A large audience braved the heat tonight, with a few smart people bringing fans, to keep cool, 24th May 2010, to hear PhD student Will Farrell talk on “Industrial Developments and the Spitalfields Weavers.”
Will showed examples of some of the products of the weavers dating to the 1750’s. He noted that most patterns reflected natural history. The materials used for men’s waistcoats and women’s dresses. Will did note that styles changed regularly, every decade or so between 1690 and 1800.
The weavers themselves were looked at and Will described how some emigrated whilst others immigrated taking or bringing their skills with them. Many of these skills were transferrable with some requiring re-training of 2 years instead of the full 7-year apprenticeship.
Some of these immigrated to England due to friends and family influence, charities or guilds. Others emigrated due to the emergence of industries in other countries.
Will said that a lot of his research had been carried out through criminal records, as many of the weavers were thieves. He said that these records actually gave a very good insight into their personal lives. Interestingly he also noted that despite records saying foreigner, this often referred to people outside of the local area, so for example might be from a neighbouring town or county and not necessarily a foreign country.
Will noted that he had only been carrying his research out for 6 months. However the amount of work done already was just amazing.
A vote of thanks was given by Chair, Dr Nick Young.