A Memoir of Robert Blincoe, an Orphan Boy: Sent from the workhouse of St. Pancras, London, at seven years of age, to endure the horrors of a cotton-mill, through his infancy and youth, with a minute detail of his sufferings, being the first memoir of the kind published. — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
A Memoir of Robert Blincoe, an Orphan Boy: Sent from the workhouse of St. Pancras, London, at seven years of age, to endure the horrors of a cotton-mill, through his infancy and youth, with a minute detail of his sufferings, being the first memoir of the kind published.
John Stuart Mill · en
Needham himself the owner of the Mill, stands arraigned of having the
cruelty to act thus, very frequently, till their blood ran down their
necks, and so common was the sport, it was scarcely noticed. As regarded
Blincoe, one set of wounds had not seldom time to heal, before another
set was inflicted; the general remedy that Blincoe applied was, the oil
used to keep the machinery in order. The despicable wretches, who thus
revelled in acts of lawless oppression, would often, to indulge the whim
of a moment, fling a roller at a boy’s head, and inflict deep wounds,
and this, frequently, without even a shadow of a fault to allege, or
even a plausible reason to assign in justification! At another time, if
the apprentices stood fair for the infliction of a stripe, with a twig
or the whip, the overlookers would apply it, with the utmost vigour, and
then, bursting into laughter, call it _a —— good hit_! Blincoe declared
he had, times innumerable been thus assailed, and has had his head cut
severely, without daring to complain of the cause. Woodward and others of
the overlookers used to beat him with pieces of the thick leathern straps
made supple by oil, and having an iron buckle at the end, which drew
blood almost every time it was applied, or caused severe contusions.
Among Blincoe’s comrades in affliction, was an orphan boy, who came
from St. Pancras workhouse, whose proper name was James Nottingham;
but better known as “_blackey_,” a nick name that was given to him, on
account of his black hair, eyes, and complexion. According to Blincoe’s
testimony, this poor boy suffered even greater cruelties, than fell to
his own share! by an innumerable number of blows, chiefly inflicted on
his head!—by wounds and contusions, his head swelled enormously, and
he became stupid! To use Blincoe’s significant expression, “his head
was as soft as a boiled turnip,” the scalp on the crown, pitting every
where on the least compression. This poor boy, being reduced to this most
pitiable condition, by unrestrained cruelty, was exposed to innumerable
outrages, and was, at last, incapable of work, and often plundered
of his food!—melancholy and weeping, he used to creep into holes and
corners, to avoid his tormentors. From mere debility, he was inflicted by
incontinency of stools and urine! To punish this infirmity, conformably
as Blincoe declared, to the will of Ellice Needham, the master, his
allowance of broth, butter-milk, porridge, &c. was withheld! During the
summer time, he was mercilessly scourged! In winter, stripped quite
naked, and he was slung, with a rope tied round his shoulders, into the
dam, and dragged to and fro, till he was nearly suffocated. They would
then draw him out, and sit him on a stone, under a pump, and pump upon
his head, in a copious stream, while some stout fellow was employed to
sluice the poor wretch with pails of water, flung with all possible fury
into his face. According to the account I received, not alone Blincoe,