Apprentice House
Factory owners like Samuel Greg found it difficult to obtain a workforce. As with this mill at Quarry Bank it was not in a heavly populated area Many parents were unwilling to allow their children to work in these new textile factories.One solution to the problem was to obtain children from orphanages and workhouses. These children became known as pauper apprentices. This involved them signing contracts that virtually made them the property of the factory owner.
Samuel Greg became one of the first factory owners to employ this system Greg had difficulty finding enough people to work for him locally, Manchester was eleven miles away and local villages were very small. Imported workers needed cottages, and these cost about £100 each. In 1790 Greg became convinced that the best solution to his labour problem was to build an Apprentice House and to purchase children from workhouses. The building for the apprentices cost £300 and provided living accommodation for over 90 children.
At first the children came from local parishes such as Wilmslow and Macclesfield, but later he went as far as Liverpool and London to find these young workers. To encourage factory owners to take workhouse children, people like Greg were paid between £2 and £4 for each child they employed. Greg also demanded that the children were sent to him with "two shifts, two pairs of stockings and two aprons.
They are well fed, clothed and educated. The apprentices had milk-porridge for breakfast thick enough that they could pick it up with there fingers, potatoes and bacon for dinner, and meat on Sundays." All grown/produced in the their own kitchen garden
The 90 children (60 girls and 30 boys) at Styal made up 50% of the total workforce. The children received their board and lodging, and two pence a week. The younger children worked as scavengers and piecers, but after a couple of years at Styal they were allowed to become involved in spinning and carding. Some of the older boys became skilled mechanics.
Apprentice House
Factory owners like Samuel Greg found it difficult to obtain a workforce. As with this mill at Quarry Bank it was not in a heavly populated area Many parents were unwilling to allow their children to work in these new textile factories.One solution to the problem was to obtain children from orphanages and workhouses. These children became known as pauper apprentices. This involved them signing contracts that virtually made them the property of the factory owner.
Samuel Greg became one of the first factory owners to employ this system Greg had difficulty finding enough people to work for him locally, Manchester was eleven miles away and local villages were very small. Imported workers needed cottages, and these cost about £100 each. In 1790 Greg became convinced that the best solution to his labour problem was to build an Apprentice House and to purchase children from workhouses. The building for the apprentices cost £300 and provided living accommodation for over 90 children.
At first the children came from local parishes such as Wilmslow and Macclesfield, but later he went as far as Liverpool and London to find these young workers. To encourage factory owners to take workhouse children, people like Greg were paid between £2 and £4 for each child they employed. Greg also demanded that the children were sent to him with "two shifts, two pairs of stockings and two aprons.
They are well fed, clothed and educated. The apprentices had milk-porridge for breakfast thick enough that they could pick it up with there fingers, potatoes and bacon for dinner, and meat on Sundays." All grown/produced in the their own kitchen garden
The 90 children (60 girls and 30 boys) at Styal made up 50% of the total workforce. The children received their board and lodging, and two pence a week. The younger children worked as scavengers and piecers, but after a couple of years at Styal they were allowed to become involved in spinning and carding. Some of the older boys became skilled mechanics.