Workers Leaving Lee Boot Factory- Dwyer & Co. Ltd. (1902)

A slice of Edwardian working-class life outside a factory in Cork.

Mitchell and Kenyon's 'factory gate' films are numerous, but this single shot of jovial workers in Great George's Street (now Washington Street) is the only Irish example to survive. Despite successive Acts of Parliament limiting child labour, there are still many young workers here. Under the 'half-time system', they would have split their time equally between school and work.