AND FINALLY he ac by Gerald Searle StS


along a familiar road only to find that everything suddenly seems to


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have moved? This thought struck me when I


drove past BAE Systems at Samlesbury, not just because of the proliferation of new traffic lights, but also the extent of new building within the complex, which I had previously not noticed. Mind you, after almost 40 years in


the Ribble Valley I had never even noticed that Clitheroe is a mill town - allthough my childhood playground was a mill yard, I fished for goldfish in a mill lodge and my teenage years were spent labouring in a cotton mill. But all that was on the other side


of Pendle, in the industrial grime of Nelson and Brierfield. In spite of all the massive old stone buildings that I see in the Valley every day, curiously it was only one of Simon Entwistle's ghostly tales - Samlesbury Hall’s yyhite Lady - that alerted me to the area's contribution to the history of Britain's cotton industry. Simon cites a Colonel Wolseley, of


the South Wales Borderers, as a most reliable witness of the restless spirit, whilst staying at the hall during a tour of duty in the cotton riots of 1878. aASHPOINT


Blackburn was the insurrection’s


main flashpoint in May, 1878, with an angry mob, asked to take a 10% cut in wages, attacking the mills before marching on Wilpshire’s Clayton Grange, home of employers’ chairman. Col. Robert Jackson, not only threatening to kill him but also looting and burning the house to a stone shell. The next stop for those called


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"riff-raff" by the Bishop of Manchester, was Clitheroe, where the result was sufficiently dramatic to warrant a report in the prestigious New York Times. "Clitheroe has the reputation of


being one of ’the most law-abiding and loyal districts in England. But the refusal of the masters to accept the last compromise offered by the men has excited there a revolt of the wildest character," it stated. By comparison with other local


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cotton towns this was perhaps true, as in Haslingden two mills were burnt down and in Great Harwood one mill owner simply shot rioters if they came too close! The May 20th edition was


optimistic that "the majority of the weavers may be got to vote for the proposed settlement", therefore, "The meeting of the masters fixed for tomorrow has been adjourned until the ballet (sic) is taken." It was perhaps as well that the


workers were illiterate "riff-raff" - if they had read that the bosses were on a theatre visit, they may have doubted management claims of


-:v .


s It just my age, or Is it generally unnerving, to be driving quietly


/•>' A busy Clitheroe market place from the 19th Century, (s)


serious hardship! However, the reality was somewhat different. Clitheroe’s cotton workers were not law-abiding and by Friday the 17th major security measures were required. Not only were more than 100 special constables appointed, including the whole of the local fire brigade, with 13 officers imported from Manchester, but also the military was secretly summoned. That evening, the windows of


Salford Bridge Mills and Little Moor House, both owned by Robert Dewhurst, were shattered, before a gang of "about 50 youths and boys" descended on the Craven Heifer, demanding free beer in return for preserving its windows. By now the reinforced constabulary was in pursuit. Although Mayor Carlisle was


unavailable - a wise decision perhaps - other members of the town council confronted the growing, beer-fuelled mob outside the town hall, in an attempt to make them see reason. The following morning the 17th


Lancers were dispatched from Leeds and it was mid-afternoon before they were spotted outside the Stork Hotel, Read. While many Clitheronians rushed to the station to await their arrival, most simply packed Whalley Road in anticipation. However, the troops bypassed them all by turning past Primrose Lodge, marching up Woone Lane and arriving at the Swan and Royal in mid-evening, amidst a crowd of


about 2,000. Being Saturday night, Castle


Street was still packed with market stalls and the magistrates had already ordered all public houses to close at 8 p.m., so when a rumour spread that the "cotton lords" were still dining in the Swan and Royal, its windows were the first casualties of a new outbreak of violence. With the 17th Lancers now in place to reinforce the local constabulary.


town clerk John Eastham, who had already called the rioters "idle and reckless vagabonds", emerged for an extremely rare reading of the 1714 Riot Act. "Our sovereign chargeth and


commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the Act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God save the Oueen," it stated. According to Stephen Clarke’s


contemporary account, what followed produced no tragic incidents, although minor injuries were suffered on both sides. The Special Constables, for example, sworn in only the previous day, were not always recognised and the truncheons issued specially for the occasion were at times accidentally used on each other! Although the Lancers were naturally more efficient, even they suffered casualties, with one horse being struck on the head by a flying brick. Also, while the low market stalls and alleyways provided excellent boltholes for the rioters, some of the unwary mounted soldiers literally found them a major


headache! However, not surprisingly it was


the locals who suffered most. The moment the reading was complete, the Lancers charged the closely packed multitude and suddenly nobody was safe. One shopper dropped a two shilling piece and was trampled trying to retrieve it, while a lady was permanently separated from her newly purchased leg of lamb. Another leg was lost, but this time a wooden one and it was almost midnight before the loser was able to hop back to search for it! Even the traders suffered.


Pursued by the soldiers, a greengrocer was grounded by a sack


of his own vegetables, while a


butcher told his wife to lock the door behind him and let no-one in when he ventured out to view the proceedings. He had to take shelter in a tailor’s shop when she took him at his word and, in spite of the flying lances, refused to unlock the door - even for him! Perhaps it was the same tailor


who sought his own safe vantage point on a stinking swill tub, only to find that the lid was rotten and suddenly he was up to his neck in it! Two others found themselves


trapped down a dark alley at the White Lion, and while one tumbled into a pigsty, the other was confronted by an iron gate. In the words of Stephen Clarke, which are open to interpretation: "Here he fumbled, and so desperately struggled to get through or over the gate, that in the scramble he had an accident - not serious, his nether garments faring the worst." HOSTILITIES


While we can assume that the


nine-week strike did not irreparably damage the Ribble Valley’s cotton industry - by 1914 there were 13 mills in operation in Clitheroe alone - the 17th Lancers were less fortunate. After a single night of hostilities, their six-week stay in Clitheroe saw them quickly accepted into local hearts and their final march through the town was viewed with considerable regret, especially among the young ladies! Their next tour of duty was in


Zululand, where, on July 4th, 1879, they cemented their place in military history by fighting in the Battle of Ulundi, which concluded the resistance of the Zulu nation, leaving almost 2,000 Zulus and more than 100 Britons dead or wounded. Therefore, many of the 17th


Lancers never returned to the land where, only months before, they had triumphed in the Valley’s own more domestic battle -1878’s historic reading of the Riot Act outside Clitheroe’s Swan Hotel.


Fun Crossword


_ THIS crossword is just for fun - no prizes are given. The solution will be in next month's issue of The Valley.


ACROSS 1. Supervisors level accusations against


labourers (6-5) 9. Stern and fearsome teacher, initially (3)


10. The chap at one end of the line (9) 11. As part of the payment it helps the levy (5) 13. What those who lose the tennis point do is another game! (7) 14. Tax-free? (6) 16. Makes a confession - it is shortly after mad confusion (6) 18. People who answer back do (7) 19. Nearly the whole sheet written by an atheist (5) 20. Shooting out in the growing season (9) 21. Transport is endlessly employed to the full (3) 22. Tried saving misplaced activity of publicity


men (11) DOWN 2. Strike affected successful theatrical


venture(3) 3. To do some pillaging, a firearm is needed


(5) 4. Some of the boundless energy shown by a member of an early sect (6) 5. Helped a wager by Edward (7) 6. Lowering of French significance (9) 7. Worn by those who get engaged (6-5) 8. The state that shows lack of finish (11) 12. Cherished and certain to be in step (9) 15. Goods for the harvest festival put on the stage (7) 17. Has he gone to pot? (6) 19. Postscript about a generation producing young gallants (5) 21. Refuse a permit for most of the orchestra (3)


SOLUTION TO SEPTEMBER'S CROSSWORD Across; 7 Abase; 8 Ageless: 9 Elapsed; 10


Grope; 12 Brightened; 15 Parliament; 18 Roman; 19 Locates: 21 Masonry; 22 Organ. Down: 1 Gamekeeper 2 Satan; 3 Pews; 4


Lapdog: 5 Heighten: 6 Resound: 11 Eldest sons: 13 Reigning; 14 Promise: 16 Malays; 17 Stage; 20 Crop.


______


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the Valley 23


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