VICTORIAN SWEATSHOPS.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on the Sweating System; First editions, scarce. From 1850, social reformers had campaigned for tighter restrictions to be applied to manufacturing workshops. The House of Lords eventually appointed a select committee to carry out an inquiry into the matter in 1888. After interviewing 291 witnesses, investigators declared that there were "grave evils in connection with what is known as the Sweating System" (First Report, p. iii).Public outcry over conditions for manufacturers began in earnest with a series of articles on the "sweating system" in the Morning Chronicle, published in 1850. In 1876-77, anger about the risk of infection from garments created in unhygienic environments renewed widespread complaint. A decade later, increased immigration to major cities risked causing even lower wages and poorer conditions, with the recent immigrants in a particularly vulnerable position. The critical nature of the issue forced the government to order the inquiry.The report covered a wide variety of industries, including nail and chain manufacturers, furriers, dockland workers, and various aspects of the clothing trade. Evidence was largely given by the manufacturers themselves and was recorded verbatim; the inquiry also questioned business owners, managers, and trade union representatives. Women of various positions in companies were interviewed, as were immigrants from a range of countries, many of them Jewish. They described a

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