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Working hard and playing harder - Belper's "uncivilised" nailers |
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Nailer's cottages on Lander Lane, Belper
© Belper Historical Society |
Strutt’s mill heralded the arrival of a new age of mechanisation and mass production, and yet the nailers staunchly held on to their own way of doing things. Only one nail “factory” employing 500 people was created in Belper, with most nailers continuing to work in small workshops instead, and the nailers put up fierce resistance at any sign of mechanisation. In 1872 they went on strike over the introduction of the “tommy oliver” - a foot-operated hammer - and smashed up hammers and bellows.
A losing battle
But the nailers were fighting a losing battle. Even in the early-19th Century, when the industry was still flourishing, their methods seemed outdated, and while their independence makes a pleasing contrast with the strict order imposed at Belper’s mills, in the long-term it meant their downfall. The machine age had dawned and there was no going back.
Esther Lees, the last female nailer in Belper
© Mary Smedley |
Their refusal to compromise with the new industrial age simply meant that other nailmaking regions which embraced the new technology, like Birmingham, gained the upper hand and soon eclipsed Belper. Whereas in 1840 2 million nails were produced each week in Belper, in 1892 the local newspaper reported that “The erst prosperous nail trade is expiring”.
Belper’s nailers and mill workers represented two different ages of industry. Unfortunately for the nailers their era was on the wane, and it is the cotton industry that is most remembered in connection with Belper today. But we should not let the nailers be totally overshadowed. Their hard work contributed significantly to the economy of the town for over 700 years, and their hell-raising antics brought more than a little colour to local life.
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