Rage against the Machine

Benjamim Gott was brilliant at dealing with unexpected and sudden change, in fact, he almost treated his fires as opportunities for improvement. Both Bean Ing and Armley were rebuilt as ‘fire-proof’ factories of brick & iron. Gott published a ‘thank you’ to the inhabitants of Leeds who tried to put out his fires (Leeds Mercury 22 November 1805), but what do you think became of the workers when the mills were not working? Life for workers in the mill factories was pretty lousy: the factories were noisy, crowded and dangerous and more than two-thirds of Gott's employees were women and children.

The workers homes were crouched in the smoke and smell from the mills, their streets ran with raw sewage and sometimes they might even find a lump of poo in their drinking water: illness and accidents were rife. On top of all that, these big business bosses were mad for new technology that took away peoples jobs and gave them to machines. Gott’s employees did not always take to these new-fangled changes. Many of the workers were highly-skilled and earned good wages, and when Gott tried to get some of his workers to use a new machine for finishing the cloth he received threatening letters, his windows got smashed and he had to hire a bodyguard! Sometimes there were strikes too.

The letter photographed above reads:

To all croppers weavers and public at large
Dear countrymen, you are requested to come forward and help to redress their wrongs and shake off the hateful yoke of a silly old man and his son more silly and their roguish ministers . . .

 

Learning article provided by: Armley Mills Museum, Leeds Museums and Galleries | 

Page Comments

Add a new comment