In the 19th century, housing conditions in Huddersfield, like many other industrial towns, were quite challenging for the working class. There was a lot of overcrowding as workers often lived in crowded back-to-back housing built near factories. Homes were made with the cheapest materials available and lacked basic features such as windows and proper ventilation. Rows of houses were separated by muddy courtyards, and there were no bathrooms, toilets, or running water.   

“I have lived in Flockton about 25 years. It’s population about 1000. The people are contented, peaceful and hard working; but many are fond of going to public houses, and the colliers are addicted to gambling. The number of persons employed in the concern is about 500. Flagrant instances of neglect of family are rare in the village. I beg to state most reservedly that the bad habits that exist in this village may be usually traced to drunkeness; and until public houses and beer shops are abolished or very much reduced in number there is little hope for improvement. Though I have chess boards etc. in the reading room, some of the young men say they would rather give 2d for a pint of ale. I do not think that girls who work in the collieries are more immoral than those employed in agricultural labour” - James Milnes Stansfield Esq., owner of a coal mine in Flockton. 

One reason living conditions were so poor at this time was the rapid increase in the number of people living in towns and cities. In 1750, nearly 80% of people in Britain lived on farms, but by 1850 this had dropped to about 50%. This change was partly due to the Enclosure Acts, a series of laws that allowed landowners to fence off common land. Many small farmers and their families lost their land and were forced to move to urban areas to find work. 

Huddersfield 

Huddersfield’s population grew rapidly in the first half of the century, from around 7,000 in 1801 to 31,000 in 1851, and more slowly thereafter to 42,000 in 1881, with the same happening in all the neighbouring towns.  

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Cloth-making brought prosperity, and with it, people. By the 1820s, Irish immigrants were adding to Huddersfield’s diverse population.  

“Huddersfield is the most handsome by far of all the factory towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire” - Friedrich Engels (1844) 

During the Industrial Revolution, rapid population growth combined with a lack of modern medicine and infrastructure led to terrible living conditions. Housing was overcrowded, public health was poor, and long working hours left people with little time for fresh air or exercise, which impacted their long-term health. 

“Huddersfield is by no means a well-built town. The houses inhabited by the working classes have, until recently, been constructed back to back [and] are… exceeding deficient in necessary conveniences” - Angus Bethune Reach (1849) 

With no organised waste collection, the streets were littered with dung, ashes, and rubbish. There were no underground sewers, so human waste flowed through open drains in the streets, contaminating water supplies. Rats, ravens, and other scavengers thrived in the filth. 

Although Huddersfield avoided the worst outbreaks seen in cities like Leeds and Manchester, it still suffered from diseases like smallpox, typhoid, and cholera, especially in overcrowded cellar dwellings and tightly packed yards. In the first half of the 19th century, poor sanitation and lack of clean water meant disease was widespread.

Life expectancy for working-class people was shockingly low—for example, in Leeds in 1842, the average age of death was just 19. 

"For many weeks past this village has been inflicted by the presence of scarlet fever, which has raged with almost unknown virulence and scattered death in a frightful manner in its onward progress.  Already 20 out of such a small population have fallen victims to its malignant presence and we are sorry to say that there appears to be no sign of improvement.” - Huddersfield Chronicle (22nd July 1854) 

 

Batley 

After 1800, Batley transformed from a small village into a thriving industrial town, largely due to Benjamin Law’s invention of a process to recycle woollen rags, creating the shoddy industry. This attracted many workers from across the UK and Ireland, especially after the Irish Potato Famine, making Batley the fastest-growing town in West Yorkshire between 1850 and 1870. 

“I had five girls and one boy, we lived in a one up one down. It was bug ridden… upstairs we’d three double beds, you couldn’t really move between them. This was usual” - Frank Tomilinson, born c1910.  

However, life in Batley was tough, particularly for the Irish immigrants who faced discrimination and harsh living conditions. They formed close-knit communities around the Catholic church and local clubs, mainly living in overcrowded, poorly ventilated areas known as ‘the Straets,’ including Skelsey Row and Healey Street, which had high crime rates. These conditions, combined with contaminated water supplies and a drought in 1851-52, led to outbreaks of diseases such as cholera and typhus. Livestock also suffered, reducing milk production and affecting local food supplies. 

“A crowd of …..30 to 40 people waiting for water around the public well. The most they get at a time was about three gallons, and for this, the poor people had to go to the well as late as 11 o’clock at night, and as early as 2 or 3 o’clock in the morning… In some parts of the town he believed there was not more than one privy (toilet) to 20 houses, all of which were probably densely overcrowded. Houses with as many as four families were found herding together in one small room” - “Report to the General Board of Health on a Preliminary Inquiry into the Sewerage, Drainage, and the Supply of Water, and the Sanitary Condition of the Inhabitants of the Township of Batley” (16 August 1852) William Ranger Esq. 

Children in Batley faced poor housing, limited education, only 18% had school places in 1850, and widespread health problems. By 1921, more than half of schoolchildren had physical disabilities, with many suffering malnutrition and lice infestations. 

“You can’t believe how dirty these towns were. There’d be about 40 mill chimneys all smoking away and [soot] all came down… you could write your name” - Man, born Queen’s Street (1903) 

Despite these hardships, industrial success created wealth for some, including mill owners who moved away from the polluted town centre to grander homes on the surrounding hills. Bagshaw Museum, once a private home with electric lighting and servants, stands as a reminder of this period of contrasting fortunes in Batley. 

 

Wilshaw: Kirklees’ model village 

While Salts Mill and its model village at Saltaire are widely known, Kirklees had its own example of industrial philanthropy at Wilshaw, created by mill owner Joseph Hirst (1805–1874). Hirst followed his father into the woollen trade and saw his business grow rapidly through the 1830s and 1840s. In 1832, he moved to Wilshaw Farm, which he converted into a spinning and weaving mill. 

By the 1840s and 1850s, Hirst had expanded further, renting additional sites in Meltham, and redeveloping Wilshaw to include a warehouse, weaving room, counting house, dyeworks, gasworks, and housing for workers and managers. His cloth was recognised at the Great Exhibition of 1851, where he received a prize medal for excellence in textile manufacturing. 

The transformation of Wilshaw into a model village began in earnest after the tragic death of his only daughter, Mary, in 1858. Motivated by grief, Joseph and his wife Eleanor dedicated their wealth and energy to improving the lives of their workers while commemorating their daughter. These included a church, housing, a school, and almshouses. While the church was the village’s centrepiece, the school provided education and accommodation for the headteacher, and the homes—some grand, some modest—offered improved living conditions for employees and retirees. 

While Joseph Hirst’s development of Wilshaw as a model village brought improved living conditions for some workers, it is important to view this within a broader context. Hirst, like many Victorian industrialists, profited significantly from the labour of his workforce—often under harsh, demanding conditions common in the textile industry of the time. The village’s charitable and religious buildings helped to reinforce social control and moral expectations, reflecting the paternalistic attitudes of industrial capitalism rather than a challenge to inequality.