The manufacture of cotton goods came to Britain from the Netherlands in the 16th century.
Cotton working reached Lancashire in the 17th/18th century. The first cotton factory was set up in Manchester in 1642. Factories were set up in Birmingham and Northampton in 1742.
From there, it was a natural development eastwards into Yorkshire, reaching
Although the Calderdale district is primarily known for its woollen industry, there were many cotton mills in the area, mainly in Upper Calderdale and the west of the district, superseding the wool trade in some parts.
By 1815, cotton represented 40% of British exports.
Water-powered cotton production was introduced from the silk industry in the early 18th century.
An 18th century factory is recorded near the present day barracks in Spring Hall Lane, Halifax.
A number of external events disturbed local working conditions in the cotton industry. Around 1861, the cotton trade was badly affected by the American Civil War – the Cotton Famine. The price of cotton quadrupled. Trade was later affected by cyclones [early 1900].
Like the woollen industry, the cotton industry was affected by a slump after World War I, and there was much legislation to protect the industry in Britain.
In the 19th/20th centuries, much of Britain's cotton exports went to India. Mahatma Gandhi and others involved in the Indian independence movement regarded this as a burden and encouraged Indians to spin and weave their own cotton. The spinning wheel was closely associated with Gandhi at the time. Eventually, India was a leader in cotton exports, and even bought unwanted and old cotton processing machinery from Britain.
In the late 1950s, man-made fibres and cheap imports from Asia – Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Japan and China – resulted in the closure of cotton mills in Lancashire and many parts of Calderdale. In 1958, mills in Lancashire were closing at the rate of 2 per week
Page Ref: MMC179
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