The Mill

- Season 2

(2014)

It is 1838 and whilst John and Daniel celebrate the reprieve of the Tolpuddle Martyrs the new Poor Law drives economic migrants from Southern England to the mill in the form of agricultural worker John Howlett and his family and shoemaker Abe Whittaker and his grandson Will, who takes a shine to Esther. Hannah has also brought Peter, a freed slave from the former plantation, to work in the garden whilst Robert is now an MP and younger brother William, the father of Susannah's eldest child, is in charge of the mill. Esther threatens to tell Hannah of her son's ...

William Greg appoints Howlett as the mill's over-seer, aware that his gratitude will make him compliant, but his ignorance of the machinery brings him into conflict with Daniel, who accuses him of running it too fast. Daniel is proved right when Howlett's son Jack is almost crushed under a loom and Howlett is relieved of his duties. Esther is now eighteen and a paid worker and she leaves the apprentice house to live in a basement cellar, where she flirts with Will. She is given domestic help by Susannah and Daniel, the latter suggesting she joins the union to gain ...

Learning that a Chartist meeting is to be held at nearby Kersal Moor but on a Monday Daniel requests that the mill closes for the day to allow the hands to attend. Most are nervous as to choosing to go so Esther suggests a secret ballot, as a result of which the mill shuts down. Daniel is saddened that many of the workers just wanted a day off but he is heartened by the enormous regional response as thousands attend. Some of the younger girls are also inspired by the meeting to deal with the bullying Patience. Esther and Will begin an affair but his family finds out ...

Six months have passed and Daniel learns that the Chartist petition to parliament has been rejected and no changes made. Several Chartists want to march on London but John Docherty and Daniel see no point. To make things worse an economic down-town leads to redundancies at the mill, the apprentice boys being sent to the workhouse though Miriam gets a job at Lancaster mill whilst Daniel and Susannah take in her brother George. Esther's baby is born and Will agrees to support her, offering marriage but is angry when she turns him down. The Howletts receive bad news when...

With the economic slump continuing Greg announces further wage cuts and reduced hours in line with other mill-owners. To combat opposition troops have arrived and Howlett is appointed leader of a group of special constables. Will, also out of work, pawns his tools, giving money to Esther, with whom he is again close. Daniel is anxious to call the workers out, hoping that they will be part of a national strike. Hannah, severely ill, receives a letter confirming all Peter's accusations about his grandfather's murder. She is not to know that the murderer was mill manager...

As the strike begins only the Howletts cross the picket line with Howlett's wife Rebecca and Will sympathetic to the hands. Daniel is impressed by the national scale of walk-outs but the strike committee's pay is low and a worker is shot whilst poaching to gain food for his family. As the weeks progress strike breakers are brought in and William offers Susanna money if she will leave William with their daughter but she refuses. Daniel is arrested on charges of sedition and jailed so Esther takes his place at a Chartist meeting in Manchester though on return she finds ...