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Thanks Aileen. 

Looks like you have gone to a lot of work to research this article.   Robert Owen was indeed a social innovator and many things in Lanark are named after him.

I would recommend that anybody reading this should take the time and visit New Lanark for themselves.

Contact us and let us know.

Living in New Lanark

My name is Harmony and I am a time traveler and I am going to take you back to 1820, where a 10 year old girl by the name of Annie McLeod worked in the cotton mills.   She lived in the village of New Lanark with her grandparents, her parents, her brothers Tom and John, and her sisters Victoria and Fern.  

All the family lived in the one room, which was their kitchen, living room and bedroom.   They shared a toilet with another family.  They would have a table in the middle of the room so you could have your meals.  They would cook on an open fire that was called a range.   The beds were next to the wall but one of them you pulled from underneath at night - but if you had a baby it would sleep in a drawer.  The kitchen sink was very small - it had a wringer so you could squeeze water out of your clothes.

Fern and Tom go to the nursery and there they play games and learn music, songs and dancing.   Victoria and John go to the school, where they learn how to do sums and writing and dancing.   But you start working in the mills at 10.   So Annie would have to go under the looms to get at the cotton.   It was very hard work.   You get up at 6am and get your breakfast.   The bell goes at 7am for you to start work, then again at 12 to 1pm for your lunch, then again at 5pm for the end of the day. 

There is a shop where you can get your food.   Some of it is fresh food, like fish and bread, but you can also get hardware items like pots, pans and irons as well as material like cotton, wool, and linen.   The only drinks you can get are tea, coffee, whisky and beer.   Unlike today you could not get boiling sweets or other kinds like licorice, sherbet.     

Mr Owen was Annie’s boss.  He was strict but fair.   He would come and examine your work before it was shipped out to other countries.   He had colour-coded blocks called silent monitors to get you to do better work without having to use harsh punishments.  

Robert Owen was a man who was well ahead of his time.   He changed working conditions for the better.   He did away with child labour, shortened the working day, and set up rules and regulations to get people to take pride in themselves and others.  He also gave the workers a shop, two schools, and a sickness fund, which looks forward to our NHS today.

If you want to learn more about Annie or Harmony, you can come to New Lanark or visit the web site.   It is www.newlanark.org   

                                                                                                Aileen Stewart (Lanark)

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