Different In Urban And Styal Areas example essay topic

How typical of the Early 19th Century were Living and Working conditions at Styal? Between 1780 and 1810 Styal would have been your typical factory. These factories were built to use waterpower thus meaning they had to be constructed near the countryside. This was not good for the factory owners, as they had to build up communities.

By 1810 most factories were using steam power. This was good news for factory owners, it meant they could build factories in urban areas. It means that there were plenty of workers available. By 1820 Styal was no longer typical. The conditions varied dramatically in Styal, the conditions were a great deal better in comparison to the Urban Mills.

The houses in Styal were either cottages or terraced houses. They would be tidy, clean and healthy looking. Where as in Urban areas the houses were overcrowded, filthy and full of disease. Houses in Styal had more luxuries than in Urban areas. Such as things that we see as basic: an over, a cellar or a cistern for rainwater. People who lived in Styal were able to grow produce in the garden which saved money.

The rent was 2's 6d which is equivalent to 12.5 p today. Styal was definitely the better of the two. People who lived in Styal were generally happier and better off than the people of whom lived in Urban areas. Schooling facilities were different in Urban and Styal areas. Some schooling in Styal was compulsory where as in Manchester it was not because it was suggested that the children were too tired from being shut up all day.

In some Urban mills there were night schools and plenty of Sunday schools. The education in Styal provided three nights a week and Sunday schools. All colonies owned by the Greg's had been very good with schooling. Rathbone said in 1833 that all the mills owned by the Greg's had schools, however some were only Sunday schools.

Mill owners were eventually compelled to provide schooling facilities under the 1802 Apprentices Health and Morals of Apprentices Act. This act stated schooling for three nights a week for one hour was compulsory. Due to Styal being so advanced it was found that all children could read. However, girls were inferior to boys when it came to writing. Girls spent a great deal of time sewing which meant they were able to make clothes for themselves and the boys.

Although in Urban areas it was said children were too tired to learn. Greg claimed they were not. This was due to the superior conditions in Styal compared with Urban areas. The exception to Styal's impressive results was founded.

In 1806 Thomas Priestly had been at Styal for six years, he could not sign his name on paper, he could merely make a mark. Styal's education was far by superior to that of Urban areas mainly because of Styal's advanced education facility. The teachers were more experienced in dealing with the children. Styal making education compulsory before the 'act' gave it a headshot.

However, Urban areas either were trying to protect the children from being overworked or they were bothered about how the tiredness of the children would effect their produce. Education would also decrease Urban Mills money supply by a great deal. Styal were more concerned with the children. This is why Styal was better off. Conditions at Styal were a lot better than at Urban Mills. In Urban Mills children had to work overtime if the machinery had broke down, even though they had probably worked a twelve hour shift.

At Styal, the factory was well ventilated and all the top windows could open. People suffered from asthma because of the mills not being well ventilated in the Urban Mills. Due to Styal's top windows being opened air could be let in, in the Urban Mills it was very hot and stuffy. Dust and flock would be carried through flues by powerful fans, so Styal was a better place to work, to had a better chance of not becoming a sufferer of asthma. There would be up to twenty or more serious accidents a year or people being injured by the means of machinery in the Urban factories.

However, at Styal dangerous machinery was fenced off. At Styal children were kept clean, because they were able to wash their hands but as employees they had to be clean. They had to have clean hands otherwise the dirt from their hands would get onto the cotton. The conditions in Urban Mills were terrible. Children were very badly treated. Children would have to clean machinery during meals, they would only get half an hour for breakfast and an hour for lunch.

Spinners would often beat the children, and the children would be sent outside in the cold wearing their thin ragged clothes. Children would often be standing up for a long time breathing in the bad air which meant their growth would be stunted. In the Urban Mills, male workers were sacked at forty because they said one farm labourer had the strength of three forty year old spinners. As in Styal, they would be given an easier job, such as a door-keeper or a timekeeper but would be given a decreased wage. In conclusion, Styal had the better conditions to work in than in the Urban Mills, because the factories were designed to look after the people who worked there.

When there was too little or too much water in the mill work had to be made up. Thomas Priestly said they worked from 6 am to 7 pm with ten minutes for breakfast, an hour for lunch two days a week and half an hour other days. At Styal, the workforce would work forty nine hours a week. The greatest number of hours worked in a day would be twelve hours forty eight minutes.

In Urban Mills, the normal working hours would be from 5.30 am to 7 pm which included meals. John Pilkington worked in several mills and in two of them 5 am to 8 pm. As children, they had to clean machinery in their lunch break if they got 1/4 hour or 1/2 hour. Therefore, the hours at Styal were more sufficient for the workers due to them having a shorter day at work and giving them more time to eat and sleep which would help them work better.

At Styal, Greg did not believe in beating the children (corporal punishment). Greg said he would punish the children " barely more than a box on the ear". At Styal, the children were treated very well, compared to how children were treated at the Urban Mills. In the Urban Mills it was a very violent time for children. They were regularly beaten which means they wouldn't be able to work as well.

They were either beaten by a strip or kicked by the spinners whom might of been their parents. There was proof to say that children were appallingly treated because Engels said they were worse off than the slaves in America in the way they were treated. Eagles also claimed workers were fined for being late. At one time, ninety five workers were late on once. Clocks were changed to fifteen minutes slow in the evening so the workers would work overtime without knowing it. As a result of very strict discipline in Urban Mills children were not as happy and were treated very badly.

In Styal, the children were simply taught not to misbehave, without violence being inflicted on them. Styal generally cared about the workers where as mills in Urban areas were too concerned about money. Styal set up schemes to provide families with money once a family member died. It also provided paid illness leave. If a person was ill between three days to six months, they would get half wages. When people died working in the Urban mills the family received no money.

The money needed for this scheme was provided by the workers if it were empty the owner would top it up. In Urban areas no money was provided at all. If someone was getting old in Styal the person would be given an easier job rather than being sacked. If the person was a spinner he would have earned 20's which is the equivalent of lb 1.

With the new job the payment would be less from 8's - 18's which is about 40 - 80 p. In Urban areas when a person reached forty he was sacked. The ex worker would normally get a job selling potatoes from a barrel. If the worker had no support he would usually end up in a workhouse. It was founded that whilst working at Styal no one went to the workhouse. When people left, very rarely they would end up in the workhouse in comparison with Urban areas when people would regularly go to the workhouse.

When trade was low in Styal no one was laid off. A shorter week was put if place temporarily. Instead of six days a four day week was worked. In Styal when someone died money was provided for the family to help with the burial and loss of income. Owners of Urban mills didn't care about the workers only the profits. As a result of this the people in Styal received more benefits and worked better with a better quality of life.

Health and Provision was not of a good standard in either mills. Although Styal was better. Between 1811 and 1833, seventeen deaths occurred nine of which being girls and eight being boys. In Urban mills a large amount of people died. They died from asthma, TB and a " rough hoarse voice" a lot of the reason for that was poor ventilation. Styal didn't have this problem because their ventilation was superior.

In Urban mills people's growth was stunted and they have deformities. Styal had no deformities. The machinery claimed a lot of lives in the Urban mills where as in Styal only one boy lost his life. In Manchester 1843,962 cases of wounds were caused by machinery.

Every seven deaths had occurred two of them were from the mills. In the mills, a doctor was paid to look after the children this proved that Styal's owners cared a great deal about the workers. In conclusion Urban mills were a safety hazard. A lot of deaths could have been prevented if only regulations had been set. Styal and Quarry Bank Mill was a village community with a countryside mill. Styal was situated in the wilds of Cheshire.

Greg needed to find a workforce like others, therefore he had to build a factory colony or a community to house his workers. Greg and his workforce were dependant on each other. Mr. T Ashton had five factory colonies around the Hyde district. Andrew Ure inspected them in 1835. There houses were well furnished and Ure said they were more richly furnished than in any common house he had ever seen. In Styal, the cottages and houses were clean and healthy looking and did include a large garden to produce your own food.

Although, compared with each other Mr T. Ashton's houses seemed a nice more luxurious home to live in, because of what Ure said about the houses, when he inspected them. In the Hyde district, it proved from the houses that people were well paid, because Ure saw a piano, oil paintings on the wall and sofas in the houses. Children seemed to be more lively enough to go to school at Egerton. They went to learn three nights a week to learn reading, writing, arithmetic. Ure found in 1835 from the age of three to eleven children went to school full time. To go to school it would cost 4d a month.

Three hundred children did this before they went to work in the mills. At Styal, children only went to school three nights a week and Sunday school. Egerton was a lot more advanced than the school at Styal because at Egerton they did extra subjects such as music, dancing and geography. Therefore, Egerton would be the better school to be educated at. According to Robert Blincoe, he thinks punishment to children would be worse in the countryside because of the towns had justices of the peace where complaints were made. Andrew Ure had an opposite conclusion to Blincoe because Ure said things were worse in the towns because in the countryside master and worker depended on each other.

I've come to the conclusion that factories in the towns are worse than in the countryside because of Ure's evidence. I have reached the decision that Styal was not a typical mill. It seems as if Styal had a lot of though put into it when being planned and built. For example, education was put in place before it was made compulsory.

The other mills did not do this. Styal was concerned about profits however it was also concerned for its workers, for example it set up schemes to help families stay out of the workhouse by providing money when workers were ill or when a worker had past away. Styal tried not to lay people off when a worker had got old, they were just given less work but were still paid reasonably. Even when trade was short, a shorter week was temporarily placed. Styal was good with its healthcare, with Urban mills lots of people were injured by machinery some were even killed. Styal only had one accidental death by a child playing around the wheel.

This proved that Styal's good rules were working. Overall, Styal was one of the best places to work, it provided a better quality of life and treated its workers with respect.