Mining in the Victorian Age

In some regions older children, mainly girls, and women were often employed as coal-bearers, carrying loads of coal on their backs in big baskets. They often worked for eleven to twelve hours a day. They had to carry their load up ladders and for long distances before they got to the main road which led to the pit bottom.

Their task was to fill four to five tubs, each holding 4 1/4 cwt (hundredweight). They usually filled five tubs in twenty journeys. The baskets could be so heavy that it took two men to lift them on to the woman's back.