The first thing noticed on entering the mill in the morning was the smell of hot oil. Work started at six am. most mornings it was cold damp and dark.
Mr. Fallows the local knocker-upper, banged with his stick on the bedroom window with his long pole; not many people had alarm clocks. Of course Mr. Fallows had to be paid therefore not everyone hired him. It was left to the Mother of the house to get everyone up and off to work in time with a brew of tea twisted with a dollop of condensed milk into a bit of newspaper.
There was a large clock at the door to the mill were we had to clock in and out. If we were one minute late we were docked fifteen minutes from our pay. if we were sixteen minutes late a half hour was docked.
The clatter of clogs started about five thirty in the morning increasing in noise until it reached a crescendo about five minutes to six tapering off until six am. We didn't need a clock, the noise level of the clogs told the time. In the evening the noise returned but didn't have the same urgency as the morning, they were tired weary feet trudging home
The cardroom was were the raw cotton was turned into thick snakelike coils , it went through numerous machines before ending at my machine were it was woven onto a bobbin. Once the bobbin was full the machine stopped and the bobbins were doffed. There were people hired as doffers, they went from machine to machine to help get the new empty bobbins on quick; it was all piecework, when the machine stopped the money stopped. The machines were switched on as quickly as possible. . The noise, smell and bits of cotton sticking to your nose and throat was terrible the first few days.
At nine-o'clock we brewed up, it was a case of brewing when you could leave your machine on for a minute while you made tea. The cotton had to be watched constantly as the ends would break; when this happed the machine had to be switched off, the ends twisted together and the machine turned on again.. Every time that machine stopped, the weekly pay packet went down.
A large urn stood in the corner of the room. We did not sit down for a break unless all our ends were running. in fact there were no seats in the mill, Each girl found herself a turned over box or packing crate to sit on at the end of her machine were she could watch with eagle eyes. At the end of the machine was a counter which counted how many yards of cotton were spun, one broken spindle could mount into many many yards of unspun cotton.
At noon the machines were stopped for half an hour for lunch (we called it dinner) The machines were turned on again at twelve thirty until five thirty. It was a long tiring day. Before we left for home for tea we had to brush the cotton off our clothes as much as we could, otherwise Mother would grumble about the bits of cotton sticking to the furniture. Tea was usually kippers or sausage and mash sometimes fish and chips from the chippy, this was a luxury, chips and peas were the usual standard from the chip shop.
Many times tea was bread and jam, during the depression maybe only one family member was working and the money had to be stretched a long way. Most families that had a mill worker were looked on with envy and the worker himself was always afraid of getting the sack. Girls of fourteen worked on their hands and knees sweeping the cotton while the machine was running. In 1870 my grandmother did this job at the age of 6. the job description was "Little Tenter" in 1912 my Mother was little tenter but the age had been changed to 12. A very dangerous practice which today would be enough to send the safety board into an uproar but in those days it was the norm.
My Mother was a half timer, monring working in the mill and afternoons at school. (she said she was caned many times for falling asleep at her desk.)
I can look back on that part of my life as an experience I wouldn't be without, on the other hand I am so relieved that my grand-children will never have to endure it.
JSW
Working in a Cotton Mill
1930's
History of the Mills
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