QUEEN VICTORIA'S REALM 1837-40: 
WHITE SLAVERY: YORKSHIRE SCHOOLS AND CHARLES DICKENS

INTRODUCTION

Sam and Jane have gone back in time to live with a famous reformer, Lord Ashley. In their previous two adventures they have rescued two Victorian, Alice and Tom, from a life of white slavery in a cotton mill, and with Alice and Tom’s help, found vital evidence about children working in slaves down coal mines. In this adventure they help stop another major case of child abuse: the treatment of children, usually orphans, sent to rot in boarding schools.

CHAPTER 1: THE SCHOOL FROM HELL

Boarding school Tom, Sam, Alice and Jane looked worried as the wagon pulled into Bowes, a small village in Yorkshire, where they were to go to a boarding school. They were crammed into the wagon along with Mr Shaw, the school’s owner and two other pupils. The stage coach from London had dropped them all off three miles away at Greta Bridge where the wagon had met them to take them to the tiny village of Bowes. Jane noticed that at Bowes was a handful of bleak granite cottages, a coaching inn, a church and a low, grim, tumble down stone building - the school. Bowes nestled at the bottom of a steep valley in the Yorkshire hills, a day’s journey from the nearest town and four days away from London. 

The churchyard It was midday, a freezing wind howled down the village street, blowing powdery snow into small drifts. The children were grateful for their new thick long wool coats, scarves and caps. As they climbed out of the coach by the church yard Jane noticed a newly dug grave. On the headstone was carved the name of a boy and the words 
‘Who died suddenly at Mr William Shaw’s Academy of this place’. 
With horror she realised that he must have been one of Mr Shaw’s pupils. What would the future hold for her, Alice, Sam and Tom? How had they got into this? The adventure began when a stranger had come to tea a week ago. Jane’s mind went back to that fateful afternoon five days ago…

Charles Dickens The stranger was sitting upright in front of the roaring log fire. Locks of dark black hair tumbled down on both sides of his face, framing his domed forehead, a pair of pencil thin brown eyelashes, piercing brown eyes, plump cheeks, thick lips and pointed chin. His long, soft white fingers suggested that he was a writer, artist or musician. The man gazed intently at Lord Ashley while his foot tapped nervously on the floor. The grandfather clock ticked in the background, both men sat silently while they drank cups of china tea that Beryl the maid had poured. Lord Ashley broke the silence,
‘Well, Mr Dickens, what have you come to see me about? You know that I am doing all that I can to stop white slavery in coal mines and cotton factories, our enquiries have found out horrors that defy belief.’ 

Schools from Hell ‘No, my Lord, not that, a similar matter. I have just learned about schools in Yorkshire where children from good Christian homes are buried alive. These children are often orphans who had gone to live with aunts, uncles or other relatives who do not want them. They are then sent to one of these Yorkshire schools, many never to be seen again. I have with me some advertisements, as you can see the children have no holidays. They are prisoners, slaves, victims of beatings, neglect, starvation or even worse. Knowing how you fight for the poor, the innocent and the young I thought that you might be able to help me find out about one of these schools from hell in the village of Bowes.’ 
Lord Ashley gritted his teeth; he seethed with anger and horror: another case of British children being treated worse than animals.

The plan Charles Dickens and Lord Ashley then talked for an hour about how best they could find out about the slave schools in Yorkshire. Lord Ashley said he would like to use Sam, Alice, Jane and Tom as spies. He told Mr Dickens,
‘Sam and Jane, two children from India, are my nephew and niece and are living with me. They had helped me rescue Alice and Tom from a life of white slavery in a cotton mill. Mr Miller, a friend, has adopted them. I will write to him for permission for Alice and Tom to help us.’ 
At once Lord Ashley rang a tiny bell for Charles the butler, when he arrived he told him to go and find Sam and Jane. Lord Ashley knew that Jane was a brilliant young detective. Sam and Jane trooped in. Lord Ashley looked up and smiled. 

Sam and Jane ‘Sit down please. Mr Dickens has told me of the abuse of children of your age who are sent to live in schools in Yorkshire. We would like you to go with Tom and Alice as spies to find out what is going on in one such school. I will take you to meet the school’s owner, Mr Shaw. He is at present in London, staying at the Saracen’s Head, a coaching inn. Here is an advert from The Times saying that parents or guardians who would like to send their boys to Bowes should leave them with him there. Sam, our plan is that you and Tom will go as pupils, Jane and Alice as servants - we will pay Mr Shaw to take them. You will only spend a day in the school, Mr Dickens and I will arrive to rescue you. I have written to Mr Miller for Alice and Tom to join us.’ 
And that was how all four children found themselves at the Saracen’s Head coaching inn next day, the first step on the road to Bowes in Yorkshire.

The Saracen’s Head – to Yorkshire Sam, Alice, Jane, Tom and Lord Ashley entered a large, dingy room lit by two small gas lights. On a tiny tin trunk in the corner sat a sobbing young boy. By the boy’s side was a fat, middle aged man wearing baggy trousers, a long black coat and a clean white shirt. On hearing Lord Ashley had arrived he stood up, Lord Ashley shook hands and said,
‘Mr Shaw? I have come to meet the gentleman who takes pupils to live in Bowes, Yorkshire at Mr William Shaw’s Academy.’’ 
‘Indeed Sir, I am Mr William Shaw. I treat the pupils in my school as if they are members of my own family, no love and attention is spared..’ 
Lord Ashley nodded and said, 
‘Is it true that boys at your school have no holidays and are not allowed to write home? If so, I would like to take these two boys, Sam and Tom, back to Yorkshire with you, I am their guardian. And, we will also pay you to take their sisters Jane and Alice as maids.’
Mr Shaw rubbed his hands with glee and grinned. Free maids as well!
‘Yes, that is true, I will be happy to take the boys and the girls. Can you please make sure that their trunks are loaded on to the stage coach for Yorkshire, it leaves in half an hour?’ 

CHAPTER 2: THE SCHOOL: MR WILLIAM SHAW'S ACADEMY

Bowes And that was how five days later Sam, Tom, Jane and Alice and two young boys found themselves standing in the biting cold outside a churchyard in Bowes, Yorkshire, next to the school. 
‘Hurry up’, shouted Mr Shaw with an evil leer on his face, ‘Mrs Shaw is waiting in the school house for you with the other children. I am sure that you cannot wait to see where you will be living for as long as your guardian pays your school fees. There is a feast of best broth and brown bread waiting. And Alice and Jane, you can change out of your fine clothes as soon as you get inside. Mrs Shaw will find plenty of work for you to do straight away.’ 

The school house The children followed Mr Shaw into the school house. At one end lived Mr Shaw and his family, at the other stood the schoolroom. Jane and Alice would be living in the attic above the Shaw family’s bedrooms. Above the schoolroom was the boys' bedroom where they all slept. Sam, Tom and the two new boys would join them. The school room was where the children ate their meals and were taught. The rectangular room was large, ten metres long and four metres wide, with granite walls and a solid slate floor. It was dinner time. In the room stood three long ink stained, chipped and pitted desks that the children used as tables. On each side of the three desks sat about thirty boys jammed together on rough wooden benches. 

The pupils They all stopped talking the second Mr Shaw came into the room, their eyes looked down, their shoulders dropped and a feeling of fear ran round the room. The boys were thin and pale with pinched cheeks and stick like arms and legs. Their clothes were old and worn, full of holes. The word starvation flashed through Jane’s mind, she knew at once that these children were being starved. They looked just like pictures she had seen of African children dying from famine, human scarecrows. Worse, she noticed four children with blank, runny eyes sitting alone in a corner. They gazed vacantly from side to side, unable to see, but also lapsed into silence as they guessed that Mr Shaw had entered the room. 

The meal ‘Boys, I am back from London. Four new boys have joined us, I am sure that you will make them welcome. Tonight’s supper is a bowl of fine beef broth, potatoes, some slabs of dry brown bread and a slice of boiled beef.’
Mrs Shaw ladled the broth from a steaming, giant black pan into metal soup bowls. Mrs Shaw wore a plain long black dress that hung from her tall, skinny frame. Lank black hair framed a hard crow like face with its hooked nose, pointed chin, thin lips and hollow cheeks. Her suspicious eyes darted from side to side. Alice and Jane gave out the bowls. The boys wolfed down the soup, mopping up the last drops with their bread. Plain boiled fat, stringy beef and boiled potatoes followed, washed down with weak watery tea. One pupil dropped his bowl on the floor with a crash. Mr Shaw rushed forward, dragged him from the table and thrashed him with his thick metal tipped cane. The boy crawled howling and bleeding back to his bench, tears running down his face. There was a stunned silence in the room.

The bedroom The meal was over, Sam, Tom and the two other new pupils and the rest of the boys trooped up creaking bare wooden stairs to their bedroom – a long, low attic room that ran the length of the school. Jammed against the walls were six broken down cast iron double beds. With horror Sam and Tom realised that five or six boys would sleep in each bed. The pupils also shared two washbasins filled with cold water, there was no hot water, only bars of coarse soap and grubby towels. Sam and Tom put on their nightgowns and got into bed. The sheets were filthy, the straw filled mattresses hard and lumpy and there was only a single, thin woollen blanket to keep them warm. 

The run away Sam and Tom talked to the boys, their leader, Martin said:
‘Mr Shaw beats us all the time. Most of us never get any letters from home, Mr Shaw reads any letters that arrive and steals the money they contain. Last week a pupil died. We are prisoners, we might just as well be buried alive or sent on a convict ship to Australia. This morning Jethro ran away, Mr Shaw chased after him and caught him. He is locked in the cellar with only dried bread and water for food and drink.’
Sam and Tom knew that they would have to act. The boys gathered round them, they talked for hours, agreeing on a plan. 

The girls’ bedroom Jane and Alice had slaved all evening washing up, scrubbing tables, fetching coal and wood from the outhouse for the fire and getting the breakfast porridge ready: a giant saucepan full of oats and water. Their chores over, Mrs Shaw took the girls to their bedroom, a tiny attic room with a broken window at the top of the house. Jane saw Mrs Shaw looking greedily at the fine silver necklace that she wore and her wizard chip ring. In the room were a cast iron bed with a thin, flock mattress and a single sheet, a wooden box for clothes, a broken chair and a rickety square wooden table. On the table sat a guttering candle. Jane began to write a detailed diary of life at the Bowes Academy that would contain evidence for Mr Dickens to use in the novel he was writing. 

Bedtime Jane’s seeing mirror throbbed, the danger sign. Jane looked at it, up flashed a message with the boys’ plan. At once Jane scribbled a letter and used her transformit mind spell to turn Cocky Pheasant into a carrier pigeon to take the letter to Lord Ashley. Alice had already crawled into bed and fallen asleep, Jane joined her. Jane climbed into bed and slipped her seeing mirror under her pillow. Cocky had returned, so Jane used her transformit spell to turn him into a giant owl that perched above the door and Cleo into a giant wild cat. Jane was fast asleep, moonlight was flooding in through the broken window when her seeing mirror throbbed, more danger. 

The prowler The mirror showed a figure creeping up the stairs, with a mind spell Jane told Cleo and Cocky Pheasant to protect her. As the figure reached for the door Cleo sunk her claws into a leg and Cocky hooted, screeched and clawed at a face. There was a scream, a loud crash and the sound of footsteps going down the stairs. Then silence. The threat was over. Meanwhile the exhausted Alice slept on through the fight.

CHAPTER 3: THE LESSON

Breakfast Jane and Alice slept until a loud banging on the door woke her from their dreams. Cleo and Cocky Pheasant were back inside the cauldron with Leader, shrunk to the size of a thimble. 
‘Get up, you are wanted down stairs at once’ 
barked a boy’s voice. At once the girls knew that Mrs Shaw had sent a pupil to fetch them down to work in the kitchen. They dressed quickly and hurried downstairs. The black saucepan was full of thin brown porridge made with water. Mrs Shaw ordered the girls to:
‘Serve the porridge in the bowls to the boys. They are all waiting at their desks.’
Mrs Shaw’s long crooked fingers were like chicken claws, one hand was bandaged, she walked with a limp and there was a deep cut on her forehead. The girls carried the porridge on wooden trays into the schoolroom. The boys wolfed it down, licked the plates shiny clean and trooped out into the freezing cold. 

The lesson Mr Shaw walked into the school room and stood behind his own small oak desk, swishing his metal tipped cane. Five minutes later he rang a hand bell, in trooped the thirty boys in silence and sat on the benches behind their three long desks. All looked half starved apart from Sam and Tom who sat together at the end of one of the benches. Mr Shaw split the pupils up into three classes of ten children each, Sam and Tom joining the oldest boys in class three. 

The first class The youngest class had to learn how to write neatly. Mr Shaw scowled at the scared pupils, 
‘Boys, you will copy each sentence twenty times perfectly. Make sure you form the letters just as they are in your copying book. For each mistake you will get one stroke of the cane.’
With a vicious swish of the cane he slashed it down on the top of his desk. The boys stared grimly forward, with blank looks on their faces. There was one copying book between three and four pupils, wooden pens with bronze nibs, ink in clay ink wells and rough paper. The children bent over their desks, trying to copy each sentence perfectly. 

The second and third classes The second class were told to do maths. The boys had to copy out and do simple sums on slates. Each boy had a lump of chalk for writing on the slate. They knew that when they had finished a slate of sums Mr Shaw would look at them, if the answers were correct they would wipe the slate clean with a damp cloth and do the next sum. If a boy had made a mistake he would cane him. When Mr Shaw had made sure all the pupils were at work he went and stood behind his desk and told the third class of the oldest boys to gather round him in a semicircle. They were going to have a reading and spelling lesson. In threes the boys shared a book of short stories. Mr Shaw chose the story of Robin Hood. The first boy began to read out loud, stumbling over the words. 

The fugitive Half way through a sentence the kitchen door burst open and Mrs Shaw dragged a skinny young boy into the room by his hair. All the boys stopped and looked as Mrs Shaw pulled the boy to where Mr Shaw was standing and pushed him to the ground. The boy lay cowering, his hands covering his head as Mr Shaw towered over him with his cane.
‘Ungrateful wretch,’ he shouted, lifting his cane as high as he could, ‘Ungrateful wretch, how dare you run away. Mrs Shaw and I have been like a mother and father to you, and this is how you pay us back. Mrs Shaw said that you were trying to find one of the new police constables to get us arrested for cruelty.’

The fight As Mr Shaw raised his cane high above his head Sam gave the signal, raced out and grappled with Mr Shaw. Mr Shaw turned and made a grab at Sam’s hair, Sam grasped his arm and with an expert judo throw hurled Mr Shaw to the ground with a sickening thud, his head smashed on to the corner of his desk . The boys hurled themselves in a howling mob on to the unconscious Mr Shaw. They rolled him over and with two pieces of rope tied his arms behind his back and his legs together and shoved a rag into his mouth. 

Mrs Shaw had rushed out into the kitchen and grabbed a large knife. Jane knew that she would rush to Mr Shaw’s help, her transformit spell turned Leader into a rottweiler. In two huge strides the dog had launched itself at Mrs Shaw’s back, she sprawled on her face holding on to the knife. Leader’s jaws fastened around her wrist, the knife fell to the ground, Mr and Mrs Shaw were now at the mercy of the boys they had starved and abused. Quickly the boys tied Mrs Shaw’s hands behind her back and jammed a cloth into her mouth as a gag. A loud knocking on the front door that faced on to the street sent Jane scurrying to the door. She opened it, in walked four men; Lord Ashley, Mr Miller, Tom’s and Jane’s guardian, and two police constables. Her message had got through!

Lord Ashley Lord Ashley was wearing a black top hat, white cashmere scarf and a smart black cloth coat that reached to his ankles. He looked round the room where Mr and Mrs Shaw lay face down, defenceless. A quick glance at the ragged, scarecrow children confirmed his worst fears. Slavery in England! He turned to the two policemen, Mr Miller and Jane and gave quick orders. The constables were to arrest Mr and Mrs Shaw and Mr Miller would take down the names and addresses of all the children. Lord Ashley turned to Mr and Mrs Shaw with their hands still tied behind their backs. The room fell silent, Lord Ashley spoke quietly and clearly.

Freedom ‘I am Lord Ashley. I have come to rescue Alice, Jane, Sam and Tom and make sure that the other children in your hellish school will go and live with caring families. Mr Miller will take down the names and addresses of all the children. He will write at once to try and arrange for them to be taken away from this hell hole. We are staying in the local inn for a day, we will make sure that the pupils are well treated in the future. The policemen will talk to the children and villagers about how Mr and Mrs Shaw abuse the children and steal their money. Meanwhile I will pay for their pupils to be looked after. Constables, take Mr and Mrs Shaw away. Tomorrow we return to London.’