I trawled the records of the Lost Workers, available to browse at Dean Clough, looking for traces of disabled people and disability. The Lost Workers was originally an installation by Christian Boltanski, commemorating the workforce of Crossley Carpets, which was based at the mills at Dean Clough, Halifax until it closed down in 1982. Boltanski’s … More Traces of disability amongst the Lost Workers
Another former pupil of the Yorkshire Institution for the Deaf and Dumb, Jane Holmes was a bit of a mystery to me. Unlike her classmate Sarah Hartley, who I wrote about here, I couldn’t find out much about Jane. It was frustrating because Sarah and Jane were a matching pair in the Institution’s report. They … More Discovering Jane Holmes
I was fortunate enough to interview renowned textile artist Omeima Mudawi-Rowlings recently. Oneima has been a great advocate for Deaf and disabled people, promoting accessibility in the arts. She creates beautiful, immersive textile installations so it was lovely to delve into her work, with a focus on a recent commission at Ditchling Museum of Art … More Intersecting threads
I’ve been reading a chapter in Disability and the Victorians: attitudes, interventions, legacies (2020) about the interplay between working class status and illness / impairment, and the resulting stigmatisation of disabled people that continues to this day. In Restoration to usefulness, Amy W. Farnbach Pearson writes about the impossible position of disabled people according to … More Restoration to usefulness
As I’m currently visiting Leicester, my thoughts turn to the hosiery industry which the city was famous for. People have made socks and stockings in this area for hundreds of years, using machines at home and later in factories and workshops. Where I’m staying is right next to the old sites of two Leicester companies, … More Visually impaired hosiery knitters
Why did some of the disabled mill workers who gave testimony to factories commissions specify that they used crutches made of blackthorn wood? Because blackthorn makes the best walking sticks, the wood is strong, durable and supportive. Blackthorn walking sticks are highly sought-after, even collectible, nowadays. As well as being robust, the knots left where … More I support myself with a blackthorn crutch
Yesterday I came across an interesting tapestry in a 13th century church on the outskirts of York. Interesting because of its design and material, but also the subject matter which relates to disabled people. It was a surprise find. St Giles by John Gaastra (no date) hangs in St Giles’ Church, Skelton, where the artist … More Tapestry of St. Giles by John Gaastra
After the Sadler Commission of 1832 and the Factories Inquiry Commission of 1833, what became of those disabled people who spoke up and gave evidence? Apart from John Dawson, I’ve only found information about a few others so far. Their names are often common, so shared with many others and therefore census searches are inconclusive. … More After the commissions
Several of the pupils of the Yorkshire Institution for the Deaf and Dumb went into the textile industries of Halifax in the mid 19th century. Halifax had many mills, manufacturing wool, cotton and carpets. Crossley’s carpet mill at Dean Clough was the largest carpet factory in the world for much of the 19th and 20th … More Useful members of society in Halifax
One of the many hazards of textile mill work was dust from the fibres being processed. Whether wool, flax or cotton being carded, blended and spun into yarn, or rags torn apart to be re-made into shoddy, the air would be thick with fibre dust, and for a great many years in the industry there … More Dust!
Shoddy exhibition 