ABSTRACT
A generally accepted view is that from the 1820s onwards, and especially after 1826, English handloom weaving was in full decline and handloom weavers were in great distress. Conditions changed dramatically during the 1820s for Stockport radicals and weavers. Broad outlines of Stockport district events can be discerned. They involved the virtual extinction of cotton handloom weaving and the simultaneous polarisation of radicals into 'Huntites' and 'Carlilites'. The delegate meeting at the Stockport Windmill gave rise to an agreed to a 'Declaration of the Reformers of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Derbyshire, and Cheshire' which called for a national convention to draw up a new British constitution. Of most importance were Carlilite 'activists', that is, those who either: (1) served as officers in Stockport Carlilite organisations; (2) contributed to at least three subscriptions; (3) remained active in Carlilite affairs for more than two years; or (4) were previously active in such workers' movements as trade unionism, parliamentary reform campaigns or Luddism.
