Manchester Ship Canal Teaching Resource by Archives+

Manchester Ship Canal

Teaching Resource

Part 1

Introduction

Contents Part 1 Introduction Background

1.6 Key stage 3/4 suggested extension activity

About this resource

1.7 Debriefing

Manchester Central Library

Archives+

2.1 Context

Curriculum links

2.2 Learning objectives

The Manchester Ship Canal – an introduction

2.3 Teacher briefing

2.4 Document Bank

Before the Ship Canal: bringing the sea to Manchester

2.5 Activities

2.6 Key stage 3/4 optional activities

2.7 Debriefing

Ship Canal Campaign: how the dream became real

Construction of the Ship Canal: digging the big ditch

Opening the Ship Canal: a huge celebration

Working the Ship Canal: Britain’s fourth-largest port

Manchester Ship Canal timeline

Part 2 Lessons Lesson 1: What difference does it make?

1.1 Context

1.2 Learning objectives

1.3 Teacher briefing

1.4 Documents provided

1.5 Activities

Lesson 2: The canal’s heroes

Lesson 3: All around the world (and Manchester)

3.1 Context

3.2 Learning objectives

3.3 Teacher briefing

3.4 Document Bank

3.5 Activities

3.6 Key stage 3/4 optional activities

3.7 Debriefing

Part 1 – Introduction

Background

The second and third floors feature new information and business facilities, study spaces, and meeting rooms for hire. Services include up-tothe-minute market information and intelligence to support business development, employment prospects and the regional economy.

The Manchester Ship Canal was a hugely important trade route. The Manchester Ship Canal connected the fast-growing Victorian city of Manchester to the world. Manchester factories could obtain raw materials cheaply. Manchester was also able to export goods directly around the world. This learning resource has been developed to engage learners with the Archives+ collection. This resource presents original archive material relating to the Manchester Ship Canal. The original resource material is presented as historic photographs and document facsimiles.

About this resource This resource has been produced by Minerva Heritage Ltd in association with Manchester Central Library and Archives+. Manchester Central Library Opened in 1934 by King George V, the iconic Grade II* listed Central Library is one of the finest civic complexes outside London and one of the best examples of architecture from the period. The second-largest public library in the UK, it is also one of the country’s busiest, attracting more visitors than the British Library. Manchester Central Library is also widely regarded as one of the finest libraries in Europe. It crowns the city’s ‘Knowledge Corridor’, which is home to the largest academic campus in the UK and the largest clinical academic campus in Europe. Inside the transformed venue, a spacious ground floor houses a new Performance Space and Archives+. On the first floor, the lovingly refurbished Wolfson Reading Room has been returned to its former glory, highlighting its original distinctive features and character. The world-famous Henry Watson Music Library is enhanced by facilities and music equipment.

The fourth floor features a broad range of reference collections. The Library has also expanded into the refurbished Town Hall Extension through a new underground link, creating an additional 20,000 square feet of public space and housing a colourful new Children’s Library, a Media Lounge and a large lending library.

Archives+ Archives+ is a purpose-built showcase and repository for Greater Manchester’s archive and family history. The Archives+ partnership builds on the appetite and demand for accessible community history and personal heritage. The main partners in Archives+ are: • Greater Manchester County Record Office (Association of Greater Manchester Authorities) • Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives (Manchester City Council) • North West Film Archive (Manchester Metropolitan University) • Ahmed Iqbal Ullah Race Relations Resource Centre and Education Trust (The University of Manchester) • Manchester & Lancashire Family History Society • BFI Mediatheque • Manchester Registration Service (Historic Registers).

Part 1 – Introduction

Archives+ brings history to life using interactive exhibits, sound and vision. Its focus is on telling stories and helping people to identify with the past. Displays and exhibitions in Manchester Central Library explore the rich collections to tell the stories of Manchester’s people and communities.

Curriculum links The resource has been developed for key stage 2 learners. Additional activities are suggested so that the resource can be adapted for key stage 3/4 learners. The lessons and suggested activities are designed to provide learners with an opportunity to study several aspects of history. In particular, they provide: • A study over time, tracing how several aspects of national history are reflected in the locality • A study of an aspect of history or a site dating from a period beyond 1066 that is significant in the locality. There are additional cross-curricular opportunities with Citizenship, Geography, English and Art/ Design.

The Manchester Ship Canal – an introduction Before the Ship Canal: bringing the sea to Manchester Throughout time various plans had been put forward for waterways to Manchester. The Mersey and lrwell Navigation provided a route from the Mersey estuary to Salford and Manchester by improving the course of the River lrwell and River Mersey. Work began in 1724, and by 1734 boats ‘of moderate size’ could make the journey from quays in Water Street, Manchester to the Irish Sea.

The Bridgewater Canal opened in 1760 and offered competition to the Mersey and lrwell Navigation. The Canal and Navigation competed for trade between Liverpool and Manchester. The Bridgewater Canal was a much more direct route, with none of the twists and turns so common in the river navigation. Although the Bridgewater Canal provided a good route to Liverpool, by the 1870s many saw the need for a waterway that could accommodate much bigger vessels. Charges imposed by the Port of Liverpool and the railway costs to carry freight to Manchester were seen as extortionate by local businessmen. An article in The Times on 18 October 1882 described the situation: 'Five millions and a half of people are at the mercy of a combination holding a pass between them and the rest of the human race, and making use of their coign of vantage as the medieval barons did in the embattled toll gates thrown across the world’s highways. City, port, dock and railway vie in extortion and levy duties to the extent of human forbearance. Many millions of materials and manufacture pass annually to and fro between the port and the industrious region at the back of it, and on every ton Liverpool has its profit. It cannot be expected that a large population, placed at the mercy of a single port, should sit quietly under it.' Ship Canal Campaign: how the dream became real On 27 June 1882, Manchester manufacturer Daniel Adamson gathered together a group of 68 influential people at his Didsbury home ‘The Towers’ for the inaugural meeting of the Manchester Ship Canal Campaign Committee. The Committee initiated a public campaign led by Joseph Lawrence aimed at raising funds and promoting the idea to local people. Support for the campaign began to spread across Manchester, encouraged by various letters and comments in the press.

Part 1 – Introduction

The third ship canal bill was deposited in November 1884. The previous two bills had been rejected by Parliament in the face of strong opposition, mainly from the Port of Liverpool. Plans were amended to address some of the objections and finally, on 6 August 1885, the Manchester Ship Canal Act received royal assent.

After four years, the Manchester Ship Canal Company had run out of money, with only half the construction work completed. They appealed to Manchester Corporation for funds to help them complete the construction and, in March 1891, the Corporation agreed to lend them the money necessary to complete the Canal.

When the Ship Canal Committee returned to Manchester from Westminster, they were met by bands and cheering crowds. A celebratory Ox Roast in Eccles is said to have attracted 30,000 revellers. However, the Committee now had to work out how they were going to pay for it. Conditions of the Act stated that the Manchester Ship Canal Company needed to raise £8million within two years, to cover the estimated cost of construction.

The Manchester Ship Canal finally opened on 1 January 1894. It had taken six years and £15million to complete. It remains the longest river navigation canal, and is the world’s eighth-longest ship canal.

Daniel Adamson’s plan for raising enough money to build the Ship Canal was to sell shares to the widest range of people possible. The Act would not allow shares of less than £10 to be sold, so the Company sold shilling coupons to enable ordinary people to buy them in instalments, but larger investors were harder to find. Faced with defeat, Adamson resigned and Lord Egerton of Tatton took over as Chairman of the Manchester Ship Canal Company. He managed to persuade the bankers Baring and Rothschild to underwrite the £4million still needed. Construction of the Ship Canal: digging the big ditch Lord Egerton cut the first sod on 11 November 1887 and construction of the Manchester Ship Canal began. These photographs date back to the construction of the Canal in the 1880s and 1890s. The visual record fills in some of the gaps in the written one; there are very few written archives relating to the 16,000 people who built the Canal. These labourers, some of whom were very young, would have been hired on a casual basis, and their names went largely unrecorded. Many were Irish. Their backbreaking physical labour was necessary to bring this extraordinary project to fruition.

Opening the Ship Canal: a huge celebration The formal opening of the Canal was conducted by Queen Victoria in May 1894, but before this royal visit an earlier opening had also taken place that year on New Year’s Day. At 10 o’clock, on the sounding of a steam whistle, a procession of vessels, led by Samuel Platt’s grand steam yacht Norseman carrying the company directors, set out on a journey along the Canal from Latchford. Thousands had travelled to see the New Year event, and on the signal of the whistle, as described by Sir Bosdin Leech, ‘a mighty sound of cheers was given, but this was quickly drowned out by the combined efforts of scores of steam whistles and sirens; it was perfect pandemonium’. The procession was cheered along the whole route of the Canal. The Norseman was followed by various vessels, including Snowdrop, carrying representatives of Manchester Corporation, and Crocus, containing ladies’ and directors’ friends. More was to come with the official opening of the Ship Canal by Queen Victoria on 21 May 1894. Houseowners decorated their homes in honour of the royal visitor, and there was a healthy sense of competition over whose adornments were best. The Queen arrived by train at London Road Station (Manchester Piccadilly). She and her party were then taken by carriage across the city before reaching the newly completed Docks. Manchester Corporation set aside £10,000 to decorate the city, with Salford also spending a large sum of money on the day. Floral decorations

Part 1 – Introduction

were put up along the route, including a unique archway on Deansgate built by the fire brigade from fire ladders and appliances. A special pavilion had been erected on the Stretford side of the Canal through which the Queen passed to take her seat upon her royal yacht Enchantress. After the departure of the Queen, the celebrations carried on into the night with a state banquet and a fireworks display at the Docks. Working the Ship Canal: Britain’s fourthlargest port The Ship Canal turned Manchester – a city over thirty miles inland – into Britain’s fourth-largest port, and the films located in the document bank reflect this development. They show the huge variety of goods traded along the Canal from all over the world, including cotton, coal, vehicles, timber, grain, wool, tea and fruit.

Manchester Ship Canal timeline 1724–34: Mersey & Irwell Navigation Company made it possible for ‘moderately-sized’ boats to sail from Water Street, Manchester to the Irish Sea 1776: The completion of the Runcorn extension of the Bridgewater Canal created an alternative route to the sea for imports and exports

27 June 1882: Manchester manufacturer Daniel Adamson arranged a meeting at his home, The Towers, in Didsbury 4 October 1882: The first public support meeting was held in Manchester’s Oxford ward, followed by 17 October in St James ward Late 1882: The first bill was presented to Parliament. This was opposed by the Mersey Docks Board January 1883: The bill was rejected by Parliament for breaching parliamentary procedure. Parliament rejected the Bill a second time later in 1883 after evidence was presented regarding the possible silting up of the Mersey Estuary. This was despite a petition from Manchester signed by almost 200,000 people 24 June 1884: There was a large demonstration at Pomona Gardens in favour of the Canal 1 August 1884: The House of Commons Committee rejected the second bill after strong opposition from Liverpool 2 May 1885: Parliament passed the committee’s third bill, presented in November 1884 6 August 1885: The bill received royal assent, becoming the Manchester Ship Canal Act 1885

1830: The opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway created another route, this time via Liverpool Docks and the Port of Liverpool

3 August 1887: The largest cheque ever (£1,710,000) was presented for the purchase of the Bridgewater Navigation Company

1870s: The charges raised by the Port of Liverpool and the railway companies were seen to be extortionate, and it could be cheaper to import goods via Hull. A ship canal giving Manchester direct access to the Irish Sea was proposed. It was hoped that this would reduce carriage costs, avoid extra payments at Liverpool, and bypass the railways

11 November 1887: Construction began 7 December 1893: Canal completed 1 January 1894: Canal first used

Part 2

Lessons

Part 2 – Lessons

Lesson 1: What difference does it make? 1.1. Context This lesson specifically introduces the Manchester Ship Canal as a significant local site. The lesson explores: • Opposition to and support for the Canal • Political struggles relating to the Canal, and the causes and effects of industrialisation • Contrasting motivations through real-life people • The short and long-term effects of the Canal on these real-life characters and their families. 1.2 Learning objectives • Appreciating opposing points of view • Understanding different personal motivations • Understanding historical characters by examining what their lives were like • Understanding how different groups of people have been influential in the development of north west England • Understanding how Britain has been influenced by the wider world • Providing learners with new vocabulary • Understanding historical concepts such as continuity, change, and cause-and-effect • Gaining a historical perspective by understanding the subject material in local, regional and national contexts.

1.3 Teacher briefing In order to deliver this lesson you will need: • to provide your learners with context and background to life at the end of the 19th century. Use Part 1 – Introduction to help you with this • to prepare and copy items from the Document Bank (see section 1.4) • an internet connection, Smart/whiteboard and speakers to watch ‘Down to the Sea’ video starter activity (Item 1). 1.4 Documents provided (see overleaf)

Part 2 – Lessons

Item no.

Name

‘Down to the Sea’ video

Link/Description

‘Down to the Sea’ 1938 Ref no 453_1 (NWFA Ref 453) www.vimeo.com/154576969

Provided in Document Pack Map of Liverpool, Manchester Also here: and Ship Canal Route www.archivesplus.org/stories/industry-innovation/

Manchester and Salford before the Canal

Provided in Document Pack (GB124.G7)

Provided in Document Pack (GB124/B10/10/8/31) 4

Photographs of Manchester and Salford Docks

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/18229234300/in/ photolist-tLRAg7 Provided in Document Pack (GB124/B10/10/8/87)

Photographs of Manchester and Salford Docks

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/17797507663/in/ photolist-t7GSYp Provided in Document Pack

Modern photograph of Salford Quays

Character card (Liverpool dock worker)

Provided in Document Pack

Character card (Manchester factory owner)

Provided in Document Pack

WE Gladstone’s opinion of Lewis’s Prize Essays on the future of Liverpool

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/39555121@N08/3699033958/in/ album-72157621097329460/

Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/Ship Canal Miscellany) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5914806633 Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/Ship Canal Miscellany)

Manchester vs Liverpool

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5914807617/in/ album-72157625534714792/

Part 2 – Lessons

1.5 Activities Starter activity

Main acitivity

Teacher information

The starter activity uses extracts from a historic film ‘Down to the Sea’ (Item 1) https://vimeo. com/154576969 and a map of the area that the canal covers (Item 2) in order to provide context for the learners. The ‘Down to the Sea’ film introduces the canal, its function and how it connects Manchester to the sea. Use the map as a prompt to introduce the idea that Manchester was a world centre for trade in the 19th century, and that Liverpool was a very important port for Britain.

Ask the learners to compare the dock facilities in Manchester, before and after the building of the Ship Canal. Ask the learners to identify elements in the pictures and then to compare how they have changed over time.

You will need to explain that we can use the photographs, films and other documents that are kept in the Archives+ to help us learn about historic events, such as the construction of the Manchester Ship Canal. For learners • What does ‘Down to the Sea’ (Item 1) tell us about the Manchester Ship Canal? • Look at a map of the Liverpool/Manchester area (Item 2). Discuss the map and the relative size and locations of the two cities. What does the map tell us about the Manchester Ship Canal?

For learners • Examine the pictures of the old docks, buildings and boats in 1750 (Items 3 and 4). What do the pictures show? Do you recognise any of the things in the pictures? • Now look at the photographs of docks and ships in the 1900s (Items 5 and 6). Compare these with Items 3 and 4. What has changed? Is anything the same? • Now examine an image of the Manchester Docks images today (Item 7). What difference can you see? Where are the ships today? Main acitivity Teacher information Ask learners to compare the experience and motivations of individuals on each side of the debate about whether the Manchester Ship Canal should be built. Split the class into pairs and provide each pair with a Liverpool Dock Worker character card (Item 8) and a Manchester Factory Owner character card (Item 9). For learners • Work in pairs. Take either Item 8 or 9. Discuss the characters. From your point of view would the building of the Manchester Ship Canal be a good or bad thing? • Take a yes/no vote.

Part 2 – Lessons

1.6 Key stage 3/4 suggested extension activity Teacher information Ask the learners to examine the motivations behind opposition to the canal-building in a bit more depth. The timeline in Part 1 – Introduction and documents (Items 10 and 11) point to long delays to the project, caused by Liverpool-based interests trying to stop it from going ahead. For learners

Lesson 2: The canal’s heroes 2.1. Context This lesson specifically explores the people who built Manchester Ship Canal. The lesson explores: • The stories of the canal’s engineers and the ‘navvies’ who worked on the project • Industrialisation, globalisation, trade and work through social history and people stories

• Read Items 10 and 11 and the Manchester Ship Canal timeline.

• Contrasting social backgrounds, equipment, skills, pay and status by reference to real people

• Why was there a delay to the canal building? What or who was standing in its way and why? What methods did the opposition to the Ship Canal use to try to stop it?

• The working day, working conditions, and experience of different types of people linked to the building of Manchester Ship Canal.

1.7 Debriefing Teacher information Ask the learners to reflect on the different characters encountered during the lesson. This is to reinforce the idea that different individuals and groups of people in history had different motivations that could bring them into political conflict with one another. Ask the learners to reflect on the idea that influential groups of people or individuals can bring about enormous changes for lots of people. On reflection – for learners • Imagine that you are an ordinary person living and working in Manchester at the end of the 19th century. You have just heard that the Manchester Ship Canal is going to open. Write a diary entry or a letter to a friend to illustrate your hopes for its effects on you, your family, and Manchester. • Design a job advert for workers on the new canal.

2.2. Learning objectives • Understanding historical characters by examining what their lives were like • Understanding how different groups of people have been influential in the development of north west England • Understanding how Britain has been influenced by the wider world • Providing learners with a new vocabulary • Understand historical concepts, such as continuity, change, and cause-and-effect • Gaining a historic perspective by understanding the subject material in local, regional and national contexts. 2.3. Teacher briefing In order to deliver this lesson you will need: • to provide your learners with context and background to life at the end of the 19th century. Use Part 1 – Introduction to help you with this. You will need to explain that the Manchester Ship Canal was approved by the Government and that building started soon afterwards. You will need to explain that there were up to 16,000 men and boys working on the project at busy times • to prepare and copy items from the Document Bank (see section 2.4).

Part 2 – Lessons

2.4 Document Bank Item no.

Name

Link/Description Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/1/18/28)

Manchester Ship Canal workers

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5235096106/in/ album-72157625534714792/ Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/1/18/34)

Young workers, c.1890s

Character card – James Cox, a ‘navvy’ from Ireland

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234480177/in/ album-72157625534714792/

Provided in Document Pack (GB124.DPA/2161/13) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/9214122379

Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/3/2107) 4

Character card – a coffeeselling girl from Manchester

Character card – Daniel Adamson

Provided in Document Pack

Character card – Edward Leader Williams

Provided in Document Pack

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234481431/in/ album-72157625534714792/

Provided in Document Pack 7

‘The Frenchman’, a land excavator, 1890

Also here: www.canalarchive.org.uk/stories/getobjectstory. php?rnum=T1015&enum=TE125&pnum=6&maxp=8

Part 2 – Lessons

Item no.

Name

Link/Description Provided in Document Pack

Rock-blasting at Ince, dated late 1880s/early 1890s

One-handed labourer laying stones during construction of canal, c.1890s (He had lost his hand in an accident but was retained as a labourer)

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5354336781/in/ album-72157625534714792/

Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/3/2111) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234482055/in/ album-72157625534714792/

Provided in Document Pack 10

A diver and his team, dated 10 May 1891

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5353639913/in/ album-72157625534714792/ Provided in Document Pack

Chart to show numbers of deaths and injuries on the Ship Canal

From figures given in the Ship Canal company records

Provided in Document Pack 12

Cement mixer, 1890

‘The German’, a dredger, 1890

Also here: www.canalarchive.org.uk/stories/getobjectstory. php?rnum=T1105&enum=TE125&pnum=5&maxp=8

Provided in Document Pack Also here: www.canalarchive.org.uk/Tpages/html/T2520.html

Provided in Document Pack 14

The steam navvy from Lincoln, 1890

Also here: www.canalarchive.org.uk/stories/getobjectstory. php?rnum=T1019&enum=TE125&pnum=8&maxp=8

Part 2 – Lessons

2.5 Activities Starter activity Teacher information Ask the learners to look at the historic photographs (Items 1 and 2). These will introduce some of the people who built the Ship Canal. There are a lot of photographs and other documents kept in Archives+. We know a lot about certain aspects of the Manchester Ship Canal. We know almost nothing about most of the people who built the Ship Canal, apart from being able to see them in these photographs. For learners • Examine Items 1 and 2. • Who is shown in the photographs? What are they wearing? What are they doing? • Do the people in the photographs look different to people today? Why? • Why aren’t there any women or girls in the pictures? Main activity Teacher information The character cards (Items 3–6) present people stories that draw on historic documents and real people. The character cards introduce themes of industrialisation, globalisation, trade and work through the social history of some of the people working on the canal. Documents in Archives+ help us to look at the lives of people in the past. The documents help us to understand how people’s lives could be very different. Split the learners into small working groups, and provide each group with the character cards (Items 3–6). Ask the learners to explore the character cards.

For learners • Can you list some of the risks and possible consequences for the workers on the Manchester Ship Canal? • Write a short news article describing an accident on the canal. Make sure you state what caused the accident, the person who had the accident, and what happened to them next. Main activity Teacher information Use the same character cards (Items 3–6) and some additional Items (7–10) to explore dangers faced by people working on the Canal. Items 7–10 illustrate some examples of the dangers faced by people building the Manchester Ship Canal. These include working in deep trenches and next to huge machines (Item 7), gunpowder explosions (Item 8), losing a limb (Item 9), and drowning (Item 10). A chart (Item 11) shows how many people – out of some 16,000 working on the canal – were injured, permanently disabled, or killed during the work. The documents in Archives+ can help us to understand how families’ lives could be changed by working conditions, and the things that were done to reduce the effects of accidents for workers and their families. Keep the learners in small working groups and make sure each group has copies of Items 3–11. For learners • Can you list some of the risks and possible consequences for the workers on the Manchester Ship Canal? • Write a short news article describing an accident on the canal. Make sure you state what caused the accident, the person who had the accident, and what happened to them next.

Part 2 – Lessons

2.6. Key stage 3/4 optional activities

2.7. Debriefing

Teacher information

This activity further explores industrialisation, globalisation, trade and work. Organise the learners into groups and provide them with the historic archive photographs of some of the larger and more-complex machinery used to build the canal (Items 7 and 12–14).

Ask the learners to reflect on the other effects the canal project had on people’s lives. Ask the learners to choose a character from one of the cards they have been looking at, and then to imagine what happens to that character at the end of the Manchester Ship Canal building project.

Industrialisation sometimes led to workers being replaced by machines. One of these machines came from Lincoln, another from Germany, and one came from France – we don’t know why but it might have been because there weren’t many of the machines to go around.

On reflection – for learners

For learners • In small groups look at Items 7 and 12–14. • Why did the engineering companies use these machines? • What would the consequences have been for the men (navvies) who worked by hand on the Manchester Ship Canal? • Why had some of the machines been bought from Germany and France, as well as Britain?

• Look at the character cards (Items 3–6). • Who would you like to have been and why? • Imagine that the Manchester Ship Canal is now complete. What are you going to do now?

Lesson 3: All around the world (and Manchester) 3.1. Context This lesson explores the evidence of global traffic into Manchester, made possible by the building of the Manchester Ship Canal, and looks at the people who were involved. The lesson explores: • The impact of ships and goods coming into Manchester and being exported from there (number and range of jobs, reduced produce costs) • Using a world map to explore four ‘countriesof-origin’ (goods), their relationship with Manchester and the UK, and the effects of the goods and trade on Manchester • Comparing the effects of changes in trade on the destination country with the effects on the source country • Considering the effects of long-term changes to canal traffic (ie. bulk oil moving the focus further west, and the closure of Salford Docks).

Part 2 – Lessons

3.2. Learning objectives • Understanding empires • Understanding how different groups of people have been influential in the development of north west England • Understanding how Britain has influenced and been influenced by the wider world • Providing learners with a new vocabulary • Understanding historical concepts such as continuity, change, and cause-and-effect • Gaining a historic perspective by understanding the subject material in local, regional and national contexts. 3.3. Teacher briefing In order to deliver this lesson you will need to: • Provide your learners with context and background to life in the first half of the 20th century. Use Part 1 – Introduction to help you with this. You will need to explain that the new Manchester Ship Canal directly connected Manchester to world trade. The docks in Manchester and Salford were able to accept traffic coming from Ireland and Europe, as well as Africa and the Americas. You will need to explain that we can see this in the historic documents that are used during the activities. • Be able to show a large map of the world on a Smart/whiteboard. • Prepare and copy items from the Document Bank (see section 3.4).

Part 2 – Lessons

3.4. Document Bank Item no.

Name

Link/Description Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/3/927)

Truckloads of Canadian pine discharged direct from ship to rail transport, March 1940

Discharging meat at Manchester Docks, c.1920s, probably from Ireland, Scotland, or mainland Europe

The ‘City of Bath’ discharging 30,000 bales of Indian cotton, 28 March 1938

Unloading bales of Virginia tobacco for the Imperial Tobacco Company, Trafford Wharf Warehouse, no date

Hovis Flour Mill (from ‘Trafford Park – an ideal site for your factory’ brochure)

Provided in Document Pack (Trafford Park (338.0942T5) p 32)

Ford Motor Company assembly plant (from ‘Trafford Park – an ideal site for your factory’ brochure)

Provided in Document Pack (Trafford Park (338.0942T5) p 44

Metropolitan-Vickers Electrical Co (from ‘Trafford Park – an ideal site for your factory’ brochure)

Jacob’s Biscuits warehouse (from ‘Trafford Park – an ideal site for your factory’ brochure)

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234485835/in/ album-72157625534714792/ Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/3/870) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5234485565/in/ album-72157625534714792/ Provided in Document Pack (GB124.B10/10/3/739) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/5235077340/in/ album-72157625534714792/ Provided in Document Pack (GB124/B10/10/8/61) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/18230235820/in/ album-72157653537700508/ Provided in Document Pack (Trafford Park (338.0942T5) p 22) Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/17385576262/in/ album-72157651977360189/

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/16767268463/in/ album-72157651977360189/

Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/17385552942/in/ album-72157651977360189/ Provided in Document Pack (Trafford Park (338.0942T5) p 40 Also here: www.flickr.com/photos/manchesterarchiveplus/17387183901/in/ album-72157651977360189/

Part 2 – Lessons

3.5 Activities Starter activity

Main activity

Teacher information

The starter activity uses a world map as a visual aid to introduce how the relationship of Manchester to the UK and the rest of the world changed.

Ask the learners to look at historic images that relate to goods coming into Manchester via the Ship Canal (Items 1–4). Archives+ has preserved historic photographs and other documents that help us to understand how the Ship Canal changed Manchester. Documents show how foods, raw materials and other goods were brought in from all over the world.

Ask the learners to look at the world map and the location of some of Manchester’s main trading partners to provide some context. Ask the learners to find the following places on the modern world map: Finland, Canada, USA, and Bombay (India). Explain that these were some of the main trade connections for Manchester between the 1890s and the 1950s. Explain that Manchester’s trade with these places was largely possible because of the Ship Canal. Explain that the new trade the Ship Canal created brought jobs for people in Manchester Docks as well as on the ships. Jobs were created in the factories of Manchester and in the nearby towns and cities. One million people lived in Manchester and another nine million lived within 50 miles, so the impact of the Ship Canal was huge. For learners • Look at a world map. • Find Finland, Canada, USA, and Bombay (India). These were some of the main places Manchester traded with between the 1890s and 1950s. • Where in the world do you think Manchester trades with today?

Each of these historic photographs or illustrations shows goods being unloaded at the docks and in the warehouses (Canadian pinewood, meat – most likely from Ireland or Scotland – Indian cotton, and Virginia tobacco for the Imperial Tobacco Company). Timber from Scandinavia and Canada was used in the building trade, meat was eaten or processed, cotton was processed as cloth and finished products, and raw tobacco was processed into smoking products. Explain that transporting these required men, ropes, boxes, cranes, fuel, paperwork, boxes, trains, rails, coal and a host of other materials to keep the trade going and to get goods to market or materials to the factories. In the first 20 years, Manchester’s import trade was mostly timber, wood pulp, paper-making materials, grain, cotton, oil, and iron ore. Manchester’s manufacturing and construction companies created a demand for all these items. For learners • Examine Items 1–4. • What goods were being transported to Manchester via the Manchester Ship Canal? • Why were these goods needed? • Where were the goods coming from? • Why did Manchester need to import these goods?

Part 2 – Lessons

Main activity

3.6 Key stage 3/4 optional activities

Teacher information

Ask the learners to examine historic photographs (Items 5–8) from brochures, and adverts for Trafford Park. These show that exporting was also important for people using the Ship Canal, as well as importing.

Ask the learners to explore the effects of the Manchester Ship Canal by discussing long-term change.

Explain that for shipping companies, exporting goods from Manchester meant that ships did not leave Manchester empty. An empty ship would mean a wasted journey. Explain that for Manchester companies, the Ship Canal meant they were able to send products ‘Made in Britain’ directly to markets all over the world. The Manchester Docks led to the construction of many large factories and warehouses in the area. For learners • Examine Items 5–8. • What do the images show? • What goods are being exported from Manchester via the Manchester Ship Canal? • Where do you think the goods were being exported to? • What skills did the people of Manchester have to make the exporting possible?

Explain that a general decline in trade in the second half of the 20th century led to the closure of Manchester Docks in 1982, with the loss of 3,000 jobs. These were considerable negative effects on Manchester. Soon after, plans were made to regenerate the area as Salford Quays, and there are plans to greatly increase the traffic to the Docks again. Regeneration is intended to make positive changes for Manchester. For learners • What were the effects of the closure of Manchester Docks in 1982? • Why would governments and companies want to spend money on the regeneration of Manchester Docks?

Part 2 – Lessons

3.7 Debriefing Review activity Teacher information Ask the learners to reflect on the global nature of the trade coming to Manchester. Ships travelling into Manchester along the Ship Canal also carried sailors and other people. They could be returning to or visiting Manchester and they could come from across the British Empire and the world. Each person brought their own culture with them. The Ship Canal opened up Manchester to people who might otherwise not have made this journey. Some African, African-Caribbean, Arabian and Asian sailors and dock workers settled along the canal, in Liverpool, Salford and Manchester. The Canal also gave some Manchester people the opportunity to explore the world. On reflection – for learners • Imagine that you are a visiting sailor spending your first night in a Salford hostel for sailors. You have arrived at Manchester Docks in a ship from your home country and you have unloaded raw materials for the Manchester factories. • What has your day been like? • Where have you come from? • What have you dropped off? • What are you picking up? • Who have you met in the hostel?