Esther M. Zimmer Lederberg
The Industrial Revolution in Great Britain
Images of the Cloth Manufacturing Industry

     The mill workers ("operatives") were mostly young children and women. Women and children tend to have smaller hands than men, thus women and children could work more efficiently in small spaces that existed in the environment of yarn and loom equipment. However, children and women commanded lower wages than men, while at the same time, women and children had far less legal protections than men, thus were more easily exploited.
     The work environment consisted of long hours, in which the operatives were strictly monitored. The growing bones of children as well as the required work postures caused many developmental pathologies. The fibers in the air resulted in "brown lung". The heat and moisture in mills caused diseases too. The spinning machines and looms had power delivered by belts that were not shielded: many operatives lost fingers, hands, arms, legs, and their lives (the more so, as operatives were required to clean machines while they were running, to save costs). Watching threads caused eye-strain, cataracts, cornea diseases, and blindness.