At the Lancaster Quarter Assizes in 1830, Jonathan Buckley, a journeyman cotton weaver of Heyside, near Oldham , was charged, found guilty and sentenced to two years hard labour for assaulting an apprentice from one of his weaving shops. 'Assault' does not adequately describe the severity of the beating Buckley gave John Hoy, the RMA apprentice in his charge, for he beat him into insensibility. Although it was thrashing Hoy that brought Buckley before the bench, substantial evidence came out in the military inquiry that led to the charges being laid that Buckley had earlier caused the death of another apprentice.

The case came to light when a girl escaped from the smaller of Buckley's two workshops at Throstle Nest Cottage off Bullcote Lane in the Village. The child was described as 'off its mind with ill use'. Her deplorable state of emaciation so affected the local Quakers and Independents (dissenters from the established church) that they descended on the cottage at Throstle Nest, released the children, and set fire to the property. The Friends and their fellows next attacked Buckley's workshop near the Bull's Head Inn and released the children there. This was a more substantial property than the cottage. Taking the law into their own hands went against the peace-hugging nature of Quakers. In the interests of social justice, however, it was property they attacked, not people. Local fury roused by the condition and injustice to the slave-labour children was so high that it brought the militia from Preston to restore order.

The incident at Heyside was not exceptional. The unpaid labour to be had from Chitties and indentured apprentices was a widespread practice that permeated the cotton industry of Lancashire and Derbyshire. The highly efficient cotton mills with their power-driven looms were driving the old journeymen cotton weavers out of business in the early 1800s. By the 1820s they were to be found in isolated villages and hamlets such as Heyside where they produced fustian cloth, a thick material suitable for working clothes but vastly inferior to the calicos and finer cottons produced by the mills. Nor could the independent weavers match the output of the mills. An experienced cotton weaver produced about four yards of cloth in a 12 hour day. For this work, however, journeymen employed Chitties, who were orphans and homeless children gathered in from wherever they could be found. Their output was considerably less.

Beginning in October 1815, two female apprentices, Bridget Brereton, age 13, and Jane Lesson, age 14, were indentured calico printer apprentices to two journeymen weavers in the village of Harpur Hey. The two girls were first among a group of ten RMA children eventually sent to mills in Harpur Hey. News of this rich new source of labour spread quickly through the grapevine. The cotton mills got their share, but the independent journeymen realized what a bonanza the RMA source was for their flagging fortunes. The supply of cheap labour from the Lancashire workhouses and orphanages had all but dried up when the overseers of these institutions realized what a miserable life lay ahead for any children in their care released to the mills. The mill owners and journeymen weavers therefore had to seek help from farther afield. Various orphanages in the London area, including the RMA, fed the voracious appetite of the cotton industry.

The journeymen of Heyside discovered it was relatively easy to obtain RMA apprentices. All they needed was a letter of application supported by testimonials from upright fellow citizens in the community testifying to their worthiness as applicants. In 1821, the first batch of RMA apprentices joined their masters in Heyside, near Oldham. Five journeymen weavers in Heyside – James, John and Jonathan Buckley, Joseph Dunkerly and Jas (James?) Rose – were the applicants. None were refused. Their lead was soon followed by other weavers. Jonathan Buckley, the brother of James, but not of John, ran two workshops: Throstle Nest and Chitty Farm (a euphemism for the large number of Chitty children in his employ).

The RMA apprentices who joined the Chitties in Buckley's workshops were treated no differently for being from the Chelsea Institution. They shared the common misery of harsh treatment, long work days of twelve to fourteen hours and slept in the same space in which they did their daily grind. They were given barely enough food to eat (gruel and bread) and suffered fierce abuse at the hands of Buckley. Many of the RMA children interviewed testified to this to the Assistant Judge Advocate General, Lt. Col. I. Shaw, and an Oldham solicitor, Mr. Barlow, who conducted an inquiry ordered by the Asylum Board of Commissioners. It is significant that of the 34 children sent to Heyside, 13 were girls. No girls were interviewed.

The interest of the military authorities in the RMA apprentices at Heyside at the same time the Quakers and Independents were taking action was a coincidence. One of Buckley's RMA apprentices, Robert Stewart ran away. His disappearance came to light when his older brothers, serving in the 79th Foot, and ex-RMA boys themselves, tried contacting him through the RMA's Adjutant. Captain Lugard, the Adjutant, wrote a letter of inquiry to a citizen of Heyside with whom he was in contact and received news of Stewart's disappearance. Buckley reported him to be a thief and a troublemaker; not true as it turned out. The boy had only been with Buckley for two months when he left. One thing led to another and Lt. Col. Ian Shaw was instructed to investigate the matter.

Of 158 apprentices indentured to masters in Lancashire and Derbyshire, mostly employers in the cotton industry, for a few became cutters in the coal mines and other trades, 34 went to Heyside. The majority of apprentices worked in cotton mills. Those who went to Heyside – 20 per cent of the total – were the exception. They all worked for journeymen cotton weavers. Nothing but the persistence of the Heyside fustian weavers and the plethora of assuring letters of fellow weavers explains this exceptionally large number of RMA children sent to the village, which was hardly more than a hamlet with an estimated population of 200-250 souls in the 1820s.

The complete list of children sent to Heyside between 1821 and 1830, when the authorities of the Asylum put an abrupt stop to sending children to the community, is revealing. The details are shown below. Considering that the standard length of an apprenticeship was seven years, it is an easy calculation to reveal that, by the year 1830, some 30 children were in the employ of Heyside masters. Of these, Jonathan Buckley employed the most. He was also particularly brutal. There is evidence that he beat one RMA apprentice so badly he was admitted to the Manchester infirmary where he died. In a word, it was murder unproved. The case of James Hoy was, very nearly, one of homicide. Young Hoy was rescued in time and recovered well enough to be interviewed by the AAG and Solicitor Barlow.

Reference documents:

• National Archives PRP WO143-17 Male admissions to the RMA 1803-1826
• National Archives PRP WO143-18 Male admissions to the RMA 1826-1880
• National Archives PRP WO143-24 Female admissions to the RMA 1803-1844
• National Archives PRP WO143-52 RMA Apprentice (Male & Female) ledger 1805-1858