The questions that the couple were asked in this extract include, “How long do the children work in the mills?”, “Can you say how many have been ill during the past year?” and, “Can you say how many apprentices have died in the 22 years you have been here?”. These questions are insufficient and only appear to talk about the apprentices that worked there, not the normal mill children. The government official points out to us that the couple had worked there for 22 years, which then makes us judge the reliability of the source. As they had worked there for such a long period of time, the may actually be loyal to their boss, Samuel Greg. They may enjoy their job which would explain why they had chosen to stay on for so long. The answers given may be feelings of defensiveness towards their mill. We are also told that, “…Seventeen deaths; only one of whom was killed by an accident”. Considering that the couple have worked there for over two decades, this seems like an exaggerated minimum.
On our visit to Quarry Bank Mill, we collected our own notes on the working conditions of children.
Children as young as 8 years old had a sharp 5:30am start. They did 2 hours work in the morning before having breakfast. They ate porridge that was as thick as cake so they could eat it out of their right hand. They then continued work, having an hour dinner break for which they stood to eat. For dinner they usually had boiled vegetables. Their food wasn’t very appetising, but it was healthy. The apprentices worked a 12-15 hour day. They didn’t get paid for the work they did, unless they worked through their dinner hour when they’d get 1p. They didn’t even get small rewards such as dessert or a bedtime story. However, they did have 1 hour of school so they could practice mathematics, writing and reading. Although it was hard because the rooms weren’t very well lit, they had limited resources and the children were often very tired after their days work. In class they had a table known as the ‘clever-table. However instead of doing tests to select them in order of intelligence, only the boys would move to this table because Greg believed that boys were cleverer than girls. Samuel Greg provided schooling for the children because it would be more efficient to have an educated workforce, because he could then trust them with his accounts and it would be safer as they could read signs, for example. The apprentices did jobs such as working dangerous machinery. Boys were also expected to do gardening and collect potatoes and cabbages, in all weathers, whilst girls sew and cleaned. Toilets were holes in the ground. When they got full boys had to empty it by scooping it all into a bucket and applying it to the garden to act as fertilizer. The few dishes that had been used were washed with sand. There was fresh water but the apprentices didn’t have time to wash their hands as they couldn’t be late back to work. There was also no sewage system so dirt would run down the streets and into the water supply, so it wasn’t safe to drink as there was a risk of Cholera. Instead they drank alcohol. Children could be sold for 20p a head.
The third source was also about child labour in the cotton industry in the 1830s. It was taken from “A Social and Economic History of Britain 1760-1972” by Pauline Gregg. Dr Gregg wrote the first edition of this book in 1949 but has regularly up-dated it. The passage I have been given is taken from the seventh edition. The fact that there are 7 regularly updated editions is good because errors can be corrected after new research. We are also brought attention to the fact that the author has nothing to do with the Greg’s who owned Quarry Bank Mill, and she is actually a modern historian whom is not from the same family.
This source is also not very specific as it uses quotes such as, “When factories…” As this piece is generalised to the point that it may be from a text book, I was able to cross reference and compare and contrast it with the conditions of the Mill at Styal. To begin with points that were similar include, “cheap labour of children could be used”, “for supplies of pauper children between the ages of seven and twenty-one”, “the children worked in shifts of twelve hours”, “generally dirty, unhealthy…” and “some of the apprentices tried to escape”. On the whole, Pauline Gregg’s account does not match well with the facts we already have about Quarry Bank Mill. Although the statement referring to working hours is similar, it does go on to say “…fifteen, or more hours” which makes this statement untrue unless the child is working overtime. Also, the quote about the cleanliness of the factory is only to be expected. Quarry Bank Mill was cleaner than most factories, though no mill could be spotless as a lot of excess cotton would still remain. Finally, the quote saying that some apprentices tried to escape, gives people the wrong impression of the mill. Apprentices didn’t run away because they were mistreated for example, they just missed their family and friends. The contrasting points overcome the similarities. In the source we are told that, “…the apprentice children were as much his property as the machines they tended”. However, Samuel Greg proves this statement doesn’t apply to all mill owners as he educated his apprentices. “It was more economical to work one batch out than get another”; Greg thought the opposite. Samuel Greg believed that if he got a good batch of workers, trained them and kept them healthy that you would have a stable workforce. He also saw this to be more efficient as it would save spending money on replacements. It would also be hard to keep replacing them due to scarce labour. Pauline Gregg also describes factories to be, “dens of fever and vice”, yet; Samuel Greg employed his own doctor so that his workers were healthy and he also separated boys and girls. Yet another contrasting point is the fact that Greg’s mill made people stronger mentally and physically, although the source says that, “…with resultant depravity and degradation”. Punishments were also described in very different ways. As far as we know, Samuel Greg believed in punishment of the mind, as this would keep children fit for work, but Pauline Greg tells us how one boy was hung by his wrists over moving machinery, so that he was compelled to hold his legs up to avoid mutilation.
This source is secondary, meaning it was written much later. The author appears to be looking at it from a more distant viewpoint and is assessing it in a non-bias way. However, Pauline Gregg is making a book, so therefore will probably be exaggerating the facts or talking about a worst case scenario and making out that it’s the norm, to make it more readable. Therefore this source is also unreliable.
The next source I assessed was Robert Hyde Greg’s account of the punishment of Esther Price, who was an apprentice as Quarry Bank Mill. This account was given in 1843. Again, this source is an extract meaning that we haven’t been given all the facts.
The source says that, “Mrs Shawcross and my sister, Sally both argued against the severity of cutting off the girl’s hair” which shows that the pair weren’t scared to contradict him. This quote also shows that he doesn’t take all the credit for his change of heart. The source seems to be the truth as we have heard all the facts given in the extract from other sources. It appears that Greg wants to seem firm but fair as he is losing money from runaways so it obviously cannot be tolerated. But as mentioned earlier, he doesn’t believe in physical punishments as they then will not be fit for work. The extent of his punishments was fines, overtime, confinement and the cutting off of hair.
Again on our trip to Quarry Bank Mill, we made our own notes. These describe the punishments underwent in the Mill.
In most Mills, punishments were very cruel. They couldn’t even look people in the eye as it was considered as swearing. Punishments included being whipped with a chunky strip known as a bull whip, hung upside down over live machinery and having their teeth filed down so they couldn’t eat. However, the extent of punishments at Quarry Bank Mill was the punishment room. It was a lonely room inhabited by spiders, and children were scared of the stories that were attached to the room. After being in the room the apprentice had to make up all the work they’d missed. One story is that of Ester Price, who is mentioned in the above paragraph. She was originally a tough girl from Liverpool. However she was selected from a workhouse and sent to Styal. On her first day there she violently beat up another girl. She went before the magistrates to explain her crime but was let off. So she then decided to run away for 7 days and 7 nights. Children often tried to runaway. Not due to the conditions of the Mill, but because they missed there friends and family. When Ester Price was found they threatened to chop off all her hair. However she begged and pleaded, so instead spent 7 days in the punishment room which had been boarded up so it was pitch black. On the Friday, an elderly carer died and there was no where to keep the body until the corpse got collected, so it was put in the punishment room with Ester. The final part of this story was not included in the above source. This may be due to it not being part of the punishment; ester was just unlucky as there was no where else cool enough to store the body. Samuel Greg didn’t believe in harm to the children because then they may not be fit to work. He instead used fear of their own imagination to control them. This gave Greg a good reputation.
The next source that I studied was a picture of a mule-spinning factory in 1835. However we are not given the name of the artist, the name of the factory or any information to support that he’d visited a factory before.
The picture shows that the factory had higher ceilings to help circulate the dust and windows to provide light and make the room airy. The workers seem healthy and there is no sign of strict discipline. If we look closely at the source we can see a child under the machines cleaning, showing that the factory is hygienic. Finally it seems to be very spacious, which would indicate less carelessness as there would be more room to work.
After further investigation, I can link this source to Edward Baines. Baines loved factories. He believed that they were the future as they gave the country power and wealth. This information now makes this source unreliable. We think this picture may be propaganda; made in attempt to make people believe his version.
Styal appeared to have lived better than its contempories. In towns many people lived and worked in appalling conditions such as overcrowding and long hours. I am going to compare Styal with a couple of other Mills to see the similarities.
New Lanark Mill, owned by Robert Owen was also situated in the countryside and relied on a fast flowing river for power. Similarly to Samuel Greg, Owen was a ‘strict but fair’ employer but a strong believer in education. He built a school and shop, which sold high quality produce at fair prices, in the town. Children were then taught a wider syllabus: singing, dancing, science, history and geography, as well as reading, writing and mathematics. He also believed that young children should be at school and not working in mills until they were at least 10 or 11 years old. Owen introduced free medical care, a savings facility and sickness insurance which applied for employees of all ages. Robert Owen provided a more human approach to the welfare of workers and created a model village for his employees.
Cromford Mill in Derbyshire, owned by Arkwright was again situated in the countryside and relied on a fast flowing river for power. We are unable to make a clear comparison between these two as some of the factory was damaged due to a fire. Arkwright employed children as young as 7 years old. However parents did not object to child labour. Children were cheap, small and easy to discipline. On average, they worked 12 hours a day 6 days a week. This mill appeared strict as fines were given out for things such as opening a window and whistling. However if we look deeper into these ‘crimes’ we can see a reason behind the consequences. If too much air was allowed near the cotton it would turn brittle, hence why windows needed to be close, and if someone was whistling this would indicate that they were not fully concentrating which would then mean that they were endangering themselves. Arkwright provided good homes for his workers, and these homes helped encourage new workers. A school, chapel and hotel were built, as well as a shop and market. He organised a festival every September which gave workers something to look forward to and save up for. Arkwright provided things for his employees, yet still expected a lot back. Like the other 2 Mill owners, he was a philanthropist; a mixture of business sense and humanity.
These comparisons with other mills don’t determine any links with Quarry Bank Mill. It is clear that Samuel Greg was not the only one to believe in a strict but fair discipline system, or education for the apprentices.
I have also collected information on a couple of writers, as well as a source from the Factory Commission 1832-8.
Cobbett wrote that children worked up to 14 hours a day, summer and winter in temperatures up to 80°F. Despite the heat, they were unable to collect water as the doors were locked. Workers came to the mill fit and healthy and became decrepit and crippled by the time they were 30 years old, meaning that child labour was ruining their bodies. However again, this source may not be reliable as Cobbett was irradical and had extreme anti-factory views, causing me to believe that this evidence is overemotional and inaccurate.
The second writer, Ure, leads us to believe that factories are lovely places to work. This source is more specific as he talks about Thomas Ashton’s Mill in Hyde, Cheshire. Therefore maybe Ure genuinely thought that the mill deserved praise. However, like Baines, he saw mills as the future so maybe he exaggerated the good points.
The Factory Commission gave us evidence from all sectors – paupers, children, parents, overseers and mill owners. Meaning we had a broad range of opinion. In total there were 89 witnesses, who met 43 times. In conclusion to this, some harrowing evidence of long hours, cruelty and discipline was unveiled. However, this evidence may have been rigged, as there was no evidence given under oath and no evidence to disprove that the witnesses were coached.
As a group, the sources are unreliable so it is hard to determine a clear conclusion from the evidence. However, in my opinion, I think Samuel Greg did show some compassion in the way in which he treated his young employees as he did provide food, shelter and an education for them. Though, I feel that he could have done more with his money, like Robert Owen did, such as increase the syllabus of education. It is important that we compare Styal with other specific mills; otherwise we would be comparing it with the stereotypical idea of a mill which is danger, cruelty and filth. Comparing Styal with New Lanark and Cromford has shown that Samuel Greg is not the only one who chose to take a more human approach to the welfare of workers. Finally, I have realised that the best way to find out about the treatment of children in textile mills is to find out from the children themselves. However most of the children were illiterate or feared the consequences too much. Also, at the time, their priorities were not to tell the world.
