BEFORE entering on a detail of occurrences which possess, comparatively
speaking, only an isolated interest, I shall occupy a few pages in the
consideration of some general facts and statistics, which may enable the
reader to judge of the advance which the County of Worcester has made
during a truly remarkable half-century. No former period in the world’s
history ever witnessed such mental activity and progress.
The INCREASE OF POPULATION, though not a perfect test of general
prosperity, yet indicates that the employments which engage the attention
of the inhabitants of any given district are flourishing, that there is
no such apprehended deficiency of the articles of wealth as seriously to
check marriage, and that there is an absence of some of those evils which
are constantly at work to retard the replenishment of the earth by the
human family. For the statistics of population in this county I refer
the reader to Table 1, in the Appendix, from which he will perceive that
a continuous, and in some instances a rapid increase has taken place in
the manufacturing districts. Until the last ten years, however, the
increase of population in this county, though exceeding that of many
counties, did not quite come up to the average increase of the entire
kingdom. The rate of increase from 1801 to 1811, was—
Worcestershire, 15 per cent. England, 14½ per cent.
1811 to 1821 „ 15 „ „ 17½ „
1821 to 1831 ,, 15 „ „ 16 „
1831 to 1841 „ 10.4 „ „ 14.5 „
From 1841 to 1851, the rate of increase for Worcestershire was slightly
above the average, being as nearly as possible 13 per cent., while that
of England, as a whole, had declined, and was only about 12.7. This is a
fact upon which no interpretation can be put, except such as is
flattering to the condition and prospects of our county. EMIGRATION has
been slowly going on from our manufacturing districts during the last
fifteen years, but there has been no remarkable exodus at any particular
period. Many farm labourers and small occupants of land have also been
seduced by the Mormons to seek an imaginary paradise in the Far West.
Even this desultory emigration cannot but be beneficial. Great Britain
has yet, however, to acquire the practical wisdom of the ancients in
carrying out a systematic colonization, and it still remains for her
people to perform the noble mission which their national advantages and
insular position seem to assign them—that of peopling the solitudes of
the earth with a race which has hitherto proved equal to all
difficulties, and who would carry with them the laws of an Alfred, the
language of a Shakspere, and, above all, the ennobling influences of the
Christian religion.
A tabular statement of CRIMINALS convicted, and of the nature of the
sentences inflicted upon them, will also be found in the Appendix. When
the improvement in the machinery for detecting crimes and bringing
offenders to justice is taken into account, there would not seem to be
any serious increase in the amount of crime committed; but there
certainly is no room for believing that the intelligence of the age, or
the activity of the police, have been successful in diminishing it.
Neither does the comparative leniency of the punishments inflicted afford
any proof that the crimes committed are less heinous than formerly. The
decrease in severity of punishments is to be attributed solely to the
amelioration of our criminal code, and the humane desire to reclaim
rather than to punish, which now distinguishes our legislature and even
pervades the judiciary. Worcestershire, it must be admitted, holds a bad
preëminence both in respect to the number and character of the offences
committed within its boundaries: a recent return, made by order of the
Privy Council, assigns it the very lowest place amongst the English
counties as to the proportion of criminals to the population, and within
three of the bottom of the list in degree of crime.
EDUCATION is regarded by many as the panacea which is to empty our
prisons and render the judge’s office a sinecure; and, without being
inclined to attribute to it any such efficacy, it cannot be doubted that
it does act as a check to the commission of many of the grosser offences
against society. A private individual has not at his command the means
necessary to compile complete statistics on a subject like this; it is a
matter of congratulation, however, that Government caused inquiries to be
made, at the last census, which will by and by put us in possession of
much important information on this head. Without pretending to accuracy,
I believe it will be found that there are in Worcestershire about 550
private and public day and boarding schools, having accommodation for the
instruction of 20,000 scholars. It is not, indeed, want of accommodation
that is now so much to be complained of—for few of the school-rooms are
filled—as inferiority in the quality of the instruction imparted.
Earnest efforts are, however, being made by all educational societies and
the supporters of public schools to remedy the admitted deficiency.
Nearly all the schools now existing in the county, with the exception of
the Grammar and Free Schools of which there are some seventy-six, have
been founded during the present century, and owe their existence, and in
greatest part their continuance, to the voluntary benevolence of persons
residing on the spot. Within the last three or four years, public
attention has been much directed to the lax administration of the funds
of the various charity schools in the county, and should the gentlemen
who have taken the matter so zealously in hand be successful in bringing
about the reforms which these institutions so imperatively need, the poor
of many future generations will have reason to thank them for their
labours. I must not omit to notice here the means which have been taken
in the latter part of this half-century to induce a love and pursuit of
knowledge amongst the working classes, by the establishment of Mechanics’
Institutions, one of which is now to be found in almost every town in the
county. The elder born of these societies are, unfortunately, already
passing to decay, and, as at present conducted, they do not seem to
possess any inherent vitality. They have undoubtedly been useful in
displaying the more attractive results of study and science—the flowers
by the wayside, which may tempt triflers to venture a short distance on
Learning’s easier paths—but they offer little or no assistance to those
who would resolutely dare its difficult ascents. The efforts of the
friends of education should be directed to making these institutions what
their projector, Lord Brougham, intended they should be—People’s
Colleges.
An estimate of the provision made for RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION in this
county will be found in the Appendix—Table No. 3. The Established
Church, by new buildings or enlargements, has increased the accommodation
for attendants on its forms of worship, since the year 1800, by one fifth
to one fourth. Upon looking at the large numbers provided for by
Wesleyanism, in its various forms, the thought cannot but occur that if
the Church of England could have retained John Wesley and his followers,
as Rome did St. Francis D’Assissi, to be its evangelists among the masses
of the population, it must have received a vast accession of strength.
The Wesleyans in forsaking their first simple object of evangelism for
that of building up a permanent ecclesiastical polity, seem to have
mistaken the source of their own power, and during the last two years
their numbers have considerably decreased from disaffection in the body.
The Independents and Baptists have been deficient in proselytism,
conceiving their special mission to be to keep in purity the faith
committed to them from their Puritan forefathers. The Unitarians and
Friends are stationary sects. The Roman Catholics have built ten small
chapels in this county during the present century, and as to numbers,
they have barely kept pace with the increase of population. The annual
value of church livings in this county is about £62,000; the income of
the See of Worcester is fixed at £5,000; and the net revenue of the Dean
and Chapter of Worcester is returned at £8,698. The various bodies of
Protestant Dissenters raise at least £20,000 annually for the support of
their ministers, Sabbath schools, missions, and other religious
institutions.
This county yields at once the richest fruits of the soil and the most
practically valuable mineral productions. The total acreage of the
county, exclusive of roads and rivers, is 431,616; and by far the larger
portion of this surface is devoted to AGRICULTURE. According to Mr.
Fowler’s valuation, made in the year 1842, the total value of property
assessable to the county rate is £912,863; of which £263,000 may be taken
as representing the rental of buildings and land in the towns and
manufacturing districts, leaving £650,000 as the annual value of
agricultural property. In this statement the city of Worcester, the
rateable rental of which is about £75,000, is, of course, not included.
If it is assumed that 380,000 acres are arable and grass land, that will
probably be an approximation to the truth. In the total absence of
agricultural statistics any attempt to compute the present produce of the
county would be quite out of the question, but that it has greatly
increased of late years cannot be doubted. A gentleman, upon whose
practical knowledge and information the most entire reliance may be
placed, informs me that the average yield per acre throughout the Vale of
Evesham is now about 27 bushels in wheat, 32 in barley, 40 in oats, 27 in
beans; and that there has been an increase of fully 15 per cent. in the
wheat and barley crops, and of 10 per cent. in the bean crop, within the
last 20 or 25 years. Hops, however, for which this county has been and
still is so famous, have to a great extent gone out of cultivation; and
while at the beginning of the century some 6,000 acres were devoted to
their growth, there are now not more than 1,625 acres of hop plantation.
With regard to the general progress of agriculture, the half-century may
be divided into three periods. During the war the high prices of
provisions stimulated improvement, and much drainage was then done,
though in so rude and unscientific a way that it has since been found
necessary to replace a great deal of it. The Earl of Plymouth, the Earl
of Coventry, and A. Lechmere, Esq., in this county, very early bestowed
great pains on the drainage of their estates. From 1814 to 1830
agriculture, comparatively speaking, was at a stand still; {6} but during
the last twenty years many and signal improvements have been made in its
science. Many persons still living can recollect whole hamlets and
villages in this county in which there was scarce an enclosure; and
nearly the whole of the land was cultivated in common by the resident
farmers, to each one of whom would be assigned a certain quantity in
wheat, barley, vetches, and fallow. Between each ploughed land was left
a strip of mere, into which the surface water from the adjoining ridges
all sank and rendered it little better than a constant bog, which
diseased the few poor sheep grazing upon it and made the ague a common
and hereditary ill to farmer and labourer alike. The amount of
unenclosed land now to be found in the county is quite unimportant;
thorough drainage is regarded as essential to all cultivation; burnt soil
has been much used to lighten the heavy clays; manures of all kinds are
extensively employed; and implements of a very improved and economic
description are used in almost every farming operation. The increased
cultivation of the turnip, and better management of the clay fallows, are
marked features in Worcestershire agricultural improvements. Clay lands,
that formerly were allowed to lie fallow every fourth or fifth year, are
now planted with vetches, and sheep-folded. A remarkable advance, too,
has been made in the character of the stock reared, especially in the
size and quality of the sheep. The better drainage of the land has
prevented much of the disease which used formerly to thin out the flocks
year by year, and there has been no serious rot in the county since 1831.
The local agricultural societies, which have been established during the
last fifteen years, have done much by their premiums and annual
exhibitions to stimulate improvement, but our chief confidence for
progress in the future lies in our being able to number amongst our
landowners and occupiers men of intelligence and enterprise, who, in all
quarters of the county, are seriously engaged in adjusting the relations
of landlord and tenant to the circumstances of the times, and by improved
modes of farm management and cultivation seeking to meet successfully
unrestricted foreign competition.
Our mineral productions are COAL and IRON, both of which are found in
large quantities at the northern extremity of the county, and coal is
also raised in the neighbourhood of Bewdley. The Dudley division of the
South Staffordshire coal field is celebrated for producing what is known
as the ten yard or thick coal—so named because the bed is thirty feet in
thickness. It is, indeed, the largest and most important bed of coal in
the kingdom, and its good qualities are too well known to every
housekeeper in this district to need that I should expatiate upon them
here. With the associated thin coals and ironstone this bed is worth at
least £1,000 per acre. The number of tons of coal raised in the Dudley
district (Worcestershire only) during 1851 may be approximately reckoned
at 700,000, worth perhaps £25,000. It was in this district that coal was
first used for the purpose of smelting iron, in the year 1619. The
duties on the introduction of foreign iron were cither removed or
rendered merely nominal in 1826, and the production has since nearly
quadrupled, and now amounts to 2,250,000 tons annually. The South
Staffordshire and Worcestershire iron district ranks second in
importance, far surpassing Scotland in the manufacture of wrought iron,
and the quality is superior to that of South Wales. The number of
furnaces now in blast in this county is twenty-eight, and eighteen out of
blast. Nearly 150,000 tons of iron were made here in 1851, and prices
ranged from 50s. to 57s. 6d. hot blast; cold blast, 60s. to 67s. 6d.;
best makes, 120s., and second ditto, 110s. per ton. The make of iron has
not greatly increased in Worcestershire during the last few years, but no
branch of our productive industry rests on surer foundations, or has more
prospect of continuous extension, than the iron trade.
The GLASS manufacture, of which Stourbridge is a principal seat, affords
a most striking instance of the tendency of excessive duties, collected
under regulations which interfere with and cramp industrial processes.
In 1811 the home consumption of glass amounted to 417,911 cwt.: in 1812
the excise duties on this article were doubled; the average consumption
of the next three years was but 264,931 cwt.; and up to the time of the
reduction of the duties by two-thirds, in 1835, there had been no
increase whatever in the consumption of British glass since the
commencement of the present century. Since the entire abolition of the
duties, in 1845, the consumption has increased to a surprising extent,
and glass has been applied to uses previously undreamt of. The
manufacture was introduced into Stourbridge, about 1556, by refugees from
Lorraine, and has continued to flourish there ever since. The
descriptions principally made here are flint, bottle, and chemical
utensil glass. There are now twelve glass manufactories in the town and
neighbourhood, employing about 1,050 pairs of hands, and the trade
generally is in a prosperous state. The manufacture of FIRE BRICKS, and
the sale of clay for glass works, is a trade at Stourbridge, now almost
as important as the manufacture of glass itself; and as it is one with
the details of which the public are not generally conversant, I shall
enter somewhat into particulars. Beneath all coal strata is found a
clay, which, from the peculiarity of its ingredients, is remarkably well
adapted to stand the action of intense heat. An analysis of the best
clay raised at Stourbridge, gives
Silica 72.516
Alumina 20.264
Lime 0.891
Peroxide of Iron 3.308
Protoxide of Manganese 1.488
Phosphate of Lime 1.533
100.000
The presence of lime or iron in any considerable quantities would render
the clay fusible, but when the silica and alumina so greatly
preponderate, it will stand any amount of heat that can be raised in
ordinary furnaces. The best clay fetches about 55s. per ton, and is used
for glass-house pots and the bricks used in making glass furnaces, not
only in England but other countries; it is exported to North America in
large quantities, and to South America, France, Holland, and Germany.
Besides the best clay, inferior descriptions called “seconds,” “black,”
and “offal” clay are raised to a considerable extent. The first (black),
mixed in certain proportions with “seconds,” potsherds, &c., is chiefly
used for making crucibles, in which metals are melted; and of these
Birmingham alone takes about 100 dozen weekly from this district. The
“offal clay,” or that which is raised from the mine in the mixed or
broken state, is not “picked” (or selected), but ground and sold at 10s.
per ton: with this the great bulk of fire bricks are made. The trade is
one of ancient date; Rufford’s clay works have been carried on during the
whole of this century under the same name, but its principal development
has taken place within the last forty years. Formerly the owners did not
get half the best or other clays, and forty years ago there was no better
speculation than taking to what was then considered a broken, or
worked-out mine. Nor did they attempt any but square or roughly-made
bricks, whereas the trade now can model and finish neatly. Even now the
capabilities of Stourbridge fire clay are not generally understood. It
has had a steady unfluctuating demand, and notwithstanding the discovery
of fire clay in various parts of the island, Stourbridge never did a
larger business than at present. The Stourbridge clays and bricks are
sold freely both in the north and in Wales. About 15,000 tons of best
clay are raised annually in the Stourbridge district. There are four
proprietors of clay mines in Stourbridge, and two firms renting mines;
five out of the six being also manufacturers of fire bricks and other
articles in which the clay is used. The fire bricks are made of all
sizes; the largest kept in regular stock weighs 635lbs. The glass-house
bricks are sold “green” (dry) and but seldom burnt. The common
description for gas works, iron works, and all other purposes, are burnt.
About 14,000,000 of bricks of all descriptions are made annually in the
Stourbridge district, consuming about 46,000 tons of clay, and may be
valued at £50,000. An important branch of the trade, and one which has
been gradually increasing for the last seven years, is the manufacture of
clay retorts for gas works, and they are now generally preferred to
metal. The most striking purpose to which the fire clay has been turned
is the manufacture of large baths in one piece. At the suggestion of
Prince Albert, the Society of Arts in 1846 offered a premium for the
production of such an article, and in 1850 one was made at the works of
F. T. Rufford, Esq., which gained the Gold Isis Medal. It had been
thought impossible to manufacture such an article in one piece because of
the great contraction which all pottery undergoes in burning, but after
much patient experiment, the ingenuity and skill of the practical men in
Mr. Rufford’s works produced a perfect and beautiful vessel which may be
said to be imperishable, will never discolour, is cleansed without
labour, and is incapable of retaining the poison of any contagious
disease in an active form. The clearness of the colour (white or
marbled) is effected by veneering china on the inner surface of the fire
clay, and the contractile effect of burning is overcome by assimilating
the two clays. Many public baths are now supplied with this useful
article, which bids fair altogether to supersede the metallic baths. The
number of hands employed at Stourbridge in the manufacture of bricks and
other articles from fire clay is about 900. The town has been
considerably improved since 1820: the bridge over the Stour was widened
in 1840; a new market hall has recently been erected, and the inhabitants
generally seem to have somewhat of the spirit and enterprise expected in
a flourishing manufacturing place.
The manufactures of KIDDERMINSTER are of many years standing. In 1536 it
was enacted that “No person of what degree or quality soever they be,
shall make within the shire of Worcester any manner of woollen cloths,
except only within the city of Worcester, the borough and towns of
Kidderminster, Evesham, Droitwich, and Bromsgrove, under pain of
forfeiting, for every broad cloth elsewhere made, the sum of ten pounds;”
and in the time of Charles II an act was passed “for regulating the
manufacture of Kidderminster stuffs.” Arras, frieze, cheneys and
ratteens, poplin, prunellas, rich brocades and quilted stuffs were all
made here in their turn, but the CARPET MANUFACTURE, to which the town
has entirely owed its prosperity and fame in later years, was not
introduced till the middle of last century. At first the Scotch carpets
only were made, but afterwards Wilton and Brussels, and the Kidderminster
goods at once acquired celebrity for substantial workmanship and
brilliancy of colouring. At the beginning of the present century there
were probably about 400 looms at work here, but there are now at least
3,000. The trade has of course been subject to many fluctuations, and
there have been several seasons of severe distress amongst the weavers,
which have been for the most part coincident with stagnation in other
departments of manufacture, and are traceable to the same general causes.
During the last ten years the business has been comparatively prosperous,
there has been a great increase of production, and the tapestry carpeting
is largely exported to the Continent, where its cheapness secures sale in
the teeth of the elegant, but costly, “velvets” of France. The many
improvements which have been introduced into the method of manufacture
during the present century, have principally had reference to the
construction of the looms, and economy in the amount of wool used; in
design there is still something to be accomplished. The principal
varieties now made are the ordinary Venetian carpeting, the Scotch or
Kidderminster, Brussels, Wilton, Genoa velvets, Axminster, Saxony, and
the patent tapestry carpetings, which last are among the most recent and
important introductions. Some of the yarns employed in the fabrication
of these were printed and arranged in Halifax, under a patent from
Messrs. Crossley, which however expired in September last. Steam looms
for tapestry under patents from the same firm are already at work in the
town, and steam looms for the manufacture of Brussels carpeting are about
to be introduced, the effect of which, upon the general character of the
trade, must needs be exceedingly important; but though the change can
scarcely fail to occasion temporary distress, it may fairly be hoped
that, like all other improvements, it will result in a large increase of
the manufacture, and add to the demand for labour and its remuneration.
The other manufactures carried on here, principally relate to the
preparation of leather; damask silks are made by one manufacturer; and
there are one or two spinning mills. There are various tin forges in the
neighbourhood, and iron, tin, and screw works at Cookley employing many
hands.
REDDITCH and its neighbourhood is the principal seat of the needle and
fish hook manufactures in this kingdom, and has been so for upwards of a
century. In 1800 perhaps 500 persons found employment in this business
at Redditch, while the present number, including children, is at least
2,300, and the quantity of needles made has increased from 150 to 1,000
millions per annum. A very large population is also engaged in the
manufacture, at Astwood Bank, Feckenham, Crab’s Cross, &c., but all the
needles so made are known as Redditch needles. The superiority of the
article manufactured here ensures it a sale all over the world, and it is
only in the common and inferior descriptions that the German makers come
into competition with those of this county; in fact, the Germans
themselves send to Redditch for their best goods. Some very important
improvements have been lately introduced into the manufactories, and
especially a contrivance for carrying off the fine steel dust created in
the operation of grinding the needles, which was formerly very
destructive of the lives of the persons employed. The fish hook trade is
carried on to a considerable extent in this neighbourhood, and large
quantities of barbs, from the fly fisher’s delicate tackle to the
whaler’s harpoon, are annually exported to all quarters of the globe.
There is also one pin manufactory in the town. The operative needle
makers are amongst the most intelligent of our artizans, and the future
prospects of the trade are in most respects encouraging.
NAIL MAKING employs a large number of people both at Bromsgrove and in
the neighbourhood of Stourbridge. In the former town and district there
were, some sixty years ago, only five or six nail masters or factors, and
not more than 400 or 500 persons engaged in the business, but it now
furnishes occupation for ten times that number. Twenty-five years since
the trade was in a prosperous state, but about this time, owing to the
demand being good, an inferior article was made, with which the customers
were dissatisfied; and the result of this state of things was the
invention of a machine which, by singular ingenuity and application of
mechanical skill, cuts every part of the nail at once out of a solid
sheet of iron. The rapidity, ease, and cheapness with which nails were
thus multiplied, of course caused a great change in the condition and
prospects of the nail-making districts. The demand, however, still
continues for many descriptions of the article which cannot be made, or
so well made, by machine, and supplies a tolerable amount of employment.
The French and Germans now successfully compete with us in the
manufacture, and the export trade to America is decreasing in consequence
of the prohibitory duty imposed by the government of that country. The
nailors, as a class, are almost as destitute as the colliers of
everything like intelligence, and this is chiefly owing to the early age
at which the children work at the trade and are able to earn a livelihood
for themselves. The truck system—by which the employer pays the wages of
his workpeople, not in money, but in goods of his own providing, and at
prices of his own fixing—is an evil of monstrous growth, which has
greatly assisted in the degradation of the workpeople. Recently,
however, many benevolent efforts have been made to provide them with
education and to remedy the social evils which exist amongst them.
Thirty or forty years ago there was a considerable linen trade carried on
at Bromsgrove. A good deal of flax was once grown in this neighbourhood,
and the manufacture by the hand loom was considerable, but the
introduction of machinery superseded this mode of making, and enterprise
and capital, necessary to the establishment of factories with the latest
improvements in machinery, were wanting. Moreover Bromsgrove linens got
into disrepute, because those of inferior make were sent here for
bleaching and sold as of Bromsgrove manufacture. Bromsgrove itself has
been much improved within the last twenty years. In the year 1846 an Act
of Parliament was passed for paving, cleansing, draining, and improving
the town, and for the better assessing and collecting the parochial
rates.
The SALT MANUFACTURE of Droitwich is one of the most ancient businesses
in the kingdom, having been carried on for upwards of 1,000 years, and
the salt made here has always been celebrated for its strength and
purity. From the year 1805 until 1823 salt was subject to a duty of 15s.
a bushel or £30 a ton, and this impost was collected by the excise every
six weeks. A large capital was therefore required to carry on the trade,
and the price of fine salt was at least £32 per ton. In that year,
however, the duty was reduced to 2s. a bushel, and in 1825 it was removed
altogether; and the highest price of fine salt, since its repeal, has
been £1. 2s. 6d. per ton. That such a reduction in price must have led
to a greatly increased consumption is self-evident, but there was no very
immediate or considerable increase in the make. The proprietors of the
original salt works in this borough sought to protect themselves against
competition, by buying up most of the land that would be available for
the erection of new works, and for a time they kept up their profits.
Rival companies, however, did at length find means of establishing
themselves, and about twelve or fourteen years ago a large increase of
production took place, but the price of the article has been so reduced
by this competition that the business has become very unremunerative.
Repeated failures have taken place amongst the more recent firms; and
half a million of capital, invested in the manufacture within the last
twenty-five years, has been entirely lost. Within the last fifty years
the primitive method of simply boring for the brine has been improved
upon by casing the pit with wood, and more recently shafts have been sunk
quite through the fresh water springs, the bottom and sides of which are
secured with iron cylinders before boring down to the brine springs. By
this means the brine (which lies 173 feet from the surface) is obtained
at its full saturation of 42 parts of salt to 100, while formerly it
varied between 28 and 37 percent. The present annual make at Droitwich
of all kinds of salt is about 80,000 tons, and at the works at Stoke,
from 25,000 to 30,000 tons; the average price per ton is scarcely more
than 10s. The Droitwich trade labours under considerable disadvantage in
the heavy tonnage which the manufacturers have to pay for the carriage of
the article to the outports, and the iniquitous tax imposed upon the
article in the East Indies, where it is almost a necessary of life, is a
great hindrance to an extension of sale.
The manufactures with which WORCESTER itself is associated, during the
half-century just closed, have reached their meridian and have seriously
declined. Our porcelain factories were once almost as famous as those of
Sévres, and notices will be found in the following pages of continual
visits from Royal and distinguished personages to witness the art of the
potter, and to give large orders for splendid services of China; but this
is one of those articles the demand for which has been greatly affected
by a change of fashion, and plate has now almost wholly superseded China
for dinner services amongst people of wealth. Truth requires it to be
said also that our manufacturers have allowed themselves to be
outstripped, in spirit and improvement, by those of other places. At the
beginning of this century there were forty or fifty master glovers in
Worcester. The trade received a serious check by the suspension of our
intercourse with America in 1812, nevertheless, the number had increased
in 1826 to 120; but the repeal of the import duty in that year, together
with the more general use of Berlin and silk gloves, has had such a
damaging effect upon the trade, that there are at present only twenty
master glovers in the city. One firm, however (known as the Messrs.
Dent’s), has a world-wide celebrity, and manufactures on a very large
scale. It was not so much in price as in quality that the Worcester
makers had to dread foreign competition; the article sent out from their
workshops before the repeal of the duty was clumsily and badly made.
Worcester gloves are now equal in every respect to those imported from
France, and are often sold as French to accommodate the prejudice of the
customer. It seems hard to say why Worcester, a city so centrally
situated, and, before the railway era, so advantageously situated as
regards the means of communication with other parts of the kingdom, has
not become a manufacturing emporium and a place of much greater
importance. In my belief, one principal reason has been the hindrance to
speculative or _bonâ fide_ building, which exists in the bad tenure of
land everywhere around the city; there can be no doubt that this has
driven enterprising men to settle in places which in other respects were
less suitable for their undertakings. There has, moreover, been a lack
of unity and coöperation amongst the inhabitants in the promotion of the
general good which has been “the worm i’ the bud” to many schemes which
would in all probability have greatly advanced the prosperity of the
city. Considerations of the common weal have been postponed to the
interests of partizanship. To make an application of our civic
motto—Worcester, if faithful to herself, may flourish ever. Worcester is
rich in charitable institutions and revenues for alleviating the
distresses of poverty. It may be a question, indeed, whether these have
not reached the point at which eleemosynary aid ceases to be
advantageous, begins to foster dependence, and eats out the energy of a
community; but their abundance has at any rate not had the effect of
drying up the streams of private benevolence. At least £40,000 have been
raised in Worcester at different periods of distress and necessity which
have occurred since 1800, for the relief and aid of its own poor.
There are many minor manufactures carried on in the county, especially
the preparation of leather at Bewdley, Stourport, and Worcester, which
need not be further particularised, and for the remaining towns and
boroughs—these—like an honoured aristocracy—repose on their historical
associations; the fame which the touches of a master hand, such as
Fielding’s, may have cast around their name; or the remembrances of
former activity and bustle. But I must not omit a passing notice of
MALVERN, that gem of nature’s setting, on whose hills the purest air is
breathed, the purest water drank, and the richest and most unique inland
landscape to be seen in all England. Formerly what is called Malvern
Wells was the only part of the hills at which visitors stopped, but for
the last twenty years Great Malvern has been gradually growing as a place
of resort, and is now a “town” by Act of Parliament. And whether for
pleasure or for health it must continue to be resorted to, and to
increase in fame and importance; for it abounds in nature’s simplest but
most efficacious restoratives, and its beauties will bear repeated
inspection, and will be appreciated just in proportion to the cultivation
of the mind that dwells on them.
Even from this hasty and cursory glance at the progress of the county
during the first half of the nineteenth century, it will be apparent that
Worcestershire has not been deficient in contributing her quota to the
general prosperity. The age is remorseless in its demands; we cannot
stand still. The years that are past press with all their accelerated
momentum on the heels of those that follow and hurry them to a yet
greater speed. But our resources are not exhausted, nor need we fear
that they shall ever be. We do not trace the decay of nations to any
failure in the material of greatness, but in the enervation of the mind
that should develop it. It only remains for us, then, to be found in the
practice of intelligence and industry—which make a people great—and of
the virtues which make a people happy.