Examines the influence of education upon the lives of British working-class girls between 1870-1914, taking into account the fact that for many, schooling was subordinated to work. Discusses gender stereotyping, stating that only the most determined girls obtained, through education, entry into jobs allowing talent development and competition with…

Traces the growing concern and sporadic efforts to address problems of exploitation, education, and neglect among child performers in turn-of-the-century England. Victorian social reformers and the press made the working conditions of English theater children a public issue. True reform, however, only occurred later. (MJP)