Weaving and Spinning Mills

[sallyyorks]

Well since you asked. 

The Beam was a huge bobbin. The Cotton Beamer worked in the winding room. He would take cones of thread by the hundred and organised them to make the warp ready for weaving.

Not to be confused with the Beam Twister who worked in the weaving shed or the Beam Warper who worked in the winding room.

My great great grandfather was a Beamer who later became a Tackler ( not to be confused with a fettler)

Hope that makes it clearer 

Great "stuff"

Another for the list from a previous topic
Self Acting or Actor Minder

[stanmapstone]

In "A Dictionary of Occupational Terms" published by the Ministry of Labour in 1921, Textile Workers are Order XII codes 350- 399, cover 33 pages, and include all the occupational terms used in weaving and spinning mills.
Under Beamer are listed;
Beamer:-
 chain; finishing; grey cloth;lace;machine lace;Scotch;section;textile weaving;warp;white piece;wool finishing;yarn dying.
Other occupations: Beam setter; Beaming Machine Minder; beam lifter; beaming lad; beam winder.

Stan

[Jocie]

Came across this occupation earlier. Nothing to do with my family but my curiosity got the better of me!
"Grayman"
In spite of numerous members of my family, including both my parents, working in the cotton industry I hadn't come across this term before but discovered he worked in the bleaching section of the cotton mill.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textile_manufacturing

[stanmapstone]

From A Dictionary of Occupational Terms
Grey room hand, grey room man; general terms for any worker, male or female, in grey room, i.e. room where grey, or unbleached cloth is received for bleaching; includes receiver, taker-in, deliverer, marker, stamper, sewer.

Sorter, cloth sorter, sorter-out (grey room); grey room man (dyeing); sorts cloth as received from weaving department in grey (unbleached) state, by grades and stamps with special marks according to quality, etc.; puts together pieces which are to rceive similar treatment in bleaching, dyeing, or textile printing department.
Stan

[Jocie]

Thanks Stan that's the sort of detailed information I'm looking for.   I'm just embarking on making a list of all the different jobs in the cotton industry that my family were employed in and it's proving a long list!

[sallyyorks]

Online book by Cecil Driver, about the factory (mills) reformer Richard Oastler and his campaigns.

https://archive.org/details/toryradicaltheli009087mbp


Full text of book. The Life of Joseph Rayner Stephens. Another campaigner

http://www.archive.org/stream/lifeofjosephrayn00holyrich/lifeofjosephrayn00holyrich_djvu.txt




Info on
Richard Oastler
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRoastler.htm
Joseph Rayner Stephens
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRstephens.htm
John Wood
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRwood.htm
Michael Sadler
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRsadler.htm
John Fielden
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRfielden.htm
William Dodd
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/mobile/IRdodd.htm

[sallyyorks]

Youtube video showing
The Working of (an old) Power Loom

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ArO-qUT7Zmw

[Malcolm33]

I watched an old series of Who Do You Think You Are last night - on Bill Oddie.   This has a lot about the Weaving Mills in it, with film and at a museum where the machines were turned on for Bill.    His grandfather was an Overlooker which was another occupation in the Weaving Industry.

My gt.gt.grandfather was on a much smaller scale.   He owned a number of cottages in Eccleshill, Bradford which he rented out to his weavers.    Another gt.gt.grandfather was a weaver in Ayrshire.

[Jocie]

Thank you so much for all the links it adds so much to your research to understand more of the background. I'm sufficiently old that I remember my father taking me into the mill to see where he worked and I well remember the noise generated by all the looms working and just wanting to get back outside as quickly as possible.
My Aunt lived in Nelson and there was a huge mill at the end of her road but it burnt down one night. I wasn't there at the time but it must have been terrifying such a huge fire with lots of houses so close by. That would have been in 1940's or possibly early 1950's but I can't remember what the mill was called. I just remember the burnt out shell that remained the mills were a huge fire hazard because of the dust in the atmosphere.

Jo