And in another paper at the same meeting Mr. George Godwin detailed his experiences as regarded the conditions under which milliners, dressmakers, and other needlewomen worked.
“In an upper room in Oxford Street, not 10 feet square, I have seen a dozen delicate young women closely shut up making artificial flowers; and there when business is pressing they work from 8 in the morning till 12 o’clock at night.
“Many of the workrooms of fashionable milliners are similarly overcrowded, as are those where young girls are engaged in book-stitching.”
He gave as an example a house in Fleet Street.
“The staircase is confined and without ventilation—the atmosphere is steaming and smells of glue.
“In the first room looked into, 40 young women and girls were sorting and stitching books. There was a stove but no ventilation…. There were more than 200 persons in that house, pent up without provision of the first necessity of life—pure air. Poor creatures so placed are being slowly slain.
“Other trades, such as cap and bonnet makers, trimmers, blond-joiners, &c., to which I have looked with some little care, are forced in many places to do just the same thing.”
“The extent of suffering entailed, and the loss to the community, it would be difficult to calculate. It is time that legislation should be tried to secure wholesome workplaces for the people. Interference is needed for thousands of persons—especially young females—the debilitated mothers in posse, should they live, of our future population. In our infant schools, too, where incalculable mischief is done by overcrowding, it is greatly required. The evil is sapping the strength of the land.”
“In several parts of London persons employed in making cheap clothing are boxed up in crowds, … some striving to get a living in a death-giving atmosphere.
“Shoemakers are often as ill-placed. In wretched apartments, in an ill-drained house, may be found men and boys huddled together without room to breathe.”