Speaker: Liz Woolley

Subject: Child Labour in 19th Century Oxfordshire

Liz is a freelance local historian. She lives in Oxford and has an MSc in English Local History from the University’s Department for Continuing Education.

Whilst investigating child labour in the Industrial Revolution as part of her MSc she became interested in the experiences of child workers in Oxfordshire: a rural, rather than industrial, county.

A very encouraging group of 60+members and guests came to our latest evening talk and were presented with perhaps some quite counter-intuitive facts about the scale of child labour in the 19th Century England.

The image commonly evoked by the phrase ‘child labour’ is one of young children working in harsh conditions in the grimy factories and mines of the Midlands and the North. Yet in rural counties like Oxfordshire, child labour was as much a feature of everyday life in the nineteenth century as in industrialised areas.

Liz’s hour-long illustrated talk told the story of Oxfordshire’s child workers, many of whom started work part-time at the age of six or seven and, until the compulsory school legislation of the 1870s, left education for good by the age of ten to become permanently employed.

The conflict of attitudes around the need for education for children, especially of the poor, was very much a debate of the times. Many opted for the view that education for the poor was a waste of time. Set against this was, of course, the need for family income, where the alternative of destitution was a very real possibility. Thus, we learn that, even while legislation was being passed, and tightened up, children were still being made to work in a whole range of jobs, with long hours and health-compromising conditions.  George Dew, Relieving Officer for the Bicester Poor Law Union reported a child residing at Cottisford working at the age of seven as late as 1873.   His report asserted “It will do him more good than going to school”.

Oxfordshire children worked in agriculture. We learned that in 1861 there were 20,000 agricultural labourers in Oxfordshire. 16% of these were under 14 years old, with 300 of them between the ages of 10-14. 300 were actually younger than this.

However, the range of employment was much wider than agriculture.  Children were employed in domestic service and in lacemaking, gloving and in a host of other small-scale occupations. Liz’s talk highlighted the differences between girls’ and boys’ experiences of these various occupations, and the particular fates of pauper apprentices.

Liz also highlighted the fact that, contrary to popular belief, cottage industry and agricultural work were by no means the ‘soft option’ in comparison with work in the factories and mines of industrialised areas.

Liz’s talk drew on research from a range of sources, including school logbooks, census returns, newspaper articles, private correspondence and other contemporary accounts, offering us a wealth of detail. We were given much to reflect on in terms of how recently these attitudes to child welfare were the norm and not the exception. 

Visit Liz Woolley’s website here >>

Speakers: Jonathan Maisey and Joe Duxbury

Subject: Cotswold Quarries Part 2

Jonathan Maisey’s 2023 presentation with Joe Duxbury on the Windrush Quarries was particularly well-received and attracted interesting questions and feedback.

Jonathan and Joe were invited back to complete the story of the their work on the Windrush Quarries.

For Jonathan and Joe’s update presentation to their 2023 visit, we had an encouraging turnout of 40+ members and guests for the first talk of the year, so soon after Christmas and New year festivities and with snow still lingering.

After a quick recap on the work and findings of the Gloucestershire Speleological Society for Windrush 1 and 2, Jonathan took us through the highlights of the discoveries and research on areas of the quarries, suitably named Windrush 3 to 5.

We were reminded how the Windrush Quarries was opened in the strip of Taynton stone that crops out in a continuous band between the river Windrush and the main road past Burford  (A40, Oxford to Cheltenham) that rises 150-200 feet above. The quarrymen moved from surface quarrying to underground activity to avoid the need to dig through layers of Hampen Marley Beds, and White Limestone.

Developing the story from the discovery of Windrush 2 and the establishment of the location of the “Windrush Stables” where the horses/ponies used for moving the stone were kept, Jonathan showed the locations of other sections of the quarry complex. These included the 2013 discovery of workings in Windrush 3, and more workings nearby discovered a year later known as Windrush 4, with a final set of workings discovered in 2015 known as Windrush 5 – currently the extent of the known workings of the quarries.

We learned in the Q&A at the end, that in addition to extensive local use, Windrush stone has been used for some of the Oxford Colleges (estimates and accounts from 1716 & 1788 report Windrush stone being selected) and in 1804 replacing inner worn stone in some Oxford colleges as well as the exterior of Oriel Library. It is recorded in 1883 as being used in the inside of St George’s Chapel, Windsor.  It was also used for the new Houses of Parliament in 1839.

Not everyone in the hall would share Jonathan and Joe’s passion for crawling through dark narrow spaces, but their enthusiasm and excitement at what they might discover – and the care, of course, in gingerly stepping onto fresh ground to avoid damaging any possible finds – was infectious.

The clues which miners left behind all connect us in a time capsule to the local men who worked these quarries.  These included slabs of good stone awaiting transport, the marks along the walls left by the tackle of the horse-drawn carts, carved drainage channels of varying and mysterious purpose, broken clay pipes, old shoes, bits of broken tools, and not least, the graffiti which gives us names and dates of many of those men.

Joe gave us a summary from census records of the numbers of stone masons, stone miners and mason’s labourers which showed a decline from the 1880s. But it seems that at no time were the quarries a major employer of skilled workers. However, the quarries offered an important additional income for landowners, and crucially, gave winter employment for farm workers during the lean months for agriculture.

Sadly, the social and economic value of the quarries was finally compromised by the introduction nationwide of new government regulations for mining activity specifically geared to the larger and vital national scale mines in the UK. An unintended consequence of such legislation was to make such smaller enterprises as the Windrush Mines uneconomical due to the prohibitive costs involved.

Our evening ended with some very engaging questions from many of  the group, and particularly focussed around the possibility of finding descendants of the named miners, including any connections with workers employed by Groves in Milton.

About Jonathan and Joe

Jonathan Maisey  has been involved with caving and the Gloucester Speleological Society (GSS) since 1983 and has undertaken a wide range of caving/mining trips across the UK, France and the USA. Nowadays, his underground interest is more towards mines rather than caves. Of particular interest are the underground stone quarries of the Cotswolds and ongoing work to uncover some of these lost mines. Jonathan has also been a member of the Gloucestershire Cave Rescue Group for 30+ years.

Joe Duxbury has been caving for nearly 60 years, and has been a member of GSS for about 40. He has visited caves throughout Europe and North America. Mines and underground quarries are just as interesting to him as caves, and Windrush has proved to be a fascinating project over the years.

Speakers: John Bennett/Carol Anderson   

Subject: The Cospatrick 150th Anniversary Reflections

The Society’s evening Talk on 13th November was themed around the Cospatrick story. Talks by Carol Anderson and John Bennett recounted the story and its context as an episode in 19th Century emigration.

We were delighted to welcome members and guests in record numbers, reflecting the importance of the Cospatrick story to Wychwood villagers old and new.

John covered the background to the history of New Zealand emigration, focussing of course on the Wychwoods. In particular, he focussed on the role of Julius Vogel, Treasury Minister for the newly formed colony of New Zealand, who implemented a major drive for immigrant workers to build the country’s infrastructure.

He touched on the appointment of immigration agents such as Charles Carter who operated in the Wychwoods area. John mentioned key names such as Christopher Holloway and Joseph Leggett. These men were appointed by Carter as emigration agents for the area. They worked in tandem with Joseph Arch, Methodist firebrand and key player in promoting the interests of agricultural labourers at a time of extreme difficulty and hardship.

In giving  illustrated insights into the types and styles of the vessels which carried emigrant to their new lives, John also covered the story of the Cospatrick’s fate, and the memorial on Shipton Green to the members of the Hedges and Townsend families. And finally he offered some insights into the hardships of the voyages and their aftermath during quarantine. These were illustrated also by an audio clip of the fate of one particular child Mary Jane Johnson [ shown here on our Cospatrick Resources area ].

Carol’s talk followed on with the theme of expectations and realities of immigrant life in New Zealand, offering contrasting views and anecdotes from correspondence of the time.

Carol focussed particularly on the story of Eli Pratley, who had suffered misfortune on his first migration attempt to Canada. He finally, with a second family, made the journey to New Zealand to eventually become a landowner and successful family man. Carol contrasted this tale with words from a letter of 1875 “I shall never make my fortune… This country is not what the agents represented it to be.”

These reflections were rounded off in good spirits by Jim Pearse’s delivery of his poem “Emigration” which he had also recited at the society’s 1990 Victorian Evening, with audience participation on good form.

We are grateful to Jim for offering to reprise this poem for us. It was a perfect note on which to end a memorable evening.

The Cospatrick Tragedy: Booklet

Members were able to collect their copies of the society’s new booklet “The Cospatrick Tragedy- 150^th Anniversary reflections on a Wychwoods story of hope and loss”. This booklet, sponsored by Shipton Parish Council and compiled and researched by John, Carol and other society members, covers the full story. It especially looks deeper into the Hedges and Townsend families, researched by Diane Melvin.

Here are the introductory pages to the booklet, copies of which remain available and free to members.

Visit our special Cospatrick Pages here

Speaker: Julie Ann Godson:    
Subject: Our Boys 1914 – 1918
Julie read history at the University of Oxford under Dr Rowena E Archer. She made so many good friends at Oxford that, after 25 years as a Kent girl, she moved in 2010 to rural West Oxfordshire and now lives in a converted piggery and  loves it.

Julie is also a good friend to WLHS and has given us many talks over the years and it was a pleasure to welcome her here again.

Julie’s book “Our Boys 1914–1918: who were the fallen of one Oxfordshire valley? “ traces the often-surprising lives of 48 of the men and boys from Oxfordshire who fell in the First World War. From the workhouse boy who became an early submariner to the officer who proved to be not quite a gentleman, all of life is here.

A fine attendance of 50+ members and guests enjoyed Julie’s focus on the background of a few of these individuals, looking at their lives before the war rather than focussing on the business of battles and warfare.

We learned of individuals working with their families at various trades, practicing their crafts and toiling in fields and indeed signing up pre-war for army and navy adventures.

Remembrance of the First World War often brings to mind stone  monuments, quiet churchyards, and endless rows of gravestones in distant fields. 

Julie Ann’s talk told a different story of the lives of men in their familiar villages and farms, and encouraged a different way of remembering them. And she also showed reasons why names appeared on village monuments, of individuals not necessarily domiciled in that village. The reasons were intriguing.

Julie Ann’s book is available on Amazon here

September 11th 2024

The first in our 2024/5 season of talks was by Edward Caswell, who presented with great enthusiasm his work with the Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS).

Edward started as the Finds Liaison Officer for Oxfordshire in 2020 following volunteering with the PAS in Durham during his undergraduate studies and working as a Finds Liaison Assistant for Devon and Somerset.

Edward loves studying and writing reports for artefacts of all time periods. He is particularly passionate about analysing the patterns we can see in big datasets such as the PAS database.

Edward’s wide ranging presentation demonstrated how the PAS database can be instrumental in developing our understanding of the nature, scale and effects of the large social transformations occurring in Britain over time.  This is achieved by integrating burial, settlement information, artefacts and landscape evidence – creating narratives previously hidden from view to researchers.

About the Portable Antiquities Scheme

The Portable Antiquities Scheme is run by the British Museum and Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales to encourage the recording of archaeological objects found by members of the public in England and Wales. Every year many thousands of archaeological objects are discovered, many of these by metal detector users, but also by people whilst out walking, gardening or going about their daily work.

The Database

The Portable Antiquities Database can be found here. The database is easy to search, and your search results can be filtered to find just the data you want. Tips on searching the database.

This link is especially interesting for Wychwoods-related queries