The introduction of steam power displaced much hand labour and caused widespread suffering and privation. This roused the people to a state of resentment against the new method, and in their anger they started to attack the mills where steam had been brought into use as the motive power. This movement, known as the “Plug Riots” was somehow regarded with little sympathy in Horton. and very few compromised themselves by joining it. This was in the year 1842. Mr.Wm. Cudworth. describing the march of the rioters through the village, on their way from Halifax to Bradford writes as follows : - The sight of that huge crowd of people as they marched was not such, indeed, as to induce many to throw in their lot with them. It was a spectacle which once seen it is impossible to forget. The crowd came pouring through Horton, taking the whole breadth of the wide road - a gaunt, famished looking, desperate multitude, armed with huge bludgeons, flails, pitchforks and pikes many without coats and hats, and hundreds with their clothes in rags and tatters. Many of the older men looked footsore and weary but the great bulk were’ men in the prime of life, full of wild excitement. As they marched, they thundered out, to a grand old tune, the Union hymn-_. Oh, worthy is the glorious cause, Ye patriots of the Union Our fathers’ rights, our fathers laws Demand a faithful Union A crouching dastard sure is he Who would not strive for liberty And die to make old England free From all her load of tyranny Up, brave men of the Union As the wild mob swept onward, terrified women brought out all their eatables and, in the hope apparently of purchasing their forbearance, handed them to the rough looking men who crowded to the doors and windows. That some of them had need of food was evident from the fact that one poor famished wretch, after struggling feebly for a share of the provisions, fell down on the road side and died, just about where the Liberal Club now stands. The position of hand woolcombers about this time was a precarious and uncertain one. The wages earned were so small that a mere existence is the only term that can be used in referring to their life. One now living, who was a “hand-comber”, says they worked from early morning until late at night. It took two days to do 20 lbs. of wool at 3d per lb ;. that is equal to 2s 6d. per day for a very long day. This could not be done day after day, as the wool was to fetch and to “liver“ (deliver). When busy, it was no unusual thing to work “through“ on Friday night, so as to be able to liver on the Saturday. In the best of times 14s. per week was considered good earning. The work was mostly done in the bedroom, or sleeping-room and more often than not the weary one wishing to retire had to wait until work was finished. Try to imagine, reader, the conditions under which people lived fifty or sixty years ago. Even when a man was sober, his food must of necessity have been very coarse and many times scanty. But when we remember the custom prevai1ing, of “weighing out” and “weighing in” at public-houses, and the consequent sociability, resulting in the spending of part or whole, of the hard-earned wages, we must wonder how they managed even to exist. Another custom, and one which prevailed almost universally until stopped by Act of Parliament, was the paying of wages in goods, which again reduced the value of the people’s earnings. This system was known as the “Truck“ system. At the time we write of - 1842 or 1844 -there were only four shops in Horton: Jonas Booth, in High Street, opposite the end of Southfield Lane; John Clough, at the end of Harris Court in High Street: Edward Peel, who kept a Sh01) in Southfield Lane, at the bottom of Smith Road and John Hartley who kept the shop in High Street, just above Cross Lane, the one underneath the first house. John Hartley also “livered” wool out, for which he gave only 2d per lb and goods were given to the amount of the sum earned. This seemed to be a case of Hobson’s choice, take it or leave it but they had to take it to live. Cloth was almost unknown for wearing apparel by the men, and you could have taken a long day’s march without meeting a man with a watch. A man was indeed favoured by fortune who could save 10s to buy a little pig, but even then it had to be mortgaged to the grocer, who supplied “feeding stuff.” that the alleged owner of the pig could not afford to buy, in exchange for two hams and a fitch of bacon when it was killed. Such was the social state of the inhabitants immediately preceding the repeal of the iniquitous Corn Laws, in I846.. Conditions gradually improved but not immediately, as was expected, when the corn laws were abolished. The year 1847 was a famine year, and prices were high. Flour fluctuated between 3s and 4s per stone, oatmeal was 1s 2d per 5lbs, potatoes were from 1s 6d to 2s per stone, and sugar 6d to 7d per lb. -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.394 / Virus Database: 268.12.10/459 - Release Date: 29/09/2006