Early industrialists encouraged female mill workers to breastfeed [audio 1st 9min]

Former mill workers and members of the Tean and Checkley Historical Society in Staffordshire, England, contacted "Making History" to highlight the discovery of a remarkable architectural feature discovered during the re-development of an old weaving mill. Described as a 'breast hole', it was a crude device to allow women to feed their babies whilst still doing a day's work in the mill. In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the advent of steam power persuaded John and Nathaniel Phillips to build Tean Hall Mill. Comprising 4 storeys, 27 bays and housing 352 looms, the complex was completed in 1823. The mill was hugely successful but it presented women-workers and their bosses with a new problem. Women were highly valued workers and needed the work that the mill provided. But, many walked two miles or more to work and had families to look after – not least young babies. The breast hole allowed them to feed their babies, which were brought to the mill by carers each lunchtime. The hole was simply a hatch in a wall and offered no bonding between mother and child. But, it did ensure that babies received breast milk and allowed women to work. "Making History" consulted Dr Elizabeth Hurren at Oxford Brookes University.