Dewsbury

Dewsbury, a municipal and parliamentary borough of the West Riding of Yorkshire, eight miles S.W. of Leeds, and in the heart of the woollen district. Though of great antiquity, and once an old Saxon ecclesiastical parish of 800 square miles, Dewsbury was of no great importance till its manufactures brought it to the front. Its specialities are heavy woollens, such as army, navy, police, and pilot cloths, druggets, rugs, blankets, and shoddy. It has iron foundries, boiler and machine factories, and flour-mills. It sends one member to Parliament.