Transcript of video clip
Subject: / History
Age groups: / 8–11, 12 - 14
Topic: / The Victorians
Victorian child labour: children working in coal mines
Transcript of video clip (01:54 mins)
During the Victorian period, the Industrial Revolution dramatically increased the need for coal which was needed to make steam and to drive the machinery. In order to produce more coal, the miners needed more workers. Children as young as five years old were used to supply this need.
This is eight-year-old Billy and he was employed as a trapper. Trappers operated the air doors providing ventilation for the miners. And by keeping the fresh air flowing, they stopped the build-up of dangerous gases. The young children would sit for hours in the draft of the door. Cramped, cold and frightened, with little or no light. Some would sing, to keep themselves awake, frightened that the miners would beat them if they fell asleep. They could cause an explosion if they didn’t do their job properly.
Other children worked as drawers. They pulled heavy carts of cut coal to the pit surface with chains around their waist. These drawers worked directly for the miners. More coal meant more money and the miners could be cruel if the children didn’t work fast enough. These narrow tunnels were often wet and thick with coal dust. The children got chest infections, pneumonia and lung disease and drawers also got lumps and sores on their backs from constantly banging them on the roof as they crawled along. All this, and the threat of roof falls.
The older children, aged between ten and twelve, were trusted to operate the pulley which lifted the buckets of coal and people up and down the mine shaft. Serious accidents could occur if the chain slipped or the buckets fell.
While the children worked, the mine owners and their managers got richer. Long hours, poor pay and dangerous conditions all meant cheap and
speedy coal production and a hefty profit for them. Malnourished and exhausted, these children could only expect to live until they were twenty-five.
Image attribution: By J Cobden [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons