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 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 Chartist times and the period following Peterloo , Glossop was virtually unaffected , despite its proximity to Hyde , a radical hotbed . In the ' 4s 2d or swing strike ' it was incomers from Ashton who stopped the Glossop mills . The rivalry in Glossop was not based on class , but on religious groups
Peterloo
Peterloo Massacre
Glossop