On the subject of the streets of Bolton, I have been reading Engels on the Condition of the Working Class in England (1844). This is available online through the Marx and Engels internet archive http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/ go to the collected works page and select volume 4 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/index.htm I had never read Engels before and have to confess I am completely knocked out by the level of detail and in particular the shocking condition of cotton mill workers. Reading this may answer many listers' questions about their ancestors' working conditions, state of health, education etc. here is a bit about Factory Hands: > In many rooms of the cotton and flax-spinning mills, the air is > filled with fibrous dust, which produces chest affections, > especially among workers in the carding and combing-rooms. Some > constitutions can bear it, some cannot; but the operative has no > choice. He must take the room in which he finds work, whether his > chest is sound or not. The most common effects of this breathing of > dust are blood-spitting, hard, noisy breathing, pains in the chest, > coughs, sleeplessness – in short, all the symptoms of asthma ending > in the worst cases in consumption. Especially unwholesome is the > wet spinning of linen-yarn which is carried on by young girls and > boys. The water spirts over them from the spindle, so that the > front of their clothing is constantly wet through to the skin; and > there is always water standing on the floor. This is the case to a > less degree in the doubling-rooms of the cotton mills, and the > result is a constant succession of colds and affections of the > chest. A hoarse, rough voice is common to all operatives, but > especially to wet spinners and doublers. Stuart, Mackintosh, and > Sir D. Barry express themselves in the most vigorous terms as to > the unwholesomeness of this work, and the small consideration shown > by most of the manufacturers for the health of the girls who do it. > Another effect of flax-spinning is a peculiar deformity of the > shoulder, especially a projection of the right shoulder-blade, > consequent upon the nature of the work. This sort of spinning and > the throstle- spinning of cotton frequently produce diseases of the > knee-pan, which is used to check the spindle during the joining of > broken threads. The frequent stooping and the bending to the low > machines common to both these branches of work have, in general, a > stunting effect upon the growth of the operative. In the throstle- > room of the cotton mill at Manchester, in which I was employed, I > do not remember to have seen one single tall, well-built girl; they > were all short, dumpy, and badly-formed, decidedly ugly in the > whole development of the figure. But apart from all these diseases > and malformations, the limbs of the operatives suffer in still > another way. The work between the machinery gives rise to > multitudes of accidents of more or less serious nature, which have > for the operative the secondary effect of unfitting him for his > work more or less completely. The most common accident is the > squeezing off of a single joint of a finger, somewhat less common > the loss of the whole finger, half or a whole hand, an arm, etc., > in the machinery. Lockjaw very often follows, even upon the lesser > among these injuries, and brings death with it. Besides the > deformed persons, a great number of maimed ones may be seen going > about in Manchester; this one has lost an arm or a part of one, > that one a foot, the third half a leg; it is like living in the > midst of an army just returned from a campaign. But the most > dangerous portion of the machinery is the strapping which conveys > motive power from the shaft to the separate machines, especially if > it contains buckles, which, however, are rarely used now. Whoever > is seized by the strap is carried up with lightning speed, thrown > against the ceiling above and floor below with such force that > there is rarely a whole bone left in the body, and death follows > instantly. > I have stopped the extract there as it gets even worse. Judy