Life in post-war Lancashire mills captured in archive footage

At this point in history, many of the mills that defined the landscape were either abandoned or repurposed and the cotton industry that had built Lancashire towns like Oldham was falling behind the times. 

Thanks to a fascinating piece of archive film, available to view for free on the British Film Institute’s streaming service BFI Player, we have a glimpse at what life was like for cotton workers back then. 

The 21-minute video is an episode of Rank’s This Modern Age, an informative ‘cinemagazine’ or short documentary, which ran from 1946-51. This particular video was made in 1948. 

Scenes of Lancashire from a BFI film about the cotton industry after WW2. (Image: BFI) Titled ‘Lancashire’s time for adventure,’ the video explains how the cotton industry was trying to bounce back after the war. 

The video’s location is listed as Oldham on the BFI website, but it shows scenes from all over the region.

The narrator in the voiceover says: “Britain’s life is built on the seas. Only by overseas trade can she make ends meet. At this moment, it isn’t being done. 

Lancashire mill workers from an archive ‘cinemagazine’ film in the BFI archives. (Image: BFI) “It’s true that, compared to most other countries, Britain’s record on post-war recovery, in going short and paying very high taxes, and in exporting, is excellent. 

“But, during the first half of 1948, Britain was still, on every eighth day, living on credit – not a comfortable position for independent people.

“How can the account be squared? Only by making more, selling more, exporting more. In doing this, cotton goods are vital.”

Lancashire landscape (Image: BFI) He goes on to explain that one dress length of cotton is the equivalent of a cup of cocoa, a pound of jam and half a pound of tea.

“In a sense it’s food that’s being woven on Lancashire looms and the raw cotton itself, the basis of the cotton trade,” he adds. 

The narrator describes Lancashire and its people: “Here, in the cotton region, are 70 towns within 30 miles of Manchester.

New recruits to the mill learning how the machinery works. (Image: BFI) “Five million people – a people of salty humour, with a gift for sharp sayings, such as: ‘Where there’s muck, there’s money’ and ‘You get nothing for nothing in this world, and not much for six pence’.

“A people whose record for settling disputes peaceably is one of the best. A people with a gift for hard work.”

We see inside the mills and the various rooms, including the spinning room and the weaving shed, as well as the hordes of men and women that operate them. 

Lancashire mill workers (Image: BFI) However, around 1,000 mills had shut down by 1948, compared to the industry’s heyday, the video explains, with many abandoned, repurposed to manufacture other products or converted into warehouses. 

There were various reasons for this decline. For one, countries like India and China were offering cheaper labour. At the same time, a large number of cotton industry workers had become munitions operators during the war and never returned to the mills. 

The narrator explained that this led to “minor revolution in Lancashire led by cotton board to find labour”.

Examples of leisure activities enjoyed by people in Lancashire in 1948, including an image of the Besses o’ th’ Barn Band. (Image: BFI) They recruited around 65,000 people from 1945-8, according to the video, including housewives to work evening shifts and foreign workers from countries like Ukraine, Poland and Austria.

As well as technological modernisation, the industry was also forced to modernise how it treated its workers thanks to the introduction of five-day working weeks and holiday with pay – “unheard of a generation ago and now enjoyed in an industry that abolished child labour only after WW1,” the video said. 

Some of the activities featured in the video to illustrate the nation’s new found love of “leisure” included golf, football and brass banding, with a short clip of the Besses o’th’ Barn Band, from Whitefield.

More information about this video and other archive videos from the region can be found online via the BFI Player.