268 GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND,
The number of persons employed in the several branches of textile industry in England and Wales in 1868 was 673,334, against 495,707 in 1850; showing an increase of 177,627 hands in the 19 years. The numbers employed in each branch of industry were: — Lr cotton manufacture, 357,052 ; woollen, 101,938; worsted, 128,410; silk, 39,956; flax, 21,859; hemp, 1,330; jute, 1,760; hosiery, 6,419; shoddy, 3,187; horsehair, 828; felt, 19; elastic, 3,821; lace, 6,755. Out of the 673,334 hands, 184,904 were employed in spin- ning; 101,077 in weaving ; and 352,287 in spinning and weaving.
Official returns show that at the end of the year 1868 there Avere ten counties in England, three in Scotland, and one in Ireland which had above a thousand of their population employed in the cotton manufacture. Lancashire had 152,150 persons so employed in 1839, 315,627 in 1861, and 277,846 in 1868; Cheshire had 36,352 in 1839, 40,860 in 1861 ; 32,541 in 1868; Yorkshire had 12,436 in 1839, 27,810 in 1861, 23,844 in 1868 ; Derby had 10,462 in 1839, 12,965 in 1861, 10,454 in 1868 ; Cumberland, 1,986 in 1839, 3,281 in 1861, 3,213 in 1868 ; Nottingham, 1,460 in 1839,2,183 in 1861, 2,273 in 1868; Stafford, 2,078 in 1839, 1,982 in 1861; 2,076 in 1868 ; Gloucester, 29 in 1839, 1,514 in 1861, 1,529 in 1868 ; Leicester, 244 in 1839, 219 in 1861, 1,339 in 1868 ; Warwick, 84 in 1839, 445 in 1861, 1,021 in 1868. In Scotland, Lanark had 20,288 persons thus employed in 1839, 27,065 in 1861, 26,183 in 1868; Renfrew, 7,851 in 1839, 8,749 in 1861, 8,873 in 1868; Ayr. 961 in 1839, 1,089 in 1861, 1,642 in 1868. In Ireland, Waterford had 1,011 in 1839, 1,412 in 1861, 1,629 in 1868 ; Antrim 2,000 in 1839, 639 in 1861, 857 in 1868. The number of spinning spindles employed in Lancashire was 21,530,532 in 1861, and 24,160,955 in 1868. In Cheshire, 3,373,113 in 1861, 2,998,080 in 1868. In Yorkshire, 2,414,898 in 1861, 2,376,517 in 1868. In Derby, 682,008 in 1861, 542,894 in 1868. In Cum- berland, 136,212 in 1861, 138,782 in 1868. In Nottingham, 36,000 in 1861, 6,292 in 1868. In Stafford, 81,116 in 1861, 87,616 in 1868. In Gloucester, 66,004 in 1861, 91,072 in 1868. In Lanark the spinning spindles were 1,138,602 in 1861, 934,012 in 1868 ; in Renfrew, 408,742 in 1861, 316,028 in 1868; in Ayr, 30,240 in 1861, 19,152 in 1868; in Perth, 57,796 in 1861, and 34,224 in 1868 ; in Stirling, 50,190 and 30,722 respectively ; in Bute, 52,148 and 26,000 ; and in Linlithgow, 19,800 and 20,408. In Waterford, 30,292 in 1861, 43,092 in 1868 ; in Antrim, 72,884 in 1861, 73,168 in 1868. In the other counties in which the cotton trade is found, it is of less importance. The number of persons employed in the cotton factories of the United Kingdom was 259,365 in 1839, 330,924 in 1850, 379,213 in 1850, 451,569 in 1861, 401,064 in 1868. The number of spinning spindles increased from 30,387,467 in 1861, to 32,000,014 in 1868. The woollen trade is found in
