Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives

Download or read book Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives written by Sue Wilkes and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2008-01-21 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Working families in Victorian Lancashire had few choices. Work; starve; or face the workhouse and the break up of their family. Narrow Windows, Narrow Lives recreates everyday life for textile workers, canal boat families, coalminers, metal workers navvies and glassblowers using contemporary eyewitness accounts and interviews. It depicts the dire state of towns and the dreadful hazards workers faced on a daily basis. Who was the ‘knocker-upper’? Why did families eat ‘tommyrot’? Why couldn’t ‘Lump Lad’ sleep soundly in his bed? Men, women and children endured incredibly long working hours in appalling conditions – but their toil helped make Britain ‘Great.’