Editing Glossop (section)

====Cotton famine and industrial relations====
In 1851, 38% of the men and 27% of the women were employed in cotton; the only alternative employment was agriculture, building, or labouring on the railway. Consequently, the town was vulnerable to interruptions in the supply of cotton or the export trade. The [[American Civil War]] caused the [[Lancashire Cotton Famine|cotton famine]] of 1861–64. The mill owners met together and put in place a relief programme through which they supplied food, clogs and coal to their employees. Howard increased the workforce on his estate, and public works (such as improving the domestic water supply) were undertaken. They provided unsecured loans to the workers until the cotton returned. The relationship between the owners and men was one of paternal benevolence. They lived in the same community and worshipped in the same churches. The mill owners were the local aldermen, the church elders and led the sports teams. In the [[Luddite]] and [[Chartism|Chartist]] times and the period following [[Peterloo Massacre|Peterloo]], Glossop was virtually unaffected, despite its proximity to [[Hyde, Greater Manchester|Hyde]], a radical hotbed. In the [[John Doherty (trade unionist)#Doherty and trade unionism|'4s 2d or swing strike']] it was incomers from [[Ashton-under-Lyne|Ashton]] who stopped the Glossop mills. The rivalry in Glossop was not based on class but on religious groups.<ref name=birch/>