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James Hall 25 July 1744 to 16 August 1778
HAL00060
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1744
James Hall, son of
Thomas and Mary (nee Sherat) Hall (HAL0050), was born in 1744. However James Hall
who was baptised on 25 July 1744 at the Anglican Church of St Giles in
Newcastle under Lyme is shown as the son of Robert Farndale (PR), so there is an
issue to resolve here.
1767
James Hall married
Elizabeth Astley (1735 to 1814) on 5 July 1767 at Newcastle under Lyme (MR).
James Hall was a felter and hatter. He was a freeman of Newcastle under
Lyme.
The most notable
industry in Newcastle during the 17th and 18th centuries was the making of felt
hats. As early as 1570 a hatter, Richard Norton, is met with and another in
1612, John Riggs. The existence of hatters presupposes that of feltmakers, of whom, in the 17th century, there was a
considerable number as may be gathered from parish register entries. Late in
the century the trade encountered difficulties because 'servants and others of
inferior quality' had ceased to wear felt hats; at that time (1699) it was
stated that there were numerous master hat-makers in the town who each employed
nine or ten journeymen and many other persons, i.e. feltmakers,
in producing the materials for hat making. Despite temporary setbacks the hat
industry continued to flourish. At a borough election in 1734 out of 436
burgesses on the roll 159 were described as hatters. In the late 18th century the number of hat manufacturers totalled 27, while
in 1822 out of 1,000 householders in the borough, 307 were described as hat
manufacturer, feltmaker, or hatter. In the early 19th
century machinery was introduced, in particular a
carding machine and a blowing machine for the separation of short and coarse
hairs from the wool or nap. The latter was the invention of James Astley Hall, a native of Newcastle and one of the chief hat manufacturers. Although in 1844 the
chief manufacture of the town was still described as that of hats which were
prepared for the finishers in London, the growing popularity of the silk hat
for the upper and middle classes and of the cloth cap for industrial workers
brought about a decline in the demand for felt hats. By 1850 the number of hat
manufacturers in Newcastle had fallen to nine and 40 years later there were
only two. By the early 20th century the local
manufacture of hats had ceased. The fact that in 1836 there were three
straw-hat makers and in 1851 twelve may indicate an attempt to establish an
alternative, though short-lived, headgear industry of a very different kind. (A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8. Originally
published by Victoria County History, London, 1963, Newcastle-under-Lyme:
Economic history and social life and Anon. Hist. Sketch Newcastle, 10; Newcastle Register of Electors, 1840
and 1845 (copies at Inst. of Hist. Research, London)).
1769
Their son, Robert Hall (HAL00070), was born in 1769.
1772
Their daughter, Elizabeth
Hall (HAL00071) was born in or about 1772.
1778
James Hall died in 1778
and he was buried at St Giles, Newcastle under Lyme, on 16 August 1778 (DR).
Shortly after her father
had died, their daughter, Elizabeth Hall (HAL00072) was born on 6 October
1778.