Fine Spinners and Doublers was a major

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, 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 ...

spinning business based in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

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

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

History

Formation

Fine Spinners and Doublers, formed from a group of spinning companies specialising in fine Sea Island Cottons, 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 North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

. 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 RMS ''Lusitania'' was a United Kingdom, British ocean liner launched by the Cunard Line in 1906. The Royal Mail Ship, the world's largest passenger ship until the completion of her sister three months later, in 1907 regained for Britain the ...

when she was sunk by enemy action. He survived and wrote an account of the sinking which was published in the

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

Contraction

In 1938 Lancashire Cotton Corporation replaced Fine Cotton Spinners and Doublers in the FT 30 as the latter completed a capital reduction and reorganisation programme. On 16 June 1940 production was stepped up order of

Lord Beaverbrook William Maxwell Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook (25 May 1879 – 9 June 1964), was a Canadian-British newspaper publisher and backstage politician who was an influential figure in British media and politics of the first half of the 20th century ...

. Sunday working and double shifts were introduced in a plan to quadruple production in order to manufacture defensive

barrage balloon A barrage balloon is a type of airborne barrage, a large uncrewed tethered balloon used to defend ground targets against aircraft attack, by raising aloft steel cables which pose a severe risk of collision with hostile aircraft, making the atta ...

s. 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

parachute A parachute is a device designed to slow an object's descent through an atmosphere by creating Drag (physics), drag or aerodynamic Lift (force), lift. It is primarily used to safely support people exiting aircraft at height, but also serves va ...

s and camouflage netting. 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 ''eenden 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 ...

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 Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

and doubling mills, a pilot production plant, a weaving mill, a mercerising plant a large research establishment and a

cotton plantation Plantations are farms specializing in cash crops, usually mainly planting a single crop, with perhaps ancillary areas for vegetables for eating and so on. Plantations, centered on a plantation house, grow crops including cotton, cannabis, tobacco ...

. 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 Courtaulds was a United Kingdom-based manufacturer of fabric, clothing, artificial fibres, and chemicals. It was established in 1794 and became the world's leading man-made fibre production company before being broken up in 1990 into Courtauld ...

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