Birmingham Prison Visiting Committee on the Juvenile Court, 1910
Data was collected on the types of offences committed by young people and reported in juvenile courts.
Birmingham People’s Kindergarten, Greet
Infant children are tidying the kindergarten room. ‘Home life’ was the basis of activities. Children were encouraged to help each other by doing domestic and garden work and looking after pets. There ...
Birmingham Infants’ Health Society and School of Mother-craft, 6th Annual Report
Theories about child development in 19th century science, medicine and anthropology led to the emergence of the idea of ‘the normal child’. Children were increasingly observed, measured, tested and individual ...
Birmingham Blue Coat School Girls by Sir Benjamin Stone
The children were clothed in distinctive blue uniforms. The photographs are particularly important as the names of the children are included. These can be cross referenced with the other school records. ...
Birmingham and District War Refugees Committee, Register of Belgian refugees
During World War 1 thousands of refugees escaped from war-torn Belgium and many settled in Birmingham. The Birmingham War Refugees Committee chaired by Elizabeth Cadbury found work for adult refugees, ...
Belgrave Road, Balsall Heath
Belgian refugees at Moor Green House, Moseley
Autobiography of Richard Bennett, chimney sweep, written for the Birmingham Association for the Suppression of Climbing Boys
In the 1830s John Cadbury led a campaign in Birmingham against the employment of climbing boys. He called a meeting of all the sweeps in the town and tried to convince them to use machines instead. He ...
Arthur and Rachel Albright with their eight children
Beaumont Albright was born on 21 August 1861 at the family home in Edgbaston. He was the youngest of eight children of Quakers Arthur Albright and his wife Rachel.
Beaumont is sitting on a small stool ...
Apprenticeship agreement between Thomas Stirling of the parish of St. Giles in the Fields, London, and George Hardy, chimney sweep, of St. Marylebone
Climbing boys were sent up chimneys to clean them. Although there were fewer of them than other child workers their sufferings captured the imagination of campaigners against child labour from the late ...
Application of Alice Cumbley, Institution for the Blind, Birmingham
Alice Cumbley was at Birmingham Institution for the Blind in the early 1900s. The Institution kept detailed records for each child from admission to leaving.
Application Book of Middlemore Homes, 1903-1914 giving the reasons Henry was admitted
Henry is case number 2576. He was described as a ‘Healthy looking boy very ragged, Street Arab type’. Street Arab was a common derogatory term for poor children who roamed the streets.
Admission Record for Joseph Pagett, Register of Norton Reformatory
In the first half of the 19th century statistical studies seemed to show that Britain was being engulfed by a growing population of hardened young criminals. They stalked the streets, ever alert to the ...
‘Sparkbrook is our home’
The positioning of the children in this image means that they look down at the viewer from the height of an adult. It is a powerful statement of ownership: Sparkbrook belongs to them. Their bodies all ...
‘Our Alf’s a Postman Now’
Advertisement placed by Cadbury in The Nursery World advising parents on how to prevent children suffering from war worries
Cadbury advertised their Bourn-vita drink as a nutritious product that would help children sleep and avoid war worries. Child psychologists and the general public were very concerned about the effects ...
‘Opening of the Christian Kunzle Alpine Home for Children’, The Davos Courier
This article reports the arrival of 36 children from Birmingham Children’s Hospital at the Alpine Home for Children in Davos, Switzerland in 1932. It was believed that the health of children suffering ...
‘No child can resist’, Picture Post
Advertisers used images of children to catch the viewer’s eye. As families became more affluent they also targeted children as consumers. These adverts for Birmingham made ‘Bird’s Custard’ represent children ...