ANNALS OF OLDHAM No. 84 1816 September 23rd – Was the prize ringing at Marple, when the first prize (590) was won by the Saddleworth ringers, the second and third by two sets from Radcliff Bridge. The weather still continues extreem wet and cold, and most of corn in the northern countys still remains uncut, and some so late that it will scarse ever be ripe this season. The crobs of peas and beans have been extreemly poor, and the pottatoe crops don’t promise well, and all vegetation as dull as in winter, and trade of all kinds is dayley worse. It is an absolute fact that there are some masters at this time giving only 1s. per lb. for weaving 24 hanks. Let future ages judge of our present situation. “Let future ages judge.” Well, 1s. a pound for weaving 24’s would be a grand thing for the weavers today. Fortunes would soon be made at such a price; but comparing this price with what had previously been paid, it would leave the poor hand-loom weavers in a sorry plight. Add to this the prospect of a hard winter. October -The season of 1799 was similar to the present year for wet and cold. It seems to have gone through the newspapers that the years 1816 and 1799 were much alike as regards the state of the weather. It will be remembered that in 1799 the bad crops ushered in the “Barley Times.” To show how truly Rowbottom states this fact, I quote the author of the “Life and Times of Palmerston,” who says:- “To make things worse in 1816 the harvest was a bad one. So stormy and melancholy a season had not been experienced since 1799.” Unfortunate occurance happened on the evening of Sept. 30th. James, son of Benjamin Butterworth, of near Uinnook, Northmoor, in a fit of dispair, drowned himself in a pool of water called Joel’s Damm, at bottom of Northmoor. The body was not found till the 2nd of October following. His age, nearly 16 years. October 1st -A man was wounded last night by some slate falling on him at Cut Bridge, Whitegate End, and died this morning. |
October 6th -The wet, cold weather still continues to such a degre as was never remembered by the oldest person living. Lord Chancellor Eldon, in a letter at this time to Lord Sidmouth, writes:- “I look to the winter with fear and trembling. In this island our wheat is good for nothing. As a farmer, I am ruined here and in Durham. So much for peace and plenty.” October 12th -At Manchester, this day, flour, meal, and pottatoes took a rapid rise. Flour 75s., meal 50s., pottatoes 10s. a load; and at Oldham flour 3s. 9d. to 4s., meal 2s. 4d. to 2s. 9d., pottatoes 13d. per score. October 14th -Was intered at Oldham, Hanha, wife of Jonathan Garside, of Priest-hill, Oldham. On her mother’s side she was descended from the family of Chadwicks of Beartrees within Chadderton. Her age 76 years. October 14th -Last night Daniel Chadwick, a millwright, of Dobcross in Saddleworth, fell down a pair of stairs, at the Woolpack public-house. His scull was so fractured that he died a few hours after. His age 47 years. October 20th -Flour and meal rose in price at Manchester this day, and at Oldham flour sold 3s. 10d. to 4s., and meal 2s. to 2s. 8d. a peck. October 23rd -Last night died at Priest-hill, Oldham, Thomas Ogden, a pensioner, late of the 20th Rt. of Foot, age 42 years. Disorder, consumption. October 27th -Was intered at Oldham, Mr. James Fletcher, hat manufacturer, formerly of Holebottom, Oldham. October 30th -The crops are mostly got in. Notwithstanding there is a deal of corn to cut in the northern parts, it has been an uncomon bad season for all kinds of grain. It has been very cold and wet, and the sun as shined but little, and all products of the earth have felt the want of its influence. The crops of pottatoes are very much wanting, and the crops of grain, it is feared, and are very much, and all kinds of grain is rapidly rising. Such an unfavourable season cannot be remembered. The year 1799 was similar for coldness and wetnesss and a failure of crops, but there was more sunshine that year; indeed everything has a very dreary apearance. |
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It almost seems to have been a judgment from heaven on the framers of the idiotic Corn Law that a bad harvest should succeed the year in which that wicked Corn Law was passed. The distress of the country certainly was not all to be attributed to the passing of the Corn Law, as some people would have us believe; but there is one cause to which every evil may be attributed, and that is the bad government of the country. It is easy for us to find fault after the event, and condemn in unmeasured terms the mistakes of those who had responsibility of affairs. We ought, perhaps, to bear in mind the evils of the times. No doubt Cobbett was right in much that he said on the currency question but what was the remedy? The country had to bear the fardels in some shape. The last war does not see, to have been preventible, except by yielding in a cowardly fashion to a tyrant. If we must have wars, we must make up our minds to pay, and we did pay to some tune. The more we look into those times, and the better we understand the pressure that broke Pitt’s heart. As partisans, we can only lament that Pitt died so soon, and that Peel was born so late. As electors, we can only regret that a House of Commons had the utter selfishness to pass the Corn Bill, and as Englishmen, we can only bemoan the fate of our unhappy country that “there was none to guide her among all the sons who she had brought forth. Neither was there any that took her by the hand of all the sons she had brought up.” There is plenty of scope for a wise statesman even today, though the nation rather suffers from a plethora of really clever men of all shades of politics. Yet where is the man with ability enough to tell us the nature of the disease we suffer from, and with courage enough to apply the remedy? It almost seems that human life was too short to comprehend the results of legislative measures such as this. From the year 1815 till the year 1845, just thirty years, the corn law mightily oppressed the great majority of the population, while it enriched a minority interested as landlords. From 1845 to 1875, again just a period of thirty years, something was done to redress this grievance, and the wealth of the nation was more equally distributed between the landed and the manufacturing classes. From 1875 we have had a period of acute suffering, experienced by both landowners and manufacturers, and the great wealth of the nation has been finding its way into the pockets of the working classes. 1875 is singled out as the period when the tide of prosperity for the manufacturers had reached its flood, and from that time, from some economic cause or causes not yet properly discovered with all our cleverness, our trades have been harassed to an unprecedented degree, and both manufacture and agriculture have been suffering together. May we not ask with one of old, “Who is sufficient for these things?” Where is the living statesman able to solve the present economic question, and what is his name? |
November 3rd -Was intered at Oldham, Mary, wife of Thomas Ogden, hatter of Oldham. He comonly went by the name of Tom Tice. November 3rd -Was intered at Oldham, Mary Lees, of Oldham, age 50 years. November 2nd - At Manchester, meal sold 60s.; flour, 85s.; pottatoes, 10ds. To 12s. a load. At Oldham, meal, 2s. 10d. to 3s. 1d.; flour, 4s. to 4s. 2d. a peck; pottatoes, 12d. to 16d. a score. A Public meeting was held at the Angel Inn, Oldham, to take into consideration the distressed state of the poor. October 31st The Angel Inn at that time was certainly not the hot-bed of Radicalism. It was at the Angel where only the year before the leaders of the town had met to express their sympathy with and to extend their help to those who had fought and bled at Waterloo. All honour to that movement. As to the nature of the distress, I need but refer my readers to the newspapers of the time. Everybody was suffering; and what made the suffering more intense was the disappointed hopes of the people who fondly dreamt, and even sand of “Lovely peace with plenty crowned.” According to Butterworth, the meeting mentioned in this annal entered into subscriptions for the relief of the poor affected by the distress. No doubt, the growing town of Oldham, with its factories absorbing its surplus labour, would suffer less than most other towns; but even here the people were suffering from the change of an old established industry on to new lines, in addition to other common troubles, and the misery of the poor must have been beyond the conception of those who live in these halcyon days. November 3rd - Died John Buckley, of Fog-lane, a spiner, a man that was a great admirer of the noble animal the racehorse. His age 40 yrs, disorder a fever. On Friday the 1st, the new church at Newton Heath was consicrated, and on Sunday following devine worship was performed for the first time. November 4th – Died suddenly George Taylor, of Hollinwood, shopkeeper, age 74 years. November 8th – Friday a grand shearing match took place near Nimble Nook, within Chadderton, betwixt Levi Smith, of Beartrees, and Lees, of Mathew Fold, both within Chadderton, wich was won by the latter. The contest was in a field of oats, for three hours only. |
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