Knowledge Organiser: Quarry Bank Mill. Development history.

• 1779 - Samuel Crompton invents the Spinning Mule.• 1783 - Samuel Greg tours Cheshire looking for a site to for a new

spinning mill. He chooses Styal, Cheshire.• 1784 - Quarry Bank Mill begins operating.• 1785 - First recorded apprentices.• 1789 - Samuel Greg marries Hannah Lightbody.• 1790 - Samuel Greg builds an Apprentice House and begins to build

housing in Styal• 1796 - Samuel Greg begins to build a house for himself at Quarry

Bank.- Samuel Greg goes into partnership with, engineer and fellow industrialist, Peter Ewart.

• 1817 - Robert Hyde Greg joins his father at Quarry Bank as a junior partner• 1820 - Oak cottages, a chapel, school and shop are all built in Styal Village.• 1828 - Freed slave Mary Prince come to England to relate the horrors of slavery in the Caribbean and

joins the Anti-Slavery Society. • 1832 - The Great Reform Act introduces wide-ranging changes to the electoral system.

- John Doherty publishes a radical journal entitled ‘The Voice of the People’, focussing on the plight of the factory and mill workers - calling for reform.

• April 1833 - Robert Greg gives evidence to the Royal Commission set up to investigate the employment of children in mills.

• June 1833 - John Doherty speaks at Wibsey Low Moor to a gathering of 100,000 workers supporting the fight for the Ten Hour Movement.

• 1833 - The Factory Act- The Ten Hour Movement fails to be passed and children continued to work 12 hour days.- The abolition of slavery throughout the British Empire.

• 1834 - Samuel Greg interviewed by Factory Commission, regarding the factory’s health regulations. The whole enquiry lasted two years, 1833 -1834.

- Samuel Greg dies, having never recovered from an attack by a deer on his estate two years earlier.

• 1836 - Esther Price and Lucy Garner are punished for running away from Quarry Bank Mill – both are placed in solitary confinement.

• 1837 - Queen Victoria ascends to the throne, aged 18.• 1847 - Factory Act: Ten Hour Bill introduced, limiting working hours for women and children.

- End of Apprentice System at Quarry Bank Mill.• 1870 - Education Act - ground-breaking act that imposes state education for all.

Location of Quarry Bank Mill in Cheshire

• 1901 - Factory Act raises minimum working age to 12 years.• 1939 - Mill Given to National Trust• 1959 - Mill ceased working• 1976 – Reopens as a museum and tourist attraction

18thCentury

19th Century 20th Century

Key Words Key People

Industrial Revolution

The rapid development of industry that occurred in Britain in the late 18th and 19th centuries, brought about by the introduction of machinery. It was characterized by the use of steam power, the growth of factories, and the mass production of manufactured goods.

Samuel Greg

Born in Ireland in 1758, Samuel went on to found Quarry Bank Mill in 1784 and built up an extensive cotton empire. He had a large family with his wife Hannah, and passed on his business to his sons when he died in 1834. Greg was quick to adopt innovations in the rapidly developing technologies of manufacturing and a partnership with Peter Ewartenabled him to exploit developments in water wheel and steam power. Greg built up a model village of modest but salubrious housing on the Styal estate, not for philanthropic reasons but as an essential element in his vision of the efficient factory system. After he married, his wife Hannah's religious and social views influenced his approach to the workers' welfare.

Apprentice Many parents were unwilling to allow their children to work in these new textile factories. To overcome this labour shortage factory owners had to find other ways of obtaining workers. 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.

Hannah Greg

Hannah Greg was Samuel's wife and was incredibly influential in providing a greater level of care for the workers and apprentices. When the mill was extended they built workers houses, and an apprentice house for the indentured children. After a thirteen-hour shift Hannah organized that they had lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. When she was in Styal she delivered the lessons to the girls, and preached to them on Sundays. Hannah’s children were expected to take part in the teaching- as it was part of her dissenting belief that all men should mix together, be frugal and accept their responsibilities to others. In developing the community of Style they built Norcliffe Chapel.

Factory Legislation

During the industrial revolution conditions in factories for workers were poor. Pressure was placed on the government by influential individuals, groups of workers and religious organisations to introduce laws to improve and regulate conditions for workers and children. The government led investigations into conditions called Commissions were witnesses gave evidence about conditions. Legislation (laws) was introduced relating to hours, child labour and education.

Edward Hyde Greg

Robert Hyde Greg was Samuel's son and he took over Quarry Bank Mill in 1834 upon Samuel's death. He brought many technological innovations to the mill, and was the figurehead of the family business for nearly 40 years. Despite this, he was an opponent of factory reform, trades unions and worker health and safety legislation.

Water Power

The Mill relied on water power. The first wheel was built in 1784 and was a simple overshot wheel based on water channelled from the River Bollin. In 1790’s Greg worked with the engineer Ewart to develop a second water wheel that made use of dam in the valley above the mill. 1807 saw the introduction of an iron suspension wheel. The great wheel was installed in 1807.

Steam power

Experiments began in 1801, due to the erratic levels of the River Bollin. The beam steam engine was introduced in 1835 to power weaving looms. As the mill pool silted up and the water wheel required more repairs a horizontal condensing engine was introduced in 1871. Robert Hyde complained about steam power, particularly the smoke it created near to the garden of the family house.