SCRIVEN REPORT ON CHILD EMPLOYMENT

INTRODUCTION

1) I have the honour to lay before you the evidence that I have collected relating to the physical and moral condition of the children labouring in the important district of the Staffordshire Potteries, which comprise the parishes and townships of Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton, Fenton, Lane Delph, Hanley, Shelton, Corbridge, Burslem, Longport, and Tunstall, extending from north to south, a distance of nine miles, of unequal breadth or from one to three miles, and having a: population of 70,000 souls, chiefly of the working classes.

2) When first I began my inspection of the several works, it was my intention report on each separately, but I found there was so great a similarity in their character, that it would have occupied my time uselessly, and been attended with no advantage. I determined, therefore, to divide the whole into three distinct classes, not according to their magnitude or extent, but to their merits as to drainage, ventilation, and convenience.

3) In the places enumerated I have visited and thoroughly examined no less than 173 of them, which be in at Golden Hill, north of Tunstall, and terminate at Longton.

4) On a reference to a history of the Potteries, written by Mr. Ward, the chief constable of Burslem, I find that its origin as a manufacturing district dates from a very remote period, consequently many of its buildings and hovels are of almost equal antiquity: the sites of the several townships appear to have been selected with a due regard for the health of their inhabitants, as each is considerably elevated, and surrounded by a salubrious atmosphere, intersected by the fertile and beautiful vale of Trent, as well as by canals and ricers of wholesome and constantly flowing waters, having neither stagnant pools, bogs, nor ditches, except those which may have been artificially created.

5) I am disposed to think, however, that in the early ages of earthenware manufacture the effects of sudden transitions from heat to cold, and vice versa, were never contemplated, or, if so, these considerations were as nothing in the balance; as compared to the advantages derived from the near approximation to the coal, stone, and marl pits, with which the localities abound, their abundant produce being so essential to the trade: certain it is that the temperature of Staffordshire, as a county, is indisputably low; and the exposed situations of many of the factories render the people who labour in them extremely susceptible of asthma and consumption.

6) Perhaps no time or period of the year could have been more unfortunate than that in which I have been engaged; first because the monied and commercial interests of America, a country on which the welfare of this district so much depends, has been such as to create fearful anticipations and an extraordinary depression of the trade, by which thousands have been thrown out of employ. In the second place, manufacturers availing themselves of this (it is to be hoped temporary evil) have allowed workpeople to absent themselves during the Christmas season, by which they have been enabled to nurse their orders for a future day. Thirdly, the intensity of the frosts was such as to obstruct the navigation of the canals by which they receive and transmit their materials and goods, thereby compelling them to suspend every operation of potting.

MANUFACTURERS

7) The manufacturers are a highly influential, wealthy, and intelligent class of men: they evince a warm-hearted sympathy for those about them in difficulty or distress, contribute as much as possible to their happiness, and are never known to inflict punishments on the children, or to allow others to do so. It, would be invidious to particularise individuals, but I should do them injustice as a body if I did not acknowledge their liberality in allowing me unrestrained admission to every department of their works, as well as the desire they have shown to render me every assistance and co-operation, with the view of carrying out the objects of the Commission.

LIST OF MANUFACTURERS

LIST OF EARTHENWARE, PORCELAIN, AND FIGURE MANUFACTURERS.

8) In the first class, I have inserted all those manufactories of most recent structure; many of them are built upon scales of great magnitude, in some instances of beauty; among these may be mentioned the Messrs. Minton and Boyles, Alcocks, and John Ridgeways; they contain large, well ventilated, light, airy, commodious rooms, in all respects adapted to the nature of the processes carried on in them.

9) The second class form by far the most numerous, and are of greater or less extent, having from 50 to 800 hands engaged; most of them have been erected many years, and as the trade has increased, so the rooms appear to have increased m a corresponding ratio. Some here and there, upon, around, and about the first premises, so that there is neither order; regularity, nor proportion; the consequence of this is, that men, women, and children are to be seen passing in and out, to and fro, to their respective departments all hours of the say, no matter what the weather, warm, cold, wet, or dry; the rooms, with very few exceptions. are either low, damp, close, small, dark, hot, dirty, ill ventilated, or unwholesome, or have all these disadvantages.

10) The third class, which include the Egyptian-ware and figure manufactories are even still worse; but the children to be found in them are very few, and in many of them there are none. In eight cases out of ten of the whole, the places of convenience for the sexes are indecently and disgustingly exposed and filthy. It has throughout appeared to me most strange that masters should have paid so little regard to this offence against decorum and morality; in some places the women and girls are compelled to pass through the hovels where men and boys of the lowest character work, to relieve the calls of nature; others sit under the same shed slightly partitioned off, exposed to the vulgar gaze of half the men on the premises, to avoid which the better disposed either wait their return home, perhaps, at some considerable distance, or run to some opposite, next door neighbour for relief; independent of the immoral and debasing tendency to which this neglect gives rise, their impurities and unwholesomeness are evident. In many cases I have observed under and outside these houses pits for the reception of the excrementitions matter filled to overflowing exhaling its subtle and noxious malaria to the sacrifice of the health of all who breathe the within its influence. This I may be told is a sweeping charge, but I would answer, not more sweeping than the evil justifies.

11) The operatives are in their general character a quiet, orderly people, possessing not only the necessaries, but in most instances the comforts and luxuries of life; their habitations are respectable, cleanly, and well furnished. Before the "strike" of 1836-7, many of them were tenanted by their owners; but that unfortunate and mistaken attempt to coerce their masters, provoked by some few itinerant demagogues that visited the neighbourhood under the pretence of improving the condition of their occupants, occasioned most of them to change hands, and contributed to reduce those who were in a previous state of prosperity and happiness, to one of dependence, humiliation, and poverty, from they have never recovered.

WAGES

12) Their wages are considered the best of any staple trade in the kingdom, averaging, when in full work-that is, 12 hours per day, or 72 hours per week (deducting 1.30 hour for meals): -

Jiggers, Mould-runners, Oven-boys, Dipper's-boys, Cutters, Handlers, Apprentice Painters, and Figure Makers, boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 18, average weekly 2s. 0½d.

EMPLOYMENT OF FAMILIES

13) The processes being such as to admit of the employment of whole families father, mother, and some two, three, or more children - their united earnings are sometimes 3l. or 4l. per week: but, proverbially improvident, and adopting the adage,- "sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof", they squander the proceeds of their labour in gaudy dress, or at the skittle-ground and ale-house; so that, when overtaken by illness or other casualty, And thrown for a few days out of work, they resort to their masters for a loan, or to the parish workhouse for relief.

EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN

14) The employments of children are various and dissimilar; in some of the rooms great numbers are congregated together, while in others there are only one or two; the painting, burnishing, gilding, flower-making, moulding, figure-making, and engraving, constitute literally schools of art, under the superintendence of- masters and mistresses. In the first and second are to be seen the apprentice boys and girls (each working in separate rooms), whose ages vary from 8 to 17: the boys are seldom taken before 14. Both serve an apprenticeship of seven years, and receive in the first year ls. per week, ls. 6d. the second, 2s. the third, 2s. 6d. the fourth; for the fifth and sixth they get half price of the adult journeyman or women, and on the seventh their, full price, allowing a drawback to the master of 4d. in the ls. They are seen sitting at their clean tables, at a comfortable distance from each other, and in an airy, commodious, and warm room, well ventilated, and heated by a stove or hot plate, on which they dress their meals. The women who superintend their work are generally selected from among the rest on the premises on account of their good moral conduct and long servitude. They commence their duties at six in the morning in summer, and at seven in winter, and leave at six. In the midst of their occupations (which have in reality more the character of accomplishments) they are allowed the indulgence of singing hymns. I have often visited their rooms unexpectedly, and been charmed with the melody of their voices. In personal appearance they are healthy, clean, and well conducted.

15) The processes and departments to which I beg leave to direct your especial attention are the dipping, scouring, throwing, plate, saucer, and dish making, and printing, as those in which very young children are found. The effects I have observed in the first and second, on many of the older hands, and the evidence I have recorded from all, have satisfied me that they are the most pernicious and destructive in the whole process of potting. It is true that in many instances persons have been known to have worked as dippers many years without any material consequences resulting,, or being perceptible, and they will tell you "'tis not so bad now as formerly, when a greater proportion of the poisonous metal entered into the composition of the liquid;" but even in them, whose constitutions may have been less susceptible of its influences, I have been able to trace in their dull and cadaverous countenances its insidious workings. In most of the rooms there are one or two adults, with their attendant boys, whose business it is to bring the ware in its rough, or, in the phraseology of the potter, in its biscuit state, from the warehouse or painting-room to the tub. By constant handling, the fingers become so smooth and delicate that they sometimes bleed, and thereby render the process of absorption more certain and rapid. The dipping itself; performed by the man, is momentary, and, when completed, the article is passed on to the boys for shelving and drying; the liquid consists of borax, soda, potash, with whiting, stone, and carbonate of lead, finely ground and mixed together with water; for coarse goods a large proportion of lead is used, and in some cases arsenic. Both men and boys have their hands and cloths almost always saturated with it; and reckless of the danger they incur, seldom or ever change, or use precautionary measures, frequently taking their meals in the same room, sufficiently satisfied to wipe their hands on their aprons. I have never seen rooms provided for cleansing, although it appear in some of the returned schedules that there is plenty of water and at their command. From their disregard of prophylactic measures; you will not be surprised that paralysis, colica pictonum, epilepsy, and a host of other nervous diseases; are to be met with in all their aggravated forms. The most constant, however, is that of partial paralysis of the extensors of the hands in men, and of epilepsy in children, accompanied at all times with obstinate constipation of the bowels and derangement of the alimentary canal. But the strongest assurance that can be adduced of the deleterious effect that this process has on children, to be found in the evidence of the men themselves, who, when their affections have been appealed to as fathers of families, have invariably, to the question " Would bring your own son to the dipping-tub ?" replied " No: " and in the instance of John Cooper he continued because I love my child, and would rather that should live." the average amount of weekly wages for men in this department is 30s., for boys 5s., which is higher than in many others, and obtained as an equivalent for " the risk they run." This pay is a strong temptation to the thoughtless and improvident parent, who, regardless of consequences to their offspring, permit them, so long as they reap the advantages of their labour, to continue in this pest-house. Phthisis is a very prevalent disease here. It has been asserted by some writers that the oxides of lead by absorption is very capable of rousing it into action, and the dipping-tub, already sufficiently notorious for its poisonous contents, is made to swell the number of its victims. I confess that, throughout my inquiry I have not been able to attribute any case to it, and am therefore disposed to believe that this malady, so common, owes its rise and progress to other processes, and these are in the scouring, ground-laying, sifting-rooms, and hot-houses.

16) In the two first it is rare to find young children. As, however, I may not have occasion to refer to them again, it may be as well to convey some information as to the kind of work carried on. When china ware is to he fired it is first placed in coarse earthen vessels called saggers - these contain a quantity of finely pulverized flint; this, during the firing, attaches itself strongly to the china; some two, three, or more young women, are employed to scour it off with sand-paper and brushes; the particles float abundantly in the atmosphere of the room, and cover their persons just as plentifully as flour does the miller; in every act of respiration a considerable quantity is deposited on the mucous surfaces of the fauces, trachaea, and bronchial tubes, and being acutely angular and irritating soon occasions thickening of these membranes, as evidenced by their small weak voices: asthma, chronic cough, tubercular development, consumption, soon follows, and death. Some of them will escape for a time, whilst others become easy preys. The ground-laying is generally performed by men, and consists in dapping the ware with the metallic oxides by means of a piece of cotton wool, the ware being previously moistened with some adhesive fluid. The air becomes charged as in scouring, and the consequences are of the like character.

17) The class of children whose physical condition has the strongest claims to consideration is that of the "jiggers" and " mould-runners", who, by the very nature of their work, are rendered pale weak diminutive and unhealthy; they are employed by the dish, saucer, and plate makers; their hours are half past five in the morning to six at night, but in numberless instances they, are required to labour on to eight, nine, or ten, and this in an atmosphere varying from 100 to 120 degrees; all these extra hours being occasioned, nine times out of ten, by the selfishness or irregularities of their unworthy taskmasters. The men work by the piece: however much there may be on hand to accomplish they seldom or ever work after Saturday noon, and often not before the following Tuesday or Wednesday morning, but spend the hard earnings of the previous days idly and unprofitably; once gone, they again " buckle to", and work like horses. Each man employs two boys, one to turn the jigger, or horizontal wheel, from morning to night; the other to carry the ware just formed from the " whirler" to the hot-house and moulds back. These hot-houses are rooms within rooms, closely confined except at the door, and without windows. In the centre stands a large cast-iron stove, heated to redness, increasing the temperature often to 130 degrees. I have burst two thermometers at that point. During this inclement season I have seen these boys running to and fro on errands, or to their dinners, without stockings, shoes or jackets, and with perspiration standing on their foreheads, after labouring like little slaves, with the mercury 20 degrees below freezing. The results of such transitions are soon realised, and many die of consumption, asthma, and acute inflammations. It is admitted on all hands that their work is the most arduous and fatiguing of all others. Of this there is abundant proof on turning to the evidence of John Johnson (No; 48), Longport which is confirmed by many others. It will appear that a good workman can; and frequently does, make eight score dozen saucers a week, each dozen counting thirty-six pieces: each piece is carried twice to and fro, and weighs (mould and bat) two pounds, but, as two pieces are carried at the same time, they will count but as one, and as four pounds on every trip.

18) Let us first calculate the weight absolutely borne, then the distance run bare-footed. Eight times 20 is 160: 36 times 160 is 5760 pieces, of two pounds each, carried in six days of only 72 hours, which, multiplied by 4 (the weight of two moulds and bats), gives 23,040 pounds; divided by 6, the number of working-days in the week, will give 3840 pounds a day, of twelve hours, without deducting the so-called one and a half hour for meals, which, by the way, they never get.

19) The average distance from the whirler to the centre of the stove is an honest 7 yards; the same back will make 14: 14 times 5760 yards gives 80,640, or 45 miles 1440 yards in a week, which, divided by 6, gives 7 miles 1120 yards per day: besides this, they have to mount one, two, or three steps, to place the pieces upon the shelves. But this is not enough; their master requires them, whilst he is taking his pipe or his pot, to wedge the clay in the yard, collect the half dried pieces from the shelves again, to come half an hour or more before him in the morning, to get coals in, ashes out, and sweep and make ready for him the room, or anything else that may be wanted, and probably has to walk a mile before and after his work: If the master's propensities prompt him to loiter away the early days of the week, he works the extra hours on "middle days", to make up his losses; thus the child, the almost infant child, is taxed with three or four hours' increased exertion, to the sacrifice of his health, his morals, and every domestic comfort that he would otherwise enjoy, and this without the least remuneration, as, in every case, his wages are the same whether he works the twelve hours or sixteen. The evil is lamented by the honest workman, by the children, by their parents, and universally by the manufacturers; - who acknowledge their inability to correct it themselves without incurring the risk of exciting tumult, and thereby occasioning some delay in the execution of their orders, as the processes are so linked in with each other, that, by losing one set of men, the others are rendered useless. Should a remedy be suggested, the children would have reason to hail the day of their emancipation from toil little removed from slavery.

20) My attention was particularly directed to the little " handlers: " they are engaged very young to make handles for cups, &c. For this purpose two blocks of plaster of Paris are used with the half figure moulded on each, so that when brought together a perfect whole is formed out of the clay placed between by pressure. To accomplish this they throw themselves with all their strength upon the mould, and wriggle themselves whilst in the horizontal position, the blocks bearing forcibly on their chests. The sternum and ribs not having acquired sufficient maturity, it is easy to believe that this practice is likely to flatten the chest, interfere with the functions of the heart and lungs,. and thereby become another prolific source of consumptive disease. I have stripped and examined some scores, but must admit that I have found but few of such cases as I have described.

21) In the printing-room there may be one or more presses, depending on the size of the room. To each press there is one male printer, two female transferrers, and one cutter; this last is an easy employment, and undertaken by very young girls. The moral training of these children depends on the character of the printers; if they are profligates or drunkards they are sure to suffer, as their minds are impressed with the language and indecent examples of those in authority over them, and they are unfortunately too commonly practised, the women being often worse than the men.

22) In the " throwing", " turning", " sagger", " sorting", and " placing" rooms; " slip-kilns", and " ovens", children are only occasionally found. In the first these there is one man with two women; in the second, one young woman with one man, often alone; these are said to be the emporiums of profligacy; from oral evidence of the magistrates and clergy, and from some of the manufacturers themselves, I find that sexual intercourse in these departments is of very common occurrence, and that bastardy, the natural result is thought very lightly of. The excellent rector of Longton (Dr. Vale) observes: - " the young girls consorting with males in the works have no sense of the sin of whoredom, or of the bestiality of uncleanness.

23) The subject of apprenticeship is one which appears to me to be of immense importance, as influencing the moral characters of a vast number of persons engaged in the peculiar trade of potting. From the circumstance of my inquiries being limited to children under 13 years of age, this subject has not hitherto engaged my attention.. However, as soon as I received information of the extension of the inquiry, I immediately directed my attention to the collection of evidence with the view to show the actual condition of the latter.

24) On a reference to the printed lists filled up by the manufacturers, there will appear to be some thousands employed, between the ages of 13 and 21; these, with few exceptions, are bound or a period of seven years, in the form and manner here annexed, as twifflers, saucer-makers painters and pressers. But the binding is only nominal, and for this reason, that the parents are often unable, always unwilling, to pay the stamp-duty of 1s., or even meet the master with 10s. half way. In some few cases, where employers have a competent, well- disposed, and active lad, taken either from the stove or jigger, they will sometimes secure his services by providing the stamp themselves; but, where they . take 40, 50, or 60, it is too much to expect that they would make it a general rule. What results ? That which is daily seen. A lad serves two, or three, or more years, already at half the journeyman's wages, over which he holds undivided control long before he has acquired a sufficient knowledge of its real value; he will leave not only his parents' roof at 15 or 16, and take up his abode with some worthless workmate, and squander his earnings in profligacy and drunkenness, but will leave also his master's employ, and seek labour at higher prices in a distant locality, laughing to derision any efforts that may be made to reclaim him from a life of vice and idleness. He may be summoned before a magistrate: what then ? The case is dismissed, as this functionary finds, on an examination of the document, that he cannot adjudicate on, or take cognizance of it, as it is an illegal instrument.

25) But the mischief does not stop here. The manufacturer suffers. The several departments of the trade are like so many spokes of a wheel; take one away, and the rest will break down; abstract the plate-makers or pressers, the oven ceases to our forth its volumes of smoke; the dipper, printer, cutter, transferrer, painter, burnisher, all stand still: and ask the reason, and they are answered, " Richard Roe has run away, and master canna fetch him back." The good journeyman suffers; for Richard Roe, under pretence of his master having no further use for him, or of his having served his time, finds a place at better wages than he had before, but under that which the honest workman should receive; who, by this spurious importation, is obliged to enter into an unfair competition, necessarily depreciating his own value, or is thrown out of employ. The proportion of stamped indentures, as compared with others, is shown by the return of the distributor of the district, and is as 13 to 3000, or more. I am led to infer, from sources of good information, that if this duty was diminished from 20s. to 5s., every manufacturer would avail himself of the benefit, behaving a direct interest in the advancement of his servant, who would become a better workman; the parent would benefit, by receiving the wages of his child as a compensation for his board and lodging; society would benefit, by rearing up around it steady and industrious youths; and I believe the Government would benefit, by a considerable increase of its revenue, from sources perhaps hitherto considered as only trifling.

26) Manufacturers pay their workpeople every Saturday afternoon in the shape of "wage bills; these are given to the heads of the several departments; take, for example, the printing-room, where 12 men, 24 women, and 12 children are employed: one man receives a list from the counting-house of the whole party, with the amount due to each carried out against their names. The then go "a changing " to some favourite public-house or beer-shop, of which by the way, there are upwards of 400 of the lowest description. The landlord " takes care to secure sufficient coin to meet the demand, and invariably expects a percentage, or that a certain quantity of beer shall be "drunk on the premises", for the privilege bestowed. I need not observe, that these dens of immorality are, on these occasions, crowded, and are calculated to produce much mischief. Some of the better-disposed of the people obtain their change of respectable tradesmen, who gain a profit by the sale of goods, or receive five per cent discount There are other practices peculiar to the people them selves which have a bad tendency, and are called by them " wedding ales", " foot ales", and " changing or parting ales." By this is understood,

when a party in either department is married, or joins or leaves for another place, he or she is expected to treat all round, and may expect rough usage if they refuse to accede to the " law." I have seen young women who had taken the teetotal-vow, placarded on the walls and beams of their workshops for not submitting to the exaction; and this in one of the largest and best regulated factories that I have met with.

27) No machinery, in the common acceptation of the term, is required, except at the grinding-mills, which are generally detached from the premises, and in which children have no duties to perform. Surgical diseases are therefore of seldom occurrence.

EDUCATION AND SCHOOLS

28) The subjoined return of the weekly, Sabbath, and infant schools, with the number of places of worship, is, as far as it goes, conclusive evidence that no efforts are spared on the part of the wealthy classes to afford ample opportunities to the younger branches of the community of acquiring moral and religious education. Indeed I do not believe that there is any other part of the country, certainly none that I have visited, where such examples, " so worthy of all imitation", are to be met with: -

Returns of Sunday Schools in the Staffordshire Potteries and Surrounding Neighbourhood (February 1841)

Number of Scholars Receiving Instruction

Number of Teachers giving Instruction

Number of Places of Religious Worship

Returns of Day Schools in the Staffordshire Potteries, 1841

29) I almost tremble, however, when I contemplate the fearful deficiency of knowledge existing throughout the district, and the consequences likely to result to this increased and increasing population, and would willingly leave the evidence to speak for itself, did I not feel that I should ill discharge my duty were I to shrink from the task; on an examination of the minutes of evidence which I have the honour to forward from Cobridge, Burslem, &c. &c., it with appear that more than three-fourths of the persons therein named can neither read nor write. An internee may be possibly drawn that I may have been partial in my selection of them, but I beg distinctly to be understood as having on all occasions had them before me irrespective of any educational competency they may have possessed. But it is not from my own knowledge that I proclaim their utter, their absolute ignorance. I would respectfully refer you to the evidence of their own pastors and masters, and it will appear that as one man they acknowledge and lament their low and degraded condition. My experience has satisfied me that this state of things is attributable to the three following causes.

30) The first, and perhaps most prominent, I conceive to be that of sending children at too early a period of life to labour from morning till night, in hundreds of cases for 15 or 16 hours consecutively, with the intermission of only a few minutes to eat their humble food of " tatees" and " stir pudding", and where they acquire little else than vice, for the wages of ls. or 2s. per week, whereby they are necessarily deprived of every opportunity of attending a day or evening school.

31) Another is the total indifference of parents, who, although in numberless instances earning from 2s. to 3s. or 4s. per week, and not requiring the early labour of their offspring, nevertheless care so little about their immediate or future welfare, as to be equally satisfied whether they continue in ignorance or not.

32) A third is doubtless the poverty of others unemployed.

33) In all the schools 2d. per week is required from every pupil, which, although trifling in amount, is beyond the reach of many; instances, happily, are not wanting in which benevolent persons contribute this stipend to the children of industrious and deserving parents, who have during the recent depression of trade been thrown out of work.

34) There are in the district Sunday-schools belonging to the church, and to dissenters of many denominations, but chiefly to Methodists of' the " Wesleyan", " New Connexion", " Christian Association", and " Primitive" connexion. In these are congregated immense numbers of children of both sexes. The practice of all is to open their doors at nine o'clock in the morning, and close them at half past ten, when they retire to the religious worship of their respective churches or chapels: to open again at one o'clock, and retire at half past two generally, for the same purpose, thus giving three hours of instruction deducting half an hour for prayer and singing, with which they commence their duties. There are defects in the system of Sunday-school training, or whence arises the fact of children whose depositions I hand you from Burslem, the very pride of the potteries, their very seat of learning, being so profoundly ignorant as not to know one letter from another, and yet regularly "attend Sunday schools" my deliberate opinion is; that in an educational point of view they are not doing the good which is attributed to them: first, on account of the limitation of the hours of schooling; next; from the absence of writing, and other such secular instruction; and, thirdly, on account of the teachers; who with honour be it spoken, are eight-tenths of the working classes, yet unequal to the task of teaching. I do not mean to detract from the merits of Sunday-schools as a source of religious knowledge, which by some is considered the basis upon which all others should be built, or from the moral effects resulting from the congregating of children in religious places; or from associating with religious friends; but would rather give my humble praise to the many sects who have with such determined efforts striven to stem the torrent of infidelity, profligacy, and drunkenness, and continue with pious zeal, in imitation of their founder, to extend the knowledge and love of God.

35) On a reference to the table it will be seen that there are in the several townships 17 day-schools, upon either Dr. Bell's, the Lancasterian, or the Infant system; but in the attendance upon these, as compared with the Sunday-schools, there is a sad falling off; nearly all of them are handsome and spacious edifices, and capable of holding and seating comfortably four times the number of children in daily attendance.

36) Amongst the most prominent are those of Hanley, Shelton, Stoke, Longton, Burslem, Dale Hall, and Tunstall; these are noble institutions, and do honour to the respective inhabitants. The boys and girls have their separate rooms, which are lofty, dry, well ventilated, warm, and in all respects adapted to their purposes; and each has its master or mistress, who has generally been trained at one of the normal schools, and therefore, it is presumed, well qualified for his duties. It has however, not been my fortune to find much order or decorum in the children, or cleanliness in the rooms they occupy.

37) Most of the schools belong to the National Society, and are therefore upon Dr. Bell's system, and do not admit the children of other denominations unless they conform to the worship of the Church; at least such is the general rule, although it may sometimes be departed from. It must be remembered that this district is the stronghold of the Kilhamites or new Methodist connexion; and that the Wesleyans, and Primitive Methodists or Ranters, prevail in immense numbers, and constitute perhaps four-fifths of the population; that they have, within a few years, erected at their own expense a vast number of' chapels of great beauty and magnificence, together with detached Sunday-schools in all respects corresponding; so that they may not have the pecuniary means, however much they may have the inclination, to build day-schools for their children. The rule above alluded to in the National School necessarily excludes them; hence the insignificant number of those that attend. Independent of this, monitors are appointed over each class. Boys, as well as girls, as soon as they arrive at eight, nine, or ten years of age, are sent to work; these monitors are therefore very young, and possess only the ability to read "a bit" themselves, or it may be spell. Parents even of the church have a strong objection to pay the weekly 2d., 3d., or 4d. for their children to be made the monitors of others, or to their receiving instruction from others as such; see the evidence of James Hulme, No. 46, who, although he could not read, was one of the most intelligent lads that I have met with; he depones " that they put lads over me that could na' read better than meesel, and when I came to a hard word they used to say, Go on, go on; put it off, put it off; so I did na' loike that; I told my father, and Ire took me away."

38) There is only one school upon the British system throughout the townships, and that at Hanley, a superb edifice of its kind, open to the children of every denomination;of Christians, comparatively well filled and regulated. There are several infant-schools well conducted, but the numbers attending them are very scanty. Amongst them I may mention one under the management of Jane Shriven, at the National School of St. John's; here I selected many of the children for examination, whose proficiency perfectly astonished me, and speaks volumes in honour of the mistress.

39) There are no industrial schools of any kind. These would appear to me to be of the utmost value to the children of both sexes in such a place as this, as the nature of their employment has peculiar claims for such.

40) In Hanley and Fenton there are Mechanics' Institutes for adults well attended; Hanley has 336 members, a good library of 1500 volumes, reading-room, and class-rooms for drawing, engraving, chemistry, these arts being essentially to workmen engaged in the manufactories: if something of the kind could be established for younger persons I doubt not but that it would prove of immense importance to them in after life.

41) The preceding communications from Messrs. Davis, Galdard, Garner, and Harding will convey some facts relating to the medical topography of their respective places of residence.

42) I feel great pleasure in recording the gratifying fact, that throughout the whole of my visits, whether in the factory or workshop, the cabin at the pit's mouth, or in the humble cottage, I have been received with the utmost respect, kindness, and hospitality; not the result of any merits of my own, or of a previous knowledge of the people, for I came amongst them a total stranger, but from an impression that something was about to be done to regenerate the youthful population from a state of moral degradation and physical toil;-a measure which I believe would be hailed with gladness and satisfaction.

I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,

Your most obedient servant,

S. SCRIVEN.

APPENDIX.

No.1: A few REMARKS on the GENERAL and sanatory condition of the town of HANLEY and SHELTON, and its Inhabitants, more especially with respect to the Health of the Children of the Working Classes.

THE position of the town being elevated, and upon the brow of a hill, it is consequently exposed to the winds from all quarters, but more especially to the north-east, for a valley approaches the town in this direction, and serves to give force and increased effect to the cold winds which prevail from that quarter. It is to this elevated position and free ventilation that 1 am disposed to attribute our comparative exemption from epidemic and certain endemic diseases, especially to the common fever of the country, which in the summer and autumn more particularly prevails in the surrounding towns of Burslem, Newcastle, and Stoke; whilst Hanley and Shelton suffer much less from the disease. But owing to this position and particular exposure to the most ungenial wind of the heavens, the north-east, I conceive a peculiar character is, to a certain extent, given to the diseases of the town-pulmonary affections prevailing very extensively. The direction in which the streets are built might have slightly counteracted this unfavourable exposure, but unfortunately the inhabitants have, no doubt in ignorance and without design, given it increased effect by arranging most of the streets on the north-east and eastern side of the town in a direction parallel to the current of the wind when it blows from this quarter.

There is a small closely-built district near the centre of Hanley, called Chapel Field, and a series of blind streets branching off from the main street in Shelton, both which places are crowded with inhabitants living in squalid poverty. Many of the inhabitants of these spots, but especially the children, have a peculiarly sickly aspect, most probably from the poor and improper food they take, conjoined with the impure air they breathe. Numbers of children die during infancy in these quarters of the town, and fevers and other epidemic diseases prevail there most extensively and in their most virulent forms.

In different parts of the town and on its outskirts there are many stagnant pools in which vegetable matter is constantly undergoing a process of putrefaction, for they are used for the purpose of steeping hazel-rods in, to render them more pliant in the use to which they are applied, that of forming crates, in which the earthenware of the neighbourhood is packed. Besides these sources of unhealthy emanations, there are three or four establishments on the outskirts of the town for boiling and calcining bones on a large scale, which frequently inundate the neighbourhood with very offensive odours. But I have never been able to trace sickness directly to either of these kinds of emanations, the work-people themselves enjoying as good health as the rest of the community.

The inhabitants may be generally distinguished as follows: - They consist mainly of workpeople engaged in the manufacture of earthenware and china, and the various trades subsidiary to this manufacture. The rest are master manufacturers, shopkeepers, and professional men. Of the various branches into which the staple manufacture of the town is divided, Mr. Scriven, the highly respectable Sub-Commissioner, will, I believe, give a detailed account. Besides these there are numerous auxiliary occupations, such as these of designers, engravers, crate-makers, paper-makers, colour-makers, lawn-weavers, colliers, &c.

In these various trades women and children are employed as well as men very extensively. Children, too, are employed from an early age. They thus acquire an unhealthy aspect, have the seeds of various diseases sown in their constitutions, and are largely precluded from that elementary education which should be obtained in childhood.

The wages paid in this neighbourhood are good, better than those of most other manufacturing districts. Habits of improvidence prevail notwithstanding extensively; and it not unfrequently happens that men who draw 3s. a-week for them own work and that of their children, suffer some of the evils and many of the irregularities of poverty.

Intemperance in intoxicating drinks is a serious evil among the working class. Many of them allowing their families almost to starve to beg in order that they may indulge in this vice. The numbers of public-houses, beer, and spirit shops being great, and the latter appearing to enjoy a very prosperous trade. A Tee-total Society, not much encouraged in the town, has probably done something to check the consumption of these fluids, but it is to be feared too little to be appreciable. Its effects are more apparent in having seemingly reformed a few notorious and abandoned drunkards.

The females, from being employed from an early age in the manufactories as transferrers painters, burnishers, &c., do not acquire those domestic habits which would best fit them for housewives and mothers: and it frequently happens that when they are bearing children they continue to labour in the manufactories, and send out their infants to nurse during the day, This is a source of great mortality amongst infants, for they are fed by their nurses chiefly with bread steeped in water, and they early become sickly, and die of various diseases of the digestive organs, those of the chest, or head.

With respect to education, notwithstanding the number of elementary schools in the neighbourhood, and the abundance of Sunday schools, with their numerous attendants, I consider to be in a very imperfect state. From the children being received at so early an age in the manufactories, to produce money for their parents, their attendance at school is very brief and incomplete. The parents in general satisfy themselves by sending their children for a few hours on a Sunday to a Sunday-school, where the methods of instruction, even in the elementary branches, are very imperfect, and administered too frequently by incompetent hands. This is a serious evil attendant on a Sunday-school education, however numerous the benefits which flow from it. It serves to satisfy the mind of the parent with the impression that he is educating his child without abridging his hours of work, whereas the instruction is of the most slender, unmethodical, and inadequate kind, and seasons of relaxation, so essential to the growth and health of the bodies as well as minds of children, are almost altogether precluded. It is to be feared they tend also to disseminate illiberal sectarian views.

A Mechanics' Institution has existed in the town for 14 years. The number of members has for some years ranged only at from 200 to 300. It possesses an excellent library of upwards of 1,500 volumes, a reading-room, classes for drawing and chemistry, and latterly elementary classes. The drawing class has always been well attended - this art being so useful to those engaged in the manufactures of the neighbourhood. The proportions of the different classes of persons, members of the institution, will be seen in the following table:-

In the staple manufacture of the neighbourhood, earthenware and china, in the collieries, and some other subsidiary branches, there are many employments injurious to the health. The materials of the ware, such as flint and clay, are prepared in the moist state; but in the process if baking china, around flint is used to imbed each piece of ware in as it goes into the oven, in order that it may not undergo any change of shape when at an intense heat. After the ware has been baked this fine powder has to be brushed off Females are employed in this process sometimes children. The irritating dust they inhale in this occupation frequently gives rise to rough and other pulmonary ailments, which sometimes terminate in phthisis. Some of the processes through which the ware passes, at an early stage of its production, are carried on in apartments considerably heated. The plate-maker, and all those who make flat ware, work in rooms, adjoining which there is another apartment called the stove, as it is heated by a stove to about 130· Fahr. A little boy, without shoes or stockings, is kept constantly running between the plate-maker, from whom he receives the plate or dish newly formed on a mould, and the stove, into which he carries this mould with the moist plate upon it. These moulds, thus charged, are ranged upon shelves to dry, and as soon as they are sufficiently dried the boy liberates the mould and carries it back to receive a new layer of clay. These boys, generally under 13 years of age, besides the high temperature to which they are exposed, have a very laborious occupation, being kept on the run from morning to night. A good plate maker will sometimes make from 400 to 500 plates in a day, generally about 320, each of which has to be separately removed into the stove, and another mould returned - all which is accomplished by one boy. Besides which, some plate-makers even require their boys to what is called wedge their clay, which is a very laborious process, and consists in lifting large lumps of clays, and throwing them forcibly down on a hard surface, to free it from air and render it more compact. These boys are usually thin and pale, and frequently suffer from pulmonary and digestive diseases. Sickness prevails among them extensively.

Another class of injurious occupations used is that in which metallic oxides are used in the formation of glazes and colours, and in their application to the ware. These concern the branches of the dipper, the ground-layer, &c. The processes themselves will, I have no doubt, be accurately described by Mr Scriven. The dipper has his hands frequently immersed in a glaze liquor containing white lead. Glazes may, however, be made free from this or any other poisonous ingredient; and a considerable diminution of the quality of such components of glazes has taken place of late. The dipper in particularly liable to constipation, indigestion, painter's colic; and ultimately paralysis. He is attended by two boys, who; as they handle the ware covered with the glaze, are exposed to like evils with himself. But the most pernicious occupation is that of the ground-layer. He applies metallic oxides to the ware; previously coated with a viscid substance, as colouring matters in the state of impalpable powder, and inhales this in great quantities. The consequences are painter's colic and paralysis, which speedily occur, and soon render him unfit for any kind of work whatever. It is by far the most dangerous occupation of the manufacture; and usually can only be closely followed for a period of five or six years before the limbs become useless. Some manufacturers engage their dippers to alternate this injurious occupation with some other not interfering with the health. And others have made regulations in their manufactories, for those engaged in such trades to wash themselves and change their clothes before they go to their meals. If these regulations were general, strictly enforced, and made incumbent on all branches who use these pernicious substances, health might be greatly economized. It usually happens that those who have been engaged in these occupations are obliged to desist from them early in life, and they frequently drag out the remainder of their existence in a very precarious manner. Printers, who apply patterns to the ware by means of copper-plates, have a very laborious occupation, carried on in very warm rooms to make the oily viscid colours work freely. They are frequently deformed from the force they have to exert on their presses, in a standing position, for such a number of hours. Some workmen will take off 360 impressions for a dinner plate in a day. Little boys sift the finely-pulverized plaster of Paris for the mould-makers, and are frequently affected with cough from inhaling the dust.

China-painters and burnishers, chiefly females, who begin early in life, suffer to a small extent from their sedentary labours; but engravers; males, who likewise commence early, suffer more from this cause. They are liable to indigestion, constipation, piles, fistula, &c. They usually carry on their occupation in very warm rooms; and their want of exercise, free aeration of the blood, and perfect assimilation of their nutriment, under the circumstance of extreme susceptibility to cold, render them prone to pulmonary diseases. In fact, these are the most serious evils of their occupation. Complaints of the eyes are troublesome to them, as to all other engravers and persons employed on minute objects.

Colliers, who employ young children to assist in their labours, are a deformed, sickly class; here, as elsewhere, subject to fits of great intemperance.

The preparation of oils to mix with the colours to lay upon the ware, either by the copper- plate or pencil, is a very offensive and unhealthy occupation, the empyreumatic vapours arising from them in the process being exceedingly disgusting and acrid. They fill the whole district of the town in which they happen to be made with an offensive odour; but they are only required in small quantities, and occupy but a short time in their preparation.

Of the various manufacturing trades carried on here they are almost all, more or less, unfavourable to longevity. It may be considered rare for the work-people to die at a very old age.

The peculiar diseases of the neighbourhood are pulmonary diseases. Pulmonary consumption, asthma, and the various allied complaints will be found, I have no doubt, by consulting the tables Mr. Scriven proposes to provide from the register-books, to be exceedingly fatal here. The effects these produce in the offspring, improper food, and the exposed situation of the town, will account for the great mortality amongst infants. The neighbourhood is less liable to accidents of a serious nature than most other manufacturing neighbourhoods, from the circumstance that machinery is scarcely used in the processes. Those occurring in the, coal-pits are frequently very fatal. The number of children accidentally burnt I consider to be frightfully great. The carelessness of parents is the grand cause. Amongst those of a secondary nature may be mentioned, the intense heat produced by the common coal of the neighbourhood, the practice of having very large house-fires, the frequent want of fenders, and the absence of mothers in the manufactories. The open mouths of coal-mines worked out are another occasional source of accidents here.

Besides exposure to too great heat, the ventilation of workshops is very imperfect in many cases; whilst in the kilns, during the baking of the ware, draughts of cold air rush in with great impetuosity, and tend, like so many other parts of the process, to render those exposed to them liable to catarrhs.

In conclusion I may add, as the result of my observation from a residence of 17 years in this town, during which time I have practised as a surgeon, that children are sometimes cruelly overworked, in he process of plate-making especially, and that in other labours, and in the collieries, they are exposed to very unhealthy occupations. They also suffer greatly from the improvident and intemperate habits of their parents. In such cases their clothing is defective, and especially towards the end of each week their food very scanty. Their education is exceedingly imperfect, and the religious instruction they receive ought to be much more contemplate in the department of morals.

(Signed) J. B. DAVIS, Surgeon.

* * * * * *

No 2. Henley, Staffordshire, December 28, 1840

THE district in which I have acted for many years as medical officer, consists of a large manufacturing town with upwards of 20,000 inhabitants, together with a rural district of considerable extent, not so thickly populated.

The condition of the working classes, when trade is good, is not so bad as will found to be the case in other localities of equal extent and population. To this remark, however; there will be some exceptions, and at the present time, the poor inhabitants are suffering severely from want of employment, and many of them are in very destitute situations.

The prevailing diseases here are asthma, consumption, bronchitis (acute and chronic) pneumonia, hepatitis, dropsy, palsy, and rheumatism. These are of course exclusive of the diseases of infants, such as croup, scarlatina, measles, &c. &c.

Febrile diseases are by no means prevalent here (speaking comparatively), the synochus biliosa the most common. The constant decomposition of coal in large quantities, and of a great variety of mineral substances, may be one cause of this unfrequent occurrence of the above-mentioned complaints. These causes, on the other hand, have a great tendency to produce and to aggravate all affections of the organs of respiration, and in some measure to account for the great prevalence of those diseases I have already pointed out.

There is one existing nuisance in the neighbourhood, which in my opinion loudly calls for the interference of the proper authorities. I allude to the neglected state of some of the coal pits, which are not now in use. It is true that some of them are guarded by a circular wall 10 or 12 feet high, which renders them comparatively safe; but many others remain without any fence or protection whatever; accidents have sometimes arisen from this cause, and it is to be feared a repetition of such is more than probable, unless some means are adopted for rendering them more secure.

I am not aware that there is any thing particularly calculated to produce disease amongst children, in the manufacture of earthenware and porcelain nor are their hours of labour so very long, as to preclude the possibility of their taking sufficient exercise out of doors.

I have, &c.

H. HARDING, Medical Officer

* * * * * *

No. 3. Stoke-upon-Trent, January 1,1841.

OF the injurious effects produced by the nature of their employment, upon the health of the working class of this district, I believe that those owing to the noxious properties of lead continue among the most deleterious. But complaints owing to this cause I believe to be less common and less severe than formerly, owing, I think, to attention to ventilation, &c., on the part of the masters, to greater cleanliness and the less frequent use of spirituous drinks on the part of the work-people, and to the difference of chemical composition which has taken place in the glazes, alkaline substances having to a great extent taken the place of metallic.

The effects produced on the system by the action of lead are well known, and as such are occasionally seen in all their forms in this district, but I believe them to be sometimes exaggerated by some of the sufferers themselves, for the object of exciting commiseration or obtaining relief. I, however, believe, that epileptic symptoms are likewise not uncommon, and such, accompanied with a low nervous fever, have in a few cases for some time preceded death.

I should think that much good might result from a scientific inquiry into this subject. It is generally admitted that it is unsafe to work in the lead before eating in the morning. Plain printed directions respecting cleanliness, &c., might be given to the work-people and placed in work-rooms.

From the occasional use of purgative medicines, such as castor-oil, the alkaline sulphates (particularly if the sulphate of lead is in reality found to be innocuous) and the phosphate of soda I should anticipate advantage. A servant in this place took in mistake about an ounce of extract of lead. She had not any unpleasant symptom, though there was reason to believe that the stomach was not well emptied. The above saline remedies were plentifully administered, and apparently with the best effect.

The operation of scouring china, from the flint with which it is covered in the biscuit oven, I believe to be injurious to those employed in it. I have seen consumption which appeared to be properly attributable to this cause. I should think that, by proper measures, these effects might likewise to some extent be remedied.

I an not informed if children are employed in any number in scouring china. I have several times seen them suffering under the effects of lead.

Children are much employed in rooms heated to a high temperature. They, however, do not stay long in them, but are generally in a cooler room adjoining. They are apt to throw off their clothing and sometimes walk a considerable distance home in the cold air, in this half-clothed state. I have seen inflammation of the chest and likewise croup in these children.

The operation of dusting on the coloured grounds on china is prejudicial. I do not know children are at all employed in this department I do not know that the work-people are commonly acquainted with the degree of danger attending the use of each colour, and the poisonous or non-poisonous nature of them has not, as far as I know, been investigated.

A great cause of the mortality amongst young children, particularly infants, in this district (though not at all connected with the nature of the employment) is the neglect of them, in many instances, from their mother's being obliged, from necessity, or in some cases choosing, without such necessity, to absent themselves at their work for several hours, or even for the whole day, and committing them to the care of hired attendants, in whom, of course, it would be too much to expect the cares and attentions of the mother herself.

The above is all I have observed pernicious to any extent in the manufacture of this district, a manufacture which appears to me, on the whole; very free from injurious effects on the human system

I am, &c

ROBERT GARNER, F:L.S., Surgeon

* * * * * *

No: 4.

AGREEABLY to your request, I send you a few remarks relative to the state of health of the working classes; as connected with locality and employment, in this district of the Staffordshire potteries, in which I have resided; as g medical practitioner, during the last 26 years.

This town, Lane End; or Longton, is supposed to contain a population of about 12,000, and is chiefly situated on a gentle acclivity with good drainage. It is plentifully supplied with excellent water, conveyed in pipes from reservoirs about a mile distant, belonging to the Duke of Sutherland: The rent-charge of this indispensable article is moderate, being about 1½p per week to each house occupied by the labouring classes. Coal is also plentiful and tolerably cheap. An abundant supply of these two requisites conduces greatly to the health and comfort of the poor.

Although the district, abounding in coal and therefore having a clay subsoil, is humid, I am not aware that the inhabitants suffer from any peculiar disease arising from locality, nor do I think that the mortality is greater here, than in other manufacturing districts.

If any exception, however, were made to the correctness of the foregoing remarks, as to disease, it would be with reference to consumption, which occasions a great proportion of the deaths that occur.

Several circumstances seem to contribute to the prevalence of this disease; viz, the humidity of the air; the great vicissitudes of temperature to which some of the work-people are exposed in their employment; and the injurious effects which one or two branches have upon the pulmonary organs. Most of the workshops are well ventilated, but the heat of some of them, is raised much beyond the healthy standard. Much of the evil produced by the sudden transition from heat to cold, might, however, be obviated by flannel clothing being worn next the skin, and by more cautions conduct on the part of the individuals themselves with respect to unnecessary exposure to cold; but an improvement so palpable, will never be effected, I fear, until the working classes are better informed as to the best means of preserving health.

The scouring of china, being a very injurious employment, claims peculiar attention. The ware, in the clay state, is placed, during the process of firing, in pulverized flint, from which it is afterwards cleaned by what is termed "scouring." The " scourers", chiefly young women, necessarily inhale, the room being literally filled with dust, the fine particles of flint, which produce similar effects to what is provincially denominated, in the Sheffield trade, " the grinder's rot; " something might be done, perhaps, to lessen this evil, if judicious precautionary measures were adopted. I have suggested the use of a wet sponge, so adapted to the mouth and nostrils that the air of respiration must necessarily pass through it. This would effectually prevent any solid body; however impalpable might be its state, from being inspired; but, at present, whether arising from the novelty of the plan, the trifling trouble which its adoption would occasion, or from the individuals for whose benefit it is intended being careless of the impending danger, I have not been able to get the experiment tried.

"Slip making", or preparing the clay, is another unwholesome occupation. "The clay" is prepared by boiling the composition to a proper consistence on kilns, and during the process of evaporation, the room is filled with dense aqueous vapour. The men engaged in this branch suffer severely from winter cough and chronic bronchitis; and but few of them, if they survive, are able to perform much labour after the age of 60. " Glazing the ware " is another branch which also injures health, and frequently shortens life. All glazes contain more or less carbonate of lead, which renders, " dipping", or " glazing", a pernicious occupation. Men employed in this department, are subject to colic, epilepsy, and paralysis of the fore-arms, which incapacitates them from labour. As the " dippers", however, only require the first and second fingers, with the thumb of each hand, to be denuded while dipping, to enable them to finger the ware, something might probably be done to diminish the risk of paralysis; and with this view I have recommended the use of long-sleeved gloves, impermeable to water, which would limit the portion of skin exposed to the action of the glaze within very narrow bounds and thereby lessen the danger from absorption. But, as in the case of the " china scourers", I have not been able to give effect to the suggestion.

I beg to add that if any of the foregoing observations should assist in furthering the benevolent object of the Commissioners, I shall be much gratified in having made the communication. I am, &c.

THOMAS GODDARD

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