Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 2.djvu/771

Rh MANCHESTER. 763 MANCHESTER. same, and perfect it, into fustians, venuillines, dimitiea, and other rich stuffs, and then return it to London, where iino is vended and sold, and not seldom sent into u purls, who have means, at far easier terms, to provide themselves of the said first materials " (p. 32). i this it will be seen that Manchester had already become fiimous for its manufacture ; and, doubtless, the 'yment of cotton had been induced by the use of linen, linen yarn being used as the warp in the making of fus- . and of nearly all other cottons in this country down to the year 1773. In 1650, a description of the towns of Manchester and Salford contains the following informa- tion : " The trade is not inferior to that of many cities in the kingdom, chiefly consisting of woollen friezes, fustians, sackcloths, mingled stuffs, caps, inkles, tapes, points, &c., whereby not only the better sort of men are employed, but also the very children, by their own labour, can maintain themselves. There are, besides, all kinds of foreign merchandise brought and returned by the merchants of the town, amounting to the sum of many thousands of pounds weekly." (Aikin's History of Manchester, p. 154.) And at or about this time, Man- chester consisted of ten streets, and Salford of three, the old bridge referred to by Camden, now represented by V ictoria Bridge, being the only communication between the two towns. In 1651 the Chetham Library was esta- blished, and fourteen years after the Hospital was endowed, Manchester being described by a contem- porary as being " one mile in length, with good streets and buildings, and the people more industrious than in any other part of the north of England." Towards the close of this century the general exports of the country rose considerably, and there can be little doubt from their character that Manchester mainly contributed to the progressive rise, and benefited by the increase. The beginning of the 18th century witnessed a still further development, the peace existing from 1740 for about twenty years enabling the trade of the entire Lanca- shire district to make great strides. In 1722, the first post -office was established in Manchester, and letters were despatched thence tc London three times a week, the time required for transit being seven or eight days. Five years after, the author of " A Tour through the whole Island of Great Britain," published in 1 7 27, referring to Manchester, remarks, " Within a very few years past, here, as at Liverpool, and also at Frome in Somersetshire, the town is extended in a surprising manner, being almost double to what it was a few years ago, so that now, taking in all its suburbs, it now (1727) contains at least 50,000 people. The grand manufacture, which has so much raised this town, is that of cotton in all its varieties, which, like all other manufactures, is very much increased within these thirty or forty years." A i'.iragraph in the Daily Advertiser of September, 1739, -1 into the Gentleman's Magazine, supports this view of the rapid rise of the town and the development of its manu- ring resources, thus : " The manufacture of cotton, mixed and plain, is arrived at so great a perfection within twenty years, that we not only make enough for our own consumption, but supply our colonies and many of the na of Europe. The benefits arising from this branch are such as to enable the manufacturers of Manchester ..; to lay out above 30,000 a year, for many years , in additional buildings; and it is computed that j new houses have been built in that industrious i within these twenty years." This rise, however, must not be assumed to have been caused by any great use in the cotton trade, but chiefly by the woollens and funtiuns, and general manufactures for which the place was noted. The entire value of all the cotton goods '.ilactured in 1760, according to the estimate of Dr. ival, who might have been considered an authority ..; subject, was not more than 200,000 a year, and, in 1705, the quantity of cotton-wool imported little ex- ed 1,000,000 Ibs. annually, and seventy years after in five times that amount ; while, at the former "1, the value of the woollen goods exported oqiiiill Mtlis of tin: entire export trade of the kingdom, or abo it 3,000,000 per annum. In 1758, the Duke of Bridgewater, by the aid of Brindley, the celebrated en- gineer, commenced the famous Bridgewater Canal, which runs near Manchester, and which was destined to create a complete revolution in the mode of transit of goods ; and in 1777 the first post coach was established, marking a further era in the progress of the rising town. The invention of the spinning mule in 1779 by Samuel Crompton effected a complete revolution in the manufac- turing resources of Manchester, and gave to its staple trade an impetus which has never ceased. A contrast of the quantities of cotton imported and exported at the close of the last century, and in 1860, before the out- break of the American war, would serve as an admirable index to the progressive advance of the manufacturing interest. At the period first suggested the supplies from all sources did not exceed 2,000,000 Ibs.: in 1860 the returns of cotton imported were : United States 1,115,890,608 Brazil 17,286,864 Mediterranean .... 44,036,608 British possessions in India 204,141,168 British West Indies and British Guiana. . . 1,050,784 Other countries .... 8,532,720 Total. . . 1,390,938,752 Beyond the cotton manufacture in all its various branches, Manchester has of late years turned -its atten- tion to the manufacture of arms and hardware, chiefly through the indefatigable exertions and genius of Mr. Whitworth, and now boasts a small arm factory and a manufactory of general machinery, carried out under his auspices, each of the very largest magnitude. For this and nearly all other manufactures its site is of the most eligible kind. It stands close to one of the largest and most valuable coal fields in Britain, and in the imme- diate neighbourhood of the largest seaport and most convenient point of access with America in the British dominions. It is, moreover, by means of rivers and navigable canals, abundantly supplied with water power and the means of internal communication of the most economic kind. It is united with various adjacent towns in which branches of its staple manufacture have been carried on, by a perfect net-work of canals, of which Manchester may be deemed the centre. The railway communication, in consequence of the enormous traffic, has been greatly developed, and is as perfect as any in the kingdom. In addition to cotton and arms the manufacture of silk and woollen goods is carried on in the town and its immediate neighbourhood, as may be seen from the annexed returns, but as might be pre- sumed, the cotton manufacture, with all its tributary branches of industry, bleaching, dyeing, printing, &c., is the chief industry. From the factory returns for the year ending 1862, it appears that the total number of factories in the kingdom was as follows : 1856 1862 Factories. 5,117 6,378 Spindles. 33,503,580 36,450,028 bteum power. 137.711 375,284 Water power. 23,724 28,399 Persona. 652,497 775,534 1856 1862 2,046 2,715 Of cotton alone, I 28,019,217 I 341,170 407,598 Of these Lancashire and Cheshire contained Lancashire : 1B56 1862 Cheshire : 1856 1862 1,480 1,979 212 21,530,532 3,373,113 36.658 1,224 259.043 315,627 40,860 or of the cotton trade alone 45'7 per cent ; of the gross number of factories 83-3 per cent. ; of the spindles and the mechanical horse power, 72-6; and of number of persons 58'2 per cent. SILK TRADE. 1862, Cheshire. 1862, Lancashire Factories. 175 48 Persons.
 * 30,387,467 |