Den första hossan. Spinneriarbetare i Henrik Krutmeijers Strump och stoff-fabrik 1768–1784

The aim of this chapter is to contribute to the knowledge on the organization of work in the textile supply chain on the eve of industrialization. To do this we make a case-study of Herman Krutmeijers Hosiery and textile factory which was active in Malmö between 1768 and 1784. We are especially interested in the role of the spinners and try to answer three specific questions: what did the organization of work at the factory look like? Which were the demographic characteristics of the spinners, and can the spinning be characterized as unskilled work?

To answer these questions we use archive material from the Hall och Manufakturrätten in Malmö and material from ”Spinneriberättelserna”. We found that in this factory the production of thread, textiles and garments was centralized and vertically integrated, and that gender affected both tasks, organization of work and where the work was performed.

Those working within the walls of the factory were to a larger extent men, these men had titles of master, journeyman, and apprentice, indicating a guild-type organization. Women on the other hand were most often found working for the factory in their own homes, albeit with spinning wheels and winders owned by
the factory. These women only had occupational titles like knitter, or spinner.

Spinners were the largest group of workers; they were almost always women. In total we have data from 315 unique spinners, forming a dataset of 788 annual observations on occupational and individual features. Their ages range between 9 and 77, however the median is 38. Almost 80 percent of the women were married, most of them to soldiers. There was a rather large turnover, and 80 percent of the spinners worked less than three years at the factory. Most of them spun worsted wool, however a few also spun cotton. The ones who spun cotton seem to have been the ones with more spinning experience. They also had higher piece-rates compared to the women who spun wool. Whether spinning could be characterized as unskilled is therefore uncertain, high turnover rate and low ages could be an indication of unskilled work, however the difference between the fibers indicates that there was also some type of
skill premium and thus differences in skill within the group.

The women spinners at Herman Krutmeijers hosiery and textile factory worked in their own homes but for a centralized factory, for wages with tools owned by an employer. To a large extent, these women share the experience of modern industrial workers.