By J. R. Wade.
It is no new thing for us to see records established one day and beaten
the next, the top place nowadays being no sooner reached by one
individual than challenged by another. The record in the manufacture of
cloth, however, with which this article deals, though of eighty-eight
years' standing, has never yet been eclipsed.
The scene of this remarkable achievement in the sartorial art is the
village of Newbury, Berkshire, and it came about in this way. Mr. John
Coxeter, a then well-known cloth manufacturer, the owner of Greenham
Mills, at the above-named village, remarked in the course of
conversation one day in the year 1811, to Sir John Throckmorton, Bart.,
of Newbury, "So great are the improvements in machinery which I have
lately introduced into my mill, that I believe that in twenty-four hours
I could take the coat off your back, reduce it to wool, and turn it back
into a coat again."
The proverb says, "There's many a true word spoken in jest." So great an
impression did Mr. Coxeter's boast make upon the Baronet, that shortly
afterwards he inquired of Mr. Coxeter if it would really be possible to
make a coat from sheep's wool between the sunrise and sunset of a
summer's day. That gentleman, after carefully calculating the time
required for the various processes, replied that in his opinion it could
be done.
Not long after the above conversation, which took place at a dinner
party, Sir John Throckmorton laid a wager of a thousand guineas that at
eight o'clock in the evening of June the 25th, 1811, he would sit down
to dinner in a well-woven, properly-made coat, the wool of which formed
the fleeces of sheep's backs at five o'clock that same morning. Such an
achievement appearing practically impossible to his listeners, his bet
was eagerly accepted.
[Illustration: _From an_] SHEARING THE SHEEP. [_Old Print._]
Sir John intrusted the accomplishment of the feat to Mr. Coxeter, and
shortly before five o'clock on the morning stated, the early-rising
villagers of Newbury were astonished to see their worthy squire,
accompanied by his shepherd and two sheep, journeying towards Greenham
Mills. Promptly at five o'clock operations commenced, and no time was
lost in getting the sheep shorn. Our first illustration, which is from
an old print executed at the time, shows the sheep being shorn by the
shepherd, and is worthy of a little attention. Sir John stands in the
middle of the picture, having his measurements taken by the tailor, and
it is an interesting fact that, except that all implements to be used
were placed in readiness on the field of action, the smallest actual
operations in the making of the coat were performed between the hours
mentioned.
[Illustration: _From an_] MAKING THE CLOTH. [_Old Print._]
Mr. Coxeter stands just behind the sheep-shearer, watching with an
anxious eye, whilst to the right may be seen a tent, which was erected
presumably for refreshments, and schoolboys climbing a greasy-pole and
generally making the best of the holiday which had been accorded them in
order that they might witness this singular spectacle.
The sheep being shorn, the wool was washed, stubbed, roved, spun, and
woven, and our next illustration, also from an old print, shows the
weaving, which was performed by Mr. Coxeter, junior, who had been found
by previous competition to be the most expert workman. In the background
of this picture may be seen the carcass of one of the sheep; of which
more later. The curious-looking objects in the basket, held, by the way,
by another of Mr. Coxeter's sons, are wool spools, while in the extreme
background, looking out of the window of a quaint old cottage, may be
seen "the gods in the gallery."
When we compare the primitive-looking loom seen in this picture with the
powerful machinery of to-day, the record then established certainly
becomes all the more wonderful.
The cloth thus manufactured was next scoured, fulled, tented, raised,
sheared, dyed, and dressed, being completed by four o'clock in the
afternoon, just eleven hours after the arrival of the two sheep in the
mill-yard.
In the meantime, the news of the wager had spread abroad among the
neighbouring villages, bringing crowds of people eager to witness the
conclusion of this extraordinary undertaking.
[Illustration: THE FINISHED COAT.
_From a Photo. by C. J. Coxeter, Abingdon._]
The cloth was now put into the hands of the tailor, Mr. James White, who
had already got all measurements ready during the operations, so that
not a moment should be lost; and he, together with nine of his men, with
needles all threaded, at once started on it. For the next two hours and
a quarter the tailors were busy cutting out, stitching, pressing, and
sewing on buttons, in fact, generally converting the cloth into a "well
woven, properly made coat," and at twenty minutes past six Mr. Coxeter
presented the coat to Sir John Throckmorton, who put the garment on
before an assemblage of over five thousand people, and sat down to
dinner with it on, together with forty gentlemen, at eight o'clock in
the evening.
[Illustration: MR. CHARLES COXETER, THE ONLY LIVING EYE-WITNESS.
_From a Photo. by C. J. Coxeter, Abingdon._]
Through the kindness of Sir William Throckmorton, its present owner, we
are able to give our readers, in the illustration shown at the bottom of
the previous page, a photograph of this wonderful coat. The garment was
a large hunting-coat of the then admired dark Wellington colour, a sort
of a damson tint. It had been completed in the space of thirteen hours
and ten minutes, the wager thus being won with an hour and
three-quarters to spare.
To commemorate the event, the two sheep who were the victims of Mr.
Coxeter's energy were killed and roasted whole in a meadow near by, and
distributed to the public, together with 120 gallons of strong beer,
this latter being the gift of Mr. Coxeter.
Our next illustration is a photograph of Mr. Charles Coxeter, of
Abingdon, Berks, the only living eye-witness to this feat. He is the
younger brother to the weaver of the cloth, long since dead, who is
shown in our second illustration. His present age is ninety-three. When
approached on the subject he said he well remembered the event, and
recalls with pleasure seeing the workmen dine off portions of the sheep,
in a barge on the river near the mill. The original mill unfortunately
no longer stands, having long since been destroyed, a more modern mill
now occupying the site.
We now give an illustration of the silver medal which was struck in
honour of the occasion. It is worded as follows:--
[Illustration]
"Presented to Mr. John Coxeter, of Greenham Mills, by the Agricultural
Society, for manufacturing wool into cloth and into a coat in thirteen
hours and ten minutes."
Mr. Coxeter was a very enterprising individual, for seemingly not
content with this wonderful achievement, not many years after, in
connection with the public rejoicings for peace after the Battle of
Waterloo, he had a gigantic plum-pudding made, which was cooked under
the supervision of twelve ladies. This monster pudding measured over
20ft. in length, and was conveyed to his house on a large timber waggon,
drawn by two oxen, which were highly decorated with blue ribbons. The
driver was similarly ornamented, and bore aloft an old family sword of
state, presumably to give _éclat_ to the occasion. Arrived at its
destination, the pudding was cut up in the celebrated old mill-yard at
Greenham, and distributed to all and sundry, those who had the good
fortune to partake of it pronouncing the pudding to be "as nice as
mother makes 'em."
[Illustration: BILL PRINTED FOR THE GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851.]
The famous coat, which has found a resting-place in a glass case in Sir
William Throckmorton's hall, was exhibited at the great International
Exhibition of 1851, where it attracted a great deal of attention, a few
copies of the old engravings from which our first two illustrations are
reproduced being eagerly bought up. Our last photograph shows the bill
which was printed for that exhibition.
Over thirty years afterwards the coat was again brought before public
notice, this time at the Newbury Art and Industrial Exhibition of 1884.
It was photographed for the first time, by Sir William's permission, for
this article. Though to us it may seem rather a curious cut for a
hunting-coat, it was the approved style for those times, the long
coat-tails flying to the wind during a chase. Needless to say, however,
this coat has never been used for that purpose.
These are certainly days of speed, and though probably with the vastly
superior machinery of to-day this wonderful performance could be
eclipsed, it is interesting to notice that up to the present it has
never been equalled.
_Animal Actualities._
NOTE.--_These articles consist of a series of perfectly authentic
anecdotes of animal life, illustrated by Mr. J. A. Shepherd, an
artist long a favourite with readers of_ THE STRAND MAGAZINE. _We
shall be glad to receive similar anecdotes, fully authenticated by
names of witnesses, for use in future numbers. While the stories
themselves will be matters of fact, it must be understood that the
artist will treat the subject with freedom and fancy, more with a
view to an amusing commentary than to a mere representation of the
occurrence._