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Factory work in Victorian Lancashire |
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The usual image of a factory is a huge multi-storey building with a very tall chimney pouring out black smoke; but most Victorian workplaces in the cotton industry were smaller than this, especially in weaving. The big factory 
Workers outside the Yellow Factory in Preston
© Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston |
buildings were often divided up into smaller working units, and the average firm even in spinning would employ around 150 people, rising towards 200 in the late-19th Century. These were not impersonal or anonymous places: people could get to know each other well, providing mutual support but also giving scope for gossip and keeping people in their place by put-downs and teasing.
People would get accustomed to their own part of the factory, and the neighbouring workers, and became familiar with the peculiarities of their own machines. A first visit was frightening, especially for a child starting work and awed by the infernal noise, the endless movement of the machinery and the apparent complexity of the tasks; but most workers soon found ways of adjusting to the situation and getting along with their colleagues.
Words: John K Walton - University of Central Lancashire
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