The connection between radical politics and handloom weavers is well known, and so as you do I went looking for our handloom weavers.
So far I have only come across one Chorlton weaver.
In 1817, George Jones had described his occupation as weaver when he baptised his two children at the Methodist chapel on the Row.
Nor was he alone, because during the same period he was joined by another two weavers who had walked over from Stretford and another from Withington to baptise their children in the same chapel.*
And in all likelihood there would have been more. Handloom weaving was conducted in a wide arc both north and south of Manchester and in the areas bordering on northern Cheshire, Derbyshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
By the mid 18th century cotton had replaced wool as the main textile material and across the county areas specialized in such things as cambrics, muslins and ginghams. Just over 5 miles to the east near Gatley they had been growing flax and weaving linen from at least the mid 17th century.
But exactly what and how it was produced in the township is unclear. It may be that George and his family delivered each of the processes from carding and spinning to weaving but it is more likely with the mechanization of spinning and its concentration in the factories of Manchester that he may have been involved just in weaving.
At one stage our weavers may also have been involved in dyeing, because there are large numbers of crocuses that grow locally. In the past they were used for dyeing clothes alongside their culinary and medical uses.
How many weavers we had is not recorded. In Stretford in 1826 there were 302 looms providing employment for 780 workers supporting 151 families, and as late as the 1840s there were still seven, while in Withington there were nineteen cotton weavers, mostly concentrated in Lady Barn and Fallowfield where they specialized in “weaving checked handkerchiefs and ginghams.” **
Further west there are a few handloom weavers recorded in the 1851 census in Flixton and Urmston.
Nationally weavers had been the largest single group of industrial workers, and at any one time during 1820s, 30s and 40s, they came third in the list of occupations after agricultural labourers and domestic servants.
The estimate of the Select Committee of 1834-5 reckoned that 800,000 to 840,000 were wholly dependent on one of the branches of weaving.***
So, we may yet uncover our own handloom weavers, but as to their politics that might prove more difficult to discover.
Location; south Manchester
Pictures; Looking out towards Chorlton Green, Higginbotham's farm, circa 1880s, from the collection of Marjory Holmes, the old parish Church, circa 1870, and Chorlton Row, now Beech Road circa 1880s, from the collection of Tony Walker
* Thomas Jones of Stretford and his wife Mary baptised three children in the Chapel on the Row between 1809 and 1816, John and Sarah Thorley also of Stretford in 1807 and William and Mary Taylor from Withington in 1820 and 1823. William Taylor was still working aged 65 in 1841
** Leach, Sir Bosdin, Old Stretford, Privately Printed, 1910, page 23
***Williamson, C, Sketches of Fallowfield, John Heywood, Manchester, 1888 page 34
**** Thompson, E.P., The Making of the English Working Class, Pelican Books edition 1968 page 344
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| Looking out towards Chorlton Green, circa 1880s |
In 1817, George Jones had described his occupation as weaver when he baptised his two children at the Methodist chapel on the Row.
Nor was he alone, because during the same period he was joined by another two weavers who had walked over from Stretford and another from Withington to baptise their children in the same chapel.*
And in all likelihood there would have been more. Handloom weaving was conducted in a wide arc both north and south of Manchester and in the areas bordering on northern Cheshire, Derbyshire and the West Riding of Yorkshire.
By the mid 18th century cotton had replaced wool as the main textile material and across the county areas specialized in such things as cambrics, muslins and ginghams. Just over 5 miles to the east near Gatley they had been growing flax and weaving linen from at least the mid 17th century.
 |
| The old parish church with the Bowling Green beyond, circa 1870s |
At one stage our weavers may also have been involved in dyeing, because there are large numbers of crocuses that grow locally. In the past they were used for dyeing clothes alongside their culinary and medical uses.
How many weavers we had is not recorded. In Stretford in 1826 there were 302 looms providing employment for 780 workers supporting 151 families, and as late as the 1840s there were still seven, while in Withington there were nineteen cotton weavers, mostly concentrated in Lady Barn and Fallowfield where they specialized in “weaving checked handkerchiefs and ginghams.” **
Further west there are a few handloom weavers recorded in the 1851 census in Flixton and Urmston.
Nationally weavers had been the largest single group of industrial workers, and at any one time during 1820s, 30s and 40s, they came third in the list of occupations after agricultural labourers and domestic servants.
 |
| Chorlton Row, circa 1880s |
So, we may yet uncover our own handloom weavers, but as to their politics that might prove more difficult to discover.
Location; south Manchester
Pictures; Looking out towards Chorlton Green, Higginbotham's farm, circa 1880s, from the collection of Marjory Holmes, the old parish Church, circa 1870, and Chorlton Row, now Beech Road circa 1880s, from the collection of Tony Walker
* Thomas Jones of Stretford and his wife Mary baptised three children in the Chapel on the Row between 1809 and 1816, John and Sarah Thorley also of Stretford in 1807 and William and Mary Taylor from Withington in 1820 and 1823. William Taylor was still working aged 65 in 1841
** Leach, Sir Bosdin, Old Stretford, Privately Printed, 1910, page 23
***Williamson, C, Sketches of Fallowfield, John Heywood, Manchester, 1888 page 34
**** Thompson, E.P., The Making of the English Working Class, Pelican Books edition 1968 page 344
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