Manchester's Cotton Connections
Walk through the centre of Manchester, down Whitworth street near the train station, or past Ancoats, behind the main shopping area, and you will see plenty of evidence of Manchester's industrial past. A past that connects, through cotton, the slave trade in the West Indies and in America's deep South, the East India Company and a colonised India.
The streets and squares are lined with grade I and II listed 19th and 20th century buildings, many converted to urban loft apartments and city centre hotels.
The Royal Exchange, housing a theatre and antique jewellery stalls, was once a colossal trading floor with 11,000 merchant trading members. The original trading board is still present in the central hall.
Source: Wikipedia Commons, author David Dixon
Asia House, on Whitworth Street, has been transformed into urban apartments. The modern, boxy interiors of the 1-2 bedroom apartments belie the beautiful exterior of this early 20th century building which was once a packing and shipping warehouse.
By the 1850s, the majority of the raw cotton coming to Manchester was being shipped from the American south, and Manchester's cotton industry was both supporting and profiting from African slavery. The cotton fabric produced in Manchester was traded for slaves, who were sold on to the plantations. Due to interruptions in the supply and the significant disruption caused by the American Civil War, Manchester eventually turned its attention to its colonised territories, including India.
Source: Wikipedia Commons
Source: Johnson and Henderson, Wikipedia Commons
Fast forward 100 years and today America has had its first black president. Although slavery was abolished in America in 1808, institutional racism continues to affect African Americans.
India is now the second largest textile and garment producer in the world. The handloom sector is a significant contributor to the country's economy and Indian designers such as Rahul Mishra and Abraham and Thakore have reframed handloom as a luxury item.
In Manchester, the warehouses have had their windows repaired and the lights turned on again. They are the only reminder of Manchester's development from a small market town to a major industrial city, through slavery, cotton mills and colonialism.
