Editing Samuel Greg (section)

==Paternalistic employer==
[[File:Quarry Bank Mill - geograph.org.uk - 793912.jpg|thumb|right|Quarry Bank Mill]]
With the death of Robert Hyde in 1782, Greg took over his uncle's interests in Manchester. Convinced of the prospects for mechanised textile production and the latest developments in [[Water wheel#Overshot wheel|water]] and [[steam power]], Greg invested his wife's £10,000 dowry in building the [[Quarry Bank Mill]] in Styal on the bank of the [[River Bollin]] in [[Cheshire]]. The difficulty, in the rural setting, was labour. Hannah Greg's influence has been seen in what might otherwise be seen as a hard-headed, if unusual, decision to invest in improved conditions so as to make the new and regimented mill work attractive. In Styal Greg developed what came to be considered a  "model village". Each family (average of eight people per family) had a cottage built offering a parlour, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a cistern, a backyard and a good-sized vegetable garden. 
[[File:Mill Works Houses in Styal - geograph.org.uk - 734134.jpg|thumb|Some of the houses built by Greg for mill workers]]
This alone was not sufficient: from 1790 operations were relying upon children—half the workforce. Factory owners, like Greg, were paid between £2 and £4 for each workhouse child they employed. The children, housed in an Apprentice House, received their board and lodging, and two pence a week. The younger children worked as scavengers and piecers, but after a couple of years at Styal they were allowed to become involved in spinning and carding. Some of the more older boys became skilled mechanics. The arrangement was still operating in 1835 when [[Andrew Ure]] observed "at a little distance from the factory, on a sunny bank, stands a handsome house, two stories high, built for the accommodation of the female apprentices. They are well fed, clothed and educated. The apprentices have milk-porridge for breakfast, potatoes and bacon for dinner, and meat on Sundays".<ref name="Simkin">{{cite web |last1=Simkin |first1=John |title=Samuel Greg |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/TEXgreg.htm |publisher=Spartacus Educational |access-date=15 November 2020}}</ref>
[[File:Apprentice House, Quarry Bank Mill - geograph.org.uk - 734182.jpg|thumb|The Apprentice House for child apprentices, built in 1790]]
A former director of the Quarry Bank Mill, and author of a book about Hannah Greg, provided this summary of child labour at the mill, based on extensive research.<ref name="greatbritishlife.co.uk"/><blockquote>Over half of Samuel Greg’s workforce were poor and orphaned children ... the children were given good medical care by the Greg family doctor, and education in writing and maths three nights a week ... although the child workers were not subjected to corporal punishment, bad behaviour brought overtime, threats that girls would have their heads shaved or young workers being locked in a room for days on a porridge-only diet".</blockquote>

The children were overseen by Hannah Greg, who delivered the services of a doctor, two teachers and two singing masters. After the children's thirteen-hour shift, Hannah provided them with lessons in reading, writing and arithmetic. When she was in Styal she delivered the lessons to the girls, and preached to them on Sundays.[18] The Greg children, of which she and Samuel had thirteen, were expected to take part in the teaching. It was part of her dissenting belief that people should mix together, be frugal and accept their responsibilities to others.<ref>Sekers (2013), pp. 160-161</ref>

By 1816 Quarry Bank employed 252 people and was producing 342,578 pounds of cotton cloth. Ten years later, the mill was employing 380 and output had reached 699,223 pounds. As well as taking a large share of the home market, Samuel Greg was also selling cloth to Italy, France, North America, Russia, Germany and South America. The success of Quarry Bank Mill encouraged Greg to open mills at [[Caton, Lancashire|Caton]] (150 workers), [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] (560 workers), Bury (544 workers), Bollington (450 workers).<ref name="Simkin" /> By 1831 Samuel Greg & Company, in which the engineer [[Peter Ewart]] and Greg's four sons were partners, owned five factories, over 4,000 power looms, employed over 2,000 people and turned four million pounds of cotton into cloth. Overall, Samuel Greg & Company was producing 0.6% of all yarn and 1.03% of all cloth produced in Britain.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Simkin |first1=John |title=Robert Hyde Greg |url=https://spartacus-educational.com/TEXgregR.htm |publisher=Spartacus Educational |access-date=15 November 2020}}</ref>