Rev. R. Watson Moor, Vicar of Stoke St. Gregory — “Boys are employed at all times of the year from eight years old upwards. There is a good deal of withy-peeling at which a child of five years can earn one shilling a week. All the women and children do this, and it keeps the latter much from school.”

 

This was part of our vicar’s evidence to the 1867 Royal Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons, and Women in Agriculture. Important changes took place as a result of the commission, including the 1870 Education Act (our village school was already built and open by then), but it was not until 1973 (yes, 1973) that the Employment of Children Act brought in strict control of child labour in agriculture. Here are a couple of quotes from children who gave evidence to the commission:

 

“I began work at seven years old driving the plough for my father. Found I could not manage the horses well. Sometimes they knocked me down, but never hurt me. Ran over me sometimes. I went to school before I worked. After I began working, I did five months at school and the rest of the year I worked. I left school at eleven. I liked school better.”

 

“I first went to work at eight. The first work I did was keeping birds — Sundays as well as week days. Hours 5.30 am to 7 pm in barley sowing; wheat sowing 6.30 am to 4.30 pm because the days are shorter. None in August. Was paid 4d a day bird-keeping, and the same for ever so long after I began regular work. Only had a dinner given me on Christmas Day. When I came home after being out in the rain I had to dry myself as best as I could at the fire; but often, when it rained, I rigged up a hurdle with thatch to shelter me in the corner of a field. Never went to school at all.”

 

Stoke St Gregory children seem to have escaped the gangmaster system that operated in the east of England, being mostly employed on their close family’s farms. But of course it was withy stripping that took up most of their spare time when the season demanded. The Headmaster recorded in the school log book on 13th March 1878: “This week there is a great diminution of numbers through the commencement of withy whitening,” although, next year, on the 12th of April, he reported: “The withy whitening, contrary to expectations, is very late this season. Consequently the attendance is high for the time of year. Average this week is 67 against 36 for the corresponding week last year.” But by May he is getting somewhat frustrated: “The school, as it is, is impossible of being worked properly. There is no encouragement for a teacher because he knows that everything new he undertakes will have to be gone through again when the absentees arrive.”

 

As regulations were tightened, and local authorities were encouraged to pass bylaws to discourage child labour, the main question became: Is withy stripping an agricultural or an industrial process? There were other borderline cases in our locality - shelling peas, milling flour, and cider making, which evolved from cottage garden activities to industrial processes, but bylaws were passed by Somerset County Council in 1919 specifically mentioning withy stripping: “ No child between 12 and years of age shall be employed gloving, collar, shirt, and blouse making, or withy stripping, unless the employer keeps available for inspection any officer the local authority a written record showing the name and address and date birth the child, occupation in which, the place at which, and the hours between which each child is employed; and also sends to the local authority at intervals every six months list showing the same particulars in respect each child then employed by him. . . No child shall be employed on school days for more than two hours, or after 7 p.m. or before school hours except for milking between 7 and 8 a.m. No child shall employed a Sunday after 10 a.m. except in milking. No child shall employed on a week-day when school is not open except between the hours of 3 a.m and 7 p. m., provided that a child may be so employed for aggregate not exceeding five hours in the whole of any one day, such employment to consist of not more than two periods, no one period to exceed three hours, and that there be a break of at least one hour between the periods.”

 

It was against this backdrop that Stoke willow growers were taken to court. The Taunton Courier and Western dvertiser reported the case on 8th July 1925

 

A "BOMBSHELL" TO WITHY GROWERS. EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN. PROSECUTIONS AT TAUNTON. IS WITHY STRIPPING AN " INDUSTRIAL OCCUPATION?" Three withy- growers were summoned under the county bylaws for employing their own children who were under 12 years of age to strip withies. It was not denied that the children were so employed—in the evenings, and for as long they chose—but the defending solicitor suggested that it was not within the province of the County Council to define withy stripping an " industrial occupation," rather than agricultural work, which he contended it was. The charges were against Joseph Patten, of Willments Farm, who was summoned for employing his three children between tho ages seven and 11 years; Richard Hembrow of Curload, for employing two children, aged 11 and 10; and Samuel Lee, of Curload, for employing his son and failing to keep a record showing name and address.”

 

The argument was made that without the use of children at the time of stripping white willow, either costs would soar by importing adult labour, or the willow would deteriorate to a point where it was unsaleable. The growers emphasised that this was not forced labour, but the children chose when to do the work and when to go off to play.

 

In the end the Chairman said they had decided to convict in all the cases: but having regard to fact that they were the first of their kind, defendants would have pay the costs only, amounting to 4s (20p) on each summons.