Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/739

 "WOOL (MANUFACTURES OF) 715 turning out from 70,000 to 80,000 pieces, worth more than 1,200,000 golden florins. Eventu- ally the manufacturers of wool became most largely established in Flanders, England, and France, the Flemings having especially so far taken precedence in the perfecting of textile processes and products that their workmen be- came successively the instructors of the less skilled English and French clothiers, and in reality the founders of the improved manufac- tures now so important to the two last named countries. Scarlet cloths of England are men- tioned in the chronicles of Orkney in the 12th century; and under Henry I. a clothiers' guild was chartered, receiving exclusive privileges within the district of London, Southwark, and the parts adjacent. An inundation occurring in the Netherlands in the time of William the Conqueror, many of the clothiers driven from the country went to England, where they es- tablished their business in Carlisle, and then in the western counties. There seems to have been a tendency toward " shoddy " in early times; for Latimer in a sermon condemned the mixing of wares, the stretching of woven pieces to more than their proper length, and the practice of then restoring body in the cloth by incorporating into it a so-called "flock powder,' 1 apparently consisting of chopped wool. A project for reforming these abuses, sent to Cecil, mentions them as an enormity _ endangering the entire commodity of the realm; and in 1590 mention is made of per- sons appointed in the county of York " to deface, cut in pieces, and burn all such blocks or boards as have been or are used for chop- ping of flocks." In consequence of invitations extended by Edward TIL to Flemish cloth weavers to remove to England, many of them went over ; and although for a time they were molested by native workmen, and even their cloths and worsteds were subjected to an ex- port duty discriminating against them and in favor of the latter, yet they were successful. The company of drapers (the word then signi- fying clothiers or cloth workers), though pre- viously existing, was incorporated in 1364 ; the cloth shearers or " shearmen " were separately incorporated in 1480, and in 1528 they were united with the fullers by Henry VIII. in the association of cloth workers. The fraternity of tailors received its charter in 1399. Besides these and the weavers, other companies, as those of the dyers, the burrelers or burlers, and worsted workers, were gradually formed. The last named guild, as well as the class of fabrics in which they worked, took its name from the town of "Worstead, in Norfolk, where these manufactures were the most important. The early weavers of Norfolk appear also to have been Flemings; and the distribution of the various manufactures not long after the acces- sion of these workmen under Edward III. was as follows: Norfolk, worsteds ; Suffolk, baize ; Essex and Somersetshire, serges ; Devonshire, kerseys; "Wales, friezes; Kent, broadcloth; Gloucestershire, "Worcestershire, "Westmore- land, Yorkshire, Hampshire, Berkshire, and Sussex, cloth. During several subsequent reigns much attention was given to worsteds, and English cloths were still mainly of coarser quality, the finest being imported from Bra- bant. The exports of English cloths mean- while became so large that, when in the reign of Henry VIII. the ports of Spain and the Netherlands were closed against them, great distress arose among the manufacturers. At this time Blackwell hall was established as a sort of cloth hall for London dealers, while the foreign trade was chiefly in the hands of the company of " merchant adventurers," who had their mart at Antwerp. The further immigra- tion of Flemish cloth workers in the reign of Elizabeth resulted in a very considerable im- pulse to the woollen manufactures throughout the kingdom. But during the following reign, and in fact until the close of the 17th century, the contest between the manufacturers and the growers of wool, with the narrow policy of the government, restricting the manufacturers to certain localities or corporations, prohibit- ing the export of undyed cloths, and dealing in cloths by foreigners, chiefly characterizes the history of the business. In the early part of the 18th century Yorkshire began to assume a more important position in these manufactures, and this county afterward became the chief seat of both the English worsteds and wool- lens ; and though the inventions in connection with spinning machinery for a time gave an unusual prominence to the cotton manufacture, yet the improvement in mechanism and pro- cesses for manufactures in wool soon followed, and, aided by the perfection attained by the German wools and the large supplies from other sources, as well as by a more liberal commercial policy, resulted at length in a more healthy condition and growth of these manu- factures, which has 'continued to the present time. The woollen and worsted manufacturing industries in Great Britain in 1871 and 1875 were as follows : PARTICULARS. 1871. 187S. Wool. WonUd. Wool. WonUd. Number of factories... 1,949 680 1 '*"> ."-' The value of the total exports of woollen and worsted manufactures for the three years 1873-'5 was as follows: ARTICLES. 1873. 1874. 1815. Woollen cloths, coat- 6,599,635 6,642,222 6,881,281 Worsted stuffs 14.277,382 1.5!7.8SJ 11,-SNllT'J 1.480,892 11,168,018 1,160.085 Other articles 2,875,478 2,789,666 Total.... 25,349,878 82,800,852 21,648,848