ABSTRACT
Women textile workers in Yorkshire have been represented almost without exception as a liability and an obstacle to unionisation. In 1907 J. H. Clapham surveyed the woollen and worsted industries and noted the weakness of trade unions. This chapter investigates, the 1875 strike in the heavy woollen district, a strike which was overwhelmingly a women’s strike showing that women were capable of organising themselves and male workers, that women workers felt attacks on their role as workers as keenly as any man. The heavy woollen district of the West Riding of Yorkshire consisted of several small towns, around the two commercial centres of the district, Batley and Dewsbury. In the heavy woollen district, a latecomer to the textile trades, power loom technology diffused rather slowly and male weavers were reluctant to leave their handlooms where they were able to make a good living.
