The manufacturing of woolen cloth was a key component of England’s economy as far back as 1200 and continued to be so until 1800 and beyond, although cotton took over in the nineteenth century. For most of this period, the process of manufacturing woolen cloth was carried out by hand in “cottage industries”—that is, in the homes of workers. The process was labor intensive and time consuming, but it provided large numbers of rural workers with a livelihood. This was the case throughout England, but over time, regional concentration took place, and the region in and around Leeds became one of the chief producers of woolen cloth. (Leeds is a city in Yorkshire, in the north of England.) In the eighteenth century, the Industrial Revolution was underway, and a number of technological innovations in the woolen trade were introduced. The machines installed in factories could produce cloth in much greater quantities and at a lower cost compared to hand production. Much of this cloth was manufactured for export. But as was so often the case at the time (and still is today), technology had the effect of replacing human workers, leaving them without jobs or the ability to support themselves and their families. Such was the plight of the woolen workers, prompting them to publish the plea reproduced here.