Figure 1.--Here we see the childten at the Greenholme Mill School about 1880.
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Figure 1.--Here we see the childten at the Greenholme Mill School about 1880. |
The British Government in the mid-129th century did not provide free schools for children. As a result, many children did not go to school. Some progressive etrepreneurs set up schools for their workers. At the time, very young children still worked in the mills. One of the schools was the Greenholme Mill School in Yorkshire.
England as far as we know was the first country to address the problm of child labor. This is understandable as it was in England that the Industrial Revolution began. Child and women workers played a major role in the Industrial Revolution. Charles Dickens had a major role in prmoting the movement to limit child labor. Parlimentary investigations exposed the abuses, but influential English capitalists committed to laiisez faire government claimed that governmental restrictions were an infringement of their rights. Here Dickens and news accounts of abuses gradually swung public opinion to governmental action to protect children. Finally Parliament began limiting child labor, the initial laws were very minor restrictions.
The textile mill owners around the village of Burley-in-Wharfedale, Yorkshire, in the 19th century opened a school for the children who were employed in the mills around the village. It was a part-time school. The children worked half a day in the mill and were half-time scholars in the school. The children were boys and girls. The school was opened in 1856. The headmaster was Thomas Clark. He was the headmaster throughout the time the school functioned. When it opened there were 46 boys and 48 girls who attended the Greenholme School. The Burley Historical Society says that the children spent a morning or afternoon in the school and the rest of the time working in the mills. There were evening classes for those who wanted to study advanced courses. At first the classrooms were in one of the mill buildings but in 1868 the school moved to the village Lecture Hall.
Figure 2.--Here we see the childten at the Greenholme Mill School about 1890. |
There are two photographs in existence of the Greenholme scholars. The first is thought to have been photographed in 1880. This shows Burley schoolboys and their teachers. The headmaster Mr. Thomas Clark is standing at the end on the left. Assistant teachers can also be seen. The photograph shows the clothes that boys dressed in at the time. There are 35 boys with their teacher in the picture. The second photograph is thought to have been taken in the late 1890’s shortly before the school closed in 1897. There is a difference in the clothes worn by the children. I think this illustrates changing fashions that had taken place between these dates. The picture shows boys and girls totaling 32 scholars. The girls have dresses and frilly large collars. There are boys wearing Eton collars and a few wear bow ties and dressed in suits. The children look more prosperous in this picture. This picture suggests that this was the total number of pupils attending the school. In 1890 the Township School was founded.
A reader writes, "Noticed how in the 1880s that the boys are wearing
long trousers (figure 1). I'm less sure about the 1890s photograph, but the boys seem to be wearing long trousers in that photograph as well (figure 2). The style must have changed in the early
1900s as I have noted many boys wearing kneepants." Yes these school images are useful in establish time lines for fashion trends. Remember that the two images may not be precisely dates. Even more important,
I think you will find that a lot of British boys wearing kneepants in the 1880s and especially the 1890s. Don't forget that this was a mill school. I think long pants were more common with poor boys, especially poor boys that were working. I think this begun to change somewhat when labor laws changed and compulsory education became more widespread. Hpefully this will become easier to follow when we better develop the chronmological sections.
The school closed in 1897. The laws on child employment had changed and regular full time schooling had been made compulsory. A new national school had been opened in the village. Greenholme School closed in 1897 and its pupils transferred to other schools in the village possibly the Township School. Two years after Greenholme Mills School closed the National School was opened in the village in 1899.
All the information and much more is available on the Burley-in-Wharfedale web site. There are pages about the schools in Burley.
There is also a web page about Thomas Clark, the Greenholme School head teacher.
Burley-in-Wharfedale web site. The web page about Greenholme school was were I obtained the photographs in the article.
Related Chronolgy Pages in the Boys' Historical Web Site
[The 1880s]
[The 1930s]
[The 1940s]
[The 1950s]
[The 1960s]
[The 1970s]
[The 1980s]