Cloth Seal, Searcher, Named, Joshua Hinchlife

Cloth Seal, Searcher's Seal, Joshua Hinchliffe, Image by Derfel Found by Peter Olivant.
Found on the Thames foreshore, 34 x 16mm.

IOSHV(A) / HINCHL(IFE) // (Y / 17) (B / 22)

The name was pre-stamped before sealing, which lead to the A and IFE appearing on the other side when attached. 1722 is more likely to be dimensions than a date.

A record found by Paul Cannon allows us to discover a great deal about this and similar seals. The Quarter Sessions held at Halifax on 13th July 1738 records that Jos Sutcliffe was appointed to be one of the first searchers for carrying out the 1737 'An Act for the better regulating the manufacture of Narrow Woollen Cloths in the West Riding of the County of York'. He was paid £8 annually to search the narrow cloth fulled at Holmfirth mill and '2 other buildings'. The 18th Century Regulation of the Narrow Woollen Cloth Trade” written by Edward Law gives us the following information:-

"In 1737 'An Act for the better regulating the manufacture of Narrow Woollen Cloths in the West g of the County of York' was passed1. The preamble to the Act states that its intention was to remedy deceits, frauds and abuses, particularly in stretching and straining the cloth. The main provisions were that the clothier should incorporate his initials in the head of every piece of cloth, and that every piece be measured at the fulling mill, whilst wet, by the millman and by the searcher. These latter were to be men of good repute and character who had been apprenticed to, or conducted, the trade of narrow woollen cloth maker for at least three years. They were to be appointed, and have their salaries fixed, by the Justices of the Peace in Quarter Sessions. The millman was required to affix a lead seal, provided by the clothier, to one end of each piece and to stamp it with his name and the length and breadth of the cloth; the searcher to do likewise at the other end of the piece. Both men were also to keep a register to show in respect of each piece fulled or milled, the date, the name and abode of the owner and the measurements. The Act recognised that pieces shrank during processing and provision was made for acceptable stretching of one inch per yard in length, and two inches per three-quarters of a yard in breadth.

The Act was intended to improve the reputation of the vast quantities of cloth which were being exported, which trade was threatened because of the excessive shrinkage which was being experienced. Although a charge was to be made for the stamping, it was not in the nature of a tax, and the funds raised were intended only to meet the costs of obtaining the Act and of its administration. A charge not exceeding 3d per piece, to be paid by the owner of each piece, was to be set by the Quarter Sessions. Their first order in the matter was at Halifax on 13th July 1738 when it was fixed that the clothier should pay the millman 2½d in respect of each piece, the millman keeping ½d for his salary and expenses, the latter including the cost of providing the seals which the searchers were required to fix, the balance of 2d being payable to the Treasurer of the West Riding of Yorkshire to meet the salaries of the searchers etc.

In May the following year a petition was presented to the Quarter Sessions from the millmen of narrow woollen cloth, when they represented that the allowance "of ½d per piece for procuring lead seals, keeping an account in the mill books, their labour in re-measuring cloth and sometimes one, two or three fresh seals put to, besides their trouble in folding up the cloths, their labour and expenses four times a year to the Treasurer to pay the money, as well as sometimes loss in trusting poor people, is not sufficient". This resulted in an order being made that the millmen should retain ¾d of the revised charge of 2d. As time passed the charge was reduced further, presumably because either the running expenses were less than anticipated or more pieces were being milled. By 1755 the charge for a piece was down to 1½d of which the millman then received ½d.

The main administration of the Act was centred upon the fulling mills. That was eminently sensible, for whilst there were a great many clothiers producing narrow cloths, there were relatively few fulling mills, all of which stood beside the rivers and which should have been capable of being tightly controlled.

The first appointment of searchers took place at the Quarter Sessions held at Halifax on 13th July 1738, and the order book records the river, the mill, the name and salary of the searcher, how many mills he covered and how many miles he had to walk to service those mills".

See A partial list of the mill owners and searchers for 18th Century Yorkshire Narrow Cloth.