Mill Workers and Owners
Activity 2: Workforce benefits
The influence of mill owners
The mill owners of the Derwent Valley needed to attract families to come and live in their communities so as well as a regular income, the mill workers were provided with coal, food and housing.
In 1789 there were 433 houses for workers in Belper and Milford. By 1811 this figure had grown to 1023. Many of the houses had small plots for workers to keep pigs and grow vegetables. In an effort to keep the workforce healthy, Strutt’s worker housing at Belper was whitewashed regularly and the chimneys cleaned every 3 months.
In 1788, The Unitarian Chapel, Belper was built by Jedediah Strutt to and a Sunday school was opened in the North Mill. Strutt would not employ anyone who could not read or write and he set up schools so children could spend half a day in the mill and half a day in school. Outside work hours, the Strutts employed watchmen to look out for bad behaviour.
Belper had a sick club for female employees. By 1821, the Strutts had established the Belper Provision Company, a co-operative which distributed profits among customers in proportion to the value of their purchases. At Masson Mill, workers were expected to have two washes a week, on a Monday and Thursday. If they didn’t wash they could be sent home.
Mill owners organised celebrations to encourage a sense of community and loyalty. Each September in Cromford, there was a festival of candle lighting when workmen and children paraded from the mills to the village. All adult workers were provided with ale and prizes were awarded for the best shopkeeper, best milking cow and best workers.
Activity
This activity can be used as an individual investigation with pupils working at monitors examining the background information on this page along with the images of the mill workers’ housing and the Derby Mercury Report of the party thrown by Strutt for his workers.
Pupils should use the evidence to identify the different areas of provision made for the workforce and complete the editable 'Workforce benefits spidergram'.