When Bread Was A Luxury - Liversedge, UK - UK Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

The board was erected by the Spen Valley Civic Society, and the staff and pupils of High Bank School helped with the design of illustrations on the board. The child in the sculpture is called Martha and the board tells the history from her point of view.

When Bread Was a Luxury
Being a child in Liversedge in 1812

Martha says...

Hello - I'M Martha. If you turn around you can see me. I'm the girl in the statue. I'm 8 years old. My Father is a cropper and he uses those big shears at his work. He has an important job.

I have two older brothers - George who is 15 and Henry who is 13 my big sister Jane is 10. I had another sister Eliza but she died when she was a baby. My Father is worried that soon he will have no work. Then our Family will have no money and no Food.

We live with our parents and grandmother in a small cottage, like the one in the drawing. It has two rooms downstairs and an attic where we children sleep. Mother, Father and grandmother sleep downstairs. Outside there is a garden where Father grows vegetables and keeps a pig. When it is bigger we will kill the pig and eat it. We also have chickens. I collect the eggs every day and help my mother with the housework.

George is an apprentice cropper. Jane is a spinner at home. Henry works underground in the mine as a coal hurrier. He has to pull the heavy coal tubs.. It is dangerous and dirty work. Last month, two of Henry's friends were crushed by a runaway coal tub.

I am really lucky because I go to the school in Knowler Hill. I'm learning to read. No-one else In my family can read or write. If father loses his job I will have to work instead as a card setter. I will be able to do this at home.

Head to Toe in Bed : At Home

Most homes had only one or two rooms, with a ladder up into the roof space. Brothers and sisters often slept in the same bed.

Many of the houses for poor people were badly built, which is why few of them survive today. The floor was usually stone slabs. There was no electricity, gas, tap water or bathroom. The toilet called an earth closet was in a little hut outside. This was shared with the neighbours. You sat on a wooden seat over a hole in the ground below and used soil or ashes to cover your poo. This was later shovelled out and spread on the land as manure. Urine was collected for use in the woollen trade. All water for cooking and washing had to be brought from the well. This was a job for children.

The fire (burning coal and wood) was very important for heating, cooking and for light in the dark. If you could afford it, you would keep the fire going all the time. Poor people used candles made of tallow (fat from cooking the bodies of oxen and sheep). Wax candles cost too much.

This drawing of a typical house shows how basic the living conditions were. There might be a rug on the floor made of bits of rags. See the oatcakes drying above the fire in this picture. Think of some of the things in your house that Martha and her family did not have.

Please can I go to school? : Education

In 1812 children did not go to school unless their parents could afford to pay for private teaching. Most poor people could not read or write. However in 1722 a small free school was built where you are standing in Knowler Hill, using money left by Josias Farrer of Gomersal, to teach 22 poor children born in Liversedge.

In 1813 a new National School was opened. If you turn around you can see the building on the other side of Halifax Road. The money to build the school was raised by the Reverend Hammond Robertson, vicar of Christ Church, Liversedge. Children at the old school moved into the new school in 1812.

For most poor children the only chance of some education was at the Sunday Schools, which taught reading and writing especially for reading the bible. Also some boys who were apprentices were taught a little reading, writing and arithmetic at their workplace, but this opportunity was not available for girls.

Martha was a lucky girl : Working children

Compared with other children, Martha was lucky. In 1812, more than 1 million children worked, a third of whom were seven to ten year olds. Many worked six days a week, up to twelve hours a day, from as young as five. By the age of eight, children earned about three shillings (15p) a week.

Many children's jobs were tiring and dangerous. Boys could work as chimney sweeps. They would climb up inside the dark, dirty chimneys removing soot with a brush and scraper. Can you imagine doing this?

Until 1842 some children under ten worked underground in coal mines. There were several mines around Liversedge. Children could be hurriers, thrusters or trappers. Hurriers pulled wagons filled with coal, and thrusters pushed them. A trapper sat in a dark tunnel underground opening a door to let coal tubs through. There's a record of an eight year old girl working from 3:30 am to 5:30pm - 14 hours.

Children's jobs included factory work, which would include cleaning machinery. This could be very dangerous - often machines were not stopped while children crawled underneath. Accidents were frequent, sometimes a child might be killed. Mant boys and girls did farm work or were servants in big houses.

A very common child's job in Liversedge was card setting. this required nimble fingers and was was usually "out-work" (work dome outside the factory at home). 'Cards' were used to comb wool before spinning. to set a card, children punched holes in the leather card, then pressed wire pins through the holes. THe pay was low, you had to set 1,300 pins to earn a halfpenny.

If no-one in the family had a job there would be no money. If you couldn't feed and clothe yourself you were described as a pauper. Pauper families might end up in a workhouse, where conditions were very harsh. Families were split up and made to work for no pay. There were workhouses in Liversedge, Heckmondwike and Gomersal.

If you were a poor child and had work you would have few, if any toys and no time to play with them anyway. When you got home from work you were so tired you ate some food and went straight to bed.

Porridge and more porridge : Everyday food

Oats were the main everyday food, either made into oatcakes or porridge. Oatcakes were hung on a creel above the fire to dry out. Bread made from wheat was a rare luxury because many foods were very expensive. Why? Because by 1812 England had been at war with France for nine long years. Napoleon had invaded most of Europe and was at the height of his powers. England was also fighting America. Naval blockades prevented ships bringing food to England and the Government increased taxes on ordinary people to pay for the high cost of war. To make things worse, harvests had been poor for several years due to cold, wet weather. More people became poor, hungry frightened and angry. There were even food riots.

The carved stone in the protective metal cradle to your left is a water chute from the rear of the National School across the road. You can see the two at the front on the building. Rainwater from the roof would pour out of the mouth of the child's face carved in the end of the chute. No doubt children would play games around the plume of water which fell into their playground.

Got to Pick a Pocket or Two : Crime and Punishment

In 1812 children were punished for crimes in the same way adults were. Punishments for breaking the law were severe. 225 different crimes carried a punishment of death by hanging, including stealing something worth more than 1 shilling (5p). The death penalty applied to pickpocketing, stealing sheep, and being out at night with a blackened face.

Other punishments were whipping, branding (being burnt with a hot piece of iron), and being locked in the pillory or stocks in a public place. People would throw things at you like rotten food and horse manure, which was plentiful. Look for the remains of a set of stocks further up Halifax Road, outside the newsagent's shop. At the time this was on the village green. Imagine what went on there.

Another punishment was being sent on a ship to Australia. Between 1788 and 1818, 130,000 people convicted of offences as minor as poaching (killing wild animals on someone else's land) were sent there. No doubt some people from Liversedge made this journey, never to return.

Shoes Made of Wood : Clothing

You could tell a person's wealth by their clothing Rich people followed fashion and had many clothes made for them, often of fine material like silk or satin.

Working people had basic clothes and the main thing was to keep warm and dry. Very likely they had only two sets of clothes, which they would sew by hand. Children were dressed in hand-me-downs from older children or from worn-out adults' clothes, which were cut smaller, altered, mended and patched. Women and children wore aprons over their long dresses to protect them.

Fabrics were mostly dark and plain-coloured, made of wool. Little boys wore dresses the same as girls, until they were potty-trained. Trousers were knee length, called "breeches". Outdoors men and boys would wear a cap; women would wear a shawl which they wrapped round their head and shoulders. People wore wooden clogs. Look at Martha's and her father's on the statue.

Germs, What Germs? : Life and Death

In 1812, the length of time you could expect to live was much shorter than today. Poor people died earlier than rich people. Many babies and their mothers died during childbirth or soon afterwards. More died before they were 5 years old. Look at the photo of a gravestone at Christ Church, Liversedge. See how many young children died in just one local family. If you visit the graveyard you will see it is one of many.

Infant Children of
Samuel and Rebekah Standring
Elisha Aged 9 Months 1818
Rhoda Aged 1 Month 1819
Maria Aged 6 Months 1823
Rachel Aged 9 Months 1825
William Edward Aged 2 Years 1830

Although rich people could pay for a doctor if they were ill, there were few effective treatments. Poor people used herbal remedies which they made themselves from plants. No-one knew about germs. The squalid living conditions of many poor people allowed infectious diseases like measles, chicken pox, tuberculosis (consumption as it was called) or smallpox to spread rapidly. Epidemics were frequent and deadly.

Injuries were common, especially at work. There were no antibiotics. If you were hurt, the wound could easily get infected, and people might have an arm or leg amputated with no anaesthetic. Many died as a result.

Going Places : Travel

In 1812 there were no cars, buses, or trains Even bicycles hadn't been invented Roads were made of bumpy stones and got very muddy Some roads had paving slabs at one side called "causeways". You can still see these on parts of old lanes in Spen Valley, like Quaker Lane Children would have seen long strings of pack horses loaded with woollen cloth taking their cargo to the main towns for sale.

If you were rich you could travel in a carriage pulled by horses, or you could ride a horse if you had one. If you were poor (and most people were) you had to walk. This meant that Liversedge people didn't travel very far Most would never have seen the sea How long do you think it would take you to walk to Leeds... and back?

Liversedge Sparrow Park

This information board devised and created by

Spen Valley Civic Society

www.svcs.org.uk

Made possible by financial support from
The Veolia Environmental Trust

Type of Historic Marker: Wall mounted metal board Historical Marker Issuing Authority: Spen Valley Civic Society Age/Event Date: 01/01/1812 Related Website: [Web Link] Give your Rating:

Visit Instructions:
Please submit your visiting log with a picture of the object and include some interesting information about your visit.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.