The first of a series of new education resource packs designed to bring York's history alive for children will be going out to primary schools in York this week. STEPHEN LEWIS reports on a new joint project from York Civic Trust and Explore York

LIFE wasn't easy for York's poor in Victorian times.

Among those who threw themselves on the mercy of the city's poor law guardians in 1838 were a young mother of three, Frances Hughes, who found herself penniless when her husband Thomas was sent to prison; and a 41-year-old workman, Jordan Richard.

Both applied for what was called 'poor relief': money to tide them over for a few weeks, keep the wolf from the door and put at least a little food in their children's mouths.

Mr Richard, who lived in Clementhorpe with his wife Selina and their four children Samuel, Thomas, William and Richard, was a flax dresser by trade. His job was to separate and straighten the coarse fibres of the flax plant ready for spinning.

But by 1838, he had fallen on hard times. An entry in the York Poor Law Union's application and report book for 1838 records that he was 'partially disabled from broken body'. As a result, he was unable to work or provide for his children, who were aged between five and 13. The poor law guardians awarded him the princely sum of four shillings a week for four weeks, with another two shillings a week for the next two weeks. It is unclear what he and his family did after that.

Mrs Hughes, meanwhile, had three children aged under five to provide for. They all lived in a single room in a slum building in Palmer Lane, Hungate. She earned a small amount of money by making gloves in the room where she lived with her children: but it wasn't enough to feed them all once her husband was sent to prison.

The poor law guardians were a little more generous to her: they awarded her six shillings a week for a month, plus a small allowance of flour to make bread.

Her situation didn't improve, however. In 1845 she had to apply for help again: and by this time, the records show that her husband had been 'transported' - sent to a penal colony, possibly in Australia.

The stories of Frances Hughes and Jordan Richard are just two of the many tales of destitution and human suffering which emerged when archivists at Explore York began cataloguing the city's extensive poor law records.

Those records can now be viewed by anyone who visits the archives. And they have formed the basis of a brand new resource pack for York primary schools that will be distributed at a headteachers' meeting tomorrow.

York Press:

Life In York's Victorian Workhouse has been produced by York Civic Trust, working in partnership with Explore York.

Combining historic photographs, real-life stories and original documents from the city archives, it aims to bring to life for York children just what it must have been like to be poor in York in Victorian times.

The pack, which is being distributed to schools in both print and digital formats, looks at life in York's Victorian sums, and at the building of the city's 'new' workhouse on Huntington Road in 1849. It describes what life was like in the workhouse - and includes workhouse diet sheets showing what children would have been given to eat every day (if you were a child aged 5-9, you could look forward to five ounces of meat cooked on the bone and eight ounces of potatoes for dinner on a Sunday and Wednesday; five ounces of bread with a bowl of soup on a Monday and Thursday; ten ounces of meat pie on a Tuesday and Saturday; and ten ounces of suet pudding on a Friday).

York Press:

A page from the York Poor Law Union's application and report book for 1838 showing Jordan Richard's application for relief

The pack looks at the efforts of Joseph and Seebohm Rowntree to reduce poverty in York, and tells real-life stories of families who rose from poverty to success in just a few generations - stories such as that of last year's Lord Mayor, Cllr Barbara Boyce, whose grandmother was born in the workhouse.

The education pack is designed to be easy for teachers to use, so is packed with resources, information, photographs and suggested activities.

It is one of two new education packs produced by the Civic Trust and Explore that will be going out to schools tomorrow.

The other, Votes for Women, focuses on the part that York Suffragettes played in the fight for women's voting rights 100 years ago.

Again, it draws upon authentic records, newspaper accounts and original photographs to tell the story of women such as Annie Seymour Pearson, a respectable, married mother of four from Heworth who was sent to prison for a week for joining a protest at the House of Commons.

"A York Militant Suffragist: Heworth Lady's experience in Holloway Gaol," reads the headline in a 1913 edition of The Yorkshire Herald, which reported her release.

York Press:

The Votes for Women pack in its folder

The pack also tells the tale of Harry Johnson, a man who supported the cause of votes for women. After trying to blow up a house in Doncaster, he was sent to prison, where he went on hunger strike. Released from jail under police escort in the hopes that he would eat something, he asked to visit Annie Seymour Pearson at her home in Heworth. The police waited outside - and Harry promptly escaped by scrambling over the roof...

Two further packs, looking at life on the home front in York during the First and Second World Wars, are also nearing completion, and will be sent out to schools soon. They include case studies, original photographs, and details of events such as the Zeppelin bombing of York in the First World War - and the York Blitz of the Second World War.

The packs are an entirely new project for the York Civic Trust, said chief executive David Fraser. But they fit with the Trust's mission of educating the next generation about York's history and heritage.

'We're absolutely thrilled with the way they have turned out," he says. "The aim was to bring York's history to life for children at our local schools - and we really do think they will do that.

"We have had a small team of volunteers researching the first four packs for almost two years now, working hand-in-hand with archivists at Explore to dig out all the best photographs, stories and records. The group working on the packs has included several retired primary school headteachers - and they have ensured that the packs are relevant, and packed full of useful information and ideas for teachers.

"They look fantastic - and we really hope that teachers and children find them as much fun to use as we did to produce."

York Press:

David Fraser with the education packs

The packs have been produced jointly with the archives team at York Explore. Catriona Cannon, the Explore archivist in charge of civic and public records, has been part of the working group which produced them.

"It has been great to be part of this project," she says. "We've got so much fantastic material about York's history, and the people who lived here before us. It is brilliant to think that, thanks to these packs, a whole new generation of York people can start to learn about people like Frances Hughes, Jordan Richard - and Annie Seymour Pearson."

One York primary school headteacher who has already had a sneak preview of the packs is James Rourke, head of Lord Deramore's.

“The packs are absolutely brilliant,” he says. “They really bring York’s history to life, through photographs, real-life case studies and authentic materials. I’m sure children will love them. And they’re great for teachers, too – they’re absolutely packed with activities and lesson ideas. We’ll certainly be using them at Lord Deramore’s – and I’d recommend other schools look out for them too!”

The packs

The new education resource packs being produced by York Civic Trust and Explore York are available in print and digital format.

Print versions of the first two packs - Life in York's Victorian Workhouse and Votes For Women - will be distributed to primary school headteachers tomorrow. Each includes a teachers' pack and students' pack, tucked into a specially designed folder with a timeline of York's history on the inside cover. Each folder also includes a memory stick with a digital version of the pack.

Digital versions of the packs can also be downloaded from the York Civic Trust website at yorkcivictrust.co.uk - just click on the 'education' tab on the website, and then on 'KS2 Education Packs'.

The packs are aimed at Key Stage 2, but can be adapted for older or younger children too. They're also there on the Trust website for anyone interested in York's history to download and use.

York Press:

A page from the 'Life In York's Victorian Workhouse' pack