Clips from “Nottingham and it’s Villages 1750-1850”
LIVING CONDITIONS IN ARNOLD IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY
SURVEY OF ARNOLD, 1849.
The area of the parish of Arnold was 4,670 acres. In 1849 a survey described its condition as follows:
Arable 2,610 acres.
Meadow and Pasture 1,330 acres.
Wood and Plantation 294 acres.
Thus to outward appearance Arnold was still rural. The majority of the inhabitants, however, were engaged in
the manufacture of stockings on knitting-frames. Although mechanised, this industry was still largely domestic,
and the stocking-makers had to face increasing competition from factory-based production. Another important
document relating to Arnold was the report of the Royal Commission inquiring into the condition of the
framework knitters in 1845.
In this report an analysis was made of the earnings and expenses of eight families living in Holt's Row, Arnold.
The following is an example of one of these families:
William Cawthorne.
Elizabeth Cawthorne.
Matilda Cawthorne.
Mary Cawthorne.
John Cawthorne.
Jemima Cawthorne.
Thomas Cawthorne.
Sarah Cawthorne.
Age 47
Age 19
Age 17
Age 15
Age 14
Age 50
Age 11
Age 9.
Gross earnings
Gross earnings
Gross earnings
Gross earnings
Gross earnings
Net earnings
Net earnings
Net earnings
9. 6d
6s. 6d.
4s. 6d.
3s. 6d.
3s. 6d.
1s. 6d.
1s. 0d.
1s. 0d.
Total net earnings
18s. 9d. ( £69.75/$123.30) Coal and rent:
Charges 3s. 0d. Net earnings
Charges 2s. 6d. Net earnings
Charges 2s. 3d. Net earnings
Charges 2s. 3d. Net earnings
Charges 2s. 0d. Net earnings
6s. 6d
4s. 0d.
2s. 3d.
1s. 3d.
1s. 3d.
2s.10 ½d. (£7.90/$13.90)
Amount left for food and clothing: 15s.10 ½ d., or just under 2s. per head. Comment: "16 years since this man
had a new coat. The family are in a ragged state generally".
Today’s Monetary Value: 1s .0 (1 Shilling) = £3.72/$6.57.) using retail price index.
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Report drawn up for the Children's Employment Commission in 1842.
This gives detailed information on the living and working conditions of the Slack family:"May 13th. Visited the family of Edward Slack, a "stockener" with a large family of seven children. In the
kitchen there were two small round tables and an old square one, all of deal. Two or three of the children were
sitting in the little garden, seaming the stockings. There were two old chairs with pieces of rope instead of a
proper bottom. Scarcely any other article of furniture in this room. There is an oven on one side of the fire. In a
small room adjoining there are two frames for the man and his wife. There are two sleeping rooms; one for the
parents and the youngest child and in the other, four of the children sleep, two of the children sleep at a
neighbour's. There is in the front a very small piece of garden.
"There are three of these houses, having one privy. The cess pool is open and exhales a most noxious smell. The
privy is quite open, the door having been lost three or four years ago. In examining the state of this place we
saw a woman in it. The supply of water is a spring in an adjoining street ten yards off. Mr. Kelk, frame
manufacturer, informs me that this house is much better than many others in the village.
"Edward Slack, 32 years old:- Cannot read or write. Has been married 13 years. Has 7 children, six girls, and
the youngest eight months old, a boy; the ages of the girls are 12, 10 ½ , 9, 7, 5, and 3 years. Makes cotton
stockings of the best quality. Works for Mr. Willows who is a small master or "bagman"; the frames belong to
Messrs. Hurd and Hurst, Nottingham.
"Begins at this time at 6 a.m. and leaves off at dark about 8 p.m. sometimes later; at the latter end of the week
goes on until 12. Works on the Monday regularly. Leaves off on Saturday about 3 or 4 p.m. In the winter begins
at 8 a.m. and leaves off at 11 or 12 at night. Two hours for meals. Is paid 1s.9 ½ d. a pair. The expenses weekly
are: for hire of frame, Is.; master's or bagman's profit for taking into warehouse, 6d., 4 ½ d for needles. In the
winter 6d. for oil for the lamp. Is. 2d. for seaming 7 pairs. The winding he does himself generally at
mealtimes, this would cost 3d. per week.
Is paid 12s.6 ½ d. which, after deducting expenses, leaves him
8s.9d. There are many kinds of manufacture which are less profitable; many stockingers about here cannot earn
more than 6s.6d., many less than 5s.
"His wife reckons to clear 2s. a week after doing for the family. She cannot earn this all the year round. She
loses about a month at her confinements.
"All the girls who are old enough to work are employed in seaming the stockings and attending to the family.
They can earn about ls.6d.
"In this place it is quite common to give the children Godfrey's Cordial to still them, that the mother may work
at the frame. Two years ago a child was killed by having laudanum given in mistake for the cordial. Some begin
as soon as the child is born. Many children are almost killed by it; they cannot walk till two or three years old.
There is "a little lass" just by who is three years old, she cannot stir a foot to walk, she sits all day long.
“The wages are paid as follows:
Rent
Coal, 1 ½ cwt.
Candles, 1 lb
Soap, ¾ 1b
Bread, 56 lb
Potatoes, 1 peck
Coffee, 2 ozs
s.
1
1
d
7½
0
7
4
7
7
7
3
11
11 ½
A little assistance is derived from the small garden.
"There is nothing to buy clothes for themselves and the children, or sheets or bedcovering except at the expense
of food. Sometimes get a little meat and have less bread or potatoes. Have never any sugar, cheese or butter.
Last winter had a pair of thick sheets or cotton blankets given to them.
"Is rated to pay yearly 8s. poor rates and 2s. to the highway. Owes poor rates, 3s.l0d. and they say they will
summons him without further notice if they are not paid.
"Mrs. Slack, 30 years old:- Can read and write. Is obliged to work at the frame when she should attend to her
family. Having so few clothes is obliged to wash them on Saturday afternoon; to do this and dry them by the
fire often keeps her up to four or five Sunday morning. The clothes being dried by the fire do not last as long as
if she dried them in the air. Went when a girl to Sunday School and to a day school three years when a little
one; but she could not at the end of that time read any easy lesson. Was never taught to make shirts, gowns, etc.
Has had to learn since she was married. When one of her children has a frock she cannot make it, is obliged to
nut it out; the making cost is Is. It would have been a great advantage to her if she had been taught these things
when a girl; this is a common feeling among those in her rank of life.
"Her children can very seldom go either to Sunday School or Church for want of clothes; in the winter they
always stay at home, as they have no shawls, etc. Only one can read, this was sent to school by her
grandfather."
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Some Facts and Figures from Arnold in the 19th Century
Percentage of Illiteracy Amongst the Population
1754 – 60
MEN 46%
WOMEN 80%
1831 – 40
MEN 48%
WOMEN 68%
Rates of Mortality (1846-52)
Average age of all who died
Average age of all who died above 20 years
Percentage of those dying under 1 year
Percentage of those dying under 5 years
Percentage of those dying under 15 years
Percentage of those dying age 60 and over
Total number of deaths 1845-51
Deaths from infectious diseases 1845-51
27 ½
56
31.2%
45.6%
53.1%
22.4%
732
144
Rateable Value of Houses in the Village
Under £1.50
198
£1.50 - £2.
173
£2 - £3
354
£3 - £4
62
£4 - £7
65
£7 - £10
31
Over £10
25
908
Population of Arnold, 1801-1901
1801
2768
1811
3042
1821
3572
1831
4054
1841
4509
1851
4704
1861
4642
1871
4634
1881
5745
1891
7796
1901
8757
Clips From
http://www.headlinehistory.co.uk/online
Working Mums Are To Blame For Death Of Babies From Drugs
Tots as young as two weeks old are in danger of death because their mothers feed them large doses of medicine
to keep them quiet.
Mums have been buying bottles of the mixture, known as Godfrey's Cordial, from corner chemists not knowing
it contains a deadly dose of drugs.
But experts warn the soother contains opium. One of Britain's best-known children's painkillers has been
blamed for thousands of sudden deaths. Godfrey's Cordial is widely used by working mums to soothe babies off
to sleep while they go to work. But chemists warn that the medicine, given to babies as young as two weeks old,
contains high levels of opium - a highly dangerous and addictive drug.
The medicine, one of many available from corner chemists, is popular among mothers who are trying to make
ends meet. Many are juggling the care of their family with a paying job.
Experts believe mothers are buying mixtures such as Godfrey's Cordial, and James's fever powders, without
knowing that many patent medicines contain killer chemicals.
Highly poisonous metals like mercury and antimony are listed among the ingredients of many cure-alls, a
doctor said.
*A Leicester-based missionary, Joseph Dare, voiced his concern about the number of infant deaths in the city in
the early and middle years of the Queen's reign. Mr Dare said a local GP blamed disease, overcrowding, lack of
food, sanitation and early marriages for the high death rate.
Babies were fed from dirty bottles with a mixture of bread and boiled water, he said. Their carers, old men,
women or children, then gave the babies drugs to keep them quiet until their mothers returned from work.
A chemist said it was "common practice" for mothers to give Godfrey's Cordial or laudanum, another kind of
opium, to babies to "keep them quiet while the mother is at work.
"It is not unknown for mothers to begin this practice with infants of a fortnight old commencing with half a
teaspoon of Godfrey's or one or two drops of laudanum."
Many babies died, he claimed, without any inquiry or inquest being held into their deaths. In one family four
children had met their deaths through taking infant cordial.
The following report appeared in the Lincolnshire Times on January 8, 1856.
On Thursday morning Mr Coroner Hitchins held an inquest on the body of Thomas Porter, a child aged 15
months. The deceased had been well up to the night of its death when about 12 o'clock it was convulsed but
recovered and went to sleep and at about 5 o'clock it was dead.
Every effort was made to conceal the fact of occasionally administering laudanum, but it was at length
admitted. The mother of the deceased, a widow lodged with a woman of the name of Fynes, showed strong
evidence of the effects of opium taking - sunken eyes, emaciated cheeks and an enfeebled frame.
After a due caution had been given to the mother of the deceased against contracting a habit and indulgence in
opium, which had produced so much evil, the jury returned a verdict that the death of the deceased was sudden
but whether from an opiate injudiciously given the evidence was not satisfactory.
*The following appeared in the Nottingham Journal on December 20, 1845.
Inquest into the death of Mira Newton, 17 weeks, revealed that the child had been habituated since birth to the
"infants mixture to keep it quiet". The dose proved too strong and brought on a convulsion which led to her
death.
Verdict: natural death, accelerated by an overdose of a certain narcotic called Infants Mixture, or Godfrey's
Cordial, administered by the mother, she being ignorant of its effects.