Martha & Jacob Wright – country children
Martha Wright – a farm labourer
Martha Wright, born 1852, is another granddaughter of Mary Wright, Lady Elizabeth Havington’s maid. Along with her family, Martha lives in the country side, somerset?. Her working routine is dictated by the changing seasons, although her daily chores of helping around the cottage and looking after her younger siblings stay the same. Martha would like to work in ‘the big house’, the local Squire’s home, like her cousin Ada, but is worried about leaving home as her mother relies on her quite heavily.
Martha working with lace bobbin pins
Martha’s everyday cleaning equipment
Close up of lace bobbin pins
Jacob Wright – a farm labourer
Jacob Wright, born 1850, is the grandson of Mary Wright, Lady Elizabeth Havington’s maid. He lives with his sister, Martha, and four younger brothers and sisters in a small cottage on a large country estate in Somerset. Like his sister, Jacob’s life is governed by the changing seasons, and while Martha stays closer to home to work in the dairy, he is out in the fields learning to plough and herd cattle. However, by the 1850s Britain’s countryside was connected by the railways and Jacob’s dream would probably have been to join the railway company.Your students will be taken through Jacob’s country life but will also discover the reason for Britain’s ever increasing need for a bigger and better railway transport system. We will also look at other Victorian children’s jobs in coal mining, fishing, the potteries, etc.
Jacob with a catapult to scare crows away from the crops
Jacob’s mannequin in front of information board
Close up of country artefacts