![]() Turner 2, in his description of the power loom riots of 1826, documented the involvement of two Grimshaws, both women (Alice and Ellen). Hunger and despair drove these men and women to desperate acts, which were accomplished with a fearlessness that astonished all who witnessed them. Were the power-looms to be broken or not? Yes, it was decided, they must be broken at all costs.” Are we to starve to death? The soldiers were fully equipped with haversacks and the emptied their sandwiches among the crowd. Then the soldiers left and there was another meeting. They said, What are we to do? Were starving. Some of the old fellows from the mob spoke. When the soldiers had come into the midst of the people, the officers called out, Halt! All expected that the soldiers were going to charge, but the officers made a speech to the mob and told them what the consequences would be if they persisted in what they were going to do. Some threw their pikes over the dyke and some didnt. The people opened out to let the soldiers get through. The soldiers came forward, their drawn swords glittering in the air. When we had got on the road we saw horse soldiers coming towards us. That morning we set off to the loom-breaking. I have had porridge twenty-one times a weekAll farmers had loom shops and they fancied the power-loom was going to starve them to death. a pound, broken sugar 8d., lump sugar 1s. “Cotton weaving got to starvation work in 1826. There were about sixty pikemen. Thomas Duckworth, a 16-year-old Haslingden handloom weaver, who rose early that day to turn the grindstone on which the rioters sharpened their pikes, recalled in later life: There were two armed with guns, some with hammers, others with iron balance balls with wood handles driven into them, some with hatchets and picks. Many of the rioters who marched on the first day from Clayton-le-Moors through Accrington to Blackburn were farmed with pikes. On 24 April rioting began in East Lancashire and continued for three days. Twenty-one mills were attacked and more than 1000 power looms destroyed. To Stuart Grimshaw, for calling the author’s attention to the Turner reference, and then subsequently providing a copy to him! Clayton-le-Moors in the Power Loom UnrestĬlayton-le-Moors was the location of some of the social unrest that occurred, including the power-loom riots of 1826, as described by Aspin 1 ContentsĬlayton-le-Moors in the Power Loom UnrestĪttack of the Grimshaw Mill in the 1826 Power Loom Riots The social ills that accompanied the Industrial Revolution included high unemployment, low wages and the lack of a social “safety net” which led to great suffering, and even starvation, among the textile workers in Lancashire. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |