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Workforce Leaving Alfred Butterworth and Sons, Glebe Mills, Hollinwood (1901)
A flood of Lancashire cotton workers and their children at the end of another shift.
Overview
Filmed for Hollinwood Wakes week in July, this good-natured but chaotic melange of adults and children is typical of a 'factory gate' film. While the ragged and mischievous boys draw attention to themselves by playing up to the camera, it's the appearance of two better-dressed young girls - one wearing ear-muffs, the other wearing spectacles, that will catch most modern eyes.
Although many of the children would have been employed as labour at the mill, the younger children can be seen carrying baskets and parcels of food which would be brought to a mother or father at the end of their morning shift.
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