# @wild_history_uk on Instagram

- **Type:** Video
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DXcgYftCF0A
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/64413653-wild-history-uk-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/8ed2920634.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-04-22T19:20:20.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Wild History Shocking Stories From the Past (@wild_history_uk) — https://gondola.cc/wild_history_uk

## Caption

This is Billy.
He’s eleven years old.
Glasgow, 1867.
High on narrow scaffolding above the River Clyde, Billy carries heavy bags of red-hot rivets to the riveters. One slip and there’s nothing between him and the freezing water forty feet below.
He has worked here since he was nine. His father drowned in the same river two years earlier. His mother is too ill to work. Billy is the only one feeding the family.
The wind is bitter. The planks are slippery. A sudden gust hits. His foot slides.
He falls forty feet.
The icy water hits like concrete. The weight of the rivets drags him straight down. He never surfaces.
This was official British child labour law.
Glasgow, 1867. When eleven-year-old boys were sent forty feet up with no safety ropes. And it was legal.
Drop a heart ❤️ for Billy.
Which Victorian horror next? Comment below 👇
#VictorianChildhood #CrimesThatWereLegal #ShipyardBoy #ChildLabour #ThisWasLegal

## Stats

- **Views:** 809
- **Likes:** 121
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 14

## Tags

victorianchildhood, thiswaslegal, childlabour, crimesthatwerelegal, shipyardboy

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