This lesson will explore the topic of food, placing it within the wider context of the enquiry question of ‘What was life like for a child in the Victorian Workhouse?’. This lesson will allow the children an opportunity to explore a range of primary sources, also to draw comparisons towards Charles Dickens’ ‘Oliver Twist’. This will support the children’s’ understanding of historical interpretation. The key historical aim for this lesson will be to use primary sources to support the understanding of a period in time. They will also be able to draw comparisons between their lives today and understand what life would have been like in the past. This lesson will support an exploration of the Victorians where it is either your post 1066 unit or linked to local history, for example if you have a local workhouse that is now a hospital or converted for other uses. It could also be used if you were exploring children’s experiences through history. This lesson was created as part of the Teaching the Voices of the Victorian Poor Teacher Scholar Programme.

How was law enforcement changed by Sir Robert Peel’s new Metropolitan Police Force? In 1822, Sir Robert Peel was appointed Home Secretary. He would become closely associated with penal reform in Britain. He is remembered especially for the formation of the Metropolitan London Police Force in 1829. Police constables were called ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’ in reference to Peel. Before Peel’s reforms, public order in London was a serious concern, with crime rates rising as the population of the city grew. London had previously been policed by an old system of 4,500 night-watchmen, the Hue and Cry, the Bow Street Runners, and 450 constables, who were generally seen as corrupt, inefficient, and jealous of one another’s powers. Peel was convinced that the establishment of a state-funded, professional, and unified police force was the solution. The Act for Improving the Police in and near the Metropolis in 1829 saw the establishment of the Metropolitan Police Force in central London, including eight superintendents, 20 inspectors, 88 sergeants and 895 constables. Use this lesson with original documents, to explore the foundation of the Metropolitan Police Force, the nature of the new police force, and contemporary attitudes to this new system of law and order in London.

Victorians were worried about the rising crime rate: offences went up from about 5,000 per year in 1800 to about 20,000 per year in 1840. They were firm believers in punishment for criminals but faced a problem: what should the punishment be? There were prisons, but they were mostly small, old and badly-run. Common punishments included transportation – sending the offender to America, Australia or Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) – or execution: hundreds of offences carried the death penalty. By the 1830s people were having doubts about both these punishments. The answer was prison: lots of new prisons were built and old ones extended. The Victorians also had clear ideas about what these prisons should be like. They should be unpleasant places, to deter people from committing crimes. Once inside, prisoners had to be made to face up to their own faults, by keeping them in silence and making them do hard, boring work. Walking a treadwheel or picking oakum (separating strands of rope) were the most common forms of hard labour.

This lesson is intended for use either as part of a study of the use of propaganda over time, or within the context of work on Elizabethan England and the Spanish Armada.

A lesson plan which enables pupils to learn about the plague and to learn how the lives, beliefs, ideas and attitudes of people in Britain have changed over time.

This lesson encourages pupils to examine and investigate the British reaction to the outbreak of the French Revolution through the use of primary source evidence.

This lesson offers graphic evidence of the cruelty on which enslavement was based and considers details about the way enslaved African society worked and how they were punished.

A lesson plan and resources for children to learn about the life and work of Florence Nightingale.

What do these documents reveal about life for Caribbean migrants to Britain in the 1940s and 1950s? When the Second World War ended, countries needed to recover and rebuild. By 1948, the Nationality Act was passed which gave people from the Commonwealth the right to live and work in Britain if they wanted. They were citizens of the ‘United Kingdom and Colonies’. Many Caribbean men and women had served in the forces during the war, some wanted to re-enlist into the armed forces or find other employment. After the war, Britain needed people to fill jobs in the health service, transport system and postal system. Britain also used the European Voluntary Workers (E.V.W.) scheme to cope with its shortage of workers. The plan aimed to provide jobs in factories and farming to people from Europe who had been made homeless after the war. At the same time, many people also left their homes in the Caribbean to live and work in Britain. Those on the E.V.W. plan who were classed as ‘aliens’, however those from the Caribbean were ‘Citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies’. Housing for the new migrants, near to their places of work was often provided by National Service Hostels Corporation. At the Causeway Green Hostel in the West Midlands in August 1949, for example, there were 235 Poles, 18 E.V.Ws, 235 Southern Irish, 50 Northern Irish, 65 Jamaicans, and 100 English, Scottish and Welsh. Finding accommodation became difficult for many commonwealth immigrants because of growing prejudice and discrimination in the 1940s and 1950s. In 1958 there were riots in the Nottingham and Notting Hill, London. These involved serious fights between ‘teddy boys’ and new arrivals. The homes of immigrants were also attacked. At this time too, Black people were frequently excluded from skilled employment, pubs, and clubs. Landlords refused to rent to Black families. Other landlords exploited these immigrants by renting them over-priced, overcrowded accommodation. Added to this racial discrimination, the shortage of affordable decent housing and the poor living conditions made matters worse. The following year, Kelso Cochrane, a carpenter from Antigua was brutally stabbed to death in West London. It was a racist murder and not, as the police later claimed, an attempted robbery. These events would lead to increased calls for immigration control, resulting in the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act, many argued that the migrants were being blamed for the prejudice directed towards them. Following these events there was a strong effort to improve relations in the area from Black activist Claudia Jones and members of the Caribbean community which eventually gave rise to the Notting Hill Carnival and the start of legislation designed to prevent racial discrimination.

Why did people from the Caribbean travel to live and work in Britain? When the Second World War ended, countries needed to recover and rebuild. By 1948, the Nationality Act was passed which gave people from British colonies the right to live and work in Britain if they wanted. They were citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies. Many Caribbean men and women had served in the forces during the war, some wanted to re-enlist into the armed forces or find other employment. After the war, Britain needed people to fill jobs in the health service, transport system and postal system. The arrival of the ship ‘Empire Windrush’ is often seen as the start of this migration of Caribbean migrants from countries including Jamaica; Bermuda; Trinidad and British Guiana seeking jobs and a better life in this country. Jamaica for example, had high unemployment and a recent hurricane had caused huge damage. However, it is also important to remember that there were earlier lesser-known ships that carried post-war migrants from the Caribbean. Find out these other ships in this National Archives blog. It cost £28 for travel on the troop-deck and £48 for cabin class travel on the Empire Windrush. The ship picked up passengers at Trinidad, Jamaica (Kingston), Mexico (Tampico), Cuba (Havana) and, finally Bermuda before arriving at Tilbury Docks on 22nd June in Britain. The total number of passengers was 492, of which 52 were volunteers for the armed forces, 236 who had nowhere to go and who were accommodated in London’s Clapham South tube station deep shelter and 204 who had places to go to and were dispersed direct from Tilbury. The Ministry of Labour set up a small labour exchange or job centre in the Clapham South shelter to help to place people in jobs. Fares were paid to those travelling to other parts of the country. Life was difficult for many people after the war. Rationing and shortages continued, people still queued for food. People therefore arriving from the Caribbean would have experienced this as well as leaving friends and family behind. The climate was also colder and wetter. Unfortunately, some Caribbean migrants were made to feel unwelcome and treated unfairly and differently because of racism. Finding jobs and somewhere to live was difficult due to discrimination. Many were forced to accept employment with low wages or poor housing.

This lesson provides a chronological overview of the shifting laws and attitudes that have applied to the LGBTQ+ community in Britain and the former British Empire since 1701, and how they have affected the community. Owing to the number of sources, teachers may wish to break this lesson down into two parts or assign small groups to work on different sources and report back. People have always existed who engaged in same sex relationships, defied conventional gender norms, or lived as a different gender to the one they were assigned as at birth. The social climate these individuals lived in, and the language they had available to them, has changed significantly over the last 1,000 years – the span of The National Archives’ collections. The history of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the UK is a complex mixture of moments of pain, resistance, and progress. ‘LGBTQ+’ is used as an umbrella term to describe people historically who were either not cisgender or heterosexual. These individuals would have used a variety of different language to describe themselves in their own lifetimes. We recognise our records contain words that are at times offensive, however some of the original language and legal terms are preserved here to accurately represent our records and help us fully understand the past. Please note that some of these sources contain non-explicit references to sex and sexuality. Use this lesson to find out more about LGBTQ+ rights and lives from the 1700s to the present day. The documents are listed chronologically. This lesson has been developed in collaboration with the Bishopsgate Institute.

The Huguenots were Protestants who fled France and Wallonia (southern Belgium) from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century due to religious persecution during the European Wars of Religion. After the English Reformation, England was seen as a safe place for refugees. What did Huguenots find when they arrived in England? How did they settle and set up their own religious and economic communities? How did they impact upon English society, especially in urban settings? This lesson shows that the Huguenots came to England as immigrants and were on occasion in need of economic and governmental support. Importantly, they also brought their skills and expertise as silk-weavers, silversmiths, merchants, vine-growers, wig makers, and hat-makers to England, helping England to expand its global horizons. While Huguenots could be praised for adding value to the English economy, the English could be hostile to what they saw as a threat to their own livelihoods. Use this lesson to explore the Huguenot experience of migration in seventeenth century England, with original documents ranging from 1553-1765.

This lesson involves the pupils in detective work, using three crucial sources about the murder of Lord Darnley the husband of Mary Queen of Scots. Pupils can study individual sources and report back to the whole class to answer the mystery.

Victorians for Sale! Has advertising changed from Victorian times? This collection of Victorian advertisements is aimed at any teacher or student engaged in a local study of the Victorian period. The sources could be used to help provide a sense of period and show pupils the type of source material they might find in their local archive, museum or record office. The collection could be used alongside the Victorian lives collection on this website to give further insight into the Victorian home life.

What was the context and impact of migration in modern Britain? This collection of original documents can be used to support GCSE units on modern British immigration for AQA History: Britain: Migration, empires, and the people: c790 to the present day; Edexcel, Migrants in Britain c800-present; OCR, Migrants to Britain c1250 to present (Schools History Project) and for ‘depth studies’ on ‘Modern Britain’ at A Level for AQA and Edexcel. Some of sources could be selected by teachers to support history lessons for the Key stage 3 unit: ‘Challenges for Britain, Europe, and the wider world 1901 to the present day: social, cultural, and technological change in post-war British society; Britain’s place in the world since 1945’. This collection of original documents is particularly useful for knowledge selection on modern British migration. Teachers can use it with students to develop their own historical enquiries as well as to prepare and practice source-based exam questions. The collection includes a wide range of source types to encourage students to think more broadly when exploring attitudes towards migration and its impact. Teachers have the flexibility to download all documents and transcripts to create their own resources. It is important to note that many documents cover sensitive subjects. Some include language and concepts that are entirely unacceptable and inappropriate today. We suggest that teachers look at the material carefully before introducing to students. It would be helpful to discuss the language and ideas contained in a source beforehand. Teachers may wish to break the documents into smaller extracts if they appear too long or create additional simplified transcripts. Please note that the government film on the Race Relations Act 1968 (available via The National Archives website) is a public record created in 1969. It was also released in Hindi and Urdu. It has been preserved and presented by the BFI National Archive on behalf of The National Archives. Courtesy of the BFI National Archive. It includes language which may be considered offensive. However, we think it important to show the film as accurate representation of the record to help us understand the past. With each document we have provided a ‘brief descriptor’ to signal the content; a document caption, and 3-4 suggested prompt questions. We hope this will allow students to work independently if wished on any document, or within small class discussion groups, or to assist teachers in the development of their own questions. Also included in these notes is a suggested starter activity. The aim is to familiarise learners with the types of sources contained in the collection. We hope too that exposure to original source material may also foster further document research.

This lesson asks pupils to investigate the early contact between Europeans and Native Americans. Using primary source diary extracts, pupils are able to understand and appreciate the first encounters between European settlers and the indigenous people of North America.

This complete lesson plan with image based resources can be used to explore how the language of these government posters is used to persuade and inform.

Use the British government sources in this lesson to explore the complicated reasons behind the Chinese Civil War and its outcome, including party ideology, propaganda, fighting tactics, and power struggles. In 1940s China, two parties were fighting for power. On one side was the ruling nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) party, led by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek. On the other was the opposing Chinese Communist Party (CCP), led by Mao Zedong. During the Second World War, both parties banded together to fight off Japanese occupation. However, after the war, peace talks between the two quickly broke down. The fighting between the two parties became ongoing before escalating into civil war. The civil war was eventually won by the CCP in 1949. Mao declared the founding of the People’s Republic of China on 1 October 1949. Chiang Kai-shek, meanwhile, fled to the island of Taiwan, where he continued to rule.

A lesson to teach about the 1833 factory out where children can investigate how the far the act had solved the problems of child labour.

‘Why are historians still arguing about the First World War?’ Using original letters, reports, photographs and maps, students follow an enquiry led approach via six modules of 1-3 lessons each. Working with these sources your students will be able to put the evidence to the test and bust a series of common myths about this conflict, including were the soldiers ‘lions led by donkeys’ or did ’women spent the war nursing and knitting’. This scheme of work is designed as an an ‘off the peg’ resource for students learning about the First World War at Key Stage 3-4.