Lesson 2 – Ship Canal
Item 1 Manchester Ship Canal workers: navvies and the Iron Horse at Acton Grange, Warrington, c.1890s
Main Image: Manchester Archives Ref GB124.B10/10/1/18/28 https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5235096106/in/album-72157625534714792/
Item 2 Young workers, c.1890s
Main Image: Manchester Archives Ref no GB124.B10/10/1/18/34 https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234480177/in/album-72157625534714792/
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Lesson 2 – Ship Canal
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Item 3 Character card (James Cox, a navvy from Ireland)
Name: James Cox Age: 47 My job: I am a navvy digging out the Manchester Ship Canal. Where I work: I have been working near Warrington. What else can I tell you? I came to Manchester in 1846 with my family to find work, escaping from Ireland during the Potato Famine. I am now a stonemason by trade but I am able to put my hand to most building work. The word ‘navvy’ is short for navigator.
I get up very early and I am at work for sun-up. We work until just before dark, unless there’s a problem that stops us. Most days we are at work, except Sundays. Canal work is very hard. I am used to it though. Working here can be very dangerous. Deep trenches can collapse and crush you, you can fall a long way down, or heavy things can fall onto you. There is also plenty of water to drown in. There are lots of big machines as well. Sometimes when you hitch a ride to site on the train you might have to endure a bumpy ride sat on top of a box of gunpowder with the other lads!
Inset Image from GB124.DPA/2161/13
Item 4 Character card (a coffee-selling girl from Manchester) Name: Ellen Kelly Age: 8 My job: I sell coffee to the Ship Canal workers. Where I work: I have been working near where they are building Manchester Docks. What else can I tell you? I help my dad to sell coffee to the workers. I collect the money and sort out the change while my dad pours out the coffee. We leave for work as soon as it gets light, and we start to sell the coffee from early in the morning.
Inset Image from GB124.B10/10/3/2107
We have to work most days otherwise we couldn’t afford to eat. The work is okay, but I get tired standing up all day. It can be dangerous and I have seen a few accidents. I have to be very careful because there are lots of dangerous places to fall into or scaffolding to fall off. I am used to walking along the scaffolding and up and down the ladders. If I try to stay away from where the men are working, then I’ll be okay. That’s where the worst accidents happen, but it’s not always easy to avoid it.
Lesson 2 – Ship Canal
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Item 5 Character card (Daniel Adamson, businessman and first Chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal)
Name: Daniel Adamson Age: 65 My job: Engineer and Businessman Where I work: My office and my house are in Didsbury. I have a factory in Cheshire as well as in Hyde. What else can I tell you? I am the Chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal Company. My job as Chairman is to raise enough money to get the canal project going. We need to raise five million
pounds and I am trying to do this by encouraging the working people of Manchester to invest in the project. I get up at the crack of dawn and I am at my desk reading and replying to letters before I have breakfast. I am at meetings for most of the day. These are usually in the Town Hall at Manchester, but occasionally I do have to travel to London. I often do not get home to Didsbury until very late at night after work. But I am happy that I am working hard for something that will make a very big difference to the people of Manchester.
Inset Image from Wikipedia commons (Public Domain) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Adamson#/media/ File: Daniel_Adamson.jpg
Item 6 Character card (Edward Leader Williams, Engineer of the Manchester Ship Canal) Name: Edward Leader Williams Age: 60 My job: I am the Chief Designer and Chief Engineer on the Ship Canal. Where I work: I have been working all along the route of the new Canal, but my office is in Manchester city centre. What else can I tell you? I am up before dawn and I head into my Manchester office first thing after breakfast. I read through the reports on the canal work, and make sure that I have given people jobs to do so that things keep on schedule.
I have been an engineer on many other canal projects. I know how dangerous they can be, with men working side by side with machines, railway engines, and explosives. Thomas Walker, our main contractor, tries to make sure that employees on the canal are treated well. He has first aid stations all along the works and his company provides medical treatment if necessary. Walker keeps people in work when they have been injured. We can always find useful things for people to do even if they have been badly injured.
Inset Image from Wikipedia commons (Public Domain) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Leader_Williams#/media/ File:EdwardLeaderWilliams.png
Lesson 2 – Ship Canal
Item 7 ‘The Frenchman’, a land excavator, 1890
Main Image: Salford City Archive / Frank Mullineux Collection Ref 962 395, derived from Manchester Ship Canal Company glass plates http://www.canalarchive.org.uk/stories/getobjectstory.php?rnum=T1015&enum=TE125&pnum=6&maxp=8
Item 8 Rock-blasting at Ince, late 1880s/early 1890s
Main Image: scanned from a lantern slide https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5354336781/in/album-72157625534714792/
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Lesson 2 – Ship Canal
Item 9 One-handed labourer laying stones during construction of canal, c.1890s
Main Image: Manchester Archives Ref no GB124.B10/10/3/2111 https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234482055/in/album-72157625534714792/
Item 10 A diver and his team, 10 May 1891
Main Image: scanned from a glass plate negative (B10) https://www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5353639913/in/album-72157625534714792/
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Item 11 Chart showing numbers of deaths and injuries on the Ship Canal Injured
Disabled
Killed
Safe From figures given in the Ship Canal company records. Out of 16,000 men and boys working on the canal in 1892, more than 1,000 were injured. 165 were left with a permanent disability, and 130 were killed.
Item 12 Concrete mixer, 1890
Main Image: Salford City Archive / Frank Mullineux Collection Ref 774, derived from Manchester Ship Canal Company glass plates http://www.canalarchive.org.uk/stories/getobjectstory.php?rnum=T1105&enum=TE125&pnum=5&maxp=8
Lesson 2 – Ship Canal
Item 13 ‘The German’, a dredger, 1890
Main Image: from Salford Local History Library Ref 386.47 http://www.canalarchive.org.uk/Tpages/html/T2520.html
Item 14 The steam navvy from Lincoln, 1890
Main Image: Salford City Archive / Frank Mullineux Collection Ref 774, derived from Manchester Ship Canal Company glass plates http://www.canalarchive.org.uk/stories/getobjectstory.php?rnum=T1019&enum=TE125&pnum=8&maxp=8
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