How was William Crago risking his life from the age of nine in a Cornish mine?
This enquiry uses the vivid story of William Crago’s first day as a miner in 1878, as the hook into a study of the lives of Cornish child miners and the men and women who worked with them. Local sources (including interviews carried out as part of the 1842 Royal Commission of Enquiry into the Employment of Children, fieldwork and a visit from a former Cornish miner) all provide evidence for the children to build a picture of key features of working life. The study culminates in a role play, in which older children from the school (who are also studying aspects of Cornish mining) join the class as commissioners for the Royal Enquiry and question the younger children, who play the part of child miners.
