sworn in, and 200 of the local militia were called up for service for fourteen days. Numerous persons were apprehended, and imprisoned for implication in the riots at Middleton.

In April, 1814, the news that the succession of brilliant conquests gained by the allied armies had terminated in the abdication of Bonaparte, and the restoration of general peace, was hailed in Oldham with most unusual joy. The event was celebrated here on Monday, the 25th of April, by a procession almost unequalled in local annals for its splendour and extent, and in the evening a public dinner took place at the Spread Eagle Inn, John Taylor, Esq., of Hargreaves, occupying the- chair. Most of the manufacturers treated their work- people with festivals, and at dusk the principal inns were illuminated.

In the early part of 1815, the hatting manufacture was extremely prosperous. In addition to the extensive trade carried on in that line by Messrs, Barker, Hadfield, and Taylors, and Messrs. Clegg, numerous other concerns had arisen during the preceding ten years. The death of Messrs. Henshaw rendered Thomas Barker, Esq., the principal of the great works at Hargreaves. This gentleman, who rose entirely by his own exertions from obscurity to opulence, was characterised by extraordinary industry and integrity. He was the son of a small farmer, and was born at Clayton-le-dale, near Blackburn, in 1758. He entered the service of Messrs. Henshaw when quite a young man, and had become a considerable partner in their manufactory prior to 1796, when he erected the mansion at Frank hill, and laid out the grounds in a pleasingly tasteful manner. About 1816, Mr. Barker greatly improved the fur blowing process, by the invention of a machine to effect that object, the cloth of which was suggested by an operative batter or wool carder, named George Booth. The fur blowing machine has greatly extended the use of fur in

163