. Love the title "porcupine setter" from that document!
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4 Part film, Queen Street Mill. Harle Syke. Burnley.; http://youtu.be/Q8yMesFqx5A
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Thank you, that's particularly interesting as we are on the Yorks/Lancs border and not a million miles from Burnley. That looks like it could be a good day out for us to visit. ;D
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List of Occupations associated with Weaving and Spinning Mills
(will add more info later , eg links)
Bailer , Bobbin Carrier , Billy Piecer , Bobbin Maker , Bobbin Turner , Bleacher , Carpet Weaver , Cotton Spinner , Cotton Weaver , Cotton Bailer , Clothier , Carder , Card Maker , Comber , Cropper , Doubler , Dyer , Doffer , Drawer , Dresser , Fettler , Filler , Finisher , Flax Dresser , Flax Spinner/Weaver , Frame Spinner , Factory Hand/Operative , Frame Engineer , Fustian Weaver , Mill Hand , Mill Labourer , Mill Boy/Girl , Hand Loom Weaver , Piecer/Piecner , Power Loom Weaver/Spinner , Power Loom Engineer , Presser , Reeler , Rover , Shalloon Weaver , Shuttle Maker , Shearer , Slubber , Spinner , Spooler , Stuff Maker , Shoddy Weaver , Sorter , Spindle Maker , Small Wares Weaver , Teaser , Tenter , Throstle Spinner , Twister , Warper , Warp twister , Winder , Webster , Weaver , Worsted Weaver , Woollen Weaver ,
Cloth Dresser.
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I left school in 1961 and went straight into the mill and was employed alongside the loom tuner as a Chainmaker. The looms in use at the time were Dobcross which could weave with a maximum of 16 heald frames and with a total of eight shuttle boxes. My mother also worked in the mill as a pattern weaver and her loom was equipped as a Jacquard that weaved "Made in England" down the side selvages.
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Talking of the name and place of manufacture being woven into the selvedge- I was in Paris recently and looking in the window of a very very high class tailors/mens outfitters near the Opera. Extremely expensive gents clothes in the popular "style anglais".
The lengths of cloth in the window were edged with the information that the suiting material was made in Huddersfield. Whilst the major wool worsted manufacture in West Yorkshire died out a while ago, those mills which remain cater for the very top of the market. Something to be proud of, I feel.
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Hi Meezer
You refer to your father being a "Pin Setter" within the textile industry, and you feel that it could have some connection with a Loom.
Whilst I worked in the mill I knew of Pin Setters but they worked in the Tenter room replacing the Tenter plates on the machines that raised the surface of the material, however there were "Dollies" on the Looms that could in some districts been could Pins. The Warp threads would pass though the Dolly before entering the Heald wire if a warp thread were to brake then the Dolly would drop and the loom would stop.
Hope this helps.
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List of Occupations associated with Weaving and Spinning Mills
(will add more info later , eg links)
Bailer , Bobbin Carrier , Billy Piecer , Bobbin Maker , Bobbin Turner , Bleacher , Carpet Weaver , Cotton Spinner , Cotton Weaver , Cotton Bailer , Clothier , Carder , Card Maker , Comber , Cropper , Doubler , Dyer , Doffer , Drawer , Dresser , Fettler , Filler , Finisher , Flax Dresser , Flax Spinner/Weaver , Frame Spinner , Factory Hand/Operative , Frame Engineer , Fustian Weaver , Mill Hand , Mill Labourer , Mill Boy/Girl , Hand Loom Weaver , Piecer/Piecner , Power Loom Weaver/Spinner , Power Loom Engineer , Presser , Reeler , Rover , Shalloon Weaver , Shuttle Maker , Shearer , Slubber , Spinner , Spooler , Stuff Maker , Shoddy Weaver , Sorter , Spindle Maker , Small Wares Weaver , Teaser , Tenter , Throstle Spinner , Twister , Warper , Warp twister , Winder , Webster , Weaver , Worsted Weaver , Woollen Weaver ,
Cotton grinder
Can't believe i missed that one as it's my own grt x3 grandads occupation in Manchester ! ! ! hahaha , how embarrassing .
Great info everyone , ta for input :)
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Few more links
Photographs of the United Kingdoms Textile Mills
http://uktextilemills.co.uk (http://uktextilemills.co.uk)
Photographs taken inside West Yorkshire's by "Urbexer" Nicola Miller
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262097/Photographer-enters-decaying-West-Yorkshire-mills-helped-make-county-wool-capital-world.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2262097/Photographer-enters-decaying-West-Yorkshire-mills-helped-make-county-wool-capital-world.html)
Textile Mills in Cheshire
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_textile_mills_in_Cheshire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_textile_mills_in_Cheshire)
Manchester's Cotton Mills
http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/mills.html (http://www.manchester2002-uk.com/history/victorian/mills.html)
Cotton Times - Understand the Cotton Industrial Revolution
http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/index.html (http://www.cottontimes.co.uk/index.html)
The Yorkshire Rebellion of 1820 and what Caused it?
http://www.zyworld.com/albionmagazineonline/yorkshire_rebellion.htm (http://www.zyworld.com/albionmagazineonline/yorkshire_rebellion.htm)
Textile Manufacture during the Industrial Revolution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacture_during_the_Industrial_Revolution (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacture_during_the_Industrial_Revolution)
Piecers in the Textile Industry
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpiecers.htm (http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpiecers.htm)
Child Labour in Kendal's Mills
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRdodd.htm
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no mention in the list of the Beamers :)
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no mention in the list of the Beamers :)
Do tell ? , "spin us the yarn " :)
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Well since you asked. ;)
The Beam was a huge bobbin. The Cotton Beamer worked in the winding room. He would take cones of thread by the hundred and organised them to make the warp ready for weaving.
Not to be confused with the Beam Twister who worked in the weaving shed or the Beam Warper who worked in the winding room.
My great great grandfather was a Beamer who later became a Tackler ( not to be confused with a fettler)
Hope that makes it clearer :D
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Well since you asked. ;)
The Beam was a huge bobbin. The Cotton Beamer worked in the winding room. He would take cones of thread by the hundred and organised them to make the warp ready for weaving.
Not to be confused with the Beam Twister who worked in the weaving shed or the Beam Warper who worked in the winding room.
My great great grandfather was a Beamer who later became a Tackler ( not to be confused with a fettler)
Hope that makes it clearer :D
Great "stuff" :)
Another for the list from a previous topic
Self Acting or Actor Minder
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In "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms" published by the Ministry of Labour in 1921, Textile Workers are Order XII codes 350- 399, cover 33 pages, and include all the occupational terms used in weaving and spinning mills.
Under Beamer are listed;
Beamer:-
chain; finishing; grey cloth;lace;machine lace;Scotch;section;textile weaving;warp;white piece;wool finishing;yarn dying.
Other occupations: Beam setter; Beaming Machine Minder; beam lifter; beaming lad; beam winder.
Stan
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Came across this occupation earlier. Nothing to do with my family but my curiosity got the better of me!
"Grayman"
In spite of numerous members of my family, including both my parents, working in the cotton industry I hadn't come across this term before but discovered he worked in the bleaching section of the cotton mill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing
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From A Dictionary of Occupational Terms
Grey room hand, grey room man; general terms for any worker, male or female, in grey room, i.e. room where grey, or unbleached cloth is received for bleaching; includes receiver, taker-in, deliverer, marker, stamper, sewer.
Sorter, cloth sorter, sorter-out (grey room); grey room man (dyeing); sorts cloth as received from weaving department in grey (unbleached) state, by grades and stamps with special marks according to quality, etc.; puts together pieces which are to rceive similar treatment in bleaching, dyeing, or textile printing department.
Stan
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Thanks Stan that's the sort of detailed information I'm looking for. I'm just embarking on making a list of all the different jobs in the cotton industry that my family were employed in and it's proving a long list!
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Online book by Cecil Driver, about the factory (mills) reformer Richard Oastler and his campaigns.
https://archive.org/details/toryradicaltheli009087mbp
Full text of book. The Life of Joseph Rayner Stephens. Another campaigner
http://www.archive.org/stream/lifeofjosephrayn00holyrich/lifeofjosephrayn00holyrich_djvu.txt
Info on
Richard Oastler
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRoastler.htm
Joseph Rayner Stephens
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRstephens.htm
John Wood
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRwood.htm
Michael Sadler
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRsadler.htm
John Fielden
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRfielden.htm
William Dodd
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRdodd.htm
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Youtube video showing
The Working of (an old) Power Loom
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ArO-qUT7Zmw
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I watched an old series of Who Do You Think You Are last night - on Bill Oddie. This has a lot about the Weaving Mills in it, with film and at a museum where the machines were turned on for Bill. His grandfather was an Overlooker which was another occupation in the Weaving Industry.
My gt.gt.grandfather was on a much smaller scale. He owned a number of cottages in Eccleshill, Bradford which he rented out to his weavers. Another gt.gt.grandfather was a weaver in Ayrshire.
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Thank you so much for all the links it adds so much to your research to understand more of the background. I'm sufficiently old that I remember my father taking me into the mill to see where he worked and I well remember the noise generated by all the looms working and just wanting to get back outside as quickly as possible.
My Aunt lived in Nelson and there was a huge mill at the end of her road but it burnt down one night. I wasn't there at the time but it must have been terrifying such a huge fire with lots of houses so close by. That would have been in 1940's or possibly early 1950's but I can't remember what the mill was called. I just remember the burnt out shell that remained the mills were a huge fire hazard because of the dust in the atmosphere.
Jo
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A cloth dresser was mentioned, can someone just tell me briefly what this was please?
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Have a look here :)
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/TEXcropper.htm
Brief description and picture
Jo
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Thank you jo
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Slubber
"Slubber, slub tenter, slubbing tenter; slubbing frame tenter (cotton); a fly frame tenter who minds a slubbing frame, first in a series of fly frame or speed frame machines. "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms"
"Slub; To draw out and twist (wool, cotton, etc.) after carding, so as to prepare it for spinning. OED"
Thanks to stan
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A cloth dresser was mentioned, can someone just tell me briefly what this was please?
Hi
What year and in what district ?
A lot of jobs changed with the onset of the factory system and the new mills and machinary. Though it did take longer for it to happen in some areas and with certain jobs
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I have 3 generations of Tewksbury wooler-weavers from 1750 and also wonder what that entailed; whether this was a specific role or a general title.
To my surprise, I found a document for my ancestor entitled: UK Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' indentures - 1785 where he is signed up for 7 years and had to pay a master weaver £33 and 17 shillings; it wasn't clear whether this was the full amount. The terms of apprenticeship seem to be identical across the arts and crafts as follows:
Term of ….seven…Years, from thence next following to be fully complete and ended.
During which Term, the said Apprentice his said Master faithfully shall serve:
• His Secrets keep;
• His lawful Commandments everywhere gladly do.
• He shall do no Damage to his said Master, nor see it to be done of others, but that he, to his Power, shall let, or forthwith give warning to his said Master of the same.
• He shall not waste the goods of his said Master, nor lend them unlawfully to any.
• He shall not commit fornication, nor contract matrimony within the said Term.
• He shall not play at cards, dice, tables, or any other unlawful games, whereby his said Master may have any loss.
• With his own goods or others, during the said term, without license from his said Master, he shall neither buy nor sell.
• He shall not haunt taverns or play-houses, nor absent himself from his said Master’s service, day nor night, unlawfully;
• but in all things, he said Apprentice, he shall behave himself towards his said Master, and all his during the said Term.
And the said Master, his said Apprentice in the same Art which he useth, by the best means that he can, shall teach and instruct, or cause to be taught and instructed, finding unto his said Apprentice, meat, drink, apparel, lodging and all other necessaries, according to the custom of the City of London, during the said Term. And for the true performance of all and every, the said Covenants and Agreements, either of the said Parties bind themselves unto the other by these Presents.
This seems to be the standard apprenticeship in all trades and crafts including an agreement to celibacy for a term of 7 years.
I have found pictures of all manner of antiquated looms and a few interesting pictures on local websites but this was a village industry and must have involved the entire process from sheep to shop.
The following film is quite a bit later than my ancestors and am not sure to what degree this is representative of wool weaving on the whole but it is a wonderful 14 minute insight into 1940's Wool weaving from beginning to end and they say it hasn't changed much for centuries.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xieaw05jSc8
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I've also got hand loom weavers in my tree. Prior to industrialisation in the late 1700s it was a cottage industry where the whole family would participate.
There are several short videos on youtube which demonstrate the craft.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29yW-hL4NfI
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Oh my goodness!
Thanks for that Rena,
Confess I'd need more that 9 minutes to take that in. It certainly makes sense of the need for 7 years training!
My ancestors were Trowbridge, not Tewksbury, sorry. The whole village seemed to be dedicated to wooler-weaving but in 1750, it must have been more like the film you posted.
Some of the old looms were astonishing contraptions. I can't find the link now but some of them were like a hut size timer frame and the weaver sat inside it and kind of rode it like a bicycle and played it like an organ.
You are right about the whole family being involved. On each census, almost every neighbour is a weaver as well.
Do you think these would be more the type of loom for a small company at that time?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/JacquardLoomsSAFALodzPoland.jpg/412px-JacquardLoomsSAFALodzPoland.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/PSM_V39_D325_Carpet_loom_with_jacquard
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Trowbridge museum; http://trowbridgemuseum.co.uk/about-2/
http://youtu.be/bZIIUZFmMdw
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Whenever my Dad was asked about his job in a cotton spinning mill, the same mill he had worked in since the age of 14 until the outbreak of WW2 he would reply that he was,
“a fitter, I mend the machines when they break down”
Anyone else heard this term used?
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Thanks for that Youngtug
What an excellent website for all things weaving.
I especially like the 17th century weaving poem with links from each weaving terms.
http://trowbridgemuseum.co.uk/cloth-making-2/
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Whenever my Dad was asked about his job in a cotton spinning mill, the same mill he had worked in since the age of 14 until the outbreak of WW2 he would reply that he was,
“a fitter, I mend the machines when they break down”
Anyone else heard this term used?
Everything was mechanised in the 20th century and "fitter" is a common term for "mechanical engineer".
My father was a "fitter" too but served a 7 year apprenticeship in an engineering company manufacturing excavators and grabs.
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Oh my goodness!
Thanks for that Rena,
Confess I'd need more that 9 minutes to take that in. It certainly makes sense of the need for 7 years training!
My ancestors were Trowbridge, not Tewksbury, sorry. The whole village seemed to be dedicated to wooler-weaving but in 1750, it must have been more like the film you posted.
Some of the old looms were astonishing contraptions. I can't find the link now but some of them were like a hut size timer frame and the weaver sat inside it and kind of rode it like a bicycle and played it like an organ.
You are right about the whole family being involved. On each census, almost every neighbour is a weaver as well.
Do you think these would be more the type of loom for a small company at that time?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/JacquardLoomsSAFALodzPoland.jpg/412px-JacquardLoomsSAFALodzPoland.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bb/PSM_V39_D325_Carpet_loom_with_jacquard
I had to weave my own school scarf (on a portable handloom) so my answer is that the size of the loom would depend on what the weaver specialised in. The foot pedals were a labour saving invention to change the weft for the shuttle to pass through. Having seen TV documentaries showing the cottage weaving industry of Scottish islanders it was noticeable just how large their looms are, which in turn, were not too dissimilar from your illustration.
On this page there's a historical drawing showing a cottage weaver in the Glasgow district of Scotland on the main loom using the foot pedals and his young apprentice. http://www.glasgowhistory.co.uk/images/BridgetonBookPhotos/14a-Loom.JPG
Each breed of sheep has its own unique wool properties so I was interested to read that the wool actually falls off the wiltshire breed sheep plus they roamed freely, which must have brought down the cost.
I wonder if you've seen these two websites, one of which gives a potted history of the breed of sheep in the area and the other outlines the importance of the area to the British economy throughout history.
http://www.wiltshirehorn.org.uk/about_the_breed/
http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=102806
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Dear Rena,
Thank you so much for these articles – they have completely enhanced my understanding and appreciation for this period of family history and as ever, this is such a palatable way to connect with history generally. It also puts the severity of apprenticeships into context. What irony that the high standards of Trowbridge cloth are what did for them in the end. My folks went into shoemaking after the decline.
How wonderful that the native sheep of Wiltshire have been protected and are making a comeback; it makes perfect sense and another nice little article to add to the folio; a much appreciated illumination.
Here is that, organ like contraption. I believe it is called a Diderot draw loom abt 1763.
http://mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/61138071-8566-47e8-a2b6-3ebf6a60c17d?client=TreesUI&maxSide=500
Thanks again
:)
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William Hogarth - Of industry and idleness 1747
'The fellow ‘prentices at their looms’.
http://www.londonlives.org/static/images/prentices.jpg
The interior of a weaver’s workroom; to the left, an apprentice is busy at his loom while to the right, his fellow apprentice is asleep at his. To extreme left, the Master is raising his cane, in the centre is a spinning wheel and a cat on its hind legs, additional objects are a tankard wheel and spindle wound with silk thread, symbolic embellishments added to the margin include the Mace, the Lord Mayor’s chain, fetters and halter
Source - hover mouse over picture here: http://www.londonlives.org/static/IA.jsp
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Dear Rena,
Thank you so much for these articles – they have completely enhanced my understanding and appreciation for this period of family history and as ever, this is such a palatable way to connect with history generally. It also puts the severity of apprenticeships into context. What irony that the high standards of Trowbridge cloth are what did for them in the end. My folks went into shoemaking after the decline.
How wonderful that the native sheep of Wiltshire have been protected and are making a comeback; it makes perfect sense and another nice little article to add to the folio; a much appreciated illumination.
Here is that, organ like contraption. I believe it is called a Diderot draw loom abt 1763.
http://mediasvc.ancestry.co.uk/v2/image/namespaces/1093/media/61138071-8566-47e8-a2b6-3ebf6a60c17d?client=TreesUI&maxSide=500
Thanks again
:)
lol, I've never seen anything like that before. From the illustrations of that loom in situe I can see with the low ceilings we have today it wouldn't fit into a modern house, but it would fit into one of the high ceiling rooms of my stone terrace house which was built in 1853.
Local Weaver Guilds (like all other craftsmen Guilds) kept records of members plus their annual subscriptions and were supposed to send their apprenticeship records to London. I have tried to find some of my ancestors' apprenticeships but not many records seem to have survived.
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hi again Rena,
Not sure if this will help but my folks were listed under this title:
UK Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' indentures
There was a heading: Flower & Salmon - Wiltshire
Not sure who they were: solicitors or Masters?
I just put the above into a search and this came up:
http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/archives/archive_search.php?subject_in=POOR%20RELIEF/Parish%20workhouses
You may find your folk under miscellaneous papers in the relevant Council?
Well worth trying one or more of the tree building sites such as 'find my past' and doing a search under tax and legal, wills and probate links etc.
thanks again
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hi again Rena,
Not sure if this will help but my folks were listed under this title:
UK Register of Duties Paid for Apprentices' indentures
There was a heading: Flower & Salmon - Wiltshire
Not sure who they were: solicitors or Masters?
I just put the above into a search and this came up:
http://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/archives/archive_search.php?subject_in=POOR%20RELIEF/Parish%20workhouses
You may find your folk under miscellaneous papers in the relevant Council?
Well worth trying one or more of the tree building sites such as 'find my past' and doing a search under tax and legal, wills and probate links etc.
thanks again
Flower & Salmon ... I noticed one of them had two looms in the 1400s. There's a potted history on what looks like a legal company which shows how the two names came together. It looks like men with both of those names were social climbers acquiring money and plots of land (even a castle!) on their way up to wield power over the community.
"Workhouses" were a combination of being the local hospital and for those who had fallen on hard times. Children were taught a trade and adult paupers who were able to had to work for their keep - it seems Wiltshire put their paupers out for farm work and I also spied this on the link you gave:
<<"Notebook recording the amounts earned for the parish by paupers from spinning and weaving in the parochial workhouse.>>
On the face of it, it might be construed that the buyers of the woven material paid such low prices that workers had to apply for entry to the workhouse where they would have to work but would at least have food & a roof over their heads.
Have you see the timeline list of inventions in the textile industry from 1733 to 1856? You'll see why we have a period in our history called "the industrial revolution". http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blindustrialrevolutiontextiles.htm
Weavers, etc., had a major dispute in the late 1700s with the mill employers due to ever decreasing wages and the militia were called out to quell the workers. The wages and/or prices paid for work done decreased for various reasons, one being the costly war with Napoleon in France which raised taxes for employers and the rich, which was one factor in there being a long and severe recession - ordinary people on the bottom rungs of the ladder were starving.
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>Gasp out loud<
What terrible ordeals! What trials and trib's for the poor folk and what a horrid committee for promoting the emigration of women to Australia, published pamphlets and all! No wonder then that our Thomas named his first son Job! Really. :(
Good grief Rena, you are blowing my mind and thanks so much for all this, it is truly enlightening. As ever, I am struck by the way in which we are all so much more than ourselves.
Can’t find the potted history you mention on Flower and Salmon. Just potted salmon and a rather interesting recipe:
“Pickled caper berries with Caper berry flower buds, served with pinwheel of salmon and a warm salad of new potatoes”.
This was interesting but not necessarily the Flower of Salmon?
The visitation of Wiltshire 1565 (1897) – FLOWER of Potterne – Page 19/
https://archive.org/details/visitationofwilt00harvrich
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I wonder why those old family tree books don't show dates. They say we're all descended from Kings - the hardest part is trying to find a "hook" to an historic family so that we could more easily trace our heritage lol. For instance, I've got a "Dodson" surname in my tree, so all I have to do is find the link to the original Dod(da) and I'm back to the Domesday Book ;D
Today I was invited to visit a website depicting some 19th century travelling musician families. - it mentioned 1845. Especially relevant to our conversation was that the German villagers who relied on weaving local wool fell on hard times circa 1845 due to British woven woollen cloth flooding their market, with the result that they then had to rely on what used to be a hobby and take to the roads with their instruments to make a living as wandering musicians. My avatar is my grandmother who was the daughter of a wandering musician, who had taken to the road with an uncle when he was SIX years old.
Another of my branches in that era was also a casualty of the wool trade in that they were Scottish Highlanders. It came about in the very early 19th century when the Scottish owners of large tracts of Scottish highlands (who incidentally lived in England) decided there was more profit in sheep than in having small tenant farmers on their estates, with the result that millions of people were cleared off their ancestral lands and their homes burnt down.
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love your avatar. For me, portraits are the icing on the cake. Too few in our lines alas but this is a great place to get the contextual portrait. We all seem to be so much at the mercy of the fates and the laws of cause and effect. It all seems such a path of snakes and ladders. I do wish I had known all this years ago.
Again, thanks so much for adding depth to one of my lines. :)
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TV Tonight - on More 4 - channel 14 - 9 - 10pm
Monty Don's Real Craft - Weaving.
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TV Tonight - on More 4 - channel 14 - 9 - 10pm
Monty Don's Real Craft - Weaving.
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I thought of you when I watched the programme tonight. Also what a coincidence that you should raise the subject when you did!
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TV Tonight - on More 4 - channel 14 - 9 - 10pm
Monty Don's Real Craft - Weaving.
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what a coincidence!
;D That is exactly what I was thinking!
It’s that strange synchronous phenomenon again. :o Excellent wasn’t it and I just loved that man bag. I think they got the winners right each time. Here is the link to watch again - http://www.channel4.com/programmes/monty-dons-real-craft
And another on textiles -
The Story of Women in Art – Prof. Amanda Vickery – Episode 2 – 18th Century - At 32 minutes - textiles
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01y5sgp
Only 3 days left to watch this on BBCiplayer. For some reason there is a problem with the sound. I don’t think it is my computer and if not, then there is another chance to see this episode on BBC2 at 11.25pm – not sure when but if it's weekly then it will be next Monday 26 May.
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>Gasp out loud<
What terrible ordeals! What trials and trib's for the poor folk and what a horrid committee for promoting the emigration of women to Australia, published pamphlets and all! No wonder then that our Thomas named his first son Job! Really. :(
Good grief Rena, you are blowing my mind and thanks so much for all this, it is truly enlightening. As ever, I am struck by the way in which we are all so much more than ourselves.
Can’t find the potted history you mention on Flower and Salmon. Just potted salmon and a rather interesting recipe:
“Pickled caper berries with Caper berry flower buds, served with pinwheel of salmon and a warm salad of new potatoes”.
This was interesting but not necessarily the Flower of Salmon?
The visitation of Wiltshire 1565 (1897) – FLOWER of Potterne – Page 19/
https://archive.org/details/visitationofwilt00harvrich
You could argue that the ones who emigrated through assisted schemes had a lucky escape.
I think it is important to make the distinction between the old domestic system and the factory (mills) system. By the the late 1700s weaving and spinning was becoming mechanised. There was opposition to the new machinery and mills , most notably The Luddites. At Peterloo (1819) most of those attending were mill labourers. In 1842 there was a strike across the manufacturing districts aka the Plug Riots. Chartists too were connected to the industry and districts. During the industrial revolution textile manufacture became increasingly unskilled and wages were driven down. At first the mills were powered by water but in the early 1800s steam power was being introduced. Steam was coal powered and so mill towns and cities grew in areas were coal was available (coal mines also employed children) or easy to transport to. Lancashire , the West Riding of Yorkshire, Chesire, Nottinghamshire , parts of Scotland and so on. The famous chimneys and "dark satanic mills" and slums.
Some of these mills were huge . Listers (West Riding) for example
"At its height, Lister's employed 11,000 men, women and children -Floor space in the mill amounts to 27 acres (109,000 m²) Every week the boilers consumed 1,000 tons of coal brought in on company rail wagons from the company collieries near Pontefract. Water was also vital in the process and the company had its own supply network including a large covered reservoir on-site "
For a large part of the 19th century the hours adults and children worked were unregulated. A child could start work at age 5 or 6 years old and work a 16 or even 18 hour day 6 days a week. Parents had little choice in sending their children to work. It was either work or starve. The constant action of the machinery could cripple a labourer by the age of 21. The average age of death for a mill labourer in Leeds in the 1830s was 19
There were campaigns to regulate the hours children worked . The Ten Hours Committee for example. Richard Oastler was probably the most famous . If you look up "Oastler Yorkshire Slaves" or "Oastler 1832" or his speeches there is contempory documentation online. Another campaigner was Joseph Rayner Stephens . Even after legislation came in it took decades for it to be implemented .
By the early in the 1900s many children still worked but "half - time"
This is a description by William Holt from Yorkshire who was born 1897.
"When I was twelve I began half-time at the mill. One week I had to work mornings starting at six o'clock; and then on alternate weeks I worked afternoons. Like the other half timers , I felt sleepy when I went to school in the afternoon. The teachers put all the half timers on the back row and if we fell asleep they didn't wake us. I didn't learn much at school. I went full time to the mill when I was thirteen."
Oastler 1832
http://www.historyhome.co.uk/peel/factmine/oastler.htm
Joseph Rayner Stephens
(Warning contains graphic description)
http://spartacus-educational.com/IRstephens.htm
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Dear SallyYorks,
yet another amazing post, thank you so much. You and Rena have moved me hugely.
I take it from this that things were not quite so bad in Trowbridge but you have helped me to really FEEL the history and I am very grateful. I am embarrassed to admit I knew nothing of this and had a 'Larkrise to candleford' fantasy about my ancestors spinning and weaving happily in pretty country cottages with chickens all about their feet and lambs skipping happily in the fields. Therefore, although truly awful.... I am so glad to know all this.
And did those feet in ancient times – William Blake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jerusalem - Last Night of the Proms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8VH0sbEU20
I have to confess that I always stand for this but it will be personal from now on and I don't know how on earth I will be able to get through singing it for tears.
Bless you Rena and Sally, beautiful post.
xx
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Dear SallyYorks,
yet another amazing post, thank you so much. You and Rena have moved me hugely.
I take it from this that things were not quite so bad in Trowbridge but you have helped me to really FEEL the history and I am very grateful. I am embarrassed to admit I knew nothing of this and had a 'Larkrise to candleford' fantasy about my ancestors spinning and weaving happily in pretty country cottages with chickens all about their feet and lambs skipping happily in the fields. Therefore, although truly awful.... I am so glad to know all this.
And did those feet in ancient times – William Blake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Jerusalem - Last Night of the Proms
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8VH0sbEU20
I have to confess that I always stand for this but it will be personal from now on and I don't know how on earth I will be able to get through singing it for tears.
Bless you Rena and Sally, beautiful post.
xx
Oh lonetrooper what a lovely post . I will think of it too now . Bless you too
Trowbridge wasn't without its problems. Three weavers were hanged for leading a mill riot there in 1738 . Then later the Swing Riots across the same county
I hope my links wasnt too much but it wasnt all bad and there were some who tried to help and not all the mill owners were unconcerned about their labourers. John Fielden MP and mill owner was a reformer too for example
You might like this * ( at end of my post)
Richard Oastler became a radical when he visited a friend in Bradford who was a mill owner . Up until then Oastler had led quite a sheltered life and was unaware of the conditions. John Wood showed him the conditions and they spent all night discussing what to do. Others joined Oastler and there is a little book available on the Calderdale library website by a follower of Oastler called George Crabtree . He wrote a little book " Brief Description of a Tour through Calder Dale" . It is available to read on the library website fromweavertoweb (search Oastler) . It is well worth reading ,especially the part where the local preacher uses very strong language to describe how upset and angry he is at having to bury child mill labourers who have died of exhaustion. There is also a good biography about Oastler available to read online. It describes the WR district and some of the big meetings
This always makes me feel a little emotional
Richard Oastler describing a meeting with John Wood, a factory owner from Bradford, in September 1830.
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"John Wood turned towards me, reaching out his hand and in the most impressive manner pressed my hand in his said: "I have had no sleep tonight. I have been reading the Bible and in every page I have read my own condemnation. I cannot allow you to leave me without a pledge that you will use all your influence in trying to remove from our factory system the cruelties which are practised in our mills." I promised I would do what I could. I felt that we were each of us in the presence of the Highest and I knew that that vow was recorded in Heaven."
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Sally....
What can I say....?
This is so kind and beautiful of you.
My ancestor was imprisoned for one month. He had stolen some hay. Far from feeling shame for being the descendent of a hay thief, I see that the poor man was probably trying to feed animals or maybe desperate for the only break he could get....in prison.
Oh my dear Sally .......
Thank you again for enlightening me.
x
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I have millworking ancestors down here in Devon which had a huge number of mills once upon a time. So reading these posts really brought the scale of the industry and the daily life of the workers home to me.
One line of my family worked in the wool mills until market forces changed it all. The females were employed as 'throwsters' which I believe relates to the spinning of silk. They worked at a large silk mill at Ottery St Mary just yards from their home/hovel, although they may have been homeworkers. The males who were combers seem to have been thrown aside when the silk mill came in and were paupers for a time. Then some used their skills on machinery to cast, make and mend agricultural machinery whilst others also became cordwainers.
Thanks for all this fascinating detail.
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The woolcombers did not use machinery, when a machine was invented that did their job it took their jobs away. http://bancroftsfromyorkshire.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/woolcombing-in-yorkshire-dirty-business.html
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Thanks youngtug, that was a great link.
Have found that my ancestors not only made agricultural machinery after being thrown out of work at woollen/silk mill, but that they had cast at least one millwheel in small foundry they built nearby.
The wheel is still in existence in Exmouth stamped Berry & Son , Woodbury and was part of a mill at Withycombe which was knocked down in the 1960s. The mill wheel now forms part of floral display near the beach and a tangible piece of family history, thank goodness someone decided it was worthy of preservation.
So I am off to find more of Devon's watermill history.
Thanks again
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"Trimming Weaver"
Found on census, by RootsChat member brad85 , in Spitalfields area , London
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Just coming back,to this thread.
Have we had mule spinners and greasy perchers? Used to see these textile jobs advertised in local west Yorks papers right through into at least the 1970's. No idea what the jobs were, though.
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This site looks to have been updated since last posted and you can contribute photos too
Photographs of UK Textile Mills
http://www.uktextilemills.co.uk/
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Some great old film footage of a woollen blanket mill in Dewsbury, 1932.
From yorkshirefilmarchive
http://www.yorkshirefilmarchive.com/film/wormald-and-walker-blanket-mill-dewsbury
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Physical deformities caused by the factory/mills machinery
http://spartacus-educational.com/IRdeformities.htm
Lord Ashley
(Child Labour and Factory Reform)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Ashley-Cooper,_7th_Earl_of_Shaftesbury
Book published 1888
About the Luddites, the Chartists and the 1842 General Strike (free to read online)
The Risings of the Luddites, Chartists & Plugdrawers by Frank Peel
https://archive.org/details/risingsluddites00peelgoog
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A picture from 1862 showing mill workers in Manchester . With descriptions of occupations at bottom of image
(http://www.bl.uk/britishlibrary/~/media/bl/global/english-online/collection-items-more/i/l/l/illustrated-cotton-b20120-99.jpg)
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I came across 2 other words for the occupation I know as fuller.
It seems to have been tucker in the south west. Not actually a family member, but related to some other reseach I was doing, William Hayne was master of the Gild of Weavers, Tuckers and Shearmen of Exeter in 1625, having joined the guild in 1606. And he was a tucker.
According to the National Instirute for Genealogical Studies, the word fuller was used in the south and east of England, and wa(u)lker in the west and north.
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I noticed "tuck mills" on Griffiths' Valuation in mid-19thC Ireland. I looked up the meaning as it was the first time I'd encountered the term. I associated tuck with food and assumed they were mills for grain.
Waulking is a word used in Scotland. Capercaillie had a hit with "Skye Waulking Song".