Child Pay Rates

H. Speight Wharfedale

Child Labour
During this period many children were working in the textile trade, their nimble fingers could fasten the broken ends and they took the bobbins off to replace them with new ones. They worked as long hours as the adults and it has been reported by a man who worked at Fentimans how they were whipped to keep them awake. From the 1851 census returns we see that of all the children whose work was recorded the highest number was in the textile trade; in particular in the power loom weaving. The next highest, though a substantially reduced number, was the servant category.
According to the 1851 census the third largest occupation, that of the stone workers, employed no children, although there were two apprenticed with no age specified. From the Parish Register from 1770 there had been a substantial representation of stone masons by 1851 there were fifteen including masters,journeymen, labourers and apprentices. There were five stone cutters and three stone quarrymen and the fruits of their labour can still be seen today in the sturdy stone built cottages which abound. The ages of the stone workers ranged from 19 to 77, but the majority were either in their twenties (8) or forties (8) and all of them men. There were also two bricklayers and three brick makers including one business run by a woman employing seven labourers, which also made tiles.
The building trade includes carpenters, joiners and glaziers as well as the brick and stone workers. The rural trades include wheelwrights, blacksmiths, cattle dealers, candlemakers, chair makers, besom and basket makers, coal dealer, dealer in pots and earthenware, tallow chandlers.

Service and Retail Workers
The trade in the food and drink category include maltsters, corn dealer, butchers, flour dealer, corn miller, bread baker, confectioner, grocer, oatcake baker and cake manufacturer. There were five inns, two of the innkeepers being women, though women did not frequent the pubs in those days unless it was an odd one at the side door with a jug under her shawl.The services include chimney sweeps, druggist, clock and watch repairer, farriers, jobbers, barbers, laundresses, gardeners, hustlers, lodging house keeper, tax collector, and a ferry man. Addingham did have a stone bridge over the Wharfe once, but in 1688 it was swept away in a sudden storm, and the people had to rely on the services of the ferryman for two centuries. In the clothing and footwear group are twelve shoemakers, cloggers and cordwainers who were needed to keep up to the requirements of the stone workers and millhands for whom strong boots and clogs were essential. There were seven tailors and seventeen dressmakers, three seamstresses and five milliners and bonnet makers. Amongst the shopkeepers is listed a grocer and calico manufacturer, this is likely to be a truck shop where those employed in the textile works would be obliged to purchase their groceries. There were two butchers, and one shop handling linen and woolen drapery, one druggist, and two grocers The remainder of the shops were more like general stores or specialised in two or three trades such as grocer, and corn dealer, or chemist, grocer and stationer. I have been told that in those days Ilkley people would travel to Addingham to shop, the reverse of what happened later when Ilkley grew rapidly with the introduction of the railways. The servants employed were mostly women (only 6 of them being men) and many of these were under 20 years of age.

Professional Classes

Education (See also School/History)

The Poor
Amongst those listed as paupers were only eight men, and these were all elderly except for one aged 41 who was a retired nailmaker. Of the women paupers 13 were widows, 8 of whom were elderly, and 3 were unmarried mothers. The rest were spinsters and over 62 years old.

Altogether we can see, from the available sources, that Addingham was a very industrious and thriving town.

The Demography

Between 1801, when the first census was taken, and 1831 the population nearly doubled from 1,157 to 2,179. It may be assumed that the growth of Low mill was at least partly responsible for this increase, and by this time another had been opened. Between 1831 and 1851, the population had dropped considerably 2,179 to 1,558, about 3O% and from then onwards there was a slow and steady rise again until in 1891, it reached 2,223. From this date little variation occurred right until well into the twentieth century. In 1951 the figure was 1,873.

One valuable feature of the 1851 Census returns is the inclusion of the age of each person along with his or her place of birth. From this information we can learn much about the movement of the population. The commonly held idea that most families have remained living in the same small town for generations and sometimes centuries is not proved to be fact in many cases. It is certainly true of some families e.g. the Spencers and the Listers dating from 1616, but by and large families have moved about a lot more than is imagined. In particular, I was surprised to see how many farmers had not been farming their land over many generations. 23 of them having come from elsewhere: 5 from silsden, 3 from Denton, 3 from Otley, 2 from Bingley, 2 from Kildwick and one each from Gargrave, Keighley, Hartwith, Bolton, Lileston, Netherby, Barbeck and Barnoldswick all fairly local by our standards.

Textile workers, on the other hand, come from a much wider area, although there were many from nearby districts such as Ilkley (8) Bingley (6) and Silsden (9). Two came from Ireland, 4 from Lancashire and a number from other textile areas, both large towns such as Leeds, Wakefield and Bradford (Thornton and Horton) and others from smaller Yorkshire Dales towns like Grassington and Lothersdale. There were some who came from surprising places such as Bermondsey and Westminster. All in all 93 textile workers came from other areas.

If the Census returns of other areas were studied in conjunction with those of Addingham, an even more comprehensive picture of population movement could be drawn up. Dr. Arthur Raistrick quotes in his book 'Old Yorkshire Dales', a history of the Peckover family, who at the time of the 1852 Census were living at Linton mill, further up the dale. From the birthplaces of his children we can learn that William Peckover, cotton warp dresser, had moved to Addingham between 1832 and 1834 from Barrowford where his first child had been born. Ellin (17, power loom weaver), Elizabeth (15, Worsted spinner), Rebecca (13 warp dresser), Spencer (11, warp dressers assistant), Isabella (8, scholar) and John (6, scholar) were all born in Addingham, the latter in 1845. The last two children, Sarah (4) and Maria (1) were both born in Linton mill so the family must have left Addingham between 1846-7. Similarly from the Addingham Census George Steel (37, Woolcomber) was born in Chatham mill, Lancashire, his wife Isabella (36) came from Malham and their three children were born in Skipton, Bradford and Addingham respectively, so this man had moved about considerably. Another family which had moved about was that of Alice Lister (74 cornmiller) a widow from Blackburn. Of her children, Susannah (31, dressmaker) and David (28, Cornmiller) were born in Weardley, Margaret (26, bonnet maker) in Colne and George (24, Cornmiller) in Burley. Apart from the Irish immigrants, which numbered 8 in total, only one person came from overseas. A Miss Tyning (or Tinan) who came from the West Indes, a pauper aged 50 with one son (illegitimate), John aged 8 living with her who was born in Skipton. Two previous sons Edward (1830) and David (1835) had been baptised in Addingham.

Causes of Death

Between the years 1777 and 1812 the recorder of the Parish Register usually added the cause of death, although this was not a statutory requirement. It makes a very interesting though not wholly reliable study. Sometimes their are omissions which cause one to speculate. For instance on 26 November, 1789 Mary, wife of Rev. Wlilliam Thompson, Rector of Addingham, died aged 22 years 11 months of consumption (tuberculosis). Her husband followed her only two days later aged 33, but there is no mention of the reason for this. A brass plate on the floor of St. Peter's Church does add "Both buried on the same day and in one grave, cut down in the prime of life like two beautiful flowers". However, consumption seemed to be the great killer in this period, especially as another group died of 'decline' or 'gradual decline' some of whom would have been sufferers of T.B. too. 1812 was a bad year, with seven deaths recorded from consumption and five from decline. In the main the age range of T.B victims was from the teen years to late thirties but a wide range was included from 12 weeks to 91 years. However, it is a known fact consumption claimed most of its victims in their twenties and thirties, a fact substantiated in the numbers shown in the record, The main reason for this could be the social interaction that takes place in this age group. Children had a more restricted life style.The older people would have either had higher resistance as they lived through the main contagion group or again would have had less social interaction. The figures for decline  did not follow the same pattern we must presume that the word 'decline' must cover other causes as well. It has been suggested that infants suffering from decline could have been undernourished as usually only breastfed babies got milk. Those mothers who were unable to feed their babies themselves used tins with a spout into which a lump of sugar covered with muslin was inserted and then either 'blue'milk or, if even that was too expensive, water was poured through. Some babies choked and died with this method, but until the rubber teat was invented mothers just had to manage as best they could. It was not generally presumed that a baby should survive infancy, or even childhood, and poverty and ignorance helped to prevent children being healthy as well as the lack of medical help.

Weakness was also recorded frequently as the cause of death mostly of young infants, so perhaps that could be attributed to malnutrition of either mother or child. Convulsions and fits were another common cause of deaths in young children, mainly boys, though occasionally an older person suffered in this way too. Other common causes recorded include worm fever, dropsey, chincough (whooping cough according to my dictionary) and child birth. The first outbreak of smallpox recorded was in 1777/8 when twelve people died, starting with a two year old girl in October. The disease kept hold until the following June and all the victims were under seven years old, the youngest being only sixteen days. In that period the total number of deaths was 21, and over the whole of 1777 and 1778 it was 38, 50 we see that the toll of the smallpox outbreak was very high, about 37%. The disease was quiet, striking only once in 1781, a 4 year old, and again in 1784, three children aged 6, 4 and 1, but in April, 1793, there was once more a serious outbreak claiming ten victims all under twelve and mostly under five. Small outbreaks occurred in 1796, 1798 and 1802, and the last mention was in 1808 when six children died, the oldest being 12 years. Another comprehensive term was fever, which was sometimes specified as putrid fever, worm fever (already mentioned) spotted fever and typhus fever. Scarlet fever was first named in 1796 and measles in 1807, but perhaps earlier deaths recorded as fever could be attributed to one of these or even typhoid. Between 1777 and 1812 56 people died of something called fever (not including worm fever) covering an age range of 1 year 5 months to 68 years. 1795 was a bad year when eleven of these died all in the 9-31 age group except one aged 55.

Other causes of death include overflowing of the gall, quincey, croup, intemperate drinking, gravel (stone in the bladder) cancer, palsey, venerial disease, white swellings, asthma, rheumatism, flux, scropula and apoplexy. There are various fatal accidents including a struck by a horse, scalding, burning, and death caused by machinery at Low Mill (7 years of age). There are several causes covered by rather vague phrases e.g. a short sickness, a lingering sickness, inflamation of or water in various parts of the body and swelled or sore throat (diptheria?).

There were quite a number whose cause of death was omitted, and yet in spite of all these afflictions there were still a hundred people left to die of old age. The oldest recorded death during this period was that of Mrs Mary Callerson (1707-1808).

In the Parish Registers from 1813-1837 and again from 1848-52 no reason for death is given except in a few exceptional circumstances. Here are a few instances:- drowned while bathing in the High Mill Dam, sudden violent death supposed to be cannine madness (rabies?), killed by machinery (11 years) and in 1849 two died from malignant asiatic cholera.

In 1831 a little group of deaths are recorded as being caused by consumption, died suddenly in the hay field, dropsey with consumption and spinal condition. In 1832 a cholera outbreak was recorded in Ilkley and as the death rate jumped dramatically in 1833 this must have been the year it reached Addingham. Two Addingham families of long standing and importance were the Listers and the Spencers. They were both mentioned in the first few pages of the early Parish register which started in 1612. In 1616 Myles Spencers wife had a daughter, Margaret, and a son, Robert was born into Christopher Lister's family. By the time of the period studied we have come to William Spencer, born 1794 married to Martha Lister; born 1800. William was a druggist. They had eight sons and a daughter: Thomas 1823, Marmeduke 1825, who died aged 9 weeks, William 1826, privately baptised which indicated some risk of an early death, although I have found no further reference to him in the burials, John 1827, Edwin 1828, died aged 26 weeks, Alfred 1830 privately baptised who died aged 2 months, Hugh 1831 also baptised privately who died aged 5 weeks and twins born in 1832 - Marmeduke who died aged 3 months and Mary who died aged 8 months. The mother Martha died in 1833 after eleven years of marriage and nine children, six of them already dead.

In the 1851 census Thomas, fhen aged 26, an umarried druggist lived with his maternal gandparents and a servant next door to his father, William, (56) still a widower, druggist and grocer in School Bridge. William and Miartha's short and sad marriage seems to be a typical story in this era.

Structure of Households in Addingham

The family is and always has been the most intimate and one of the most important groups, being the smallest of the formal associations in Society. At this time large families were the norm, but as we have seen from the death rate, rearing a large family was not easy In 1851, as revealed from the census returns, the pattern of household structure was as follows:

Of special. interest is the number of households which had kin living together. In view of the fact that many of the houses were very small, it is surprising that there was room for relations other than the immediate family, especially when there were several children In the Rookery, which was then a compact group of 16 back to back houses in two facing rows comprising of one room upstairs and one downstairs with privies and a workshop at the end of the road, one family consisted of parents and four small children and mother-in-law and another with a dealer in pots aged 31 with his wife and their three children, plus a lodger and his wife and their six children. How they all managed to fit in is impossible to comprehend. This was the largest household in the census along one of husband, wife and eleven children.

The 69 households included;