Millhands of Cheetham's Bankwood Mills, Stalybridge (1900)

Victorian cotton workers leave for their lunch break.

The cotton town of Stalybridge, near Manchester, gave a warm reception to Mitchell & Kenyon's camera, as the local Herald newspaper reported: "The mill hands... had been photographed specially for this show, and we are enabled to see the employees as they appeared for dinner. Much amusement is caused by the exclamation of the audience as one after another appears on the screen and is recognised."