December 15th – Died at Burnley Brow, Northmoor, Edward Robinson, of that place. He had been a long time in a state of sickness, his age 69 years. December 15th – Died John, son of John Mellor, of Thorp, and a few days since his brother Robert died; disorder typhus fever, of which the whole of the family have been attacted at different times. December 22nd – An extreem wet, dark day, and has been for some time. Dec. 24th – Ann, daughter of Charles Chadwick, carder, bottom of Maygate-lane, unfortunately burned to death a few days since; age eight years. December 24th – May Rowbottom, of Burnly-gate, seriously attacked with a fit so that she fell down. The year eighteen hundred and twenty-seven ended with cold and wet, and as been so for several weeks past; yet at some periods it has been very warm, but to look at the state of the country, the poor are in a misserable situation, especially the poor fustian weavers who are at this time in a lamentable situation, and had it not been for the reasonableness of some kinds of provisions, they would have been truly misserable. Another jeremiad on the state of the poor fustian weavers. Rowbottom does not yet seem to have perceived the cause of the decline of hand-weaving, or does not like to acknowledge it. No doubt many would cling to the old trade because of old habit and association. From the newspapers of that day it may be inferred that many held the opinion that hand-weaving would revive. The comparative prosperity of the cotton trade under the factory system which was restored in 1827 led to the belief that there was still a chance for hand looms, but we shall find that this chance was very small, as the work was being absorbed by the power looms at factories, the hand looms becoming finally extinct. |
E. Butterworth says:- “In May and June, 1827, trade considerably revived, owing to the great extension of demand for goods in the continental markets occasioned by the low prices of almost every article of British manufacture. Mr. Robert Ogden, formerly of Hey, Lees, and several partners, erected Bank Top Mill, near Leesbrook in 1827. (He along with his brother, John, and others, had erected the brick mill at Hey in 1818-19.) In June, 1833, R. Ogden employed 90 hands. From this period of its erection till subsequent to 1834, this mill contained several concerns, but since the latter date it has been safely possessed by Messrs. Ogden and Sons, of the late R. Ogden, Esq., who considerably extended the manufactory. In 1846 Messrs. Ogden employed 500 hands, and the mill contained 37,200 spindles and 500 looms. It is now the Bank Top Spinning Company. Mr. Charles Bradbury, who in 1818 was in the cotton at Shaw factory, erected Marland Mill in Manchester-street, in 1827. In June, 1833, Mr. Bradbury employed 95 hands, and the aggregate wages paid monthly was £201 14s. 2d., or about 11s. 3d. per head per week. This mill is now worked by Messrs. Kirkham and Mannock. Mr. James Holladay, millwright, erected a small mill near Royton-street in 1827, which was immediately occupied for millwright work, as well as for cotton spinning. Though the cotton trade began to recover itself in 1827, Oldham people were badly off. Higson says out of a total of 7,258 ratepayers, the number of defaulters to the poor’s rate was 6,410. This would leave only 858 who paid their rates that year. In 1827 a history and description of the towns and parishes of Stockport, Ashton-under-Lyne, Mottram in Longendale, and Glossop &c., by James Butterworth appeared, although in this year, the writer met with a sad humiliation. |
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ANNALS OF OLDHAM No. CXIII 1828 Rowbottom’s annals for 1828 are not within present reach. I must, therefore, rely on other sources of information A second edition of the “History of Ashton-under-Lyne,” by James Butterworth, was published in 1827-8. January 15th - The body of Mrs. Hall was stolen from Hollinwood Churchyard. February 21st – First Candlemas Fair was held at Oldham. One of the first results of the change in the local government in Oldham seems to have been the discovery of serious irregularities in the collection of the poor’s rate. A committee was appointed on the 25th March, 1827, to audit the accounts of the overseers of the poor and collectors of the poor rate for the township. This committee made its report on the 12th February, 1828, and on the 27th February it was ordered that Mr. Dodge be, and he is hereby directed to print 500 copies in the form of a pamphlet at the expense of the township. George Bentley was chairman of the Auditing Committee. They reported that out of three rates, signed 13th July, 1826, 16th November, 1826 and 8th March, 1827, amounting to the enormous sum of £8,402 11s. 111⁄4d., only £6,527 3s. 4d. had been collected. £612 11s. 7d. was “called” empty property, and £1,305 10s. 111⁄2d. was not collected. The number of ratepayers was 7,258; there were 2,590 empty houses, and 6,410 ratepayers who had not paid their rates. The committee considered the “large” sum of £6,527 3s. 4d. ought to have been sufficient for the expenses of the township, but for want of a connection betwixt the receipts and the expenditure they were unable to state clearly the amount of debt on the township. The empty property was accounted for by the depression in trade. The repeated turnouts and the stagnation in trade, with lowness of wages, had caused part of the mischief, but a great part of the “defalcation” was attributed to the mode of collection. The collectors being paid by poundage had caused them to get in the larger amounts, which paid well, and leave uncollected the smaller sums which it did not pay them to collect, returning them as defalcations. |
One of the collectors had no cash books for two of the rates, and the committee had to accept certain crosses made on the margin of each page of the rate book as proof of payment. There were other gross irregularities. The expenditure for the year was £935 10s. 7d. over the receipts. Favouritism in dispensing relief was alleged, and the assistant-overseer comes in for both blame and praise. The workhouse and its governor came in for a meed of praise, but its book-keeping was on a bad system, and the “late treasurer” refused to be audited by the committee, as he had discovered they were “an incompetent tribunal.” The accounts were not closed at given periods, and the assessments differed from 10 to 300 per cent, rendering one man’s property liable to three times the amount required from that of his neighbour, and this evil had existed for at least thirty years. Joseph Bradbury signs the report. At a vestry meeting held on the 13th February, 1828, Mr. Jonathan Mellor in the chair. The chancel and vestry of Oldham Church not being large enough to hold the leypayers, the meeting adjourned to the school in St. Domingo street. The minister and churchwardens of this township were empowered to contract on behalf of the township for the purchase of all the small tithes, mortuaries, and Easter dues payable within the township, the money to be paid out of the poor rates. It was resolved to have a new survey and valuation taken immediately for equality of assessment, &c., and to appoint a committee to carry out same, consisting of the churchwarden, overseers of the poor, and constables of the township, with the following gentlemen:- Edward Lees, Esq., of Werneth; James Lees, Esq., Clarksfield; Thomas Barker, Esq., Captain Taylor, J. M. Taylor, Esq., Joseph Jones, sen., Esq., Joseph Jones, junr., Esq., Richard Clegg, Esq., Messrs. Thomas Heywood, Enoch Dunkerley, Samuel Taylor (Greenacres), Jonathan Marsland, Thomas Wroe, James Henthorn, Joseph Rowlands, John Haigh, senr. (Acre), John Lees (Spring Mill), John Brideoake, Thomas Livesey, Joseph Bradbury (Mumps), Abraham Lees (Mount Pleasant), William Wrigley (Lowside), John Whittaker (Greaves-street), John Shaw (ditto), Saml. Lees, Soho, Geo. Bentley, Henshaw-street, Abel Fielding, Thos. Clegg, J. Worthington, J. Lowe, Mumps, Geo. Nelson, Waterloo, Elijah Hibbert, John Boardman, James Mellor, Union-street, John Wright, Chamber Hall, John Lees, junr., Mount Pleasant, John Halliwell, Joseph Clegg, Bow-street, John Ogden, King-street, Wm. Campbell, John Brierley, Jerry Lees, Swineclough, James Dixon, Hathershaw, Benj. Dunkerley, Pee Cote, John Wrigley, Copster Hill, and Edward Bamford. An executive committee for the examination of the accounts, &c., was also named, along with Messrs. John Shaw, West-street, Thomas Harrop, William Mellor, Robert Tweeder, and Joseph Bradbury, Lord-street. I give these names simply to show who at that time took public interest in the affairs of the town. |
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William Rowbottom's Diary as published in the Oldham Standard |
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