She was one of the best-paid workers in the pottery. The work was also killing her. In the Staffordshire Potteries, she was a “dipper” — coating fired china in glaze, all day, every day. The glaze was made with lead. It soaked through her skin and rose in the air she breathed. First came the stomach cramps, then the day her wrist dropped and the muscles simply gave out. But the lead didn’t stop with her. Women who worked the glaze lost their babies, and infants were born only to die in fits. The danger was known — government commissions reported on it for years — while the dippers drank milk and swallowed salts, hoping to line their stomachs against the poison. A leadless glaze was possible all along. It took decades, and a generation of women, before anyone was made to use it. Save this if you want more forgotten British history that was never properly taught. #BritishHistory #ForgottenHistory #VictorianHistory #IndustrialHistory#