Styal was also a good place to build a mill because it was near to Manchester so there was a good transport system. Cotton was transported from Egypt and India to Liverpool, and from Liverpool it was taken along the Bridgewater canal to Broadheath. It would then be taken from Broadheath by horse and cart to Styal. This transport system was good fro Greg because it made the raw cotton accessible, and it was reliable so he could always have a steady incoming supply of cotton, and he could transport his own spun cotton to cotton merchants so had a steady income.
Coursework: Quarry Bank Mill
2) To what extent do the Greg’s deserve their reputation as good employers?
Samuel Greg seems like a good employer, but there are cases against him, and cases which enhance his reputation as a good mill owner.
The working conditions in the mill were quite loud. Sources from the mill show us that there was fine cotton in the air, which got into peoples lungs and caused lung problems for workers. Also, the cotton was highly flammable, so a tiny spark from one of the machines could start a fire. The floors and ceiling support beams were made out of wood, which was 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 because cotton was stronger when it was damp. Employees couldn’t open windows because they had to keep conditions like this, so they were forced to work in a hot and damp factory. 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. However, sources from the mill show that there were very rarely any deaths from people getting caught in machines, although not all cases may have been recorded for the mill to avoid a bad, dangerous reputation. In the factory it would have been loud because of all the machines, so the workers put cotton in their ears to reduce the damage, as earmuffs only became law in 1986. Despite the fact these working conditions weren’t the best to be working in, all other mills were the same and possibly worse.
The hours people worked were fairly similar to the hours worked by people at other mills. However, all ages worked the same. Sources at the mill, and source A tells us that all employees worked 68 hours a week. However, Source A was written in 1834, and the factory act was passed the year before in 1833. The factory act stated that 9-13 year olds only worked a 48 hour week, but Greg was making them work the same hours as all other employees over 13. However, there was no register of births until 1837, which meant that you didn’t know how old children were, so magistrates couldn’t prove that Greg was breaking the law. Also, other factory owners were doing just the same, and breaking other laws such as the night working of children, and making them work under the age of 9, whereas Greg was obeying these rules. Also, Greg employed families, so they could all work together, and employed apprentices.
In Source A, Greg states that no children under 12 were made to work, however Greg wrote this himself so he could easily have lied as no inspector came to make sure he was telling the truth. Also, there were no birth certificates so it was impossible to prove how old the children actually were so Greg could make under 12s work and get away with it.
Greg did not believe in punishing his workers, due to his religion, so there was no corporal punishment inflicted on his employees. Source A proves that Greg did not enforce corporal punishments, however, Source A is a questionnaire sent to Greg to answer about his own mill. The factory commissioners did not visit the mill; they just relied on the answers to the questionnaire given to them by the factory owners. Greg could have been biased in his answers because it was his own mill so he would probably have lied to make his mill seem better. Also, question 64 asks if any complaints have been taken against him or any overseers on the punishment of employees. No answer is given to this question, which makes it seem dubious. Either Greg was guilty and did not want to lie so he gave no answer, or he was being truthful and no complaint had been alleged so he did not answer because there had been no cases. Despite these details making Greg seem a good employer, there is also the case of Esther Price. Source C says that she was put in solitary confinement in a ‘dungeon’ with ‘windows darkened by boards being nailed up against them on the inside’. Price was supposed to have been in this room for 5 days without light, fire or a bed. However it is said that she escaped after finding out a dead body was in the room next to her and she was so terrified she managed to escape. This story seems a bit extreme, and is probably biased because it was written by John Doherty, who was campaigning for less working hours for mill employees, so he would be extremely critical and would probably exaggerate the details. We do not know how old Esther Price was, or whether she was a typical worker, or an exception. Also, if she had skipped work, why didn’t they just shave her head like they did to punish other girls, or just make her work through her break times to make up for the work lost. She was supposed to have been kept in a ‘dungeon’ but we do not know how big this room was, or whether it really was a dungeon. If Greg was not big on punishments, then why have a ‘dungeon’ specifically for solitary confinement, and if the boards keeping out the light were nailed on the inside, then why couldn’t the prisoner just pull them off? Greg was well known for being a good employer and running a good mill, so Doherty probably chose him to pick on to damage his reputation. Also, Esther stayed on at the mill after she was 21 and was allowed to leave the apprentice house, so her experience couldn’t have been that bad otherwise she would have left and got another job somewhere else.
Sources at the mill tell us that the wages Greg’s workers received were less than in other mills, but the conditions were better, and better housing was provided. Greg built a village near to the mill for his workers to live in. The rent for these houses was less than in other places, and the houses themselves were better than in other places. Greg built two-up-two-down houses, which had more room and were better than the back-to-back houses built in other cities because instead of having a family or more in each room, you had a family in each half of the room so it was more hygienic. There were outside toilets for each of these houses in the small yard at the back, and there were allotments so workers could grow their own food and spend their money on other things. In this village, there was also a bakers, a few shops and a church for workers.
In the apprentice house, apprentices were given a healthy diet, and were fed twice every day, which was extremely good as in other workplaces they would sometimes not receive any food in one day. Workers in the mill had a breakfast time before they started work; they stopped for lunch and then could have their own evening meal when they got home. Source B states that apprentices had every day, which would have been quite expensive. On the other hand, this source was written by Andrew Ure who was convinced that factories were a good way to keep children happy and employed. He was writing to argue that factories were good so would probably be biased. Sources at the mill show there was a doctor that regularly visited the apprentice house. Healthcare was not a necessity, so Greg was ahead of the future laws be making sure his apprentices were in good health and were cared for when sick.
Greg made sure that the apprentices attended school regularly and they were taught how to read, write and some maths. This was probably for his own benefit because if his employees could read then they could read signs put up about hour or wage changes, or could go on to work sorting out the mills finances or something that required more than just a person with thin nimble fingers. In the workers village there was a church, and workers and apprentices attended the church regularly.
Despite the cases against him, Greg appears to be a good employer. He was keeping almost all his working conditions within the law, and the factory conditions were no worse than other factories. He was educating his apprentices which was 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 a 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 houses. I think that Greg was a good employer, but he did have an ulterior motive, which was money. By educating his apprentices they could do other jobs for him, which brought in more money than working machines. He may have built a mill purely because he was concerned about the families going out of business because of the new machines, or he would rather they worked in a factory with better conditions like his, or he built the mill because he wanted to make money, and he could make enough to afford to keep his workers happy.
