Bobbins and Bibles
Child Labor, The Sunday School Movement
and Industrial England 1780-1840
Nancy Bell Eudy
Spring ISD
Houston, Texas
NEH Summer Seminar 2000
Historical Interpretations of the Industrial Revolution in Britain
University of Massachusetts Dartmouth at the University of Nottingham
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From approximately 1780 to 1840 the expansion of factory textile production in
industrial England created a new environment for working children, one viewed
by many as a necessary evil and one which eventually launched a reform
movement that encompassed compulsory education. Predating that reform by
nearly three-quarters of a century was another legacy of child labor, the Sunday
school movement. An examination of conditions in factories crowded with
young full-time workers shows the connection between labor and the Sunday
schools. While the employment of children varied from industry to industry as
well as from district to district, it was primarily the growth of textile factories
that made aspects of child labor so controversial in the late 1700s and early 1800s.
In the 18th century popular recreations included fairs, games, and dances, and
participation in these activities by children would not have been possible if their
hours of work in the home had rivaled the hours imposed by the factory. Labor
was a certainty for most children at the time, but child labor changed
dramatically with factory work. No one would question that the use of children
in agriculture could be just as difficult as the employment of children in factories,
but the transition from toil within the family circles to the impersonal mill was a
harsh one (Horn,1994).
Specialization itself required monotonous tasks for ten or more hours. When
working at home, whether assisting with weaving or tending livestock, the
child’s work was doubtlessly affected by his parents moods, the cycles of farm
life, the demands of cottage industry, and to some degree his own abilities. By
contrast, the factory offered no leniency or relief, for “machinery dictated
environment, discipline, speed and regularity of work and working hours, for
the delicate and strong alike” (Thompson, 1963). In the earliest days of
industrialization, children were used partly because of a shortage of labor, but
later their employment was preferred because of the type of jobs which machine
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production required. Certainly the fact that the young workers were cheap was a
contributing factor as well. As manufacturing moved to the mill, the children
moved with it, no longer under the watchful eye of parents within the family
economy.
Children as young as 7, 8, and 9 were forced to meet demands of power-driven
machinery for up to fourteen hours a day. In 1816 nearly 20 per cent of the
workers in the cotton industry were under the age of 18. In that same year
children accounted for 70 per cent of the labor force at the Gregs' Quarry Bank
Mill in Styal, Cheshire, one of the notable exceptions to the relentlessly bleak and
harsh existence for factory children. Other comparatively humane and custombuilt industrial settlements were Richard Arkwright’s Cromford in Derbyshire
and Jedidiah Strutt's Belper Village (Watney, 1998). Unfortunately, men like
Arkwright, Samuel Greg, and Strutt who believed that wealth brought
responsibility were not typical mill owners. In one of Manchester's largest mills,
McConnel and Kennedy's, 40 per cent of the labor force was between 8 and 15
years of age (Cruickshank, 1981). By 1835 the under 13s comprised 29.5 per cent
of the labor force, in spite of technological advances that reduced the need for
juvenile workers. The textile areas of Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire
employed the greatest numbers of children. As ‘hands’ they were called and
dismissed by factory bells and subjected to strict, often severe discipline,
supervised by strangers in many cases (Nardinelli, 1990; Horn, 1994).
Such a system, as might be expected, exploited children, and protesters like
Richard Oastler, a mill operative of Yorkshire and a founder of the Factory
Movement, advocated shorter hours for children in factories. He spoke
emotionally and wrote just as passionately in a series of letters published in 1830
in the liberal Leeds Mercury (Ward, 1970). Evidence examined in the Report of
the Select Committee on Factory Children’s Labour, Vol. XV, 1830-1832 vividly
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exposed the cruelty rampant in the textile mills. Young workers described
workdays beginning at three o’clock in the morning and ending at ten at night.
Testimony revealed extremely strict discipline and numerous accidents and
deaths caused by fatigue, hunger and unsafe machinery (Harrison, 1965; Horn,
1994). Every factory produced its quota of cripples (Dodd, 1842). The country
gentry, with their inherent ability to protect the poor, appeared oblivious to
serious abuses inflicted on the child workers. In their eyes the young laborers
were”busy and productive” (Thompson, 1963). Above all, they were cheap and
employable almost from the time they could crawl.
Reformers rarely argued that child labor should be abolished; instead they urged
regulation so that the worst abuses would be eliminated. Influencing the debate
were two opposing view of childhood, the older and more prevalent philosophy
which held that a child was innately sinful, as was all humanity, and its
antithesis, a second view which stressed the natural goodness and innocence of
the young. Efforts to alleviate the idleness which resulted in “moral weakness”
involved employment of extremely young children in impersonal factories. The
changes these factories brought to production ensured that children were
important and necessary contributors to the economic system (Hammonds,
1917). Those made wealthy by the labor of children promoted the idea that child
laborers were content and busy, their endeavors successfully keeping idleness at
bay within the confines of the factory. A rising tide of reformers criticized these
rich industrialists, and acrimonious debates followed between those seeking
improvements for children in the work place and those content with the status
quo. Inevitably, education became a major topic of contention. While several mill
owners advocated limited educational objectives for their employees as a means
of instilling the necessary discipline required by the dictates of the machine, they
were convinced that factory work could be mastered only if the “hands” started
at a very early age, a condition which precluded any structured daily educational
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opportunities. They wanted sufficient instruction to promote the discipline
essential for successful factory work but not enough to inspire workers to
question their situation or join those who were clamoring for change.
Eventually the fury of reformers like Michael Sadler, a Tory Radical, and two
Benthamites, Edwin Chadwick and Southwood Smith, who advocated a broader
and more inclusive system of education, prevailed and the Factory Act of 1833
was passed. Other men of conscience who fought heroically for reform included
Charles Fox, Henry Grey Bennett, Samuel Whitbread, and Lord Ashley, the
future Earl of Shaftesbury and a Tory humanitarian who served as chairman of a
House of Commons Select Committee on the Working of the 1833 Act. Under
this act, children younger than 9 would not be allowed to work in textile
factories; workers between 9 and 18 could not work more than eight hours a day
and they were to receive at least three hours of schooling each day. The act
applied only to young people in textile production, and further provided that
adolescents between 13 and 18 could not work more than twelve hours a day.
Probably the most important provision was that four factory inspectors would be
appointed to enforce the law. Unlike its predecessors, the Factory Acts of 1802
and 1819, the local magistrates were not the ones responsible for its enforcement
(Arnstein, 1976; Horn, 1994). Generally speaking, social improvements had little
impact until after the mid-1800s; elementary education did not become
compulsory until 1876, but the conscience of men such as Ashley enabled factory
children to receive a rudimentary education.
To exert more control over the workers and also to instill moral and religious
values, some manufacturers established Sunday schools for instruction on the
workers’ one free day. In many of these schools the primary focus was not to
teach children to read but rather to provide a type of training ground to produce
docile and disciplined workers. Other schools were deeply committed to the
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teaching of reading since it was necessary for Bible reading but they avoided
writing and math as many of the schools benefactors feared “it would make
them (the poor) discontented with their lot and aspire to be masters instead of
servants” (Collins, 1996; Holdt, 1938). Additionally, some people opposed
schools for laborers because acquisition of literate skills “would make the
working classes receptive to radical and subversive literature” (Sanderson, 1991).
The Sunday schools were not the first established schools for children, but in the
context of the factory workplace they assumed a new importance--both to
supporters and opponents. In the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries there
were a few instances of charity schools in England, and religious catechizing of
children was an element of faith at the very creation of religion.
One of the earliest Sunday schools was established by Theophilus Lindsey at his
vicarage in Catterick in 1764 or 1765 before he became a Unitarian. Like most
Sunday schools of today, Lindsey’s provided purely religious instruction. The
inspiration for a second type of Sunday school that would concern itself with the
teaching of reading as well as religious matter apparently motivated several likeminded men and women about the same time, the middle of the eighteenth
century. Thus, there are rival claimants for the honor of being the founder of the
Sunday school movement (Holdt, 1938).
Certainly one of the most active patrons and the one most frequently referred to
as the Father of the Sunday School Movement was Robert Raikes, a printer and
editor of the Gloucester Journal who founded a school in 1780 to provide
children with “scraps of information” in addition to teaching them to read the
Bible (Lynd, 1968). Raikes’ interest in education came from his visit to the pin
manufacturing area of Gloucester where he saw dirty ragamuffins cavorting in
the streets engaged in all sorts of mischief when not employed, many of whom
had been abandoned by their parents who probably felt totally abandoned
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themselves. The Journal enjoyed a wide circulation and Raikes’ articles
describing the damage and disruption caused by children permitted to run wild
on the Sabbath and the subsequent beneficial and calming effects of Sunday
schools were reprinted in other newspapers. Raikes stressed that the only
requirement for attendance was a clean face and combed hair, nothing more.
Along with clergymen like the Rev. Thomas Stock of Gloucester, Raikes
supported the foundation of the Society for the Establishment and Support of
Sunday Schools in 1785 (Collins, 1996). Because of his trade, Raikes could
publish, import and distribute the primers, readers, spelling books, and copies of
scripture so important to the movement. The Sunday School Union organized in
1803 was a further testimony to his effectiveness in transforming children of
industrial England.
If, as Raikes once commented, “the world marches forth on the feet of little
children,” huge strides were being made in the manufacturing towns like
Stockport which had a Sunday school in 1784., one of the largest and most
famous. It “was open to any children who labour for their living in the week-day,
are seven years old or upwards, and not afflicted with any contagious disease.”
Sunday hours were from nine o’clock until six with breaks for “dinner and
divine services.” A scant year later over 250,000 children were attending Sunday
school throughout England, including 5,000 in Manchester, where, in August,
1786, the magistrates passed a lengthy resolution lamenting an apparent crime
wave. They were counting on the recently established Sunday schools to “restore
the moral integration so obviously lacking” (Bohsted, 1983). That same year over
400 children were studying at the Macclesfield Sunday school (Collins, 1996).
Teachers urged restraint on older scholars in the year of Peterloo and members
were admonished to “do their duty in that state of life which it shall please God
to call them” (Cruickshank, 1981). Mill owners welcomed Sunday schools,
primarily financed by subscriptions and endowments, because they instilled
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punctuality and discipline plus a dose of morality without interfering with the
work schedule of six full days. Mrs. Sarah Trimmer, a reformer and educational
writer, applauded the goals of the Sunday school sponsors when she wrote in
1787:
Wherever Sunday-schools are established, instead of seeing the street
filled on the Sabbath-day with ragged children engaged at idle sports, and
uttering oaths and blasphemies, we behold them assembling in schools,
neat in their persons and apparel, and receiving with the greatest attention
instruction suited to their capacities and conditions (Cunningham, 1991)
Remaining in one’s station was a widespread hope for the factory owners and
other industrialists who did not want to lose cheap laborers, especially children,
who might be tempted to challenge their fate if too much education were
provided. Other early leaders were the More sisters, Hannah and Martha, both
representatives of the middle-class “do-gooders” who claimed that the purpose
of the schools was to instill “habits of industry and piety among the lower
classes” Hannah More's religious tracts exuded condescension and she believed
that it was a grievous error to regard children as innocent beings. Rather, their
“corrupt nature and evil dispositions” required strict discipline and instruction,
presumably an even greater need if they labored in textile factories (More, 1799).
At least through the first half of the nineteenth century the schools played a
significant role in secular as well as religious instruction (Mitch, 1999). Sunday
schools were created under the auspices of practically every church and chapel,
fueled by the evangelical movement. A particular church or chapel could be
assured of increased membership if the children received instruction in a specific
faith or creed. Sunday schools spread so rapidly that there were 7,000 by 1800
(Holdt, 1938). In 1803 the inaugural meeting of the National Sunday School
Union was held at Rowland Hill’s Surrey Chapel and by 1810 there were
approximately 25,000 students in the Nottingham District alone participating in
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the Sabbath lessons (White, 1864).
Children already absorbed into industry because of abject poverty were working
six full days and could only snatch at education on the seventh day, but even
that short time was begrudged them by many critics who feared that educating
the poor would endanger existing institutions (Marshall, 1956). Another obstacle
was indifference. In the 1820s dozens of professional men and gentlemen were
living in large manufacturing centers and amazingly oblivious to the many
abuses taking place a few hundred yards away (Thompson, 1963). Still, the
respectable poor sent their children to Sunday schools and they were supported
in their efforts by some industrialists like John Horrocks of Preston who paid
employees at his textile mill to clear the streets on Sundays and check that
children were in attendance at a Sunday school. The relative prosperity of the
years after 1819 allowed factory families to provide their children with decent
footwear and clothing for Sunday school. Attendance each Sunday encouraged
special efforts in washing and hair-combing, and occasional refreshments
engendered strong loyalty among the students (Cruickshank, 1981).
Curious details abound regarding specific Sunday schools. At Lye in
Worcestershire, for example, until 1850 new bonnets were presented to the
female pupils annually in a special ceremony while at Hale in Cheshire 34
children received a penny each for not attending a local fair where they might
have witnessed scenes of inebriated excitement. The school at Exeter offered
math instruction during the week as a reward for those students who had
attended class on the previous Sunday (Holdt, 1938).
In particular the Methodists were responsible for eventually introducing writing
into their Sunday schools, reversing their 1814 ban shared by the Established
Church and other Nonconformist sects, although some ministers like Jabez
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Bunting whose uncompromising Sabbatarianism led him to regard “writing as
an awful abuse of the Sabbath” strongly opposed it (Thompson, 1963). The
Methodist schools featured men and women who excelled in oratory, leadership,
and organization. Even though their teachings stressing submission were
generally unfavorable to working class movements, their impact on the members
of an oppressed society was helpful in many ways. The workers became better
citizens and probably better rebels in some instances (Hammonds, 1917).
By the 1840s Sunday education of the poor was widely accepted and two million
working class children were being taught by teachers predominantly from the
same class. During a working-class childhood, three or four hours of instruction
each week for an average of four years had a major impact on mass literacy in
nineteenth century England. In many of the Sunday schools, classes were small
and students were ability-grouped. Leaders like Raikes, benevolent proponents
of the philanthropic establishment, were gradually replaced by working men and
women who transformed the schools into agencies of self-improvement
(Laqueur, 1976; Stephens, 1998).
The Sunday schools spawned an assortment of helpful associations with even
libraries and savings banks attached to several friendly societies and sick clubs
covered only adult workers, but factory children could enroll in Sunday school
societies like the one at Ardwick that paid out relief in illness and also provided a
death grant, a grim reminder of the nature of their toil (Cruickshank, 1981). A
community spirit characterized the Sunday schools and many featured the
model of the benevolent teacher as an “older, wiser, and steadier friend.”
Teachers were urged to be kind and cheerful and possess an unerring “devotion
to Christ” (Laqueur, 1976). In marked contrast to these decorous models of
beneficence, other teachers such as those at Caistor were admonished “to tame
the ferocity of their (students) unsubdued passions. . . to subdue the stubborn
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rebellion of their will-to render them honest, obedient, courteous, industrious,
submissive, and orderly. . .” (Thompson, 1963).
Their instructional emphasis would eventually revert to providing solely
religious instruction as more Sunday schools affiliated with particular churches,
and reform legislation improved workers lives, but for a time they made a crucial
difference to child laborers confined to the factories of industrial England. Until
compulsory education on a daily basis became a reality, they were the means by
which generations of children were instructed and disciplined, and they had a
definite impact on the habits of those who attended. Even the least exclusive of
the Sunday schools insisted on standards of cleanliness and neatness. Regardless
of whether they were middle-class conservative institutions created for the
reform of child laborers desperately in need of whatever help they could receive
or the creation of a working-class culture of self-reliance and self-respect, their
influence remains undeniable. Sunday schools provided part-time education to
children employed full-time in often degrading circumstances, arguably
enhancing their standard of living. Support of these schools was no small tribute
to the general belief that even the overburdened factory children should at least
be able to read. The Sunday schools successor, the Ragged Schools, concentrated
on educating the young working poor in the fundamentals of reading, writing,
and math with their religious enlightenment again the domain of the Sunday
schools.
In part Sunday schools had begun as a manifestation of faith in the efficacy of
education and the malleability of human nature. From four schools in
Gloucester, the Sunday school movement flourished with a wide geographical
and religious distribution that spread rapidly across England. In the Midland
cities of Birmingham and Nottingham, the textile towns of West Riding and
Lancashire, and the rural villages of the Cotswolds, Sunday schools were
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popular and offered educational, religious, and recreational services not found
elsewhere. Their main legacy is that they gave child laborers of industrial
England an opportunity to become literate and escape, if only for a few hours,
the monotony of their weekday lives.
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