Vist to Sudbury 8 October 2024

On a short visit to Sudbury, the receptionist at the Information Centre gave me a copy of the publication, History of Sudbury Silk.

The text is as follows:

History of Sudbury Silk
A Short History of the Silk Industry in and around Sudbury

The weaving of silk is one of the oldest of all the arts. It is carried on at the present time in widely different parts of the world by methods still very similar to those used thousands of years ago.

For many centuries the processes of sericulture, the growing, winding and weaving of real silk were a well kept secret of the Chinese Empire. When the mystery of its origin was finally disclosed the industry spread rapidly all over the East to India, Persia (now Iran), Japan and other contries and in the 9th century to Europe firstly along the north coast of Africa to Spain and later to Italy, France and the Netherlands.

By the 16th century the silk indusry had been firmly established in France and Italy especially with a suitable climate for growing the mulberry, the staple food of the silk worm.

The Huguenot persecutions involving in 1572 the massacre of St. Bartholmew and the sack of Antweerp in 1578 drove a number of the silk workers to find refuge in other countries and the final revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1687 led to the wholesale evacuations oif Huguenot workers from France to Engkand. Settlements took place in several districts with the main centre in Spitalfields, then a small country village close to London., In this area the silk workers established a compact and well run community and a period of prosperity continued during the whole of the 18th century.

The Spitalfields weavers have the distiction of having founded in 1703 what is thought to be the first Friendly Society for their own protection on the lines now commonly adopted.

The development of the industry in the Sudbury area is well described in the Victorian County History of Suffolk by William Page:

"The establishment of silk manufacture in Suffolk seems to have been closely connected with the passing of the Spitalfields Act of 1774, by which the Justices were empowered to fix rates of wages for the London weavers. The London Manufacturers began almost immediately to set up branches in the country wherever a suitable supply of labour was to be obtained.

The eastern counties , in view of their nearness to London and of the decaying state of the woollen industry within them, offered especially favourable conditions. By paying piece-work rates, which amounted to only two-thirds of those fixed by the London Justices, the employer was able to offer the Suffolk weaver better wages than he could make in the woollen industry.

Sudbury, Haverhill amd Glemsford were the places in Suffolk most affected by this migration and the silk manufacture has continued, though with considerable fluctuations of fortune to be carried on in them ever since.

At first it was onle a quesion of transferring the handloom weavers, more than half of whom were women and girls from one material to another.

Later on especially after 1824 with the duty of raw silk removed , the manufacturers began to set up throwing mills in connectiuon with the weaving centres. In 1840 there were three of these mills in Suffolk, at Hadleigh, Glemsford amd Nayland. Steam power was used in one case and waterpower in the others, but the total horse-power represented was only nine.

The total numbers of workers was 465 and of those 217 were under the age of thirtenn whilst the rest were under nineteen. A few remained in the factory after that age but as they did not become more useful, their wages were not increased.

In this way, the younger part of the population was drawn away from weaving, of which there had been some at Hadleigh, whilst many of the older weavers were forced to migrate to the Lancashire towns.

A little later the industry spread to Ipswich, where there were 200 female silk winders in 1855. The silk throwing mills at Hadleigh and Nayland seem to have ceased to work towards the end of the 1860s.

The mill at Glemsford, which was established in 1824 and which found occupation in 1874 for over 200 hands was still working in 1901, although as the number also, engaged in silk spinning within the county is given in the census of that year as 70, the extent of its operations must have been reduced."

In Essex also, a widespread development took place bewteen 1774 and 1860. In the Victorian County History of Essex we can read:

"The silk throwing mill at Pebmarsh was started in 1798 by George Courtald (1761-1823) who, in conjunction with Mr. Witts undertook to establish and conduct a silk business at Pebmarsh, building factory, dwelling house and cottages for work people. Until these works were completed, he lived at Sudbury, Suffok.

Weaving was carried on also in Essex during the 18th century.

During the first quarter of the 19th century, the silk manufacturers in the East End of London enjoyed great prosperity and many of them to keep pace with the demand started looms and factories in Essex towns....the industry extending ultimately to all the larger towns - Waltham Abbey, Harlow, Saffron Walden, Halstead, Coggeshall, Bocking,, Braintree, East Ham, Stratford, Colchester, Maldon, Billericay and Chelmsford.

At Halstead, several manufacturers had established themselves. John Davies occupied premises in High Street and Jones & Foyster in other premises. At Pebmarsh, Messrs Roddick continued in business as throwsters occupying the mill erected by George Courtauld in 1798. The mill continued working until about 1883, when the business was given up.

At Bulmer, some three miles north of Pebmarsh, one John P.Freestone, a silk manufacturer, probably a velvet weaver was still in business in 1890. Ar Braintree and Bocking, the silk trade was started very early in the century. In 1814, a "silk manufactory" had been established.

At Colchester, the silk industry grew to be of considerable importance. About the year 1828, there were about 160 silk looms....these looms were in the homes of those who worked them. In 1848, there were two silk mills....."

The throwing mills offered another reason apart from questions of wages, for manufacturers to seek the country districts - the use of water power. The machines for throwing silk was introduced into the country in 1718 and the removal of the duty on raw silk, early in the 19th century made this a profitable branch of the industry. The machinery was power driven and probably the earliest factories built for this part of the trade.

The weaving industry began at this time to be organised on lines similar to the modern factory system - although power looms were not introduced until a hundred years later, a number of hand looms would be set up in one building under the eye of the employer, "who considered that this plan not only prevented pilfering, but was a better taking for the workers".

Editor: In the background is a former manufactory which was used for silk manufacturing:

In Sudbury itself the industry evidently suffered considerable changes of fortune - m,any of the original settlers from the London area were not in business here for any length of time, but it has continued without interruption through nearly 2 centuries and Sudbury is still one of the important centres of the real silk trade.

The issue of White's Directory in 1844 mentions that there were at that time about 600 looms in the town, which found employment for 300 men (and probably about the same number of women) - some of these were still weaving "buntings and drabbets" - the remainder of the old wool weaving trade, but the majority were making "silks, velvets and satins". The firms engaged at that date were listed as Duff & Peacock in Christopher Lane, John Edmunds, Joseph Foot & Son and James Hill & Company.

Editor: The oldest silk manufactory in Sudbury was at 47 Gainsborough Street (see below), which was previously occupied by weaver William Hill:

The industry appears to have fallen on a period of depression around 1838 when it is said that "about half the looms of Sudbury were out of employment". From 1831-1841 the population of Glemsford decreased by over 25% "owing to the decline of silk and wool weaving". In 1851 however the number of employed in the industry in Sudbury was given as 852 persons and the situation evidently improved sufficiently to encourage a number of other firms to come into the town.

In 1874 several new names appear in the list of silk manufacturers - Henry W Eaton & Sons (also of Glemsford, throwsters, having taken over the mill there from Alexander Duff). Thomas Kemp and Sons and Kipling Pain & Co (both of Sepulchre Street,now Gainsborough Street), Norris & Co in Melford Road and two firms in the same family: Daniel Waters & Sons in North Street and Stephen Walters & Sons in Acton Square.

Messrs Vanner & Sons were at the same time working in Haverhill and Glemsford. Thomas Kemp's business had absorbed the business of T Firault & Co of Spitalfields in 1884 and was operating in the town well into the 20th Century. Daniel Waters was later confined to Braintree where it was absorbed by Warner & Sons.

Between 1895 and 1905 saw the introduction into the area of the power loom and from then up to 1914 the silk industry enjoyed a period of prosperity and expansion. Sir Frank Warner in 1916 mentioned firms still in Sudbury including Stephen Walters & Sons Ltd, Vanners and Fennell Bros. Ltd formed by an amalgamation of the firm Vanners founded in 1818 and that of Mr Fennell founded in 1895; Gainsborough Silk Weaving Company, started by Mr Reginald Warner in 1903, manufacturers of high quality fabrics. These firms are still in existence. However Messrs. Jones and Thomas Kemp have ceased work. Bailey Fox & Co which was in Sudbury in the early 20th Century was still operating in Plaistow until 1939 and a large part of the machinery was taken over by Stephen Walters & Sons.

Though the number employed have fluctuated considerably over time progress of the industry has been reasonably steady and the variations in its fortune have not been accompanied as so often in other industries by serious industrial or political diturbances. Since the power loom was introduced the greater part of the employment offered has been for female labour, and perhaps for this reason the periods of depression in the silk trade have not caused widespread distress as did the fluctuations of the wool trade in earlier times. Rates of wages have, of course, kept pace with the rising tendency in all trades - 1840 a weaver would average 7/- to 10/- per week (35p-50p). The greatest numbers employed in the silk industry in Suffolk were reached in the middle of the 19th Century when the weavers and throwsters together numbered about 2000.

From the time of its estabishment in Sudbury, the local indusryhas been mainly concerned with the manufacture of high class fabrics of specialist nature. The early products are vaguely described as "silks, velvets and satins" but the weaving of velvet was certainly a widespread feature in the days of the hand loom. The Sudbury weavers have produced silk fabrics of every description over the years - for ladies dresses, for men's shirts, pyjamas and ties for evening wear, linings and scarves, clerical hoods and gowns, Masonic regalia and fine furnishings used by many famous houses. Fabrics woven here have been destined for royal gowns Iincluding wedding gowns), Papal gowns, Mr Chamberlain's famous umbrella and attractive brocades. Gold medals and other awards have been won at international exhibitions in many countries and have been honoured on several occasions by royal visits.

Between the wars the trade was hard pressed by severe competition aboad. In recent years the mills have again been busy and are now making an important contribution to the export trade of the UK.

Colin Bower
31 January 2025

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