victorians resource pack

Victorian Workers and Child Labour – Workshop Resource Pack

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Contents Suggested Classroom Activities ......................................................... 3

Facts about life in Queen Victoria’s reign. ...................................... 5

Checks .................................................................................................... 9

Snap Tin ................................................................................................ 11

Tallow Candles .................................................................................... 13

Flame Safety Lamp ............................................................................ 15

Victorian Games ................................................................................. 17

Conkers ............................................................................................. 17

Conquerors ...................................................................................... 18

Soldiers .............................................................................................. 18

Evidence from the 1842 Children’s Employment Commission ... 19

Mr. Samuel Scriven’s Report – Employers ................................... 20

Evidence collected by J.C. Symons Esq. – Children ................ 22

Evidence collected by J.C. Symons Esq. – The Parents ........... 25

Object Investigation .......................................................................... 31


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Suggested Classroom Activities

Knowledge and Understanding

Guess the object and its uses Complete the object investigation sheet Write a day in the life/story of one of the objects Sketch/draw the objects Make clay models of the objects Write/draw a cartoon strip of a day in the life of a

Victorian child Play Victorian games and compare with modern

ones Complete Victorian arts and crafts eg rag rug

making Write a time-traveller’s report on a date in the

Victorian period based on the visit to the Museum Hold a Victorian day where children can dress up

and do related activities Write an imaginary interview with Sam/Sally

Fletcher describing life down the Pit or life at home

Design a poster to call for the end of child labour Write a power point presentation to describe the

visit to the Museum Use the 1800s fact sheet to write an article

describing Victorian life Design a Museum display for the 1800s

Interpretation Understand the problems of relying on Sam/Sally Fletcher as a source of information – discuss the difference between reminiscence and fact

Discuss reasons why some of the evidence from 1842 might not be reliable

Chronological Understanding

Sort objects by date and materials Construct a timeline of important events in the

1800s

Historical Enquiry

Distinguish between the range of sources used to find out about Victorian life e.g. newspapers, books, photographs, and objects. Make a table and describe the use of each source


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Facts about life in Queen Victoria’s reign. The term ‘Victorian’ was used in the late nineteenth century to refer to British life during the reign of Queen Victoria 1837-1901. Leading up to, and during her sixty four year reign, some of the most important events in British history took place. 1807 The slave trade is abolished.

Gas lights are introduced in London. 1814 Steam is used in printing for the first time. 1815 The Battle of Waterloo takes place ending the

Napoleonic wars. Humphry Davy’s safety lamp is introduced.

1819 Victoria is born on 24th May. 1821 The beginning of a decade in which the factory system

spread. 1824 John Lister Kaye marries Matilda Arbuthnot (later to

become Sir John and Lady Lister Kaye and owners of Denby Grange Colliery, including Caphouse).

1825 The Stockton to Darlington railway opens. 1829 The Metropolitan Police Act is passed which establishes

the ‘Peelers’, later known as ‘Bobbies’. 1830 The Manchester and Liverpool railway opens. 1833 The slave trade in the Colonies is abolished. 1836 The Chartist movement is founded.

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1837 Victoria ascends the throne on 20th June after the death of William IV.

1838 The Coronation of Queen Victoria in Westminster Abbey

takes place. The Birmingham to London railway is opened.

1840 Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg on

10th February. The Penny post is established.

1842 The Commission into Children’s employment in mines

takes place. Lord Ashley’s Act prevents women and girls from working in the mines and boys under 10 years.

1845 The beginning of the Irish famine. 1846 Lady Lister Kaye runs a school at Denby Grange. 1847 Charlotte Bronte publishes Jane Eyre and Emily Bronte

publishes Wuthering Heights. 1849 Bedford College for women is founded. 1851 The Great Exhibition in Crystal Palace begins.

The first national census takes place. The population of Great Britain stands at 22 million, half of which live in towns.

1855 The Daily Telegraph is published, the first newspaper with

mass circulation. 1859 Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species.

Lady Lister Kaye builds a new school at Flockton, establishing weekday and night schools.

1861 Victoria’s husband, Prince Albert, dies.


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1870 Foster’s National Education Act is passed, making

education available to all children from 5-13 years. 1871 Sir John Lister Kaye dies and Caphouse Colliery is

inherited by Miss Emma Lister Kaye. Bank Holidays are introduced.

1876 The engine house at Caphouse is opened. 1882 The Married Women’s Property Act is passed, enabling

women to buy and sell their homes and keep their earnings.

1888 John Dunlop’s invention of the pneumatic tyre launches

a cycling craze 1891 Free education becomes available to all families in

England and Wales 1893 The Independent Labour party is formed in Bradford. 1896 The first modern Olympic games are held in Athens. 1897 The Diamond Jubilee of Victoria’s reign takes place. 1899 The Boer War in South Africa begins. 1901 Queen Victoria dies.

The population of Britain stands at 38 million.


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Checks Nowadays checks are collected from the deployment office or lamp-room but they were originally hung with the miner’s lamp and he always took the same number. There are two checks, one brass, and one alloy. The alloy check is handed to the banksman as the miner gets on the cage to go underground and at the end of riding time all these go to the time office. When the miner finishes his shift and comes back up the shaft, he hands in his brass check to the banksman and this too goes to the time office. The checks were used to calculate wages, the banksman noting if a workman came off a shift early. The checks are also very important in checking how many miners are underground and also who is working underground in case of an accident. The checks usually have the name of the colliery on and may have the name of the seam worked and the miner’s number.


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Snap Tin Snap tins were used by miners to take their food or “snap” underground for their shift. They would also have taken a drink in a “Dudley”, a round metal container, or cold tea in an old pop container. The tin is in the shape of an old style loaf of bread. This gives us clues about what they took to eat – no crisps, fruit or sweets but usually just bread and dripping or bread and jam. They never took egg sandwiches and rarely took meat sandwiches – apparently these taste very different underground! In a hot pit, butter would quickly go rancid. The food had to be kept safe from mice and rats and sealed from too much coal dust (although this is supposed to add flavour!). There is a clip to thread the tin onto a belt or hang it up. ACME was the trade name on these snap tins; it means “the best”.


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Tallow Candles It is completely dark underground so miners needed light to work by. A naked flame from a candle created danger. Coal produces a gas called methane that is very explosive and could be easily ignited by a candle flame. Miners had to work underground for many years with naked flames. It was only in the early 1800s that safety lamps began to be developed. These candles are called “tallow candles”. Tallow is a hard fatty substance made of processed animal fat. It was also used for making soap. Tallow candles were the standard mine lighting in Britain in the 1700s and early 1800s. Sometimes they were home-made but increasingly they were manufactured in local industry near to animal slaughter houses. Mine owners often sold tallow candles to their workers at a profit, although some did give them to the miners free or at a lower price. If this was the case then the tallow might be dyed a distinctive colour so that a candle stolen for use at home could be easily spotted.


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Flame Safety Lamp Methane is a gas found with coal, which explodes if mixed with air and ignited by a flame or spark. Because of this, some miners call methane ‘firedamp’. As mines were dug deeper underground, explosions happened more often. Miners used candles for light, but the flame could not be sealed in because it needed oxygen to burn. Sir Humphry Davy realised that surrounding the flame with a fine wire mesh would stop it lighting explosive gases. He invented a lamp that used a metal safety gauze. Unfortunately, this made the light very dim. Miners were tempted to remove it, and this could cause explosions. With a safety lamp, mine owners thought gassy areas could be worked safely to extract more coal. Miners were sent into more dangerous parts of the mine. In the North East of England, in the years after Davy’s invention, more men and boys died than in the years before the safety lamp. The Davy lamp did not give enough light and it could cause an explosion if it was not held upright or was left in a strong breeze. Modern lamps have more than one layer of gauze and a protective bonnet to make them extra safe and a strong piece of glass around the flame itself to let out more light.


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Victorian Games Conkers The brown, shiny seeds of the horse-chestnut tree are known as conkers. A player prepares his conker by threading a thick piece of string or yarn through the conker, and tying a knot in the end, so that the conker can hang about 20cm from the hand – but with enough spare string to wrap around the player’s hand a couple of times. Players take turns at swinging their conker to try and hit the opponent’s conker. The defending player must let his conker hang beneath his hand with the spare string wrapped around his hand. He must adjust the height of his hand to suit the opponent and must keep the conker perfectly still for the hit. The striker takes his conker in one hand and holds the opposite end of the string with the other hand. The conker should be swung over-hand towards the opponent’s conker. If the players’ strings become tangled, the first player to call ‘strings’ gets an extra shot. Play continues until one of the conkers is completely destroyed. Scoring Conkers are usually described according to the number of victories they have won for example, a ‘oner’, ‘fiver’ or a ‘seventy-fiver’. A conker adds one to its title each time it destroys a conker that has never won a game. A conker that defeats another with previous wins claims one for defeating it and all the loser’s previous wins. So a ‘fiver’ that defeats another ‘fiver’ becomes an ‘elevener’.

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Conquerors This is a similar game to conkers and seems to have been popular in the 1700s and 1800s. Instead of using horse chestnut seeds on strings, players use empty snail shells. Two players press their snail shells tip to tip until one of them breaks. Scoring is the same as for conkers Soldiers This game is now usually played with lollipop sticks. One player holds her stick with one hand at each end. The other holds her stick in one hand and hits the opponent’s stick somewhere in the middle. The game continues until one of the sticks breaks. Scoring is the same as for conkers. The game used to be played with stalks from the ribwort plantain. The winner is the first to knock the head off the opponent’s stalk.


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Evidence from the 1842 Children’s Employment Commission This pack contains copies of the extracts and illustrations from the 1842 Children’s Employment Commission. These are used in the ‘1842- A Faithful Picture?’ gallery at the Museum, and the Sam & Sally Fletcher school workshop.

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Mr. Samuel Scriven’s Report – Employers James Milnes Stansfield Esq. of Manor House, Flockton one of the proprietors of Messrs. Stansfield and Briggs Coal Mines, Flockton. I have lived in Flockton about 25 years. Its population about 1000. The people are contented, peaceful and hard working; but many are fond of going to public houses, and the colliers are addicted to gambling. The number of persons employed in the concern is about 500. Flagrant instances of neglect of family are rare in the village. I beg to state most reservedly that the bad habits that exist in this village may be usually traced to drunkeness; and until public houses and beer shops are abolished or very much reduced in number there is little hope for improvement. Though I have chess boards etc. in the reading room, some of the young men say they would rather give 2d for a pint of ale. I do not think that girls who work in the collieries are more immoral than those employed in agricultural labour. Henry Briggs Esq. one of the proprietors of Messrs. Stansfield and Briggs Coal Mines, Flockton. The system of employing girls would be better avoided if possible, it must injure their morality to some degree and it prevents their learning anything else. They are not less clean afterwards when they become wives and mothers; indeed they are more clean than the girls who don’t go to the pits because they have learned to wash every evening with being so dirty. Bad language is not very common. We could not have horse roads or even higher roads when the coal seams are so thin, because it would be so expensive. If children were to be stopped from working in pits the best Flockton seams must cease to be mined because it would cost too much to increase the height of the gates.


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William Pickard, General Steward at Denby Mine. We used trappers till lately, and they used to go and begin as early as 6 years old. They come at 8 or 9 years old to hurry. The thinnest coal bed we are working is only 10 inches. We cut the gates 26 inches high. The youngest children go there. The corf and coal together weigh 28 stone (174 kilograms). They will have 250 yards to hurry, on average. They hurry 16 a day. The biggest part of the gates are dry. There is some places where the water is over their shoes; but very few. It is mostly very dry considering. I don’t like to see the poor little children dabble in water. I do not think now that children’s work is hard work. They have generally play enough after their work is done. It would be possible to cut the gates higher; but it would be a great expense. I don’t know how we are to do without the girls; we cannot do without them….they are far better hurriers and more attentive to their job. Joseph Parker, of Windy Bank Pit. I have three apprentices (two hurriers and the other a ‘getter’). They are bound to me until they are 21. I draw when they earn every fortnight and for that I keep them in meat, drink and clothing. They got to work at six in the morning but I do not know what time they leave. It is according to their work during the day. As a working man I think that nine days is sufficient for them but if they were prevented from working more than that, I could not get my living at their present wages. They hurry about 17 corves a day. As an honest man I think that too much.

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Evidence collected by J.C. Symons Esq. – Children David Pyrah: Examined at Flockton, May 3rd. I am going on 11, I worked at one of Mr. Stansfield’s pits. I was lamed at Christmas by a sleeper falling on me, and have been off work since. I went to work usually at 6, but at 4 on odd days. We came out at 6 or 7, sometimes at 3 – whenever our work was done. We found it very hard work. The roads were nearly a yard but at the face it was half a yard. I did not like it because it was very low and I had to work till night. We got washed and got our dinner and then we got to bed or sometimes played. I can read or write a little. I go to Sunday school. John Sorby teaches; he is a preacher. I don’t know anything about Jesus Christ… They teach us nothing but reading… We come out of the pit at the same time as the men – when they have finished. I’d rather be at school than at the pit. James Leather: Examined at Flockton, May 3rd. Aged 13 years. I have been working four years in the pit, I have been hurrying all the time. I have hurried all the time myself. I go down to the pit at 6 usually but sometimes at 4, and often at half past 4. It is a roller that lets us down. We come out at 4 sometimes later and sometimes sooner. We stop in generally 9 or 10 hours. Sometimes we don’t stop at all for dinner. Sometimes we find it hard work, and sometimes easy. We are generally tired at night… I can read and write. I go to Sunday school. We come to evening school on Mondays. They teach us to read and write at Sunday school, they teach us religion a little… I know there is a place called heaven which is a good place. Hannah Vaux, aged 12. Examined at Flockton. I have been working two or three years at a pit. I have been to Sunday School all the time. I read in the Bible… It is the Sunday school at Mrs. Stanfield’s house…(spells poorly, knows very little arithmetic but has a fair knowledge of geography). My father and mother never teach me anything; and all I learn is at the evening school once a week and on Sundays.


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William Firth, between 6 and 7 years old. I hurry with my sister. I don’t like to be in the pit. I was crying to go out this morning. It tires me a great deal. They pay me sometimes. I always stop for dinner. Fanny Drake aged 15. Examined at Overton, near Wakefield, May 9th. I have been 6 years last September in a pit. I work at Charlesworth’s Wood Pit. I hurry by myself; I find it middling hard... I go down at 6 and sometimes 7, and I come out at 5 and sometimes 6; at least the banksman has told me it was 6, but there’s no believing him. We stop at 12 but we often have to work at the dinner hour. There is no-one else but me and the getter. I don’t like it so well. It’s cold and there is no fire in the pit. I’d rather be out of the pits altogether. I’d rather help my grandmother. I push with my head sometimes and it makes my head so sore that I cannot bear it touched; it is soft too. I often have headaches and colds and coughs and sore throats. I cannot read, I can say my letters. I wear a vest and shift and petticoat in the pit. I have had a pair of trousers. The getter I work with wears a flannel vest when he is poorly, but when he is well he wears nothing at all… (This girl is 4 feet 5 inches in height and she looked very healthy). John Saville, aged 7 years. I stand and open and shut the door; I’m generally in the dark, and sit me down against the door… I never see daylight now, except on Sundays. Sarah Gooder, aged 8 years. I’m a trapper in the Gawber pit. It does not tire me but I have to trap without a light and I’m scared. I go at 4 and sometimes at half past 3 in the morning, and come out at 5 and half past. I never go to sleep. Sometimes I sing when I’ve light, but not in the dark; I dare not sing then, I don’t like being in the pit. William Ramsden. Examined May 12th , Flockton.

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I am going 11. I’ve been 5 years in the pit. I come down every morning at 6 and I get up at 5. I go away at half past 4. I go at 4 on Mondays. I stop from 12 till 1. I never do anything then. My work doesn’t tire me at all. I go to Sunday school and I read ABC. I have had good health. Jane Margerson. Examined May 12th, Flockton. I’m going 15. I hurry. I have been 4 years at the pit. The work doesn’t tire me. I’ve never been badly. I go down at 6 and go out at 3 or 4. I don’t mind being in the pit so much. I was in service till I came to the pit, and I like the service best. My father took me away from service to send me to the pit. I did go to Sunday school, but I don’t now, because I have to help my mother. The men wear trousers in the pit. It’s a bit wet but it does not come over my shoes. Noah Talbot, Examined May 12th, Flockton. I’ll be fifteen at next Flockton feast, that’s August. I come at 6, sometimes 10 minutes past 6. I go out at 4 and sometimes 2 and 3. I hurry 14 corves a day. I work dinner hour sometimes, but not the little ones. I think the work is nothing… I go to Sunday school, but I like to play on Sunday and not go to school. Nearly all the getters work naked down here, and we dress first with a flannel shirt.


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Evidence collected by J.C. Symons Esq. – The Parents Mrs Mary Ann Watson of Flockton, Examined May 6th, at her cottage. I went to the pit myself when I was 5 years old, and two of my daughters go. It does them no harm. It never did me none. My girls learn to sew as much as I can teach them, but that’s not much. One sews well. Mrs. Nancy Watson, mother of the above witness. I don’t think it does the girls any good going in the pits, but some are well behaved that go. Girls go because they can get better wages than they can in the fields. The children get schooling here far better than other places. There are few places where people take such pains with the poor as Mrs. Stansfield does, and all of them at Manor House. They don’t get such care taken elsewhere. Mrs. Day, Examined May 6th. I have two girls in the pit: the youngest is 8 and the oldest will be 19 in May. If the girls don’t go into the pits they will have to take a bowl and go begging. I have tried to get a place in service for the oldest, but not for the others. It is very difficult to get a place in service. I don’t think it makes much difference to their behaviour whether they go into the pits or not, if they have a good example shown them. Benjamin Pyrah, Examined May 6th at Flockton. I have two boys who work in the pit, though one now is out from an accident and I have one girl who works: one boy had 8s and the other 5s and the girl has 6s. I think that some girls will learn to be better managers of families when they go into the pits than those who work elsewhere, because they have time to learn sewing in the evening. It is not true that there is nothing else for them to do, but they prefer the pits because they have more freedom there than in service. The language is a lot better in Mr. Stansfield’s pits than many round about. The

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children are not overworked around here – not as a general thing. George Hirst, Collier aged 32, working at Messrs. Stansfield and Brigg’s Pit. The children hurry with a belt and chain, the chain passing between their legs; girls and all. It does not tire them too much. They begin at half past 7 and leave usually at half past 3. We work about 4 and a half days a week. It helps some poorer people to bring their girls to the pits, and I have seen many that make respectable women. It is true the girls are impudent but not more than other girls brought up in other ways. I have a boy myself who was 9 recently and he has been in the pits a fortnight. I think he has come soon enough to learn to be a collier. If families’ circumstances would allow it would be as well to keep girls out of the pits, but there are not enough mills about that want girls.


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Mr Samuel Scriven’s Report – Women and girls Girls from five to eighteen perform all the works of boys. There is no distinction whatever in their coming up the shaft or going down, in the mode of hurrying or thrusting, in the weights of the corves or in the distance they are hurried, in wages or in dress. Indeed it is impossible to distinguish, either in the darkness of the gates in which they labour, or in the cabins before the broad light of the day, an atom of difference between one sex and the other. They are to be found alike vulgar in manner and obscene in language but who can feel surprise at their debased condition when they are constantly associated and associated only, with men and boys living and labouring in a state of disgusting nakedness and brutality while they have themselves no other garment than a ragged shift or in the absence of that a pair of broken trousers to cover their persons? Susan Pitchforth, (No 10). I would rather set cards or do anything than work in a pit. I have one sister of 14 and she works with me. John Hepworth, a collier (No 16). I do not think it a proper occupation for them. They are not so strong as boys. It mashes them up. It is also very indecent that they should work in the pits but parents cannot support them without. Samuel Well, a collier (No 27). We have no girls in our pit. I should be sorry to see them because it is unnatural, indecent and uncalled for. I would under no circumstances have a daughter of my own there. Mr. John Sharp, the steward of Bowling. We have no girls on the establishment. We would not allow of it by any means. It would be wrong to do so because they would

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frequently have to mix with the men naked. It is, in fact, not their labour and ought to be entirely prohibited. Mr. John Ambler, (N0 60), an individual who has taken an active interest in the welfare of factory children in Halifax. I have been resident of Halifax and Ovenden 30 years and have always taken an interest in Sunday School education. I am therefore capable of forming an opinion as to the comparative difference of the several classes of young labourers and am fully convinced that the young miners are the most ignorant and profane of all the others. The consequence of girls working in the pits is that they turn out deplorably bad in after life. I have known some whose characters have been worse than the worst. They make bad wives, inasmuch as they appear degraded and dejected creatures and bring up their children in a state of ignorance and depravity in which they lived before them.


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Object Investigation Look at your object. Pick it up carefully, and try to answer the questions below.

How does it Look and Feel?

What colour is it? What shape is it? What is its length and width? What is its weight? Is it solid? Is it worn away? Is it complete?

How was it made? Is it man-made? In one piece or many pieces? By a machine or by hand? What materials is it made of? In a mould? How is it fixed together?

What was its Job? What was it made for? How has it been used? Has its use changed?

How is it designed? Will it do its job well? Have the best materials been used? How is it decorated? Do you like the way it is designed?

What is its value? To the people who owned it? To the museum?

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Draw a picture of the object here

victorians resource pack

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