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Blantyre Mills 1903

Blantyre Mills 1903

The bell tower on the roof of the building was probably used for summoning workers at the ungodly hour of 6.00 a.m. Staff were employed to work 77 hours a week with breaks amounting to less than two hours per day, and although this regime sounds gruelling, conditions were generally believed to be better than industry standards at the time. So-called benefits included the fresh air, cleanliness and 'tar burnt to relieve the smell of oil' in the mills.

Nevertheless, Dale & Monteith had difficulty persuading local people to work in the mills, and on one occasion apparantly recruited around 200 would-be Highland emigres whose ship was stranded at Greenock, persuading them to accept Blantyre instead of Canada.

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