This illustration is from the report of the Children's Employment Commission, 1842. It shows children hauling coal in a mine using a girdle and chain.
Image: Science Museum / SSPL
Child labour
Children worked alongside adults in coal mines. Here Ellison Jack, a girl aged 11 working in a Scottish colliery, describes her work:
'I have been working below three years... ; down at two in the morning, and... up at... two next afternoon. I have to bear my burthen up four... ladders [each 18 feet in height]. My task is four or five tubs: each tub holds 4 1/4 hundredweight. I have had the strap when I did not do my bidding.'
