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The Lancashire Weavers' Uprising of 1826

Posted by (Lake District, England ) on

For anyone visiting Skipton for Grassington, this walk from Addingham to Skipton (and then Skipton to Gargrave) may be of interest.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOyOesoZeI8

It highlights an almost forgotten side of the social history of the area (and that of East Lancashire)- the plight of the handloom weavers as mechanisation and the Industrial Revolution took hold- ultimately leading to a massacre by the Army.

This is the project website- https://www.weavers-uprising.org.uk/

It is not comfortable reading.

Posted by
1051 posts

Thank you! What a great find.

My history may be a bit off but I think it was around 1820 that high quality, inexpensive Egyptian cotton came into the international market. It was durable enough to processed in the new machines. Also, this led to a crash in cotton prices and also led to cascading changes across the globe. I can’t recall how much, but I think cotton prices fell by more than 1/2. This led in America a drive for southern planters to be much more efficient. In the UK, workers likewise had wages cut and were displaced by machines. In the US, plantation marched western into Mississippi and finally into Texas - owned by Mexico. Huge piles of debt and displacement and unemployed workers and mass incentives to expand slavery. And this find of yours which you kindly linked shows piece of the whole foundation. Brutal history. Something to be remembered and studied

Thanks! Happy travels.

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