an old cynic's view

By superhero

I have done this before

This is the old girls school in Paisley founded by the Coates family.
Another fine building left to rot.
The Coates family ran this school for the mill lassies who worked from early morning till lunchtime then went back to school

The mill bosses played a part in this supportive culture. The Coates family were philanthropists, men of Christian conscience, and their workers had many reasons to be grateful. Though mill-girls were forced to leave work on marriage until the second world war, unmarried mothers were allowed to stay on. The 1914-18 war left a whole generation of women widowed, or condemned to spinsterhood with families to support. The mills offered these women a job and a pension and, in some cases, a chance to see the world, training foreign workforces in the Coates empire.
The mills had their own dentists, chiropodists, doctors and nurses. Tubercular workers were treated in the mills' sanatorium. Those recovering from illness could stay in the mill's convalescent home. Single girls without dependants lived in a mill hostel. There was a company-run friendly benefit society which covered workers for sickness and death. As Bill Knox, senior lecturer in Scottish history at St Andrews University, has pointed out, J&P Coates was a classic example of industrial paternalism.
Campbell

Comments
Sign in or get an account to comment.