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(ENGLISH CLOTH MANUFACTURER'S LEDGER). [ANON.]. West Riding, England, Cloth Manufacturers Ledger, 1804-1809. 8vo. contemp. leather bound wallet flap notebook, 87 pp., ink, alphabetical-tab index in front, some missing pages, some torn, stray pencil scribblings, few wormholes, legible. $475.00

 

     Cloth manufacturing was the leading edge of the Industrial Revolution in England and West Riding was the center of textile industry, especially for woolen goods. The Luddite insurrection was to take place there in 1811-12. Although this rebellion, against the introduction of machinery for finishing cloth, started in Nottinghamshire it soon spread to Yorkshire, and Huddersfield was one of the towns most deeply involved in it.

     The ledger is divided into credit and debit sides and reflects the sale of cloth; corbeau, olive, drab, bottle, blue, black coating, broadcloth, etc. The purchaser?��s name and town are given at the head as well as amounts in pounds/shillings; Thomas & Law Atkinson of Huddersfield, Wrigley & Sons of Netherton, John Howarth of Leeds, John Winterbottom of Bayhall, Clegg & Pershouse of Manchester, Bernard Bishop & Sons, Leeds, Thomas Holroyd of Burkby, among many others. Thomas and Law Atkinson who ran the Bradley Mill in Huddersfield appear to be among the major customers with receipts totalling over ��1000 a month.

     Their mill achieved infamy when in February of 1818, a group of children working the night shift were locked in while the overlooker went for his evening meal, or had gone home to bed. During the night, a 10-year-old boy accidentally set fire to some cotton with a candle, and a fire broke out. Nine children survived, but 17 girls, aged between 9 and 18, died. See: (Hudderfield Mills by Vivien Teasdale, 2004)