The Worst Jobs In History - 2x03 - Industrial

00:46:44
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJQbsKPW30w

Resumo

TLDRThe video delves into the harsh and often overlooked jobs that supported the Industrial Revolution in Britain. These jobs won't typically find fame but were crucial to technological advancements and the transformations of British industries. It highlights the challenging conditions faced by workers in various sectors, like coal mining, bridge building, and canal transportation. Child labor in the mines is noted as particularly harsh, with young children being used to pull loads of coal in difficult conditions. The video also discusses the dangerous working environments of glass and pottery workers, and health risks like exposure to toxic substances in match factories which led to 'phossy jaw.' Despite these grim realities, these jobs played a significant role in building the infrastructure and industrial capabilities of the nation.

Conclusões

  • 🛠 The Industrial Revolution heavily relied on the labor of ordinary workers doing dangerous jobs.
  • 🚂 'Leers' pulled canal barges manually, showing the physical toil involved in industrial transportation.
  • 🧱 Bridge builders worked under perilous conditions, essential for advances like Isambard Kingdom Brunel's designs.
  • 👶 Child labor was prevalent, with children called 'harriers' doing grueling work in coal mines.
  • ⚱️ Pottery workers faced health risks from dust leading to 'potter's rot.'
  • 🕯 Matchmaking involved toxic phosphorus, causing terrible health issues known as 'phossy jaw.'
  • 🚿 Soap making used dangerous chemicals like caustic soda, posing severe health risks.
  • 👓 Glass workers endured extreme heat, risking huge burns due to the high temperatures needed for their craft.
  • 💼 Inventor Thomas Highs didn't receive credit for significant technological contributions to cotton spinning.
  • ⏰ Innovations in factory timekeeping gave rise to jobs like the 'knocker up,' who woke workers for shifts.

Linha do tempo

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The industrial history of our nation was shaped by both leading figures and ordinary individuals doing challenging jobs. This includes strenuous tasks like maintaining the Crystal Palace, moving goods through canals, and cleaning roadkill for hygiene purposes.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The Industrial Revolution marked a shift to mechanization, making Britain a global powerhouse but also bringing a new kind of poverty to workers in factories. Dangerous and anonymous jobs underpinned the era's iconic technological advancements.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:15:00

    Iconic engineers like Isambard Kingdom Brunel owe their success to the perilous work of bridge builders. Construction methods involved precarious tasks like creating platforms without safety rails, risking the lives of those involved in these dangerous jobs.

  • 00:15:00 - 00:20:00

    Desperate measures to transport goods over canals without engines created the job of 'leggers,' who physically moved barges through tunnels, a job requiring great physical endurance and offering low pay, with no other option for speedy passage.

  • 00:20:00 - 00:25:00

    The pottery industry demanded bone cleaning for fine bone china, exposing workers to rotting materials and dangerous dust, all while middle-class consumerism thrived. This work, often done by women, was physically taxing and harmful to health.

  • 00:25:00 - 00:30:00

    The danger of pottery continued with health risks from dust and repetitive strain injuries. Workers were paid for piecework, pushing them to bear harsh conditions without safety measures, affecting many in the burgeoning industrial workforce.

  • 00:30:00 - 00:35:00

    Soap making involved rendering animal carcasses in hazardous conditions with caustic chemicals, producing noxious fumes. This job exemplifies the unsanitary and dangerous conditions many workers faced in the Industrial Revolution.

  • 00:35:00 - 00:40:00

    Innovations like the Crystal Palace were built on the back of intense and risky labor in glassblowing, where workforce dealt with severe heat that could lead to life-threatening burns, highlighting the cost of Victorian architectural marvels.

  • 00:40:00 - 00:46:44

    Underground mining jobs, especially for children, were the worst, involving grueling physical labor in dangerous, cramped conditions. Child labor was prevalent, with young 'hurriers' transporting coal in mining tunnels, risking life and health.

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Perguntas frequentes

  • What industries are mentioned in the video?

    The video mentions industries like coal mining, glass making, pottery, soap making, and match production.

  • Who are the harriers?

    Harriers were child miners who dragged tubs of coal to the lift shaft, working in harsh conditions.

  • What challenges did bridge builders face during the Industrial Revolution?

    Bridge builders carried out terrifying and dangerous jobs constructing new suspension bridges, often risking their lives while working without safety measures.

  • What was the role of 'leers' in canal transportation?

    'Leers' were individuals who physically dragged barges through narrow tunnels on canals by using their leg power.

  • Why was soap making considered a dangerous job?

    Soap making involved boiling animal fats and using caustic soda, which produced harmful fumes and involved handling dangerous chemicals.

  • What health risks did pottery workers face?

    Pottery workers faced health risks like lung disease from dust exposure (potter's rot) and potential lead poisoning.

  • Are there any inventors mentioned who didn't get credit for their inventions?

    Yes, Thomas Highs is mentioned as an inventor who didn't get credit for his work on the water frame.

  • What were the working conditions of matchmakers like?

    Matchmakers suffered from phosphorus poisoning, which led to a condition known as 'phossy jaw' affecting their jawbones.

  • How were factory workers kept on schedule during the early shift systems?

    The 'knocker up' was used to wake factory workers by tapping on their windows to ensure they started work on time.

  • What dangers did glass workers face?

    Glass workers risked severe burns as they worked with glass heated to extremely high temperatures.

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  • 00:00:01
    our nation's history hasn't just been
  • 00:00:03
    built by leading players making a lot of
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    big political decisions but by a huge
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    Supporting Cast of ordinary men and
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    women prepared to do some really lousy
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    jobs this time the hot and sweaty job
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    behind the Crystal Palace and the great
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    exhibition the exhausting leg work of
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    keeping the nation's canals
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    moving and why cleanliness in the past
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    meant someone boiling up roadkill
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    welcome to the worst industrial jobs in
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    [Music]
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    [Music]
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    history Britain invented industry in the
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    18th century the Industrial Revolution
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    brought mass production and
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    mechanization to jobs that previously
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    had been done by
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    hand Britain became the technological
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    and economic Powerhouse of the
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    world she produced 2/3 of the world's
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    coal over half the world's iron it made
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    the nation rich but for thousands of
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    people working like ants in the
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    factories there was a new and
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    mind-numbing form of
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    poverty the Industrial Revolution brings
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    to mind images of dark satanic Mills and
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    smoking chimneys and crowded towns we
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    all know that the workers had a pretty
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    rough time but until you see some of the
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    jobs they actually did you don't realize
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    quite how awful things were for them
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    some worst jobs spring immediately to
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    mind like the workers in the cotton
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    Mills or the men who laid the track for
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    Britain's amazing Railway Network or the
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    hot and dangerous job of producing Iron
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    and Steel the basic building blocks of
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    the Industrial
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    Revolution but for me the worst are ones
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    you might not have thought of anonymous
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    workers who ensure that the great icons
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    and Geniuses of the Industrial
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    Revolution went down in
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    history I mean we've all heard of isard
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    Kingdom Brunell and the Clifton
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    suspension bridge but he'd have been
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    nowhere without the terrifying job of
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    bridge building
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    before the Industrial Revolution no one
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    would have dreamt of spanning a Gorge
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    like this with a traditional wooden or
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    stone bridge and then Along Came Brunell
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    with new technology and brand spanking
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    new designs for a suspension bridge and
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    the job was done but it was this very
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    pushing at the boundaries of engineering
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    that made the job of bridge building
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    much much worse John how did they
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    actually build this well first of all
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    you have to build the abutments in the
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    towers and to a degree that's the easy
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    bit except imagine how you're going to
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    get all that stone work on top of these
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    Cliffs then the really difficult bit is
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    putting the bridge across yourself so
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    how do you start you've got to get a
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    platform the same shape as the chain
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    from one side to the other and that was
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    done with three wire ropes and then
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    strapping a wooden platform to it you
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    then laid each of the plates of the
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    links onto the this platform and
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    starting at both ends at the same time
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    and when you reach the middle you put
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    the pin in and you've got a thin chain
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    but until you've got that chain you've
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    got nothing underneath you have you I
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    know this is a very dangerous place to
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    be you know I wouldn't have liked to
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    have been anywhere near
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    it you can imagine that first
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    conversation between Brunell and his
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    Bridge
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    Builders yes a small wooden walkway from
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    the top no nothing to hang on to oh
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    thanks ismad
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    [Music]
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    the bad news for me is that people still
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    have to go up to check the cables it's a
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    frightening echo of the original Bridge
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    Builder's job what looks like a solid
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    walkway is a series of chains that waft
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    in the
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    wind why do I need a helmet if I fall
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    all the way down to the river aen it's
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    not matter much whether I've got a
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    helmet on or not mind you we haven't got
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    a boat for you either
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    don't there we go go how high are we
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    well I'm 250 ft off the water Tony and
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    you're going to go higher and higher but
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    don't worry about it you're gloating I
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    can hear it in your
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    voice right am I okay to come up this
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    safety wire has only been in place for 8
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    years with no handrail it does nothing
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    to stop the feeling that you might fall
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    off the thing you're most terrified of
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    when you first get up is that you're
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    going to fall and get run over by
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    car okay
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    yep then you look over the other side
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    and you think actually being mowed down
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    by a car would be infinitely preferable
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    if you do fall off in the cord holds you
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    hang like a conquer until a qualified AB
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    sailor is brought in to rescue you the
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    original Builders weren't so lucky at
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    least two fell to their deaths during
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    construction it is a long way isn't it
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    oh it certainly is can you imagine if
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    there wasn't a road here Tony just as
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    the guys when they were building it
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    there wouldn't have been a road it would
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    have been straight down to the water and
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    they wouldn't have had one of these no
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    harnesses on would they there was
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    nothing to hold them
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    on I can I can walk just walking's okay
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    it's just the idea of actually having to
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    do something else at the same time fills
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    me with absolute Terror
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    it's the way the wind keeps changing
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    that's really unnerving you you just
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    think you've you've got it you you
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    understand about the wind and then the
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    damn thing gusts in a completely
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    different direction it's really swirly
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    isn't
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    it even on a relatively calm day The
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    Gorge acts like a wind tunnel it gets
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    much worse in 1863 a freak gust blew the
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    fragile wooden walkway and the men on it
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    70 ft in the air incredibly they all
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    lived to tell the
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    tail i' have needed a change of
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    underwear after a while you begin to get
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    the hang of being up there but taking
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    your hands off the rope and bolting the
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    giant pieces of chain together would
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    feel like suicide it's a huge relief
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    when the section's checked and you start
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    coming down
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    this iconic Bridge made Brunell Immortal
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    and although his Bridge Builders died
  • 00:07:08
    Anonymous this is also their
  • 00:07:12
    Monument industry is useless without
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    transport in an age of poor roads and no
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    Railways moving Goods was a huge
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    problem the answer was a Monumental
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    engineering project between 1760 and
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    1850 navis dug nearly 5,000 m of canals
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    to carry 30 million tons of cargo but
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    barges didn't have engines keeping the
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    freight moving created a unique worst
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    job this is all very calm and peaceful
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    and idilic isn't it except that this was
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    the M1 of its day all the way along here
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    there would have been cues of barges
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    waiting to get through to the far side
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    of the penines so they could deliver
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    their goods to the Mills and factories
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    why were they queuing here well it's
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    easy to pull a barge Along by horse when
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    you've got a tow pass but when you get
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    to that tunnel there was no Toe Path so
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    no horse and at that moment in the best
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    traditions of the worst jobs in history
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    the job was taken over by a poor
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    employee of the canal company whose task
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    it was to drag the barge all the way
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    through that tunnel using only the power
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    of his legs and he was known as the
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    Leer Fred yes can I get on your boat you
  • 00:08:40
    certainly can Tony listen why did they
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    build the tunnel so narrow they build it
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    wider you could have put a toe path down
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    the side and then the horse could have
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    dragged the barges through one of the
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    things is the cost I mean initially they
  • 00:08:51
    said this tunnel would cost about
  • 00:08:52
    £56,000 the figure actually went up to
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    £125,000 if you can imagine the extra
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    expense are putting the top path in here
  • 00:09:01
    as well it's like the channel tunnel
  • 00:09:02
    isn't it just a bit yeah how long is
  • 00:09:04
    this thing 3 and a/4 miles it's the
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    longest highest deepest canal in this
  • 00:09:09
    country stop boasting so I'm going to
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    have to pull this boat three and a half
  • 00:09:13
    miles you certainly are to it come on
  • 00:09:15
    then do I get up on here yes you do I'll
  • 00:09:18
    just throw this roope forward on right
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    one out yeah right what one you do now
  • 00:09:23
    yeah is line your back here with your
  • 00:09:25
    feet onto that side of the T line my
  • 00:09:27
    back certainly line your back nice
  • 00:09:29
    straight position feet onto the side of
  • 00:09:32
    the tunnel just so you can reach nicely
  • 00:09:34
    yeah just leave a bit of room for meat
  • 00:09:36
    yeah you got your feet on to the side of
  • 00:09:37
    the tunnel uh yeah yeah take sideways
  • 00:09:41
    steps now like a crab right that's the
  • 00:09:45
    one oh it's moving that's it just that
  • 00:09:47
    we got to get it get it moving First
  • 00:09:51
    stuck that's it just push nice easy
  • 00:09:54
    pressure one leg and the other like a
  • 00:09:57
    crab just keep it going this is the
  • 00:09:59
    first worst job I've ever done on my
  • 00:10:02
    back who yeah you can feel it actually
  • 00:10:05
    in the uh in the muscles between your
  • 00:10:09
    knees and your ankles can't you you can
  • 00:10:11
    imagine how you're going to be after the
  • 00:10:12
    next three miles
  • 00:10:14
    then this tunnel is the Mount Everest of
  • 00:10:17
    legging even though the barge moves
  • 00:10:20
    smoothly we're pushing the equivalent of
  • 00:10:22
    a loaded articulated lri
  • 00:10:25
    [Music]
  • 00:10:29
    oh how long would it have taken them to
  • 00:10:31
    get through this tunnel about 3 and 1
  • 00:10:33
    half to 4 hours to take a boat through
  • 00:10:35
    this tunnel but you didn't need someone
  • 00:10:38
    who was specially qualified to do this
  • 00:10:40
    did you anyone could have done it the
  • 00:10:41
    bloke off the boat could have done it
  • 00:10:43
    the trouble with that is the what we
  • 00:10:45
    call the the nonprofessionals would
  • 00:10:46
    actually take longer sometimes up to 4
  • 00:10:49
    and 1 half hours and this did actually
  • 00:10:52
    cause like a bottleneck a traffic jam on
  • 00:10:54
    the tunnel so they brought professional
  • 00:10:57
    leers in just to speed the boats through
  • 00:10:59
    the tunnel really so these were
  • 00:11:01
    professional guys who worked for the
  • 00:11:03
    company and the only job that they did
  • 00:11:05
    was legging all day long that's correct
  • 00:11:07
    yeah but they did actually speed the
  • 00:11:08
    traffic up they could leg a boat through
  • 00:11:11
    here in sometimes just under 3 hours how
  • 00:11:14
    much did they get it varied a little bit
  • 00:11:17
    I mean mostly they got about 1 and six
  • 00:11:19
    about 7 and 1/2 new Pence per
  • 00:11:22
    boat at the end of the grinding 3-hour
  • 00:11:25
    plot through the tunnel the leers had to
  • 00:11:28
    pick up another cargo at the other end
  • 00:11:30
    do the whole thing over
  • 00:11:33
    again so how bad a job is this well I'm
  • 00:11:37
    lying here ning away to Fred it's nice
  • 00:11:40
    breeze coming down the tunnel the bad
  • 00:11:43
    bits are the water that keeps splashing
  • 00:11:45
    into your face that's not too bad but
  • 00:11:47
    the worst thing is just here those
  • 00:11:50
    muscles just underneath the knee are
  • 00:11:53
    screaming with Agony I've only been
  • 00:11:55
    doing it for 10
  • 00:11:56
    minutes so I'll put you back into it
  • 00:12:01
    [Music]
  • 00:12:05
    the Industrial Revolution gave birth to
  • 00:12:08
    consumerism a new middle class with
  • 00:12:10
    money to burn wanted fancy Goods to show
  • 00:12:13
    they'd arrived high tea was trendy white
  • 00:12:17
    tablecloths the latest Cutlery from
  • 00:12:19
    Sheffield and tea served in fine bone
  • 00:12:25
    china but fine bone china and best RG
  • 00:12:29
    don't appear on the tea table by Magic
  • 00:12:31
    and up here in the potteries there are
  • 00:12:33
    an awful lot of anonymous workers Who
  • 00:12:35
    Bore the brunt of all this social
  • 00:12:36
    aspiration for instance to make fine
  • 00:12:39
    bone china you need bone and the person
  • 00:12:42
    cleaning all the bone was the bone
  • 00:12:45
    cleaner Angela I was supposed to
  • 00:12:47
    immediately start asking you about bone
  • 00:12:49
    cleaning but as I came around the corner
  • 00:12:51
    there's this massive whiff these things
  • 00:12:54
    are literally crawling with maggots why
  • 00:12:58
    have they G maggots all over them well
  • 00:13:01
    it's old bone they didn't uh kill
  • 00:13:03
    animals just for the pottery industry it
  • 00:13:05
    was bone from anywhere usually cattle
  • 00:13:07
    bone it've been lying about for a while
  • 00:13:09
    and the uh unpleasant job for you is to
  • 00:13:12
    clean it oh it really stinks doesn't it
  • 00:13:14
    you don't to add some water to that as
  • 00:13:16
    well you got to get every as much as you
  • 00:13:17
    can off that once they cleaned all the
  • 00:13:21
    rotting meat off the bones what do they
  • 00:13:22
    do with them well they do the next thing
  • 00:13:24
    that happens is that they're more
  • 00:13:26
    thoroughly cleaned in in water and then
  • 00:13:28
    they're burnt they're caled which takes
  • 00:13:31
    out all the glue and the the jelly from
  • 00:13:33
    the inside of the bone makes it really
  • 00:13:35
    soft and you can grind it down mix it
  • 00:13:38
    with the clay to make bone china it
  • 00:13:40
    really is quite hard isn't it I thought
  • 00:13:41
    it' be quite easy to cut the meat off
  • 00:13:43
    particularly with these knives but it
  • 00:13:45
    it's enough cling do we know anything
  • 00:13:47
    about the people who did this job it was
  • 00:13:49
    a job which women did um surprise
  • 00:13:51
    surprise surprise surprise yeah and we
  • 00:13:53
    know that they hated the stink as well
  • 00:13:56
    they also talk about how sore their
  • 00:13:57
    hands were being in the the cold and the
  • 00:13:59
    wet all the time oh it's not just me
  • 00:14:01
    being squeamish
  • 00:14:03
    sorry it's just a bit though how much
  • 00:14:06
    bone is there in bone china it's about
  • 00:14:08
    half half clay and half bone why use
  • 00:14:10
    bone it gives it whiteness you can make
  • 00:14:13
    a very thin body and it's translucent
  • 00:14:15
    it's all the qualities you associate
  • 00:14:17
    with bone china come from the bone so
  • 00:14:19
    all these middle class people would have
  • 00:14:20
    been drinking their tea with their
  • 00:14:22
    little fingers curled totally unaware
  • 00:14:24
    that what they would be drinking out of
  • 00:14:26
    was 50% made out of that been bit of an
  • 00:14:29
    eye open wouldn't it yeah it
  • 00:14:32
    [Music]
  • 00:14:36
    would you can smell rotting meat a mile
  • 00:14:39
    off but a greater danger was that there
  • 00:14:42
    were no health and safety inspectors
  • 00:14:44
    around to warn you about some of the
  • 00:14:46
    more invisible dangers like Arsenic and
  • 00:14:49
    Lead which did for so many workers
  • 00:14:51
    during the Industrial Revolution and
  • 00:14:53
    here in the potteries there was this
  • 00:14:56
    stuff the dust that Flo floated through
  • 00:14:59
    the air all the time particularly during
  • 00:15:01
    the final stages of the process when the
  • 00:15:04
    workers were finishing off the pots this
  • 00:15:06
    stuff could give you Potter's rot or
  • 00:15:09
    pneumoconiosis which was a lung disease
  • 00:15:12
    which was potentially fatal but hazards
  • 00:15:15
    lurt among even the most innocent
  • 00:15:17
    looking
  • 00:15:18
    [Music]
  • 00:15:21
    jobs even the pressors who made the cup
  • 00:15:24
    handles risked injury to their internal
  • 00:15:26
    organs
  • 00:15:30
    so you got it together push hard part
  • 00:15:34
    they called it jumping cuz they actually
  • 00:15:36
    land oh yeah you can see land on the
  • 00:15:37
    stomachs with it if it went smaller
  • 00:15:42
    yeah I see what you mean by jumping
  • 00:15:44
    because after a while you just you want
  • 00:15:46
    to get your feet off the ground in order
  • 00:15:48
    to put your weight on and I suppose the
  • 00:15:50
    smaller you are the lighter you are so
  • 00:15:51
    the more you got to do that there's
  • 00:15:53
    testimony that was taken in the 1840s
  • 00:15:57
    young lad called Herbert well he talks
  • 00:16:00
    about how it hurts his stomach how hot
  • 00:16:02
    it is about 98° in the factory you're
  • 00:16:06
    also right over the clay breathing that
  • 00:16:08
    dust in all the time how many of these
  • 00:16:10
    would they have had to make in a day
  • 00:16:11
    they've been making about 50 dozen a day
  • 00:16:14
    uh working with a team of others hang on
  • 00:16:16
    50 doesn't that's 720 no five five
  • 00:16:19
    what's five to 6 600 600 a day 600 a day
  • 00:16:22
    here we are let's see if I've actually
  • 00:16:23
    managed to cut
  • 00:16:25
    through oh not bad then you take the
  • 00:16:29
    excess off should really let it dry a
  • 00:16:31
    little bit first
  • 00:16:32
    but oh it it good do you know I think
  • 00:16:35
    that's the first time in this series
  • 00:16:38
    that I've actually managed to complete a
  • 00:16:39
    job with some degree of efficiency
  • 00:16:42
    except the middle of it isn't cut
  • 00:16:44
    out industry reduced workers to Tiny
  • 00:16:48
    cogs in a giant production machine
  • 00:16:51
    workers did one small repetitive job day
  • 00:16:54
    in day out there were fettlers pieces
  • 00:16:58
    placers
  • 00:16:59
    and Sager maker bottom
  • 00:17:03
    knockers the drawer only job was to take
  • 00:17:06
    the fired Pottery out of the Kil
  • 00:17:08
    quick imagine balancing on a ladder
  • 00:17:11
    inside an oven that's been heated to,
  • 00:17:14
    1400° and shifting 10 kilos of burning
  • 00:17:17
    hot pots onto your head oh gosh it feels
  • 00:17:20
    like it's going to go one breakage and
  • 00:17:23
    every single person in the chain would
  • 00:17:25
    have their wages
  • 00:17:27
    docked so that's the China sorted but
  • 00:17:31
    our high tea set also needs Cutlery and
  • 00:17:34
    for that you need another terrible job
  • 00:17:37
    100 miles up the road in
  • 00:17:39
    Sheffield the buffal ass works by hand
  • 00:17:43
    polishing knives forks and spoons
  • 00:17:45
    thousands of them all day every
  • 00:17:51
    day
  • 00:17:52
    Emma hi I want to be a buffer L what do
  • 00:17:55
    I have to do right come on let's uh
  • 00:17:57
    dress you up first I think
  • 00:18:00
    buff asses they wore uh what they call a
  • 00:18:02
    buff brats which bit like an operational
  • 00:18:04
    kind of gown with the strings behind
  • 00:18:06
    your back so you didn't get them caught
  • 00:18:08
    in the machine this is one of these
  • 00:18:09
    something similar to this what's it
  • 00:18:11
    called again a buff brat a buff brat so
  • 00:18:14
    tie that around your back so they don't
  • 00:18:15
    get caught um you want a brown paper you
  • 00:18:18
    might think why brown paper very readily
  • 00:18:20
    available um they would use this in the
  • 00:18:24
    in the work in the workplace to wrap all
  • 00:18:25
    the finished products together so put
  • 00:18:28
    this on you put this on as an apron
  • 00:18:29
    around your middle this absorbed the oil
  • 00:18:32
    that was used in the buffing process
  • 00:18:34
    they Ed Trent sand and oil and this
  • 00:18:37
    would be absorbed rather than getting
  • 00:18:39
    your nice Calico outfit was it really
  • 00:18:42
    that Mucky a jaw oh it was definitely
  • 00:18:44
    yeah the dirt bit comes when you do the
  • 00:18:47
    buffing and the um sand and the oil
  • 00:18:49
    flick off from the wheel as you're as
  • 00:18:51
    you're passing the knives forks and
  • 00:18:53
    spoons through the through and
  • 00:18:55
    underneath the wheel yeah put these
  • 00:18:58
    around your leg to protect your legs
  • 00:18:59
    because we don't want to get oil on them
  • 00:19:03
    either um they often got mcky faces and
  • 00:19:07
    um impregnated dirt in their hands as
  • 00:19:09
    well dirt that would actually sort of
  • 00:19:11
    never come not come out no this is the
  • 00:19:14
    buffing wheel and now you're in your
  • 00:19:16
    costume she'll give it a go yeah yeah um
  • 00:19:18
    in the pot here that you can see we've
  • 00:19:20
    got Trent sand and oil so these were
  • 00:19:22
    dipped and rubbed before they were
  • 00:19:24
    Ground can you smell it it's like
  • 00:19:26
    smelling a petrol pump so should we give
  • 00:19:29
    it a go we start with something easy a
  • 00:19:30
    knife are you ready hold it fairly well
  • 00:19:33
    underneath cuz it's going to come
  • 00:19:34
    towards you and the dirt will possibly
  • 00:19:37
    flick up at you all right there oh yeah
  • 00:19:39
    all the dirt keeps bouncing off the
  • 00:19:42
    wheel onto my face could have been very
  • 00:19:44
    good for you no I mean it would get
  • 00:19:46
    impregnated in your fingers all the oil
  • 00:19:49
    and the sand it also you'd get
  • 00:19:51
    dermatitis many of them suffered from
  • 00:19:53
    that as a an errand last to start with
  • 00:19:56
    you do odd jobs around the factory yeah
  • 00:19:58
    you'd work your way up then to doing
  • 00:20:00
    handles and then eventually get some
  • 00:20:02
    more complex things like spoons and
  • 00:20:04
    forks cuz they're a lot more intricate
  • 00:20:07
    the stay my hands they're really oh gosh
  • 00:20:10
    pretty Mucky isn't it yeah the oil's
  • 00:20:11
    becoming impregnated now which is the
  • 00:20:14
    buffer girls had that and they were
  • 00:20:16
    quite disfigured really how many of
  • 00:20:18
    these girls do you reckon there would
  • 00:20:19
    have been in the factory um several
  • 00:20:22
    hundred but say in like one Workshop
  • 00:20:24
    there'd be long benches down each side
  • 00:20:27
    and there may be 25 to 50 people all
  • 00:20:29
    with their own individual Wheels to be
  • 00:20:31
    very loud and Rowdy imagine this 50
  • 00:20:34
    times
  • 00:20:36
    over buffer lasses were paid by the
  • 00:20:38
    piece which kept them glued to their
  • 00:20:40
    machines but every piece had to be
  • 00:20:44
    perfect there you
  • 00:20:47
    are that's not bad is it well perhaps
  • 00:20:50
    compare them to these ones that's just
  • 00:20:52
    the beginning of the process so various
  • 00:20:55
    stages of buffing and this is your end
  • 00:20:57
    product before they'd be packag and sent
  • 00:21:00
    away if deafening machines filth
  • 00:21:03
    dermatitis and repetitive work weren't
  • 00:21:06
    bad enough mass production had one more
  • 00:21:08
    downside for factory
  • 00:21:11
    workers it created a whole artificial
  • 00:21:14
    working
  • 00:21:16
    life if you lived in the country you'd
  • 00:21:19
    be woken up by the church bells and
  • 00:21:20
    you'd stop work when the sun set but in
  • 00:21:23
    the increasingly mechanized world of the
  • 00:21:25
    towns factories could operate 247
  • 00:21:29
    and in order to make that happen the
  • 00:21:31
    owners instituted the shift system and
  • 00:21:34
    the first shift started at 5 a.m. now if
  • 00:21:38
    you had to wake up at that time nowadays
  • 00:21:40
    you'd set your mobile phone or your
  • 00:21:41
    alarm clock radio and Ting aing aing
  • 00:21:44
    hopefully you'd wake up on time but in
  • 00:21:46
    those days you wouldn't have been able
  • 00:21:47
    to afford a phone but you had to get to
  • 00:21:49
    work on time because as far as the
  • 00:21:51
    owners were concerned time was money so
  • 00:21:54
    they invented their own human alarm
  • 00:21:57
    clock called the knocker up and his tool
  • 00:22:00
    of trade was the long stick and he went
  • 00:22:04
    round tapping on everyone's window very
  • 00:22:08
    early in the morning and he used to do
  • 00:22:11
    this every day for the whole year Come
  • 00:22:13
    Rain Come Shine come
  • 00:22:17
    snow
  • 00:22:19
    morning apart from the factory owner he
  • 00:22:21
    was probably the most unpopular person
  • 00:22:23
    in the whole
  • 00:22:24
    [Music]
  • 00:22:26
    town but the reason it was was a worse
  • 00:22:29
    job was because there was no knocker up
  • 00:22:31
    to knock up the knocker up was
  • 00:22:34
    there where there's brass there's mug
  • 00:22:38
    and while the Industrial Revolution
  • 00:22:40
    brought Britain wealth it created filth
  • 00:22:44
    coal and chemicals brought smogs that
  • 00:22:46
    would make Los Angeles seem like an
  • 00:22:48
    Alpine Meadow industrial Britain lived
  • 00:22:50
    under a thin film of grme and ironically
  • 00:22:54
    one of the messiest jobs of all was one
  • 00:22:57
    designed to keep everyone else clean you
  • 00:22:59
    needed a strong stomach to apply for the
  • 00:23:01
    post of soap boiler emanating from
  • 00:23:04
    somewhere over there isn't the smell of
  • 00:23:07
    Lux or Palm Olive it actually smells
  • 00:23:10
    more like the insides of a thousand dead
  • 00:23:13
    wilderbeast and my head tells me that
  • 00:23:17
    it's to do with our next worst job soap
  • 00:23:20
    making you look like you're boiling a
  • 00:23:22
    martian in there what is that well
  • 00:23:24
    actually I'm not boiling a martian I'm
  • 00:23:26
    boiling parts of a dead sheep
  • 00:23:29
    and uh we actually need some more so why
  • 00:23:31
    don't you throw that one in over there
  • 00:23:33
    so is that what you make soap out on the
  • 00:23:36
    insides of sheep well you make soap out
  • 00:23:38
    of fat and uh Believe It or Not costic
  • 00:23:41
    soda the most common form of fat was
  • 00:23:44
    some boiling down animals will this do
  • 00:23:47
    oh no that's far too good that's our
  • 00:23:48
    lunch put in the sheep's
  • 00:23:51
    awful here we go I have to say I've
  • 00:23:54
    never got used to this job so you're
  • 00:23:56
    saying that they could have used
  • 00:23:57
    virtually anything at TOS too in there
  • 00:23:59
    well Tony you're a soap maker okay you
  • 00:24:02
    know that any bit of animal will do to
  • 00:24:04
    make to get fat from so if you see a
  • 00:24:06
    dead dog or cat rat or anything you're
  • 00:24:09
    going to put it in your soap pan aren't
  • 00:24:11
    you but first you have to take the skin
  • 00:24:14
    off yeah and then you have to um take
  • 00:24:17
    out its end Trails so there's no waste
  • 00:24:19
    products in it cuz you don't want waste
  • 00:24:21
    products in your toow but virtually
  • 00:24:23
    anything else will do it does smell
  • 00:24:26
    fairly disgusting now doesn't it what do
  • 00:24:28
    we do with it next you have to cook it
  • 00:24:31
    let it cool take the fat off the top
  • 00:24:34
    yeah and then repeat the process to get
  • 00:24:37
    a pure Tallow and eventually it ends up
  • 00:24:42
    like this why is it clear on the top but
  • 00:24:44
    got that big yellow ball in well this is
  • 00:24:46
    liquid Tallow and the big ball in the
  • 00:24:48
    middle is actually solid Tallow what are
  • 00:24:51
    we going to do with this going to pour
  • 00:24:52
    it in this pot and we're going to make
  • 00:24:55
    soap and it goes
  • 00:24:58
    [Music]
  • 00:25:01
    so what do we do now well tally we add
  • 00:25:03
    in the LIE what's that well lie is uh
  • 00:25:07
    CTIC soda or what they used to call
  • 00:25:10
    potach in a solution of water that must
  • 00:25:13
    be dangerous well it is I mean certainly
  • 00:25:15
    um if you put your hands in it it would
  • 00:25:17
    burn them so not only did you have this
  • 00:25:19
    horrible stink but you have this
  • 00:25:21
    horrible burning stuff as well
  • 00:25:23
    absolutely and if you get splashed with
  • 00:25:25
    it or It Gets In Your Eyes it will blind
  • 00:25:27
    you
  • 00:25:30
    [Music]
  • 00:25:35
    is this the costic soda that's it Tony
  • 00:25:38
    right cool heav now tell me when I'll
  • 00:25:42
    tell you
  • 00:25:45
    when that should do nicely okay now we
  • 00:25:49
    heat it up now we heat it up now you see
  • 00:25:52
    the LIE is mixing with the fats and then
  • 00:25:56
    very slowly very gradually it will turn
  • 00:25:58
    into
  • 00:25:59
    soap and that process is called
  • 00:26:02
    saponification I'll tell you what it's
  • 00:26:03
    starting to go really frothy you
  • 00:26:05
    normally can't tell how long it's going
  • 00:26:07
    to take to saponify sometimes it happens
  • 00:26:10
    quite quickly but normally this process
  • 00:26:13
    would uh would take about 4 days and you
  • 00:26:15
    can see the soap forming on the
  • 00:26:18
    surface this is only one little bucket
  • 00:26:21
    and it stinks imagine the smell from a
  • 00:26:24
    soap Factory rendering animal carcasses
  • 00:26:27
    7 days a week
  • 00:26:29
    week that's weird there's some fumes
  • 00:26:32
    coming off it now really making me c
  • 00:26:36
    well that will be the costic soda
  • 00:26:38
    because it's boiling so vigorously so
  • 00:26:41
    that means that we've now got soap but a
  • 00:26:43
    load of costic soda as well what do we
  • 00:26:45
    do with the CTIC soda you actually add
  • 00:26:47
    um brine to it which is salt water and
  • 00:26:52
    uh what happens is the soap basically
  • 00:26:54
    floats to the top that's pure soap
  • 00:26:56
    you'll have soap on the top then
  • 00:26:58
    glycerin and then all the bits of
  • 00:27:01
    animals that didn't uh make fat and
  • 00:27:05
    costic soda what happens to the rest of
  • 00:27:07
    the costic soda well once you finished
  • 00:27:09
    uh if there's any waste costic soda
  • 00:27:11
    you'd either use it again or you just
  • 00:27:13
    flush it down the drain into the water
  • 00:27:15
    supply oh absolutely oh that's great
  • 00:27:17
    isn't it so you've got all these fumes
  • 00:27:20
    coming off you got the stink and you've
  • 00:27:23
    got the fact that your water source is
  • 00:27:25
    being polluted it's a messy business
  • 00:27:30
    so Tony what we do is we pour the soap
  • 00:27:34
    into a mold like this and then we let it
  • 00:27:37
    cool down yeah and then uh we take it
  • 00:27:40
    out this is the soap
  • 00:27:47
    absolutely there we are that's some
  • 00:27:50
    travel isn't it from the bits and pieces
  • 00:27:52
    of meat through to that do you want to
  • 00:27:54
    try some
  • 00:27:56
    yeah there we are take a chunk of that
  • 00:27:59
    now it's not going to lather very well
  • 00:28:01
    because there's no coconut oil in it in
  • 00:28:03
    the 18th century soap was made from
  • 00:28:05
    Tallow and Tallow soap does not laa
  • 00:28:08
    particularly well well there's not that
  • 00:28:10
    much laa here but but it does the job
  • 00:28:14
    it's still got a bit of the old animal
  • 00:28:16
    smell on it isn't it it
  • 00:28:20
    has we all know that the Industrial
  • 00:28:23
    Revolution wasn't just driven by sweat
  • 00:28:25
    and toil but by brains there was br lell
  • 00:28:28
    and his suspension bridge James wat and
  • 00:28:30
    his steam engine but Behind These
  • 00:28:33
    towering Geniuses lies another worst job
  • 00:28:36
    those inventors who dedicated their
  • 00:28:38
    whole lives to devices that never saw
  • 00:28:41
    the light of day basically because they
  • 00:28:44
    were complete
  • 00:28:45
    rubbish like James Bole and his
  • 00:28:47
    ingeniously polite saluting device a
  • 00:28:50
    cunning mechanism that meant if you had
  • 00:28:53
    a Budgy cage in one hand and a pound of
  • 00:28:55
    sausages in the other you could still
  • 00:28:57
    tip your hat to a
  • 00:29:02
    lady equally futile the Deliverance
  • 00:29:05
    coffin if Auntie Flo wasn't quite dead
  • 00:29:08
    when you buried her one movement would
  • 00:29:10
    send a spring-loaded mop shooting out of
  • 00:29:13
    the 6ft pipe to alert passers
  • 00:29:16
    by but there was a job worse than the
  • 00:29:19
    people who invented rubbish it was the
  • 00:29:21
    bloke who invented something brilliant
  • 00:29:23
    and never got the credit for it this is
  • 00:29:26
    cromford Mill in darbishire
  • 00:29:28
    it was here that Richard arright first
  • 00:29:30
    used his water frame this revolutionary
  • 00:29:33
    device enabled cotton to be spun on an
  • 00:29:36
    industrial scale arr's machine
  • 00:29:39
    transformed production and assured his
  • 00:29:41
    place in industrial
  • 00:29:44
    history the only problem was it wasn't
  • 00:29:47
    his invention he' pinched the idea from
  • 00:29:50
    an inventor called Thomas he who
  • 00:29:52
    developed the waterf frame with his
  • 00:29:54
    partner John Kay but had been too poor
  • 00:29:56
    to be able to afford a pay
  • 00:29:59
    Arc right's only contribution to
  • 00:30:00
    technology was to buy a few rounds of
  • 00:30:03
    drinks which he poured down John K until
  • 00:30:06
    the PO BL was so sozzled that he blurted
  • 00:30:08
    out the secrets of this wonderful
  • 00:30:11
    invention arcr went on to patent it and
  • 00:30:14
    installed a waterf frame here in this
  • 00:30:17
    Factory not only that but he sold the
  • 00:30:19
    idea to Mill owners throughout the
  • 00:30:22
    country he eventually took him to court
  • 00:30:25
    and he won but by then it was too late
  • 00:30:28
    arkright had made his millions and he
  • 00:30:31
    died a forgotten
  • 00:30:38
    nobody but Victoria and Britain didn't
  • 00:30:40
    have time for losers this was an age of
  • 00:30:44
    self-confidence in 1851 to show that the
  • 00:30:47
    UK led the world we put on the great
  • 00:30:50
    exhibition the country's finest
  • 00:30:52
    technology was displayed in the
  • 00:30:54
    purpose-built Crystal Palace
  • 00:30:57
    [Applause]
  • 00:30:58
    it was architecture designed to awe the
  • 00:31:02
    architect Paxton got all the plaudits
  • 00:31:04
    but the Crystal Palace was a giant Kit
  • 00:31:07
    of Parts prepared with extreme skill and
  • 00:31:10
    a lot of
  • 00:31:11
    [Music]
  • 00:31:14
    puff in fact there were 293,2mb
  • 00:31:28
    Paxton's plans gave glass blowers their
  • 00:31:30
    ultimate Challenge they were already
  • 00:31:33
    working to capacity the Victorian
  • 00:31:35
    building boom meant a huge demand for
  • 00:31:38
    Windows every single one had to be blown
  • 00:31:40
    into a cylinder then flattened into a
  • 00:31:43
    sheet but Paxton went further he pushed
  • 00:31:46
    technology to the Limit and demanded the
  • 00:31:49
    largest panes of glass ever blown
  • 00:31:58
    working flat out in conditions of
  • 00:32:00
    extreme heat meant mistakes were bound
  • 00:32:03
    to happen glass makers were a tightnit
  • 00:32:06
    bunch accidents were rarely
  • 00:32:08
    recorded but as glass is heated to 1200°
  • 00:32:12
    to work even the briefest of contact
  • 00:32:15
    causes third degree
  • 00:32:18
    burns right what do I do Andrew okay
  • 00:32:21
    hold the stick yeah put your hand quite
  • 00:32:23
    in close yeah yeah and you want to be
  • 00:32:25
    pulling away just watch you don't want
  • 00:32:27
    it to fold in on it
  • 00:32:28
    to come
  • 00:32:29
    out down no back hand down right and
  • 00:32:33
    then as he gets there then just straight
  • 00:32:34
    oh I see yeah don't worry about the heat
  • 00:32:36
    if you can feel something you're doing
  • 00:32:38
    it right if you can't feel anything you
  • 00:32:39
    burn your hand off and if you do if you
  • 00:32:41
    do feel heat just dip it in water
  • 00:32:43
    afterwards I love it okay in you go
  • 00:32:45
    right or close to it in you go
  • 00:32:49
    yeah hey that's good there you go yeah
  • 00:32:53
    oh I enjoyed that can you feel the heat
  • 00:32:54
    on your hand yeah not H it's still there
  • 00:32:56
    then it was wet a minut is it go now
  • 00:32:58
    it's oh it's still
  • 00:33:01
    wet that's the easy bit done the glass
  • 00:33:04
    cylinders are then cooled and cut
  • 00:33:06
    lengthways with a Diamond Cutter then
  • 00:33:08
    they're blasted again Working In The
  • 00:33:11
    Heat Of The Furnace the glass blowers
  • 00:33:13
    have to flatten them into a sheet this
  • 00:33:15
    is my big moment what do I do it it's
  • 00:33:19
    gone down that way to fall on just pick
  • 00:33:22
    pick that one up for as it as it is
  • 00:33:25
    don't don't let it fall down that's
  • 00:33:27
    that's good that's it
  • 00:33:29
    get sugar that's that's not too bad
  • 00:33:33
    that's
  • 00:33:34
    good well
  • 00:33:36
    saved okay so what we do now is we put
  • 00:33:39
    this one away yeah and we get a large
  • 00:33:42
    block of
  • 00:33:43
    wood run it over the glass until you get
  • 00:33:46
    it
  • 00:33:49
    flat I really feel it here yeah oh my
  • 00:33:55
    gosh does it matter that I've The Pusher
  • 00:33:58
    thing on fire no oh no no not at all
  • 00:34:01
    it's wood it's meant to
  • 00:34:08
    bur only another
  • 00:34:12
    363,000 654 or whatever it is and uh we
  • 00:34:17
    built the entire Crystal
  • 00:34:19
    Palace I'm going for a beer
  • 00:34:29
    it's funny how something can be really
  • 00:34:30
    dangerous and yet we turn a blind eye to
  • 00:34:32
    it the world's very first cigarette
  • 00:34:34
    making factory was opened in London in
  • 00:34:37
    the year 1856 for the first time
  • 00:34:40
    ordinary men and women had access to
  • 00:34:42
    Tobacco in a handy form but this wasn't
  • 00:34:46
    the only dangerous thing about smoking
  • 00:34:49
    matchmaking was one of the most
  • 00:34:50
    poisonous jobs in the entire Industrial
  • 00:34:56
    Revolution the first generation of
  • 00:34:58
    cigarette smokers just loved Bryant and
  • 00:35:01
    may strike anywhere Lucifer matches
  • 00:35:03
    produced in a hellish Factory in the
  • 00:35:05
    East End of
  • 00:35:07
    London in the 1880s the Bryant and may
  • 00:35:10
    match girls became famous not only for
  • 00:35:12
    their disgusting job but because they
  • 00:35:14
    organized and won a strike to get their
  • 00:35:17
    appalling working conditions improved
  • 00:35:20
    their action was the beginning of the
  • 00:35:22
    Trade union
  • 00:35:23
    movement but in a world where you could
  • 00:35:25
    fall off Bridges get lung disease from
  • 00:35:28
    clay or burn in a glass furnace how did
  • 00:35:31
    they create a COR celeb out of a gloop
  • 00:35:33
    that looks like salad cream Louise it's
  • 00:35:37
    hard to believe that this tiny little
  • 00:35:38
    thing could be dangerous it's difficult
  • 00:35:40
    to believe isn't it and of course it was
  • 00:35:41
    just a little bit on the end as well it
  • 00:35:43
    was just the the Striking tip that
  • 00:35:45
    caused all the problems what was it made
  • 00:35:47
    out of well that would have had a
  • 00:35:49
    mixture like this a composition what the
  • 00:35:51
    workers called a compo like this which
  • 00:35:54
    is sulfur and resin but presumably not
  • 00:35:58
    just in a little tin well no Brighton
  • 00:36:00
    and B wouldn't have got very far if
  • 00:36:01
    they'd been working on this kind of a
  • 00:36:02
    scale um they had a huge Factory in the
  • 00:36:04
    East End of London massive rooms massive
  • 00:36:07
    fats of this composition but what was
  • 00:36:09
    poisonous about it well nothing
  • 00:36:11
    poisonous about this so I wouldn't be
  • 00:36:12
    standing here but what they would have
  • 00:36:14
    used to make the Lucifer match was this
  • 00:36:17
    here this is yellow phosphorus here this
  • 00:36:19
    is very nasty stuff it was used as an
  • 00:36:22
    insecticide people used it to commit
  • 00:36:24
    suicide what did it do to the workers
  • 00:36:26
    well in haling or ingesting even a
  • 00:36:29
    really tiny amount of this would make
  • 00:36:30
    you sick and not just sick either I've
  • 00:36:33
    heard in the course of my research that
  • 00:36:35
    the streets around Bryan and May's
  • 00:36:37
    biggest factory in east London when the
  • 00:36:39
    girls came off shift was pretty much a
  • 00:36:42
    wash with pools of fessing vomit because
  • 00:36:45
    it would actually make you flues if you
  • 00:36:47
    were poisoned by phosphorus would
  • 00:36:49
    actually make you flues made your
  • 00:36:50
    clothes glow and made you very sick but
  • 00:36:52
    it got a lot worse than that as well and
  • 00:36:54
    what was special about Fairfield Road
  • 00:36:57
    the Brian to my factory and B was that
  • 00:36:58
    they had no canteen there so there was
  • 00:37:00
    no separate area for the women to eat
  • 00:37:02
    their food so they ate their food where
  • 00:37:04
    they worked so whatever bread probably a
  • 00:37:06
    bit of bread you've brought in from home
  • 00:37:08
    yeah the phosphorus all day has been
  • 00:37:09
    settling on it the particles coming out
  • 00:37:11
    of the air settling on your bread it's
  • 00:37:12
    like a deadly seasoning which when they
  • 00:37:15
    then ate it and ingested it would get
  • 00:37:18
    straight into their mouths and into
  • 00:37:19
    their teeth threw holes in their teeth
  • 00:37:21
    and it would start to Decay the Jawbone
  • 00:37:24
    itself and pieces of bone the size of
  • 00:37:26
    peas were apparently worked out through
  • 00:37:29
    the gums if you can imagine that and it
  • 00:37:31
    caused the most appalling smell to the
  • 00:37:33
    extent that some of the women suffering
  • 00:37:34
    for it were almost like lepers they were
  • 00:37:36
    disfigured they had to live on the
  • 00:37:38
    outskirts of
  • 00:37:39
    town and that's why it's often known as
  • 00:37:42
    fossy jaw that's what the women
  • 00:37:44
    themselves called it this is red
  • 00:37:46
    phosphorus and that's completely safe
  • 00:37:49
    but because the Lucifer the strike
  • 00:37:51
    anywhere match was the most popular type
  • 00:37:53
    didn't need a box didn't need a striking
  • 00:37:55
    strip like this did that's what they
  • 00:37:56
    kept making that's what caused the
  • 00:37:58
    problems for their Workforce what an
  • 00:38:00
    incredibly vicious process just to
  • 00:38:04
    create that
  • 00:38:06
    effect but were there any jobs worse
  • 00:38:09
    than one that made your jaw rot and drop
  • 00:38:11
    off I'll find out in a
  • 00:38:14
    bit I've been looking at the worst jobs
  • 00:38:17
    in industrial history but which jobs the
  • 00:38:20
    very
  • 00:38:21
    worst bone cleaning was certainly
  • 00:38:24
    revolting work but it was reasonably
  • 00:38:26
    safe compared to the the leers who risk
  • 00:38:28
    torn ligaments and drowning to keep the
  • 00:38:30
    canals working and building the great
  • 00:38:33
    bridges of the Industrial Revolution
  • 00:38:35
    required nerves of
  • 00:38:38
    Steel where on Earth could there be
  • 00:38:40
    anything worse than that well nowhere
  • 00:38:43
    but underneath the Earth is a different
  • 00:38:45
    matter in every historical period there
  • 00:38:47
    have been worse jobs underground down
  • 00:38:50
    the
  • 00:38:51
    mines without coal there would have been
  • 00:38:54
    no Steam and no industry by 18 1900
  • 00:38:58
    Britain was getting through about 15
  • 00:38:59
    million tons a
  • 00:39:01
    year getting it out of the ground was a
  • 00:39:04
    dark and dangerous
  • 00:39:06
    business any job down on mine would have
  • 00:39:08
    been pretty horrible but if you were a
  • 00:39:10
    child it must have been doubly bad which
  • 00:39:12
    is why I'm nominating the child miners
  • 00:39:14
    known as harriers as having the very
  • 00:39:17
    worst industrial job Carrie I thought
  • 00:39:19
    miners were all big Lads like you what
  • 00:39:21
    were children doing down there um well
  • 00:39:23
    in the past of course um the tunnels
  • 00:39:26
    weren't as large as they are in mod
  • 00:39:27
    minds and it was easier for children to
  • 00:39:29
    negotiate them and also cheaper to
  • 00:39:32
    employ children than fully grown adults
  • 00:39:34
    so what did these harriers do well well
  • 00:39:36
    the harriers or dramas as we call them
  • 00:39:37
    in South Wales um they actually brought
  • 00:39:39
    the call from the call face which have
  • 00:39:41
    been cut by the callers back to the main
  • 00:39:43
    roads how old were these kids um
  • 00:39:46
    officially they started about 8 years
  • 00:39:47
    old but there' been cases of five and
  • 00:39:49
    three year olds working underground and
  • 00:39:50
    that's what I've got to do that's what
  • 00:39:52
    you've got to do well I can do what a
  • 00:39:53
    5-year-old can do of course you can
  • 00:39:58
    you'll get an idea of how bad being a
  • 00:40:01
    hurrier was when I tell you their
  • 00:40:02
    eventual Replacements were pit
  • 00:40:05
    ponies I can't shed the years to get an
  • 00:40:08
    idea of the terror of a six-year-old
  • 00:40:10
    going down into the dark for the first
  • 00:40:12
    time but I can at least shed the hard
  • 00:40:15
    hat for once instead I get some britches
  • 00:40:18
    and a white shirt and I've got a feeling
  • 00:40:20
    it's not going to stay that way for
  • 00:40:24
    long harri's only light was from candles
  • 00:40:27
    which could cause explosions they were
  • 00:40:29
    forced to buy them at marked up prices
  • 00:40:31
    from the mine
  • 00:40:33
    owners they had to walk up to a mile to
  • 00:40:36
    the cold
  • 00:40:37
    face on the way I accidentally found out
  • 00:40:40
    about one of the harri's young
  • 00:40:41
    colleagues we at the end car no we're
  • 00:40:44
    not at the end yet only well what's this
  • 00:40:45
    thing here then this is a ventilation
  • 00:40:47
    door it's a door it's a door could
  • 00:40:49
    hardly see it in the dark why do you
  • 00:40:51
    have doors in mines well mines have to
  • 00:40:53
    have doors it directs the ventilation
  • 00:40:54
    around all the workings so does it stay
  • 00:40:56
    shuttled the time yes except when
  • 00:40:58
    there's call coming out and then
  • 00:40:59
    obviously it's got to be opened and then
  • 00:41:00
    closed behind um again so who opens and
  • 00:41:03
    closes it a young child they were call
  • 00:41:05
    Trappers or door Boys in s wheels well I
  • 00:41:07
    have to say that does sound just about
  • 00:41:09
    the easiest job in the whole world yes
  • 00:41:11
    of course it is you sit there right hold
  • 00:41:13
    my rope you hold your rope yeah you hear
  • 00:41:16
    a noise you open the door what it's a
  • 00:41:18
    dole now then do it in the dark
  • 00:41:22
    yeah with roats scurrying
  • 00:41:25
    around it is totally different as soon
  • 00:41:28
    as the lights go out you feel the cold
  • 00:41:30
    you feel so isolated you can turn the
  • 00:41:32
    light back on there car it's weird the
  • 00:41:35
    difference it makes imagine a little
  • 00:41:38
    child being stuck sitting down there how
  • 00:41:40
    many hours a day up to 12
  • 00:41:42
    hours and presumably they'd be the first
  • 00:41:45
    person in they'd be in first thing in
  • 00:41:46
    the morning and then they'd have to stay
  • 00:41:47
    there until the last col left in the
  • 00:41:49
    night there's a nice story um which
  • 00:41:51
    comes from the the Royal commission
  • 00:41:53
    report on children in Minds uh and the
  • 00:41:55
    Commissioners are actually visiting a Cy
  • 00:41:57
    and they came across a young Trapper
  • 00:42:00
    called Mary Davis in the M tidal area
  • 00:42:03
    and she was actually sleeping by the air
  • 00:42:05
    door when they woke her up she said that
  • 00:42:08
    uh the rats had run off of their bread
  • 00:42:09
    and cheese and she was so upset being in
  • 00:42:12
    the dark on her own she closed her eyes
  • 00:42:14
    and went to sleep to forget about it
  • 00:42:15
    all but Darkness rats and long hours
  • 00:42:19
    were just the start for the
  • 00:42:21
    hurria they had to drag tubs of coal
  • 00:42:24
    from the coal face to the lift shaft
  • 00:42:27
    they wore leather belts and were
  • 00:42:28
    attached by chains to the tubs which
  • 00:42:31
    were often just sleds that slid over the
  • 00:42:33
    rocky floor and this is where the
  • 00:42:35
    harriers would have worked yes this is a
  • 00:42:37
    one of the main tenners and this is a CO
  • 00:42:39
    cart these little kids had to drag these
  • 00:42:42
    things along yeah they P weight of up to
  • 00:42:44
    half a ton but apart from the weight
  • 00:42:47
    it's the dust their clothes must have
  • 00:42:49
    got filthy and they got dripped and
  • 00:42:51
    everything else so they had a solution
  • 00:42:52
    for that in the north of England which
  • 00:42:54
    was not wear any
  • 00:42:55
    clothes yeah kidding I'm not kidding the
  • 00:42:58
    women usually kept their clothes on from
  • 00:43:00
    the west down yeah but the men would
  • 00:43:01
    look star naked alled to keep my
  • 00:43:04
    trousers course you
  • 00:43:05
    are so what do we know about these
  • 00:43:08
    children and the work that they did well
  • 00:43:10
    one of the best descriptions we've got
  • 00:43:12
    is of Edward Edwards um 8 7 years old a
  • 00:43:14
    Britain fairy uh he described his day's
  • 00:43:17
    work uh he dragged one of these back and
  • 00:43:20
    forth UH 60 yards at a time from the CF
  • 00:43:23
    to the main roads um as he said some
  • 00:43:26
    days he pushed it some sometimes he
  • 00:43:27
    pulled it sometimes it fell on him uh I
  • 00:43:30
    broke a born urine there and not a very
  • 00:43:33
    pleasant occupation at all I tell you
  • 00:43:35
    what there enough parking in here you're
  • 00:43:38
    not going to beat me up if I don't do it
  • 00:43:39
    fast enough no not talk oh right I have
  • 00:43:42
    to get down on my hands and knees cuz
  • 00:43:44
    it's so low here right cool blind me I
  • 00:43:47
    can hardly move the thing at all Lord
  • 00:43:51
    knows how a four or 5y old did it and
  • 00:43:55
    that t is about the size of the tel they
  • 00:43:56
    would working
  • 00:44:00
    in Carrie I think there's a gradient
  • 00:44:02
    here isn't there yes um the tun actually
  • 00:44:05
    followed the call Se themselves I don't
  • 00:44:07
    know how these kids managed to get these
  • 00:44:10
    things
  • 00:44:11
    uphill well in some uh places of course
  • 00:44:14
    of modern colies they actually had rails
  • 00:44:17
    down and little wheels on the cart and
  • 00:44:19
    it made it a little bit easier but on
  • 00:44:21
    the other hand the cart could run away
  • 00:44:23
    with wheels on and run over the children
  • 00:44:25
    I think i' rather t the risk of being
  • 00:44:28
    crushed and have the things on Rails you
  • 00:44:32
    pay your money and you take a choice I
  • 00:44:34
    tell you what every time you try and
  • 00:44:36
    yank forward it really digs into your
  • 00:44:39
    knees how long would they have be doing
  • 00:44:42
    how long would they have been doing this
  • 00:44:43
    for at a time Carrie well up to 12 hours
  • 00:44:45
    a day back and for back and
  • 00:44:49
    for full ones out there you went back
  • 00:44:52
    in the other thing of course is that
  • 00:44:56
    every time you move move
  • 00:44:58
    forward you're kicking out the dust and
  • 00:45:01
    then as soon as you finished the forward
  • 00:45:04
    motion bit you breathe in like mad in
  • 00:45:07
    order to gulp some more air and the dust
  • 00:45:09
    go straight down your throat
  • 00:45:15
    again the rubble laid down after the
  • 00:45:18
    mine closed makes pulling the tub even
  • 00:45:20
    harder but then I am a few years older
  • 00:45:23
    than the average hurrier
  • 00:45:29
    that is a horrible job it's really
  • 00:45:31
    disgusting there's all the dust coming
  • 00:45:33
    up choking you i' got blood on my knee
  • 00:45:37
    from somewhere I got a cut on my hand
  • 00:45:41
    there but without all those little
  • 00:45:42
    children pulling these trucks Miles and
  • 00:45:45
    Miles through those dark passageways the
  • 00:45:48
    captains of industry would have been
  • 00:45:50
    literally
  • 00:45:53
    powerless but next time even more worse
  • 00:45:56
    job
  • 00:45:59
    I'm going to see to find out why telling
  • 00:46:01
    fibs could get you a job swabbing the
  • 00:46:03
    toilets how Britain's very first Navy
  • 00:46:06
    survived on minimal
  • 00:46:08
    rations and why Maritime Heroes didn't
  • 00:46:11
    like getting their toes wet
  • 00:46:13
    [Applause]
  • 00:46:16
    [Music]
  • 00:46:25
    [Applause]
  • 00:46:28
    can't
  • 00:46:30
    [Music]
Etiquetas
  • Industrial Revolution
  • Child Labor
  • Bridge Building
  • Health Risks
  • Working Conditions
  • Glass Making
  • Pottery
  • Soap Making
  • Match Production
  • Canal Transport