Inside Quarry Bank Mill: The Dark Side of Victorian Britain’s Cotton Empire
186 views · Sep 15, 2026 · People & Blogs
Comments · 1
@nickduncan1505 · 4 days ago
Disappointingly the narrative appears to be an attempt at discrediting the Greg family for its work practices and profiteering. But measured against the norms of the time I would suggest Quarry Bank Mill was one of the better places to work, being located outside the confines of the city, and the employees gaining from the relative benevolence of one of the more enlightened mill owners. 90 displaced children were employed but what would their lives have been like otherwise, and what were their peers doing? We can all agree that child labour is abhorrent but it was sadly common for the time, and Greg was not acting any differently from his peers. However what was uncommon was the employee welfare. It is barely mentioned in the narrative, and seemingly belittled, when in fact it was significant. A comparison with work practices at other mills scattered around industrial Lancashire at the time would have been useful in highlighting this.
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