Lancashire was once the 'cotton capital' of the world. Raw cotton came in from first Egypt in the 1790s and then America, Africa and the West Indies, to Liverpool docks and was sold on the Exchange. In the beginning, it was transported to cottages all over the county where whole families, including the children, would clean, card, spin and weave it. The finished cloth was then sold on the Manchester Exchange.
With the coming of the Industrial Revolution new machines invented by Lancashire people, saw the work transferred from home to factory. Five-storey spinning mills were built harnessing water power, with the weaving carried out in single-storey sheds with windows set in the roof.
The heyday of the local cotton industry had arrived. It was said that Lancashire could produce enough cotton before breakfast to supply the UK market, with the remainder of the day's supply going overseas. Sadly, the prosperity was not to last.
Between the wars over 800 mills closed and as the 20th century progressed, more olf family firms went out of business or were bought by bigger companies. By the 1980s the trade was all but finished, unable to compete with cheap labour abroad. A few mills remain, with the work outsources, including one owned by a descendant of James Hargreaves, the inventor of the Spinning Jenny.
Ron Freethy, tells the story of the county's cotton mills with the help of first-hand accounts from local people, and a remarkable collection of contemporary photographs.
Contents:
Foreword
Acknowledgements
1. Cotton, Men and Machines
2. Factories and Families
3. The Cotton Workers
4. Trade Unions
5. Wakes Weeks and Resorts
6. The Language of Cotton
7. The Last Rites: A Sad Cotton Wake
Further Reading
Index
