History+of+Manchester

flat

= **Roman Empire** =

Manchester[[image:http://www.roman-empire.net/tours/empire/pics/manchester/fort-02.jpg align="right"]]
The name Manchester comes from the romans who occupied Manchester in AD 79. The ‘Man’ comes from the roman name ‘Mamucium’ and the ‘chester’ ending comes from a Saxon word meaning roman fort. The region – Lancashire – where Manchester is situated was occupied by the romans at the time of the Roman Empire. A fortress was built in Chester for a legion (more than 5000 soldiers). From Chester the army could control North West England and North Wales. A chain of control points was provided by a system of roads and smaller forts. The control points ran along the Welsh coast and to the west into the Pennines in the east. Chester’s position on a river enabled the army to use ships for transportation of soldiers and supplies.

The fort
The site for the Roman fort was carefully chosen. The fort was built on an outcrop of sandstone near the point where the rivers Medlock and Urwell joined. The area was well drained an partly protected by the rivers. It had access to the sea via Urwell and Medlock. The fort was occupied for more than 3 centuries. The first fort was defended by ditch and ramparts of turf and timber. The fort was rebuilt several times. Eventually a stone wall and gatehouse replaced the turf and timber. The larger fort covered about two hectares. It was meant for 480 men and 120 cavalry. To the north of the fort a civilian settlement grew up. It reached it largest extend in the early third century. The civilian settlement began to decline around AD 250. To the south of the river Medlock were temples and cemeteries. However, Roman Manchester was a small and poor place with no civic buildings. The settlement was largely industrial and excavations have shown significant ironworking activity.

= Saxon Times =

Manchester
By the end of the third century, the civilian settlement at Manchester had been largely abandoned. Because of a reduction in the number of soldiers in the region, there was a decline in the industries which supported the army. The fort was occupied – on a reduced scale – until the collapse of the Roman rule soon after AD 400. The ending of the fort marks the beginning of the Celtic kingdoms. The site of the Roman fort was abandoned but some of the huts in the civilian settlement were erected during the Saxon times, although the rise of Manchester in the Saxon times was not near the old Roman fort. The new area where Saxon Manchester was built was where the Cathedral stands today. The fort walls were demolished in the tenth and eleventh centuries. The stones were used for building the new settlement.

= Medieval Period =

Government[[image:http://www.manhf.myzen.co.uk/Festival%20images/images%20sorted/image3_medieval%20manchester.JPG width="339" height="259" align="right"]]
The lordship of the manor in Manchester dates back to the early twelfth century. The new estate was created from part of the existing hundred (royal manor) of Salford. Local barons had considerable powers over rural tenants through their possession of land. Medieval towns could gain a charter of government either from the Crown or from the lord of the manor. Wigan was the only town to gain a royal charter from the Crown, whereas Manchester and Salford both received baronial charters from their respective lords. As a royal borough Wigan was governed by a mayor and corporation. Manchester and Salford were governed by manorial courts, called the court leet and the portmote. The lord of the manor in Manchester took no direct role in local affairs, but employed a steward to supervise the activities of the court leet. Meetings of the court leet took place twice yearly and on these meeting officials were appointed and disputes were settled.

Markets and fairs
In the medieval times the principal means of distributing good were markets and fairs. Both were subject to authority of the lord of the manor. The markets and fairs were supervised by officials appointed by the court leet. Stalls charges and tolls were a valuable source of income for the manor. A royal license was required for a town to hold a fair. Saturday was the official market day. As the town grew the old market place became inadequate and traders began to set up stalls neighboring streets causing congression. The creation of a new marketplace solved these problems. The market inspectors enforced pricing, quality regulations and standards. Bread and ale were inspected thoroughly as they were staple foods.

Religion
Throughout the medieval period, the Chruch was a powerful influence on people’s lives and it was also a major landowner. Thomas la Warre, lord of the manor of Manchester, provided land and funds for a College of Clergy in 1421. He intended that the College should improve the running of the parish church. In 1531 the Church of England replaced the Roman Catholic Church as the official religion. A small minoritu of Manchester’s population remained Catholics. Although Anglicanism was the dominant religion, Manchester became a centre for other protestant sects. At the beginning of the Civil War in 1642, Manchester was one of the first towns to declare their support for the Parliamentarian cause. After the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660, new laws forced Dissenters to hold services in private. In spite of these new laws the diversity of religious practice continued to exist. In 1889 a more tolerant policy towards Dissenters, although not towards Catholics, came into force.

The Plague
In the twelfth, thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries the population increased. However, periods of disease, war and famine prevented steady population growth until the late seventeenth century. Many diseases were rife due to poor sanitation and limited medical knowledge. The most dramatic killer was the bubonic plague. The bubonic plague was also known as the pestilence and the Black Death. The disease had devastating results as it was very contagious and death followed rapidly after infection. The bubonic plague first reached the region in 1349 and recurred sporadically until 1645. Sharp fluctuations in the death rate show the scale of the suffering and the spontaneous and sudden nature of the attacks. For example, more than a thousand died in 1605 compared to fewer than 200 the previous year. After 1645 Manchester was free from the plague. The next hundred years were a time of peace and population growth. Because the trade in Manchester flourished, the city attracted immigrants from Scotland and Wales, as well as from the surrounding countryside.

Agriculture, Metal and Coal
Throughout the middle ages, agriculture was the most important industry in the region. The amount of cultivated land was increasing, though clay soils and areas of marshland were left as restricted production. At this time, Lancashire was one of the poorest parts of the North West. The decline in population in the fourteenth century led to a reduction in the amount of land used for growing crops. Instead of growing crops, the farmers began raising animals, especially cattle and sheep. Livestock continued to be the main farming activity for several centuries. Metal production was in operation from the thirteenth century. In 1230, iron ore was being mined on the estate of Furness Abbey. It was also being mined in Rochdale. Iron ore was smelted widely, and in Horwich and Bury the smelting caused problems in the sixteenth century due to the destruction of woods for fuel. Coal mining took place in Wigan and St Helens in the medieval period. The mining was mainly from surface outcrops. Large scale mining started in the seventeenth century, exploiting one of the most valuable resources of the region.

Textile Industry
The oldest branch of the textile industry in England is the production of woollen cloth. The activity, which was based on local sheep farming, was widespread. To finish the woollen cloth fulling mills were built on rivers and streams. By 1550, the Manchester area was known for a type of coarse woollen known – misleadingly – as ‘cottons’. As the output of wollen exceeded local demand the surplus clothes was traded in England and exported to Europe. …. Linen was a minor product in 1550. Some of the hemp and flax was grown locally, but most was imported from Ireland. During the seventeenth century fustian, a mixed cloth combining linen and cotton became very popular. Production expanded and created new prosperity. In the medieval times raw cotton was primarily imported from the East Indies and the eastern Mediterranean. Cotton cloth, such as calico and muslin was produced in Lancashire by 700, but the cloth was inferior to cotton from India. The cotton industry in Britain benefited from the banning of imported calico in the eighteenth century. By this time, England also received cotton from America and the West Indies. The British silk industry was encouraged in the seventeenth century by the arrival of refugee French silk workers. North Chesire and Manchester became the centres of silk production, however, silk was very expensive, so the industry grew quite slowly.

Cotton production
In the medieval period, cotton production was based in the home. Carding, spinning and weaving were all done in the homes or in small workshops. During the sixteenth century the cotton merchants began to take a bigger role in organizing the production of cotton cloth. The typical Manchester merchant acted as a financier or a middleman for the workers. He supplied flax or linen to rural spinners and weavers on short term credit. The resulting cloth was finished to his instructions before it being sold. In 1560, around 4000 people in Manchester were employed weaving. By 1600, the leading dealers of fustian controlled the production of large quantities of cloth. The merchants still used the credit system to deal with their workers, and they employed agents to ‘put out’ or supply the workers with raw materials. The works were paid for their labour rather than for their products, as they were employed by the merchant.

= Industrial revolution =

Factories
There were major changes in the British economy during the eighteenth century. The use of machinery in the cotton industry marked the beginning of the Industrial revolution. The new machines were costly, large and most importantly power-driven. The factories built to house these machines changed the landscape of the Manchester region. New prosperity was brought to the North West and the nation by the Cotton industry. The first factory ever was a silk mill on the river Derwent near Derby. It was built between 1717 and 1721 by Thomas Lombe. In 1732 when Lombe’s patent expired other large water-powered mills were built in Macclesfield and Stockport. Because of the luxury of silk the amount of factories remained quite small. The first cotton-spinning factory was situated at Cromford near Manchester, and was built in 1771 by Richard Arkwringt. By 1790 many other cotton mills had been built in Lancashire and Chesire. Water was the primary source of power for driving machinery until the 1820s. There were many good locations for mills in the Manchester region because of the many rivers and streams. In the early 1780s, Richard Arkwright began to use a steam engine of the type designed by Thomas Newcomen, in his Manchester mill. Unfortunately the engine was not a success. In 1781, James Watt and Matthew Bolton patented a much more efficient steam engine. This engine was first used in a cotton mill in 1785. By the mid-nineteenth century steam was the main power-source for machinery.

Factory Pioneers
In 1773, Robert Peel moved to Bury, which was then a woollen producing town. In partnership with William Howarth and William Yates, Peel set up a calico printing works. Shortly thereafter, the company’s first cotton-spinning workshop was established. The business expanded quickly over the following twenty years. By 1795, they had six cotton mills, two print works, and one bleach works in the Bury area. The business continued to grow – but now outside Bury. By 1800 cotton manufacturing had become the leading industry in Bury taking over from the production of woollen. A successful cotton manufacturer could become very wealthy. But huge successes were rare and there were many failures. Another pioneer in factory-development was Richard Arkwright. Richard Arkwright developed the first water-frame and built the first cotton-factory in 1771. He was also the creator of the modern factory-system, with workers working in shifts so the mills ran both day and night.

Factory workers
Working in a factory involved long hours, strict discipline and crowded conditions. The outcome of these conditions was a high turnover of employees. There was great resentment against the low wages for unskilled work like piecing. The use of machinery was seen as a threat to jobs. In 1794 a group of Manchester manufacturers and merchants set up the Manchester Commercial Society, in which they took joint decisions on trade and employment. This society later became the Manchester Chamber of Commerce. In 1799 and 1800 the government introduced new lawsintended to stop workers from meeting to take actions about their wages and their conditions of work. These laws were called the Combination Acts. Many families lived in very poor conditions. Factory workers as well as other poor people were sometimes reduced to stealing cloth or food. Those caught suffered severe punishment. In spite of this the industrial employment in the towns offered better prospects than working in agriculture. Wages in factories were higher and more varied.

Child Workers
A lot of the work involved in tending to spinning machinery was very simple and routine. This work required neither special training nor physical strength; hence very young children could be employed in the factories. The demand for the cheap child labour was so great that pauper children was brought in from other cities and hired as apprentices. I response to criticisms about child labour, Robert Peel drew up a bill for the government. The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act became law in 1802 and restricted the working day for apprentices to twelve hours a day and night work was not permitted. The act applied only to textile factories and had very little effect since there was no one to enforce it.

Health
There were many diseases which affected the lives of the poor factory workers. These diseases – fever, typhus, etc. – affected the people working and living in insanitary and cramped conditions. Many young doctors moved to Manchester during this period, as their services were required by the upper and middle classes. In Manchester the poor could be treated at the Manchester Infirmary – founded in 1752 – where many Manchester doctors worked from time to time.

Nineteenth century
In nineteenth century England factory employment became an accepted way of life. Many families moved to the cities in hope of getting jobs in the industry. By 1851 50% of the population lived in cities. This was a lot compared to the fact that only 20% lived in cities in 1801. The most important commodity was by far cotton textiles. As the centre of the textile industry, Manchester was dramatically affected by these changes in society. Some visitors to the city were amazed by the enterprises of the factory owners while others were appalled by the poverty in the worst areas of the town. The industrialization changed Manchester from a regional market town to a city of national importance. In spite of the foundation of a Literary and Philosophical Society in 1781, which signaled a wider cultural outlook, the town was still governed by a court leet. In 1792 the Manchester and Salford Police Act was passed. This created a body of Police Commissioners to provide the services that were outside the scope of the court leet. These services included cleansing, street lightning and night policing. Manchester and Salford had their own Commissioners after 1797. The relationship between the court leet and the Police Commissioners was uneasy, as their areas of responsibility overlapped and problems arose in these areas.

Immigration
The population of Britain grew rapidly in the nineteenth century, partly due to a falling death rate. In Manchester the growth rate was astonishing. The numbers of people were swelled by an influx of new residents from rural areas, Europe and Ireland. The Irish immigrants, many of whom became hand loom weavers were the fastest growing section of Manchester’s population. The Irish workers were drawn to Manchester as they hoped for steady employment and as many lost their jobs when the power-loom was introduced in the 1830s it caused great distress to the Irish community. Little Ireland, an immigrant colony near Chorlton-on-Medlock was one of the worst areas of Manchester. There were also Jewish, German, Greek and Italian communities in Manchester. Some European immigrants came to pursue industrial and commercial dreams and opportunities, whereas others fled from repression, famine or poverty in their own countries.

Health
Public alarm about health issues began in the 1790s with fever outbreaks. New focus was laid on health issues, especially the poor sanitation. The Police Commissioners were given the responsibility of services that could affect public health, including cleansing, sewerage, water supply and inspection of houses and buildings. A major cholera epidemic in 1832 showed that poor conditions still existed in the working class districts. A Special Board of Health had been set up in 1831 in preparation of the arrival of the cholera epidemic which was at the moment raging in Europe. The prevention of the spread of cholera was almost impossible, although the Special Board did undertake practical measures to treat patients. Two temporary cholera hospitals were set up and infected houses were fumigated and whitewashed.

Fiction
Reporting of Manchester as a social phenomenon was not confined to the factual accounts of reformers and politicians. The new industrial society had an equally strong impact on the development of the English literature. The tradition of social realism evolved in the 1830s and 1840s. The most eminent resident novelist in Manchester was Elizabeth Gaskell, whose husband was minister of the Cross Street Chapel. Through involvement in the work of her husband, Mrs. Gaskell gained first-hand knowledge of the working class life. This knowledge was used to great effect in her first novel “Mary Barton” from 1848. She also used Manchester as the model for the city ‘Milton’ from her novel “North and South”. Charles Dickens visited Manchester many times as is sister lived in Manchester. Dickens helped Mrs. Gaskell by publishing some of her stories in his magazine “Household Words”. His observation of northern towns appeared in “Hard Times” from 1854 as the basis of the fictional Coketown. Manchester was described again – now under its own name - in Benjamin Disraeli’s novel “Coningsby” from 1844. These novels had a wider audience than more factual social documents and therefore they played an important role in forming a national perception of Manchester’s identity. The Portico Library and Club, designed by Thomas Harrison, opened in 1806. It was funded by subscription and was the main circulating library in Manchester until 1852. The reading room was on the ground floor and the library in the upper gallery. The Portico attracted a number of famous readers, including Mrs. Gaskell, Thomas de Quincey and Peter Mark Roget, author of the Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases.

Education
After 1870 elementary schools providing basic education for five to thirteen year olds were established in England and Wales. There was also growth in higher education. Several university colleges was set up in major cities from the 1850s. The Manchester School Board was the first to be set up under the 1870 Education Act. Thirty-five schools were built and thirty-seven schools were taken over by the School Board. From 1902 the City Council had the responsibility for the elementary education. Owens College – the forerunner of the university of Manchester – opened in 1851. It was financed by an endowment left by John Owens, a wealthy Manchester businessman. The College was not an immediate success but became more popular later on, when the science department expanded.

= Politics =

The Reform Act
At the beginning of the nineteeth century Wigan was the only borough in favour of the parliamentary reform, but the citizens did little to bring it about. It was mostly factory workers who campaigned activity for the reform in the Manchester area. The most famuous mass meeting of the reformers took place in Manchester at St Peter’s Field in August 1819. A large crowd had assembled to hear the radical orater, Henry Hunt, speak. The meeting was later known as the Peterloo massacre, as the event ended in bloodshed when militia charged at the crowd. Changes in the electoral system eventually came with the passing of the Reform Act in 1832. The Act rearranged the parliamentary boroughs, and gave Manchester and the surrounding factory towns their own members of parliament. The reform also allowed male householder rated at £10 or more to vote.

The Municipal Corporations Act
The parliamentary reform from 1832 highlighted the need for change in local government. New middle class voters considered that they should be able to influence local politics. The 1835 Municipal Corporations Act established a system of borough councils. A petition for support of incorporation was immediately organized in Manchester. The industrialists Richard Cobden and Thomas Potter were among the leaders of this campaign. However the Police Commissioners and the court leet didn’t give away their authority without a struggle. It took three years for the issue to be settled. It settled in favour of incorporation. The first municipal council was elected in December 1338. Under one governing body Manchester was able to tackle problems concerning its expanding boundaries more efficiently.

Anti-Corn Law League
The Corn Laws were a certain type of tariff which was introduced during the Napoleonic Wars and they still remained in force in the 1830s. The Corn Laws protected the British landowners by taxing imported grain. These measures kept the grain prices high, and this made the cotton manufacturers resent the law, as high food prices made their workers demand higher wages. In 1838, the Anti-Corn Law Association was formed in Manchester. It became the Anti-Corn Law League in 1839. Under the leadership of Liberal politicians Richard Cobden and Jon Bright, the league became an effective pressure group with a national programme of meetings, publications and lobbying. The Conservative government resisted the Campaign for many years, but when poor grain harvests in England in 1845 and a disastrous potato crop in Ireland caused famine Corn Laws were repealed the following year, in 1846. Cobden and Bright continued to promote free trade and supports of this ideology became known as ‘Manchester School’.

The Chartist Movement
The workers were disappointed by the Reform Act and the Municipal Corporations Act. Artisans, factory workers and farm labourers still couldn’t vote. This caused the founding of the Chartist movement in London in 1838. A large Chartist meeting was held on Kersal Moor near Manchester in 1838. The meeting was attended by a crowd of 300.000 people. Among the local Chartists were the hand loom weavers who feared for their livelihood. Food riots, machine-breaking and arson caused serious disruption in Lancashire and Chesire in 1839. Following these events came a lull in Chartist activity, but a wave of industrial unrest, brought thousands of workers to the streets of Manchester in 1842 Following this outbreak many Chartists were imprisoned and other feared punishment, so Chartism began to decline. It took eighty years for five of the six Chartist demands to be fulfilled.

Women’s right to vote[[image:http://www.anglonautes.com/hist_uk_20_suffra/uk_20_21_women_vote.jpg width="229" height="328" align="right"]]
During the reign of Queen Victoria two reform bills were passed. Adult male householders were now eligible to vote in both local and national election. Women, however, were not yet allowed to vote. Manchester was the birthplace of the campaign for ‘votes for women’. In 1867 the first branches of the Society for Women’s Suffrage were established in Manchester, London and Edinburgh. One Manchester family, the Pankhurst’s, had a very large influence on the campaign. Dr. Richard Pankhurst framed the first parliamentary bill advocating the vote for women in 1870. He met Emmeline Goulden in 1878 through their common interest in women’s right to vote and they married in 1879. The Pankhursts tirelessly supported the campaign and the wish to reform property laws affecting women. After Richard’s death, Emmeline was joined by her daughters Christobel and Sylvia in the fight for voting privileges. In 1903 the Women’s Social and Political Union was formed at the Pankhurst home. Three years later the campaign moved to London and a period of civil inobedience began.