In his report on the influence of this occupation on the health of the workers, John Moore M.D. was of the opinion that it was one of the more healthy occupations one could have amongst all those to be had in the manufacturing industries. He also saw it as one of the most lucrative.

 Flax, the flowering plant from which linen is made, has been cultivated in Ireland since at least the eleventh century. In the seventeenth century the Government began to support the growth of the linen industry, particularly in the north where the Government was hoping to attract new settlers from Scotland and England.

 Mechanized spinning started to establish itself in Belfast around 1828 when a new wet spinning method was introduced into the factories. By 1852, Belfast itself had 28 linen mills while the total number of mills in the Belfast area was over one-third of the total number of mills in the whole of Ireland. These mills were producing over half the linen output of the entire country. In Falls Road, there was a large concentration of spinning mills, numbering eight in all, and they provided the largest source of employment available in the area. Often, housing was owned and built by the mill owners specifically for the accommodation of their workers.

 According to Dr Moore, the benefits of flax spinning over other occupations included the absence of exposure to harmful gases or fumes and the lack of excessive exertion or constrained working positions required by workers in performing their duties.

 When processing flax it was first treated by a process called “roughing”. The flax fibre was drawn across a coarse iron comb by workers referred to as “roughers”. There was a lot of dust and fine flax particles in the air caused by this process and, although they caused much bronchial irritation, Dr. Moore was of the opinion this was comparatively harmless when compared to the particles floating in the air around, for example, the grinders in Sheffield.

 After treatment by the roughers, the flax was next fastened with screws between two iron plates by boys referred to as “machine boys”. The flax was then treated to further dressing by another machine and this was the most dangerous job that millworkers could perform. It involved the largest number of accidents that generally ranged in severity from lacerations to mutilated hands. Dr Moore was of the opinion that most of these accidents were caused through the boys own carelessness and disregard for danger and it was rare for him not to have at least one of these boys under his care.

 Next the flax was passed to the “sorters” who continued to comb the flax and then sort the flax according to its quality. As they, like the roughers, used no machinery and performed their duties by hand they were in no danger of injury from working with or near moving machinery. Their greatest hazard was the dry impure atmosphere.

 As all three occupations were exposed to the dust and particles caused by the processing of the flax, Dr. Moore suggested that the air in which they worked could be much improved by supplying a current of air into the room with which to blow away the impurities.

 After leaving the sorters, the flax passed through another series of operations and then the first twist into yarn. The work was light but required care and attention. This took place in the preparing room where workers in this room did not appear to suffer any work related health problems at all.

 Before it is spun properly, a portion of the flax called tow is carded on special carding machines. The occupation was considered by Dr. Moore as the dustiest, unhealthiest and most dangerous in the mill. Horrible accidents that often proved fatal occurred here.

 Next was the actual spinning process, where more than 30 per cent of the mill workforce was employed. In the same way as little boys were employed in the machine rooms, little girls were employed in the spinning rooms. Children in this era often began work in the mills at about the age of ten, supplementing the income of their families. By the age of thirteen they were able to be employed full time.

 In the spinning room, the atmosphere was a complete contrast from the cool and dry conditions of the previous treatment areas. In this area it was humid and hot with temperatures as high as 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. For the entire day, the children working in these rooms were on their feet and, in Dr Moore’s opinion, it was in consequence of their “young and tender bones” that the arches of their feet were “crushed and flattened.” Dr Moore was concerned that there was a danger that the work was much more than a child could tolerate. Problems with onychia and other diseases of the great toe nail were also thought by him to result from the common practice of the workers going barefoot and their feet getting wet with water impregnated with brass and other metals. The water, he also believed, was the cause of “papular eruption” on their faces and arms but he felt that this did not appear to affect their overall health and treatment for it was not often sought. Workers in the spinning room were usually pale and anaemic and this, in his opinion, made them prone them to illnesses caused by these deficiencies.

 The last manufacturing process in the mill was that of reeling. At this stage in the processing, wood was arranged around a central axis and it was then used to unwind the yarn from the bobbins on which it had previously been spun, forming hanks. The hanks were then made into bunches that were then ready for market. Because no machinery was used in this process Dr Moore, was of the opinion that the necessary strong physical exertion required to turn the reels would probably cause a considerable number of hernias in the workers.

 Although Dr Moore considered the work of the mill workers to be one of the more healthy occupations in the manufacturing industry, he found that the workers were, in fact, still quite unhealthy. The reason for this was, he believed, caused not by their occupations, but by the food they were eating. Not only was the quality of the food they brought with them poor, he observed that at meal time the workers often had brought with them tin vessels that contained what the workers called tea but what he thought had more resemblance to “tobacco water”. It was commonly brewed the night before, remained all night in the vessels, was heated up again for breakfast and then again for their mid-day meal.

 Effort had recently been made to improve this situation by copying a largely successful experiment by Dr M’Cosh, Mr. J.P. Corry and others at Brookfield Mill.  Messrs. Johnson and Carlisle placed at the worker’s disposal a dining hall, suitably fitted out to be used as a “cooking depot”. The depot was built to enable workers in the mill to obtain good, nutritious food at a price more reasonable than that which they themselves could provide it. While the experiment was suspended due to “difficulties in the details”, it had proved that it was a service mill workers would readily use if it was available.

 It can be seen from Dr Moore’s report that although the work was less hazardous and healthier than a lot of other nineteenth century occupations, the working conditions of the spinning mill workers were, as he himself pointed out, still in need of much improvement. There were times workers did suffer severe occupational health issues and accidents of varying degrees of severity. However, enlightened and concerned citizens like Dr Moore, were beginning to take steps towards making the work of the spinning mill safer and healthier while at the same time making efforts to improve the general health of the workers. Perhaps they may have recognised that improvement in nutrition would have a flow on effect to the worker’s productivity.

 Lyn Nunn, July 2008.

 Sources:

 Conway Mill, “The Story of Irish Linen,” Conway Mill Then,

http://www.conwaymill.org/irish_linen.html, accessed July 2008.

 John Moore, M.D. “On the Influence of Flax Spinning on the Health of the Mill Workers of Belfast” in Problems of a Growing City: Belfast 1780-1870, PRONI, Belfast, 1973, pp. 176-178.