YEAR 6: SOCIAL AND POLITICAL REFORM
(6 lessons)
Contents Include:
Luddites
Urbanisation
Child Labour
The Workhouse
The Great Exhibition
Suggested Teacher Resources:

The Young Oxford History of Britain & Ireland, pages 286-320.

Great Tales from English History by Robert Lacey, pages 327-378.

The British Library have sources showing social change during the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries. The National Archives have some good sources in their
‘Victorian lives’ section. BBC Primary website has a good section on Victorian
Britain, in particular ‘children at work’ and ‘children in factories’.
Lesson 1.
Goodbye to the Old Ways
Pupils will now see how industrial innovations impacted on the lives of normal people. These new technologies rapidly accelerated the pace of social change
in Britain: workers lost their livelihoods overnight; jobs which had existed for centuries disappeared; small towns grew into enormous cities in a matter of
years. For this reason, many people were thrown into poverty by the Industrial Revolution, and there was much anger and discontent. The most famous
example were out of work artisans who travelled around Britain smashing machines and destroying factories. They were called the ‘Luddites’.
See pages 136-137 of What Your Year 6 Child Needs to Know.
Learning Objective
Core Knowledge
To understand the
negative effect of
the industrial
revolution on many
people’s lives.
The Industrial Revolution had an
enormous impact on British
society, changing many people’s
way of live.
Lots of jobs which individual
artisans had done (weaving
textiles, shoe making, metal
goods) could now be done by
factories and machines. Similarly,
stage coach drivers were
replaced by trains.
Some people who resented this
loss of livelihood attacked the
machines and factories which
were taking their jobs. The were
known as ‘Luddites’.
Activities for Learning
Evoke in pupils some sense of the
outrage that artisans/stage coach
drivers/metal workers must have felt
when their jobs were replaced by
factories and machines. Modern
examples could be used of people
loosing their livelihoods due to new
technologies.
Compare two different views of the
Luddite disturbances (resource 1). One
views their actions as misguided, but
understandable. The other sees them as
destructive, criminal behaviour.
This is the Horrible Histories Luddite
song, and this is a good video about
Luddites in Huddersfield.
Related Vocabulary
livelihood
stagecoach
luddite
artisan
Assessment Questions
Who lost their
livelihood due to the
Industrial Revolution?
Who were the
Luddites?
Why were the Luddites
so angry and driven to
violence?
1.
Luddite disturbances
SOURCE A: Lord Byron made this speech in the House of Lords on 27 February, 1812, during a
debate over how to deal with the Luddite disturbances. He had witnessed Luddite riots first
hand in Nottingham, where stocking weavers had been put out of work by the invention of the
‘stocking frame’.
During the short time I recently passed in Nottingham, not twelve hours elapsed without some
fresh act of violence; and on that day I left the county I was informed that forty Frames had been
broken the preceding evening, as usual, without resistance and without detection.
Such was the state of that county, and such I have reason to believe it to be at this moment. But
whilst these outrages must be admitted to exist to an alarming extent, it cannot be denied that
they have arisen from circumstances of the most unparalleled distress: the perseverance of these
miserable men in their proceedings, tends to prove that nothing but absolute want could have
driven a large, and once honest and industrious, body of the people, into the commission of
excesses so hazardous to themselves, their families, and the community.
SOURCE B: Archibald Prentice, wrote about Luddite disturbances which took place near
Manchester in April 1812 . Thousands of Luddites sieged the Burton Mill in Middleton, where
steam powered weaving machines had been introduced. The Luddites attacked the mill, and
burned down the owner’s house. Ten Luddites were shot dead by soldiers.
On 27th April a riotous assembly took place at Middleton. The weaving factory of Mr. Burton and
Sons had been previously threatened in consequence of their mode of weaving being done by the
operation of steam. The factory was protected by soldiers, so strongly as to be impregnable to
their assault; they then flew to the house of Mr. Emanuel Burton, where they wreaked their
vengeance by setting it on fire. On Friday, the 24th April, a large body of weavers and mechanics
began to assemble about midday, with the avowed intention of destroying the power-looms,
together with the whole of the premises, at Westhoughton. The military rode at full speed to
Westhoughton; and on their arrival were surprised to find that the premises were entirely
destroyed, while not an individual could be seen to whom attached any suspicion of having acted
a part in this truly dreadful outrage.
Lesson 2. The Growth of Cities
Urbanisation is a key concept within industrialisation. When people worked as artisans, they could spread themselves out in villages and small towns near the
necessary resources. The ‘factory system’ changed all of this: thousands of people had to live near each other in order to work in the same factories. This
gave birth to the industrial cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. The growth of such enormous cities created all sorts of problems: living
conditions were poor; clean water was impossible to find; and disease spread very quickly. Early Victorian cities were famously dirty and unpleasant.
See pages 138 of What Your Year 6 Child Needs to Know.
Learning Objective
To understand how
industrialisation
caused urbanisation.
Core Knowledge
The industrial revolution caused
cities to grow rapidly. This was
called urbanisation.
Urbanisation was due to factories
and industrial work concentrating
workers in large urban areas,
whereas artisans used to live
dispersed in smaller
communities.
Large cities experienced many
problems, such as the spread of
disease and overcrowding in poor
slums.
Activities for Learning
Look at various images and sources
about slum life in the Victorian city, and
write an account as a young child
describing the conditions in which you
live (resource 2).
Study the story of how John Snow
demonstrated the Cholera was caused
by drinking water contaminated with
sewage. This led to the creation of city
sewer systems.
This is a good opportunity for local
history, as many cities have exhibits to
show what urban life was like during the
Victorian period: see the Birmingham
back to backs, or the Kirkgate Victorian
Street in York.
Related Vocabulary
urbanisation
slum
back-to-backs
cholera
Assessment Questions
Why did the Industrial
Revolution lead to
urbanisation?
What was life like in
Victorian cities?
What could have been
done to improve
Victorian cities?
2.
The Victorian City
SOURCE A: Henry Mayhew describing a street in London next to a sewer that was used for
drinking water, 1849.
As we gazed in horror at it, we saw drains and sewers emptying their filthy contents into it; we
saw a whole tier of doorless privies in the open road, common to men and women, built over it;
we heard bucket after bucket of filth splash into it, and the limbs of the vagrant boys bathing in it
seemed by pure force of contrast, white as Parian marble.
In this wretched place we were taken to a house where an infant lay dead of the cholera. We
asked if they really did drink the water? The answer was, "They were obliged to drink the ditch,
without they could beg or thieve a pailful of water." But have you spoken to your landlord about
having it laid on for you? "Yes, sir and he says he will do it, and do it, but we know him better than
to believe him."
SOURCE B: Dr. Vinen, Medical Officer of Health to Bermondsey, 1856.
In one small miserably dirty dilapidated room, occupied by a man, his wife and four children, in
which they live day and night, was a child in its coffin that had died of measles eleven days before
and, although decomposition was going on, it had not even been fastened down. The excuse
made for its not having been buried before was that burials by the parish did not take place
unless there were more than one to convey away at a time... The front door is never closed day or
night and in consequence the staircase and landing form a nightly resort for thieves, where every
kind of nuisance is committed... There are two yards at the back of this house, in each of which is
an open privy; one of them is so abominably filthy and emitted a smell so foul that I was almost
overpowered.
Elizabeth Gaskell, Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life, 1848.
You went down one step from this foul area into the cellar in which a family of human beings
lived. It was very dark inside. The window-panes many of them were broken and stuffed with
rags, which was reason enough for the dusky light that pervaded the place at mid-day. After the
account I have given of the state of the street, no one can be surprised that on going into the
cellar inhabited by Davenport, the smell was so foetid as almost to knock the two men down.
Quickly recovering themselves, as those inured to such things do, they began to penetrate the
thick darkness of the place, and to see three or four little children rolling on the damp, nay wet
brick floor, through which the stagnant, filthy moisture of the street oozed up; the fireplace was
empty and black; the wife sat on the husband's lair, and cried in the dark loneliness.
Lesson 3. Children at work
One of the most notorious aspects of life in Victorian Britain was child labour. There was nothing new about putting children to work, but the new dangers
associated with industrial work, such as cotton mills and coal mines, meant that children suffered greatly. It was necessary for many poor families to send
their children to work in order to make enough money to keep them fed. Three of the worst jobs suffered by children were working as a scavenger in a cotton
mill, working underground in a coal mine, or being a ‘climbing-boy’ for a chimney sweep. Each job could result in severe injuries, or even death.
See pages 139 of What Your Year 6 Child Needs to Know.
Learning Objective
To find out about
different jobs that
Victorian children
may have done in
the past.
Core Knowledge
Activities for Learning
In mill towns, children were
employed as ‘scavengers’ to
move between the machines and
‘scavenge’ loose bits of cotton.
Read about three jobs that child
labourers would be engaged in:
‘scavenger’ in a cotton mill; working in a
coal mine; or working as a ‘climbing boy’
for a chimney-sweep. Images, videos and
information can be found on the BBC
primary website here and here. Pupils
then could compare the horrors of the
different jobs, and decide which one
would have been the worst.
In coal towns, children were
employed as coal miners—as
they were very small, they could
be used to climb through narrow,
underground tunnels. Similarly,
‘climbing boys’ would be
employed to sweep chimneys.
These jobs were extremely
dangerous, and children often
suffered horrific injuries, and
even death, due to their
industrial work.
This is a good Horrible Histories video on
children in work, and this is about
chimney sweeps, and this is about
children in factories. In addition, the
opening scenes of The Water-Babies
(1978) has a good depiction of life as a
climbing boy.
Related Vocabulary
scavenger
climbing boys
Assessment Questions
What jobs did children
have to do during the
Victorian period?
Which job do you think
would have been the
worst?
Why do you think that
such cruel treatment
of children was
allowed to happen?
Lesson 4. Campaigns against child labour
The pace of change in industrial Britain changed the role of the Government. It became clear to the British public that if evils such as child labour,
contaminated water and poor housing were to be overcome, the government would have to intervene and regulate peoples lives. This was particularly the
case with child labourers. Previously, it had been assumed that the government should not meddle in the private workings of businesses, but now many
figures in British politics asked for Parliament to pass new laws to regulate working conditions for adults and children. The Factory Acts were the result.
See pages 139 of What Your Year 6 Child Needs to Know.
Learning Objective
To learn how
working conditions
for children were
improved by the
Factory Acts.
Core Knowledge
Activities for Learning
Many people in Britain felt that
child-labour was cruel and
inhumane, and demanded that
Parliament do something to stop
it.
Pupils compose their own Factory Act, to
be approved by Parliament. They have to
think of rules and laws for factories to
obey, to make child labour less
dangerous and unpleasant. Their ideas
could then be compared with the actual
content of the Act (resource 3).
There were many in Parliament
who did not believe it was
Parliament’s right to tell
businesses and factory owners
what to do.
It took the action of campaigners
such as the Earl of Shaftesbury to
force Parliament to improve
working conditions for Victorian
children.
Pupils design a campaign poster calling
for the end to child labour. They have to
explain why child labour is so cruel; state
whose responsibility it is to change this;
and make some demands about how
child labour should be reformed.
Investigate what was provided by the
different Factory Acts to improve the life
conditions of working children. There is
an excellent resource provided on this
topic by the National Archives.
Related Vocabulary
laissez-faire
reform
act
Assessment Questions
Why did employers
refuse to treat child
workers in a more
humane way?
Who had the power to
force employers to
treat children in a less
cruel way?
What changes did the
Factory Acts bring to
child labour?
3.
1833 Factory Act
Factory Act 1833
CONTENTS:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
3.
1833 Factory Act
Factory Act 1833
CONTENTS:
1.
No child workers under nine years of age
2.
Employers must have an age certificate for their child
workers
3.
Children of 9-13 years to work no more than nine
hours a day
4.
Children of 13-18 years to work no more than 12
hours a day
5.
Children are not to work at night
6.
Two hours schooling each day for children
7.
Four factory inspectors appointed to enforce the law.
Lesson 5. The Poor Law and the Workhouse
The 1834 Victorian Poor Law reformed the relief of the poor and unemployed, and had an enormous impact. It ruled that food and money would no longer be
handed out to the poor by their parish. Instead, the poor had to apply for ‘indoor relief’, also known as the workhouse. The workhouse was like a prison:
families would be split up, inmates would wear uniforms, and they would be given boring, demeaning jobs such as breaking stones or untangling rope. The
justification for this was that an unpleasant workhouse would encourage unemployed people to try harder finding a job. In reality, this was rarely the case.
See pages 140 of What Your Year 6 Child Needs to Know.
Learning Objective
Core Knowledge
Activities for Learning
To understand how
the poor and
unemployed were
treated during the
Victorian period.
During the Victorian period, poor
people who lost their jobs would
not be helped by the
government.
Instead, those without jobs were
sent to workhouses, which were
quite similar to prisons.
Read an extract from Chapter II of Oliver
Twist. Pupils act out the scene as it is
read, imagining that they are all sitting
at their tables in the ‘large stone hall’.
Once finished, the pupils continue
writing the chapter themselves
(resource 4). Show a clip from one of the
many Oliver Twist films.
Workhouses were designed to
encourage people to find work,
so they made life extremely
unpleasant for their inmates.
Pupils should understand the thinking
behind the ‘workhouse’: it was made
deliberately unpleasant to encourage
people to find work.
This website has a wealth of
information, images and first hand
accounts of life in the workhouse, and
this is a good video about the
workhouse.
Related Vocabulary
workhouse
unemployment
Factory Acts
Assessment Questions
Why did the
Government have to
start playing a stronger
role in people’s lives
during the Victorian
period?
What did the Factory
Acts decide?
Why did the Factory
Acts not immediately
improve the working
conditions in factories?
4.
Oliver Twist
Read the following extract from Charles Dickens’ novel Oliver Twist. What does it tell you about
life in the workhouse? What do you think happens to Oliver after he asks for ‘some more’?
The room in which the boys were fed, was a large
stone hall, with a copper at one end: out of which
the master, dressed in an apron for the purpose,
and assisted by one or two women, ladled the
gruel at mealtimes. Of this festive composition
each boy had one porringer, and no more—
except on occasions of great public rejoicing,
when he had two ounces and a quarter of bread
besides.
The bowls never wanted washing. The boys
polished them with their spoons till they shone
again; and when they had performed this
operation (which never took very long, the
spoons being nearly as large as the bowls), they
would sit staring at the copper, with such eager
eyes, as if they could have devoured the very
bricks of which it was composed; employing
themselves, meanwhile, in sucking their fingers
most assiduously, with the view of catching up
any stray splashes of gruel that might have been
cast thereon. Boys have generally excellent
appetites. Oliver Twist and his companions
suffered the tortures of slow starvation for three
months: at last they got so voracious and wild
with hunger, that one boy, who was tall for his
age, and hadn't been used to that sort of thing
(for his father had kept a small cook-shop), hinted
darkly to his companions, that unless he had
another basin of gruel per diem, he was afraid he
might some night happen to eat the boy who
slept next him, who happened to be a weakly
youth of tender age. He had a wild, hungry eye;
and they implicitly believed him. A council was
held; lots were cast who should walk up to the
master after supper that evening, and ask for
more; and it fell to Oliver Twist.
The evening arrived; the boys took their places.
The master, in his cook's uniform, stationed
himself at the copper; his pauper assistants
ranged themselves behind him; the gruel was
served out; and a long grace was said over the
short commons. The gruel disappeared; the boys
whispered each other, and winked at Oliver; while
his next neighbors nudged him. Child as he was,
he was desperate with hunger, and reckless with
misery. He rose from the table; and advancing to
the master, basin and spoon in hand, said:
somewhat alarmed at his own temerity:
'Please, sir, I want some more.'
The master was a fat, healthy man; but he turned
very pale. He gazed in stupefied astonishment on
the small rebel for some seconds, and then clung
for support to the copper. The assistants were
paralysed with wonder; the boys with fear.
'What!' said the master at length, in a faint voice.
'Please, sir,' replied Oliver, 'I want some more.'
The master aimed a blow at Oliver's head with the
ladle; pinioned him in his arm; and shrieked aloud
for the beadle.
Lesson 6. The Great Exhibition
Industrialisation no doubt caused much harm and discomfort, but by the 1850s significant advantages were being won in terms of material wealth. Nothing
symbolised this better than the Great Exhibition, which took place in 1851. It was the high point of Victorian confidence, taking place in the magnificent
‘Crystal Palace’, made out of cast-iron and 300,000 individual pains of glass. The exhibition housed 100,000 objects from around the world, including a steam
hammer, a printing machine, a pen knife with 80 blades and the world’s largest diamond. The event was masterminded by Prince Albert.
See pages 140 of What Your Year 6 Child Needs to Know.
Learning Objective
Core Knowledge
Activities for Learning
To understand what
the Great Exhibition
was, and what it
represented for
Britain at the height
of industrialisation.
The Great Exhibition took place in
1851. It was designed to
showcase amazing objects and
inventions from around the
world.
Design a brochure advertising the Great
Exhibition to the people of England.
Explain what it is, where it is taking
place, and the sorts of objects that can
be seen. Alternatively, write a review of
the Great Exhibition having visited it,
explaining the extraordinary things that
you have seen.
So many people visited, and so
many things were displayed
there, that it was seen as one of
the greatest achievements of the
Victorian age.
It was organised by Prince Albert,
Queen Victoria’s husband, who
took a strong interest in
industrial and technological
improvements.
This episode of Jeremy Paxman’s ‘The
Victorians’ begins with an excellent
introduction to the Great Exhibition. This
is a good Horrible Histories video on the
Great Exhibition. The British Library has
many resources on the event and lots of
pictures showing the different exhibits,
as does the National Archives.
Related Vocabulary
Exhibition
Crystal Palace
Prince Albert
Assessment Questions
Why did Britain
become so rich during
the Victorian period?
What was the Great
Exhibition.
Why was the Great
Exhibition seen as such
an important
achievement?