Two of these kinds of accidents happened in Sheffield in the 1860’s. On Tuesday 24 January 1860, a twelve year old girl called Ann Watts died after going to see her ten year old sister. She was employed at the works of Messrs W. and W. Guest, button manufacturers of Love Street, Sheffield. Talking to her sister, Ann barely noticed that underneath the machine where her sister was working was a fast, revolving shaft. As she watched her sister boring holes in horn buttons and unnoticed by the two women, Ann’s dress had become entangled. As a result she was whirled round with considerable force and very severely injured. The whole event had taken just seconds. Indeed the fabric was so tightly wound around the machinery that it had to be cut off, before Ann could be released.
Needless to say, Ann was immediately removed to the Sheffield Infirmary where it was found that she had a fractured spine and was also suffering from concussion. Desperate measures were taken to save her, but sadly, she died the following Friday 27 January around 5.30 am. An inquest was held by Coroner, Mr Thomas Badger at the infirmary later that same day and the first witness was Thomas Cole, the nephew of employers Messrs Guest. He told the inquest that he had been at work that morning when he heard the girl scream as she was being twisted around the shaft. He immediately shut off the machines and went to the girls assistance.
Mr Badger asked him several times if the shaft had been boxed off at the time of the accident but Cole prevaricated so much, that in the end the coroner got annoyed with him. He angrily demanded ‘why do you not speak the truth.’ Finally Thomas Cole was forced to admit that at the time of the accident the shaft had not been boxed off. However, he claimed that since then, boards had been placed either side of it. The coroner in his summing up said that he had held a number of inquests on persons whose death had been caused by such negligence. When Mr Guest, who had also attended the inquest objected to the coroners comments, Mr Badger told him that ‘its no use locking the stable door now that the horse had bolted.
Instead the employer blamed the accident on the fact that the girl had been wearing a crinoline at the time and stated that if not for that, it would not have happened. However the coroner was having none of it, and told him ‘there is always danger from unfenced shafts of this sort, with or without a crinoline skirt.’ He told Guest: ‘to leave machinery exposed in that manner is a gross piece of negligence. I give you warning that if anything of the sort happens at your place after this, it will be a case of manslaughter.’ The jury according to the coroners directions had no option but to return a verdict of ‘accidental death’.
Despite Mr Badger’s warning, just three days later another Sheffield girl called Ann Silcock was involved in a similar accident, as she too was wearing a crinoline dress. Consequently the girl was also brought into the Infirmary and died there, having received similar injuries to Ann Watts. Nevertheless, despite these terrible accounts, the wearing of crinoline dresses remained popular among women of the town. Indeed they were so fashionable that throughout the following year two Sheffield works of Pond Hill Works and Highfield Steel Works and the Rotherham works of Ickles Mill continued to advertise for skilled women to make crinoline skirts.
In return they promised ‘constant employment, best prices given and good wages’ to all applicants. Evidently it would seem that no one took these accidental deaths very seriously. In June of the same year, a seventeen year old girl called Kate Marshall was at her fathers paper mill at Owlerton, when she too was caught up in shafting and killed instantly. Thankfully fashion dictates soon began to change around six years later in 1866 when a half hooped petticoat called ‘a crinolinette’ became fashionable, followed later by the smaller bustle.
By the time of the First World War women’s skirts took on a more practical design and the wearing of large voluminous skirts declined. However many of our ‘baby boomers’ (including myself) will never forget the stiffened petticoats worn under skirts in the 1950’s and 60’s. Thankfully modern, educated women now wear more practical clothing and dress for comfort, rather than fashion!