Jobs for boys in Victorian shops
In early Victorian times some boys started work as young as five or six years old. From 1880 it was the law that children had to go to school until they were 11 years old. Many children would still have started work at 12 or 13. Some boys were employed by shops to look out for shoplifters, others to assist the salesmen or to help deliver orders to customers.
This picture shows a group of salesmen and assistants outside a Sainsbury’s shop around 1904. Boys like the one to the right of the picture were employed to sell eggs. The boys had to lift heavy crates of eggs and carry them outside. They then had to display the eggs in wicker baskets and sell them to customers in the street. This could be quite pleasant in the summer but freezing cold in winter.