Children's experiences at home were obviously linked to their parent's work. Some occupations, for example those working on the railways, took families from town to town, having an impact on their education.
With the straw hat manufactury, for example, many children performed straw plaiting from a very early age, earning much-need income for their famileies. Indeed, in the first few decades of the Girls' British school in Hitchin, 'working for themselves' was an important part of the week's timetable where girls could do needlework or straw plaiting to ear money. Parents wished this, and to keep the girls in class, the school obliged.
