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Strike a light!Self-directed gallery activities

Teachers’ notes

These activities help your students build on their session through exploration of the First Port of Empire gallery. They are designed to focus their time in the museum through guided investigation and discussion.

Our aim is that students should engage with the museum exhibits and each other rather than with traditional worksheets.

You can choose to distribute all the activity cards, or select those you feel are most appropriate for your class. It is possible to keep the class in one gallery at a time, or set groups off on their own with an accompanying adult. Make sure each adult has a copy of the activity.

If your students are carrying their mobile phones, encourage them to use them in a focused way. Ask them to use to the camera function to record evidence, or to make video interviews or mini documentaries about something they’ve discovered. Photographs can be annotated using an app like Skitch, and students’ work can be shared via Bluetooth, Dropbox or USB to make a class video record of their visit. Please make sure they are aware of the photography policy on the ‘Practical Guidelines’ page of the teacher’ resource pack.

Please chip in with further ideas and support to help the activities go well on the day – if you come up with something that works really well, please feel free to share it with us so we can add it to the pack. Email it to learning@museumoflondon.org.uk or add it to your visit evaluation.

© Museum of London Docklands 2015. This sheet is designed to be edited by teachers. The museum cannot take responsibility for edited content.

Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

Warehouse of the World 1Find the exhibit showing the Tea Weighing Station.

Watch the film and listen to the commentary.

Record three things that surprise, shock or impress you about the tea trade, and why.

1.

2.

3.

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Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

Warehouse of the World 2Find the smell boxes. Read the exhibit label and smell the contents without looking at the tags.

Try to identify each product from its smell. Write it down here and then check to see if you were right.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

Which of these have you tasted or used in the last week? What for?

© Museum of London Docklands 2015. This sheet is designed to be edited by teachers. The museum cannot take responsibility for edited content.

Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

Warehouse of the World 3Find the black cabinet full of tea samples.

How many types of tea can you see?

Why aren’t there any teabags?

Think about who drinks tea in your house. When do they drink it?

Tea was a popular drink in the 19th century among all social classes.

Can you think of a reason why this might have been the case?

© Museum of London Docklands 2015. This sheet is designed to be edited by teachers. The museum cannot take responsibility for edited content.

Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

New docksThe second half of the 19th century saw the building of a number of new docks along the Thames which could accommodate the new, larger steamships. They were fitted with new technology like telegraphs as well as being linked by rail to the rest of the country.

What were the benefits to the owners of these new docks?

What were the benefits to the ship owners?

What was the impact on dock workers?

Make notes here.

Dock owners Ship owners Dock workers

In your groups, choose to be either a dock owner or a dock worker being interviewed on opening day about how the new docks will affect you. Use a smartphone to record the interviews and share with your class later.

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Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

Wharves and warehouses75% of imports and exports arrived and left through the wharves and warehouses that lined the banks of the Thames rather than through the enclosed docks like West India Docks.

Workers were usually employed on a permanent basis rather than using the call-on system employed by the docks.

The labourers from these wharves and the watermen and lightermen who transported goods from ship to shore joined the Dock Strike within days of it starting. Other riverside industries also ‘came out’ in support of the strike until the river was almost at a standstill.

In your groups, discuss why these workers might have supported the strike even though they didn’t work in the docks.

Note down the reasons here.

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Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

The call-onFind the images of the call-on.

The call-on was a way for dock-owners to employ casual labour when cargoes needed to be unloaded. Up to 3,000 men per day arrived at the docks daily hoping for a few hours’ work. These casual labourers worked an average of 5 – 6 months per year. Women were not employed in the docks.

In your groups, discuss and make notes on:

1. What problems you can see with this method of employing men.

2. How the call-on benefited the dock owners.

3. How labourers hoping for work might gain an advantage over others.

4. Whether this is a fair way to employ people.

5. A fairer way to employ these men.

© Museum of London Docklands 2015. This sheet is designed to be edited by teachers. The museum cannot take responsibility for edited content.

Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

Living conditions

Find the boards describing common lodging houses. An unmarried labourer would usually rely on accommodation like this, if he could afford it.

What do these images tell you about life in the East End for casual labourers?

Write down descriptive words that come to mind when you look at these pictures.

Are they positive or negative words?

Could you live in one of these lodging houses with a family? Why?

© Museum of London Docklands 2015. This sheet is designed to be edited by teachers. The museum cannot take responsibility for edited content.

Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

A docker’s life

If a labourer was successful at the call-on, an hour’s work unloading a ship would earn him 5d (5 old pence).

A night’s lodging and use of the kitchen in a common lodging house cost 2d.

Look at the food prices below from 1901. How long would a docker have to work to earn enough to buy this food?

A loaf of bread 3d

Milk (one pint) 2d

Cheese (one pound) 10d

Eggs (one dozen) 11d

Bacon (one pound) 10d

Chicken (each) 1s

Tea (one pound) 1s/2

Cup of hot eels ½d

Pint of pea soup ½d

One shilling = 12 old pence (12d)

What do you think casual labourers staying in lodging houses might have chosen to eat?

Why do you think a docker with a family might accept badly paid work?

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Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

Wives and children

Around 70% of the dock labourers were married and lived with their families in one or two rooms near the docks. Wives would often work at home either doing ‘sweated’ work like matchbox making or brushmaking with the help of younger children, while older children would go out and earn money.

Find the images of home life.

What are your impressions of the rooms in the pictures?

What problems did living in poor conditions cause?

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Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

The Great Dock Strike 1889 - 1

The key demands of the striking dockers were:

a rise in pay of 1d to 6d an hour – known as ‘the Docker’s Tanner’. A tanner was another word for sixpence

a minimum of four hours’ work and pay overtime to be paid at 8d an hour from 6pm to 6am

Draw a banner that could be carried by a striking docker.

© Museum of London Docklands 2015. This sheet is designed to be edited by teachers. The museum cannot take responsibility for edited content.

Strike a light!First Port of Empire gallery

The Great Dock Strike 1889 – 2

Investigate the interactives to discover more about the people involved in the strike.

Listen to the interviews with Mr Norwood and either Mrs O’Reilly or Ben Tillett.

Which side does your group support? Why?

The dock workers kept their cause in the public eye with daily processions through the East End. The press and police remarked on the peaceful carnival atmosphere of the events.

Why do you think it was important to keep public opinion of the strike positive?

If you wanted to keep a campaign in the public eye today how might you do it?

Can you draft a tweet (no more than 140 characters) that gets your strike message across? Don’t forget your #hashtags!