Description:In 1926, George Cadbury Jnr wrote that, 'As employers […] we only have a right to use the labour of young people if we make sufficient provision for their proper development […] the privilege of using the cheap labour of these young people should only be allowed by the community on the understanding that we do not warp their growth as intelligent citizens. Hence the education given should be of some cultural value’.<small><sup>1</sup></small>
Amelia Drew began working for Cadbury’s in 1913. This was one of two notebooks she used whilst studying at Bournville Day Continuation School. The notebook illustrated here was for her Tuesday Cookery Class, lessons included stock and soup making, a demonstration on sewing, cake making, bread making, ‘demonstration on invalid cookery’ including ‘sweetbreads a la crème’, egg jelly and ‘invalid cookery important points’. The second notebook contained transcriptions of poetry by the likes of Ruskin, Tennyson, Keats, and Wordsworth.<small><sup>2</sup></small>
In 1915, Amelia Drew along with all other ‘junior’ employees at Cadbury was required to attend a Day Continuation School. As part of their terms of employment, all girls and boys under the age of 18 attended compulsory classes one half day per week.<small><sup>3</sup></small> The Day Continuation Schools, although established by Cadbury Bros for Bournville employees in 1906, were funded and managed by the Birmingham Education Committee. The Bournville Continuation Schools were also open to employees of other Birmingham companies.<small><sup>4</sup></small> As with many of the factory’s departments, schooling was segregated; girls attended classes at the Beeches in Bournville, while the boy’s school was located in Cotteridge.
Education formed an integral part of Cadbury’s ethos for a ‘healthful and happy workforce’. George Cadbury believed that education was not only an opportunity for his workforce to develop life skills, but also had the long term benefit of providing the company with an educated workforce. In the 1924 publication Education in the Factory, the objectives for girls’ education at the Day Continuation School was outlined as the, ‘formation of such characters and inculcation of such habits as will help the girls to discharge wisely and happily the duties and responsibilities of womanhood from moral, social and individual stand points’.<small><sup>5</sup></small>
The statement demonstrated a considerable difference between the education of girls and boys at the schools, although there are similarities in the education of both sexes in the emphasis placed on moral and physical improvement. The objectives set out for the education of boys were more directed to reflect their position as ‘junior’ employees within the company. For example, unskilled worker, clerical worker, apprentice, skilled trade or professional were afforded different opportunities for advancement within the company, and thus their education reflected this.
<font color="#666633"><small><sup>1</sup> Iolo A. Williams, The Firm of Cadbury: 1831-1931 (London, 1931), p.154
<sup>2</sup> Notebook, Bournville Day Continuation School, 1915 [BM&AG: 1987F456]
<sup>3</sup> R.W. Ferguson, Education in the Factory: An Account of the Educational Schemes and Facilities at Cadbury Brothers Ltd. Bournville (Bournville, 1924), p.13
<sup>4</sup> Ferguson, p.11
<sup>5</sup> Ferguson, p.20</small></font>