Working in the Mills

Taking a step back in my research from looking at recycled fashion I started looking at where everything initially started. The cotton Mills, whilst researching into where they all started and how they rapidly grew causing lots of problems ''As towns and cities sprang up around the factories, living conditions declined. Badly planned, poorly built slums were seriously overcrowded''. From this I decided to focus on diseases and interaction that occurred whilst the living conditions whilst other people in the group went in other directions.

Mechanisation may have shifted cotton spinning from a craft to an industrial process, but it came at a cost - a human cost.

The noise from machinery was deafening, many workers became skilled lip readers in order to communicate over the noise.

Ear protection was not compulsory leading to many workers becoming deaf.

Fighting for breath

The air in the cotton mills had to be kept hot and humid (65 to 80 degrees) to prevent the thread breaking.

A dangerous job

In such conditions it is not surprising that workers suffered from many illnesses.

The air in the mill was thick with cotton dust which could lead to byssinosis - a lung disease.

Although protective masks were introduced after the war, few workers wore them as they were made uncomfortable in the stifling conditions.

Eye inflammation, deafness, tuberculosis, cancer of the mouth and of the groin (mule-spinners cancer) could also be attributed to the working conditions in the mills.

Long hours, difficult working conditions and moving machinery proved a dangerous combination. Accidents were common and could range from the loss of a finger to fatality.