TEACHER’S INFORMATION
1
KS1&2
THEME
ARMLEY MILLS LEARNING PACK
The Mill Children
Curriculum Links: History, Literacy
Learning Objectives:
To recognise the difference between the lives of Victorian children and children today
i.e. work versus school life
Gallery Activities
Galleries/Spaces
Mill Character Trail
Textiles Gallery
This theme is designed to complement the primary
History curriculum and engage and enhance pupils’
understanding of the lives of children in Victorian
Britain. This theme is best delivered alongside the
expert-led workshop ‘The Mill Children’, although
the resources could be used as stand alone
activities. The workshop is available to book
though the Museum’s Learning & Access Officer.
WORKSHOP
The Mill Children workshop is a half-day
session focusing on what life might have been
like for a poor Victorian mill worker. The
children will learn about characters that might
have worked in a woollen mill and explore the
collections on site. The children will also have
the opportunity to visit the Mill Cottages and
see the contrast between home life for the rich
and the poor.
support their families. Many also lived on their
own without parents, often together with other
children in lodging houses.
Factory Work – the Mill Children
Factory owners at woollen mills employed children
because they were cheap labour and did not have
to be very skilled to work on the machines. The
job was hard with long working hours. Accidents
were common and the impact was deformity of
spines and limbs or bent knees and more.
Acts by the government to regulate juvenile
labour failed till the Factory Act of 1833. It set the
minimum age of workers at 9, the working hours
were not to exceed 48 hours a week and it also
set requirements for education.
Armley Mills was once the largest woollen mill in
the world and, at one time, employed many
children to carry out jobs in the Mill. Some of the
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
There are stark differences between the lives of
children in Victorian Britain and how we know it
to be today. Thanks to numerous statutes and
laws, and although life is still not easy for some
children today, standards of living for the majority
have improved dramatically.
A little historical information…
Working children were not uncommon before the
1800s. Children helped out in house and farm
work and also in their parents' business. However,
in the midst of the Industrial Revolution child
labour reached new dimensions.
Children were sent out to work by their parents to
Mill Children, Walker, West Riding. The faces of the
children in the picture are blue in colour. This illustrates
the poor health of the children due to their work in the
mills. The colouring is more than likely due to
emphysema.
1.1
work that they might have done would have been
as doffers, scavengers, piecers and carders and a
visit to the Mill will enable children to envisage
what it was like for a child growing up in Victorian
Britain.
Other forms of child employment
during the 1800s…
Climbing Boys
The task of chimney sweep apprentices, the so
called climbing boys, was to climb up the flue of
a chimney and clean it using their bodies. Some
were employed at the early age of 4 and worked
till they were too big for the flues.
Street Sellers
Apart from being employed by an adult street
seller as an assistant, children also worked on their
own. They sold small and cheap things, like
matches, flowers or fruits.
Entertainers
Children performed in theatres, the circus, or on
the street, for instance as pantomimes. Regulations
of the work of children in public entertainment
only really started in 1879 with the Children's
Dangerous Performances Act. It stated that no
children under the age of 14 were to perform
dangerous acts, like acrobats, and that special
training was required.
Boys exercising at Tothill Fields Prison.
with chilblains, mudlarks waded through the mud
that is left on the shore by the retiring tide and
collected whatever they could find and what they
were able to sell. The children were from very poor
families or were orphans and they had little or no
education.
Prisons
If the money still wasn't sufficient, some were
driven to occasional theft. On the other hand
there were also children who chose to become
thieves, since one was often able to gain more
money by stealing from people and from shops
than through honest work.
Flower Girls
Selling cut flowers was a job mainly done by girls.
The selling of water cresses was regarded as the
lowest grade of street sales. Depending on the
time of the year different sorts of flowers were sold.
In the 1800s, although penalties were high, crime
prevention was very low and the hard life of the
children softened the threat of prisons. Child crime
was widespread till compulsory schooling in the
1870s.
Mudlarks
With worn out trousers, their legs and feet covered
Schools
Children working during the day seldom attended
school, many did not at all. Their knowledge would
not go beyond the necessary things they had to
know to do their job.
Until 1870, mostly only rich people could afford
a proper education. Poor children went to diverse
charity schools with low fees when they had
the time.
Illustration of a case in Lothbury: two climbing boys who
got stuck in the flue could only be taken out by opening
the brick-work. Both of them were pulled out dead.
The Factory Act of 1833 required factory owners
to provide schools for their child workers and part
of the child’s day would be spent learning basic
skills such as reading, writing and arithmetic in
what became known as the ‘half time’ system.
State schools only developed in the 1870s and in
the 1880s education became compulsory up to
the age of 10.
1.2
ARMLEY MILLS LEARNING PACK
1
KS1&2
THEME
TEACHER’S INFORMATION
The Mill Children (continued)
The Schoolroom at Armley Mills
The Schoolroom is part of ArtForms, Education
Leeds. It enables pupils to experience, in costume
and in role, either the timetable of a typical
Victorian Board School or a 1940s classroom
where children prepare to become evacuees. It is
available to pupils at key stages 1 and 2 and is
free to LEA Schools.
Cottage to get a sense of the living conditions
that the different classes enjoyed or endured.
There are additional activities that support visits to
the Mill Manager’s House and Weavers’ Cottage.
PRE VISIT ACTIVITIES
For more information, contact the teacher in
charge on 0113 279 7326.
Using a timeline of British History, of which a
number can be found on the web, trace British
history back to find out where the Victorians fit
into British history.
Child Labour Regulations Today
Discuss the following in class:
In Britain the current school leaving age is 16 and
the legal age to start work is 13. Younger children
may only work in entertainment, sports, doing
odd jobs or babysitting.
What are pupils’ pre-conceptions of life for a child
in the Victorian times? Do they have any?
For being issued a performance licence for a child
in entertainment one must guarantee acceptable
working conditions and sufficient education. There
are diverse regulations of working hours for the
different kinds of entertainment for children of
different ages.
Working children need an employment permit
issued by the education department of the local
council and they are not allowed to work during
school hours. During term time they may work a
maximum of 12 hours per week.
During school holidays 13 to 14 year olds may
work 25 hours per week. Children this age can
only do “light” work, so they are not allowed to
be employed in factories. 15 to 16 year olds may
work 35 hours per week during school holidays.
GALLERY INFORMATION
The Textiles and Tailoring Galleries are home to
much of the large scale machinery that would
have been used in the Mill. They give pupils a
sense of the scale and danger of the working
environment that children of the Victorian era
would have been made to work in. Visit the
reconstructed Mill Manager’s House and Weavers’
Discuss the current system of direct Government
support for people in Britain and ask pupils to
think about whether there was any support for
individuals and families in Victorian times.
GALLERY ACTIVITIES
Rag Rugging
This traditional skill was employed by many women
and children in lower class Victorian homes. The
process involves using scraps of material and old
clothes to weave through squares of Hessian fabric
to create rugs. More advanced ‘rag ruggers’ could
weave amazing patterns and create detailed
images on their rugs.
Gallery:
Weavers’ Cottage
Materials you will need:
Rag Rug Frames
Peg or Hook
Scrap material
Information and Guidance Sheets (available
from the mill)
Mill Character Trail
Using the character boards in the Textiles Gallery in
the Mill, pupils should be arranged into small groups
1.3
and each group should be assigned a leader. Ten
minutes should be allowed for each character.
Gallery:
Textiles
Materials you will need:
Copies of the appropriate trail (KS1 or 2)
Note: Please photocopy and bring with you on
your visit
Clipboards
Pencils
POST VISIT ACTIVITIES
Campaign! (Literacy and ICT)
A letter to a local MP complaining about and
describing conditions as a child mill worker
The pupils should use this as an opportunity to use
persuasive language and could present their work
to the rest of their class in their groups.
Links
Here are some links to materials that you might
also find useful that support this particular theme:
British History Timeline
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/
Visit www.mylearning.org for more resources on
Victorian Leeds such as ‘History of Leeds – Poverty
& Riches’.
Students could be split into groups to develop either
of the following using ICT to present their work:
A poster advertising a job at the Mill for a
Victorian child
Learn the Lingo!
Noils: Short pieces and knots of wool discarded
during wool combing.
In order to have survived a day at the mill, you
would have needed to understand the words
and phrases they used! Here are a few
examples to get you on your way...
Penny-oil: The gate house of a mill where
workers checked in.
‘As reight as a bobbin’: Very neat
appearance.
Beam-mate: Term used by a weaver for the
person working at the other side of the loom.
Bobbin-ligger: Textile worker replacing empty
bobbins on a spinning machine.
Brat: Apron worn by textile workers.
Dod: To cut of dirty bits of wool.
Doddins: Bit of dirty wool.
Doff: To undress.
Doffer: Textile worker taking filled bobbins
from the spinning mule.
Elbow mate: Term used by a weaver for the
person working at the next loom on the other
side of the gap of alley.
Mungo: Tough material made from waste such
as rags from old suits and tailors clippings.
Pent: Engaged to finish piecework in a woollen
mill.
Shoddy: Cloth made from shredded rags,
discarded woollen goods and waste from
spinning and weaving.
Teg: A sheep in its second year.
The’ run on bobbins: Late or irregular buses.
Tops: Longer fibres of wool after combing.
Twister: Textile worker who twists together
strands of wool in spinning.
Woolsorter: A worker grading fleeces and wool.
Woolsorter’s disease: Anthrax, once commonly
contracted from the wool of infected sheep.
Worsted: Cloth made from the best quality
yarn, spun from long staple yarn, finely combed
and twisted.
Worstedopolis: The name coined to describe
Bradford because it was a centre of worsted
production.
1.4
KS1
ACTIVITY
MEet The MilL Workers
My name is S __ m.
I am _________ years old.
How old are you?
I clean under the machines when they are still running. It makes
me poorly and I’m scared of getting hurt like my friend George.
Can you find out why? (Use words to show why)
Look at my cl
othes. What is
missing? (Tick
the right box)
Trousers
Shirt
Socks
Shoes
Do you have a job?
(Talk about this with a friend)
My name is Elizabeth.
I am _________ years old.
I mend the broken threads
on the spinning mule.
How do I feel?
(Tick the right box)
☺
When do I go to school? Put a circle round your answer.
MONDAY
FRIDAY
SUNDAY
THURSDAY
Do you go to school on this day?
(Talk about this with a friend)
1.5
MEet The MilL Workers
My name is William
and I am in charge.
I make sure no one breaks
the rules.
What would I do to you if you
fell asleep? (Circle your answer)
Why am I carrying a ruler?
(Tick the right box)
Put you in bed
To measure things?
Dip you in cold water
For hitting the children?
Shake you
Do you think I am a fair man?
(Talk about this with a friend)
My name is Ma ____.
I weave the wo ___ into cloth.
It is very noisy working here and I have gone deaf.
How do you think I can talk to my friends?
My children work here – how do you think that makes
me feel?
SAD
HAPPY
SCARED
ANGRY
WORRIED
UPSET
1.6
MEet The MilL Workers
KS2
ACTIVITY
I am a scavenger…what kind of
jobs did I do? (Discuss and list)
My name is ________ .
I am _________ years old.
List some of the bad things about doing a job like this and why?
1
2
3
4
I’m always hungry…why do you think that is?
Draw your favourite food…
Do you think Sam would have eaten food
like this? Why/not? (Discuss with a friend)
My name is ___________ .
I am _________ years old.
Talk to a friend about what a piecer
does and what a doffer does…
What are the differences between your journey to school and Elizabeth’s
journey to work?
Elizabeth
You
Time left for work __________
Time left for school __________
Transport
__________
Transport
__________
Distance
__________
Distance (guess!)
__________
Is it light or dark when Elizabeth gets to work? (circle your answer)
Is it light or dark when you get to school? (circle your answer)
1.7
Meet the
MEet
The Mill
MilLWorkers
Workers
How do I punish workers (list)
My name is ___________ .
My job is _____________
1
2
_________________.
3
What do I use to wake the younger workers when they fall asleep?
Explain what this is…
Draw an accident
that might have
happened in the
Mill (you can be
as gruesome as
you like!)
My name is ___________.
My job is _____________
Pretend you are Mary, and working with
a friend, try and tell them something
without actually speaking it out loud (as
if there is a great noise in the background).
What was your message?
_________________.
How did you get your message across? (Describe what you did below)
My children and I have had a tough old time, list the injuries and illnesses
we have had over the years…
1
3
2
4
Do you think I am happy? (Discuss with a friend)
Would you like to do my job? (Think about why)
1.8