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Rh water power from the Blackstone river and its tributaries, the Mill and the Peters rivers. The value of its factory products in 1905 was $19,260,537. Worsted and woollen yarns are manufactured in Woonsocket by the French and Belgian processes. Other manufactures are cotton goods and yarns, rubber goods, clothes wringers, silks, bobbins and shuttles, and foundry products.

The first settlement in the vicinity was made apparently about 1666 by Richard Arnold, who at about that time built a saw-mill on the bank of the Blackstone river. Woonsocket was set off from Cumberland and was incorporated as a township in 1867; was enlarged by the addition of a part of Smithfield in 1871, and was chartered as a city in 1888.  WOOSTER, a city and the county-seat of Wayne county, Ohio, U.S.A., on Killbuck Creek, about 50 m. S. by W. of Cleveland. Pop. (1900) 6063 (407 foreign-born); (1910) 6136. Wooster is served by the Baltimore & Ohio and the Pennsylvania railways. It is the seat of the university of Wooster (co-educational; Presbyterian; founded in 1866 and opened in 1870), which in 1909 had 37 instructors and 1547 students. The Ohio Agricultural Experiment Station is in the city, which also has various manufactures. Wooster was laid out in 1808, was incorporated as a town in 1817, and became a city of the second class in 1869. It was named in honour of General David Wooster (1710-1777), who was killed in the War of Independence.  WOOTTON BASSETT, a market town in the N. parliamentary division of Wiltshire, England, 83 m. W. of London by the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 2200. It is the junction of the direct railway (1903) between London and the Severn tunnel with the main line of the Great Western system. The town has large cattle markets and an agricultural trade.

Wootton Bassett (Wodeton, Wolton) was held in the reign of Edward the Confessor by one Levenod, and after the Norman Conquest was included in the fief of Miles Crispin. About a century later the manor was acquired by the Basset family. The town received its first charter from Henry VI., and returned members to parliament from 1446–1447 until the passing of the Reform Act of 1832. In 1571 Elizabeth granted to the town a market on Tuesday and two fairs each to last two days, at the feasts of St George the Martyr and the Conception of the Virgin. In 1679 the town received a charter from Charles II., and the corporation consisted of a mayor, two aldermen and 12 capital burgesses, until abolished by the Municipal Corporations Act of 1886, under which the property is now vested in seven trustees, one of whom is appointed by the lord of the manor, and there are also two aldermen and four elected members. In 1836 fairs were instituted on the Tuesday before the 6th of April and on the Tuesday before the nth of October, which are still maintained, and a large cattle market is held on the first Wednesday of every month. The manufacture of broadcloth was formerly carried on, but is now entirely decayed.  WORCESTER, EARLS AND MARQUESSES OF. Urso de Abitot, constable of Worcester castle and sheriff of Worcestershire, is erroneously said to have been created earl of Worcester in 1076. Waleran de Beaumont (1104-1166), count of Meulan in France, a partisan of King Stephen in his war with the empress Matilda, was probably earl of Worcester from 1136 to 1145. He was deprived of his earldom, became a crusader and died a monk. From 1397 to 1403 the earldom was held by Sir Thomas Percy (c. 1343-1403), a brother of Henry Percy, 1st earl of Northumberland. Percy served with distinction in France during the reign of Edward III.; he also held an official position on the Scottish borders, and under Richard II. he was the admiral of a fleet. He deserted Richard II. in 1399, and was employed and trusted by Henry IV., but in 1403 he joined the other Percies in their revolt; he was taken prisoner at Shrewsbury, and subsequently beheaded, the earldom becoming extinct. The title of earl of Worcester was revived in 1421 in favour of Richard Beauchamp, Lord Abergavenny, but lapsed on his death in 1422. The next earl was John Tiptoft, or Tibetot, a noted Yorkist leader during the wars of the Roses, who was executed in 1470 (see below). On the death of his son, Edward, in 1485 the earldom reverted to the crown.

In February 1514 the earldom was bestowed by Henry VIII.

on (c. 1460-1526), a bastard son of Henry Beaufort, duke of Somerset. Having married Elizabeth, daughter of William Herbert, earl of Huntingdon, he was styled Baron Herbert in right of his wife, and in 1506 he was created Baron Herbert of Ragland, Chepstow and Gower. He was chamberlain of the household to Henry VIII. His son Henry, 2nd earl (c. 1495-1548), obtained Tintern Abbey after the dissolution of the monasteries. The title descended in direct line to Henry, the 5th earl (1577-1646), who advanced large sums of money to Charles I. at the outbreak of the Great Rebellion, and was created marquess of Worcester in 1643.

, 2nd marquess of Worcester (1601-1667), is better known by the title of earl of Glamorgan, this earldom having been conferred upon him, although somewhat irregularly, by Charles I. in 1644. He became very prominent in 1644 and 1645 in connexion with Charles's scheme for obtaining military help from Ireland and abroad, and in 1645 he signed at Kilkenny, on behalf of Charles, a treaty with the Irish Roman Catholics; but the king was obliged by the opposition of Ormonde and the Irish loyalists to repudiate his action. Under the Commonwealth he was formally banished from England and his estates were seized. At the Restoration his estates were restored, and he claimed the dukedom of Somerset promised to him by Charles I., but he did not obtain this, nor was his earldom of Glamorgan recognized. He was greatly interested in mechanical experiments, and his name is intimately connected with the early history of the (q.v.). His Century of the Names and Scantlings of such Inventions as at present I can call to mind to have tried and perfected (1663) has often been reprinted. He died on the 3rd of April 1667..

See Henry Dircks, Life, Times and Scientific Labours of the 2nd Marquess of Worcester (1865); Sir J. T. Gilbert, History of the Irish Confederation and the War in Ireland (Dublin, 1882-1891).

His only son (1629-1700), the 3rd marquess, abandoned the Roman Catholic religion and was a member of one of Cromwell's parliaments. But he was quietly loyal to Charles II., who in 1682 created him duke of Beaufort. As the defender of Bristol, the duke took a considerable part in checking the progress of the duke of Monmouth in 1685, but in 1688 he surrendered the city to William of Orange. He inherited Badminton, still the residence of the dukes of Beaufort, and died there on the 21st of January 1700. The Worcester title was henceforth merged in that of (q.v.). Henry, the 7th duke (1792-1853), was one of the greatest sportsmen of his day, and the Badminton hunt owed much to him and his successors, the 8th duke (1824-1899) and 9th duke (b. 1847).  WORCESTER, JOHN TIPTOFT, (1427-1470), was son of John Tiptoft (1375-1443), who was Speaker of the House of Commons in 1406, much employed in diplomacy by Henry V., a member of the council during the minority of Henry VI., and created Baron Tiptoft in 1426. The younger Tiptoft was educated at Oxford, where John Rous says that he was one of his fellow-students; he is stated to have been a member of Balliol College. He married Cicely, daughter of Richard Neville, earl of Salisbury, and widow of Henry Beauchamp (d. 1445), duke of Warwick. In 1440 he was created earl of Worcester. His wife died in 1450, but he continued the association with the Yorkist party. During York's protectorate he was treasurer of the exchequer, and in 1456-1457 deputy of Ireland. In 1457 and again in 1459 he was sent on embassies to the pope. He was abroad three years, during which he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem; the rest of the time he spent in Italy, at Padua, where he studied law and Latin; at Ferrara, where he made the acquaintance of Guarino of Verona; and at Florence, where he heard the lectures of John Argyropoulos, the teacher of Greek. He returned to England early in the reign of Edward IV., and on the 7th of February 1462 was made constable of England. In this office he had at once to try the earl of Oxford, and judged him by “lawe padoue” (sc. of Padua; Warkworth, 5). In 1463 he commanded at sea, without success. In the following year as constable he tried and condemned Sir Ralph Grey and other Lancastrians. In 1467 he was again appointed deputy of Ireland.