Professor Paul Salveson is a historian and writer and lives in Bolton. He is visiting professor in ‘Worktown Studies’ at the University of Bolton and author of several books on Lancashire history Lancashire, during and after the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century, was a dirty and polluted place to live. We’ll never know the true toll on people’s lives as a result of atmospheric pollution but it must have been enormous. There was no NHS. If you were ill you had to pay, unless you were lucky enough to be protected by a friendly society or trade union (which of course you had to pay contributions to). Working in mill, mine or factory didn’t just expose you to physical injury from machinery, but more insidiously the long-term risks to health from airborne pollution.