Suggested resources other than censuses. Good luck.

• Andy Alston’s Repository www.andrewalston.co.uk/cottonindustryjobs.html
• Local archives, CROs/Mechanic Institutes – local
• Court records
• Unions/apprenticeship records
• Cotton Famine (1861-1865); records includes
  • CROs – sewing schools
  • Minutes for the relief committees
  • Other relief work – including for men
• Directories and trade directories
• Bankruptcy courts;  The London Gazette etc www.thegazette.co.uk
• Newspapers, BNA
• Quarry Bank Mill, Styal, Cheshire
• Family History Societies

1842 Mines Act and records online

• The UK Commissioners Report of Children’s Employment, 1842  (877 pages)
• https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=34775
• Includes case studies (names and locations) and witness statements from Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.