Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's history lesson.

My name is Mr. Merritt, and I'll be guiding you through today's lesson.

So let's get started.

Today's lesson is looking at factories in Britain during Victorian times.

And by the end of today's lesson, we'll be able to describe how factories changed Britain during Victorian times.

In order to do that, we need to use some key terms.

So I'm gonna say these key terms, and I'd like you to repeat them after me.

So our first key term is called factories.

Now, factories are large buildings full of machines where people work making things.

Our next key term is chimneys.

Chimneys extend out of the roof of a building, they carry smoke from a fire inside the building and allow it to be released into the sky.

And our final key term for today is spire.

Now, a spire is a tall, narrow, pointed structure usually on top of a church tower.

Very well done if you managed to repeat those key terms after me.

So the first part of today's lesson is gonna be looking at how did factories change Victorian living.

Let's get started.

Now, while Queen Victoria ruled the United Kingdom, lots of changes happened in the country.

One of the biggest changes in Victorian times was that lots of factories are built in cities all around the country.

And on the screen in front of us here, we can see an image of a factory.

Factories were very large buildings that contained machines for making things.

Things that were made in Victorian factories included cotton and other textiles, matchstick, soap, and items made of metal like nuts and bolts and parts of trains or ships.

So lots and lots of different things are made in factories during this period.

Factories could be seen for miles around, because it was so big compared to other buildings, and they usually had tall chimneys, which would've had smoke or steam pumping out of them into the sky.

So people could see factories from miles and miles around, they really stood out in the skyline.

Let us have a quick check for understanding.

So there are three images on the screen in front of us here.

I want you to think, which of these pictures of Victorian life shows a place where things are made?

Is it a, a library, b, a factory, or c, a shop?

Have a think now.

Okay, if you said b, a factory, then very well done, you are absolutely correct.

But to run a factory and operate all of the machines, it takes a lot of people, sometimes hundreds of people working in the same building.

So in Victorian times, many people began to work in factories.

Factory workers included men, women, and children.

Hundreds of people could work in a single factory.

As more and more factories were built, more and more people began to move to cities, so that they could find a job in the factory.

Lots of people who were living in the countryside packed up all of their belongings and moved the cities to look for what they hoped would be a better life.

Let's have another check for understanding now.

So why did people move from the countryside to the city in Victorian times?

Was it a, to go to school?

Was it b, to get jobs working in factories?

Or was it c, to go on a holiday?

Have a little think now.

Okay, if you said b, to get jobs working in factories, then very well done, you are absolutely correct.

Okay, let's have our first task for today.

So I've got an image on the screen in front of us here, and it's a piece of art called, "Glass: the British plate glass factory in St Helens, Lancashire.

" And on this image, we can see that there's a man on a horse and a cart, and he's packed up his whole life and he's heading towards a factory.

So I want us to think, what could his story be?

Where has he come from?

Where is he going?

Why is he doing these things?

And what might happen next with this man?

Have a little think, and then share your ideas with your partner.

Pause the video whilst you do this, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully, you've gotten absolutely fine with that task.

Let's have a little think about what you might have said.

So you might have said, "The man left his home in the countryside.

He's taken all of his things, his horse, and his carts, and he's gone to find a better life.

He is going to work in the glass factory to earn money.

He will have to work hard in his new job.

" Now, you might have something quite different to what I've said, but as long as you've mentioned the fact that he's moved from one area to the other, and the first area is probably moving from the countryside and he moving towards a city to work in a factory, then I'm sure your answer is perfectly fine and a really, really good strong answer as well.

So very well done if you managed to get on with that.

Okay, let's think about our next part of the lesson today then, which is what did Victorian people think of the changes.

Now, we know how people felt about the changes that were taking place in Victorian times, because we have lots and lots of evidence from the time.

And some of this evidence is artwork, like in paintings like we've just seen.

Queen Victoria herself asked a painter called William Wyld, who is on the screen in front of us there, to paint pictures of different parts of the country for her very own collection.

And here is one of his images.

This is an image that William Wyld painted called, "Manchester from Kersal Moor.

" And it shows the skyline of Manchester from a distance.

And here, you can also see that there are people sitting in the countryside looking out over the Manchester skyline.

Let's have a quick check for understanding now.

So I want you to look at the image to have a little think.

How do we know from this image that they were factories in Manchester?

Have a little think, and share your ideas with a learning partner, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully, you've gotten fine with that little task there.

So how do we know that they were factories in Manchester during this time period?

Well, it's because we can see lots of tall chimneys, and I've circled one of those on the screen in front of us here.

So these tall chimneys were attached to factories, and as we can see, there are lots and lots of chimneys in this image.

So if you've said that, then very well done, you are absolutely correct.

Now, William Wyld, in this painting, made Manchester look very pretty.

The skyline with its tall factory chimneys, and it's also got church spires in there as well.

And I've circled both on the screen there, so hopefully, you can see them too.

They look really, really pretty.

And in the original print of this image, it had a golden skyline as well, so it all looked really, really magical.

There are people looking at it from a distance from Kersal Moor, and they look quite happy and content with what they're looking at as well.

So we know that William Wyld wanted people to think that these factories were a good thing, he wanted people to think that they made the cities look pretty.

And I just circled now the people who were sitting down on Kersal Moor and looking at it with the Manchester skyline, and I'm sure they're thinking how pretty the city looks themselves.

Now, let's have another check for understanding.

So I want you to look at the image again.

I'd like you to try and find some examples of two different things.

Can you find a chimney and can you find a spire?

Bonus points if you can find more than one of each.

So pause the video whilst you do this, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully, you got okay with that little task.

So here are some spires and some chimneys.

There are more than what I pointed out as well, so if you pointed out one that isn't attached to one of my arrows, don't worry, 'cause there are loads and loads in this image.

And very well done if you managed to find more than one chimney, more than one spire as well.

Now, it's worth pointing out that not everybody thought that factories were a really nice addition to the skyline of cities.

Many people in fact thought those factories were really quite ugly and quite nasty.

And one example of those people is on the screen in front of us now.

This is a man called Gustave Dore.

And just like William Wyld, he was also an artist, and just like William Wyld, he gave his impression of factories into the artwork that he produced.

Unlike Wyld, Dore created etchings, so these are engravings of pictures into wood.

And on the screen in front of us now, we can see one of those etchings.

This is called, "Over London By Rail.

" And we can see in the background there a steam train on a track above an area of the city of London.

Let's have a quick check for understanding before we go any further.

I'd like you to look at this picture of "Over London By Rail" by Gustave Dore, and I want you to think, what can you see in this image?

Can you see the train that I spoke about a moment ago?

But what else can you see as well?

What does it make you think and what does it make you feel?

Share your ideas with your partner, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

And hopefully, you've gotten absolutely fine with that little task there.

So what can we see in this image?

Well, you might have noticed the steam train in the background there, and you might have also seen that there are chimneys and that these chimneys are attached to houses.

We can't see factories in this image, but we can see lots and lots of houses all squashed in together.

And with these houses also means there's lots and lots of people, and you might have seen those too.

These people are doing lots of things that we would consider fairly normal, like for instance, doing their washing, so you might notice the clothes lines attached to them as well.

There's lots more to see, but hopefully, you found some of those things that I pointed out as well.

Now, pictures like Dore's give a very, very different impression of British cities with factories involved than William Wyld's did.

These houses are built extremely close together in Dore's picture.

In fact, you could say that they are extremely crowded together as well.

People are living very, very close to each other, they're living in quite poor quality houses.

This is what we would call a slum during this period, and slum housing was really, really not very nice at all.

Generally speaking, slum housing meant that houses were cramped together, as we can see in this image, it meant that the houses were poorly built, which meant that wind and rain could get in and lots and lots of damp could get in, and that often meant that people got a lot of diseases as well.

So it wasn't very nice at all living in slum housing conditions.

Naturally as well, these sort of houses attracted lots of dirt, and the factories helped to create some of that dirt through the pollution that they were kicking out from their chimneys too.

Now, some people in Victorian times were happy about factories being built.

They brought lots of jobs to people, they created an interesting looking skyline, and they created lots and lots of resources that people could sell and buy.

But some people were very unhappy with factories being built.

It meant that people had to crowd into cities, and they often live very cramped together in poor quality housing, and it also meant that around these cities, there's a lot of dirt, a lot of pollution, and a lot of disease.

So it was very much a mixed picture when it comes to the introduction of factories in British cities during the Victorian period.

Let us have a quick check for understanding now.

So I've got a statement here, and I want you to think is it true or is it false.

So London looks like a very nice city in Gustave Dore's picture, "Over London By Rail.

" Is that statement true or is it false?

Have a little think now.

Okay, if you said that my statement is false, then very well done, you are absolutely correct.

But why is that a false statement?

Have a little think.

Okay, if you said that my statement is false, because the picture makes Victorian London look poor, dirty, and overcrowded, then you are absolutely correct, very well done.

Okay, let's have another task now then.

So I've got the two images that we've been looking at today, you've got William Wyld's image at the top and you've got Gustave Dore's image at the bottom.

They both show Victorian cities.

I want you to talk to your learning partner and I want you to compare the two pictures.

What did these pictures tell us about life in cities in Victorian times?

Did they give different interpretations, different opinions about what life was like in Victorian cities at this time?

Do they give anything which is similar to each other?

Have a little think, have a little chat with your learning partner.

Pause the video whilst you do this, and I'll see you again in just a moment.

Okay, welcome back.

Hopefully, you enjoyed that task.

Let's have a little think about what you might have said.

So you might have said, "In the first picture, the city looks pretty and attractive with sunlight on the tall factory chimneys and church spires.

" That's a great point to make, so very well done if you said something similar to that.

Your learning partner might have replied that in the second picture, the city looks dirty and overcrowded with people and houses, it doesn't look nice at all.

And that's a perfectly valid point to make as well, so those are two really, really good points to make there.

So very well done if you said something similar to that.

If you said something different which is still correct, then I'm really, really impressed.

Very, very well done if you picked up something else from these two images there.

Okay, let's summarize today's lesson now then.

So lots of factories were built in cities around the country during Victorian times.

Many people moved from the countryside to the city to go to work in the factories.

Some people thought the changes in cities were good, but not everyone agreed.

Art from the time shows us the different ways people saw city life in Victorian times.

Thank you very much for joining me today.

Hopefully, you enjoyed today's lesson, hopefully, you learned something, and hopefully, I'll see you again next time.

Bye-bye.