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Child carrying pottery c1890
© Miranda Goodby
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Children in Staffordshire's potteries |
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Working conditions: long days and little pay
Although the working day was officially 12 hours long, many of the children worked longer hours than this as they were expected to be in the workshop before the adults and to have the place swept, fires lit, water brought in and the clay prepared, ready to start work as soon as the skilled workers arrived. When orders had to be filled quickly it was usual for the workshop to work over time for three or more hours per day: this was very hard on the younger children who then had to walk up to three miles to get to their homes.
Throwing pottery 1826
© Miranda Goodby |
By contrast, when work was slack the skilled workers often did not turn up for work for one or more days, relying on working even longer hours for the other four or five days so that they could produce the amount of pieces needed to make up their wages. Again, this could mean working days of up to 15 hours for the children. Mistakes by tired children were not allowed for and accounts of mould-runners and others being beaten by the adult workers, or not being allowed to take their full meal breaks, were common. As the children were employed by the skilled workers, not the factory owner, the latter could turn a blind eye to such behaviour and parents often condoned it.
Read 11-year-old Elizabeth Evans' experiences of work
Not all children worked in such bad conditions. In the workshops where the pottery was decorated with printed designs, young girls were employed to cut the patterns out from the sheets of paper before the transferer applied them to the pots. This work too was tiring as the children stood all day and had to be both quick at cutting out and accurate if they were not to spoil the design. In other workshops children painted dozens of teacups or plates. They would have a pattern to copy in front of them and would repeat border designs or floral sprigs on hundreds of pieces per week. These children, usually girls, had some of the best working conditions: although the pay was very low, the children sat at their work, were rarely ill-treated, and the workshops were usually clean and warm.
Words: Miranda Goodby
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