‘Some became squires and some became bankrupts’…

Hudson Gray, 1845

‘Their travellers penetrated though Europe, and their pattern cards were exhibited in every principal town, from the frozen plains of Moscow to the milder clines of Lisbon, Seville and Naples. The Russian Peasant decorated himself with a sash of gaudy callimanco; the Spanish Higaldo was sheltered under his light cloak of Norwich Camblet. The introduction of their articles into Spain, Italy, Poland and Russia soon made the manufacturers amends of the capriciousness of fashion in their own country…'

William Taylor, writing on the heyday of the Norwich Industry in 1798

Until the early 18th century, most Norwich manufacturers sold cloth for export to London merchants, who undertook the risky business of finding overseas markets. The calico crisis of 1719 helped persuade a few more ambitious Norwich men that they could not depend on the British sales. The fashion for printed calicos and cottons had led to a contraction of the home market. Greater profits were to be made from direct export overseas. To tempt them further, a bounty of 6d for every pound weight of silk and worsted stuffs exported was payable. A wealthy minority began to adapt their business to larger scale production with the aim of penetrating foreign markets.

This was a difficult undertaking. It involved the production of avolume of stuffs in the knowledge that the returns would not be seen for many months. The undertaking also involved finding suitable ships, captains and crew, arranging distant sale and distribution, and negotiating around customs, trade treaties, warfare and privateers.

Nonetheless, by the 1740s the more resourceful Norwich merchants seem to have found a formula. There as a great increase in the volume of stuffs sent via Rotterdam to Spain and Portugal, North America and the Far East. The markets of northern Europe were exploited from the 1760s with shipments from Great Yarmouth to Danzig, Hamburg andfurther north to Scandinavia and Russia. Callimancos for Russia and camlets taken by the East India Company to China accounted for the largest volume of business for many years. In the new colonies of America, Norwich damasks became popular furnishing fabrics in the homes of the wealthy.

Portrait of a Norwich textile merchant
Overmantle painting depicting 18th century merchants, Strangers’ Hall museum