Source C is about the child labour in the cotton industry in the 1830s. The source was written in 1973 by Pauline Greg who is not from the Greg family who own Quarry Bank Mill. Dr Pauline Greg is an expert historian for many years, teaching about it in a university. She would have read many cotton factories and working conditions. The conditions Pauline describes of the factory were generally dirty, unhealthy and ramshackle. The apprentice house which the children lived in next to the factory were usually long, low sheds. She also describes the children’s condition as much worse, who came from poor families or either authors between the ages of 7 and 21, they were as much as the master’s property as the machines they work on. Kind treatment did not pay for the children. They worked in shifts of 12, 15 or more hours, like one batch out then one batch back in to work so the mill would be running 24 hours a day. After there shift, both sexes all up to the age of 21 were herded together in there apprentices houses with no depravity or degradation and which they were dens of fever and vice. The information that the source gives us about working conditions is that the apprentice children were treated better at Quarry Bank Mill than in the mill the source is about. The stories of the treatment were sickening which the children had to put up with while working. They suffered constant flogging to keep them awake and even one boy was hung by his wrists over moving machinery as a punishment, which he had to hold his legs up to avoid amputation. Some of the apprentice children even tried to escape. This source is useful comparison information, comparing the information to Quarry Bank Mill but it’s not fully completed because it’s just an extract. The audience of this source would be historical students or people interested in the conditions in mills. This information is secondary because it wasn’t written at the time children were treated badly in mills. This is not useful. In my opinion I think the source is reliable because it’s not biased and it has personal views.
Source D is Robert Hyde Greg’s account of the punishment of Esther Price who was an apprentice at Quarry Bank Mill. The source was written in 1843 and was produced by Robert Hyde Greg and also contained Robert Hyde Greg’s views. Robert Hyde Greg is Samuel Greg’s son and was in charge of the punishment that Esther Price and Lucy Garner was given. Esther Price and Lucy Garner were punished when they came back to Quarry Bank Mill after running away. The condition of the 2 girl’s punishment is better than the punishment they would get in other mills. Lucy came back first and was put in a room all Friday, Saturday and Sunday and Thursday night when she came back. She was given watery porridge twice a day. Ester came back after Lucy and was put in the same room, Lucy having gone out. The windows was boarded up so she couldn’t escape, the room was partly dark. She was given milk, porridge and bread, morning and evening but no dinner. In my opinion the conditions were much better for children at Quarry Bank Mill than the other mills; I think that’s why the children came back. Source D is not useful information because it was written 8 years later after the punishment and I don’t think Greg was 100% sure of what he was saying for example he said “Lucy Garner was confined in a spare room all Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and I believe on Thursday night”, also I think it’s not fully completed because it was written from Greg himself, I think you would need to hear Esther and Lucy’s part of the story because Greg could be lying about what happened and also there are some missing parts of what really happened. This information is primary even though it was written 8 years later. The audience for this source is John Doherty and the Parliament. The source dose mostly fit in with the knowledge of what Quarry Bank Mill was like, we know that they were given food breakfast and dinner and that they were not whipped, which most mills would do. Robert Hyde’s motives were to make an example of the girls by giving them a severe punishment to show other workers what would happen to them if they were to try and run away and to show them who was the boss and that he would not tolerate any bad behaviour.
Source E is a picture of the inside of a factory, all we know about this picture is that it was printed in 1835. We don’t know who printed it or which factory it’s supposed to be. It dose not look like Quarry Bank Mill. The picture is not useful as evidence of what conditions were like or child labour. In the picture is a big room full of cotton machines with 2 people working them and 1 person underneath the machines sweeping up on his hand and knees. But the 3 people in the picture don’t look like children, so I think the children might be under the machines sweeping up also. The only thing that is useful about the conditions for the workers is that in the picture you can see that the windows are shut so the dust and the loose cotton in the air are breathed in which can cause lung problems, also the cotton is highly flammable, so one tiny spark from one of the working machines could start a fire. I think this picture was made for a newspaper, so I think the audience would be anyone who buys the paper. This picture is primary, it was printed at the time this is helpful information.
The working conditions at Quarry Bank Mill were much better than those in urban mills. But there were some terrible conditions working in the mill. The machines were all packed tightly into the factory and there were no safety guards so it was very easy to get caught up in the machines, so there would have been many accidents and even deaths, however in source B from Quarry Bank Mill it shows that there were very rarely any deaths from people getting caught in the machines, although not all cases may have been recorded from the mill to avoid a bad, dangerous reputation. In the factory it would have been very loud because of all the machines, so the workers put cotton in their ears to prevent damage to their ears. In the mill there would have been fine cotton in the air, which the workers breathed in and caused lung problems. Also the cotton was extremely flammable, so a tiny spark from one of the machines could set off a fire. The floors and ceilings support beams which were made out of wood, which is also a fire hazard. However, Greg covered the ceilings with metal panels, and had stone staircases for a fire escape where people would be safe. In the mill it was very hot and humid as the cotton was stronger when it was damp. The workers couldn’t open the windows because they had to keep the conditions like this, so they were forced to work in a hot and damp factory. Greg did not believe in punishments, due to his religion, so there were no physical punishments inflicted on his workers. But Greg did have some punishments which he used on his workers if they were naughty, weights were attached to the nose and ears and fines were given out or they worked overtime also there was solitary confinement. By reading source A it shows that physical punishments was not used on the workers for misbehaving, Source A it about 2 girls that ran away from Quarry Bank Mill and then returned but instead of been whipped or hurt, which would happen in most mills they were put in solitary confinement. The hours the employees worked were up to 12 hours a day or even more and all ages worked the same. Source B tells us that they worked 12 hours a day from 6am to 7pm. The wages Greg’s workers received were less than the other mill but the conditions were better.
These were the average weekly wages:
1833 Children under 13 3/9 to 4/2d 1/- to 3/-
1833-59 Reelers and winders 8/- to 9/6d 4/- to 7/-
1834-50 Carding (male adults) 13/6d to 16/- 8/- to 17/-
1834-50 Carding (female adults) 8/- 6/6d to 7/-
1838-50 Mule spinners (female) 7/6d to 10/6d 6/- to 7/-
1846-50 Weavers (male and female) 10/6d to 11/- 6/6d to 8/-
The only people who didn’t get paid were the apprentice’s children. They were children between the age of 7 to 21 brought from workhouses and orphanage. They lived in an Apprentice House and their payment for working in the mill was being fed, housed and clothed. They worked from 6 o’clock in the morning until 7 o’clock at night, with only 10 minutes for breakfast and half an hour for dinner and all ages worked the same. There main food they got to eat was milk, thick porridge, bred and potatoes. But Greg was very good to them, he hired a doctor to look after the children when they were sick, they also got education which was very important at Styal they had a lesson once a week but at around 8 apprentice at a time. But they still had the same punishment if they were misbehaving. I think this is quit useful because it gives use a high-quality of what the conditions of the mill was like at the time, but it’s only an example of one exact mill. I don’t think it can be fully relied on because we cannot get a true idea of what the realism was. But on my visit to Quarry Bank Mill I researched and gathered evidence through examining the mill itself on the state of working conditions. The information from the mill matched and agreed with the evidence found in this source.
The working conditions was far more superior to the other cotton mills of it’s time. The children of Styal mill were treated extremely well compared to the children in other mills. For example, instead of harsh beating, this often resulted in death or severe injuries, workers were fined or locked in solitary confinement for crimes such as lateness, swearing, being unwashed or disorderly.
Richard Arkwright was another mill owner that treated his workers fairly. He set up a Saturday market for the employees that lived in the village; he also built schools, chapel, shops and even had a festival which had its own theme song. The increased the moral of the staff and so more profit was made. Both Greg and Arkwright were very similar to each other. Both mostly employed women and children because they are cheaper to employ than man. They used any age of child but only full time workers were employed at the age of 7 and no younger. But there are things that are not the same. For example, Arkwright ran shifts that were 2-12 hours and the mill ran 24 hours a day where as Greg’s shifts were 1-13 hours and no nights. Workers in urban mills it was more economical to work one batch out and then get another in, therefore the children worked in shifts of 12, 15 or even more hours.
Working long hours is very arduous but it is even worse for some children to work in such terrible conditions. In side urban factories children suffered from things like asthma because the mills were not well ventilated. It was hot, damp and if the machines broke down the child would have to make up for the lost time as over time. Children were often injured by the machinery because they were not fenced off. Each factory would have 20 or more injuries a year. They were frequently beaten by spinners or sent out to the cold in their ragged clothes. The children’s growth was stunted because they were standing for a long time breathing in bad air which damaged their lunges.
Factory owners were responsible for proving their workers with food. In most textile mills the children had to eat their meals while still working. This meant that the food tended to get covered with dust from the cloth; they only had 30 minutes for breakfast and an hour for lunch.
Apprentice’s children had it worse they suffered constant flogging to keep them awake, working 15 or more hours and all ages worked the same hours. Punishments were, being hung across beams by their wrists above moving machinery, having to stand up in a skip, without their shirts and being beat with the strap, having 2 handles of a pound weight each having been screwed to their ears and finally having to work the same hours with a 28- pound weight hanging down their backs. Then after work they were put into low sheds where they slept which were called Apprentices Houses, they were generally dirty and unhealthy. Both sexes all ages up to 21 were herded into the huts with no privacy.
Robert Owen was another very good mill owner and was very good to his workers. The workers conditions in the factory were clean not hungry or starved and the children and women worked fairly : a 12 hour day including 1½ hours for meals. He employed no children under 10 years old. He provided decent houses, sanitation, shops and so on for the workers. He gave rewards for cleanliness and good behaviour and mainly by his own personal influence, encouraged the people in habits of order, cleanliness, and thrift. He established Nursery Buildings to improve living conditions of children and apprentices under the age of 10. He build schools for children between the ages of 1-10. Working in the there were no punishment only encouragement and kindness. So workers worked better lived better and got better treatment.
In conclusion the conditions at Quarry Bank Mill appear to be better than in urban mills. I think Greg was a good employer than other mill other mill owners, he treated his workers with respect, he built them there own church, he built them nice houses, the wages were good and punishments weren’t severe. He was also good to his apprentices children, he was educating them and giving them a chance of a good future, and was sending them to church which wasn’t necessary but he wanted them to go anyway. He employed a doctor which wasn’t requirement, so he wanted to keep his apprentices in good health. He also did not enforce physical punishments, and there were hardly any deaths. He provided them with cheap rent for good quality housing. But it was sometimes too good in the way it worked compared to other mills, there didn’t seem to be many faults where as if you compare it to Cromford which had no paternalism, and corporal punishments, so therefore I think that Quarry Bank Mill was used as a ‘typical example’ of a mill as it showed the industry in a good light. Looking from the sources most of them are reliable and useful and looking from the sources it still gives you an idea that the conditions at Quarry Bank Mill are better then other mills. But I don’t think that you can use this information and go far with it to really show what children working conditions were really like at Quarry Bank Mill because source C is just an extract and wasn’t written at the time children were treated badly in mills, source E is just a picture which we hardly know anything about, source D is Greg’s side of a punishment account and A and B are taken from books. But basically all of the sources evidence is not complete enough to say what working conditions were really like for children in mills.
