Below is a transcript for the video ‘What can a photograph tell us?’.
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Welcome to ‘What can a photograph tell us?’ Take a closer look at this example. This has an original caption – not all photographs do. This one says ‘Photograph of Pit Brow Girls, just before starting their work, Photograph consisting of 27 girls & 2 boys. COPY 1/412.’ Let’s go through some questions to consider when looking at photographs.
What type of source is this?
Well, we can see that it’s a black and white photograph. We have a caption that says it shows pit brow girls before starting their work. The reference COPY 1 means that the photograph was registered for copyright by the photographer, meaning that he had created it and only he had the right to publish it.
Who produced it?
We know from the paperwork with the photograph when it was registered that the photographer was called Thomas Taylor at Walthew Lane, Platt Bridge, near Wigan. The image shows child workers at W.J. Turner’s colliery or coal pit at Wigan Junction, so we can pinpoint the location.
Why was it produced?
Turner’s pit probably requested the photograph to be taken of their workers, possibly as publicity for the mine. We know the date is 1893 from the original caption too.
What can we infer from this photograph?
It’s certainly a formal picture. This is suggested by the appearance of the girls and the two boys. They are posed, as they appear to have to hold their hands in a particular position. This could be to suggest that they were obedient workers. One girl has not complied, however. Can you spot her?
All of the girls are wearing headscarves, which suggests that their work was dirty or that they had to cover their hair. They also wear aprons and clogs on their feet. This infers that there were rules about clothing. The boys are not wearing protective clothing. Maybe because they do different jobs to the girls. Perhaps the boys work on the surface of the pit and the girls do dirtier jobs. Maybe these boys are too young to work underground. From looking at the photograph, all of the children look fairly young, however. This suggests that they were not in school receiving an education unless they worked part time and there was a school nearby or on the pit premises.
The photograph also infers that the is fairly large as the wagon is number 193. That’s a lot of wagons! On the wagon it actually says Wigan Junction Colliery. So this implies that the pit is located near a railway. The photograph also gives us some insight into technology at that time. Cole was moved in wagons on railways at the surface of the pit.
What values or attitudes does the photograph suggest?
It seems to be suggesting that it was acceptable for children to work in mines rather than be involved in full time education. Again, maybe it’s suggesting the value of hard work for poor children. These are quite likely to be working class children. It would have been unlikely that children from middle class or upper class homes would be working in this way. It also reveals perhaps the idea that the concept of childhood itself didn’t really exist for these children at this time.
The photograph resembles a sort of formal family photograph and infers that the leadership of the company is rather paternalistic. This means it has a dominant approach and treats workers as though they are members of a large extended family. And in exchange, the owner of the mine expects loyalty, obedience, hard work and trust from its employees.
How does the photograph relate to a historical situation?
The Coal Mines Act was passed in 1842 as a result of Lord Shaftesbury’s report into the employment of women and young children in coal mines. The law stopped all females and boys under 10 years from working underground. Parish apprentices between the ages of 10 and 18 could continue to work in the mines.
For many mining families, the loss of income from working women was a disaster. However, the Mines Act did not forbid girls and women from working on the surface of the mine and they became known in Lancashire as pit brow lasses. They worked various jobs ranging from loading wagons to sorting and cleaning coal.
In the 1911 Mines Act, the law was changed so that boys had to be 14 years and over to work underground and miners gained an eight hour day.
Relating the photograph to this background of laws about mining, it would suggest that the boys are too young to work underground and the girls work as pit brown lasses above ground, doing dirty labouring jobs, but not mining below the surface. It’s not obvious what type of jobs the boys do though.
Are there any clues about the audience of the photograph?
The photograph could be publicity for the company. Perhaps it was to appear in a local paper with a story. Maybe it was to attract local workers. Perhaps it existed to suggest that Wigan Colliery looked after its employees or was taken as evidence for a mines inspection.
How reliable is the photograph? Does it have any limitations?
The source is reliable in the sense it shows real people in a genuine location, in typical work dress clothing of the period. It is, in a sense, propaganda for the company. The workers are posed, well presented, orderly and obedient.
It’s not cropped. It’s not naturalistic. The nature of camera technology at the time meant that photographers could not really take action or candid shots. So it is inevitably posed. It’s valuable for all these reasons. And there’s also much to infer from it in terms of its attitudes and values towards education for children and child labour.
How does it relate to other sources from this period? Does it share the same ideas or arguments?
This type of question is popular in assessments, where you are given several sources on the same topic.
There are similar photographs showing pit girls at work on the surface of mines. However, comparisons could also be made to other pits in the country. Different local newspapers would be good sources to contrast working conditions in other pits that employ children. Accidents would also be reported in these papers. Government reports on mining conditions and safety inspections at the time could also be used to provide more context for this source. These could show more detail on working conditions against the view presented here and could offer a government view on conditions.
Finally, perhaps the census for 1891 for Wigan could be used to assess the extent of child labour in this colliery and how far whole families were employed in working for the mines in the area.