How Did John Birley Use Textile Factories In The 1800s

Textile factories and the health of the workers

Imagine being forced to work in conditions that might cause you to lose a limb, to be beaten daily, or to be left with long term respiratory conditions. These terrible conditions were realities to families who worked in textile factories in the 1700’s. England was the first to adopt textile factories which would benefit with mass production of cotton material. According to the power point, “Industrial Revolution; Life in English Factories”, low and unskilled workers, often children, ran the machines and moved material, this helped lower the cost of goods. During this time, commissions investigated the working conditions of the factories.

Many public figures wrote books, speeches, and articles

against the growth of the factory systems. Physical conditions of the textile factory workers were compared to other factories workers during the investigation. Michael Ward, a doctor, practiced in Manchester for 30 years treating children who worked in textile factories. During a March 25th, 1819, interview about the health conditions of these workers Dr. Ward stated, “The state of health of the cotton-factory children is much worse than that of children employed in other manufactories. He maintained his position by stating, “The children’s hands and arms have known to be caught in the machinery; in many instances the muscles, and the skin is stripped down to the bone, and in some instance a finger or two might be lost.” While visiting Lever Street School, Dr. Ward noted that there were 106 children employed in factories, forty-six of those children sustained injuries resulting from the machines in the factory.
Physical, verbal, and mental abuse was another tragedy that affected the health of families who worked in factories.

They were forced to work long days, sometimes 12 hours without breaks for meals. They worked Monday thru Saturday making the material and cleaned the machines on Sundays (even children were forced to work these long days). According to John Birley, who was a textile worker as a child, the workers were abused on a regular basis. Birley stated that his master had beaten him so badly he almost died. On another occasion, Birley was beaten so badly it resulted in a broken elbow, causing him lifelong pain. Birley and his co-workers wrote letters documenting the abuse and requesting the factories be investigated. Before the investigators arrived, workers had been bathed, were neatly dressed, and were threatened by their master. They were told to say they were treated fairly, that there was no abuse in the

workplace.
Health concerns for the textile workers were also alarming.

Masks and personal protective equipment were not worn by the factory workers. With no preventative measures taken, workers respiratory tracts were exposed to cotton, flax, and hemp dust. This exposer caused side effects such as chest tightness, shortness of breath, long term respiratory diseases (COPD), and permeant loss of lung functions. These symptoms were later classified as a syndrome called byssinosis before disease were diagnoses. According to the online article, “Long term respiratory health effects in textile workers,” there were two obstructive lung diseases textile workers exhibited, Asthma and COPD. The article states that two hundred and twenty-five newly hired textile workers were studies and found to have increased in asthma like symptoms at a one year follow up. The article continues to explain that there was an increase in incidence of chronic and progressive dyspnea, cough, and sputum production characteristic of COPD seen textile workers on year follow up as well. Another lung problem seen in some textile workers per Dr. Edward Holmes interview in 1818 was Scrofula, known today as

tuberculosis.
Although textile factories were helping with the manufacturing of materials and lowering the cost of goods, it was affecting the health of the factory workers. Workers were physical, mentally, and verbally abused, as well as exposed to toxic material. After investigations of the factories took place and noted such unjustifiable conditions, laws were passed to regulate factory workers, focusing mostly on the children working in the factories. These laws set limits on the hours children could work, limiting their hours to not more than 10.5 hours a day and not more than 60 hours a week. However, not much was done to help improve exposer to materials the workers came in contact with. So the possible long-term effects continued to be a problem to the workers.
As a result of the laws and the investigations of early factories, today we have better working conditions. Losing arms and legs will always be a concern, but machinery today certainly curtails this. Harsher laws now prohibit the abuses early factory workers endured.
Respiratory illnesses are not as prominent because of the personal protective equipment that is available. Factory workers today should be grateful they did not live during the 17-1800’s.