Wool-stapler
Person who weighs and grades wool for market
A wool-stapler is a dealer in wool. The wool-stapler buys wool from the producer, sorts and grades it, and sells it on to manufacturers.
Some wool-staplers acquired significant wealth, such as Richard Chandler of Gloucester (England) who built Winston Hall in 1750.
01Staples
"Staple" in this particular context means a market.
Before the 17th century, a staple was also a particular type of market, "a place appointed by royal authority, in which a body of merchants had exclusive right of purchase of certain goods destined for export".
The now best known English staple was at Calais but in medieval times there were, at various times, many other staple towns throughout the kingdoms of England and Ireland and the facing coast of the Low Countries all involved, though not exclusively, with the English wool trade.
02Etymology
The term "wool-stapler" fell out of use during the 20th century.
03References and sources
- References
- Sources
- Oxford English Dictionary entries for 'wool-stapler' and 'staple'.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Wool-stapler”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Winston Hall, Gloucester.jpg by D Eaketts, CC BY-SA 4.0
- The frieze of the Leith Corn Exchange 3 - geograph.org.uk - 542032.jpg by M J Richardson, CC BY-SA 2.0
Fathomly is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Wikimedia Foundation. Spotted a problem? Tell us.