23rd September 1812: The mill-owner, John Goodair, sells up and quits Stockport

Five months after his home was destroyed and his premises were attacked in Stockport, John Goodair had decided to quite the town and the business altogether. An advertisement in the Manchester Mercury of 1st & 15th September 1812 drew notice to an auction of the entire contents of his factory which was to take place on Wednesday 23rd September 1812:

New and Valuable Machinery, Power Looms and other Effects.

SALE BY AUCTION,

By John Wood,

At the Factories lately occupied by Mr John Goodair, situate at Edgeley, and Stockport, in the county of Chester, (by order of his assignees,) on Wednesday the 23d September, 1812, and on such following days as may be requisite for the disposal of the whole, the sale each day commencing at ten o'clock,

An extensive assortment of very valuable MACHINERY, and EFFECTS, comprising picking machines, carding engines, drawing and fly frames, throstles, mules, warping mills and machines, dressing machines, cup presses, patent looms, straps, cans, skips, bobbins, iron safe, desks, counters, shelves, beams, scales and weights. A large quantity of joiner’s, machine maker’s and smith's tools, cast-iron, brass, new cards, and a great variety of useful and requisite implements and materials for spinning and manufacturing concerns.

The principal part of the above property is nearly new, was made by mechanics of the greatest eminence, and has been lately in use.

Catalogues containing the allotments of the whole will be ready one week previous to the sale, and may be had on application to Messrs. Scholes and Kirk, Cotton Dealers; the Auctioneer, King-street, Manchester; or to Mr. Turner, on the premises Stockport.

19th May 1812: More prisoners committed to Chester Castle

On 19th May 1812, the Chester Courant reported on a number of prisoners who had arrived at Chester Castle to face trial at the forthcoming Special Commission, which would commence in 4 days time:

On referring to our paper of the 28th ult, our reader will find a list of thirty-two prisoners, since which the following have been received at the Castle:—Abraham Broadbent and James Crossland, for riotously assembly and destroying the machinery of R. Thorniley, a manufacturer, and threatening his life; John Ellis, for destroying seven shere frames, belonging to Thomas Rhodes; and William Greenhough, for entering the shop of Elice Berry, at Tintwistle, and carrying away a quantity of flour.—John Garner, taking an unlawful oath; and James Renshaw, for obtaining divers sums of money, from different individuals, at Etchells; and Joseph Thompson, for stealing a silver soup ladle, a quantity of spoons and other articles, the property of John Goodair, at Edgeley, and for having afterwards set fire to the house and furniture. Nancy Hurst and Edward Redfern, for carrying away large quantities of meal and flour, from the warehouse and granary of the proprietors of the Huddersfield canal, situate at Staley. John Temples, for having, in company with others, entered the dwelling-house of Samuel Wagstaff, at Bollington, and stealing therefrom five silver tea-spoons and a great variety of wearing apparel; and John Heywood, for destroying machinery belonging to Messrs. Sidebothams, at Tintwistle.

4th April 1812: Rising tensions in Stockport - almost at boiling point

For a while it seemed that the factory owners in Stockport had begun to accede to the demands of their workers. The use of direct action and the threat of strikes had brought concessions, and at a meeting facilitated by Stockport Magistrates in March, an agreement was reached to raise the wages of weavers by 20%. 12 years later, before a Parliamentary Committee, the weaver Joseph Sherwin, who was on the Stockport Weavers Committee at this time related that the the capitalists were not serious:

"They told me, that they were only making game of us; they said one thing in the presence of the magistrate, and another when they met themselves."

Yet the people who this ruse was being played upon could not bear it any longer. Around this time, the journal 'The Philanthropist' (1812, p316) reported the situation in Stockport:

"Hundreds of families with three or four children have only ten or twelve shillings per week: such families cannot get sufficient food. A considerable number out of work; others only partly employed; poor unable to buy clothes; in rags. Never before saw the labouring poor look so ill, or appearing so ragged; many miserably wretched; a few nearly in a starving state. Parish consists of 20,000, and the proportion of the inhabitants able to contribute very small. The poor rate ten shillings in the pound on the assessment, and likely to bed doubled, many who formerly paid being now obliged to apply to the workhouse for relief."

 For the poor in nearby Disley, the situation was dreadful:

"Necessities of the poor urgent and extreme: the writer had not heard of any place inclosing more indigence and perishing want; many families have sought sustenance from boiled nettles and wild greens without salt" (ibid, p.317)

To make matters worse, many weavers in Stockport were Irish immigrants and therefore had no access to Parish relief. Many of them lived in Edgeley where various manufacturers had installed steam looms in their factories. The contrast between their destitution and the masters' fortunes was written starkly against the skyline that each new hungry day brought.

On Saturday 4th April 1812, the disappointment and anger of the working people in Stockport began to simmer more violently. At a Stockport steam loom factory, several windows were broken by stones being thrown. On the same night, John Goodair, the owner of a similar factory, was sitting in his house relaxing when he was shot at through his windows: he and his family managed to avoid injury despite 11 lead slugs being fired.

The manufacturers had sown the wind in March, and would be reaping the whirlwind soon enough.

28th March 1812: The Manchester spy 'B' meets a contact from Leeds and Irish rebels in Stockport

Colonel Fletcher's spy 'B' filed another report for his master on 28th March 1812.

On 25th March, after a meeting with another agent L.F., he was visited at home by a man called Welch from Leeds. B tried to get as much information as he could from Welch, establishing that there were 3 grand committees or 'heads' in the British Isles: London, Glasgow and Ireland, who communicated by delegates and had the final say on any plans. They were secretive and cautious - new recruits could only join if 2 existing members proposed them, with one of those members being prominent. They also had an oath which was sworn on the Bible:

I do most solemnly promise and swear that I will be faithful and keep all things entrusted to me on the business now carrying on and I furthermore do swear that I will do all in my power to forward the same and that neither hope fear or reward shall induce me to declare the same directly or indirectly but rather have my head cut off with both my hands and all my family served the same if I have so help me God

Welch told B that Jacobins ('old jacks') were not permitted to be involved, as they had been 'suspected' of late, and also favoured rash action.

B then asked Welch about Leeds and the surrounding area. Welch estimated that about 700 people could be counted on to act in the event of any uprising, but admitted they were very careful about recruitment. Meetings were not convened in public houses, as private houses and even fields were preferred if the weather was clement. Leeds was waiting for orders from London.

On the afternoon of Friday 27th, B went to Stockport to meet with his contact Wilson. At 8 p.m. they went to nearby Edgeley and met a dozen Irishmen, and proceeded from there to a field in Cheadle. Five of the men kept watch while the others held a discussion. B was expecting the men to all be part of the Stockport Committee, when in fact only 4 of them were. They had concerns that 'the business' was being conducted too openly, which they found alarming. Their meetings were announced at short notice, no more than five days. Wilson revealed that their delegate who had been to Ireland had been in touch, and he planned to visit more towns than had been the plan. He had managed to recruit 50 'converts'.

B also learned that the Stockport men also had an oath and did his best to make it plain than he could be of use to them. They told him that 700 were sworn in the area and they had links with London, and a regular correspondence with the 'Knights of the thimble' (i.e. Tailors) there. B gave his impression of the Stockport men for Fletcher:

"I find these men most of them dengers dering fellows and no Les than fore of them had be[en] in the Rebellion in Ireland and no doubt but the[y] wish to be at the same game again"

On the 28th, B had gone to Hollinwood to see his contact Taylor, but he was not at home, having gone to Oldham. B couldn't find him there, but spoke to other contacts he knew about 'the business' there.

B had missed the meeting of the Manchester Committee of Trades, which had supposed to have taken place on Tuesday 24th March as 'the Masons' had their usual room on that night. B heard the meeting had been adjourned to another venue, but did not know where or what had been discussed.