I have to express my great indebtedness to Mr. Mallon, Secretary of the Anti-Sweating League, who has given me the benefit of his unrivalled knowledge and experience in a chapter on women's wages. I have also to thank Miss Mabel Lawrence, who for a short time assisted me in the study of women in Unions, and both then and afterwards contributed many helpful suggestions to the work she shared with me. To the Labour Department I am indebted for kind and much appreciated permission to use its library; to Miss Elspeth Carr for drawing my attention to the "Petition of the Poor Spinners," an interesting document which will be found in the Appendix; and to many Trade Union secretaries and others for their kindness in allowing me to interview them and presenting me with documents. Miss Mary Macarthur generously loaned a whole series of the Trade Union League Reports, which were of the greatest service in tracing the early history of the League. I regret that Mr. Tawney's book on Minimum Rates in the Tailoring Trades; Messrs. Bland, Brown, and Tawney's valuable collection of documents on economic history; and the collection of letters from working women, entitled "Maternity," all came into my hands too late for me to make as much use of them as I should have liked to do. B. L. H. HAMPSTEAD, _September 1915_. CONTENTS PAGE PART I CHAPTER I SKETCH OF THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN IN ENGLAND BEFORE THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 1 CHAPTER II WOMEN AND THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION 31 CHAPTER III STATISTICS OF THE LIFE AND EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN 75 CHAPTER IV WOMEN IN TRADE UNIONS 92 CHAPTER IVA WOMEN IN UNIONS--_continued_ 154 CHAPTER V SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF PART I. 178 PART II CHAPTER VI WOMEN'S WAGES IN THE WAGE CENSUS OF 1906 213 CHAPTER VII THE EFFECTS OF THE WAR ON THE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN 239 APPENDIX TO CHAPTERS II., IV., AND VII. 267 AUTHORITIES 299 INDEX 305 INTRODUCTORY