3-011-700 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Cotton Famine: operatives waiting for their breakfast in Mr. Chapman's courtyard, Mottram, near Manchester, 1862. Unemployed mill workers. Engraving of a photograph by Mr. Gothard. 'The distress in the cotton-manufacturing districts is not all evil. Like everything else in the world, it has its light as well as its dark side. The silver lining to this cloud is, of course, the vast amount of self-sacrificing charity which it has been the means of bringing to light, and which makes one's heart leap with joy in the midst of its sorrow for the distressed operatives. Look, for example, at the scene...frequently presented in the courtyard of Mr. John Chapman, M.P. for Great Grimsby...Operatives from the cotton-mills of Broadbottom, Stockport, Hatfield, and other places are continually paying visits to and enjoying the beneficence of this gentleman. Twice a week - namely, on Tuesdays and Fridays - some hundreds of them gather here to receive their breakfast, which is given without limitation; and, in addition, hundreds of females obtain, every Friday, relief for their families, which is given to them in the shape of flour, bread, clothing, &c. It is estimated that from 700 to 1000 are the recipients weekly of Mr. and Mrs. Chapman's beneficence'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.