3-011-601 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Cotton Famine: shop for mill-hands at Mr. Birley's mill, Manchester, 1862. Charity for unemployed Lancashire textiles workers. 'Mr. Birley...is affording a noble example of what a right-minded man, with ample means, may do in such a crisis as the present. He is at present maintaining the whole of his people, 1000 in number. They receive from 2s. to 5s. each. The mill is silent, and the machinery is stationary; but some rooms are set apart and warmed for the boys, women, and girls who attend, to learn to read, sew, and knit, under competent teachers. I found there fifty boys and 150 women and girls, who get a dinner every day. The relief is afforded in money or tickets for provisions, and the greatest consideration is observed for the people...The shop shown is also in the mill, and it is always open, so that, with the minimum tickets issued on the weekly relief account, anything can be obtained when wanted. The store contained fine sweet bread, baked on the premises; tea, soap, coffee, bacon, rice, pepper, and seconds flour and meal. Something like thirty sacks of flour and half a ton of bacon melt away from this store every week...Such acts as these should leave an indelible impression on the mill-hands'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.