what cloth is comprised from worsted rags from around dewsbury?

Answer 1

It's called “Renaissance Wool ” or Mungo and Shoddy
It is nothing but wool in another form! Years ago cast-off garments were given to the poor, or thrown to the refuse heap; today discarded garments are collected, thoroughly cleansed and purified, converted again into cloth, and made into smart, “ dressy “ clothes at prices well within the means of those with modest incomes. The process of extracting and recovering wool from discarded garments is known as rag grinding. The result of the process, scarcely discernible from dyed wool, is known as shoddy or mungo. The business of collecting rags from all over Great Britain and the Continent, of sorting them into the many hundreds of different shades and qualities required by the manufacturer, the further business of converting these rags into rag wool is the main occupation of the people of Ossett. There are probably more rag merchants in proportion to the population in Ossett than in Dewsbury or Batley; their businesses vary from the employer of scores of rag pickers to the employer of half-a-dozen; they occupy premises, as it was picturesquely phrased the other day, ranging from a Crystal Palace to a rabbit-hutch. It is a wonderful trade. The cast-off clothing of the farmer from Norway, the vinedresser from France, the peasant of Austria - before the War all come to Ossett. These are sorted according to colour and quality, cleansed and carbonised - in which process any cotton in them is destroyed then sent to the rag machine, which “pulls” them fibre from fibre and converts them into a substance resembling wool, which is then sold to the manufacturers of Morley, Colne Valley, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Batley, Guiseley, and a score of other places in and around the Heavy Woollen District, re-woven into cloth, re-made into overcoats or mantles, men’s or women’s costumes, and sold either to the butcher at home or to the foreigner far afield. And the wonderful thing is that when these cloths reach the end of their second “lives” they will probably find their way back to Ossett once more, to undergo the same process again. Ossett is the principal centre of the early processes of rag sorting, and particularly of the processes which convert the discarded garment into rag-wool. The leading mungo and shoddy works in England are to be found in Ossett. They employ some thousands of workpeople and own some hundreds of rag-grinding machines. Much of the product of these machines is consumed by the manufacturers of Batley and Dewsbury, but this “renaissance wool,” as it has been called, goes from Ossett to take its part in the manufacture of the tweeds for which Huddersfield and the Colne Valley are renowned, the serges, Meltons and vicunas of Morley and the townships about Leeds, and, with bated breath, it may be whispered that the aristocratic West of England cloth, the tweeds of the Scottish border, and the hosiery of the Midlands are not quite innocent of the rag-wool which comes “fra Ossett.” It is estimated that the weekly output of this rag-wool is not less than 3,500 packs of 240 lbs. each, and that at a fairly moderate price per pound it represents a money value approaching at least to one million sterling.

Theis explanation comes from http://www.larkshill.org.uk/twentieth.html

Answer 2

That would be shoddy a mixture of ground rags .

Answer 3

Shoddy is correct...
http://www.infoplease.com/dictionary/brewers/shoddy.html

Answer 4

Cotton

Answer 5

Try "shoddy cloth" and see if it fis what you are trying to describe...

Answer 6

I think they are called "dew-rags" and are often worn by gang-bangers on their heads.