Mill Apprentices Learning Journey

You are seven years old and snuggled up to your mother. She is holding you tight against her, stroking your hair, and you love the warmth and the faint smell of lavender from the tiny sprig she has pinned to her grey dress. You never want to let her go but you know that in half an hour the man in the dark coat will come for you and take you on a long journey far away from your mother and you have no idea when you will see her again.


See also Mill Apprentices at Quarry Bank Mill

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Mill Apprentices Learning Journey Step 2: Before... When Bessie's father had been alive he worked as the village blacksmith. Bessie could remember him in his long leather apron holding the glowing red metal with a pair of tongs while he hammered it into shape. Sometimes he told her stories while he worked. Then one day he was taken ill and two weeks later he died. Bessie had an older brother, Jack, who had taken the king's shilling and become a soldier fighting in far off countries. Her little brother, William, was only a baby, and she helped her mother to look after him. After her father's death, her mother struggled to make ends meet but she didn't have enough money, so they were forced to leave their cottage and move into the workhouse. The workhouse was a cheerless place, full of people like themselves who had suffered misfortune. It was often cold and there wasn't very much to eat. They slept in a dormitory which they shared with the other women and Bessie was often woken at night by old Mrs Hubbard snoring in the end bed. During the day Bessie looked after William while her mother did washing, sewing and mending to help pay for their food. On her seventh birthday Bessie was told by the big fierce woman who ran the workhouse that she was old enough to earn her own living now so she could stop being a burden and go to work in one of the cotton mills where children were always wanted.

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