Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange

Lady Victoria Colliery is one of the surviving examples of a coal mine from the Victorian Era. The mine is adjacent to the city Edinburgh, Scottland where Elizabeth Barrett Browning first published her poem The Cry of the Children in a popular, local magazine. The poem was written condemning child labor and the conditions of children in the workforce at the time.

Coordinates

Latitude: 55.859843496869
Longitude: -3.057463467121

Timeline of Events Associated with Lady Victoria Colliery at Newtongrange

Date Event Manage
Nov 1842

"The Cry of the Human" published by EBB

Written several years before EBB's initial publication of "The Cry of the Children" (1843), this poem portrays many groups of oppressed people crying to God to hear their prayers for relief. Among these opressed people were the starving poor. "Cry of the Human" serves as almost a foreshadowing of what is to come in "Cry of the Children."  In the image you can see the first page of one of EBB's drafts of "Cry of the Human" (MS D0172), which is held at the Armstrong Browning Library at Baylor University (Waco, Texas).

 Draft of "Cry of the Human" by EBB (MS D0172, Armstrong Browning Library)
1844

Factory Act of 1844

Parliament passed a futher act to try and enforce more rules, because the Factory Act of 1833 proved unsucessful. There were more restrictions on age and hours of work, as well as hours to be set aside for schooling. While this act was being debated, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was writing her poem, "The Cry of the Children."