Technicslover

White Privilege Part 2: Dundee Jute Mills In the 19th-20th century, Dundee was known as “Juteopolis” due to being the world’s leading centre for processing raw jute. At its peak ~1900, the industry employed 40,000–50,000 people (roughly half the city’s workforce) across more than 100 mills, producing sacks, sandbags, hessian cloth, rope, twine and carpet backing etc. It comprised a large proportion of global trade and shipping - no other British city relied so heavily on a single trade. The workforce was overwhelmingly female in the jute mills. Women outnumbered men by roughly three to one, earning Dundee the nickname the “She Town”. Children worked as “half-timers”, combining mill shifts with school; the Dundee School Board issued more exemptions for early work than almost any other city. Mill owners preferred women and children because they could be paid less than adult men; boys were often laid off at 18 once they could command higher wages. Many of these women became the main breadwinners for their families, with unemployed men often left at home and labelled as “kettle bilers”. Shifts were long and hard: typically 12 hours or more (6am to 6pm), with additional Saturday work common before later Factory Acts. Workers spent long days amid roaring machinery, airborne fibre dust and constant noise, tending spinning frames and looms. The fine jute dust caused chronic respiratory problems, including “mill fever”, bronchitis and other lung diseases; female workers appear in high numbers in Royal Infirmary records for these conditions. Accidents were common and the heavy machinery led to frequent injuries; crushed or severed fingers, lacerations, lost limbs and fatal entanglements were regularly reported in local papers. Constant noise left many workers partially or fully deaf; heat, oil fumes and grease added to the physical strain and health issues. No sick pay or compensation existed in the early decades; injured or ill workers were simply replaced. Wages were among the lowest in Scotland. Many families, including those headed by working mothers, relied on children’s earnings, yet still lived in poverty in the overcrowded tenements nearby (see White Privilege Part 1: Dundee Slums). 📷 Daily Herald Archive (c. 1931); Dundee Heritage Trust and British Film Institute (c. 1900-1950s).