In 1861 Thomas employed 210 people at the two mills in Tansley. His father, John, between 1810 and 1858, managed mills at Kensington, Wirksworth, Holymoorside and Brampton. They were therefore important employers of labour in the area at a time when little consideration was given to the health and safety of the workers.
Cotton spinning and weaving were the first industrial activities to be carried out in England. Before the invention of Arkwright's spinning and carding machines, the only other means of earning a living for many of the people in rural areas such as Derbyshire was on the land. The population was increasing and at the same time the Enclosure Acts as well as changes in the Poor Laws were forcing people off the land and into the increasingly crowded towns and cities where, without land and work, they were at the mercy of parish relief..
Because of the ready availability of coal in Lancashire it was there that the cotton industry developed most rapidly. Supply of labour was cheap and children from the age of seven were employed to mind the machines in hot, dusty and noisy conditions. Many mill owners had bad reputations as employers, enforcing strict discipline with little concern for the welfare of their workforce until Government legislation gradually improved working conditions.
Studies of the mill owners by historians has shown that most of them came from the middle classes. The more humble origins of the Hackett family may have made them more considerate employers than many of their competitors