![](http://www.alamy.com/thumbs/6/49D0A04A-511F-4A13-A8AE-70E2CE16E779/2H6HT6B.jpg)
Original Edwardian tinted studio portrait postcard of Colliery Girl, Wigan (Lancashire, England, ) wearing trousers and an apron, circa 1905.
Published by The Milton () Woolstone Bros London, In 1842 it became illegal for women and children to work at the coal face, with boys being allowed to work at 11. The women were replaced by pit ponies, although they continued to work at the surface of mines (at the pit brow) undertaking hard manual labour. At a time when ladies legs or ankles were not on display, trouser-wearing mining women were considered a curiosity and soon became a tourist attraction. Their scandalous trouser-wearing became famous, and souvenir postcards like this one were sold depicting the mining women in their working clothes - dirt and all.
Size: 4629px × 7065px
Location: Wigan, Lancashire, England, UK
Photo credit: © ThislifeThen / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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