Raworth's - The Cotton that Clothed a Queen

 One of the major members of the English Sewing Cotton Company has left few traces of its former greatness. Raworth's of Leicester was established in 1820 by John Thomas Raworth. He was ambitious and forward, and when Queen Victoria was crowned in 1837 he lost no time in sending her samples of his sewing cotton. The plan worked and he gained a royal warrant signed by the Duchess of Sutherland, Mistress of the Robes. In 1866 he was advertising his royal favour in newspapers, pressing the case for seamstresses across the country to buy his Nine Cord, Six Cord or Three Cord Glacé thread. By the time of the ESCC combine in 1897 he was shifting 10,000 gross reels every week.

The listed sites for Raworth's are Crown Cotton Mills, Leicester and Charles Street Mills, Leicester. However, an online search for any information about these sites is fruitless. Although textiles are a huge part of Leicester 's history - "Leicester Clothes the World" as the slogan went - there doesn't seem to be much in the way of preserving the heritage going on. 

The ESCC maintained a base in Leicester. In the 1960s, they were holding a needle threading competition there and their site is listed as London Street. A look at this location on Google Street View is interesting.  My money is on the big white building being the former ESCC site. Perhaps a visit to the city museum is in order. 







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