J. Fletcher:
The following picture of their former grossness may shock the imagination, and impress a belief that all the features portrayed are peculiar to Coventry. But it should be borne in mind that the notions and habits of every uncultivated people are gross, and,when, they are brought together in masses, also vicious; for a lower state of intelligence will suffice for the self -government of men labouring almost in solitude about the fields, and pillowed nightly by fatigue, than is demanded to meet the mutual incitements, and the facilities for vicious indulgence, incident to every manufacturing community.
The changes which have taken place in the manners and habits of the class of employers at Coventry, during the present century, were these the subject of immediate investigation, would present a series of very curious pictures, to which a good index is afforded by the historical succession of buildings in its ancient streets. Forty years ago, the mass of the labouring population of this city, and of the weaving district to the north of it (composed chiefly of weavers, colliers, and farm servants), undisturbed by schools or by sectarianism, remained in a state of barbarism, as gross as was
consistent with the perpetuation of the race; the men without intelligence
and without religion, working badly at irregular hours, and
sorting in dirt and disorder nearly the rest of their time, including
the whole of Sunday. But intelligence has penetrated even this mass
of ignorance and vice; being aided in its diffusion beyond the
middle classes by the Sunday-schools, which here came into operation
towards the close of the last century, and were seconded,
about 1810, by the establishment of rival Lancasterian and National
day-schools. The first object of these spontaneous labours to
improve the moral condition of the labouring poor, was naturally to
implant in their minds the principles of Christianity. The doctrines
instilled were not always in accordance with the canons of the
Established Church; and hence the rivalry, here, as elsewhere in
England, which has made the great purpose of instruction, to
develop every faculty, and guide its application by a heart-stirring
religion and a healthy morality, be too often overlooked for the
inculcation of mere words, to the abasement rather than to the
improvement of the character. Circumstances peculiar to our country
have thus withheld it from the more enlightened course pursued
in Protestant Christendom generally, where religion, is inculcated
rather as the guide of secular knowledge than as a substitute for it; and these influences are still in full action, thwarting
every attempt to advance our moral cultivation in the same
ratio as the development of our physical resources. Still considerable
advance has been made, and the population engaged in the
ribbon weaving now divides itself morally into two distinct portions;-
that engaged in the engine-weaving in the city and suburbs,
among which superior habits and intelligence prevail; and the
dispersed and ignorant inhabitants of the rural parishes, employed
chiefly in the single-hand trade, and retaining most of their original
barbarism with an accession of vice.
The present mayor of Coventry thus describes the manners and
habits of the journeymen weavers of the city in his youth:-
"The whole trade of journeymen subsisted on the community
for two months in the year at least. They were the chief recipients
of the numerous charities of the city, and the poor's rates were
much resorted to; for when out of work, they had only these
resources, and running into debt with the huckster. They were
room-keepers: they rented one or two rooms. Some of the two
months' relief which they borrowed, they afterwards worked out;
but they were always in arrear.
"There were no schools but the charity (endowed) schools, and day-schools, at about 6d. per week, to which the undertakers sent
their children; but the journeymen, themselves ignorant, knew not
the advantages of instruction for their children, and never thought
about getting it for them. Generally speaking, they had no personal
pride, and were not in a condition to appear in public on Sunday.
They would make themselves rather smarter at the club feast-day,
once or twice a-year, but generally they were not cleaned on the
Sunday, which is a very good test as to the rest of their habits.
"Nearly all were in some club. The club was for mutual maintenance
during illness, and for funerals on the death of a member or
of his wife. The subscriptions were generally one shilling fortnightly
on Monday, and the payments out varied according to the
state of the funds. On the club-nights, the rule was to spend 4d. in
drink. There were no other savings made, except by some very few
journeymen. It was most difficult to encounter the shop habits.
There was no habit of saving when they had employment against
the time when they had not. The man gave what he thought right
to the wife on Saturday night, with which she must get through the
week as she could. He spent the rest in drink. The houses had little
furniture, and that of the coarsest sort. The breakfast was generally
of milk. A dinner generally a bit of meat or bacon, and
potatoes. Tea was commonly brought to the men at the shop by
the wife or one of the children.
"The improvement which has since taken place has been stimulated
by the example of those who have prospered by regulating
their conduct. The Sunday-schools were the first institutions by
which those who were easier in circumstances and better informed,
first showed an interest in the intellectual improvement of the lower
and more ignorant. This was followed up by the establishment of
schools on the plans of Lancaster and Bell. Sunday-schools had
existed previous to 1800, and the children could not be unfeeling to
the solicitude shown for their improvement. The Lancasterian
school was established about 181 0; the national school came soon
after. These opened the way for active minds, and the improvement
of the general mass has ensued. Indeed vice, there can be no
doubt, reigned jointly with ignorance, and their sway was co-extensive.
There were formerly no means of adult improvement
collectively whatever, and ninety-nine out of every hundred never
thought of books. The more provident hands were generally those
working at home. The home work greatly conduces to moral
conduct, for the good influence of the woman is lost in the shop."
This will be recognized as a faithful picture of labourer's life half
a century ago, elsewhere than at Coventry. The description here
given of the former habits of the men, certainly gives but a mean
opinion of the vaunted morality resulting from the old apprenticeship
system, as compared with the half-pay apprenticeship, except
that there appears to have been a less early emancipation of the
young people from bonds which restrained them from thoughtless
marriages, at the same time that they sought the excitement of
more active though ruder sports than they now do. The relations
of the boy with the family of his master, or that of his parents, are
not, by this half-pay system left in so healthy, although perhaps a
less rude state. His connexion with that of his master is in fact no
more than that of any journeyman, while his receipt of wages
makes him feel himself little other than a lodger in the house of his
parents. A boy would feel it a degradation to be denied the receipt
of his own apprentice wages, which in some instances would now
be paid to his parents, but that other apprentices receive theirs
directly; and the parents of some of the apprentices are of character
so bad, that it is right they should do so. The local magistrates
have a strong feeling against the system of half-pay apprenticeship,
which, says one of the factory proprietors, compels him to take a
boy before them when refractory, or his overlooker would be
punished for castigating him, instead of which the boy is subjected
to the contamination of a prison.
But of all the industrial circumstances affecting the moral habits
of the men, none can have so much influence as those which result
from their working dispersedly at their own homes, or in company
at a shop or factory. It is the prevalence of the latter system,
counteracting the domestic apprenticeship, to which we ought
properly to attribute any excess of disorders that formerly prevailed,
beyond those incident to a state of barbarous ignorance
among every people. The picture above given of the former state
of the trade certainly produces features obnoxious to the very complaints
now loudly urged against the increasing factory system,
which is a reverting to the old shop system on a larger scale; "the
feeling of good-fellowship leading to drinking, and absence from
home, and its decencies. To escape being flouted, the man must take
part in the habits of the mass among whom he is thrown, and in this
mass the general level is low; while the weaver at home can pursue
his own course, and has no restrictions on self-improvement. The
factory system is the great propagator of 'socialism.' The men have
no centre for their habits in a home, and in the power of forming
an individual character." One of the most respectable factory masters
says, "Some of our men bring their wives to pick up for them;
and the influence of the wife is good, binding the man to work, and
binding him to decency; but the influence of the factory generally
is decidedly bad, especially upon the the young unmarried men and
women."
An officer of the directors of the poor "thinks that the dissolute
portion of the Coventry city weavers, are not more than one-sixth,
if so much, and these are chiefly of the journeyman's journeyman
class. This dissolute portion never save a farthing in any shape,
although they may be earning good wages, as at Mr. Day's factory.
There are at present very few of any sort of weavers on the rates;
but the moment there is a slackness of trade, these come on, and
very few others do. The better class of weavers are decent, welldoing
people, with habits generally good. They are not drinkers in
the bad sense of the term, though to take a couple of glasses of ale
and a pipe, costing altogether 5d., in the smoking-room of a public house,
is a common habit with them. Their modes of saving are in
the purchase of looms, and in benefit clubs at public-houses. Their
providence is generally limited to this, and they save in no other
shape. The homes of the weavers of this class are generally cleanly,
and many of them have wives who were born in the country, and
are larger in person and cleanlier in habits than the town girls: they
are better managers. Many weavers' wives are making good earnings
at weaving, winding, and warping; and the women have their
benefit clubs as well as the men, held like theirs at the public-houses,
where they are exposed to the like temptations, against which their
frailty is not proof. Their providence is thus limited, and in good
times they are not frugal, as the poultry market bears testimony. But
their expenditure on the whole is better directed, and they maintain
themselves in a state of far higher decency than is seen in other
weaving districts. . . . It is generally the wives of dissolute weavers
who themselves are dissolute, the rest are, for the most part, tidy
and well-conducted."
This evidence as to the present habits of the city weavers was
borne out by my own observation in making the circuit of different
parts of the town. In several streets I went into the habitations
of every weaver; and the houses of the first hand journeymen
presented a neatness and cleanliness which could not well be
surpassed. No one who had seen the squalor of Spitalfields or
Macclesfield, but must have felt the liveliest gratification at witnessing
this superiority of habits. But I was equally struck with the
excessive number of vagabonds to be found at evening in the taprooms
of the low public-houses; in person, in dress, and in occupations
appearing as though they belonged to the metropolitan
fraternity of St. Giles's, as I cannot doubt that some did. These are
chiefly the men above alluded to, who "enjoy only strolling and
sotting, and, if they have families, leave the poor women to struggle
through with them as they can." The general habits with regard
to diligence will be detailed minutely in describing the hours of
work. Industry is the rule, and idleness the exception.
Dram-drinking has increased, but ale is the old-accustomed beverage.
The amount of crime in the city is not large. The greater
number of commitments are of young delinquents, for petty
offenses of various kinds, chiefly larcenies committed by bad apprentices,
or apprentices abandoned by their masters. The young
people from 14 to 18, both weavers and watchmakers, are many
of them very disorderly, and resort to the beer-houses for cardplaying,
expecially the half-pay apprentices. There are also gangs
who make some part of their subsistence by depredations.
It is remarkable that while the benefit clubs are exceedingly
numerous, and not fewer than twenty are in contract with the selfsupporting
dispensary for attendance on their members, there are
not more than 100 weavers depositors in the Savings' Bank. This is
but a modern institution, and the weavers have certainly to some
extent distrusted it. Some were apprehensive that they should
never get their money back again; while others were fearful that if
the manufacturers, who were on the Committee, should be aware
that they were able to make savings, their wages would be reduced.
The clerk to the bank "is confident that this feeling has existed, but
thinks it is gradually wearing away. Last Monday the deposits
were greater than ever has before been known; upwards of 4001.
being brought in on that day. The proportion of weavers is increasing,
but it is yet only about one-forth of the whole number, and of
these at least half are unmarried females." Weavers, watchmakers,
and dyers, are, however, the principal subscribers to the selfsupporting
dispensary, hereafter noticed.
There is inevitably a considerable want of economy and management
in the expenditure of their earnings, owing to occupation
in the trade preventing the women from acquiring a proper domestic
education. The women are more than usually fond of dress, and
the well-conducted men have notions of appearance which sometimes
show themselves very characteristically. Of want of integrity
there was no complaint.
The character of the city weavers as to "diligence, providence,
frugality, honesty, and temperance," these few data will sufficiently
indicate; and it may be well to notice the influences now
acting upon this character in adults. There are in the city four
churches and eleven other places of worship; four for Independents,
two for Baptists, one for Wesleyan, and one for Primitive
Methodists, one for Unitarians, one for the Society of Friends, and
one for Roman Catholics. But the number is very great of those
who go to no place of worship. Tract distributors, going round
during the time of worship to give tracts to those who were
staying at home, have found a large proportion of the houses in
which none of the family were gone to worship. In some instances
these were respectable people; but the great body were those who
were too indolent and insensible to clean themselves to go. But the
Sunday schools are diminishing the latter class, although many who
are instructed in them abandon public worship; for, if all who were
brought up in them continued their attendance, the existing places
of worship would not be large enough as they now amply are.
Among the more active-minded young men the strange theoretical
confusion of all the relations of civil life, commonly called
"socialism," with its community of property and exchange of
women, has great sway; but the older men have generally no
intellectual excitement whatever. The occupation of the ribbon
weaver, especially if he have good silk, leaves his mind at liberty to
ruminate; and the loom is here frequently called "the weaver's
study." One of the weavers told me that when he has to prepare
himself for a speech, he never can do it half so well as in the loom.
The intelligence and dexterity of the leaders of 'the men is, in fact,
very remarkable; partly arising from their long practice politically
at elections. And I believe the great body of them to be sensitively
awake to the seizure of any means of bettering their condition,
which could be pointed out to them, except that of self-cultivation,
for which the grown up men have for the most part little means of
opportunity and less taste. As a key to self-control, to self-respect,
and to the respect of others, some of the younger leaders of the men
are, however, awakening to its importance to themselves as individuals,
and to the class in whose fate they share.
There is a book society connected with the chapels of Cow Lane
and Vicar Lane; the library composed chiefly of religious, biographical,
and historical works, and books of voyages, travels, and
missions; and several booksellers' shops let out, at 2d. per volume,
novels and other works which are extensively read by the weavers.
But the principal source of useful intelligence is a Mechanics' Institution,
to which the entrance fee is Is., and the subscription 2s.6d.
per quarter; terms of which the men with families complain, as
being too dear, at the same time that they feel little inclination to
make the institution their evening resort. But there are a great
many of the young weavers in it, who benefit greatly by the books
and lectures, and by the writing, arithmetic, geometry, grammar,
and geography classes. Perhaps one-forth of the members are
weavers. Somewhat analogous to this institution (for in Coventry
nearly all institutions go in pairs, because of its civil and religious
parties), there is a Religious and Useful Knowledge Society, having
a library of books carefully selected by a Committee almost
wholly Episcopalian, and the subscription to which is only Is. per
quarter, without any admission fee.
The Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1828, and at first was
of very limited extent and means, but it has now for several years
possessed a commodious building in Hertford Street; comprising a
library, museum, reading room, four class rooms, a laboratory, and
a lecture room, or theatre, 5 00 or 600 persons, heated by steam,
and lighted with gas; the whole erected at an expense of 17001.
"The object of the institution is the instruction of the mechanic
and artisan in the principles of those arts more immediately connected
with their particular occupations, and the communication
of such useful and appropriate knowledge as may assist them in
obtaining an honest livelihood, and render them more intelligent
and valuable members of society." The library now contains about
2000 volumes, and the tenth annual report, made in October, 1838,
thus describes the more recent proceedings:-
ln adverting to the subject of the classes, the Committee have
much satisfaction in stating that they have engaged, as a paid
teacher, in writing, arithmetic, geometry, and English grammar, a
person who has long been accustomed to education, and whose
acquirements, as well as mode of instruction, hold out the promise
of great good. The music class is still under efficient superintendence,
and will give occasional performances before the members.
At the same time they are enabled to state that a plan for the better
formation and regulation of the classes has long been in contemplation,
and is now, they are happy to say, carried into effect. That
more has not been done in this department during the past year is
to be attributed not to any insensibility of the Committee to its
value, but rather to the deep sense which they entertain of its importance,
which has led them to prefer delay to the hurried and
imperfect construction of the classes, and therefore to their probable
Failure.
The Committee beg to call attention to a new feature in the
institution-the formation of a museum; and, in referring to the
geological and entomological departments, they have to acknowledge,
in the former, some valuable contributions from Messrs.
Whittem, Troughton, Muddiman, and Davis; in the latter, a large
and valuable collection of British insects, from Mr. W. H. Mercer.
Miscellaneous contributions have also been received from Messrs.
Nankivell, Stephens, Jenkins, and Bicknell.
There is but one branch of the institution remaining which calls
for particular attention, that is the reading room. The Committee
feel great pleasure in stating that the arrangements adopted for its
better regulation have exceeded their most sanguine expectations,
and that they are now enabled to offer to the mechanic the comforts
of a commodious room, where, after the labours of the day,
he may find, in the midst of a well-ordered and respectable society,
the blessings either of instruction or relaxation.
It is worthy of notice, as showing the character of some of the
rising intelligence, that some sixty or seventy "socialists" have
seceded from the institution, and formed themselves into a separate
establishment, because the members generally would not submit to
the disturbance of the discussions of which they made the institutions
the theatre. A prospectus has been issued of an Education
Society, to form the groundwork of a Statistical Society ...
Source:
From "Reports from Assistant Commissioners on the Hand-Loom Weavers, Midland District," Parliamentary Papers, 1840, vol. XXIV, pp. 71-75. Reprinted in Eugene C. Black, Victorian Culture and Society (New York: Macmillan, 1973), pp. 159-167.
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