Employees Leaving Olive Mill, Darwen (1900)

Home time for cotton workers at a Lancashire mill.

The millworkers share some smiles with the camera and each other as several of them respond to the presence of the filmmakers. Appropriately for textile makers, the women and girls wear shawls in a variety of patterns. In 1899 legislation had raised the minimum age of child workers to 12 and in Lancashire many children worked half-time, but some of the youngsters here appear to be under 12.