Chapter LV, of Cassells Illustrated History of England, Volume 9 page 2

One of the most beautiful applications of science which have been made in recent years is that by which men have been enabled to avail themselves of the agency of light to take impressions of objects. In this, chemical and optical science are united. The first step in this art was due to the Frenchmen, MM. Niepce and Daguerre, who, in 1839, introduced their process of light-printing, known as Daguerreotype. Wonderful as this process was, it was very imperfect to the process which came before the world some years afterwards, and which bears the name of photography. This art, which is due to the researches of an Englishman, Mr. Fox Talbot, has, in a few years, become a considerable branch of industry. In 1851 there were only forty-five photographers in England. They increased in the next ten years to 2,534, and in 1871 numbered 4,715, of whom 694 were females. The principal improvement in recent years is the carbon, or autotype, process, invented by Mr. Joseph Swan, of Newcastle, in 1864. Previously, the multiplication of copies was a great difficulty, which Mr. Swan, by his process, improved as it has been by Mr. J. R. Johnson and Mr. E. Edwards, has removed. By the Albert-type, the invention of M. Albert, of Munich, the photo-lithography has been brought to a high state of perfection; but the history of invention in this art has not yet been brought to a close. New and ingenious applications are being made almost every day. Not only in common life, but in astronomical science, meteorology, ethnography, and topography, this art has proved of inestimable value.

In the textile fabrics, one of the most important novelties is the rapid rise and growth of the jute manufacture. Jute fibre, which is derived from two nearly allied plants, growing in great abundance in the East Indies, had long been employed there in making coarse materials, such as gunny cloths and bags. Its first noticeable use in Britain dates from about 1832, when it was employed in Dundee to mix with flax and tow. Three years afterwards useful sacking wa3 manufactured of pure jute. In 1838 there were 1,138 tons imported into Dundee alone, and the quantity rose to 8,905 tons in 1848, since which time the progress of the manufacture has been most rapid. In the year 1857 Dundee used as much jute as flax, tow, hemp, and hemp-codilla put together. At first it was used only for the coarsest materials, but it is now mixed with cotton, flax, tow, and hemp, in making better kinds of goods. For still better kinds of fabric, second only to those made of pure flax, jute is also employed alone. Among the principal products of this industry, are sheetings, pack-sheets, baggings, sackings, sacks, woolpack cloths, twine, and fishing-nets, of which immense quantities are manufactured from jute fibre. The goods have even a better appearance than those made of flax, though they are cheaper than those made from any other raw material of equal quality. A considerable quantity of carpeting has also been made of jute of late years, the principal failing in which is that the colours, though brilliant at first, readily fade. Costing only from £16 to £25 per ton, while flax is worth double the price, it is used with flax in the manufacture of almost all fabrics except the very finest linens. The jute trade is now enormous: 904,092 cwts., of the value of £792,961, were imported in 1861. In 1871 the quantity imported was 3,454,386 cwts., of the value of £4,103,736. The exports of jute manufactures in 1871 included 13,710,957 lbs. of yarn, and 62,310,463 yards of piece goods, against 7,047,217 lbs., and 6,519,252 yards in 1861; while of the linen manufactures exported in 1871, including 36,235,625 lbs. of yarn, 2,902,376 lbs. of thread, and 216,337,944 yards of piece goods, a certain proportion contained a not inconsiderable admixture of jute fibre. Dundee, the great seat of the jute manufacture, has rapidly risen to the third place in the great towns of Scotland, having a population of upwards of one hundred thousand inhabitants.

When Pizarro and his companions invaded Peru, the native inhabitants manufactured a species of woollen cloth of much delicacy and beauty. The wool they employed was that of a race of animals previously unknown to Europeans, and now generally described as the llama tribe; there are several varieties of the race, - including the guanaco and vicuna, which are wild varieties, dwelling in the mountainous districts of South America, - and the llama proper, and the pacos or alpaca, which are domesticated, and from the last of which the fabrics manufactured from the wool of all or any of the four species take their name. The manufacture had probably been one of long standing among the subjects of the Incas, as on opening the most ancient tombs of the Peruvians, the corpses they contain have been found enveloped in cloths made of the wool of the alpaca. In recent times the manufacture has sprung up in England, of whose textile industries it is the youngest branch. The first person who succeeded in producing a marketable fabric from alpaca wool was Mr. Outram of Greetland, near Halifax. The articles lie produced in 1830 sold as novelties for a high price. But it was not till 1836 that the alpaca manufacture became firmly established, and this result was mainly due to the enterprise of some of the manufacturers of Bradford, and especially of Sir Titus Salt. The manufacture did not begin to assume very large proportions, however, until the introduction of cotton and other fibres for the warp. In Bradford and the neighbourhood there are now annually produced large quantities of numerous varieties of alpaca stuffs, in which the wool of the llama tribe, though forming the principal or characteristic ingredient, is not used alone, but in combination with cotton, silk, goats' hair, sheeps' wool, rheea fibre, and other materials.

As an illustration of the energy and intelligence which have been expended on the youngest branch of the woollen industry, the great establishment created at Saltaire may be cited. Sir W. Fairbairn tells us that: -

"The Saltaire mills are situated in one of the most beautiful parts of the romantic valley of the Aire. The site has been selected with uncommon judgment as regards its fitness for the economical working of a great manufacturing establishment. The estate is bounded by highways and railways which penetrate to the very centre of the buildings, and is intersected by both canal and river. Admirable water is obtained for the use of the steam-engines and for the different processes of the manufacture. By the distance of the mills from the smoky and cloudy atmosphere of a large town an unobstructed and good light is secured; whilst, both by land and water, direct communication is gained for the importation of coal and all other raw produce, on the one hand, and for the exportation and delivery of manufactured goods, on the other. Both porterage and cartage are entirely superseded; and every other circumstance which could tend to economise production has been carefully considered. The estate on which Saltaire is built will gradually develop itself to a considerable extent; and the part appropriated to the works, which is literally covered with the buildings, is not less than six and a half acres. Here the heavy operations of the manufacture are carried on: but the superficies given to the several processes and to the storage of goods, or in other words, the floor area of the establishment, is in all about twelve acres.

" The main range of buildings, or the mill proper, runs from east to west, nearly parallel with the lines of railway running from Shipley to Skipton and Lancaster. This pile is six stories high, 550 feet in length, 50 feet in width, and about 72 feet in height, and the architectural features, to avoid monotony, have been most skilfully treated by the architects. A bold Italian style has been adopted; and the beautiful quality of the stone of which the whole is massively built displays its features to great advantage. Immediately behind the centre of the main mill, and at right angles with it, runs another six-story building devoted to warehouse purposes, such as the reception and examination of the newly-manufactured goods; and on either side of this, again, lie the combing-shed (or apartment where the fibres of the alpaca, mohair, wool, &c., are combed by machinery), the handsome range of building devoted to offices, and the great shed for weaving by power-looms. [It was in the combing-shed that, in September, 1868, three thousand five hundred of Sir Titus Salt's guests sat down to dinner, without confusion or crowding, and with perfect ventilation. The great loom-shed, we are told, would have accommodated under its single roof a party twice as numerous as this.] Arranged in convenient situations are washing-rooms, packing-rooms, drying-rooms., and mechanics' shops. In the formation of the new roads which were requisite to secure free and easy access to the different parts of the mills, Sir Titus Salt availed himself of the most recent experience, therefore we find bridges of the most durable and solid construction, both in cast and wrought iron, one of these viaducts on the tubular girder system, crossing the canal and river Aire, being not less than 450 feet in length.

" More than three thousand persons are employed in these works, and immediately surrounding this palace of industry is a new town, containing double that number of inhabitants, with all the conveniences of churches, chapels, schools, mechanics' institute, baths and wash- house, all of which have been established by the same spirited proprietor."

Among the other novelties recently introduced in the woollen manufacture, the use of woollen rags and tailors' cuttings is of some interest. More than half a century ago, manufacturers began to employ small quantities of these materials, but it is only in recent times that they have employed them on a large scale. These refuse materials now form the basis of an important and distinct branch of the woollen manufacture, which is carried on in Dewsbury, Batley, Heckmondwike, and the neighbouring towns and villages of the "West Riding of Yorkshire, and is commonly known as the shoddy and mungo manufacture. Old woollen rags, old blankets, carpets, flannel, worsted stockings, &e., after being sorted and prepared, are torn up by a machine called a swift into a fibrous condition, and the product is called shoddy. The better qualities of woollen rags, tailors' cuttings and worn-out garments of woollen cloth, are torn up by a variety of the same machine into mungo. The shoddy and mungo fibre are then used over again in the manufacture of woollen cloth, a larger or smaller quantity of new wool being mixed with them to add to their strength and improve the quality of the material. In 1860 it was estimated that in Batley, and within four miles of that town, about forty million pounds of mungo and shoddy were annually produced, the average value of the shoddy being fourpence, and that of mungo sixpence, per pound. Mungo, made from the best woollen materials, is said to be superior to some new wools of inferior quality. The employment of old worsted and woollen materials as shoddy and mungo has caused an appreciable reduction in the price of woollen goods in recent years. As the materials used in the manufacture were of little or no value before this application was found for them, and, as by their employment really strong, warm, and serviceable garments are produced, which in appearance are little inferior to those made of new wool, while in price they are considerably lower, the shoddy manufacture does not altogether deserve the ill name it bears in ordinary language.

The only other important novelty in the recent history of British industry which we have space to mention is the sewing-machine. The inventor of the sewing- machine was Elias Howe, an American, born in 1819 at Spencer, in Massachusetts. In 1835 he was employed by a mechanical firm manufacturing cotton machinery at Lowell, and afterwards worked in a machine shop at Cambridge, and at a nautical instrument maker's at Boston in his native state. In 1839 a conversation in the workshop where he was employed first turned his thoughts to the problem of inventing a contrivance which should perform the mechanical operation of sewing. For some years, however, lie made no serious attempt to realise the idea. In 1843 he first earnestly bent his attention to the subject, and after various unsuccessful experiments, he at length hit upon the correct principle.

The first sewing-machine was produced in 1845, but some years elapsed before the merits of the new invention were generally recognised. Within the last twenty years, however, the sewing-machine has effected a complete revolution in all trades which are dependent upon the sewing-needle. A large number of sewing-machines are now used, not only in England and the United States, but on the continent of Europe, in the stitching of boots, shoes, knickerbockers, gaiters, &c. In some places the machines are owned by females, who use them at home. The demand for female labour in connection with all kinds of sewing has been on the increase; the wages of women have at the same time been considerably raised, and many women, who could earn nothing by hand-sewing from want of skill, are enabled to make a tolerable living with the sewing-machine. The ladies' cloak and mantle manufacture has greatly increased since the general introduction of the machine, one of which is able to turn out as much work as six females by hand-sewing. In this branch of industry, as in others, not only are the articles better made, but the sewing hands are both more numerous and better paid. A vast development has been given to the ready-made clothing trade by the use of the machine in tailoring. The introduction of the factory system in the manufacture of wearing apparel is entirely due to the machine, and in the case of certain classes of articles of male attire, as shirts and tailoring, steam power is now employed in driving whole rows of sewing-machines at once. The application of the machine to the shoe manufacture has almost revolutionised that branch of trade. Workmen and manufacturers alike rebelled against its introduction at first. In 1859 a great struggle took place at Northampton, the head-quarters of the wholesale boot and shoe manufacture, which resulted in the transference of a considerable portion of the trade to Leicester, and causing the population of that town to increase nearly 50 per cent, in the ten years between the census of 1861 and 1871.

But the greatest benefit which this admirable invention has conferred upon mankind is the amelioration it has caused in the condition of a vast number of women. In every civilised country sewing is that form of labour which occupies a larger number of females than can be found in any other employment. In the United Kingdom the number who pursue sewing as a profession is larger than that found in any other branch of industry. The number thus occupied professionally in England in 1851 and in 1871 was 471,159 and 510,475 respectively.