‘A Birmingham workshop’, from ‘The Child Slaves of Britain’ by Robert Sherard
Sherard was a journalist who campaigned against the exploitation of child workers.
‘Children of the poor’ taken on an outing of the Birmingham Cinderella Club to Sutton Park by J. Crwys Richards
Social reformers like Charles Dickens and Mary Carpenter in the 19th century, and Robert Sherard in the 20th were concerned that being out on the street put children in moral and physical danger. They ...
‘Children of the poor’ taken on an outing of the Birmingham Cinderella Club to Sutton Park by J. Crwys Richards
‘Children of the poor’ taken on an outing of the Birmingham Cinderella Club to Sutton Park by J. Crwys Richards
‘Our Alf’s a Postman Now’
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 ...
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 ...
Boy selling newspapers with a blind man on the corner of New Street and Worcester Street by Thomas Clark
Children in Warwickshire
This photograph shows 'village children' at Water Orton.
Farm labourers at Booths Farm, Perry Barr by Sir Benjamin Stone
Parts of Birmingham were very rural until relatively recently and many children were employed in agricultural work.
'Gypsies of the Sahara'
This photograph shows children in the Atlas Mountains.
Maggie Waters, Welsh milk maid by Sir Benjamin Stone
Report from The Birmingham Post
John Daintree was prosecuted in Erdington Magistrates Court for cruelty towards a 13 year old climbing boy called John Salisbury. John had to strip naked to get into a narrow chimney and then got stuck. ...
The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley
This very popular children’s book was written by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875) in 1862-1863 as part of the campaign against climbing boys. The main character, Tom, is a little chimney sweep who drowns ...
Young boy cleaning horse droppings off the street near the Town Hall by Thomas Clark
Young girls employed at Mills Munitions Works
Young workers making toys at Chad Valley