Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 8.djvu/244

Rh 232 ENGLAND [SILK AND LINEN. The preceding tables show that the chief seat of the woollen and worsted manufacture is in Yorkshire, while Lancashire stands second, but a long way behind. In the western and some of the midland counties where the trade i,s carried on, it is on a very reduced scale, as the factories have no power-looms. The eastern counties likewise have at present but a very smalt share of the trade, which is now all but extinct in Norwich, the most ancient manufacturing town in the kingdom, where a colony of Flemings settled in the reign of Henry I., getting the long wool spun at the neighbouring market-town of Worstead, after which the new produce was named. The once famous market-town itself has sunk to an obscure village. lumber Silk. Compared with the manufacture of goods made f silk from cotton and wool, that of other textile fabrics is com- ictones. p ara ti ve iy unimportant, the main articles being silk, flax, and hemp. As far as the United Kingdom is concerned, the manufacture of flax stands first among these minor textile fabrics ; but taking England alone, the chief of them is silk. There were in 1874 in the United Kingdom 818 silk factories, with 1,336,411 spindles and 10,002 power- looms, employing 45,559 persons. Of this total, only 4 factories, with 226 power -looms, employing 740 persons, were in Scotland ; and but 2 factories, with 7 power-looms, employing 400 persons, were in Ireland. ilk fac- The following table shows the number of silk factories in Dries in England, with the number of spindles and power-looms in /nglanu. uge ^ an( j ^ num jj 8r o f persons employed, at various periods from 1850 to 1874: Tears. Number of Silk Factories. Number of Spindles. Number of Power Looms. Number of Persons Employed. 1850 272 1,188,908 6,092 41,703 1856 454 1,063,555 9,260 55,300 1861 761 1,305,910 10,635 51,191 1868 587 968,182 14,511 39,956 1870 692 929,157 12,135 47,311 1874 812 1,103,893 9,759 44,419 The number of persons employed in the silk factories of England in 1874 comprised 12,772 males and 31,647 females. Of the males, 2324 were under thirteen, 2375 from thirteen to eighteen, and 8073 over eighteen years of age. Of the females, 4521 were under thirteen. The em ployment of children of both sexes in silk factories was on the decrease from 1850 to 1874, while during the same period it was largely on the increase in cotton factories, and also, but to a smaller degree, in the woollen and worsted manufacture. Mstri- The following table shows the distribution of silk factories iition of O ver the various counties of England there are none in Ictories ^ a ^ es w ^ n ^ ne number of power-looms in use and of ver &quot; persons employed, at the end of the year 1874 : Counties. Number of Silk Factories. Number of Power Looms. Number of Persons Employed. Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent .... Herts, Bucks, Oxford, North- } ampton, Hunts, Beds, and &amp;gt; Cambridge ) 10 6 52 297 1,162 Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Corn wall, Somerset, and Hants.. Gloucester, Hereford, Salop, Stafford, Worcester, and Warwick . 19 20 518 2,109 449 1,876 5,815 2,940 7,909 Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, ) and Noits ( 16 74 911 Cheshire 147 1,735 11 841 Lancashi re 24 2,666 5 376 Derbyshire 22 48 2 479 Yorkshire 30 750 5,689 Total . 812 9 759 44 419 It will be seen from the above table that the silk manu facture is more dispersed over England than either that of cotton or woollen fabrics. The tendency to use machinery appears most pronounced in Lancashire and the three eastern counties, in both of which disticts the number of power-looms is nearly half as large as that of bands em ployed ; while in other counties the number of power looms is very small in proportion to that of workers. Linen. Next to silk in importance, as one of the minor Nui textile manufactures of England, stands flax, At the end of of fl 1874, there were in the whole of the United Kingdom 449 factories for spinning flax, using 1,473,800 spindles and 41,980 power-looms, and employing 128,459 hands. In the returns for 1874, Scotland took the first rank as regards the number of flax factories, Ireland the second, and England the third rank. There were in Scotland at that date 159 factories, with 275,119 spindles and 18,529 power-looms, employing 45,816 persons; and in Ireland 149 factories, with 906,946 spindles and 17,827 power- looms, employing 60,316 hands. The following table gives the number of factories for Fla: spinning flax in England, with the number of spindles and toril of power-looms in use, and the number of persons em- Eng ployed, at various annual periods from 1851 to 1874 : Years. Number of Flax Factories. Number of Spindles. Number of Power Looms. Number of Persons Employed. 1851 135 265,568 1,083 19,001 1856 138 441,759 1,987 19,787 1861 136 344,308 2,160 20,305 1868 128 437,623 5,086 21,859 1870 155 269,768 3,048 19,816 1874 HI 291,735 5,624 22,327 The number of persons employed in the flax-spinning factories of England in 1874 comprised 6856 males and 15,471 females. Of the males, 844 were boys under thirteen, 1380 lads from thirteen to eighteen, and 4632 men over eighteen years of age. Of the females, 1245 were children under thirteen, and 14,226 women over thirteen years of age. There was a slight increase in the proportion of children of both sexes employed in the flax factories of England in the period from 1850 to 1874. In the Scottish flax factories, during the same time, the increase of children, notably females, was very great. There were only 218 girls under thirteen employed in all the flax-spinning factories of Scotland in 1850, and the number had risen to 1956 in 1874. The following table shows the distribution of flax Dis factories over the various counties of England there are but none in Wales at the end of 1874 : Counties. Number of Flax Factories. Number of Power Looms. Number of Persons Employed Middlesex, Surrey, and Kent Sussex Hants, and Berks 3 2 8 36 164 153 Essex, Suffolk, and Norfolk &quot;Wilts, Dorset, Devon, Corn- ) wall, and Somerset ) 5 30 149 392 256 2 W O ,/Jo Gloucester, Hereford, Salop, Stafford, Worcester, and Warwick 5 99 960 Leicester, Rutland, Lincoln, and Notts 2 ~ 217 Lancashire. 18 1,133 4,404 2 95 170 Yorkshire 59 3,507 12,058 Durham, Northumberland, Cumberland, and Westmore land. 14 149 1,174 Cheshire. 1 56 35 Total 141 5,624 22,327