Hi I watched who do you think you are on tv last night and was amazed at the way a family moved up north. Basically if you were poor then a company would "recruit" you and your family, send you to london then on a barge to eg a cotton mill in lancs. Often the younger children would be left behind as they were too young to work in the mills and so the mill owners wouldnt recruit the family. The programme was about Suffolk but I wondered if this would have happened in Beds as my family moved from Beds- Stotfold- to Leeds after having been in Stotfold for generations. It certainly makes you realise how tough ag labs must have had it for the sweatshops of Leeds etc to be a welcome proposition! I welcome any thoughts. carol

Hello everyone, I also saw the programme which was excellent. However I doubt that the familes so recruited had any idea what conditions would be like in the mills or mines of the north - many Norfolk Ag/Labs went to work in the pits in the North East. Living in an agricultural area , such conditions would be beyond their knowledge or even belief - and once there they could not return easily. What do others think? Lauretta in Norfolk ----- Original Message ----- From: <Carolgriff@aol.com> To: <BEDFORD-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Thursday, January 12, 2006 8:09 PM Subject: [BDF] Migration to "Up North" > Hi > I watched who do you think you are on tv last night and was amazed at the > way a family moved up north. > > Basically if you were poor then a company would "recruit" you and your > family, send you to london then on a barge to eg a cotton mill in lancs. Often the > younger children would be left behind as they were too young to work in the > mills and so the mill owners wouldnt recruit the family. > > The programme was about Suffolk but I wondered if this would have happened > in Beds as my family moved from Beds- Stotfold- to Leeds after having been in > Stotfold for generations. It certainly makes you realise how tough ag labs > must have had it for the sweatshops of Leeds etc to be a welcome proposition! > > I welcome any thoughts. > > carol > > > ==== BEDFORD Mailing List ==== > For any updates our info about the status of this list go to > http://helpdesk.rootsweb.com > > > > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Free Edition. > Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.17/227 - Release Date: 11/01/06 > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.371 / Virus Database: 267.14.17/227 - Release Date: 11/01/06