Tommy Armstrong
was a miner from Tanfield in County Durham. After suffering from rickets as a child, he had
been left bowlegged and was unable to work in the coal mines - the main
source of employment in the area. There were no benefits and he had
14 children to support so he needed to find some way of earning money. Luckily, Armstrong was a talented songwriter and performer and he managed to make a good living using his gifts.
One of Armstrong's most famous songs is called 'Nee Gud Luck in Dorham Gaol.' In this imagined piece of work he describes
the time a man spent in Durham Prison after being found guilty of stealing
a pair of stockings when he was drunk.
We're going
to use the song to find out what it tells
us about life in prison in the 19th century.
