REPORTS TO THE COMMISSIONERS ON THE
Town of Dudley
--
Reports by R.H. Horne, Esq.
Dudley
TO HER MAJESTY'S COMMISSIONERS.
Gentlemen, Dudley, May 27, 1841 Town of Dudley
722. The brevity and comparative barrenness of the Report I have now the honour of submitting to you, is
attributable to the following causes:--There are no manufactories here
in which numbers of children are employed (though there are many children
in the mines of the neighbourhood), and there are but few manufactories
where even as many as from six to twelve boys are employed.
723. The principal
manufactures and trades carried on in Dudley are more extensively carried
on in other places, concerning which I shall have to report. I shall thus
comprise each of them, though in different towns, under one head, because
they present no important features of distinction.
724. I beg permission
to refer you to the Evidence I have collected in Dudley as being of a nature
to supersede any elaborate report.
GENERAL STATEMENTS
General Statements
Manufactures and trades.
725. The principal manufactures and trades in the town of Dudley are glass-making
and glass- cutting, vice-making, fire-iron making, and nail and chain-making.
Glass-making.
Glass-cutting.
Chain-making.
726. An account of the glass-making, glass-cutting, and chain-making, will
be given my Report on Stourbridge, which will include all I have to say
on these works with reference to Dudley. Nailers.
727. An account of the nailers of Dudley will be found in my Report
on Sedgley. There are no large manufactories of nailers at either place,
but small workshops only, which are occupied by different families.
Vice, and fire-irons.
728. The vice and fire-iron making presents no features distinct from those
described in other places with reference to the finer kind of blacksmiths'
work. The class employed in these articles are worse paid than the other
workmen of the town, and their condition is proportionately bad. But they
employ very few children, comparatively; and many of those whom they do
employ belong to their own families. The places where they work are generally
very close, filthy, and without sufficient ventilation.
Health.
No work till 10 years of age.
729. For a statement as to the health of the working classes and their
children, and its comparative superiority to that of the children of the
working classes in the neighbourhood who are not so employed, permit me
to refer you to the valuable evidence with which I was favoured by Dr.
Moss. You will be pleased to observe that this gentleman, who has had extensive
experience during 18 years in Dudley, "attributes much of the good health
of the children here to the circumstance that they are not sent to work
till they are 10 years of age." (See Evidence, No. 263.)
Godfrey's Cordial.
Atkinson's Preservative, &c.
Pain-easing Drops.
730. Godfrey's Cordial is not much used here by the mothers of infants;
but they give the children, instead of this, a mixture of chalk and laudanum,
called Atkinson's Infant Preservative. Sometimes they give the infants
Pain-easing Drops, which are nothing but laudanum in tincture. This is
done to put them to sleep while the mother goes out all day to work. They
also administer Dalby's Carminative --a mixture very like Atkinson's. Still
the working classes of Dudley do not use these mixtures by any means in
such quantities as in regular manufacturing towns like Wolverhampton. (SeeEvidence, No. 263.)
Treatment and care
731. The children and young persons engaged in the manufactures and trades
of the place appear to be pretty well treated in the matters of food and
clothes; and I could find no traces of any cruel beating, except in such
few and isolated instances as may be discovered in almost every town. (SeeEvidence, Nos. 257, 263, 264.)
732. For such cases as do occur there is a facility of redress, a petty
sessions being held here every week.
Parents
Education
Employers
733. The parents of the children employed in the town cannot be said to
take any real interest in their education; neither do the employers, as
a body, take a definite interest in it, but they are liberal in subscribing
to objects intended to promote education. Hence there are many schools
in the town, and as the children do not go to work at so early an age here
as at many places, most of them have had some degree of schooling, or at
least have attended at school.
Schools
734. In Dudley there are two day-schools for boys, three for girls, and
one grammar-school -- all charitable foundations. There are five or six
Sunday-schools in connexion with the Church. Each class of Dissenters has
a Sunday-school attached to the chapel; that of the Wesleyans is very large.
They are all attended with considerable regularity.
Moral condition
735. The moral and educational condition of the children and young persons
in the town, is probably the average condition; and consequently superior
to that of regular manufacturing districts.
Experience in education
736. Very admirable exertions have been made by the Rev. W.H. Cartwright,
vicar of Dudley, which are still in progress, for educating a portion of
the children of the working classes. As he is trying the experiment single-handed,
it is of course upon a very small scale. Nevertheless you will find that
several curious facts are developed in his evidence, together with a valuable
suggestion, to which I beg permission to solicit your attention.
Works visited
737. I personally inspected that glass-making works of Messrs. Guest, Wood,
and Guest; the glass-cutting workshops of Mr. Thomas Irwin, the glass-cutting
workshops of Mr. Richard Timmins, and the small forges and shops of several
fire-iron makers, whose names I did not inquire.
Nailers
Chain-makers
738. For all other matters relating to the town of Dudley, permit me to
refer you to the Evidence taken there; and to the account of nailers as
given in my Report on Sedgley, and of chain-makers as given in my Report
on Stourbridge.
I have the honour to be, Gentlemen,
Your most obedient servant,
R.H. HORNE.
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