The role of women in industrial history has often been hidden, overlooked, or forgotten. However, research carried out by social historian Ruth Goodman, on behalf of the Ironbridge Gorge Museum Trust, has revealed new insights into the fascinating and vital contributions that women have made to the industrial history of the Ironbridge Gorge. In this interview, Ruth Goodman discusses her research with the Trust's Interpretation Curator, Lauren Collier.
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In 2023, Blists Hill Victorian Town is celebrating its 50th Anniversary. Since it opened in 1973, the museum has grown significantly as local buildings have been rebuilt or copied at Blists Hill to recreate a small industrial town. The museum aims to show what life was like living and working in the East Shropshire Coalfield around 1900, but what can be seen at Blists Hill today is very different to how the site looked in the 19th century.
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The story of Caroline York and her family shows just how easy it could be to lose everything in the late 19th century, and how hard families had to work to stay together.
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Whilst the abundance of raw materials and the innovations of industrialists and entrepreneurs sparked industry in the Gorge, it was the ordinary workers who drove it forward and made it possible for this area to become ‘the most extraordinary district in the world’.
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Very few of the men, women and children who worked in industry across the Ironbridge Gorge have left a written record of themselves or their lives and so we can struggle to find their voices. However, every object manufactured in the Gorge is evidence of the labour and lives of these workers and the objects displayed across the Ironbridge Gorge Museums demonstrate their skill and efforts.
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Industrial work in the Gorge was often insecure and injury, illness, old age, or death could lead to workers’ families suffering greatly. In a time before the welfare state, financial support was very limited and a fall in wages or being out of work could mean destitution.
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Children worked in every industry across the Gorge, in the same dismal and dangerous conditions as adults, to help support their family’s income. They were generally employed in unskilled roles supporting adult family members but earned much smaller wages. Yet, without their wages, their families could not survive.
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