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Boys assist the plate maker c1860
© Geoffrey Godden
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Children in Staffordshire's potteries |
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Public house payment and Sunday school treats
The wages that the children earned ranged from 1/- per week to 3/6 (10p-17.5p) which was not enough to keep themselves but contributed to the general family income. Payment was usually made on a Saturday night. The workshop foreman would be paid in gold for all the people working in his room. He then worked out the wages for each person and had to obtain change for them.
As the banks and many of the shops were closed, the usual way to get change was to go to the public house. Here drinks would be ordered while the landlord changed the money into silver and copper and the wages would then be paid out to each worker, young and old. Many went straight home, others, including children, were tempted to stay in 
Wedging clay c1860
© Geoffrey Godden |
the pub and drink away part of their cash. Drinking, even at work, was common in the pottery industry at that time as many of the processes were hot and dusty and the water was often not fit to drink.
As a result of the long working days and the early age at which children started work, few of them could read or write. Many had never been to school or went for only a year or two, learning to knit and sew. Those potters that could read and write had usually learned at Sunday School. The Sunday Schools were also important in the temperance movement, encouraging adults and children to give up alcohol, and provided the few treats that most of the children would have experienced. These ranged from annual day trips by canal into the countryside to tea parties and singing concerts.
Read the accounts of two child-workers who both went to Sunday School
Words: Miranda Goodby
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