Follow the Flock by Sally Coulthard

Follow the Flock by Sally Coulthard

Author:Sally Coulthard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 2021-03-02T00:00:00+00:00


A similar fate was promised for anyone in the colonies caught trading in wool. The settlers were defiant, however, and not only managed to quickly build a cottage cloth industry but also had the audacity, in British eyes, to start trading with one another, and with other European countries. Wool production became so important that by 1662 Virginia was offering five pounds of tobacco (the unit of currency at the time) for every yard of wool cloth made in its own colony,10 and by 1664 Massachusetts had brought in a law that required children to learn how to spin and weave wool.11 Supply could barely keep up with demand – one academic has estimated that every adult in a household would need thirty to forty yards of wool just to have enough for basic clothing; with 30,000 adults living in New England by 1665, this equates to roughly 1.2 million yards (1,098,000 metres) of wool fabric.12

All this wool-related economic activity provoked the fury of the king of England. In 1699 William III issued An Act to prevent the Exportation of Wool out of the Kingdoms of Ireland and England into Forreigne parts and for the Incouragement of the Woollen Manufactures in the Kingdom of England. It was designed with three express aims – first, to force the colonies to only import British wool; second, to ban colonists from exporting wool out of America; and third, to tax any sales of wool.

The wearing of homespun wool cloth by the colonists – which was often a blend of wool and linen called linsey woolsey or wincey – became a mark of defiance and symbol of patriotism. Families, communities and church groups would hold ‘spinning bees’ to see who could make the most woollen yarn, often taking the opportunity to discuss political issues of the day. Women – by creating and buying homespun textiles, and boycotting British ones – were seen as key figures of civil disobedience in the colonial resistance. When the college that would later become Brown University was first founded in Providence, Rhode Island, in the 1760s, the president deliberately wore homespun clothing during the inaugural ceremony; over at Harvard, in Massachusetts, both teaching staff and scholars also wore homespun clothing in solidarity.13 And, while there were many subsequent efforts by Britain to control and stifle American trade – such as the Sugar Act of 1764 and the Tea Act of 1773 – it was the Wool Act of 1699 that sewed the first stitches of rebellion and anger in the colonies that led, ultimately, to America’s Revolutionary War between 1775 and 1783 and its Declaration of Independence.

By the time of the Revolutionary War, colonial women were so used to clothing their families in homespun fabrics and hand-knitted garments that it came as no surprise when they were asked to provide clothing and blankets for the soldiers who were going into battle on their behalf. A clothier-general was appointed to assess the army’s requirements for bedding and uniform – vast quantities of knitters were needed if the army was going to keep its men warm.



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