Victorian Dressmakers

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 147, 24 June 1933, Page 19

Victorian Dressmakers

During the early years of Queen Victoria's 'reign many inquiries were made into tho lives of women workers, including those of dressmakers, and it was calculated that in 1843 ■..perhaps 15,000 of the latter.* worked at their employers' places of business in London and Westminster, and the majority of them wero between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five (states the "Manchester Guardian"). Tho .-conditions; were so unhealtv that, without exception, they suffered from eye troubles and wero"continually ill, numbers being obliged to give 'up work on that account. Apprentices were usually bound at tho age of fourteen for two or three years, and, if indoor, they paid a premium of £50 or £60, and were boarded and lodged by their employers; outdoor apprentices paid no premium but kept themselves. After apprenticeship they became "improvers'' for ono or two years, and then journoywomen. The latter received a small salary. IN BEST ESTABLISHMENTS. In the best establishments the hours in winter were from half-past eight in the morning till eleven at night; in summer from eight till.midnight or 1» o'clock. Occasionally work went on till three on Sunday mornings, and once a girl worked twenty hours a: day for three months. One employer, however, thought it would be a good plan if the hours of work we're from,nine till nine only, and she herself so managed that her staff never worked beyond 10 o'clock. The reasons suggested for the longhours considered necessary in other workrooms were the carelessness of the workers, the forewoman's bad management, the delay caused by having to match silks and procure materials, and the fact that an employer could not afford to keep regularly a staff sufficiently large to deal comfortably with the orders received during the season. Sometimes a quarter of an hour was allowed for breakfast, and half an hour each for dinner and tea, but more frequently ten minutes for breakfast, fifteen to1 twenty for dinner, and fifteen for tea was the rule. Supper, if served in'working hours, was taken in the workroom. Often a girl was so tired by bedtime that she had to lie down and rest before she could undress, and bedrooms, like workrooms, were overcrowded. 7 ".AMONG THE ILLNESSES." Amongst the illnesses mentioned are consumption, as tuberculosis was .then ordinary termed; headaches, fainting fits, "distorted spines," indigestion, pains in the !side from ' sitting, and swollen legs from, standing , over-long when making wadded dresses. The eye troubles were weakness, pain, and impaired sight. One doctor noted that a girl, after-working for any length of time, did not regain her strength and vigour even though she adopted a healthier mode of life; and it was also said that the system followed in these establishments was kept up only through a succession of • fresh girls coming in from the country. ■'