button to main menu  Gents Mag 1853 part 1 p.614
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Gentleman's Magazine 1853 part 1 p.614
of practising his craft therein, and of instructing and informing such as might desire to learn it of him, and hath brought with him certain men and servants, and apprentices to the said trade, we have taken the same John, and his aforesaid men, servants, and apprentices, and all his goods and chattels whatsoever, under our protection, &c. (according to the tenor of similar letters as far as these words; viz.) for we promise to cause similar letters of protection to be issued to other men of the same craft, and to dyers and fullers, who wish to come from parts beyond the seas to dwell within the same our kingdom for the aforesaid object. In witness whereof, &c. these letters are to hold good during the King's pleasure. Witness the King at Lincoln, the 28th day of July.
Next, as respect John Kemps' locus in quo. I have the authority of the Encyclopaedia Londinensis for stating the John Kemp was established in Kendal. "where (says the Cyclopaedia, p.725) his descendants still remain, and the woollen trade is at present carried on." Kemp was a family name in Kendal down to the present generation. Then it is to be observed that tradition has always spoken, with the most confident tone, of John Kemp's connection with Kendal, and even in cases where history is wholly silent tradition is an acknowledged authority. For these reasons I have not hesitated to assert that the woollen manufactures were established in Kendal by John Kemp temp. Edward III. I have not said that there were not woollen manufactures in the same reign (I believe at a later date though) in York,* Halifax, &c., but I challenge the annalists of these and other towns to set up a better claim to John Kemp than I have put forth in favour of Kendal. The art of weaving might be known and practised, in a small and rude way, before the 13th century, in some of the towns in England; but there could be nothing worthy to be dignified as a manufacture till this period; for Fuller, alluding to the time of Edward III. says "Englishmen were then so little instructed in the art of cloth-making, they knew no more what to do with their wool than the sheep that wear it." (Church History, book iii. p.111.)
Secondly. With regard to the white coats worn by the Kendal men at the battle of Flodden Field:-

"The left-hand wing, with all his route,
The lusty Lord Dacre did lead;
With him the bows of Kendale stoute,
With milk-white coats and crosses red."
Upon this stanza I had observed, in the "Annals of Kendal," that it seemed to me not improbable that the public building called White Hall, in the town of Kendal, might have been designated "White Cloth Hall" originally, from the manufacture of this white cloth, and so the name afterwards changed to "White Hall." This, you object, is founded "upon a misapprehension, because the old poet (you say) was not describing a colour peculiar to the manufacture or archers of Kendal." My derivation is in no wise grounded or dependent upon the white cloth being "peculiar to Kendal." You observe that there were also "the white coats of London." So, I answer, there is the White Hall of London! And why may not the original of this have been White Cloth Hall, where the white cloths for the "trained bands of the City" were made, or more likely only exposed for sale? In the town of Leeds there are at this day two Cloth Halls, - a "White Cloth Hall" and a "Coloured Cloth Hall," which helps materially, in my humble opinion, to strengthen, if not to confirm my case.
Again, I observed, that these white cloths, the Kendal cottons, were spotted by hand with colours red, blue, green, &c. and that such spots might easily, by poetic fancy, be magnified into "crosses red." This you incline to regard as a misconception, "because white coats with St. George's crosses were worn by all the infantry of our English army," and "every bowman or soldier exhibited only one cross back and front, displayed upon the whole of his body." In reply, I have to observe that it is not a matter of controversy but a fact that the early Kendal cottons, made for home consumption, were mostly white, and some were spotted red, blue, green, &c. by the hand.† This species of manufacture was called ermines, or "spotted cottons." I have an idea (which, however, needs confirmation) that these "spots" might be designed as the rude armorial bearings of the different barons, for the purpose of distinguishing their respective retainers, and hence, perhaps, a reason for some being spotted red, some blue, some green. Well, then, if
* In respect to York, we append to this communication an extract from an Essay by Mr. Davies, the late Town Clerk of that city, giving the most authentic information that could be discovered by his well-directed researches. - Edit.
† Annals of Kendal, p.203.
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