In my recent travels to Manchester, England, I saw bees everywhere. They were in the lifts of the hotel, on buildings, lampposts, signs, even on the people. I couldn’t help but wonder where these bees had come from and what they were all about.

The Bee in History

It seems that bees have been associated with Manchester since the Industrial Revolution. The city claims the title of being the first industrialized city in the world. In its heyday, it was full of textile factories which were compared to beehives of activity with the workers being busy as little bees, buzzing around producing their wares. That’s why the bee that symbolizes Manchester is a worker bee.

In 1842 Manchester attained city status and was awarded its own coat of arms. One of the symbols on it was a globe dotted with seven bees. This was to represent the products produced by…