Fine Spinners and Doublers was a major

cotton Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, and can contain minor pe ...

spinning business based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, England. At its peak it was a constituent of the FT 30 index of leading companies on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St P ...

History

Formation

Fine Spinners and Doublers, formed from a group of spinning companies specialising in fine

Sea Island Cotton ''Gossypium barbadense'' (''gos-SIP-pee-um bar-ba-DEN-see'') is one of several species of cotton. It is in the mallow family. It has been cultivated since antiquity, but has been especially prized since a form with particularly long fibers was ...

s, was registered on 31 March 1898. The Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers Association Limited had the objective of promoting the interests of cotton spinners in North West England. It was founded through the efforts of Herbert Dixon and Scott Lings in 1897. Businesses that joined in this enterprise at the time included A&G Murray Ltd, Houldsworths, CE Bennett & Co, James & Wainwright Bellhouse and McConnell & Co; but many more followed in subsequent years. The new association was vast compared with its competitors and its large size enabled it to secure its supplies of cotton from the Sea Island and Egypt. For thirty years it was the world's largest cotton-spinning concern, expanding to operate 60 mills and employ 30,000 operatives.

First World War

In 1915, its vice-president, McConnel was on the RMS Lusitania when she was sunk by enemy action. He survived and wrote an account of the sinking which was published in the Manchester Guardian.

Contraction

In 1938

Lancashire Cotton Corporation The Lancashire Cotton Corporation was a company set up by the Bank of England in 1929, to rescue the Lancashire spinning industry by means of horizontal rationalisation. In merged 105 companies, ending up in 1950 with 53 operating mills. It wa ...

replaced Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers in the

FT 30 The FT 30 (''FT Ordinary Index'' or ''FTOI'', not "FTSE 30") is a now rarely used index that is similar to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. As an index of stocks to represent the real trends on the market, the FT 30 has been superseded by the FTS ...

as the latter completed a capital reduction and reorganisation programme. On 16 June 1940 production was stepped up order of Lord Beaverbrook. Sunday working and double shifts were introduced in a plan to quadruple production in order to manufacture defensive barrage balloons. At peak of production 10 mills were used to output of fine super-combed yarn a week; that is 50% of the industry total. Fine super-combed yarn was needed for parachutes and

camouflage netting Camouflage is the use of any combination of materials, coloration, or illumination for concealment, either by making animals or objects hard to see, or by disguising them as something else. Examples include the leopard's spotted coat, the b ...

. It was also used for constructing pneumatic heavy lifting gear and inflatable

decoy A decoy (derived from the Dutch ''de'' ''kooi'', literally "the cage" or possibly ''ende kooi'', " duck cage") is usually a person, device, or event which resembles what an individual or a group might be looking for, but it is only meant to lu ...

artillery. In 1946 the name of the business was changed to ''Fine Spinners' and Doublers' Limited''. There were 62 firms making up the Association. It owned 107 spinning and doubling mills, a pilot production plant, a

weaving mill Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

, a mercerising plant a large research establishment and a

cotton plantation A plantation is an agricultural estate, generally centered on a plantation house, meant for farming that specializes in cash crops, usually mainly planted with a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. The ...

. During the next five years there was a sustained boom in the textile industry owing to the worldwide shortage of cotton goods. Yarn production increased by 50 percent but output contracted by 28 percent; the Lancashire industry had collapsed.

Closure

Fine Spinners and Doublers was acquired by Courtaulds in 1963.

References

Notes Bibliography * *

External links

David Bellhouse and Sons, Manchester.(2000)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fine Spinners And Doublers Cotton industry in England Textile companies of the United Kingdom Defunct manufacturing companies of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Manchester Manufacturing companies based in Manchester British companies established in 1897 Manufacturing companies established in 1897 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1963 1897 establishments in England 1963 disestablishments in England Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange