ANDREW STUTTARD

[rossylass]

I came across the following when researching handloom weaving in Barnoldswick and am wondering if anyone knows more about the following:-

"One of the advantages of having mills in this district was the presence of handloom weavers forming a large part of the population. The Sutcliffe papers show that one mill-owning family were employing hundreds of handloom weavers both locally and in East Lancashire. Ledgers and account books give the names of weavers in the townships of Heptonstall, Ripponden, Sowerby and Soyland, and show that in the 1820s and 1830s they were also employing an agent in Colne called Andrew Stuttard to organise weavers in the cotton weaving districts of Marsden, Brierfield and Barnoldswick areas"

I have put the link in - http://www.powerinthelandscape.co.uk/pe ... avers.html

[Wendyf]

I haven't heard about Andrew Stuttard before, but I've just been having a furtle as Stanley would say.

The 1841 census shows an Andrew Stuttard weaver aged 55 living in Spring Lane, Colne with his wife Martha, weaver aged 50 and 2 sons Elijah 15 & William 10.
Andrew was the son of William & Jenny Stuttard of Dobson Syke Colne. He was baptized at St Batholomew's on 28th December 1782.
He married Martha hartley on the 2nd July 1810 at St Barts. They had a number of children all baptized at St Barts (Info on Lancashire Online Parish Clerks Project.
Andrew was buried at St Barts on 20th November 1845.

I found this list of archive material held by the Hebden Bridge History Society - If you look at page 8 there is a list of papers from the Sutcliffe family which mention Andrew Stuttard.

[Stanley]

I suspect that this was weaving wool. I have come across the name Stuttard but only mentions in passing. The weavers they talk about are domestic and Colne used to be a big centre for HLW delaine. There was a Cloth Hall at Colne and even in the 1851 census there are occasional delaine weavers in Barlick and the villages across to Colne. One thing that always struck me was how far weavers would walk to deliver pieces of cloth to clothiers well outside their area. There is a reference in Wadsworth and Mann (p. 394) to weavers in Grindleton walking ten miles to Barlick.

[rossylass]

Thank you for the responses. Brilliant stuff in the Calderdale archive Wendy.

I am particularly interested in the hand loom weaving of delaine. My ggg grandfather Richard Pickles was such a weaver as late as 1851 by which time he had moved to from Barlick to Roughlee; in the census HLW delaine is listed as his occupation. I have pieced together some of his history. I could never understand why the census showed one occupation, yet on the marriage certificates of two of his sons he is shown as having another, that of farmer (1854 & 1866). I found the answer in John Clayton's book about the Lancashire Witch Conspiracy in which he mentions that there were a number of subsistence farmers in the 1851 census, who lived around the foot of Blacko Hill and augmented their income by weaving delaine. This tallies with the information from the Removal Order in respect of Stephen Pickles, who gave an account of the family moving from Barlick around 1824 to live at Blacko Foot Farm and subsequently Judson's Kitchen. On yet another marriage certificate Richard's occupation is given as a mason (1843); maybe he did property repairs too! All of this leads me to believe that Richard was a resourceful and independent man who sired resourceful and independent sons, who, rather than be factory slaves in the cotton mills, took to the road with the portable theatres. Having read a good deal of the material in OGFB I do not underestimate the part which the spirit of Barnoldswick probably played in this outlook, particularly as the family were Baptists. They were probably from a long line of Baptists as I haven't been able to find baptism records for either Richard or his wife Betty, who hailed from Colne, which may indicate that they were not baptised C of E.

I wondered whether the appointment of Andrew Stuttard as "an agent to organise the HLW's"... in Barlick in the 1820's had anything to do with the Pickles family decamping to Blacko. Ronge and White Iron spring to mind.....but I will never know!

Would Richard have had to collect the yarn and take his finished goods to Colne?

[Stanley]

Rossy, big subject but you are on the right lines. The importance of the Dissenters in the mind set of the early adherents was that they believed that we were not predestined at birth to be nothing higher than the station we were born in. A rejection of the medieval/feudal 'Chain of Being'. They believed that we could raise status by individual effort, indeed, some sects regarded this transition as making them into 'The Elect' which guaranteed a place in heaven. Combining domestic textiles with small scale farming was very common. If the fields demanded labour you were out there, if you weren't on the land you were working indoors. This is the origin of what was said of some of the early manufacturers, that they had 'One foot in the field and one in the shed'. If you look for the Barcroft papers in Rare Texts you'll see that farming was often combined with mill owning because the work force could be used either on the land or in the shed. Gregg's at Quarrybank Mill at Styal used farms as employment for the men while the women and children worked in the mill. The seasons governed where the labour was used. Clothiers used to complain that cloth production fell in the harvest season. This dual role of agricultural workers was the reason why at the time of the Black Death in the 14th century many small villages like Barlick survived and eventually prospered because they could bring pressure to bear on the Lords by withdrawing labour in the aftermath when they were in demand due to shortage of labour. They could use the income from textiles to hold out against the Lords and eventually forced them to give copyhold leases, the start of the independent Yeoman Farmers. So you are right, the circumstances you describe fostered independence and eventually the rise of the small entrepreneurs. Trevelyan recognised this when he said that the Black Death was a tree fallen across the stream of commerce forcing it into new courses. (paraphrased)

[Wendyf]

It was the same in this area Rossylass. The 1851 census shows the same mix of farming and hand loom weaving (with delanes in brackets). The way I see it is that the old hill farms have been around since the seventeenth century and before and were there because the conditions were right for producing wool - so the farmers weren't really supplementing their income with hand loom weaving, cloth was the end product of their farming activity.
Then I suppose the industrial revolution came along and changed it all....

[Wendyf]

I'm sat in Colne library looking at a transcription of the non - conformist registers in Colne. There is a baptism for a Richard Pickles at Colne Baptist Chapel 29/8/1785, son of John & Betty Pickles of Trawden...don't suppose it could be your Richard? If you can let me know his wife's name before 1.00pm I'll have a look for her.

[rossylass]

Wendy, I have only just seen your post about the baptism. It would figure as Richard was born around 1784/5 and one of his sons was called John. Richard married Elizabeth, or Betty Aiken, Akin, Aitken or Aking....there are several versions. I should be very grateful if you would look it up when you get a chance.

[Wendyf]

Will do. I'm in the library again next Wednesday morning.

[rossylass]

Thank you Wendy.

If you also happen to find a baptism for James Pickles, who was born around 1791/2/3 and may be the brother of Richard, it would be another piece to add to the family jigsaw. There was a James Pickles who rented Blacko Foot Farm for a period of seven years from 1815. I have a theory that Richard & family, whom I know occupied that farm from around 1824, moved in with James and that he may have been a relation. The dates fit & another possible clue is that my GG grandfather's name was James.

Waiting with bated breath!

[Stanley]

Lovely to see you helping each other. Brightens my day!

[Wendyf]

I will be down in the library this morning, so I'll have a look for James Pickles & Betty Aiken.

[Wendyf]

Nothing at all Rossylass. Sorry!

[rossylass]

Thanks for looking anyway Wendy.