The third aspect which is included in the sources is that of location/proximity to Manchester and these sources are H and L. Being close to Manchester was important for Oldham’s cotton-spinning industry as:
“Manchester was both the mercantile and industrial centre of Lancashire cotton. At the beginning of the 1770’s the trade directory already listed some 1,400 entries. To turn on a hundred years the 1,400 entries had grown to 30,000…there were hundreds of cotton merchants, agents and brokers.” So if Oldham’s cotton-spinning industry was to flourish it had to be close to Manchester.
Source L is a map with a scale to show Oldham’s proximity to Manchester and proves that Oldham was near to Manchester. So the proximity is the enabling factor for the importance of Manchester to be near Oldham.
The fourth aspect that is described is industrial organisation/industrial practices. One example of industrial organisation is the method of renting “spacing and turning” employed originally in Manchester and Oldham. It became quite popular and soon became pretty common. Source I and J both describe the industrial organisation aspects and source I describes the method of renting “spacing and turning”:
“The practice of renting “spacing and turning” was well established by the 1820s whereby the owner of a mill would let space by the yard and make a separate charge for use of the steam engine. Many mills would have as many as four, six or even ten occupiers, each with a few carding machines, roving frame and perhaps up to tan hand mules and 2,000 to 2,500 spindles, and each employing perhaps twenty or thirty people. Such a situation made it easy to enter the industry, limiting the capital requirements and permitting a couple or three enterprising men, scraping together a little capital, perhaps borrowing money from relatives or shopkeepers, probably buying cotton with credit, to start on their own in a small way and try their skills at the great adventure the cotton industry represented.”
Deficiencies
Site visit
On the site visit we could see the large-scale building of Platt Bros’ Hartford Works so we could see the importance of the Platts company in the cotton-spinning industry in its hey day. But the site visit did not tell us why Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence, it only told us that Platt bros’ were an important company in the cotton-spinning industry in Oldham.
Sources A-L
Most of the sources in sources A-G are Oldham specific but the factors mentioned above are not Oldham specific; they apply to other cotton-spinning towns as well. If we cannot identify Oldham specific factors in the sources then it would be hard to find any sources which actually give a reason(s) for Oldham’s rise to pre-eminence above other cotton-spinning towns. This is because we would not be able to identify a factor which may be Oldham specific and not apply to other cotton-spinning, therefore we would not be able to deduce why Oldham rose above other cotton-spinning towns in the cotton-spinning industry. For example, source E, “Every township in the [Oldham] parish has its collieries.” This source is Oldham specific because it talks about there being a lot of coal in Oldham but the factor is not Oldham specific because there would have been coal supplies in places like Bolton and Rochdale as well. So this source does not tell us why Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence in the cotton-spinning industry.
Another deficiency in the sources is the chronological extent to which they go to. The sources go from the 1770s to the 1870s. We know this from source H:
“At the beginning of the 1770’s the trade directory already listed some 1,400 entries. To turn on a hundred years (1870) the 1,400 entries had grown to 30,000…”
This shows that the chronological extent of the sources is not correct. I believe this because the extent of the chronology is up to 44 years before the First World War. Seeing as the question asks how Oldham became pre – eminent PRIOR to WW1 we can assume that it means right up to the First World War. This would then deem the chronological extent of the sources to be invalid seeing as the period is so far away from WW1. In the time period of the sources the cotton spinning industry was also not a very mature business in Oldham and Oldham could only rise to pre-eminence from a lot of good, mature and successful cotton-spinning towns. Therefore a good chronological time period for this case would include the peak of the cotton industry and also the time of the Cotton Famine. It is important to do this if we are to find out why Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence in the world cotton-spinning industry prior to the First World War.
A good chronological period to begin measuring from would have been from about 1844, when Platts’ Hartford Works were being built because these Works were being built by an established Oldham company. Therefore, people should have seen that the Works might have played an important part in Oldham’s pre-eminence. I think this because there is obviously a link between Platt Bros making textile machinery during the period in which Oldham became pre-eminent in the cotton-spinning industry prior to the First World War, especially as the Works were in Oldham. So it would be likely that Hartford Works was a factor contributing to Oldham’s rise to pre-eminence.
The next deficiency in the sources is that some of them seem to have counter-evidence, meaning that the sources in question are suggesting that Oldham was to do the exact opposite of rising to a status of pre-eminence, in that it would fall in status in the cotton-spinning industry. One source in particular which suggests this is source J. The overall stance of source J is a negative attitude towards Oldham’s industrial state, suggesting that it would not be in enough of a fit state to become pre-eminent in the cotton-spinning industry.
“The visitor to Oldham will find it essentially a mean-looking straggling town. The whole place has a dismal, shabby look. The general appearance of the workers’ houses is filthy and nasty. In 1847 as much as £262 was spent on outdoor relief each week.”
Here, the source is describing how the appearance of Oldham as a town and the appearance of the workers’ houses themselves show that the town is not in a fit state in terms of environmental condition to rise to pre-eminence in the cotton-spinning industry. Source J also suggests that a lot of money was spent on outdoor relief so if the town is spending money on cleaning itself, how can it afford to set up businesses such as cotton mills and machinery-making companies? This suggests that the town would go anywhere other than up in terms of status in the cotton-spinning industry.
Additional evidence
As the positive features are not enough to tell us why Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence we need to see additional evidence to prove Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence in the cotton-spinning industry prior to the First World War. This additional evidence has to not be limited by the deficiencies mentioned above and it must also be evidence which is Oldham specific therefore it could suggest why Oldham rose to a status of pre-eminence when it did. It could do this because the Oldham specific factors would not be valid for any other cotton-spinning towns because Oldham would be the only town to have the factors so it would suggest why the status of Oldham rose above every other town in the cotton-spinning industry.
The main reason for Oldham’s rise to pre-eminence was that the companies of Platts and Asa Lees were established in Oldham. D.A.Farnie states in his hypothesis the importance of Platt Bros in helping Oldham achieve pre-eminence prior to the First World War.
“For the manufacture of yarn Oldham acquired one incalculable advantage over the other towns…the presence of the firm of Platt Bros.”
“During the crisis of the Cotton Famine Oldham under the guidance of John Platt (1817-72) became the first town in Lancashire to use Indian cotton in place of American staple.”
During the great civil war between the northern and southern states of the USA, American cotton could not be imported in Britain so the cotton industry needed to use another type of cotton. John Platt developed machines which could spin the coarser Indian cotton and these machines could then be used in cotton mills throughout Oldham which would be able to spin the Indian cotton. This is what other cotton towns could not do: they had no machines to spin the finer Indian cotton because they were used to, and needed, the American cotton. Therefore because Platts could make machinery which would spin the Indian cotton during the Cotton Famine the cotton mills in Oldham flourished because they got these newly-developed machines made by Platts before any other town, giving them a massive advantage over them. Also, because these Oldham cotton-spinning mills were flourishing in the cotton industry, Oldham rose to pre-eminence in the cotton-spinning industry prior to the First World War. This quote backs up my point:
“The skill and resource harnessed by this firm enabled Oldham to survive the Cotton Famine much more easily than other cotton towns and became its greatest acquired advantage. The enterprise of John Platt laid the foundation not only of global commerce in machinery but also of the productive power of Oldham as the metropolis of cotton-spinning.”
The date that the spinning mules for coarser cotton fit in with the suggested (above) time period for sources of evidence to show why there was a boom in status for Oldham.
“Platt’s perfected the self-acting mule for the spinning of coarse counts, producing three successive models in 1868, 1886 and 1900.”
A smaller reason why Platts’ presence helped Oldham to rise to pre-eminence was that it had benefited from company-flotation because business for Platts was good. Because of this its workmen became leading shareholders after starting with a small percentage share of the company when they had first been employed by Platts.
“Platt’s benefited by the successive booms in company-flotation. Its workmen became leading shareholders in the new limiteds and influenced the placing of orders for machinery.”
In influencing the orders for machinery they caused the orders to rise because the company’s (Platts’) status was highly established in the cotton industry and for business to rise they must have been a reliable company. Therefore because of these things Platts helped Oldham rise to a position of pre-eminence in the cotton industry and was really the main contributor to Oldham’s rise because Platts’ business was an Oldham-based business at Hartford Works. The partnership between Asa Lees and Platt Bros was a very strong partnership and in mostly supplying and delivering machinery to cotton mills in Oldham, they both helped Oldham’s status rise in the cotton industry to a position of pre-eminence.
In Eastham’s “Platts Textile Machinery Makers” article there is further evidence provide of Platts significance to Oldham’s rise. These quotations are additional pieces of evidence which further support the theories made in the above paragraphs about the significance of Platt Bros to Oldham’s cotton industry.
“At no time were John Platt’s innovative powers better demonstrated than during the cotton famine occasioned by the American Civil War.”
“Apparently the town derived substantial comparative advantages from its response to the challenge of the Cotton Famine when it became the most pro- Southern town in Lancashire in consequence of its complete dependence upon the supply of American cotton. That crisis not only gave an immense stimulus to innovation in the textile engineering industry of Oldham but also established the cotton waste trade upon a broad and unshakable foundation…”
“…he (John Platt) adapted the machinery to process Indian and the other shorter fibre length cottons and averted for Oldham some of the distress the cotton manufacturing towns had had to endure.”
Some more evidence to back up the significance of Platts comes from “The Machine Makers” article also written by D.A.Farnie. This evidence helps to substantiate Farnie’s hypothesis in “The emergence of Victorian Oldham as the centre of the cotton spinning industry”.
“Platt’s mules were the true basis of the industrial supremacy of Oldham, being unrivalled in length, in speed of operation, and in productivity.”
“It (Platts) supplied machinery to at least thirty of the mills of Oldham between 1872 1912 while Platt’s equipped 98 mills and Asa’s and Platt’s together equipped at least ten more mills.”
I can also use source J to prove that Oldham became pre-eminent when Hartford Works actually “kicked in” in terms of business. Source J was written before Hartford Works began making noticeable profits therefore it is negative towards Oldham and is counter-evidence to suggesting that Oldham would rise to pre-eminence.
“The visitor to Oldham will find it essentially a mean-looking straggling town. The whole place has a dismal, shabby look. The general appearance of the workers’ house is filthy and nasty.”
By describing the conditions in a negative attitude the source gives counter-evidence. This was before the Hartford Works were established as a big money making factory and before the Cotton Famine. Hartford Works hit its peak somewhere between 1880 and the First World War and this is according to Farnie’s hypothesis.
One other support for Farnie’s hypothesis of Platts being the main reason for Oldham’s pre-eminence is the site visit. We can well believe that Platts did have a position of dominance in the textile machinery-making industry because we saw the proof of the sheer large scale of the whole Works with our own eyes. We saw separate mills on the skyline on the hills (obviously not mills anymore) and we can conclude that they are remnants of a industrial enterprise which could well have been the motor of Oldham’s rise to a position of pre-eminence in the cotton-spinning industry prior to the First World War.
So now we know the main reason Oldham would have risen to pre-eminence is Platts Hartford Works.
The second Oldham-specific aspect contributing to its rise on the cotton industry is the nature of industrial relations between directors and employees of the individual cotton mills in Oldham. This quote from Farnie’s article, “The emergence of Victorian Oldham as the centre of the cotton spinning industry”, describes the type of relations between the employer and employees.
“The harmonious co-operation of labour and capital on the development of the spinning trade was favoured by the industrial micro-climate of Oldham, which was based upon a superbly balanced economy and fostered amongst both employers and employees the dominant values of individualism, self-reliance, self-help and thrift.”
This quote tells us that the relationship between employer and employee was a good and co-operative relationship as opposed to hostile relationships. Usually workers in other towns would be getting overworked (i.e.they work too many hours) and underpaid (i.e.they are not paid enough). Then when workers would decide to take action compromises would usually be reached by strikes or lock-outs, although this was not typical of Oldham. In Oldham reasonable work hours and better pay were established and also workers were given a small stake in each company when they started off being employed by different companies. Also, workers could easily just go to work in another mill where they would have more reasonable hours and more pay if they were unhappy with these conditions for the company they worked for currently. Therefore, the employers would have to give in to the demands of the workers so that they can keep a reasonably sized workforce and so they can also have enough employees to make them successful in business. The smaller the company, the smaller the gap in relations between chairmen, directors and workers so this also allows relations to flourish as there is not as much significance in company position in smaller companies as there is in the larger companies.
“Thus the mechanical ability of the population was developed to the full and the influence of industrial progress was diffused throughout the whole of the workfolk…”
As the workers had ‘stock’ in the company they were working for, no matter how big, they were willing to work harder for success for their company because then they would benefit as they could get higher dividends as shareholders. This provided to be a success to many of the cotton-spinning company, thus contributing to Oldham’s rise in status.
“Oldham limiteds were essentially emanations of the local community and differed markedly from companies established elsewhere.”
“The whole town is rapidly becoming one huge joint stock concern.”
The next Oldham specific aspect was the fact that there was cheap land available in Oldham because the land did not seem to be suitable for building cotton mills on: it was flat land.
“…the cheapness of the land in comparison to its price in neighbouring towns.”
“Land…was thus easily purchasable.”
Because of this more people would be willing to set up a mill because the start –up costs would not be as great as they would be in other cotton towns around Oldham. Then, taking all things into consideration, the prospective owner will realise that the profits made would cancel out the loss of money due to the buying of the land and building of the factory pin a shorter period of time. So due to there being many more cotton mills in Oldham because the land was cheaper, more cotton was being spun (literally) in Oldham than any other town. Thus it rose to pre-eminence.
Another Oldham-specific factor contributing to Oldham’s rise to pre-eminence was the method of renting ‘spacing and turning’. This was a practise that was unique to Oldham. When people did this they would be renting, for example, one floor of a building and start their own little businesses in the cotton industry just from those floors. Usually it would be a person who is going to make his enterprise specialise in one main thing eg. in making certain sized parts for textile machinery and then delivering to another company, who may just be a small packaging company and that company may then send it to a factory, i.e. Hartford Works where it can be made into a machine.
“The system of renting ‘spacing and turning ‘to several tenants within a mill remained peculiar to Oldham. That practise reduced the amount of capital necessary to begin business and made possible the very rapid expansion of specialised spinning firms,…”
“…joint-stock companies began to replace family firms as the basis of local enterprise, especially as the flotation of ‘turnover’ companies accompanied that of ‘working class limiteds’.”
This method which produced a chain of certain interdependence proved to be a success in making Oldham rise to pre-eminence in the cotton-industry. All this was due to the fact that the system of ‘spacing and turning’, which was unique to Oldham, actually worked very well.
The last Oldham-specific factor was the concept of success breeding success. This was when this hard-working successful generation of Oldham were breeding even more success as the next generation produced people whose whole lives may have been dominated by the cotton industry because their parents may have talked to them about it when they would have been workers or involved in the industry in any other way.
“They employed and bred a superior class of operatives…who worked better and harder….”
“The competitive capacity of the limiteds was strengthened by their hard-driving managers, by their sharp- minded salesmen and by their dividend-hungry shareholders.”
As more money was being made by the more harder working generation Oldham’s status in the cotton-spinning industry to that of pre-eminence. This factor and the four other factors in this additional evidence provide reasons for Oldham’s rise to pre-eminence because they are all Oldham’s specific i.e. they are unique to Oldham.
Conclusion
Following my investigation, I do not think that sources A-L and the site visit fully explained how Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence prior to the First World War. This is because not enough of them were actually Oldham specific so they didn’t tell us why Oldham rose above all other cotton towns in the cotton industry and the time periods in which they are recorded were not suitable for the investigation. Also, there was some counter-evidence in some f the material. To tell us why Oldham rose to pre-eminence we needed additional evidence and this was provided by Eastham and mainly D.A.Farnie. This additional evidence fully explained why Oldham rose to a position of pre-eminence in the cotton-spinning industry prior to the First World War.
