This is a cast iron ‘Well’s Unbreakable Hand Lamp’ from 1880 which was made by the company A.C. Wells and Co, Manchester.

It was advertised as the ‘house lamp of the future’ and that it was ‘safe from explosion’.

It would have had brass fittings with a glass sphere on top.

In your first online session your Education Officer will introduce students to the object and get them thinking and talking about it.

You could follow that up with these activities from the ‘Object activity ideas’ pdf, on the Introduce your object page.

1. Looking closer
2. Questioning and hypothesising
3. Developing Vocabulary

We suggest you try these activities on the Get Creative page.

1. Role play
2. Alliteration
3. Make a word cloud

Compare and Contrast Activity
You will need a modern source of light (electric lamp, USB light, Battery powered lamp, torch, etc.)

Look at the modern light and the Victorian hand lamp together, ask the children some questions.
• ‘What is the same about these two objects?’
• ‘What is different about these two objects?’
• ‘How do the lights work?’
• ‘Which do you think is the best lamp and why?’

Museum name: Museum of Hartlepool
Contact name: Lisa Newton or Caroline Shilson
Email: lisa.newton@hartlepool.gov.uk or caroline.shilson@hartlepool.gov.uk

Learning from home? This download is full of ways to explore this object for students who can’t be in school.

Literacy Loans Home Learning – Hartlepool Victorian Hand Lamp KS1

This is a cast iron ‘Well’s Unbreakable Hand Lamp’ from 1880 which was made by the company A.C. Wells and Co, Manchester.

It was advertised as the ‘house lamp of the future’ and that it provided ‘safety from explosion’.

It would have had brass fittings with a glass sphere on top.

In your first online session your Education Officer will introduce students to the object and get them thinking and talking about it.

You could follow that up with these activities from the ‘Object activity ideas’ pdf, on the Introduce your object page.

1. Looking Closer
2. Would I Lie to You?
3. Questioning and Hypothesising

We suggest you try these activities on the Get Creative page

1. Interview with an Object
2. Interesting Object Labels
3. Design a Poster

This object claims to be the ‘unbreakable hand lamp’. Can you write a short story about a character who bought this lamp and has a series of mishaps which prove that the lamp is unbreakable?

Museum name: Museum of Hartlepool
Contact name: Lisa Newton or Caroline Shilson
Email: lisa.newton@hartlepool.gov.uk or caroline.shilson@hartlepool.gov.uk

Learning from home? This download is full of ways to explore this object for students who can’t be in school.

Literacy Loans Home Learning – Hartlepool Victorian hand lamp KS2

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