King Cotton describes the terrible destitution which fell upon Lancashire when the American Civil War cut off the supply of cotton from the Southern States and silenced the mills upon which so many thousands of people depended on for their bread. It describes too, the gallantry with which these people placed principle above existence, supporting the North and President Lincoln because they were fighting slavery, even though the Northern ships were preventing the arrival of the slave-grown cotton. Indeed, it was only the “silent example” of Lancashire cotton workers which deterred the pro-Southern English government of the time from entering the war on the side of the Confederacy. Without British non-intervention there might have been no Union of the States and the history of the world would have been far different. Abraham Lincoln himself recognised this when he paid tribute to the “divine Christian example” of these humble English folks.
Against the background of this great struggle of principle and interest Thomas Armstrong tells the story of Kit Ormerod, who foresaw what might come and pleaded for his fellow Lancashiremen to look for their cotton elsewhere, within safe areas of the Empire. Kit himself returns from America early in the book knowing what he is talking about. He meets Jane, whose father is his chief clerk and chief enemy, and from them the story branches out to Kit’s family. Not only the counting-house and the mills, but the waterfront, the sea, and the back alleys of Liverpool and Kit’s own Throstleton, live in the teeming pages of this spacious novel.
Genre: Historical
Against the background of this great struggle of principle and interest Thomas Armstrong tells the story of Kit Ormerod, who foresaw what might come and pleaded for his fellow Lancashiremen to look for their cotton elsewhere, within safe areas of the Empire. Kit himself returns from America early in the book knowing what he is talking about. He meets Jane, whose father is his chief clerk and chief enemy, and from them the story branches out to Kit’s family. Not only the counting-house and the mills, but the waterfront, the sea, and the back alleys of Liverpool and Kit’s own Throstleton, live in the teeming pages of this spacious novel.
Genre: Historical
Used availability for Thomas Armstrong's King Cotton