PMP2000 > Places > Charnwood History

INDUSTRIES

LACE:
JOHN HEATHCOTE was without doubt the father of the lace industry in LOUGHBOROUGH and was (indirectly!) responsible for the rapid increase in the town's population in the early 19th century.

In the 1790s NOTTINGHAM had diversified into the spinning of fine cotton thread. This led to various attempts to adapt stocking frames to make use of this by manufacturing lace. But it was not until JOHN HEATHCOTE developed his "Old Loughborough" machine in 1808 that the industry really took off.

HEATHCOTE, although born in Derbyshire, had been apprenticed in HATHERN and was working in LOUGHBOROUGH when he designed his new machine. In order to take full advantage of the machine, he went into partnership with John Boden and set up his own factory in MILL STREET, LOUGHBOROUGH (now MARKET STREET).

However, many unscrupulous manufacturers blatantly copied HEATHCOTE's designs, not only infringing his patent but also generating considerable competition for him and Boden. This caused severe financial problems for the partners, forcing them to cut the wages of their workers to save money. Not unnaturally, this was deeply resented by the workforce and their discontent led to one of the last LUDDITE raids in the country in 1816.

On the night of June 28th, 1816, a group of seventeen raiders allegedly smashed fifty five lace making machines in the factory and burned the lace. One watchman was shot, but not fatally.

The raiders were dealt with extremely harshly and in some cases on very unreliable evidence from a raider who turned KIng's Evidence in return for a light sentence. Seven of the Luddites were hanged in Leicester and three others were transported to Australia.

Whatever the rights and wrongs of the situation, after the raid HEATHCOTE decided to move his factory away from CHARNWOOD to Tiverton in Devon. This gave his competitors a clear field and as soon as his patent expired in 1823, the lace trade in LOUGHBOROUGH boomed. In 1830 there were 29 lace manufacturers in LOUGHBOROUGH alone, together with 2 in SHEPSHED and 3 in QUORN.

But higher profits could be made in hosiery and by the 1840s more and more factories were phasing out lace to go over full time to hosiery. Almost all the lace and cotton manufacture in QUORN was taken over by WRIGHT'S FACTORY (QUORN MILLS) in 1860. "WRIGHTS" was the village's major employer for decades and was never more important than during the FIRST and SECOND WORLD WARS. Much of the webbing used by the armed forces was made in this factory.

By 1883 the last lace manufacturer in CHARNWOOD had gone.