Looking Back - Victorian Factories - Age 8-12

This fascinating workbook is packed full of information about working conditions in Victorian textile factories.  It is your job to finish the research and complete the various fun activities.  You will need to ask questions, find information and interpret the evidence you discover.  It includes lots of interesting firsthand source material.

The topics covered include:

• Why factories were built?
• Who worked in Victorian textile factories?
• Child labour in the factories
• Working and living conditions of factory workers
• Factory reforms
• Factory workers on strike

In this resource, your children will be introduced to Samuel Courtauld, a successful silk mill owner, in Halstead Essex. They will discover who Mr. Courtauld employed in his factory; the working and living conditions of his factory workers; how he responded to the Factory Acts and the strikes at his mill; and the local societies he established to try and improve the lives of his workers.

At the same time, your children will be encouraged to find out for themselves about life in the cotton factories. They will have to imagine that they are the owner of a cotton mill in an industrial town in the north of England. They’ll need to write their own job adverts, create posters to highlight the factory rules, and explain what the working conditions are like for workers in their factory.

Each topic covered in this pack is broken down so that it is easy to understand and all the information is presented in an engaging manner. The historical subject matter being taught is written up in the form of imaginary interviews, newspaper articles, posters and as speech etc. for the children to read. There are lots of questions to answer that will encourage your children to thoughtfully consider the evidence before them. They will be asked to look for clues in texts and pictures, to describe, to explain, to reason, to draw conclusions, to think critically and make their own interpretations. There are also creative writing exercises to do that will help children write their own narratives about each topic and to recall, select and organise relevant historical knowledge. Where information is missing, your children will be required to make their own enquiries and look up the answers to the questions online and in books.

This pack is designed to help support your children as they explore the Victorian era, deepen their understanding of this historical time period, and ignite their interest in history. It is suitable for children age 8-12.

47 pages.
PDF
This is a digital download.