I’m so excited about this project. For anyone who doesn’t know, im taking part in a documentary filming project with Chocolate Films and the London Metropolitan Archives. This week we split into our two working groups. We spent about an hour discussing our topic which was originally loosely centred around the history of workers rights in the Uk. We went through various stages looking at all aspects including the origins of strike action, matchstick girls, uk factories, imports and exports, the Huduenots (who were immigrants who took over weaving in London). This led us to think about the offset of hard labour, for example in the textiles industry, where the buck is constantly passed “out of sight out of mind” and look where it has ended up, mainly in over populated, under developed countries. Our thoughts turned to Child Labour. Which at different stages in history was prevalent in the uk. And there is even evidence that child labour was widely supported. Shocking. We went into the archives to find original documents from workhouses, newspaper clippings about the matchstick girls, public letters supporting child labour, etc. Next week we gain access to these document and photographs and that’s where the documentary process begins.
I know it’s a really horrific topic, but if anyone has a personal interest, i.e you may know that it effected an ancestor, please do get in touch if you would like to contribute to our research.
This topic has incredible relevance today with child labour being used all over the world. There is a punch line to our tale, but you’ll have to wait.
Stay tuned for weekly updates!!!!
