Salt Works, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire

Photograph taken 1880 - 1900 © Reproduced by permission of Historic England Archive ref: op08513

Two female workers standing beside a tank of boiling brine in a salt works in Droitwich. Working class women often worked in factories doing heavy, manual work in very unpleasant and dangerous conditions.

Location

Worcestershire Droitwich Spa

Period

Victorian (1837 - 1901)

Themes

The Comptometer room at the Stratford Co-operative Society, showing girls and boys working on model 'E' comptometers. The comptometer, invented in 1887 by American, Dor Felt, was the first successful manual calculating machine. Many of the boys and girls look very young to be at work. The school leaving age was only raised to 14 in the Education Act of 1918 so they could well have been younger than that.

Salt Works, Droitwich Spa, Worcestershire

Location

Period

Themes

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