The 1840s, which saw years of poor harvests, were known as the Hungry Forties. Most catastrophic of all was the Irish Famine of 1845–9, during which well over a million people died and some two million emigrated. Initially caused by potato blight, the famine was exacerbated by the British government’s laissez-faire policy of economic non-interference.  

It was particularly shocking that this could occur in a land governed by Britain, supposedly the most progressive and prosperous nation in the world.

Even though the Factory Act of 1833 had led to some improvements in conditions for the children who worked in the textile mills and factories, it was still legal to employ children as young as nine to work nine hours a day. Although subsequent acts made small improvements, apprentice boys as young as ten continued to work long hours in the Lake District bobbin mills throughout the century.

Many lived apart from their families. Work in a bobbin mill could be unhealthy and dangerous, with the constant risk of accidents at machines and the danger of developing respiratory diseases caused by continuous exposure to sawdust.

The Lake District became a centre of manufacture for wooden bobbins, to help slake the insatiable demand from the huge cotton spinning and weaving machines that filled the enormous mills of Lancashire.

This Lakeland industry played just a small part in the massive upheaval of the population of England during the Industrial Revolution. People flocked to the mills where labour was cheap and plentiful, and included hundreds of children.