Cradley Heath in the Black Country was the centre of chainmaking in England.
The work, often carried out in sheds behind the women's own homes, was hard and dangerous.
A woman had to hammer up to 5,000 links a week to earn the equivalent of 25p.

Robert Sherard, in his White Slaves Of England, saw women trying to make the best of things, talking and singing as they worked.
"At first, the sign of this sociability makes one overlook the misery which, however, is all too visible... in the foul rags the women wear, in

their haggard faces and the faces of the frightened infants hanging to their mother's breasts, as these ply the hammer, or sprawling in the mire on the floor, amidst the showers of fiery sparks."

The son of a chainmaker later talked to a local historian about his own birth.
His mother had made chains from 6am to 6pm before crossing the yard to give birth, returning immediately afterwards to her anvil, where she worked until 10pm.

In 1909, legislation required an increase in wages in some of the most exploitative trades, including chainmaking.
Employers instead tried to trick workers, many of whom couldn't read, into signing forms opting out of the minimum rates.

Those who refused were told there was no work for them.
The National Federation of Women Workers called a strike, and the so-called "Cradley Heath lockout" began in August 1910.

Backed by Mary Macarthur, Labour MPs and ministers, donations to the strike fund poured in. Pathe news showed film in 600 theatres of the women marching and singing protest songs.

But not until October did the last of the employers cease their machinations and agree to be bound by the new rates of pay.
After the women's victory, there was still sufficient in the strike fund to build a Workers' Institute, a two-storey building known as the "Tute."