Henry Greaves' workforce, Ecclesfield.

Assembled for a team photograph are the men and boys employed by Henry Greaves at St Michael’s Works. Henry Greaves stands at the back on the right. The hand cutting of files was very laborious. The worker sat with his knees on either side of his ‘stiddy’ (anvil). Resting on the stiddy was a block of lead on which the blank file was set when cutting. The relatively soft lead prevented any damage to the cut surface when the file was cut on the reverse side. The filemaker’s disease was lead poisoning.

Image Details

Archiving Reference Number K/122/a/G CHGA
Date
Search Year
Type Photograph
Photographer/Artist
Publisher
Contributor/s Original from John Greaves
Area
Collection Holder
Date Donated to the EDA 1st October 2016

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