On this page you will find freely downloadable resource packs, for use in the history classroom.
These packs have been developed with history teachers, to encourage the use of material held in our collection. The materials here will be useful in two ways – firstly to help teachers and pupils explore the content of the National Curriculum and GCSE specifications, and secondly to enhance the development of key historical skills and concepts.
The links between the learning packs and the content of the secondary school history curriculum are explained in the attached document, ‘WCML learning packs and the secondary curriculum’. This document shows that all the packs are relevant to the National Curriculum and to at least one major GCSE specification.
The learning packs will also support directly the development of historical skills and concepts. To develop the skill of using historical evidence, contemporary accounts and representations are included in all the packs. These provide a rich repository of first-hand evidence for pupils to ‘weigh’ and use ‘rigorously to make historical claims’. To help pupils ‘understand historical concepts such as continuity and change’, pupils are invited to make comparisons between past and present attitudes in the packs about Irish Immigration and Women and the Vote (all quotations come directly from the National Curriculum). Other skills and concepts, such as interpretations and causation, are also developed through the questions and resources in the packs.
© These documents are copyright of the Working Class Movement Library, 2017. All material within them can be viewed in our library in Salford. The material is freely downloadable for teachers to reproduce for use within schools, but must not be partly or wholly reproduced for sale or any other use. Please contact us if you require further information.
Peterloo
Section from `Manchester Heroes` picture, 1819.
1819 - 'Peterloo Massacre', Manchester.
This resource pack includes cartoons, personal witness accounts, extracts from newspapers, maps of the area (past and present) and statistics of living conditions in 1819.
Download Peterloo Resources (5MB)
Listen to evidence of radical Samuel Bamford, describing the events as he experienced them (1 minute 30)
Listen to evidence given by William Jolliffe, who was in the cavalry on the day (2 minutes 30)
Click here for more information about the Peterloo massacre
Luddite cartoon held at the Library
Luddites
1811 - 1830s - Luddism, Lancashire and Yorkshire
This resource pack includes extracts from newspapers, social / economic background to Luddism, punishments, poetry and ideas for questions and cross-curricular activities.
Download Luddism Resources (4MB)
Listen to the poem `The Burning of Westhoughton Cotton Mill, 1812` (6 mins)
Click here for more information about the Luddites
Slavery vs Liberty Chartist extract
Chartism
1811 - 1830s - Luddism, Lancashire and Yorkshire
This resource pack includes diagrams, transcripts of speeches, pictures and cartoons, which give the backround and reasons for the Chartists' fight. The pack contains questions and ideas for cross-curricular activities.
Download Chartism Resources (5MB)
Why should all men have the vote? Listen to this powerful speech, 1839 (2 mins)
Why should Women support the male vote? Listen to this energetic speech, 1839 (2 mins)
Click here for more information about the Chartist movement
Section from a Punch cartoon
Attitudes Towards Irish Immigration
1880s - Irish immigration in the North-West
This resource pack is useful for comparing attitudes of immigration 100 years ago to attitudes today. Includes extracts from newspapers, social/economic commentary from writers such as Friedrich Engels, cartoons, and ideas for questions and cross-curricular activities.
Download Irish Immigration Resources (5MB)
Click here for more information about our Irish collection
Trade Unions
General Strike, Manchester 1926
1911 - Salford General Strike, 1926 - National General Strike, 1984/5 - Miners' Strike (Salford focus)
The resources in this pack cover three strikes which affected the Salford /Manchester area, but they'll be useful to teachers all over. Included are photographs, extracts from reports and newspapers, questions and suggested activities.
Download Trade Unions and the Strikes of 1911, 1926 and 1984/5 (3MB)
`Solidarity` - How the strike brought workers together, extract from the 1911 Labour Leader (1 minute)
Hear how Tom Mann inspired people, by his involvement in the strike (1 minute)
With thanks to James Quinn who has kindly made these recordings.
Click here for more information about working lives and workers' organisations
Women's Struggle for the Vote
Free speech cartoon as featured in Votes for Women, 1913
1890s - 1928 Campaign for Women's Suffrage
The resources in this pack contain arguments for/against the female vote, cartoons, extracts from a suffragette biography, reports and news articles. There are features such as men's involvement, international suffrage, the Cat and Mouse Act and the struggle for free speech. Also contains questions and suggested cross-curricular activities.
Download The Struggle for Votes for Women Resource pack (10MB)
What was it like to be a campaigner? Listen to an extract from `The Autobiography of Hannah Mitchell, Suffragette and Rebel` (8 mins)
Why should women not have the vote? Listen to this satirical poem (3 mins)
The resources on this page were created with the assistance of Salford history teachers. With special thanks to Steve Illingworth, who in 2010 when the resources were first created was Teaching and Learning Consultant, Salford Local Authority.
