Year 9 History Trip
On the 3rd November 2010, the Year 9 pupils went on a history trip to the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester to learn more about the topic we are covering at the moment, the ‘Industrial Revolution’.
We arrived at school at the normal time and had registration from 8:30 to 9:00. We left at 9:00 from Kingsmead Road South. We arrived at 9:45 and went straight into the Power Hall to complete a task sheet. The answers to the sheet were all inside the Power Hall, but we only had 45 minutes to complete the tasks. We learned that apart from the ‘Rocket’ another train which ran in the Rainhill Trials of 1829 was Novelty; however it did not win. We also learned about different types of steam engines and locomotives which were exported from Britain to different parts of the Empire, such as India, Canada and Australia.
After we had completed the task sheet, we went into the 1830’s warehouse, were we all watched a twelve minute audio visual show. The show was about life for people who worked in the factories of Manchester in the nineteenth century. It told us that Manchester was very industrial and at that time it was one of the greatest cities in the world. However, it was full of disease and the factory owners got children to do very dangerous jobs, like going under the machines to clean. Children in factories died by the day. They employed the children because they were cheap; they could get through tight gaps under the machines and had their nimble fingers were useful at piecing together bits of thread. Children started work at the age of seven. They had to work 12 hours a day and often suffered physical abuse if they weren’t working hard enough. Most people in Manchester died before their 17th birthday. Families often had lodgers because they were so poor. Overall, Manchester was very cramped and polluted.
Our next stop on our journey was the Textile Demonstration. We learned that the building we were in was completed 140 years ago, in 1880, by the Great Western Railway Company. We also learned all about cotton and how it was made. Cotton was made into aprons and other useful items such as clothes. When you put the cotton into the machines, the whole twig had to be inserted. However, the machine got rid of all of the twigs, insects and seeds which were sold to a local trash merchant, who made beds out of it! Another machine we saw was the ‘Speed Frame’ which made a dreadful noise. The one we saw on the demonstration was about two and a half metres wide. However, that was three times smaller than the original frames and fifty of them were packed into the room. Most workers became deaf because of the noise and they had to use sign language to communicate. The factory workers were often cruelly treated. Anyone found slacking would not get paid.
After we had our Textile Demonstration we had lunch for half an hour and then went down to the Air and Space Hall. When we got there we had to do a one page essay on one machine in the hall. I chose the AN/APS 20 American Early Warning Radar set, purely because it was closest to the simulator. It was designed to locate aircraft beyond the range of land-based radar stations. It also had a range of 200 nautical miles. The machine was fitted to a range of Fleet Air Arm Aircrafts that flew from aircraft carriers. In 1991 the Shackelton AEW2, which the radar set was fitted to in 1972, was replaced by the Boeing E3A Sentry AEW1. After that, I had an enjoyable ride on the simulator.
Our final stop on the trip was the tour of underground Manchester. Our guide was a Canadian scientist named Lauren. She told us that people died prematurely in Manchester partly because of the poor water supply. When people threw their sewage out of the window, it landed on the ground and sunk into it because it is organic. People at that time got their water from the standpipe at the end of the street. This water was from the ground. This caused cholera. One of the signs of cholera is cyanosis. If you caught cholera, you would die in 36 hours. These problems were solved by Louis Pasteur, finding out that bacteria caused disease. It was made illegal to throw your waste out of the window or use a Victorian privy. They were toilets with a plank of wood on top used as a seat and a hole in for your waste to go down. Instead you had to use a Victorian privy with a bucket underneath, so that no waste could go underground and thus allow cholera to spread. A ‘Nightsoil’ cart came along every two weeks and collected the buckets. Another reason why people were dying was because of drainage problems. Water closets before the 1870’s ran into the River Irwell where people got their drinking water from. A man named Edwin Chadwick found this out and scared people into becoming cleaner. There were no more cholera outbreaks after this.
We also learned that there were 650 cotton mills in Manchester and Lancashire in 1850. Manchester also grew throughout the ‘Industrial Revolution’. Immigrants came in from Ireland and parts of Europe. Manchester exported goods, such as cotton, locomotives and cooking ingredients.
I would like to thank the school for organising the trip and the teachers for supervising the pupils. It was a truly memorable day.
Jack Hussey (Year 9)
