Though regarded as the capital of the great manufacturing district of the West Riding, Leeds is not in its centre, but on its border. Eastward and northward the country is wholly agricultural, while to the west and south-west the populous villages resound with the shuttle and the steam-engine. In this district are carried on a woollen manufacture of great extent and of considerable antiquity and a worsted manufacture of extraordinary vigour (a graft on the woollen manufacture); to these have latterly been added the iron manufacture and that of machines and steam-engines, and the making of boots and ready-made clothing, besides a manufacture of flax, which now constitutes one of the staple trades of Leeds.

Cloth is the staple trade of the town, although the manufacture itself is not the leading one within the borough, being carried on, to a large extent, in townships out of the parish and borough of Leeds. In the town, however, the trade centres, and there the cloth is finally prepared for the market by what is technically termed finishing or dressing—a department quite distinct in Leeds from that of the manufacturer. In this respect the Yorkshire cloth trade differs essentially from that of the west of England, where the manufacturer conducts the two operations of making and finishing the cloth within the same premises. Several Leeds firms conduct their business on the west of England model; but, as the rule, the order of the trade is as follows. The great bulk of the cloths sold in Leeds are produced either in the out-townships of the borough, or in the villages lying west of Leeds, and principally in Pudsey, Farsley, Rawden, Yeadon, Horsforth, and Guiseley, which are all in other parishes, within an extreme radius of 10 miles from Leeds. The cloths so manufactured are sold in the unfinished or balk state to the merchants of Leeds, by whom they are put out to the cloth-dressers or finishers, whose special craft it is to raise the pile or nap on the face of the cloth, and to complete it for the purposes of the tailor and the final consumer. In former times a considerable proportion of the business between the manufacturer and the merchant was conducted in the cloth halls, which are two in number. In these the manufacturers formerly took their stand and waited the custom of the merchants, but within the last twenty or thirty years a great change has taken place in the mode of transacting business, and the cloth halls have practically fallen into disuse. The merchant now orders his goods direct from the manufacturer, specifying the weight, colour, and quality of the articles he wants, and these are delivered to him without passing through the halls. Thus a picturesque and characteristic feature of life in Leeds seems likely at no distant date to become extinct. At one period it seemed probable that the business of the cloth trade would assume the west of England type. Mr William Hirst, a very skilful manufacturer, introduced goods of superior texture and quality, and by his success induced many capitalists to erect mills on a large scale, in which all the processes of the manufacture and finishing were conducted. The change was, however, only temporary. Many of these mills are now occupied for finishing only, and some have been devoted to other branches of the local manufactures. The spinning of flax by machinery was commenced in the township of Holbeck (in the borough of Leeds) more than one hundred years since, by Mr John Marshall, who was one of the first to apply the principle of Sir Richard Arkwright’s water frame, invented for the cotton manufacture, to the spinning of linen yarn. The works of Messrs Marshal & Company are very extensive, and one portion of them is an object of attraction to all strangers visiting the town. It is a vast room 400 feet by 220, filled with machinery, all of which is turned by shafting which requires two coupled engines of 350 horse-power to impel it. Light is admitted by glass cupolas. The whole building is held together by a double series of iron ties, uniting the iron pillars which sustain the many-arched roof. The external form is Egyptian.

The spinning of worsted yarn and the weaving of worsted goods were formerly carried on to a considerable extent in Leeds, but have now nearly died out, Bradford, Bingley, and Keighley, with the villages immediately adjoining, having attracted almost the entire trade. Amongst the smaller branches of the textile manufactures carried on in Leeds must be enumerated those of silk and carpeting, neither of them unimportant, though falling far short of the flax and woollen trades.

It is probable that the iron trade in its different branches, including the casting of metal, and the manufacture of steam-engines, of steam-ploughs, of machinery of every kind, and of mechanical tools, now gives employment to a larger number of persons within the borough of Leeds than any other branch of industry. The great works founded by the late Sir Peter Fairbairn, as well as those of Messrs Kitson & Co. and of Messrs John Fowler & Co., in the last-named of which the Fowler steam-plough is the staple article of manufacture, occupy places in the front rank of such establishments in the country; while Messrs Greenwood & Batley and other tool-makers give employment to a large number of hands, and export the goods they produce to all parts of the globe.

Leeds was at one time famed for the production of artistic pottery, and very fine specimens of old Leeds ware are still occasionally to be discovered among the residences of the poor in the town. This branch of manufacture, however, became extinct about eighty years ago. Within the last three years it has been revived, and once more attention has been directed to the high artistic merit which the pottery of the town has attained.

In addition to these particular branches of industry, the manufacture of ready-made clothing has become one of great importance. In some of the establishments for this purpose such as that of Messrs John Barrow & Sons, the number of hands employed is so large that from a thousand to twelve hundred suits of clothing can be produced daily. Machinery is now used in all the departments in these places, and the work is conducted with a rapidity and at a price which would have seemed incredible thirty years ago. Leeds has in recent years become famous as the chief seat of the cap manufacture in the United Kingdom. The leather trade is also one of great importance in the borough, many large tanning establishments being erected on the outskirts, while the wholesale manufacture of boots and shoes for army and other purposes is carried on in workshops which are the largest of their kind in the United Kingdom.

No religious census has been taken in Leeds since that of 1851. There are, however, 181 places of worship in the town, these being divided as follows :—Church of England, 46; λVesleyan Methodist, 40; Primitive Methodist, 30; United Methodist Free Church, 12; Congregational, 12; Baptist, 11; Methodist New Connexion, 10; Catholic, 6; Unitarian, 3; Presbyterian, 2; Friends, 2; various, 5. The Leeds school board, which was established immediately after the passing of the Education Act in 1870, has now (1882) 47 schools under its control within the limits of the borough, and these accommodate 30,000 children. In addition to these there are 34 national and parochial schools, 8 Roman Catholic schools, and 6 Wesleyan schools. The educational institutions of a higher order in the town are numerous and important. Of these the principal is the Yorkshire College, established in 1875 for the purpose of supplying instruction in the artsand sciences which are applicable to the manufactures, engineering, mining, and agriculture of the county. It has a staff of 19 professors, instructors, and assistant lecturers, and upwards of 350 day and 160 evening students. The college, which has carried on its operations hitherto in temporary premises, will shortly remove to permanent buildings designed by Mr Waterhouse, A. R. A. These buildings, which when completed will cost upwards of £100,000, will occupy a site of about 3⅜ acres, and will comprise extensive laboratories and workshops, large lecture theatres, and a college library and museum. The Leeds Public Library, established under the Public Libraries’ Act, now takes the first place amongst similar institutions in the borough. The reference library contained 26,000 volumes at the close of 1881, and the lending libraries 83,000 volumes, the expenditure for the year being £4150. The issue of volumes during the year reached the large total of 639,616. The Leeds Old Library, a private institution, founded in 1768 by Dr Priestley, who was at that time minister at the Unitarian chapel in the town, contains a very valuable selection of books, numbering about 75,000 volumes, and is in possession of commodious premises in Commercial Street. The Philosophical and Literary Society 7 , established in 1820, possesses a handsome building in Park Row, containing a laboratory, a lecture room, and a museum, with many fine specimens in natural history, geology, and archaeology. The society also possesses a library of upwards of 16,000 volumes, chiefly rare scientific works. During the winter months, lectures on scientific and literary subjects are given in the lecture hall by men of eminence. The Leeds Mechanics’ Institute in Cookridge Street is a striking building in the Italian style. It comprises a large circular lecture room, with gallery, capable of seating 1500 persons, besides a library, reading, committee, and class rooms. The foundation stone was laid in 1865, and the total cost of the building has been nearly £30,000. Day and evening classes and an art school are carried on within the building, and are largely frequented. The Young Men’s Christian Association, another educational institute of importance, occupies the building in South Parade formerly used as a mechanics’ institute. The Grammar School, a handsome building, erected at Woodhouse Moor, has endowments producing over £3000 yearly. There are six exhibitions of £50 a year, each tenable for four years at Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham. It provides education for about 280 scholars. There is also a large training college for students purposing to enter the Wesleyan Methodist ministry at Headingley 7 , one of the suburbs of Leeds. The principal charitable institution of the town is the general infirmary in Great George Street, a Gothic building, built of brick, with stone dressings, from designs by Sir Gilbert Scott. It is arranged upon the pavilion system, each ward being isolated from the rest of the building, and has a highly ornamental exterior, whilst the internal accommodation is suited to the requirements of the patients and the medical staff. The total cost of the erection was more than £100,000. The house of recovery for fever patients, founded in 1802, now occupies a handsome building at Burmantofts. There are also a large building used as a public dispensary in North Street, an institution for the blind, deaf, and dumb in Woodhouse Lane, a School of Medicine and other hospitals and charitable institutions.

The town and borough of Leeds was incorporated by letteιs patent, 2 Charles I., but this charter was cancelled or surrendered. A new charter was granted, 13 Charles II., under the style of mayor, aidermen, and burgesses of the borough of Leeds. The corporation consisted of a mayor, 12 aidermen, 24 assistants, and a staff of 13 officials. The Municipal Act of 1834 gave Leeds a corporation of 16 aidermen and 48 councillors, which has effected great improvements in the management of local matters. In addition to the powers granted to it by 7 the Municipal Reform Act, the town council has acquired, through successive Improvement Acts, complete control over the paving and construction of the streets within the borough, as well as considerable powers for enforcing the consumption of smoke. It has also acquired the whole of the water supply of Leeds, and it controls the public markets, the lighting and watching of the streets, the execution of the Public Health Acts, &c. The supply of water for Leeds is now derived from the valley of the Washburn, one of the tributaries of the Wharfe, where very extensive reservoirs have been provided, at a cost of £1,400,000. The gas supply of the town is also in the hands of the corporation, which purchased the whole of the gas works from the two companies then in existence in 1870, at the cost of nearly £1,000,000. The entire suite of markets, comprising the corn exchange, the Smithfield cattle market, and the produce markets, have been acquired at different periods, and the corporation has expended upon this property £240,000. The rateable value of the municipal borough is £1,122,000, and the income of the borough derived from the borough rate £88,106. The debt of the town amounted in 1881 to £3,884,000. Of the places of recreation in Leeds, the principal is the Grand Theatre, a handsome building erected from the designs of Mr Corson, in Upper Briggate, in 1879. Large assembly-rooms adjoin this theatre. There is another theatre in King Charles Croft, and there are one or two music halls. Some years ago # the corporation acquired, at a large expenditure, Boundhay Park, an estate of great beauty in the neighbourhood of the town. After a portion of the ground had been laid out as building sites, the central part of the estate, comprising splendid lawns, woods of great extent, and a lake covering 40 acres, were reserved as a place of public recreation, and the park is now a favourite resort of the people of Leeds, and also of the inhabitants of the surrounding country. It is under the management of a committee of the corporation, and, though situated at an inconvenient distance from the centre of the town, is largely frequented during the summer months. Woodhouse Moor, a common occupying an elevated position northwest of the town, has been planted with trees and provided with walks within the last ten years; and in other parts of the town the corporation have laid out pieces of land, which had long been left bare and neglected, as recreation grounds.

The external appearance of the town has been greatly improved within the last twenty years. The event which had the greatest influence in promoting the erection of more handsome buildings than those of which Leeds was formerly constituted was the opening of the town-hall by the Queen in the year 1858. This is a noble building in the Grecian style. It is 250 feet long and 200 broad, and is crowned by a tower 225 feet high. The principal apartment in it is the Victoria Hall, a richly ornamented chamber 161 feet long, 72 feet wide, and 75 feet high. The building, which cost, including the site and fittings, more than £130,000, is adorned with statues and portraits of local celebrities. The municipal offices, including school board offices and buildings for the public library, are now in course of erection in the immediate neighbourhood of the town-hall, and will cost when completed upwards of £100,000. The other public buildings of importance in the town are the royal exchange, in Perpendicular Gothic, the foundation of which was laid in 1872, the corn exchange, a fine oval edifice, and the bank of Messrs Beckett & Co., one of the best works of Sir Gilbert Scott.

Leeds has long been distinguished for the activity of its political and public life. It has taken a leading part in many of the great questions which have agitated the country during the present century, and among its successive representatives in parliament have been Lord Macaulay, Sir William Molesworth, Mr Marshall, three members of the Baines family, ami other men whose names are familiar in the annals of the Liberal party, to which upon the whole the borough has given a consistent support since its enfranchisement in 1832. The newspapers published in the town are the Leeds Mercury, daily, Liberal, established in 1718; the Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, daily, Conservative, established in 1754; the Leeds Express, evening, Radical; the Leeds Daily Mews, evening, Conservative; and the Leeds Times, weekly, Liberal. The Leeds Mercury for eighty years has been the property of Messrs Edward Baines & Sons, and has long been considered one of the most influential of provincial journals.

The area of the municipal and parliamentary borough is 21,572 acres. In addition to the township of Leeds some ten out-townships are included in this area. The population (207,165 in 1861 and 259,212 in 1871) in 1881 was 309,126, the number of inhabited houses being 65,034. Leeds is one of the boroughs which under the Reform Act of 1867 return three members of parliament.

The name of Leeds has been attributed to a cnief named Leod. Traces of Roman workmanship have at various times been discovered in the town, and in the parish church several very interesting Anglo-Saxon crosses, discovered when the church was rebuilt in 1838, are preserved. The castle of Leeds occupied a site on Mill Hill, and is supposed to have been built by Ilbert de Laci at the time of the Conquest, but no traces of it remain.

For the history of Leeds see Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodicnsis, 1715, 2ded., 1816, with notes and additions by T. D. Whitaker, who published the same year a companion volume Loidis and Elrncte; Parsons, History of Leeds, Bradford, and JVakefield, 1840; Wardell, The Antiquities of the Borough of Leeds, 1853. (T. W. R. )