Unit 11: What was it like for children living in Victorian

K S2 History U nit 11
Unit 11:
Sect ion 2
Teach er’s Guide
What was it like for children living in Victorian
Britain?
Section 2: What was life like for a poor child living in the 1840s?
Teacher’s Guide
The QCA objectives for this unit are for children to learn to:
collect information from a range of sources and draw conclusions
about the Victorian period
understand that ways of life differed greatly across Victorian society
write a narrative using historical detail
understand that there are many representations of the Victorian
period
This section offers three activities:
1. a series of research tasks that form the basis for a literacy project
2. a drama exercise that draws comparisons between a child’s life
today and a poor child’s life in the 1840’s
3. a choice of several literacy projects
K S2 History U nit 11
Activity 1
Sect ion 2
Teach er’s Guide
Researching the Lives of Poor Children in the1840s
This activity involves completing a range of small research tasks that look
at the working and living conditions endured by poor children in the 1840s.
This will provide students with background information upon which to base
Activity 3, a literacy project.
There are tasks suitable for a range of ability levels, and students need not
complete all the tasks. Less able students will still be able to attempt the
Middle and Higher level tasks but will need support.
Task 1: Robert Blincoe
Ability Levels: Middle and Higher
This task is based on an extract from John Brown’s book based on the life
of Robert Blincoe. Although it was published in 1828 it still serves as a good
indication of what working conditions were like in the first half of the 19 th
Century. Some of the old fashioned language may prove a challenge
and some students may require support with this.
Task 2: Scavengers
Ability Levels: All
Inspired by John Brown’s book about Robert Blincoe, Frances Trollope
began writing a novel about the life of a poor child. She spent several
weeks touring factories in the North of England and speaking to members
of the reform movement . She was accompanied by French artist August
Hervieu, who drew this illustration for her novel.
Task 3: Sarah Carpenter
Ability Levels: All
This task is based on the testimony of Sarah Carpenter, an apprentice girl
from a mill in Derbyshire. She was interviewed by reformer James Rayner
Stephens in 1849 and the account was published in the Ashton Chronicle
later that year. Students compare Sarah’s diet with a healthy diet in 2008.
You can really bring this task alive by actually making some of the
oatcake mixture described. Most supermarkets still stock oatcakes
amongst their crackers and biscuits.
250ml warm semi-skimmed milk
250ml warm water
1 packet of oatcakes
K S2 History U nit 11
Sect ion 2
Teach er’s Guide
Mix the milk, water and oatcakes in a bowl and leave them to soak. Mash
the mixture up with a fork and see which children are brave enough to try
it. Just the look of this mixture is enough to convince them that they are
better off with today’s diet.
Less able students will need support with the maths: 5am–9pm = 16 hours.
It isn’t clear how long the lunch break was, but assume 1 hour = 15 hours
15 hours per day x 6 = 90 hours per week.
Extension: Ask students to calculate how many hours (less breaks) they
spend at school each day, and the difference between this and Sarah’s
working day.
Task 4: James Pearce
Ability Levels: Middle and Higher
Samuel Scriven was sent to the Staffordshire Potteries to gather
information for a report commissioned by a Parliamentary Committee.
Although this is a long passage, the language is fairly simple. Some
support may be required.
Task 5 : Punishment
Ability Levels: Middle and Higher
This task is based on another account from Sarah Carpenter.
Task 6: Poor Homes in the 1840s
Ability Levels: Middle and Higher
This activity uses an extract from the 1841 Census of Liverpool and a detail
from a contemporary map of the area.
1. The finished table should look like this:
Family
Name
Hartford
Rimmer
Redman
2.
3.
Husband
Wife
Children
Matthew
George
Michael
Eliza
Anne
Mary
Bridget Margaret Anne
John
Henry
George
John
James
Mary
3 families lived in the house.
10 children lived in the house.
William
K S2 History U nit 11
Sect ion 2
Teach er’s Guide
4.
16 people lived in the house.
5.
There are 17 houses in Court No 5.
6.
We don’t know how many families lived in Court No 5, but even if
there are only 2 families per house that still makes 34 families.
7.
Again, we don’t know, but if the Ford Street House is typical, then
there may have been as many as (17 houses x 16 people) 272
people living in the Court. 200 to 250 would be a realistic estimate.
The children may need guiding through these assumptions.
That ’s 250 people sharing one or two t oilets and a wat er pump!
Task 7:
Inside a Poor Victorian Home
Ability Levels:
All
Copy the worksheets and give them out to each child or project the
picture onto the board. Although the photograph is probably taken
around 1880, the house is much older and will not have changed much
The descriptive sentences will hopefully be about how small, dark, dirty,
sooty etc, the room is.
1. The room would have been lit by candles or possibly an oil lamp.
2. There are potatoes in the bowl. As there is no other food in view this
also gives us a clue as to the occupants’ diet.
3. Children should list items such as microwaves, cookers, fridges,
radiators, radios, washing machines, maybe even a TV.
4. Children should list things like TV, sofa, telephone, etc.
5. Either a simple drawing, or a plan for more able pupils, should
further highlight the differences between today’s kitchen and the
equivalent in a poor Victorian home.
K S2 History U nit 11
Se ct ion2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 1
Task 1: Robert Bilcoe
In 1828, John Brown wrote a book based on the life of a child labourer
called Robert Blincoe who worked in the cotton mills in Lancashire. Read
the extract from this book and answer the questions below.
The task first allotted to him was to pick up the loose cotton that fell upon the
floor. [He was] terrified by the whirling motion and noise of the machinery, and
not a little affected by the dust and flue … he was half suffocated. Unused to the
stench, he soon felt sick, and by constantly stooping, his back ached. Blincoe,
therefore, took the liberty to sit down; but this attitude, he soon found, was
strictly forbidden in cotton mills. Smith, his task-master, told him he must keep
on his legs. He did so, till twelve o'clock, being six hours and a half, without the
least intermission.
.. he was promoted to the more important employment of a roving winder. Being
too short to reach to his work standing on the floor, he was placed on a block. He
was not able by any possible exertion, to keep pace with the machinery. In vain,
the poor child declared he was not in his power to move quicker. He was beaten
by the overlooker, with great severity. In common, with his fellow apprentices,
Blincoe was wholly dependent upon the mercy of the overlookers, whom he
found, generally speaking, a set of brutal, ferocious, illiterate ruffians. Blincoe
complained to Mr. Baker, the manager, and all he said to him was: "do your
work well, and you'll not be beaten."
1.
What was the first job given to Robert Blincoe? …………………………
2.
Why didn’t he like this job?
………………………………………………………………………………….......
3.
How long did he have to work before he could sit down? …………..
4.
Why did he have to stand on a block?
………………………………………………………………………………………
5.
What was his punishment for not being able to keep up with the
machine?
………………………………………………………………………………………
KS2 History Unit 11
Task 2:
Section 2
Activity 1
Task 2
Work
This picture shows children working as scavengers in a
cotton mill. They had to crawl under the looms and
pick up bits of loose cotton while the machines were
still working! They worked many hours each day.
1. Look at the children’s faces. How do you think
they feel?
……………………………………………………………………
2. Describe the children’s clothes and footwear.
……………………………………………………………………
3. Why do you think the children look so thin?
……………………………………………………………………
4. Why was scavenging a dangerous job?
……………………………………………………………………
5. Why did children make good scavengers?
……………………………………………………………………
K S2 History U nit 11
Sect ion 2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 3
Task 3: Sarah Carpenter
Sarah Carpenter was a child who worked in a mill in Derbyshire. Her story appeared in the newspapers in 1849. Here
she describes her diet.
Our common food was oatcake. It was thick and coarse. This oatcake was put into cans. Boiled milk and water was poured into
it. This was our breakfast and supper. Our dinner was potato pie with boiled bacon in, a bit here and a bit there, so thick with
fat we could scarce eat it, though we were hungry enough to eat anything. Tea we never saw, nor butter. We had cheese and
brown bread once a year. We were only allowed three meals a day though we got up at five in the morning and worked till
nine at night.
1. Use the information in the passage to help you complete the Table below
Healthy Diet 2007
Child Labourer’s Diet 1840
Breakfast
Snacks
Lunch/Dinner
Snacks
Evening
Meal
Snacks
2.
How many hours did Sarah work each day?
…………………………
3.
Sarah worked six days a week. How many hours did Sarah work each week?
……………………..
K S2 History U nit 11
Sect ion2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 4
Task 4: James Pearce
In 1840 the gov ernment commissioned a report into the state of children w orking
in mines and factories. Samuel Scrivens went to Staffordshire to gather
information for this report, and interviewed many child labourers, including
James Pearce.
I am 12 years of age. I went down to the pits about 7 years and a half to open
doors. I had a candle and a fire beside me to show me light. There was one door.
The horse coming with empty basket and skip could open it with his head, but
when he returned with his load I opened it then. I was 12 hours a-day, and got
6d. a-day. .. When I was paid I took it home to my mother. I was a year and a half
at this work. I once fell asleep and was well threshed by a driver. The horse was
fast. It was down-hill and the horse could not draw back. He laid well into me; I
cried out, but nobody would come and help me. I did not tell my father. I never
thought anything about it afterwards.
.. About a year and a half ago I took to the girdle and chain; I do not like it; it
hurts me; it rubs my skin off; I often feel pain. I get 15d. a-day. I do not go to the
Sunday-school. I go to chapel sometimes. I cannot say the Lord's Prayer, nor the
Creed, nor the Ten Commandments. I cannot read. I never heard of Liverpool,
nor of Manchester, nor of Bristol, nor of Birmingham. I have heard of London.
I had not time to eat a bit of meat from morning till night. I have often had
blisters on my side; but when I was more used to it, it would not blister, but it
smarted very badly. The chain was made of the same stuff as the rope that goes
down the pit. I crawled on hands and feet. I often knocked my back against the
top of the pit, and it hurt it very sore. There was not room to stand to that height.
The legs ached very badly. When I come home at night I often sat down to rest
me by the way I was so tired. The work made me look much older than I was.
Many boys draw with girdle and chain now. They draw in Ketley fields and in
Lawley fields still. The seam in Lawley field is about a yard thick; in some places
less. There is not the railway and the dans*. It is like drawing on the roads. I
think it is a great hurt to a boy: it must be, to draw the same as a horse draws. A
great many boys find that they are unable, and give over drawing with girdle
and chain. It is very hard, very hard, sir. If they were to lay down rails, and push
the coals on dans, it would be very convenient for the boys, though the expense
might not be convenient for the masters.
*A dan is a small cart designed to run on rails.
K S2 History U nit 11
Sect ion2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 4
Drawing coal up a narrow tunnel using a girdle and chain
1.
Describe James Pearce’s first job dow n the mine.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
2.
Why was he “well threshed by a driver”?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
3.
Why didn’t he like working with a girdle and chain.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
4.
Why were boys ideal for drawing coal in the Lawley Field mines?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
5.
What did James mean w hen he said “If they were to lay dow n rails, and
push the coals on dans, it would be very convenient for the boys, though
the expense might not be convenient for the masters.”?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
K S2 History U nit 11
Sect ion 2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 5
Task 5: Punishment
Sarah Carpenter was a child who worked in a mill in Derbyshire. Here she
describes the punishments given out to the children in the mill.
There was an overlooker called William Hughes…. He came up to me and asked
me what my drawing frame* was stopped for. I said I did not know because it
was not me who had stopped it. A little boy that was on the other side had
stopped it, but he was too frightened to say it was him. Hughes starting beating
me with a stick, and when he had done I told him I would let my mother know.
He then went out and fetched the master in to me. The master started beating
me with a stick over the head till it was full of lumps and bled. My head was so
bad that I could not sleep for a long time, and I never been a sound sleeper since.
We were always locked up out of mill hours, for fear any of us should run away.
One day the door was left open. Charlotte Smith, said she would be ringleader,
if the rest would follow. She went out but no one followed her. The master
found out about this and sent for her. There was a carving knife which he took
and grasping her hair he cut if off close to the head. .. This head shaving was a
dreadful punishment. We were more afraid of it than of any other, for girls are
proud of their hair.
* A drawing frame is a machine that twists loose cotton fibres into a thread.
1.
Why was Sarah punished?
………………………………………………………………………………………
2.
What was her punishment?
………………………………………………………………………………………
3.
Why were the children locked up when they were not at work?
………………………………………………………………………………………
4.
What was Charlotte Smith’s punishment for trying to run away?
………………………………………………………………………………………
K S2 History U nit 11
S ect ion 2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 6
Task 6: Poor Homes in the 1840s
In the 1840s, Britain’s cities were badly overcrowded as millions pf people moved from the countryside to the
city looking for work. Poor families usually lived in slums with no running water, toilets or gardens.
This is an extract from the Liverpool Census of 1841. It shows who was living in a single house in Ford Street.
Ford St
do means ditto – the same surname as above
Liverpool
Parish L/pool
1
Males
Age
&
Sex
Matthew Harford
Eliza do
Bridget do
Margaret do
Anne
George Rimmer
Anne do
John do
Henry do
George do
William do
Michael Redman
Mary do
John do
James do
Mary do
Females
Names
Of each person who
abode therein on the
preceding night
Inhabited
Uninhabited
or building
City or B orough of
Parish or Township of
Place
Houses
35
30
12
3
1
41
35
11
8
6
3
25
25
5
4
2
K S2 History U nit 11
1.
S ect ion 2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 6
Using the information from the census extract , complete the following table
Family Name
Husband
Wife
Children
2.
How many families lived in t his house? ……………………………….
3.
How many children lived in this house? ……………………………..
4.
How many people lived in this house altogether? …………………
This Victorian map of Hughson Street in Liverpool shows
“back to back” houses built in courts. Each square is a house.
Like the house in Ford Street, two or three families would live in each
house.
There may only be one or two toilets and a water pump for all the people
living in the court to share.
5. How many houses are there in Court No. 5?
……………………
6. How many families do you think lived in Court No. 5? ……..…………….
7. How many people do you think lived in Court No. 5? …………………….
K S2 History U nit 11
Se ct ion 2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 7
Task 7: Inside a poor Victorian Home
Look at this photograph of the inside of a poor Victorian Home. This would
have been the main room in the house, where people lived, cooked and
ate. The woman is sitting by a range. A range is a coal fire with ovens built
on either side. Cooking pots were hung over the fire.
1.
Write three short sentences to describe this room.
………………………………………………………………………………………….
………………………….………………………….….………………………………..
………………………………………………………………………………………….
2.
How do you think the room was lit at night? …………………………………
3.
What is in the bowl behind the chair? ………………………………………...
K S2 History U nit 11
4.
5.
6.
Se ct ion 2
Act ivit y 1
Tas k 7
Make a list of things you have in your kitchen at home that you would
not find in the kitchen of a poor Victorian house?
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
Now list three things that you have in your living room but would not
have found in a poor Victorian house.
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
………………………….
Draw a picture of the inside of your kitchen in the box below. Label
the items in the room.
KS2 History Unit 11
Activity 2
Section 2
Activity 2
Teacher’s Guide
Hours of the Day
Teacher’s Guide
This powerful drama activity is an effective way of visualizing the life of
someone in a very different place or time, and is also an excellent
preparation for a creative writing activity. It contrasts the good things in
children’s lives today, and the hardship children had to endure in the
1840s.
1.
Give out copies of the Hours of the Day Table. Previous activities
should provide them with enough information about the life of a
poor child in the 1840s to fill out the table.
Encourage them to think about:
cold, overcrowded conditions in their homes
how tired they would feel working hard for so many hours
dangerous, noisy conditions
hunger, eating only small amounts of horrible tasting food
walking home from work feeling exhausted
It may look something like this:
Hour of the day
5.00 am
6.00 am
8.00 am
10.00 am
12.00 midday
2.00 pm
4.00 pm
6.00 pm
8.00 pm
10.00 pm
12.00 midnight
2.00 am
Victorian Child
Today’s child
Getting up
walking to work
working
working
Lunch (stood up)
Working
Working
Working
Staggering home
Sleeping (shivering)
Sleeping (shivering)
Sleeping (shivering)
Sleeping
Sleeping
Driven to school
Studying
Eating lunch in canteen
P.E.
Eating tea
Playstation etc
Cleaning teeth, bed time
Sleeping
Sleeping
Sleeping
KS2 History Unit 11
Section 2
Activity 2
Teacher’s Guide
You may like to change the times so that they include activities
specific to your school time table eg. Morning playtime at 10.15 am.
2.
Split the class into two halves – today’s children and the 1840s
children. You might like to assign specific jobs to the 1840s children:
miner, chimney sweep, machine operator, bobbin winder etc.
3.
Make the two groups stand on opposite sides of the room you are
working in, facing each other.
4.
Tell the children that when you call out a time, they should do a
mime of what they would be doing at that hour of the day.
Remind them to think about facial expressions too.
Call out a time, eg “10 o’clock in the morning” so that today’s kids
are running around skipping and the 1840s children are at work.
When all the children are miming, shout “Freeze” so that everyone
holds a pose.
5.
Now invite today’s children to relax their pose and to look “across
time” at the 1840s children and think about what they can see.
Repeat this process two or three times, then freeze today’s
children and invite the 1840s children to “look across time” once.
Find out what they make of the children of the future.
6.
Finally, swap the groups over and repeat, so that everyone has
played a child from the past and the present.
7.
Conclude by asking the children when they would rather be a
child; 1840s, or today?
KS2 History Unit 11
Section 2
Activity 2
Hour of the
day
5.00 am
6.00 am
8.00 am
10.00 am
12.00
midday
2.00 pm
4.00 pm
6.00 pm
8.00 pm
10.00 pm
12.00
midnight
2.00 am
Teacher’s Guide
1840’s Child
Today’s Child
K S2 History U nit 11
Se ct ion 2
Act ivit y 3
Lit eracy Project
Activity 3 Creating a Victorian Character
Pick a first name, a family name and a job for your character of a poor
child from the 1840‟s.
Most Common Victorian Boys’ Names
George
John
Samuel
Charles
Henry
Joseph
Arthur
Ernest
Thomas
Frank
Walter
Jim
Robert
Jack
William
Jacob
Joshua
Timothy
James
Frederick
Harry
Sidney
Jesse
Francis
Most Common Victorian Girls’ Names:
Elizabeth
Ann
Mary
Charlotte
Eliza
Susan
Lucy
Ada
Alice
Annie
Lizzie
Kate
Mabel
Lily
Emma
Fanny
Rebecca
Matilda
Grace
Frances
Jemima
Sarah
Ellen
Nellie
Louisa
Martha
Clara
Agnes
Some common Victorian surnames
Jones
Williams
Taylor
Thomas
Wilson
Roberts
Thompson Walker
White
Wood
Harris
Smith
Morris
Turner
Ward
Tanner
Bennett
Gray
Mills
Dixon
Lane
Brown
Johnson
Edwards
Stringer
Cook
Chapman
Barker
Davies
Dorricott
Green
Tranter
Bailey
Shaw
Spencer
Evans
Wright
Hall
Watkins
Collins
Briscoe
Hill
Typical Children’s Jobs in the 1840’s
Mines
Children often started work in the mine as trappers, opening and closing tunnel
doors to let the coal trucks through. It w as very lonely and frightening crouched
in a tiny, damp space for 16 hours a day. Sometimes children were lucky
enough to have a candle, but more often their only company w as rats. Children
also worked as hurriers, dragging carts of coal along the tunnels using a girdle
and chain.
Brickworks
Children worked as bearers – carrying lumps of clay to the brick maker‟s table,
then carrying the finished bricks to the drying shed. A child was expected to
K S2 History U nit 11
Se ct ion 2
Act ivit y 3
Lit eracy Project
carry an 18kg lump of clay. Hours were very long and the pay low . Carrying
such heavy loads often resulted in deformed legs and spines.
Cotton Mill
Children worked as scavengers, piecers, and loom operators. Hours were very
long, sometimes from 5am to 9pm each day, and children were usually beaten if
they fell asleep or made a mistake. Sometimes, they were injured by the
dangerous, unguarded machinery. The children usually slept in an Apprentice
House near the factory w hich was cold and overcrow ded. They ate a very poor
diet, and the hard work often left them crippled from a very young age.
Match Girl
Working long shifts cutting matches from a block of wood then dipping the
heads into a poisonous chemical called white phosphorous, this was a terrible
job. Many match girls often developed a disease called “phossy jaw ” where the
chemicals caused the jaw to rot away. Phossy jaw left many w orkers disfigured
and often dead!
Chimney Sweep
Chimney sweeps, also called “climbing boys”, and had to wriggle up narrow
chimneys to sweep out the soot and other blockages. I t was very hard and
dangerous work. The soot meant the boys were alw ays filthy, suffered breathing
problems, eye infections and often died young from cancer.
Farm Labourer
Working outside in all weather, children picked stones, pulled weeds and scared
crows aw ay. Again, very low pay and long hours, especially in the summer.
Domestic servant
In 1850 girls as young as 8 yrs old were „hired on‟ as domestics in
households, usually 20-30 miles from their homes. Most were from rural
background as they were considered most manageable and hard
working. 1871 20% of nursery maids were under 15 yrs and 710 were under
10 yrs.
K S2 History U nit 11
Se ct ion 2
Act ivit y 3
Lit eracy Project
Research Links for Child Labour Literacy Projects:
Brickworks
www.ironbridge.org.uk/supporting_us/current_projects/blists_hill_victorian_
town_education/ - Experience the conditions in an authentic Victorian
brickworks, and make a brick using traditional tools and techniques!
www.users.zetnet.co.uk/barlow/george_smith.htm - The story of a man
who fought to improve the working conditions of children in brickworks.
Child Labour
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.htm - This website contains dozens
of primary sources relating to child labour. It takes quite a while to sift
through it all, but is well worth the effort.
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/victorians/standard/index.shtml - Some good
interactive pages, also covers School and Play.
www.woodlandsjunior.kent.sch.uk/homework/victorians/children/working.htm - A good
source for the whole Victorians topic.
www.magichistoryofbritain.co.uk/vicbritain1837-40/cottonmills.htm - A
really interesting history activity involving time travel.
Chimney Sweep (Climbing Boy)
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/victorian1.html#2 – A
lighthearted website, but still with some valuable facts.
www.camelraces.com/chimney.html - Brief account of the plight of child
chimney sweeps.
Cotton Mills
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.htm - Pages of testimony from
children working in cotton mils.
www.primaryhistory.org/lessons/victorians-child-labour-in-textilefactories,58,RSC.html - An interesting lesson on child labour in the cotton
mills.
www.historylearningsite.co.uk/children.htm - A thought provoking activity
on child labour.
Housing Conditions
www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/vindust.html - A very
good overview of child labour with some good information on living and
working conditions.
www.mersey-gateway.org/pastliverpool/housing/slums/slums.htm - These
primary sources show what living conditions were like for the poor in
Victorian times.
K S2 History U nit 11
Se ct ion 2
Act ivit y 3
Lit eracy Project
www.lmu.livjm.ac.uk/lhol/content.aspx?itemid=65 – Some excellent
images of poor housing. Although the photographs are late 19 th and
early 20th century, they still serve as a good illustration of what poor
housing was like. Copyrights apply to these images.
Match Girl
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/victorian3.html#1 –
Despite the jovial tone, you would not want to be a match girl after
reading this.
Mining
www.secretshropshire.org.uk/content/Learn/Mining/DeathDisaster.asp
An account of how the “Nine Men of Madeley” met with their fat e.
www1.conyers.stockton.sch.uk/sparkingthegap/victorians/james.asp
The testimony of James Pearce, interviewed by Samuel Scriven in 1842.
www.dmm.org.uk/educate/huskar.htm - a tragic account of the Huskar
pit disaster in Durham, 1838.
www.channel4.com/history/microsites/W/worstjobs/vict orian3.html#2 – A
good, succinct description of the work of a hurrier.
www.show.me.uk/site/show/STO1042.html - Some excellent stories written
by children who imagined what life was like working down a mine.
www.wearsideonline.com/coal_mining.html - A detailed account of
children working as trappers in the North East.
Domestic servant
www.ourwardfamily.com/victorian_servants.html
www. georgian-victorianbritain.suite101.com/article.cfm/domestic_servants_in_victorian_england Detailed accounts of duties, hours and wages of various levels of servants.
Books
www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-9948880-5118063?url=searchalias%3Daps&fieldkeywords=Chimney+Child.+A+Victorian+Story%2C+Laurie+Sheehan&Go.x
=6&Go.y=4 – An excellent piece of fiction about the life of a chimney
sweep.
www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss_w_h_/026-9948880-5118063?url=searchalias%3Daps&fieldkeywords=Climbing+in+the+Dark%2C+Nick+Warburton&Go.x=10&Go.y=1
2 – Another good chimney sweep book - one of the Treetops series. There
is also a playscript version!
K S2 History U nit 11:
Sect ion 2:
Act ivit y 3:
W hat w as life like for a Child in Vict orian Times
W hat w as it like for a poor child living in t he 1840s ?
Teacher’s Guide
Activity 3: Literacy Project
Introduction
In this activity, students write about the experiences of working children in
the 1840s, based on the research completed in Section 11.2.1.
This literacy project can take one of several forms, according to the ability
level of the student.
To help them invent a child labourer, the Create a Character resource
has lists of typical Victorian names and jobs. A list of research links is also
provided. Encourage children to write about:
Working Hours
Working Conditions
Diet
Housing
Punishment
1. A letter to Michael Saddler
Based on the research completed during Activity 1, pupils imagine
themselves to be poor working children and write a letter to the MP,
Michael Saddler explaining their circumstances and pleading for
someone to help them in their plight. More able pupils may even be able
to suggest some laws which may make the lives of working children easier.
Start by using the Create a Character resource.
2. Government Inspector’s Report
The children imagine themselves to be a government inspector writing a
report on working conditions in a factory or mine. Try to include a
description of the workplace and an interview with an imaginary child
labourer.
K S2 History U nit 11:
Sect ion 2:
Act ivit y 3:
W hat w as life like for a Child in Vict orian Times
W hat w as it like for a poor child living in t he 1840s ?
Teacher’s Guide
3. Interview with Samuel Scrivens (Less Able)
Children imagine themselves to be child labourers, interviewed by Samuel
Scrivens Esq, or another factory inspector, and write a transcript of the
interview.
Ask the children to work in pairs and interview each other and record their
answers. Provide a list of questions asked by the inspector, for the children
to respond to. For example:
What is your name?
How old are you?
Where do you work?
What time do you start and finish work each day?
How many days do you work each week?
Describe the work you do.
What happens if you work too slowly?
Tell me how you feel at the end of the day?
How do you get to and from work?
What do you eat for breakfast, lunch and supper?
How many people live in your home?
Would you like to learn to read and write?
4.
Newspaper Article
Students imagine they are writing an article for a local newspaper called
the (Your Town) Chronicle. Children write about child labourers in the local
area. They should describe the kind of work that the children do, how old
they are, how many hours they work and how their health is affected.
Use ICT to create a template like the one below. Children may like to
draw or find their own illustration or cartoon.
K S2 History U nit 11:
Sect ion 2:
Act ivit y 3:
W hat w as life like for a Child in Vict orian Times
W hat w as it like for a poor child living in t he 1840s ?
Teacher’s Guide
The Ironbridge Chronicle
1d
Thursday 27 th June 1841
TERRIBLE LIVES FOR
WORKING CHILDREN
Long hours, low pay and poor health for local boys and girls
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Rich grow richer as children suffer!
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