Wales in 1850. On the ground reporting from the engine-room of industrial Britain - with personal accounts from the people themselves. Fuelling the steam-powered factories and feeding the furnaces of Britain. This was Wales in the mid-nineteenth century, rich in coal, copper, iron-ore, and lead. From "The Metropolis of the Iron Works", Merthyr Tydfil, to the copper works of Swansea and the lead mines of the north. This volume will take you into the Welsh towns, into the alleys and courts inhabited by the poor, and underground in the varied and dangerous mines. We discover the domestic and social lives of the workers, pauperism and the education of pauper children, crime, strikes of miners, and the truck system and its effects, giving you a unique picture of Wales in early Victorian times. "Labour and the Poor", the acclaimed investigation into the poor of England and Wales, was undertaken from 1849 to 1851 by The Morning Chronicle, a leading London-based newspaper of the period. This remarkable series will take you into the cities, towns, and villages, into the mills, the factories, and the mines, hearing from the people themselves about their lives, their occupations, and their struggles for survival amidst the overwhelming poverty of the period. Brought to you in its entirety, for the very first time, this extraordinary and unsurpassed investigation will show what life was really like in the mid-19th century - on the ground reporting at its very best. In this series: Volume I: The Metropolitan Districts. Henry Mayhew. Volume II: The Metropolitan Districts. Henry Mayhew. Volume III: The Metropolitan Districts. Henry Mayhew. Volume IV: The Metropolitan Districts. Henry Mayhew. Volume V: The Manufacturing Districts. Angus B. Reach. Volume VI: The Rural Districts. Alexander Mackay and Shirley Brooks. Volume VII: The Rural Districts. Alexander Mackay and Shirley Brooks. Volume VIII: Wales. Special Correspondent. Volume IX: Birmingham. Charles Mackay. Volume X: Liverpool. Charles Mackay.