Genealogy Chat

There is a lot of useful information here http://www.spinningtheweb.org.uk/ Martin

Hi karen A Blow Major worked in the Blowing Room this is where the first process that raw cotton went through it was a very dirty Dusty Job From there the cotton went to the carding machines so a carder can either be a man who works on these or the person in overall charge of the cardrooom Carding gets rid of the dust and seeds and the process forms the cotton into Slivers which are placed in tall cans and these are taken to the Drawframes Here the sliver goes onto bobbins A drawframe tenters' job was to put all the sliver cans at the back of the machine where it went through a process to put it onto bobbins and when the bobbins were full to take them off and then start the whole process again . sometimes you see that there are little tenters these were usually girls who hadn't got machines of their own so they did most of dirty work A doffer works in the ring room this is where the cotton was spun they took the full bobbins off the machines A ring Jobber also worked in the Ring room and maintained the machines and does the settings for the rollers when the counts of the yarn change A piecer worked in the tradional Mule spinning room where the finer counts of cotton were spun Overlooker is as the name suggests you would have a Spinning , Ring and Winding overlookers in MIlls Hope this helps If you send me your e-mail address I will send you some pictures of peole at work in a Cotton mill in the Old Days Bren

Thanks Christine - Overlooker, Draw frame tenter are also on my families job titles. I am in Fauldhouse - but the family line is lancashire and the cotton mills. Guess the woollen mills probably had similar job descriptions. Thanks for your help. karen

Hi Karen found this, A SAGGER MAKERS WHAT?????? It's not just the mill that has disappeared, the following are the names of just a few of the jobs that you could have been doing had you been employed there around 100 years ago: A Blow Major A Slasher *A Skippy A Bobbiner A Doffer An Overlooker A Carder A Drawframe Tenter A Ringframe Jobber A Cloth Looker A Piecer A Card Cutter *The Skippy referred to was a man who made small skips or trollies out of willow. These were used in the mills for the collection of bobbins and various other articles. Many of the willow trees (grown specifically so that their branches could be used) were to be found around Hibbert Lane, later the site of the Willows School, (now the Ridge Danyers College). Christine

I am wondering if anyone knows where I may be able to find out about the different jobs performed within the cotton mills. e.g reeler, carder, spinner, jobber etc Any direction much appreciated Karen