School, North Street, Cromford, Derbyshire
A Sunday school provided an education for children employed in factories during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. One observer, Joseph Farrington in 1801, described the children entering the Chapel in “regular order” looking healthy, well, decently clothed and clean. Richard Arkwright II built a day school in 1832. Traditionally young children were employed in factories to assist the work of spinners. The advent of factory legislation restricting the employment of young children created a problem of social control. Schools provided a means of training children in the habits of work discipline, obedience and punctuality which were required by employees. Religious teaching inculcated these attributes within the school curriculum. Children were also taught rudimentary literacy and numeracy.
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