Talk on John Brearley: an eighteenth-century textiles worker’s view of Wakefield by David Scriven. 14th October 2020
Members were able to enjoy the talk on Zoom that had to be cancelled in April. John Brearley’s two memorandum books covering 1758-1762 were the subject of David’s talk, although a third book has recently been acquired by Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society.
John Brearley was a textile worker, a frizzer, whose mill was on Wakefield waterfront. Frizzing involved producing a curly nap on cloth, and was a skilled job. His memorandum books, although they contain much about woollen manufacturing, also include his views and opinions about Wakefield, and its people. He describes the merchants and their practices, the market, and the mills. He read quite widely, and was interested in dyeing processes, and in new technology.
David commented that the books were remarkable in three ways, firstly that they had survived at all, secondly that they were written by someone in the lower classes, and thirdly the amount of information that they provide about Wakefield, the West Riding, and the woollen industry.
David’s enlightening talk gave us a window into the world of John Brearley and life in Wakefield in the middle of the eighteenth century.