TY - JOUR

T1 - Responding to a Developing Industrial Tragedy

T2 - Douglas Houghton MP and Acre Mill, 1971-1974

AU - Collinson, Marc

N1 - Article accepted, publication not until November 2022.

PY - 2022/11/30

Y1 - 2022/11/30

N2 - Acre Mill was one of Britain’s most notorious health tragedies linked to asbestos manufacture. What happened at this workplace near Hebden Bridge led to a damning 1976 report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, a government Ombudsmen or regulator appointed to determine where the law or government regulations had been misapplied. The Ombudsmen, Sir Alan Marre, concluded that Cape Asbestos Ltd had not strictly adhered to the 1931 asbestos industry guidelines, which in turn had been ineffectively enforced by HM Factory Inspectorate. These failings, which affected the lives of employees, families, and the wider community, have been the subject of several TV documentaries, including Granada TV’s 1970, The dust at Acre Mill and Yorkshire TV’s 1982, Alice’s fight for life. Both on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the latter’s broadcast and after, several associated stories appeared in both the local and national press. There have long been calls for a memorial to victims, and one has recently been created at nearby Pecket Well. In 2003, the local Halifax Evening Courier called for a public enquiry into what had happened. Christine McCafferty, Labour MP for revised Calder Valley Parliamentary Constituency (that replaced Sowerby in 1983) from 1997-2010 and campaigned for this in Parliament. While such press interest has continued sporadically since, especially in the local community around Hebden Bridge, the mill’s health impact on former employees and their families continues well into the twenty-first century.

AB - Acre Mill was one of Britain’s most notorious health tragedies linked to asbestos manufacture. What happened at this workplace near Hebden Bridge led to a damning 1976 report by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Administration, a government Ombudsmen or regulator appointed to determine where the law or government regulations had been misapplied. The Ombudsmen, Sir Alan Marre, concluded that Cape Asbestos Ltd had not strictly adhered to the 1931 asbestos industry guidelines, which in turn had been ineffectively enforced by HM Factory Inspectorate. These failings, which affected the lives of employees, families, and the wider community, have been the subject of several TV documentaries, including Granada TV’s 1970, The dust at Acre Mill and Yorkshire TV’s 1982, Alice’s fight for life. Both on the twenty-fifth anniversary of the latter’s broadcast and after, several associated stories appeared in both the local and national press. There have long been calls for a memorial to victims, and one has recently been created at nearby Pecket Well. In 2003, the local Halifax Evening Courier called for a public enquiry into what had happened. Christine McCafferty, Labour MP for revised Calder Valley Parliamentary Constituency (that replaced Sowerby in 1983) from 1997-2010 and campaigned for this in Parliament. While such press interest has continued sporadically since, especially in the local community around Hebden Bridge, the mill’s health impact on former employees and their families continues well into the twenty-first century.

M3 - Article

VL - 30 (New Series)

JO - Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society

JF - Transactions of the Halifax Antiquarian Society

ER -