Book reveals what working class life was like in The Potteries in the 1840s

DERBY, U.K. - Dec. 23, 2013 - PRLog -- For anyone whose ancestors lived in the Stoke-on-Trent area of the UK in the 1800s, the recently reprinted When I Was a Child: Growing Up in the Potteries in the 1840s, by Charles Shaw will provide a fascinating insight into life for the working classes at the time.

The book, which is a biographical account of the author’s childhood as a pottery worker, was first released in 1903. It provides an account of Charles Shaw’s early life; first as a mould-runner and handle maker in the pottery industry, and later as a worker in a toy factory in Burslem, Staffordshire. The book also includes a description of his brief spell in Chell workhouse, the Pottery Riots of 1842, and a rare outing to Trentham, a local beauty spot.

Charles Shaw was born in 1832 in Tunstall, Staffordshire, the sixth of eight children born to Enoch Shaw, a painter and gilder in the pottery industry, and Ann Shaw (née Mawdesley). He began work at the age of seven and, much later in his life, decided to write about those experiences to record them for future generations. His autobiographical account originally appeared in the Staffordshire Sentinel in 1893 as a series of anonymous articles. In 1903, it was published as a book under the title An Old Potter and is widely believed to have been used by the novelist Arnold Bennett as a source for his Clayhanger novels.

“The book is a first hand record of social and working conditions and child labor in the pottery industry,” explained Jane Bettany, from Dormouse Press, the publisher responsible for reprinting the book. “It provides a detailed account of life in the Potteries for the working classes in the 1840s and is sure to be of interest to anyone tracing the history of their family in and around that area.

“Finding the names and occupations of ancestors through census records and birth certificates is relatively easy, but those kind of documents don’t give any real clues about living and working conditions. That’s why Charles Shaw’s book is such a gem. It has recorded important incidents as well as everyday events and provides a fascinating snapshot of life in The Potteries in the 1800s.”

The book is available online or from bookshops, and costs $17.25 (ISBN 9780957670419).

Title: When I Was a Child: Growing Up in the Potteries in the 1840s
Author: Charles Shaw
ISBN: 9780957670419
RRP: $17.25

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Contact:

For further information call Jane Bettany at Guidemark Publishing on #44 1332 557122 or email j.bettany@dormousepress.co.uk.

Notes to editors:

Guidemark Publishing provides specialist booklets for businesses and, through their Dormouse Press imprint, publishes biographies, self-help and how-to titles.