{ Way Back Wednesday - Child Labor in Cotton Mills }

 

I am a huge history fan.  I could just sit and read or watch shows about different times in history, what happened, who the people were, how nations came about, what wars were fought and won or lost, the cultures, the traditions, the fashion and food and so on.

It's something that I thoroughly enjoy.

Back in, I wanna say 2006 or 2007, I used to do this feature on my blog, where I would post about a specific place that I thought fascinating, I shared the history, photos and even some of the traditional food.  It was a post that got many comments, a lot of mommies actually loved reading these along with their little ones, and learning about new places.  It was called The Greatest Places on Earth, and I had so much fun researching and sharing them with you.

Since then, I've continued to inhale anything history related that comes across my path, though I have to be honest and tell you that my absolute favorite time in history, is Tudor related.  England, anything England, Scotland and Ireland just call to my heart, but it doesn't stop there, because I love learning about all the different countries.

I thought that today I would bring something similar.  I've been watching a really fascinating show called Bone Detectives, on Amazon Prime.  Dr. Tori Herridge is a Biologist, and along with Carla Valentine who is a Mortuary Assistant, and a guest Archaeologist for each episode, they look into the skeletal remains uncovered by archaeologists in the UK.  Who were they, what age, male or female and the way they died.

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It is such an interesting show and I've been binging it for a few days.  One of the episodes however, caught my interest even more, mainly because the subject was something that made me so sad.  Children of the Industrial Revolution, mainly the ones that worked at Cotton Mills in England, as young as 4 years old and working 16 hours a day in horrible conditions.  

 

4 years old!!!!!!

Of course, I went to research and find everything I could.  And then I thought, oooohhh that might be something interesting to share on the blog, kind of like the old posts I used to make.  So, here I am, about to dive into the world of child labor and Cotton Mills.  Are you ready?  Because it's quite an interesting history, but really heartbreaking at the same time.

Let's go, grab a cup of coffee or tea and get comfy, I have a lot to share with you.

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Imagine as an archaeologist, coming upon a dozen skeletons all belonging to children, and as you begin inspecting them, you start seeing signs of deformities and malnutrition, and some sort of chronic lung inflammation.

That is exactly what happened in an episode of Bone Detectives, and it peaked my curiosity to find out, what I could about the cotton mills in England and the young children that worked there.

To us, nowadays, the thought of child labor is horrifying.  I can't imagine a young child working long days, getting hardly any food, and being subjected to horrible working conditions.  But back in the 1800's, right around the Industrial Revolution, that is what was happening, and no one seemed to bat an eye at it.  It just was.

It only changed when the 1819 Cotton Mills and Factories Act, came into law.  That act determined that any children under the age of 9 could work, and that children between 9 and 16 could only work 16 hours.  I know, it's ridiculous to even think about.  I guess in a way it protected the younger children, but truthfully, 9 to 16 year olds working 16 hours a day is mind boggling.

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But why?  Why did these cotton mills employ such young children for their factories?

Well, one of the biggest reasons is that they didn't need to pay them a lot, they also knew that they wouldn't complain or go on strike, there certainly would be no unions or organized marches against the company.  But also, they were small and could get into certain areas that a normal sized adult couldn't.  They would repair broken threads, move between the huge machines to clean out small areas, many of them working as piecers.  

If you're wondering what a piecer is or what piecening was, here's the official translation:

A person, especially a child, employed in a woollen or cotton mill to join together the ends of threads which have broken while being spun or wound.

Many of these children were away from their families, being brought in from the rural parts of England to the city, to be employed in these huge factories which were popping up all over the country.

There were horrific stories of accidents happening to these children.  Many of the skeletons that the archaeologists uncovered showed these sort of injuries on their small bodies.  Bowed arms and legs, cracked bones and so forth.

There are many stories from these young children, their own accounts of what they lived every day, the jobs they did, and the harsh conditions they found themselves in.  

“I have been employed in piecening at a worsted mill. I have worked at Mr. Cozen’s mill; the hours of labour were from six in the morning until seven and half-past seven and eight at night; half an hour was allowed at noon for dinner – not any time was allowed for breakfast or drinking.” - Benjamin Gummersill, 16 years old

Benjamin described working in cramped positions, being forced to work in a bent over position for 13 hours a day (hence the bowed and bent bones found on some of these skeletons).  Mind you, Benjamin gave this account at the age of 16 but he had been working at the mills since he was 9.   He mentioned beatings and even having his ears torn off.  That is horrifying.  He eventually had to leave the mill because his little body was so deformed and he was in constant pain.

 

Spinners and doffers in Lancaster Cotton Mills, 1908 –
Lewis Hine

Another account from a young girl named Elizabeth Bentley, who was sent to work in a mill at the age of 6, working from 5 in the morning to 9 at night, to help support her widowed mother.  Her job?  A doffer.

What is a doffer and what do they do?

A doffer is someone who removes ("doffs") bobbins, pirns or spindles holding spun fiber such as cotton or wool from a spinning frame and replaces them with empty ones. - Wikipedia

She later also worked at another mill as a weigher, which meant working in a room full of cotton dust, which got into her lungs and inflamed them.  Hence the inflammation that the archaeologists found around the rib bones of some of the skeleton remains.  

A weigher would have to carry around a huge basket filled with weights, which mean her shoulders often became dislocated.  I can not even imagine the pain these poor children were in, on a daily basis.

Children worked in a number of positions at these mills, some were scavengers which meant climbing under the big machines to clean away any dust, particles, dirt or anything else that would prevent them from working.  But this meant having to time it just perfectly or risk being mangled by these huge machinery.  Hair pulled out, fingers broken, arms broken, and even being squashed to death.  Absolutely awful.

Byssinosis was prevalent among these children.  It is a lung disease caused by the constant exposure to cotton dust.

 

Source - Lewis Hine

It is just heartbreaking to think what kind of lives these children led.  They weren't being well nourished, they lacked many of the nutrients and vitamins, that children their ages should have in their bodies.  They worked long hours, for hardly any money, were beat and mistreated, and every one of their jobs entailed dangerous work that often resulted in serious injury or death.

It's a sad thing to even try and picture, but I found it very interesting too, that from their skeletal remains we were able to learn so much about who they were, where they came from, and how they died.

I hope you found this post interesting.  It may not be everyone's cup of tea, and it may even be hard to read through and imagine these working conditions, or these sweet faces being subjected to this kind of life, but I also think it's important to remember and to give them a voice.

 

Did you know about the child laborers in the cotton mills?  Not just in England but even here in the United States?