Editing Stalybridge (section)

====The cotton famine====
On the outbreak of the [[American Civil War]] in 1861, the Stalybridge cotton mills rapidly ran short of cotton. Thousands of operatives were laid off. In October 1862, a meeting was held in Stalybridge Town Hall that passed a resolution blaming the [[Confederate States of America]] and their actions in the American Civil War, rather than U.S. blockades of seaports, for the [[cotton famine]] in [[Lancashire]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WMUXggOQ7ZsC&pg=PA225  |title= English public opinion and the American Civil War|first= Duncan Andrew |last=Campbell|year= 2003  |page=225|publisher=Royal Historical Society and Boydell Press|isbn= 978-0861932634}}</ref> By the winter of 1862–63, there were 7,000 unemployed operatives in the town. Only five of the town's 39 factories and 24 machine shops were employing people full-time. Contributions were sent from all over the world for the relief of the cotton operatives in Lancashire; and at one point three-quarters of Stalybridge workers were dependent on relief schemes. By 1863, there were 750 empty houses in the town. A thousand skilled men and women left the town, in what became known as "The Panic".

In 1863, the relief committee decided to substitute a system of relief by ticket instead of money. The tickets were to be presented at local grocery shops. An organised resistance was organised culminating on Friday 20 March 1863.

[[File:Stalybridge - Victoria Bridge.JPG|thumb|upright|Victoria Bridge]]
In 1867, Stalybridge was disturbed by the arrival of William Murphy. Records of this man indicate that his sole interest was to sow the seeds of dissent between Roman Catholics, who by this time had grown to significant proportions, and Protestants. He succeeded in this goal only too well for a full year. During 1868, there were a number of violent disturbances and rioting created by this man who described himself as a "renegade Roman Catholic". In his lectures to the public, "pretending to expose the religious practices of the Roman Catholic Church", he became a master at whipping up a crowd into a frenzy. Newspaper reports of the time told of his common practice of waving a revolver in the air in "a most threatening manner". On one occasion, he incited a riot of such proportions that Fr. Daley, the parish priest of St. Peter's, took to the roof of the church to defend it. A man was shot. The parish priest was tried but eventually acquitted at the [[Quarter Sessions]]. Following this incident, the community began to settle down and Murphy chose to extend his political activities elsewhere.

In 1867, the Victoria Bridge on Trinity Street was built. Victoria Market Hall was constructed in 1868 and the [[public baths]] were opened in May 1870. The baths were presented as a gift to the town by philanthropists and benefactors [[Robert Platt (philanthropist)|Robert Platt]] (1802–1882), born in Stalybridge, and his wife Margaret Platt (1819–1888), born in [[Salford, Greater Manchester|Salford]].

Stalybridge Borough Band was formed in March 1871, holding its first rehearsals and meetings at the Moulder's Arms, Grasscroft Street, Castle Hall. The band was known as the 4th Cheshire Rifleman Volunteers (Borough Band) until 1896. The founder and first conductor was Alexander Owen, who conducted the band until at least 1907.