J. A. Jowitt - Employers and Labour in the English Textile Industries, 1850-1939

Volume 19

Edited by
J. A. JOWITT AND A. J. MCIVOR

First published in 1988 by Routledge

This edition first published in 2019

by Routledge

2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN

and by Routledge

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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor? Francis Group, an informa business

1988 J. A. Jowitt and A. J. McIvor

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any Form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-138-32435-0 (Set)

ISBN: 978-0-429-43443-3 (Set) (ebk)

ISBN: 978-1-138-32838-9 (Volume 19) (hbk)

ISBN: 978-0-429-44868-3 (Volume 19) (ebk)

Publishers Note

The publisher has gone to great lengths to ensure the quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfections in the original copies may be apparent.

Disclaimer

The publisher has made every effort to trace copyright holders and would welcome correspondence from those they have been unable to trace.

Edited by
J.A. JOWITT and A.J. McIVOR

ROUTLEDGE

London and New York

DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF
JILL NORRIS AND STEVE JONES

First published in 1988 by

Routledge

a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall

11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

Published in the USA by

Routledge

a division of Routledge, Chapman and Hall, Inc.

29 West 35th Street, New York NY 10001

1988 J.A. Jowitt and A.J. McIvor

Printed and bound in Great Britain by

Biddies Ltd, Guildford and Kings Lynn

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Employers and labour in the English textile industries 18501939.

1. England. Textile industries.

Industrial relations, 18501939

I. Jowitt, J.A. II. Mclvor, Arthur

331.04770942

ISBN 0-415-00354-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 0-415-00354-7

This book could not have been produced without the assistance of a large number of individuals and institutions. A collection of essays is, in essence, a product of teamwork and our first and most significant debt is to the individual contributors. As editors, we have benefited greatly from conversations and discussions with contributors about the nature of industrial relations in textiles and must sincerely thank them for consistently responding with good humour and rapidity to our requests for modifications and revisions. Editing a collection of essays imposes particular problems, but at the same time we are indebted to all those concerned for helping to make it an interesting and enjoyable experience.

For financial and secretarial help and support we would like to record our thanks to the Department of Adult and Continuing Education of the University of Leeds and the Department of History of the University of Strathclyde. Three chapters in this collection (Chapters 1, 2 and 7) are based on research funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (E.S.R.C.) reference number FOO232204. For assistance in the form of research grants linked with other chapters, thanks are due to the British Academy and the Pasold Research Fund.

Without the numerous collections of textile documents to be found in libraries, public record offices, trade union, employers association and private archives throughout the north of England this book could not have been produced. All the contributors would like to express a very real debt to the custodians of those records for allowing access and for their help, dedication and efficiency in locating pertinent material and making it available for consultation. We would also like to thank Drummond Group PLC for permission to reproduce on the front cover one of their collection of mill photographs.

Special thanks are due to Irene Scouller who typed the manuscript, transformed rough drafts into superb copy, and solved a whole range of tricky presentation problems, thus making our job all the easier. Few authors or editors can have been blessed with such a fast, accurate and perceptive typist. Particular thanks also to Richard Taylor and Jill Liddington who read and commented on all or part of the manuscript and to John Butt, Hamish Fraser, Jim Treble and Eleanor Gordon for comments, encouragement and support. We would also like to openly acknowledge our huge debt to the many teachers, colleagues and students who have, over the years, moulded and stimulated our interest in the social history of the textile industry.

Inevitably, a considerable burden has fallen on our families whilst we have been preoccupied with this volume and we would like to gratefully acknowledge the active encouragement, criticism and co-operation of Nancy Jowitt and Brenda Mclvor and the forbearance of our children, Kieran and Tom Mclvor, Paul and Laura Jowitt.

Finally, we would like to dedicate this book to two of the contributors, JILL NORRIS and STEVE JONES, both of whom were tragically killed in separate accidents quite recently. Their chapters reflect their outstanding work in the areas of industrial relations, textile, labour and feminist history. Both are deeply and sadly missed and we hope that this book, in a very small way, will act as amerrorial to Jill and Steve.

Tony Jowitt and Arthur McIvor

This contribution to the social history of the textile industry has its origins in a textile history conference organised at Bradford by the Department of Adult and Continuing Education of Leeds University in the Autumn of 1984. Many of the contributors to this collection gave papers at the conference, whilst at a later date, others were asked to contribute to the coliection in order to broaden its content. The book examines aspects of labour and industrial relations history in the textiles sector of Northern England before World War Two, with contributions on wool, worsted, silk, cotton spinning, weaving and finishing. Our main aim has been to supplement existing literature by providing a collection of essays which incorporates some of the recent research on particularly neglected areas, most notably (though not solely) on women and employers in the industry. The collection also reflects a desire to synthesise the approaches (which have often been assumed to be mutually conflicting) of labour historians, researchers interested in employers and labour management strategies, and the emerging womens studies specialists. Our underlying rationale is that industrial relations can only be understood if viewed within a much wider framework which encapsulates, as far as possible, the experience of all involved groups.