ECONOMIC HISTORY SINCE 1612
The outstanding event in Salisbury's economic
history since the 17th century has been the decay
of the cloth trade, which turned the city from a place
where a high proportion of the inhabitants depended
for their livelihood on industry, to one in which
workers in industry were outnumbered by those in
other occupations by at least two to one. This
process was complete by the third or fourth decade
of the 19th century. (fn. 1) Throughout the 17th and
18th centuries, however, cloth manufacture was still
Salisbury's most important industry, and until about
the middle of the 18th century its depressions seem
to have been spasmodic and temporary. During the
17th century the city's dependence on white broadcloth, which had begun to replace the older coloured
fabrics in the previous century, (fn. 2) led to a bad period
owing to the Cockayne experiment and the loss of
foreign markets during the Thirty Years War.
Unlike the clothiers in the west of the county, those
of Salisbury did not turn to the new medleys and
Spanish cloths, but still depended in the later 17th
century on 'whites' dyed in London and exported to
the Eastern Mediterranean. This trade suffered
severe fluctuations until it was finally killed by
French competition in the mid-18th century.
Flannels are said to have been introduced at Salisbury c. 1680, but the generally bad state of the trade
in the early 18th century is witnessed by a succession
of petitions complaining of legislation which affected
the city's industry adversely. (fn. 3) By 1754 all branches
of the trade in Salisbury were said to be in complete
decay.
In the later 18th century, however, the Salisbury
clothing trade revived with the introduction of newer
types of cloth. A dark mottled 'marble-cloth', noted
as a speciality of Salisbury and Wilton, was being
made soon after 1741, while 'cassimeres', invented
in 1766, were made at Salisbury as well as in the
west of the county. A directory of 1784 lists 12
manufacturers and refers to the making of flannels,
fancy cloths, serges, blanketings, linseys, cottons,
and yard-wide fancy cloths. (fn. 4) In 1786 a Salisbury
draper, Thomas Ogden, was appointed draper to the
king. The French Revolutionary and Napoleonic
Wars temporarily removed French competition, and
the export trade increased; in 1791 Henry Wansey,
a leading manufacturer, was having to refuse orders,
and the great increase in the number of woolcombers
in the city was noted. A directory of 1798 lists 24
clothiers, (fn. 5) and one of 1814 lists 13. (fn. 6) After 1815,
however, exports fell disastrously, and this time the
depression was permanent. In 1830 there were only
3 clothiers and a woolcomber in the city, and it was
said that nearly all branches of the industry were
extinct, (fn. 7) and in 1833 only one woollen factory
continued at work. (fn. 8) By 1840 virtually nothing
remained.
No other industry or trade carried on in the city
in the 17th and 18th centuries was comparable in
size or importance with the cloth industry. Of the
other textile industries lace was the most notable.
In the later 17th century Salisbury became a centre
for merchants collecting lace made in Wiltshire and
Dorset, and the mayor was a laceman in 1681.
Lace-making continued throughout the 18th century, (fn. 9) and in 1790 it was said that Salisbury was
noted for its bone-lace. (fn. 10) Silk-makers were incorporated in 1613, and are mentioned in the city books
from time to time throughout the 17th century. No
mention of the industry in the 18th century has been
found, but the decline of the cloth trade led in 1825
to the setting up of a silk mill in Castle Street for
the relief of distress. (fn. 11) The mill employed 110
people in 1830, and 120 in 1835; (fn. 12) the 102 silkmakers listed in the census of 1841 must have
worked there, but nothing more of the history of the
mill is known. In 1830 there were two firms of
horse-hair and chair-seating manufacturers, and
three sack and sack-cloth manufacturers. (fn. 13)
Of industries other than textiles, the most flourishing in this period were cutlery and leather. The
cutlery trade seems never to have been large, but
noted for the high quality of its products, the fineness of the steel being attributed to the peculiar
quality of the local water. Nell Gwyn is said to have
visited Salisbury to inspect the cutlery manufacture,
and to have bought a pair of scissors for 100 guineas.
Aubrey wrote that Salisbury was 'ever-famous' for
the manufacture of razors, scissors, and knives, (fn. 14)
and elegant objects of polished steel were still
apparently an attraction for visitors at the beginning
of the 19th century. (fn. 15) Late 18th-century directories
list six cutlers in Salisbury, including in 1784
'M. Goddard, cutler to their Majesties', (fn. 16) and in
1790 it was said that the city was noted for the
manufacture of scissors. (fn. 17) The trade continued
throughout the 19th century; 7 cutlers are listed in
a directory of 1822 and 10 in one of 1830, (fn. 18) and
George III and the Duchess of Kent are said to have
patronized members of the Botly family, cutlers of
the Market Place. (fn. 19) It was the custom to meet the
London and Exeter coach and display cutlery to the
passengers and it was afterwards said to have been
'no uncommon thing' to take £70 from a single
coach. (fn. 20) William Beach of Salisbury received an
honourable mention for his cutlery at the Great
Exhibition, (fn. 21) and in 1862 exhibited a case containing
a number of knives, scissors, razors, and daggers at
the International Exhibition in London. (fn. 22) In 1895
Salisbury cutlery was still produced 'in a very
creditable fashion'. A leading firm at that time were
James Macklin and Son of Catherine Street who
produced high-class knives and scissors. (fn. 23) Long
before this time, however, the quantity of cutlery
produced must have been small and the fame hardly
more than local. As early as 1831 it was said that
although the Salisbury cutlers made the more select
articles of superior quality, the sale was very
limited, (fn. 24) and in 1835 much of the cutlery that was
sold in the town was brought from Birmingham. (fn. 25)
The various leather crafts continued to thrive in
a small way throughout the 17th and 18th centuries,
and gloving also continued, chiefly among women,
although it died out by the 19th century. There was
perhaps some decline in tanning in the 17th century,
but at the end of the 18th century Salisbury was the
most important Wiltshire centre. (fn. 26) Various branches
of the leather trade continued and expanded during
the 19th century. At the 1841 census there were 20
tanners and curriers in Salisbury, and it is possible
to trace the continuous existence of several leather
businesses throughout the 19th century and into the
present one. The development of the Invicta
Leather Works, established in Endless Street in
1824, into the present firm of Colonia (Sarum) Ltd.
has been traced elsewhere. (fn. 27) Among other leather
businesses with long histories was that of George
Surman, boot- and shoe-maker and leather-cutter,
established in Brown Street by 1848. The business
moved to Catherine Street in 1855 and to Milford
Street by 1859, where at some date between 1885
and 1897 it was taken over by S. H. Parsons and Co.
and continued into the 1930's. Parsons and Co. were
leather and grindery merchants and made all kinds
of soles, heels, butts and bends for shoemakers
besides manufacturing tan and hedging gloves and
leggings of every description. (fn. 28) A saddler's business,
begun in Brown Street by a family named Till by
1875, has been carried on there to the present day
(1960). (fn. 29) Shoemaking flourished in the 18th century, and boot- and shoe-makers were the most
numerous of all Salisbury craftsmen throughout the
19th century and until the First World War. (fn. 30) It
was said that in the later 19th century 'in hundreds
of houses the shoe-binders, the closers and finishers
were busy week in week out'. (fn. 31) The business with
the longest history is Moore Brothers, whose origins
can be found in William Moore, boot and shoemaker in 1822 and 1830, (fn. 32) and Henry Rowe, established in Catherine Street in 1842, who had moved
by 1867 to Silver Street. By 1875 these premises
were occupied by Rowe, Moore and Moore, a firm
which subsequently became James and William
Moore Brothers. The firm moved to its present
premises in the New Canal at the end of the 19th
century. (fn. 33)
One or two industries about which little is known
were carried on in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Aubrey noted that Salisbury was 'famous' for the
manufacture of parchment, (fn. 34) and there were still
two parchment-makers working in the city in
1830. (fn. 35) There was a paper-mill in Bugmore meadows
in 1716. (fn. 36) Aubrey also mentioned a considerable
trade in malting, and that in Salisbury and Wilton
was made 'the best bottle ale of this nation'. (fn. 37)
Some crafts of a rural kind which seem to have
survived in particular families throughout the 19th
century may be briefly mentioned. (fn. 38) Cork-cutting
seems to have been carried on continuously in Silver
Street by a family named Lake from 1798 until about
1880. No cork-cutters appear in directories after
1885. Whip-making was carried on by a few families,
generally in conjunction with rope-, twine-, and
sack-making, from 1798 to the end of the 19th
century, and by a family named Oram from 1897
until c. 1916. A few basket-makers, some of them
combining this craft with sieve-making or saddlery,
appear in every directory from 1798 to the present
day, the only survivor in 1960 being Leaver
Brothers, whose basket-making business has been
carried on off Fisherton Street since 1830.
A few new industries were established in the 19th
century and in the middle of the century an
exhibition of local crafts was held in the Guildhall.
The making of straw hats, almost entirely by
women, flourished in a small way in the 1830's
and 1840's. (fn. 39) A small amount of metal-working was
carried on in connexion with agriculture, gaslighting, and railways. For example, J. W. Edginton,
ironfounders in Pennyfarthing Street in 1839, were
also gas-fitters, (fn. 40) and F. A. Rowland of Fisherton,
and Tasker and Son Ltd. of St. Thomas's Square
were agricultural implement makers in 1875. (fn. 41) In
1847 the ironfounders Wolferston and Smith of
Winchester Street were given the contract for building new wagons and trucks for the Salisbury and
Bishopstoke Railway, and built large new premises
on Milford Hill for the purpose. (fn. 42) The number of
general engineers engaged in various kinds of metalworking increased in the latter part of the century.
Two modern specialist firms in Salisbury date from
this time; Santype, specialist typefounders, developed from Alexander and Son, general engineers
established in Brown Street about 1870, and Tintometer Ltd., manufacturers of colour-comparing
instruments, developed from the inventions of J. W.
Lovibond, who settled in Salisbury in 1869. (fn. 43)
There were 7 watch- and clock-makers in Salisbury
in 1830. (fn. 44) About 1888 William Burden established
the City Clock Factory in Fisherton Street, making
high-quality domestic and turret clocks. (fn. 45) It was
later bought by Williamson and Sons, formerly
clockmakers of Brown Street, and was burnt out
before the First World War. The Burden family
later began the Scout Motor Co., whose history has
been dealt with elsewhere. (fn. 46) Since the First World
War the national increase in motor and domestic
engineering has been reflected in Salisbury, where
many such businesses now flourish.
In the late 19th century Salisbury began to play
a part in the expanding dairy-produce industry; a
depot of the dairy at Semley was established at
Salisbury soon after 1880, and used chiefly for the
despatch of liquid milk to London. It was taken over
by United Dairies (Wholesale) Ltd. in 1920, when
that firm absorbed the Salisbury, Semley and Gillingham Dairies Co. Ltd., and is still in use. The
first factory for the manufacture of dairy produce
was established in Russell Road in 1908 by the
Hygienic Dairy Society Ltd. and used for the production of sterilized milk, butter, and cheese. It
passed successively into the hands of Fussell and
Co. Ltd. and the Nestlé and Anglo-Swiss Condensed
Milk Co. Its principal activity since the 1920's has
been the production of tinned milk and cream and
the despatch of liquid milk to London. (fn. 47) Another
concern which moved to Salisbury because of its
position as a leading agricultural centre was Dunn's
Farm Seeds Ltd. Founded at Silton (Dors.) c. 1842,
it subsequently moved to Bournemouth, and thence
to Salisbury in 1918. (fn. 48)
In contrast to most of the industries established
in the 19th and earlier 20th centuries, one or two
concerns which depended neither on local rawmaterials or local markets were brought to Salisbury
in the Second World War and succeeding years.
The origins of Colonia (Sarum) Ltd. and Santype
Ltd. have been mentioned above. During the war
two engineering works were established at Salisbury
for strategic reasons. The Vickers Armstrong aircraft factory closed after the war, but the Wellworthy piston and piston-ring factory at West
Harnham is still (1960) in use. In 1947 the Autotrope
Co. moved from Willesden to works in Castle Road,
where the production of aircraft components and
optical equipment is carried on. (fn. 49) Since the war also
Rothon Radiators Ltd. have begun to manufacture
motor radiators in Devizes Road.
In spite of the introduction of new industries in
place of the staple manufactures of the 18th and
early 19th centuries, it is clear that Salisbury's
modern industries are on a small scale and the
proportion of its population employed in them is also
small. In this the city is in marked contrast to some
of the smaller towns, such as Melksham and
Chippenham, in the west of the county. (fn. 50) In 1830
Salisbury's commerce was described as 'chiefly
retail and domestic, and supplying the neighbouring
country and smaller towns with the various shop
commodities'. (fn. 51) Eighteen years later a description
of the city's former industries was followed by the
statement that the trade was then limited to the
supplying of its own necessities and those of the
villages in the river-valleys, 'whose inhabitants
throng to its well-supplied provision markets every
Saturday'. (fn. 52) But the change which these writers
meant to imply was in fact only a change of emphasis. The importance of Salisbury as a market
and as a centre of distribution in the Middle Ages
has already been described. (fn. 53) At the period when its
chief industry was declining, its importance as a
market, a shopping centre for the surrounding
country, and a place visited by tourists was being
increased by improvements in communications.
Most of the main roads leading to Salisbury were
turnpiked between 1753 and 1756. (fn. 54) It was estimated that in the 1760's 6 stagecoaches a week from
London to Exeter passed through Salisbury, and
that by the 1770's this had increased to 24 coaches
and 28 stage-chaises and that there was in addition
a heavy cart and wagon traffic. (fn. 55) By the end of the
century there were 10 coaches to London, most of
them setting out daily, in addition to the Mail. (fn. 56) By
1842 three of the four remaining coaches only took
passengers as far as Andover Road station, (fn. 57) and in
October 1846 the 'Quicksilver', the last coach to
make the whole journey to London by road, set out
for the last time. (fn. 58) In the following year the rail
connexion between Salisbury and London was
completed via Bishopstoke, and in 1857 the more
direct line through Andover was opened. The connexion to Warminster and Bristol was made in 1856,
to Yeovil and Exeter in 1860, (fn. 59) the latter putting
Salisbury once more on the direct line of communication between London and the west country.
Nineteenth-century guides and directories also
show the number of carriers that plied not only
between Salisbury and other towns, but also to
surrounding villages, almost invariably on one or
both of the market days. In 1914 the Directory of
Salisbury and District printed for the first time a list
of motor services, nine in all, plying between the
Market Place and various groups of villages, nearly
all on market days.
In addition to improved transport, two factors
have increased the economic prosperity of Salisbury
in the present century: the army and the tourist
trade. The establishment of the headquarters of the
2nd Army Corps in the city in 1901, and of Southern
Command in 1909, brought additional resident
consumers for most Salisbury traders. In 1903 the
city called attention to the increasing demand for
houses as a result of the coming of the army, (fn. 60) and
its effect on the retail trade is suggested by advertisements of tailors and shoemakers describing themselves as military tailors and makers of military
boots. (fn. 61) The number of service-men living in the
city itself has never been large — in 1951 there were
361 — but the establishment early in the century of
the camps at Bulford and Larkhill and the extensive
use of Salisbury Plain by the army and R.A.F. in
recent years have made Salisbury the shopping and
recreational centre for large numbers of service-men
and their families. The effect of the military use of
the Plain on the city's economy has been increased
by the rapid development of road transport, which
has also added to the numbers of tourists. (fn. 62) Their
importance to Salisbury is difficult to assess, but no
one visiting the city during the summer months can
doubt the large dimensions which the tourist trade
has reached. It brings business not only to the large
numbers of hotels, 'guest-houses', and tea-shops but
also to retail shops and garages.
The economic history of Salisbury since its incorporation in 1612 thus falls into two periods. From
1612 until about 1830 it is possible to see the
remnants of the medieval framework still present in
the economic life of the city, though to a constantly
diminishing extent. The medieval industries continued throughout this period, though, with the
exception of the resurgence of the cloth industry
between 1780 and 1816, they were generally declining.
From the 1830's to the present day the main
economic importance of Salisbury has been as a
market town and shopping centre for the surrounding villages. A few new industries have grown up,
all on a small scale, and will continue to do so, but
improvements in communications have been important mainly because they have extended and
increased the city's functions as a market, a shopping
centre and a place visited by tourists. It has been
performing all three functions since the 17th
century and two since the Middle Ages.