Cleator Mill, Cumbria: Fighting for Women’s Rights

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Ainsworth’s Thread Mill at Cleator Moor had won important government contracts to make khaki linen thread for army uniforms. But poor conditions and pay triggered a strike in the female workforce in March 1915. It was raised in Parliament by William Anderson, the Labour MP for Attercliffe in Sheffield and husband of Mary MacArthur of The Federation of Women Workers. She visited the girls at the mill and, with her support; their demands for better conditions and pay were met. It was a small victory that carried significance for the rights of other women workers and their treatment. The TUC see the strike at Cleator Mill as an important action in the development of the union movement. Location: Cleator Mill, Cleator, Cumbria CA23 3DJ Image: Workers from Cleator Mill, courtesy of the TUC collection at London Metropolitan University