work force. Cotton weaving in the new factories was largely unregulated, and the workforce kept almost at starvation levels. Hunger drove men and women to fight back, and mobs attacked the power-looms that were seen to be the cause of the decline in status of the workforce. In 1826 almost 3,000 people were reported as 'attacking machinery' in Haslingden. A troop of cavalry was stationed in the vicinity, and ring-leaders were arrested. It was reported from Haslingden in the same year, 1826, that 'a great majority of the unemployed must literally perish from extreme want'. By the 1850 steam power began to supersede water power, and mills grew in size. Grudgingly a minimum wage was introduced, and through the efforts of reformers, the churches and a few enlightened mill-owners, conditions for factory workers slowly improved. Conditions were still harsh, despite the whole Rossendale area being known as the 'Golden Valley'. No longer dependent on the rivers as a source of energy, the mill owners were freed to build elsewhere, and Haslingden began to find that successful mills, such as Hargreaves Street Mill, could be built on its higher land. The long decline of the cotton industry began in the early years of the 20th century. During the First World War, India and Japan were able to develop their own industries, and after the Second World War, immigration - mainly from Pakistan - was encouraged to help bolster a failing industry. But by the 1950s, mills were closing at an ever-faster rate. The old buildings often re-occupied by small businesses specialising in other occupations. The Cockerill family William Cockerill (1759-1832) and his son John Cockerill (1790-1840), along with other family members, both sons and daughters, are worth a footnote to the industrial history of Haslingden. Both were born in Haslingden, and as a young man William showed great skill as an inventor of machinery. The Slubbing Billy, a roving or slubbing machine, which twists and draws out yarn, is named after him. Slubbing Billy is also the name of a North West Morris Team. Father and son eventually left Haslingden and settled in Belgium, where they built up one of the largest industrial and machinery complexes in mainland Europe. It is said that they instituted the spread of the Industrial Revolution in continental Europe. See John Cockerill (company). William's beginning are obscure, although it is likely that he worked as a