Last night and this morning uncomly roof of rain, thunder, and lightning. The cracks were tremendously loud, and the lightning very terific. A man of the name of John Garlick was killed and his house very much damaged this morning near Waterhead Mill. August 16th -Uncomon wet weather for some time past. August 16th -Last night some villains broke into a loom-house belonging to John Cocker at Greenacres-moor, and stripped six pair of fustian looms of all the cloth, and with it made clear escape. August 25th -Mr. Jacob Radcliffe and Sons gave 60 hats to poor people at their house at Bank, Oldham. August 26th -Was Oldham Rushbearing Saturday, and in consequence of the times, there was only one rushcart, wich was from Priesthill. The day was wet, particularly in the afternoon. There was but a very few people. August 27th -Sunday but thinly attended, and few strangers. August 28th -Monday, a rushcart out of bottom of May Gate-lane; a moderate number of people, but the spenders were frugal in their spending. There was in general two nimphs to one swain. At private houses very little brewing, or very little rushbearing cheer, malt being 3s. 3d. a peck. There was plenty of recruiting parties, but they met with little success as nearly all the young men are gone into the army or navy. Oldham Wakes of 1809 is, no doubt, a true indication of the state of the town and trade of Oldham. Even the rushcarts were failures, “nearly all” the young of Oldham having gone to the wars. August 15th -The town of Flushing surrendered by capitulation to the British Army and Navy. his Majesty’s ship, St.. Domingo, Capt. Gill, with Sir Richard John Strachan, led the attack against the battery. She had no men killed but John Maynard, Charles M. Murray, Hugh Molloy, James Grady, Richard Platt, John Kirby, William Connor, Joseph Clearman, and William Owen, seamen, wounded. The Blake had two killed and nine wounded. The other ships that went to the attac of the Battereys with the above are the Repulse, Victorious, Denmark, Audacious, and Venerable. These five had none killed or wounded.
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This was then the great Walcheren expedition. When the war broke out between France and Austria the English Government made great preparations. Forty thousand troops were assembled with 35 sail of the line, and about 200 sail of smaller vessels. The command of the army was placed in the Earl of Chatham, a man of proverbial indolence and inactivity. The naval part was under Admiral Sir Richard Strachan. The armament sailed from the Downs on the 28th July, and on the 1st August, 1809, Flushing was invested. The place surrendered, and 5,000 troops were made prisoners of war. Lord Chatham then remained idle while the French recruited their troops. The advantages gained at first seem to have been lost by the indecision and misunderstanding of the two leaders, only the Island of Walcheren being retained. The Government came in for great blame, and a vote of censure was near being passed on Ministers, who had only a majority in their favour of 21, out of a crowded house. No doubt the following lines will be remembered by historical readers:-
The house and shop in Oldham, the property of Jonathan Jackson, but in the possession of Thomas Greaves, grocer, where sold by auction at the house of John Whitehead, the Westwood Inn, for £490, Samuel Horrocks, of Oldham, innkeeper, being the purchaser; and at the same time and place two houses, late the property of Joseph Cook, deceased, situated at Primrose Bank, where sold for £250, Joseph Basto, innkeeper, of Oldham, purchaser. They were then in the possession of Cooke and Siddalls. A short time since, the house of Mr. Samuel Taylor, of Lowe Cromton, in the possession of Wm. Rowbottom of Bottom of Northmoor, was sold to Mr. George Hadfield, of Failsworth Lodge, for 100 guineas. Prosperity seems to have shone upon the hatters, as they seem at that time to have been picking up all the property within reach. And the house, late John Buckley’s, of North Moor, in the possession of Edmund Wild, was sold to Jonathan Jackson, oF Maygate-lane, hatter, for 100 guineas. |
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ANNALS OF OLDHAM No. LV 1809 September 9th -The wet weather still continues, to the great detriment of corn. September 11th -Uncomon wet weather, and the corn in a spoyling state. On the 30th of August, died at Towlestone Lodge, near Lancaster, the Venerable Peregrine Wentworth, Esq., in the 88th year of his age; one of the greatest characters that ever apeared on the turf as early as 1752, and had a horse run at York last week. September 7th -This day Thomas Done, a young man, 21 years of age – a man belonging to a flat, and who was aprehended at Hull – passed through on his way to Lymm. He was charged with wilful murder of Betty Eckersley, who was found murdered and tied up in a sack, with a stone, a half hundred-weight tied to it, in the canal near Lymm. He was committed to Chester Castle. September 14th -Uncomon wet weather still continues, to the great damage of all sorts of grain. September 15th -This day has been an excalent fine day. September 16th and 17th – Uncomon wet days again, and grain is rapidly riseing. September 14th -Died awfully sudden, Wright, partner with Mr. Fawcet, of the Liquer Vaults, Oldham. September 10th -A very fine day, and farmers very busy in cutting their corn. September 20th, 21st, and 22nd - Uncomon wet days. September 19th -Dutton and Midgeley, two refractory hatters, and who had been at the head of a party who had remonstrated with Mrs. Barker on the impolley of women working at the plank, whereby the magistrates at the Spread Eagle fined £20, and commited to the New Bailey for 2 months. They were commited 2 months since, and were liberated today, and came home in chaise. When they arrived at Coppice Nook, the hatters took the horses out of the carriage, and drawed them in great triumph through every public place in Oldham, to the great mortification of their masters. The workmen have turned out against, and refuse to work for those masters who employ women.
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E. Butterworth says: The employment of females in the hatting trade occasioned considerable opposition the part of the male operatives engaged in that business in 1809. In July a party of the men had an interview with Mr. Barker, the hat manufacturer, for the purpose of expressing their disapprobation of the injury sustained from the competition of female operatives. During the interview two of the men, Dalton and Midgeley, uttered intimidating language. For this they were taken before the magistrates, convicted in a penalty of £20, and in default of payment sent to Salford gaol. This annal shows the spirit of the workmen, nor did the feeling between them and the masters improve in after years; indeed, the trade of hatting was eventually banished from Oldham on account of strikes. Oldham was once one of the greatest hatting towns in England. Today, I believe, not a single stuff hat is made in the borough. September 14th -Was the day for granting ale licenses, and Mr. Hordern, and Mr. Taylor assembled at the Cheshire Cheese, otherwise Spread Eagle, at Oldham, when John Ogden, of the Angel, Oldham; Peggy Mills of the Duke of York, New-road; Samuel Fletcher, of the Lord Nelson, Northmoor; and Goodman, of the Fire Engine, commonly cal’d Sleek Inn, near Hollinwood; where turned without licenses, but no new ones were granted. September 21st -Landlords who where turned without licenses on the 14th made application this day, at the Privy Assizes, at Royton, but where still refused, but they granted new ones, namely; James Smethurst, near Bardsley Brow, Oldham, and Stanley Lees, Greenacres Moor. It seems the original name of the “Spread Eagle” was the “Cheshire Cheese,” and it was perhaps one of the oldest inns in the town, and from the fact of it being a place for the petty sessions, one of the most respectable. About a fortnight since Dennis Timms took possession of, and began to sell at the Fire Engine public house, Streetbridge. |
Page 84
William Rowbottom's Diary as published in the Oldham Standard |
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