Blackburn under Six Monarchs
Introduction
An account of the principal events in the reign of King George V. will be published in the “Blackburn Times” on Saturday next. It will be of a general character, Blackburn being only a very small part of his Majesty’s dominions. In addition, as a chapter of local history, our contributor, Mr. J.G. Shaw, is commencing today the following account of the growth of Blackburn under six monarchs – from George 111. to George V., - and as it covers a period of a century and three quarters the story will be told round three outstanding events: First (1820), the building of the new Parish Church, now a Cathedral; second (1851), the incorporation of the borough and its subsequent growth; and third (1926), Blackburn raised to the dignity of a See Town, and its progress during the King’s reign. The six monarchs who have been on the Throne in the course of this long period are;
George III 1760 – 1820
George IV 1820 – 1830
William IV 1830 – 1837
Queen Victoria, 1837 – 1901
Edward VII 1901 – 1910
George V 1910 – 1936
Blackburn Times
Growth of Blackburn in the Reign of George III
During the reign of George III Blackburn town and parish, was sharing the progress of the industrial revolution due to improvements in machinery, spinning and weaving in the homes of the people, bleaching, dyeing and calico-printing, made the town prosperous. A few selections from Durham’s Chronological Notes are all that I have room for relating to the last 40 years of the 18th century.
Chronology 1760-1800
1760; George III ascension to the throne, Pack-horses were used for carrying parcels from Blackburn to Manchester. Printworks established at Brookside, Oswaldtwistle, by Robert Peel, father of the first baronet.
1764; James Hargreaves, of Stanhill, Oswaldtwistle, invented the spinning-jenny. Baptist Chapel, Islington, built.
1765; Girls Charity School founded in Thunder Alley.
1770; Population of Blackburn township about 5,000. Leeds and Liverpool canal begun; completed in 1819.
1772; Waterworks established in Pemberton Clough (now Corporation Park).
1774. Blackburn market day changed from Monday to Wednesday.
1778; First Independent Chapel built in Blackburn.
1779; Blackburn’s first cotton-spinning mill at Wensley Fold destroyed by rioters. It was furnished with a number of Hargreaves’s spinning-jenny, which were broken and thrown into the river.
1780; John Wesley preached in Blackburn.
1783; Population 8,000
1785; Clayton-Street Wesleyan Chapel opened.
1788; St. John’s Church built.
1792; St. Paul’s Church built.
1793; Blackburn’s first newspaper published – the “Blackburn Mail”.
1796; Special Act of Parliament passed enabling the Vicar, Thomas Starkie, to lease his Glebe land for building purposes.
1797; Blackburn’s second spinning-mill built on Spring Hill.
1798; Woodfold Hall built by Henry Sudell.
1800; Witton House built by Henry Feilden. Whittaker’s “History of Whalley” (first edition) printed in Blackburn.
First Half of the Nineteenth Century, 1801-1850
The following extracts from the Chronology are selected to show the principal changes in the town of Blackburn during the first half of the 19th century (Temp. George III, George IV, William IV, and Victoria:-
1801; Population of Blackburn township 11,980
1811; Population 15,082
1820; Death George III.
1821; Coronation of George IV. Processions in Blackburn. School children feasted with roast beef and plum pudding in Sudell’s Croft (now the open market).
1821; Population 21,940
1831; Population 27,091
1941; Population 36,629
1849; Ascent of a balloon at Blackburn from Blackburn the Gasworks, the aeronaut, Mr. Wadman, being accompanied by Mr. R. R. Jackson.
Ecclesiastical
1810; Mount Street Independent Chapel Built
1816; Blackburn Independent College founded
1819; St. Peters Church built
1820; Friends Meeting House built
1820; Old Parish Church pulled down. Foundation stone laid of a new church (the present cathedral)
1824; St. Alban’s Church built
1828; Chapel at Daisyfield built by the Wesleyans; purchased by the Church of England in 1839 and named St. Michael’s Church.
1829; St. James Lower Darwen built
1836; St. Marks Church, Witton, built
1837; Holy Trinity Church built; Montague Street Primitive Methodist Chapel built.
Educational
1819; New Grammar School built near St. Peter’s Church, old Grammar School in the Parish Church yard taken down
1824; Bottomgate School built
1828; Bent Street School built
1840; Brookhouse Schools built by W. H. Hornby
1844; St. John’s School built
1850; Hopwood Schools built in Grimshaw Park
Social
1803; The Hotel, King Street built, with Assembly-room in Heaton Street
1808; Ladies Charity and Strangers Friend Society established
1816; New Theatre Royal built
1819; Gas works established
1824; Dispensary opened in King Street
1831; Mechanics Institution formed
1842 Brookhouse Gymnasium established
1845; Blackburn Waterworks Company formed
Municipal and Political
1803; Twelve police commissioners appointed as a local government body for Blackburn.
1832; Blackburn enfranchised. First members, William (afterwards Sir William) Feilden and William Turner
1836; Blackburn Poor-law Union formed
1840; Blackburn police superseded parish constables
1848; Market house opened
Trade and Industry
1805; Roller printing on calico invented
1818; Handloom weavers granted an advance of five per cent
1824; Preston New Road constructed
1826; Introduction of power looms in Blackburn; loom breaking riots
1834; King William Street opened into Church Street
1836; Number of power looms in Blackburn parish 4,256
1841; Stagnation in trade. £1,000 subscribed for relief
1843; Great distress. Eight hundred quarts of soup distributed daily for ten days in the Old Square
1846; Preston and Blackburn Railway opened
1847; Strike at Hopwood’s led to the formation of the Blackburn Standard Lost of Wages. Great distress amongst the factory operatives; 12,000 persons given public relief.
A Contemporary Description of Blackburn in 1818
The following brief description of the town of Blackburn is summarized from Rogerson’s “Lancashire General Directory”, published in July 1818;
There is little regularity in the form of the streets, which may, in great measure be accounted for by the intermixture of the glebe and other land. The town contains two established churches, and a third is on the point of being erected; also one church (St. Paul’s) erected about 26 years ago in which the services of the Church of England are performed by a pastor licensed at the Quarter Sessions; one chapel for Catholics, one for Independents, one for Presbyterians, and one for Anabaptists, one for Quakers, and two for Methodists.
After mentioning the Subscription Library, the Grammar School, the Independent Academy and the Charity School, he says;
Almost 30 years ago there was a Sunday School for 300 children established by the Rev. Thomas Starkie, the present Vicar, and in 1817 there were 300 boys and 274 girls belonging to this school. There are also Sunday Schools belonging to the Independents, Catholics, Methodists and Baptists. A National School is established here on the system of Dr. Bell, and in 1817 there were 500 boys and 219 girls taught in it. There is also a school on the system of Mr. Joseph Lancaster.
The town has a police for regulating the market, and for paving, lighting, watching and cleaning the streets. The expense of the police is supported by a rate on the occupiers of buildings. At a short distance from the town is a commodious dwelling for the reception of the poor. A surgeon is supported by the town solely for the purpose of administering medical relief to the necessitous poor.
About 40 years ago Blackburn greys were succeeded by calicoes, which differ from the former in this respect only that the warp and the weft consist of cotton. It is calculated that there are 23,000 to 24,000 pieces of cotton-piece goods made weekly in this town, which is a much greater number than is made in any other town of the same size in Great Britain. There are two factories for spinning cotton, and two are now erecting on a more extensive scale.
Northgate and Cockcroft
From the same directory it would appear that Northgate was already a crowded quarter in 1818. This thoroughfare was occupied almost entirely by shopkeepers and innkeepers all resident on the premises. The number of innkeepers was 14, of shopkeepers 53, and other residents in this important street brought up the total number of householders to 77. The few non-shop keeping residents included two cotton manufacturers, a land surveyor, a commissioner, and four artisans. The most densely populated of the courts or streets branching off Northgate were Higher, Middle and Lower Cockcroft. In this rookery, now practically closed to habitation , there lived 42 families, all but one of the artisan class, and mostly carrying on their work in their own homes, for example, tailors, shoemakers, whitesmiths, a chair-maker, a mantua-maker etc.
Salford and Spring Hill
The newest part of the town was that which sprung up within 22 years on the Vicar’s Glebe. Take the small plot separated from the Parish Churchyard only by the river Blakewater and bounded on the other three sides by Salford, Foundry Hill and Mount Street. On this bit of the glebe there was a curious conglomeration of buildings. Nearest the church (bordering what we know as Railway Road) were Spring Gardens, with All Hallow’s Well in the midst of them. On the top of Spring Hill was one of Blackburn’s two spinning mills and Thomas Hart’s rope works. The middle of the plot was occupied by Dutton’s Brewery, and in Mount Street there was a new Independent (Presbyterian) Church and School. The residents included James and Thomas Anderton, cotton spinners – their house is still standing; the Rev. Joseph Sowden, Mount Street; James Dutton who lived at his brewery, who lived in Calendar Street, Salford was a dwelling place for artisans with a good sprinkling of shopkeepers; and working class dwellings were also packed closely together in Calendar Street, back to back with others in Spring Gardens. All this property was quite new.
These facts, culled from contemporary records, will serve to show what the little town of Blackburn was like at the time when its prosperous leading inhabitants decided that the Old Church must be superseded by a new one ; that the Old Market Place was too small for the trade of the town, and must be first extended into Fleming Square, and afterwards moved entirely to a new site. The population in 1818 was about 21,000, and was increasing at the rate of 700 per year. The census of 1821 showed the population to be 21,940, number of houses 4,119, families 4,337, estimated annual value £37,624.
Transcribed from Blackburn Times 27th April 1935 by
Philip Crompton
