Victorian
Children
at Work
Supporting Resources
A selection of documents to help you interpret the
evidence with your class.
Supporting Resources - contents
Big Picture information
Page 1
Money Conversion Chart
Page 2
Costs of Living in 1880
Page 3
Timeline
Page 4
What can you find out from the interview?
Page 6
Examples of DIAL questioning
Page 7
Hot Seating Character Framework
Page 8
Examples of Persuasive Posters
Page 9
What's in the news?
Page 19
How and why to create a Big Picture
Was 10p a lot of money then? Find out how much it is worth in today’s money.
Find out how much the average family needed to spend each week on food, clothes and living.
This can be used to see how valuable a child’s wage was to the family.
Essential dates in the movements against Child Labour in Britain, from 1818-1948.
Framework of questions to accompany the Interviews provided in the Evidence Resources.
Questions to encourage pupils to get different types of information from the pictures they are
looking at.
This is a selection from the Working Class Movement Library to demonstrate a variety of
techniques used in posters. The selection includes real examples of anti-racism, peace, education and
workers' rights movements.
Links to recent articles from BBC Newsround and The Guardian, highlighting child labour as it is today
WCML has made extensive efforts to locate and acknowledge copyright owners, and wishes to be informed
by any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged in this resource so that we may
make any necessary corrections.
Big Picture:
At the time of writing this resource pack, the ‘big picture’ activity is relatively new. The idea is to get the
class to arouse their own interest in a topic at the beginning of it, getting the children to ask questions
and tell you what they would like to know. Undoubtedly, these questions will cover what you were going
to teach them anyway, but as a way of engaging them in their own learning the document and questions
can be referred to throughout the topic, giving them a sense of personal ownership over what they are
finding out.
To create a ‘big picture’, give the children an overview of a topic and then get them to ask questions
around it. On a large piece of paper create a kind of spider diagram with their questions on. These can
be referred to throughout the topic, so they are finding the answers to what they wanted to know.
How much pocket
money did they earn?
Did the parents
force them to
work?
Did the money go
to the parents?
Did the parents
not care?
What happened if they
refused to work?
Children who
worked in
Victorian Times
Who made it change?
Did this happen in
other countries?
Did children get a choice
what job they did?
1
How much is that worth today?
1880
= in Today’s Money
1 d. (Pence)
£0.20p
2 d.
£0.40p
3 d.
£0.60
4 d.
£0.81
5 d.
£1.01
10 d.
£2.01
11 d.
£2.21
1 s. (Shillings)
£2.42
2 s.
£4.83
3 s.
£7.25
4 s.
£9.66
5 s.
£12.08
6 s.
£14.49
7 s.
£16.91
8 s.
£19.32
9 s.
£21.74
10 s.
£24.16
19 s.
£45.89
£1 (Pound)
£48.31
£2
£96.62
£3
£144.93
£4
£193.24
£5
£241.55
£10
£483.10
£20
£966.20
£50
£2,415.50
£100
£4,831.00
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In 1880:
£1 = 20s. (Shillings)
£1 = 240d (Pence)
Average Weekly Spending of a
family in 1880
Item S/d
Meat 4/0
Bread (10 loaves) 2/3.5
Flour 2/0
Vegetables (18 lbs) 1/0
Other Vegetables 0/4
Butter 1/0
Fruit 1/6
Milk (1 1/2d per day) 0/10.5
Tea (1/2 lb) 1/0
Cocoa (1/2 lb) 0/6
Sugar (4 lbs) 0/10
Soap (1 1/2 lbs) 0/6
Soda, starch, blue 0/.5
Candles 0/1
Paraffin (1/2 gallon a 0/3
fortnight) [Kerosene]
attendance
wife & children
Costs of Clothing
Item
£/S/d
1 overcoat
1/15/0
1 umbrella
-/7/6
1 hat
-/2/6
1 silk hat
-/7/6
1 week-day suit
2/0/0
1 Sunday suit
2/10/0
1 pair socks
-/1/10
1 pair boots
-/10/6
repairing boots
-/6/0
1 under vest
-/2/6
1 flannel shirt
-/3/0
1 collar
-/-/5
1 pair cuffs
-/-/8
cotton, buttons
-/0/1
Coal (1 cwt) 1/3
Beer (3 pints at 3 1/2d) 0/10.5
Rent 5/6
Boots (for whole 1/8
family)
Clothes for the man 1/0
Clothes for wife and 2/0
children
School fees 0/4
Provident Club 1/6.5
[savings]
Medical 0/3
Weekly Prices for 1 person
Item
£/S/d
Rent (shared)
0/6/0
Breakfasts
0/1/8
Dinners
0/5/0
Teas
0/1/0
Coal and Wood
0/1/0
Washing
0/0/9
Tobacco, etc.
0/0/6
3
Timeline:
Children at work during Victorian Times
1818
The government tried to make it law that no-one should work more than 11 hours a day. However, some
politicians said that factory work was good for children and kept them strong and healthy, and so things
stayed the same.
1819
A law was passed that said that children younger than 9 years old should not work in cotton mills, and
those who were aged between 9 and 16 should not work any more than 12 hours a day. In Manchester,
some factory owners agreed and obeyed the new law. However, many factory owners disagreed and
children were still made to work long hours.
1832
A man called Michael Sadler wrote a report about children working in factories, which drew attention to
the horrible conditions.
1833
A report was written demanding that children under 9 should not be sent to work, and those aged
between 9 and 13 should not work more than 8 hours a day. It wanted to help workers not just in cotton
mills, but also those who worked in other textiles industries, such as wool.
A law was passed making this illegal and said that inspectors should go into factories to make sure it
wasn’t happening, but it did not do anything to help workers over the age of 13.
1834
A law was passed that said that only boys who want to work as a chimney sweep should be allowed to,
and so children should not be forced to do it. However, this did not really work because children were
sometimes pushed or bullied to say that they were happy to do this job.
1837
Princess Victoria became the Queen. She ruled Great Britain, Ireland and the Empire for more than 63
years.
1840
An investigation was made into children working in mines. It found that sometimes children as young as
3 years old were working there, and that the conditions were terrible.
1842
A law was passed that meant that children under 10 years were not allowed to work in mines, and
women and girls were not allowed to do this work at all.
1842
The Children’s Employment Commission sent men to factories to find out what they were like and asked
the factory owners and children questions about their work. They also asked local people like vicars and
teachers. The report found that many factory owners were stretching the law.
A report was also written in this year about the living conditions of the workers in towns.
1847
The ‘Ten Hours Act’ was passed, which meant that both children and adults should not work more than
10 hours a day. However, sometimes employers gave workers a break during the day but made them
start earlier or work later, and so they were still working for more than 10 hours in total.
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1850
A report was written about the problems faced by child chimney sweeps, but a law was not passed to
stop them from doing this work for another 22 years.
1874
Workers in textile factories finally got the 10 hour day that had been promised to them in the Act of 1847.
1901
Queen Victoria died. Her son Edward became the King.
1933
The Children’s Act was passed, and inspections were made to check that the law was being followed.
This said that children younger than 12 years old were not allowed to work, and those that were older
were not allowed to work during school hours or for more than 2 hours a day. They were not allowed to
work before 6 o’clock in the morning or later than 8 o’clock at night, and they were not supposed to do
any heavy labour.
1948
The Education Act was passed, which like the Children’s Act of 1933 said that children were not allowed
to work until they were 12 years old.
5
Date of the interview
When do they start and
finish work?
The name of the child
Where is their job?
Boy or Girl?
What is the longest number
of hours that they work?
What is their job?
How much do they get paid?
Do they go to school?
Can they read or write?
(Clue: have a look for a signature at the
bottom).
Have they ever been injured
or punished or made ill from
work?
What can you
find out from
the interview?
How old are they?
How old were they when they first started
work?
(You might not have all the information
to answer the questions)
How much time do
they get for breaks?
Is there anything else that they
tell us?
What do they say about
their family or home life?
What kind of food do
they eat?
6
At the time of going to print, DIAL questioning is a popular way of asking different questions of pictures to
encourage pupils to think what information they can find within them.
Examples of ‘DIAL’
questioning that could be
used with the pictures:
Deductive Question
(Deduction – The process of drawing a conclusion from the available
information)
What is happening in the picture?
How can you tell that … is happening?
How can you tell that the family have enough money?
Inferential Question
(Inference – A conclusion drawn from evidence or reasoning, or
something that is implied)
Who might the child be?
What is the child thinking?
How does the person feel?
Do the people in the background of the picture care about what is happening?
What do you think is the difference between the family in this picture and the family in that picture?
Authorial Question
(Author – To write or create something in response to the evidence)
What would be a good newspaper headline for this photo?
If you were going to write a speech bubble in this picture, what would it say?
Literal Question
(Literal – Entirely factual based on the facts or evidence that can be
seen)
What are the people wearing?
What does the writing in the picture say?
7
Framework questions for
developing the hot
seating character.
What is your character called?
What does your character do?
How old is your character?
What does your character normally eat for dinner?
What does your character wear?
How many hours sleep does your character get?
What does your character dream of doing in the future?
What did your character do this morning?
How does your character feel today?
What is making your character feel this way?
Does your character think children should work in factories?
Why?
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Recent articles The Guardian
12 April 1999
How to free child labour from the
poverty trap
Debate/Legislation must break the vicious circle for third-world families, argues
Sonia Bhalotra
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/1999/apr/12/6/print#history-byline
5 May 2006
Campaign group sets target to wipe
out worst cases of child labour in 10
years
Hard toil still a reality for one in seven youngsters around the world
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2006/may/05/internationalaidanddevelopment.busi
ness/print#history-byline
8 December 2006
Every little hurts
Now we have proof - if proof were needed - that our bargain-priced clothes come at
a human cost. But what to do about it?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2006/dec/08/everylittlehurts/print#historybyline
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29 October 2007
Child labour's ethical gap
Clothing giant Gap has become embroiled in another child labour scandal in India.
But is the answer to ban poor children from working?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/oct/29/childlaboursethicalgap/print#hi
story-byline
Tuesday 17 June 2008
Primark sacks three Indian suppliers
for using child labour
· Bargain fashion chain alerted to practice by BBC
· Chief executive says firms guilty of 'wholesale deceit'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/jun/17/primark.ethicalbusiness
BBC Newsround
28 March 2007
Child labour warning on choccie
A BBC report has showed that it's worth thinking twice before tucking into your fave
choccies this Easter.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//cbbcnews/hi/newsid_6500000/newsid_6501800/6501881.stm
18 February 2005
I work in a rice field every day
Abaane lives in Bolgatanga in Ghana. She works up to her knees in water in a rice
paddy after school.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4260000/newsid_4268100/4268117.stm
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2 June 2005
Police rescue 440 child workers
Police in India have helped about 440 children escape from illegal sweatshops in
raids across the city of Mumbai.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//cbbcnews/hi/newsid_4600000/newsid_4603100/4603159.stm
29 October 2007
Gap won't sell 'child labour top'
Clothes company Gap says it won't sell a blouse from its latest kids range after
claims it was made by children.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//cbbcnews/hi/newsid_7060000/newsid_7066200/7066211.stm
27 June 2006
Kids freed from football factory
A group of Indian child workers have been rescued from a factory where they were
spending up to 10 hours a day making footballs for a few pence a day.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr//cbbcnews/hi/newsid_5120000/newsid_5121400/5121424.stm
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© This resource is copyright of the Working Class Movement Library 2009. All material
used within it is available for view within the Library’s collection in Salford.
This resource is free for teachers to download and reproduce for use within a school, but it
must not be partly or wholly reproduced for sale or for any other use.
Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX, www.wcml.org.uk.
Tel: 0161 736 3601.
Email: [email protected]
Acknowledgements
This resource was produced as a result of a partnership between staff and volunteers at
the Working Class Movement Library and Cathedral School of St Peter and St John,
Salford. With special thanks to Diane Hanley for her commitment and expertise and other
Salford schools for their help and advice.
The resource was originated by Caroline Hunt; design and layout was created by Mike
Carter, www.mikesplace.org.uk.
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