Daniel Mellor and Co., Clarksfield mill; William Radcliffe, Union mill; John Robinson and Son, Rosehill mill; Suthers. Lees, and Co., Medlock mill; J. and J. Wainwright, Fog lane; James Wild, Vineyard; and John Wrigley, Copster hill, from 1821 to 1825. Of these 37 firms, 20 of the principal partners are no longer in existence, the relatives of nine others are still engaged in the same business, seven other partners are yet surviving, but have entered upon other pursuits, and only six of the parties still continue connected with the cotton manufacture, namely, Messrs. Spencer Suthers, Shore, Croft bank, and Newearth ; J . and J. Wainwright, Fog lane; James Milne, North street; James Wilde, Mumps ; and Joseph Lees, Millbottom. The following mills have been remarkable for containing several concerns, the numbers of which, in 1825, were as stated: Shaw factory or old Chapel mill 8, Mount pleasant 5, Fog lane 8, Church lane 5, Castle 7, Rhodes 5, Bell 5, Vineyard 8, Jackson mill, Manchester street 4, Hartford 4, Croft bank 3, Shore 5, Dirtcar 4, Lower house 4, Medlock 3, Union, Side of moor 2, Spring mill 3, Spring hill 4, Rosehill 10, Clarksfield 7, Coppice 2, Werneth 3, and Fawcett mill, North moor 2. In 1821, when the number of cotton mills in the township was 31, the number of concerns or firms was 60. In 1825 the cotton mills within the same limits amounted to 46, and the concerns or firms to 139. The great number of concerns existing in 1825 was owing to the prosperous state of trade, and it is a curious fact, strikingly indicative of the fluctuating nature of the manufacture, that the number of firms in 1825 exceeded by one the number in existence 20 years later. Of the 39 cotton mills erected in the township prior to 1820, eight ceased to exist nearly 20 years ago, 13 are still continued as single concerns, 15 have become divided into various concerns. two have been converted into hat manufactories, and one is unoccupied. Such was the extremely depressed state of the hat manufacture in 1846 that two of the hatting manufactories were converted into cotton mills,

183