He fought for the 'slave children'
In Victorian times the canal running through Northamptonshire was like a city on the move. Whole families lived their lives on the water, stopping at the canal villages like Cosgrove, Stoke Bruerne, Blisworth, Crick and Braunston along the way.
But what was the plight of the children? Well, in a word, scandalous, because they were treated like slaves with no legal protection, no education and no healthcare until one man realised that they were being ignored by the authorities.
George Smith was born in 1831, the son of a Staffordshire brickyard worker, and he died in 1895 in Crick, where he is buried.
His story is as dramatic as the stories of the children he helped.
He started work in the brickyard at the age of seven, so he knew first hand the dreadful conditions under which children in the brickworks existed.
He worked for 13 hours a day and was forced to carry huge amounts of bricks around the yard on his head. Boys and girls as young as four were employed in the same work.
Through his Lay Preacher father, George grew up as a strong Methodist. He was encouraged to save money, buy books and learn to read.
Young George responded by educating himself to the extent that he became manager of the brickworks.
He improved conditions for the children working under him and he banned boys under 12 and girls altogether from working in the yards.
He wrote pamphlets and gave lectures and eventually his efforts were recognised, and his cause was taken up by the reformer, Lord Shaftesbury, and other influential men.
His lobbying led to an Act of Parliament being passed in 1871 reforming child labour in the brickyards.
The Act did not go far enough for George, but at least it was a start. So in 1872 he resigned his job and turned his attention to the plight of children on the canals.
There were over 25,000 canal boats at the time and probably between 9,000 and 10,000 children.
It was common knowledge that, when they "tied up", the parents would get drunk leaving the children in charge of the barges.
Next day while the parents slept the drink off, the children had to do the heavy work, "a bare-footed, half-naked boat child, of some seven or eight summers, would be trudging after the horse, scarcely able to get one foot before the other", wrote George.
Again he lobbied and found influential support and finally the 1877 Act provided for registration of all barges, regulation of conditions on board, and education for the children. Sadly the Act was a dead duck and was never fully enforced.
After still more lobbying, George saw the 1884 Canal Boat Amendment Act provide inspectors to ensure that regulations were obeyed.
Compulsory education for canal children came into force, officially, in 1880 and the local school board was supposed to oversee attendance and keep records.
"Education authorities were", according to Lionel Rose, in The Erosion of Childhood, "either apathetic or just plain outwitted in securing school attendances", but again George Smith had done his best and had brought about changes for the good.
The log books of many Northamptonshire schools would reveal the true situation as children dropped in and out of school, often causing disruption to the class, frustration for the school and disjointed education for the canal children.
In 1881 the Government awarded George a grant enabling him to retire and buy a house.
He chose Crick, in the heart of "canal country".
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