Children's
Employment Commission Report of 1842
Summary of Interviews
with Bal Maidens from Cornwall and Devon
Due
to growing concern at the plight of children working in the mines
of the UK, a Royal Commission submitted
a report to the Government in 1842. Dr. Charles Barham (a mine surgeon)
collected evidence for the inquiry from some of the Cornish mines.
In the course of this work he interviewed 22 bal maidens in 1841,
and a record of these interviews appears in the appendix of the
report. These interviews are transcribed below in alphabetical order.
For explanations of the tasks described see Bal
Maidens at Work and the Bal
Maidens Picture Gallery.
Eliza Allen, 20 years old (Truro March 10th
1841)
She
has been at Consols two years and is employed sitting down cobbing.
She worked with her father before. She suffered from shortness of
breath and felt her legs go weak, so that she could hardly stand
on them from the first. Her wages are 18s per month but she cannot
earn half that sum. She finds if difficult to keep her feet dry
and always catches cold when she does not. She never went to school
and can scarcely read at all. She can sew a little for her mother.
(She is a rather delicately constitutioned girl and is now labouring
under disorder of the system, for which she seeks my advice).
Back
to Top
Grace
Bawden, 17 years 9 months old (Trethellan Mine, Gwennap March 6th
1841)
She
has been in good health at the mine, where she has worked for a
year and seven months. She was previously employed at straw bonnet
making for two years. She gave this up as a consequence of her failing
health. She finds that her employment at the mine agrees with her
very well. Her work is spalling and cobbing. She would as soon do
one as the other.
She
lives two miles off, in lodgings. For this she pays 6d (sic) a week
which includes cooking her victuals; she is not very comfortable
in them. She brings a pasty with her for her dinner. She earns 9d
per day. She went to Sunday School at Lanner. (She reads pretty
well. I was informed that she was expecting to be married ‘ere
long).
Back
to Top
Martha
Buckingham, 14 years 1 month old (Consolidated Mines, Gwennap May
15th 1841)
She
has been working for about four years, always at this mine. She
has been employed ‘picking’ all the time, except ‘carrying
‘ now and then, and ‘griddling’, or ‘spalling’
once in a way to help a pair when they are busy. ‘Carrying’
is the hardest work. This gives her a pain in the back, and now
and then she does it for the whole day. She catches cold sometimes,
most of the girls do. She has been at home a fortnight together
by cold, caught chiefly by getting her feet wet in coming and going.
The girls cannot get a pair of shoes to change when they come to
the mine. It is hard enough to get one pair to wear. She also 'overheated
her blood' from carrying and working too hard, and has a breaking
out since.
She
usually comes to work at seven in the morning and goes home at half
past five, but at sampling, which occurs about once a month, they
come at six and stay until eight. They do this for a week and sometimes
a fortnight. This is the case now.
She
lives at Bissoe Bridge ( three miles distant). She gets her supper
after she gets home and goes to bed as soon as she can, at half
past nine or ten. She gets up at four. There are seven in her family.
She has no father, he died in Scotland about eight years ago and
he was a miner. All are older than her except one. All work to mines,
except the youngest. One brother is ill. He was working at Poldice
in a hot place and then has to fill the kibble in cold water. She
gets her own breakfast before leaving in the morning. No time is
allowed for crowst (lunch) but about nine or ten they take a bit
of pasty when the agent is not looking, holding it with one hand
and working with the other.
When
they work overtime they are allowed time to stay at home a day when
sampling is over. They are not paid anything more than their regular
wages. There is not regular work for all in the summer but in winter
they all come, or very nearly all. They are allowed half an hour
for dinner. They warm their pasties and hoggans at the dry when
the weather is cold. They take their dinners under a shed, the girls
all together, An anker (small barrel) of cold water is brought for
them to drink. No water is to be had except a long way off. She
feels very tired to walk home. No tasks are given. They always work
till half past five. When they work late on the other days they
leave work at half past five on Saturdays. She goes to Sunday School
with the Methodists and learns to read and spell with the Catechism.
(She read pretty well. Has a cough and a papulous eruption but has
the appearance of being generally healthy.)
Back
to Top
Mary
Buller, 15 years and 10 months old (Fowey Consols, April 2nd 1841)
She
has been working here about six years, generally spalling and cobbing.
She has generally had pretty good health. She does not feel the
work. She leaves at five on the evening, and never stays later,
except once a month. Perhaps once a week she has a task and can
get away at three or half past three; ‘most of the girls who
I know of, and I know a pretty deal of them in the mine, are strong
and hearty’. One of them (whose name she mentioned) ‘is
terribly weak and looks very earthy, though she is 18’. She
went to a day school for three years and learnt to read and sew
and knit. She has forgotten her reading, She has not had clothes
to go to Sunday School. Her mother is a widow and could not afford
to keep them at school.
Back
to Top
Caroline
Coom, 11 years old (Fowey Consols, April 2nd 1841)
She
has been here working about two years and is employed picking. She
finds it easy and pleasant work and does not feel tired at the end
of the day. None of the girls picking complain of anything. They
get cold sometimes. She has no tasks and does not leave before five.
She has had a fever since she has been working at the mine. She
does not know how long. She goes to Sunday School and reads the
Testament there. (Reads a little.)
Back
to Top
Elizabeth
Curnow, 24 year old (Consolidated Mines, May 15th 1841)
She
has been about eight years coming into the mines. She has only worked
these last two days for two months. She is taken with a gradual
loss of strength and appetite one or twice a year and finds the
harder she works the less she can eat. Sometimes she comes to the
mine and sometimes she goes into service when her health is more
established. She does not find much difference as to her health
between these occupations. The work at the mine is harder for the
time but when one leaves work there is nothing more to do, she comes
at seven in the morning and stays til eight in the evening at sampling.
This is once a month and lasts for about a week or a fortnight;
more often a fortnight, She is generally employed cobbing. They
are paid by the barrow; for six barrows. The half hour is not long
enough for dinner especially for those who have bad teeth. They
can always warm their dinners if they like. She lives about two
miles off from the mine. It is always usual to stay to eight here.
She gets very cold about the legs with the broken stones in the
winter and the house runs with water. Most complain of it. The older
girls generally have pasties. (Rather sallow complexion.)
Back
to Top
Elizabeth
Davey, 17 years old (Charlestown Mines, April 1st 1841)
She
has been here a year and a half and is employed racking. She was
in service before she came to the mine. She finds this employment
agrees with her better that service but is liable to take cold.
(Has good colour but looks rather delicate.)
Back
to Top
Eliza
Evans, 17 years old (Truro, March 24th 1841)
She
has gone to the mines from time to time but found even picking too
hard for her. The stooping hurts her head and she suffers from headache.
Her mother has six children. One girl is older than her and is employed
at Budnick racking. One boy of 15 works underground. (Delicate)
Back
to Top
Sally
Fall, 19 years old (Truro, March 17th 1841)
She
suffers from pain in the left side, palpitation and shortness of
breath. She has worked among the Gwennap Mines. She has of late
years been chiefly employed bucking. She considers she overstrained
herself last Whitsuntide on lifting a heavy weight. She went to
work at 11 and did not feel it hard till she was laid up with inflammation
in her side when about 13 years of age. She did not go to school
and can hardly read. Her mother has six children; one boy is about
17 and he works at Tresavean underground. He went underground about
nine years old. His father died of cancer. His death obliged than
to go to work early. He reads tolerably in the Bible ad enjoys good
health. His mother is afraid his slight living may injure him as
he grows fast. A younger boy which is about 10 has worked at the
stamping mills for about twelve months and has not suffered. The
other children are younger. (Stout and florid, but constitutionally
disordered).
Back
to Top
Fanny
Francis, 17 years 3 months old (Truro, March 24th 1841)
She
works at United Mines and suffers from dyspepsia and has an eruption
on the skin. She has worked at the mines about six years and always
enjoyed good health till she fell in carrying, about three months
since when she had fits. She went to day school before she worked
at the mine and has since attended Sunday School. She now acts as
teacher once in three weeks at the Bryanite Chapel. Her mother,
Martha Francis is 50 years old and is a widow and has five children,
all miners. She put the eldest son underground at 12 and the second
at 15. They did not complain about their work. All of them went
to school but poor people cannot do all they would.
Back
to Top
Elizabeth
Hockin, 17 years 6 months old (Charlestown Mines, April 1st 1841)
Her
work is spalling. She has been here four years. She has been spalling
for three years and was recking before. She found spalling much
harder work and still finds it hard. She feels pain in her limbs,
sometime in her back. She does not always get rid of it on lying
down, She stays up till nine or ten and gets up at half past five.
She works an hour or an hour and a half overtime about once a month,
She gives her mother all the wages and what she can of extra pay.
(A strong ruddy girl.)
Back
to Top
Jane
Jewell, 21 years old (Truro, March 27th 1841)
She
has worked a fortnight at Consols but found she could not continue.
She has always found the ‘bal’ (mine) disagreed with
her which she attributed chiefly to the mundic water. The smell
made her sick when the water was warm. Her father is a miner at
Consols and is in a declining state, and is about 50 years of age.
Back
to Top
Mary
Johns, 14 years 3 months old (Tresavean Mine, Gwennap March 23rd
1841)
She
is employed at spalling and carrying, the latter the hardest work.
She has worked here for about a year. She was in service before.
She found it hard work at first but her health has been much better
that when in service. She lives at Redruth two miles and half distant.
She feels the walk heavy. She suffers from a pain in the back and
side the latter increasing particularly in carrying. She had pain
in her side before she came to the mine chiefly when sitting. It
comes on now about 11 or 12 but passes off with further work. She
works out in all weathers and wet at times, but does not often take
a cold. She was in day school in Redruth and still goes to Sunday
School. (Heard her read tolerably well. She had a healthy appearance.)
Back
to Top
Elizabeth Karkeek, 18 years old (Tresavean Mine, Gwennap
March 23rd 1841)
She
lives in Redruth. Her work is bucking. She has been five months
and two and half years at other mines. She does not feel much fatigue,
except pain in the left arm at the change of weather, which she
imputes to a sudden strain on lifting too heavy a weight. She does
not know of any accidents having happened in the mines from carrying
or other work at surface. She is now obliged to buck eight barrows
for a shilling. Some months ago the same price was paid for six
barrows. When she has earned that sum she usually goes home, often
about four o’clock. She went to work first at 14 years and
6 months and before that she went to day school where she learned
sewing. She still goes to Sunday School. (Found that she read tolerably)
Back
to Top
Christiana
Morom, 53 years old (Truro, March 31st 1841)
She
went to work first at about 10 years old in the Gwennap mines. She
did not suffer much at first until about 20 years ago when she was
seized with lumbago which she imputed to the hardness of the work.
She has been affected with this and other pains more or less ever
since.
Back
to Top
Christiana
Pascoe, 17 years 4 months old (Consolidated Mines, May 15th 1841)
She
has come to work about five years or rather more. She has always
been at these mines. She was for two years employed picking, then
she went to the floors spalling and carrying and she had now been
cobbing for seven months. This work is not so trying to the body
as working out of doors. She was let in because she was not able
to continue the work out. She had pains in her back and was falling
into a decline by it, her breathe very short, til she took medicine
for it. Cobbing is very cold on the legs. The feet get wet with
water coming in and the stones are wet when there is rain. She can
‘cobbie’ six barrows a day for which she is paid 8d.
That is all they are allowed to get when they do not stay till eight.
She could not do more well, the work is very hard. She can cobbie
a barrow and sometimes do overtime. She still has shortness of breath
at all times and pain in the back after working a good many hours.
She lives a mile off. She gets up at six and does not get to bed
until 10 or 11. Her mother being a widow and their being a household
and needlework to be done after she gets home. Her father was hurt
in the mine (Wood Mine) and brought up blood and fell into a consumption
and died eight months ago. (Complexion indicating venous congestion.)
Back
to Top
Mary
Ann Roscorla, 12 years 6 months old (Tresavean Mine, Gwennap March
23rd 1841)
She
is employed picking. About 30 to 40 children work together on the
same floor with herself. She goes to work from her home at six in
the morning and leaves at half past five. She takes part of what
she brings with her for dinner at crowst at 10 in the morning, when
a quarter of an hour is allowed. She never works the regular hour
of leaving. She finds she has time enough to eat her dinner with
comfort. She does not suffer from cold in the shed at dinner time
She has learned to read in the workhouse. Her mother was unable
to provide for her. She therefore lives with a man called Reed,
who boards and lodgers her and to whom she pays when she gets. He
treats her kindly.
Back
to Top
Jane
Sandow, 17 years 6 months (Truro, March 14th 1841)
She
suffers from gastrodynia. She works at Wheal Gorland. She has three
miles to walk to the mine. She found she could not buckie. She
is generally employed cobbing. Her mother has ten children, all
girls but one. The elder ones are employed at the mines. They generally
go about ten years old. All go to school, chiefly Sunday School.
They learn to sew and knit a little at dame school.
Back
to Top
Jane
Uren, 16 years old (Tresavean Mine, Gwennap March 23rd 1841)
She
has been cobbing and has been two or three months at this work.
She has been working in the mines in the six years. She lives a
mile and a half off and very seldom works overtime. ‘I generally
cob a barrow and a half and if this is done often go at five o’clock.
I drink water with my dinner.’ She cannot read and has not
gone to school lately. Her father has ten children. Five of them
are employed at the mines. The older ones can read the Bible.
Back
to Top
Mary
Verran, 14 years 10 months old (Consolidated Mines, May 15th 1841)
She
has been working here four years, always here. Her employment has
been picking. Carrying and other work at sampling time just every
day. She feels pain in the back and side chiefly about the middle
part of the day. She feels it after she lays down at night. She
lives about a mile off and gets up about half past four or five
o’clock. Her father was a miner but now goes with the tram
waggons on the railway. The wages are better that at the mine. She
hears most of the girls complain of pain in the back for carrying.
They do not complain much except from the carrying. She finds the
half hour rather short for dinner. They are allowed a half day at
Whitsuntide, two hours at Midsummer and two hours on Christmas Eve
and all Christmas Day and Good Friday. The girls bring hoggans,
plum and potato, more than pasties. Not many bring bread and butter.
A hoggan is not so good as a pasty. Some are made with barley. She
gets fish for supper and potatoes, sometimes a stew, roast potatoes
or broth. Sometimes, but very seldom the girls are obliged to give
up their work from being faint or sick. Two or three months ago
three or four were obliged to be led home. The were employed at
outdoor work, griddling or spalling. She went to day school before
she came to work and goes to Sunday School twice in the day. (She
reads pretty well. Thought John the Baptist had written the Gospel.
Had never heard of the Sadducees. She is rather robust in her appearance).
Back
to Top
Anna
Wasley, 19 years old (Ale and Cakes Mine, Gwennap March 10th 1841)
She
went to work at 13 and suffers from shortness of breath on any exertion
and has done so for the past twelve months. She works ten hours
a day, from seven till half past five, with half an hour for dinner
and has done so from the first. Her mother has seven children, five
boys and two girls. They have gone to work at seven or eight years
old.
Back
to Top
Martha
Williams, 11 yrs 5 months old (Trethellan Mine, March 6th 1841)
She
is very well and hearty. She is employed picking which she finds
easy work. She has been a year at work here. This was the first
place she went to work. She lived at home before with her mother
in Redruth and does so still. Her mother takes in washing. Her father
has been dead this brave while. He died when she was two years old.
She went to day school before she came to the mine and learned to
read not to write. She goes now to the Baptist Sunday School. (I put
her to read the Testament and she read very badly).
She
walks out from Redruth in the morning and back in the evening (a
distance of more than five miles a day). She gets milk and bread
as much as she can eat for breakfast, pasty with meat in it for
dinner, and tea or potatoes for supper. She goes to bed about seven
o’clock.
|
