CHILD LABOUR IN AN INDUSTRIAL TOWN: A STUDY OF CHILD WORKERS IN BIRMINGHAM, 1750 to 1880 by MARY NEJEDLY A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Centre for West Midlands History School of History and Cultures University of Birmingham July 2018 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract There has been extensive historical research into child labour in industries such as textiles and coal mining, but there has been little focus on children employed in Birmingham industries such as pin making and button making. This thesis illuminates the extent and nature of child labour in Birmingham and the significant contribution made by child workers to industrialisation between 1750 and 1880. It draws attention to the importance of children’s earnings for family incomes and suggests that some families migrated to the town in search of paid employment for their children as well as adults. The attitudes of employers, Poor Law officials, parents and children towards early work are explored, finding that child workers were regarded as an integral part of the Birmingham economy. This thesis provides a case study of child labour and child workers in an industrial town. It uses a wide range of primary sources to highlight the experiences of thousands of child workers who were not bound as apprentices to employers, but engaged on a daily or weekly basis. It challenges the view that the employment of children in manufacturing was a relatively short-lived phenomenon during the early stages of industrialisation, arguing that child workers were widely employed in Birmingham’s factories and workshops until the 1870s. It highlights the strategies adopted by labouring families to provide their children with access to basic schooling, and identifies the specific threats to children’s health from industrial employment. Finally, this thesis argues that nineteenth-century migration schemes which sent poor children to work on Canadian farms represented an international dimension to the history of child labour. i Acknowledgements I would like to thank the staff of the Record Offices of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire, together with staff at the National Archives and the British Library for their help and assistance with my research. The majority of my research for this study was undertaken at the Wolfson Research Centre at the Library of Birmingham, and I am particularly grateful to the archives staff for their valuable contributions. My greatest debt is to my supervisor Dr Malcolm Dick for his academic expertise, unfailing support, guidance and encouragement throughout this research. His insightful comments and enthusiasm for the subject have been inspiring. Thanks are also due to Professor Carl Chinn and Professor Jonathan Reinarz for their generous advice and helpful suggestions for possible local sources. I am grateful to the editor of Family and Community History for publishing an article based on aspects of this research, and to the anonymous reviewers for their very helpful comments. Finally, I would like to thank my friends and family for their on-going support and keen interest in my research. I am especially grateful to Steve, Rob and Kate for their love and patience. ii Contents Page Abstract i Acknowledgements ii List of Tables vi List of Figures viii Abbreviations ix Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Literature review 3 Attitudes towards childhood and children 17 Methodology and sources 21 The testimony of children and children’s agency 23 Structure of the thesis 28 Chapter 2 Parish apprentices and the old Poor Law 30 Parish apprenticeship in rural and industrial parishes 32 Child labour and the changing demands of industry 39 Gender differences in child labour 46 Age of starting work 52 The experiences of pauper children – case studies 54 Conclusion 60 Chapter 3 Birmingham workhouse children 63 An asylum for pauper children 64 An infant manufactory 66 Concerns about education and health in the infant asylum 70 Changes in attitudes towards child labour 72 Industrial schools and district schools 73 A blueprint for industrial schools 74 Making a profit from child labour 76 Children’s health and closure of the asylum 80 Leaving the infant asylum 83 Parish apprentices from Birmingham 84 Life after the infant asylum 86 iii Conclusion 88 Chapter 4 The industrious child worker 90 Birmingham industry and child labour 93 Child workers and the division of labour 95 ‘The unhappy pin headers’: a case study of the pin industry 98 Intensification of children’s work in the pin industry 101 The demand for child workers: diversity in child labour 105 Intensification of children’s work in various industries 108 Gender differences in employment 110 The age of starting work 114 Child labour and the changing demands of industry 115 ‘The forlorn little button girls’: a case study of the button industry 118 Demand for child workers in 1860s Birmingham 120 The experience of child workers in 1860s Birmingham 121 Conclusion 125 Chapter 5 Child labour and the family economy 127 Male incomes, family incomes and expenditure in Birmingham 128 Children at work, at school or ‘at home’ 137 Children’s earnings and family budgets 139 The importance of clothing 142 Case studies: George Jacob Holyoake and Will Thorne 143 Conclusion 147 Chapter 6 Education, industrialisation and child labour 150 Access to schooling for children of working families 151 Duration of schooling 161 The costs of schooling 166 The benefits of schooling 170 Strategies for combining schooling with child labour 173 Conclusion 182 Chapter 7 The health and ill-health of child workers 184 Working conditions and child health 187 Industrial diseases and chronic conditions 196 Industrial injuries and child workers 203 Ill-treatment and violence towards child workers 208 Conclusion 216 iv Chapter 8 Set adrift: Birmingham’s child migrants 219 Child saving 221 Admission to the Birmingham Emigration Homes 226 Experiences of life in Canada 233 Conclusion 241 Chapter 9 Conclusion 244 Child workers and the Birmingham economy 245 The importance of children’s earnings 247 The impact of early work on education and health 248 Changes in attitudes and children’s agency 250 Study outcomes and recommendations 252 Appendices 255 1. Occupations of Parish Apprentices in Birmingham 255 2. Parish Apprentices from Knowle, Warwickshire 256 3. Children’s Emigration Home – Entrance Book Boys 260 4. Children’s Emigration Home – Entrance Book Girls 264 5. Our “Gutter Children” by George Cruikshank 267 Bibliography 268 v List of Tables No. Title Page 2.1 Comparison of destinations – three Warwickshire 33 Parishes, 1750-1835 2.2 Comparison of destinations – three Worcestershire 36 Parishes, 1750-1835 2.3 Comparison of destinations – three Staffordshire 37 Parishes, 1750-1835 2.4 Destinations of Parish Apprentices from three 40 Warwickshire Parishes 2.5 Apprentices occupations by gender – three 47 Worcestershire Parishes 2.6 Apprentices occupations by gender – three 49 Staffordshire Parishes 2.7 Apprentices occupations by gender – three 50 Warwickshire Parishes 2.8 Children apprenticed in Birmingham by three 53 Warwickshire Parishes 2.9 Payments to Shakespear family by Knowle 55 Overseers, 1765-1774 2.10 Payments to Bayliss family by Knowle Overseers, 56 1765-1767 3.1 Children resident in the Birmingham Asylum for 76 the Infant Poor, 1845-1847 3.2 Children in the Birmingham Asylum for the Infant 86 Poor, 1851 4.1 Gender differences in employment (Birmingham 111 New Meeting Sunday Schools, 1841) 4.2 Boys in employment/or at school (Birmingham 113 Educational Association Survey, 1857) 4.3 Girls in employment/or at school (Birmingham 113 Educational Association Survey, 1857) 5.1 Average weekly wages – Birmingham, 1842 129 vi 5.2 Comparison of average national weekly wages with 131 average wages in Birmingham, 1841-1845 5.3 Average weekly wages in Birmingham metal trades 134 (1866) 5.4 Birmingham Education Society Survey 1867 (Boys) 138 5.5 Birmingham Education Society Survey 1867 (Girls) 138 5.6 Details of families interviewed in 1867 140 5.7 Details of 80 families headed by women 1867 140 6.1 National Society and British Society Schools in 155 Birmingham 6.2 Requests to Boulton & Watt for recommendation 168 to National School, 1813 6.3 Birmingham Educational Association Survey 1857 175 6.4 Percentage of employed children at Sunday School 176 by age 6.5 Percentage of unemployed children at Sunday School 176 by age 6.6 Occupations employing the largest number of children 177 and average age of starting work (Birmingham Educational Association Survey, 1857) 7.1 Industrial injuries at Birmingham General Hospital 206 (April to June 1862) 8.1 Age on entry to the Birmingham Emigration Homes, 227 1878-1879 8.2 Reasons for admittance to the Birmingham Emigration 228 Homes, 1878-1879 8.3 Destinations of children admitted to the Birmingham 232 Emigration Homes, 1878-1879 vii List of Figures No. Title Page 5.1 Weekly wages at R. Heaton & Sons 134 1st March 1861 viii Abbreviations BAH Birmingham Archives & Heritage BPP British Parliamentary Papers SCRO Staffordshire County Record Office TNA The National Archives VCH Victoria County History WCRO Warwickshire County Record Office WoCRO Worcestershire County Record Office ix Chapter 1 Introduction My first job came when I was only a little over six years of age; it was turning a wheel for a rope and twine spinner at Rob’s Rope Walk, Duddeston Mill Road, Vauxhall, Birmingham.