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164
workshop where only resident members of the same family are
employed). Of the 55 men, 33 were tailors, and 22 were shoemakers,
umbrella makers, &c. Of the 351 women, 120 were widows
or single women ; these latter workers, generally speaking, work at
greater-pressure owing to the fact that they are often entirely dependent
upon such work for their livelihood. The greater number of the
married women are obliged to work owing to the want of employment,
or low wages, of the husband; a certain number of young
married women and elderly married women, with few home duties,
work from choice as well as for the extra money they are thus able
to obtain. In some instances home work is taken in to assist in the
support of an aged relative.
From the table (p. 165), it will be seen that over 80 per cent. of
the home workers live in 1, 2 or 3 room tenements, and the
majority being married women, mostly with families, they are unable
to take in the cleaner, finer or better paid classes of work, much of
which is distributed from firms in Finsbury and the City to other
districts. The work in many of the occupations is very irregular,
such as the making of artificial flowers, millinery, fur linings,
&c., and only occurs during short seasons of the year. Many of the
married home-workers look forward to these periods to enable them
to obtain a little extra income in order to provide clothes for their
children, and to pay off arrears caused by sickness or other trouble.
Much of the work made in the homes of Finsbury is cheap and
commands a low price, nevertheless, the home-workers on the
whole are a clean, hard-working, self-respecting class, comparing
favourably with those amongst whom they live who are unwilling
or unable to make the same effort towards supporting themselves
and their families.