The Industrial Children
Preindustrial Era
Children of poor and working-class families had worked for centuries before industrialization - helping around the house or assisting in the family's enterprise when they were able.
Children who lived on farms worked with the animals or in the fields planting seeds, pulling weeds and picking the ripe crop. In Britain, boys usually worked in the fields and tended to the drought animals, cattle and sheep while the girls in some instances worked outside and did light tasks such as milking the cows and caring for the chickens. Girls were also known to do domestic work inside of the home. Children learned to milk cows, churn butter, and tend to farm animals. This particular type of labour was accepted by society because it was not seen as exploitative or abusive, rather it was viewed as a necessary practice that ensured the survival of the family. This work was also seen as necessary training for children, which would ensure that they would be prepared to take over the family farm or business.
Also, this training prepared children to go out and start their own business once they reached a certain age. For example, in Britain during the preindustrial era, once boys turned 21, they were able to go out and start their own business. Girls, on the other hand, were prepared to go off and become a domestic servant who cooked, cleaned, and raised children. The child labour prohibited in the preindustrial era was seen as a necessity towards the development of children's life and work skills, and was overall, not intended to exploit children or intentionally harm them. The intensity of labour that children experienced would evolve drastically once the Industrial Revolution began during the 18th century.
Whether the family lived in a town or on the land, there were small jobs that were expected of the youngest family members. Parents taught their children how to work within the context of family life. The smallest children helped with winding yarn, carding wool, gleaning, feeding chickens, and other tasks that would be of help to the mothers.
What distinguishes child labour in the Industrial Revolution from that in Pre-Industrial Europe was the situation of the work. Work in the Pre-Industrial soviety involved work in family units usually in the home. Work in the Industrial society took the children out of the homes and into mines, factories, and unfamiliar towns. The hours and conditions were no longer determined by family or friends, but by complete strangers.
Children of poor and working-class families had worked for centuries before industrialization - helping around the house or assisting in the family's enterprise when they were able.
Children who lived on farms worked with the animals or in the fields planting seeds, pulling weeds and picking the ripe crop. In Britain, boys usually worked in the fields and tended to the drought animals, cattle and sheep while the girls in some instances worked outside and did light tasks such as milking the cows and caring for the chickens. Girls were also known to do domestic work inside of the home. Children learned to milk cows, churn butter, and tend to farm animals. This particular type of labour was accepted by society because it was not seen as exploitative or abusive, rather it was viewed as a necessary practice that ensured the survival of the family. This work was also seen as necessary training for children, which would ensure that they would be prepared to take over the family farm or business.
Also, this training prepared children to go out and start their own business once they reached a certain age. For example, in Britain during the preindustrial era, once boys turned 21, they were able to go out and start their own business. Girls, on the other hand, were prepared to go off and become a domestic servant who cooked, cleaned, and raised children. The child labour prohibited in the preindustrial era was seen as a necessity towards the development of children's life and work skills, and was overall, not intended to exploit children or intentionally harm them. The intensity of labour that children experienced would evolve drastically once the Industrial Revolution began during the 18th century.
Whether the family lived in a town or on the land, there were small jobs that were expected of the youngest family members. Parents taught their children how to work within the context of family life. The smallest children helped with winding yarn, carding wool, gleaning, feeding chickens, and other tasks that would be of help to the mothers.
What distinguishes child labour in the Industrial Revolution from that in Pre-Industrial Europe was the situation of the work. Work in the Pre-Industrial soviety involved work in family units usually in the home. Work in the Industrial society took the children out of the homes and into mines, factories, and unfamiliar towns. The hours and conditions were no longer determined by family or friends, but by complete strangers.
Definition of Child Labour
"Child labour" generally refers to the practice of employing children who work to produce a good or service which can be sold for money in the marketplace regardless of whether or not they are paid for their work. Child labour was a widespread means of providing mass labour at little expense to employers during the Industrial Revolution.
"Child labour" generally refers to the practice of employing children who work to produce a good or service which can be sold for money in the marketplace regardless of whether or not they are paid for their work. Child labour was a widespread means of providing mass labour at little expense to employers during the Industrial Revolution.
Introduction to the Industrial Era
When the Industrial Revolution first came to Britain and the U.S, there was a high demand for labour. This labour force was made up of millions of newly arrived immigrants and vast numbers of families migrating from rural areas to cities with the hope of job security and prosperity. With a dream of a better life, rural families relocated to the cities to find work. Sadly, most were disappointed when they arrived. The jobs available required long hours and offered little pay. In most situations, every able family member was needed to work |
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to simply keep the family above the poverty level. Those working included children as young as three. Families quickly migrated from the rural farm areas to the newly industrialized, crowded cities to find work. Once they got there, things did not look as bright as they did, and work situations went from bad to worse. To survive in even the lowest level of poverty, families had to have every able member of the family go to work. During this revolution, children were one of the groups that were drastically affected because they were called to work in the factories. A family would not be able to support itself if the children were not employed. This led to the high rise in child labour in factories. In rural areas, children worked long hours for their family's farms, but in the cities the children worked even harder for longer hours for large companies.
Children had worked alongside their parents on farms for generations. However, this tradition of child labour reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution as children worked in factories and mills around Britain. Children were often forced to work hard, long hours in dangerous or difficult conditions, receiving minimal or non-existent pay. Children were sought after as they could be trained easily and paid a minimum wage. Children were useful as laborers because their size allowed them to move in small places in factories or mines where adults couldn't fit, children were easier to manage and control, and perhaps most importantly children could be paid less than adults.
Children had worked alongside their parents on farms for generations. However, this tradition of child labour reached new extremes during the Industrial Revolution as children worked in factories and mills around Britain. Children were often forced to work hard, long hours in dangerous or difficult conditions, receiving minimal or non-existent pay. Children were sought after as they could be trained easily and paid a minimum wage. Children were useful as laborers because their size allowed them to move in small places in factories or mines where adults couldn't fit, children were easier to manage and control, and perhaps most importantly children could be paid less than adults.
Types of and Need for Child Labour
The two most common forms of child labour have become labelled as "Parish apprentice children" and "free labour children" according to Reed.
The "Parish apprentice children" were some of the first children to be brought into the factory setting. These were children who had been taken in by the government and placed in orphanages. Rich factory owners approached parish leaders with the idea of them taking in children and feeding, housing and providing for those children in exchange for the children's work in their factories. These children were paid no wage for the work they did; the compensation in basic needs was considered enough and in many cases just barely enough to survive on. These children were subject to unhealthy working conditions, long hours, and harsh punishment. It has been estimated, as much one-third of the workers in the country mills during 1784 were perish apprentice children. The employers gained cheap labour and the children received a basic education.
This was the case for many of the mills that were located along waterways and many times not in the larger cities. The children were often taken to these mills from larger towns. When the steam engine was invented and mills moved to larger towns a new option for workers came about, the children of the lower class. These people were hardly making it by and they could use any extra income possible. The factory owners started employing these children from extremely low wages, in some case a mere penny a day. These children were given the title of "free labour children".
Children were the ideal employees for the workforce because they were young and easily taught new tasks while being obedient and respectful of authority. Factory owners needed large numbers of workers for a very low cost and low maintenance so they preferred to employ children. Children were not treated well, overworked, and underpaid for a long time before anyone tried to change things for them. Harsher treatment, fewer rewards and more sickness and injury came from poorly regulated child labour. They were cheap (paid just 10%-20% of a man's wage).
Children of the countryside and children of the towns were all expected to contribute to the family economy as soon as they were able.
According to The Report of the Commissioners on the Labour of Women and Children in Mines of 1843, most mines had 1/3 of the workers under age 13.
The two most common forms of child labour have become labelled as "Parish apprentice children" and "free labour children" according to Reed.
The "Parish apprentice children" were some of the first children to be brought into the factory setting. These were children who had been taken in by the government and placed in orphanages. Rich factory owners approached parish leaders with the idea of them taking in children and feeding, housing and providing for those children in exchange for the children's work in their factories. These children were paid no wage for the work they did; the compensation in basic needs was considered enough and in many cases just barely enough to survive on. These children were subject to unhealthy working conditions, long hours, and harsh punishment. It has been estimated, as much one-third of the workers in the country mills during 1784 were perish apprentice children. The employers gained cheap labour and the children received a basic education.
This was the case for many of the mills that were located along waterways and many times not in the larger cities. The children were often taken to these mills from larger towns. When the steam engine was invented and mills moved to larger towns a new option for workers came about, the children of the lower class. These people were hardly making it by and they could use any extra income possible. The factory owners started employing these children from extremely low wages, in some case a mere penny a day. These children were given the title of "free labour children".
Children were the ideal employees for the workforce because they were young and easily taught new tasks while being obedient and respectful of authority. Factory owners needed large numbers of workers for a very low cost and low maintenance so they preferred to employ children. Children were not treated well, overworked, and underpaid for a long time before anyone tried to change things for them. Harsher treatment, fewer rewards and more sickness and injury came from poorly regulated child labour. They were cheap (paid just 10%-20% of a man's wage).
Children of the countryside and children of the towns were all expected to contribute to the family economy as soon as they were able.
According to The Report of the Commissioners on the Labour of Women and Children in Mines of 1843, most mines had 1/3 of the workers under age 13.
Jobs
Child labour was used in almost every industry during the Industrial Revolution. Children served as domestic servants, apprentices, assistants in the family business, and farmers during preindustrial times. Children worked in gas works, nail factories, construction sites, shipyards and chimney sweeping. The use of child labour in factories revealed a social problem. Families, trapped by poverty, were forced to send their children to work in poor conditions for equally poor pay. Many parents were unwilling to allow their children to work in textile factories. To overcome this labour shortage, factory owners had to find other ways of obtaining workers. One solution to the problem was to buy children from orphanages and workhouses. The children employed from orphanages and workhouses then became known as "pauper apprentices" and "scavengers". This selling of children involved the children signing contracts that virtually made them the property of the factory owner. Owners of large textile mills purchased large numbers of children from workhouses in all the large towns and cities. By the late 1790s about a third of the workers in the cotton industry were pauper apprentices. The first jobs for children in the Industrial Revolution were in water-powered cotton mills. Factory owners approached poor families and orphanages and offered to house, feed and clothe children in exchange for labour. Trapped by economic circumstances, families handed over their children to work in the cotton mills. Child chimney sweeps often had to crawl through holes only 18 inches wide - and it was common for master sweeps to light fires under them to make them climb faster. Many climbing boys and girls fell to their deaths. Children in glassworks were regularly burned and blinded by the intense heat, while the poisonous clay dust in potteries caused them to vomit and faint. Breaker boys separated coal from rocks or other debris. This word was done above ground but still posed hazards to young workers. Match girls were young girls (4-16 years old) that made matches. They made them by dipping the ends of the match sticks into a harsh, toxic chemical called phosphorous. Match girls worked long hours in the factories (usually from 6 am to 6 pm) with only two short breaks. They were not allowed to talk or even sit down while they worked (otherwise they would be fined or fired). The girls only made 4 shillings a day, but they were also heavily fined if they dropped a match, talked to each other, sat down, arrived late, or went to the bathroom without permission (sometimes they went home with no pay at all). Beatings were not uncommon at the factories as well. Children were also employed in mining. Mining was a very dangerous occupation because there were no safety guidelines. There were often explosions and roofs caved in, trapping the miners. Cutting and moving coal was a job done by men, women and children. Children as young as five worked as 'trappers'. They operated trap doors in mines with strings. As coal wagons approached, the trappers opened and closed the underground trap door to let the 'hurriers', who pulled and loaded wagons, through. The coal was carried in huge buckets to pass through the tunnel doors. This job was easy but children were forced to sit in a dark, cold hole while working because their families were often too poor to be able to afford candles. It was also an important job as it helped to control the air flowing through the mine. It was meant to stop deadly gases building up in the tunnels. Most were exhausted by their working hours - they were often woken at 4 am and carried, half-asleep, to the pits by their parents. Many young trappers were killed when they dozed off and fell into the path of the carts. Older children carried coal down long mine shafts. The trappers often sat in the dark for 8-10 hours each day (could go up to 12 hours as well) and often had rats scurrying all over them around the tunnel. If they fell asleep they were beaten by the miners. Most children who worked in coalmines and iron mines died before they reached the age of 25. Ponies were used to haul loads of coal in some areas with small boys and girls leading the ponies up the tunnels. Some tunnels were too small for ponies, and child coal hurriers pulled the carts or sledges filled with coal over long distances and through very small tunnels. Girls were often used for this work. The chain around their waist caused damage to their pelvic bones, distorting them and making them smaller. This often proved fatal in later life when many of them died in childbirth. In other mines, women and children carried loads of coal in baskets on their backs to the surface up narrow ladders. The youngest children in the textile factories were usually employed as scavengers and piecers. Piecers had to lean over the spinning-machine to repair the broken threads. Throughout the 1800s in Europe (as well as the U.S.), millions of young people worked on their own family farms or were hired out to nearby farms for very little pay. If they worked too slowly to get te harvest in before the rains came, they could be beaten. Long hours, few breaks, and not enough food made their lives a misery. |
"The noise was what impressed me most. Clatter, rattle, bang, the swish of thrusting levers and the crowding of hundreds of men, women and children at their work. Long rows of huge spinning-frames, with thousands of whirling spindles, slid forward several feet, paused and then slid smoothly back again, continuing the process unceasingly hour after hour while cotton became yarn and yarn changed to weaving material. Often the threads on the spindles broke as they were stretched and twisted and spun. These broken ends had to be instantly repaired; the piecer ran forward and joined them swiftly, with a deft touch that is an art of its own."
- John Clynes, became a piecer at 10-years-old "The same year my mother died, I being between six and seven years of age, there came a man looking for a number of parish apprentices. We were all ordered to come into the board room, about forty of us. There were, I dare say, about twenty gentlemen seated at a table, with pens and paper before them. Our names were called out one by one. We were all standing before them in a row. My name was called and I stepped out in the middle of the room. The man said, "Well John, you are a fine lad, would you like to go into the country?" "
- John Birley, was an orphan living in Bethnal Green Workhouse "The piecers, either girls or boys, walk along the mule as it advances or recedes, catching up the broken threads and skilfully reuniting them. The scavenger, a little boy or girl, crawls occasionally beneath the mule when it is at rest, and cleans the mechanism from superfluous oil, dust and dirt."
- Angus Reach, writing in the The Morning Chronicle "Trapping was done everywhere by children, generally from five to eight years of age."
- The Hammonds in The Town Labourer "There was no cloth laid on the tables, to which the newcomers had been accustomed in the workhouse - no plates, nor knives, nor forks. At a signal given, the apprentices rushed to this door, and each, as he made way, received his portion, and withdrew to his place at the table. Blincoe was startled, seeing the boys pull out the fore-part of their shirts, and holding it up with both hands, received the hot boiled potatoes allotted for their supper. The girls, less indecently, held up their dirty, greasy aprons, that were saturated with grease and dirt, and having received their allowance, scampered off as hard as they could, to their respective places, where, with a keen appetite, each apprentice devoured her allowance, and seemed anxiously to look about for more. Next, the hungry crew ran to the tables of the newcomers, and voraciously devoured every crust of bread and every drop of porridge they had left."
- Robert Blincoe, disappointed when he arrived at Lowdam Mill "I have seen a little boy, only this winter, who works in the mill, and who lives within two hundred or three hundred yards of my own door; he is not yet six years old, and I have seen him, when he had a few coppers in his pocket, go to a beer shop, call for a glass of ale, and drink as boldly as any full-grown man, cursing and swearing."
- Abraham Whitehead, a cloth merchant from Holmfirth who joined the campaign for factory legislation, told a parliamentary committee in 1832 |
Children working in rural areas, harvesting crops in extreme temperatures for long hours, were not fairing much better than the children working in cities. They worked on the fields and helped tend to the livestock. Work in agriculture was typically less regulated than factory duties. Farm work was often not considered dangerous or extraneous for children, even though they carried their weight and more in loads of produce and handles dangerous tools.
Many girls moved to towns to become servants, when their labour was no longer useful to the family at home. This move often cut them off from the family circle and made them vulnerable. Because service could be terminated at any time and the girl could be left unemployed without a place to live, many girls had to turn to prostitution as a temporary or long-term solution to unemployment.
Many girls moved to towns to become servants, when their labour was no longer useful to the family at home. This move often cut them off from the family circle and made them vulnerable. Because service could be terminated at any time and the girl could be left unemployed without a place to live, many girls had to turn to prostitution as a temporary or long-term solution to unemployment.
Wages and Hours
Children as young as six worked hard hours for little or no pay. Workdays would often be 10 to 14 hours with minimal breaks during the shift. The conditions that children worked under during the Industrial Revolution were morbid. They had long and inflexible work hours. According to many studies, these hours ranged from 14 hours a day or 70 hours per week. As early as 1798, cotton mill owners in New England used children aged 7-12 to work around 12 hours a day. These children also picked cotton out in the fields. Many children worked 16 hour days under atrocious conditions. Children sometimes worked up to 19 hours a day, with a one-hour total break. This was a little bit on the extreme, but it was not common for children who worked in factories to work 12-14 hours with the same minimal breaks. Not until the Factory Act of 1833 did things improve. Children were paid only a fraction of what an adult would get, and sometimes factory owners would get away with paying them nothing. Orphans were the ones subject to this slave-like labour. The factory owners justified their absence of payroll by saying that they gave the orphans food, shelter, and clothing, all of which were far below par. The children who did get paid were paid very little. "We went to the mill at five in the morning. We worked until dinner time and then to nine or ten at night; on Saturday it could be till eleven and often till twelve at night. We were sent to clean the machinery on the Sunday."
- Man interviewed who had worked in a mill as a child (1849) |
"They [boys of eight years] used to get 3d [d is the abbreviation for pence] or 4d a day. Now a man's wages is divided into eight eighths; at eleven, two eighths; at thirteen, three eighths; at fifteen, four eighths; at twenty, a man's wages about 15s [shillings]."
- One boy explaining the system of payment. "In the evening I walked to Cromford and saw the children coming from their work. These children had been at work from 6 o’clock in the morning and it was now 7 o’clock in the evening."
- Joseph Farington, 22nd August 1801 (diary entry) "I began work at the mill in Bradford when I was nine years old...we began at six in the morning and worked until nine at night. When business was brisk, we began at five and worked until ten in the evening."
- Hannah Brown, interviewed in 1832. "Two children I know got employment in a factory when they were five years old...the spinning men or women employ children if they can get a child to do their business...the child is paid one shilling or one shilling and six pence, and they will take that (five year old) child before they take an older one who will cost more."
- George Gould, a Manchester merchant (1816) "She turned the coins over and over, time after time - and the big, bright, pearl-like tears hung like dew drops from her eyelashes."
- Robert Wattchorn remembered giving his mother his first wages from the pit "Very often the children are woken at four in the morning. The children are carried on the backs of the older children asleep to the mill, and they see no more of their parents till they go home at night and are sent to bed."
- Richard Oastler, interviewed in 1832. |
Safety, Health and Working Conditions
Not only were these children subject to long hours but they also endured some of the harshest conditions. Children were used to carry out hazardous jobs. Large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common for children to be using or working near. Factories employing children were often very dangerous places leading to accidents occurring, resulting in injuring or even killing children on the job. The treatment of children in factories was often cruel and unusual, and the children's safety was generally neglected. The youngest children, who were not old enough to work the machines, were commonly sent to be assistants to textile workers. The people who the children served would beat them, verbally abuse them, and take no consideration for their safety. Children were ordered to move between machinery where adults could not fit, to fix broken machines. Lack of sleep and an averaged 18-hour work day in Britain contributed to mistakes and injuries. The child labourers worked in environments that were unhealthy and dangerous to their physical well-being. Many lost limbs, were killed in gas explosions, crushed in or under the machinery, and burned. Some were even decapitated. Breaker boys inhaled great amounts of coal dust, damaging their lungs and causing illness. Breaker boys handled thousands of pieces of coal each day and the sulfur on the coal would cause their fingers to swell and bleed. The sounds of the machines used were deafening and able to crush small hands quickly. Machinery was not fenced off and children were exposed to the moving parts. Unguarded machinery was a major problem for children working in factories. This led to a large number of injuries in the cotton mills. Children could have their hands crushed by moving machines. If their hair became tangled in the machine, their scalps could be ripped off. Some children were killed instantly when they went to sleep and fell into their machine. Machinery often ran so quickly that fingers, arms and legs could easily get caught. The air was a threat to children as well - fumes and toxins, when inhaled, would almost certainly result in illness, chronic conditions or disease. The workers developed lung cancer from poisonous fumes. When their work or machines were not harming them, their supervisors and overseers harmed them. Both boys and girls who worked in factories were subject to beatings and other harsh forms of pain infliction. When they tried to escape from the factories, they would be caught, whipped and returned to their master. Some were shackled to prevent them from escaping again, with irons riveted on their ankles, and reaching by long links and rings up to the hips, and in these they were compelled to walk to and fro from the mill to work and to sleep. Children who were considered potential runaways were also placed in irons. Parish apprentices who ran away from the factory were in danger of being sent to prison. One common punishment for being late or not working up to quota would be to be "weighted". An overseer would tie a heavy weight to the worker's neck, and have them walk up and down the factory aisles so the other children could see them and "take example". This could last up to an hour. Weighting could lead to serious injuries in the back and/or neck. Punishments such as this would often be dispensed under stringent rules. Boys were sometimes dragged naked from their begs and sent to the factories only holding their clothes, to be put on there. This was to make sure the boys would not be late, even by a few minutes. Some supervisors used terror and punishment to drive the children to greater productivity, mentally and physically abusing them, caring more about profit than well-being. A boy in a nail-making factory was punished for producing inferior nails by having his head down on an iron counter while someone "hammered a nail through his ear, and the boy has made good nails ever since". Children who worked long hours in the textile mills became very tired and found it difficult to maintain the speed required by the overlookers. Children were usually hit with a strap to make them work faster. In some factories, children were dipped head first into the water cistern if they became too tired to work. Children were also punished for arriving late for work and for talking to the other children. Girls were sometimes sexually abused by their harsh masters. The working conditions of the mills children were employed at are greatly debated. Reports were written on the conditions of these mills and the committees established to looking into the problem. The validity of these reports has come into question because the authors were interested in passing of labour laws and it is believed that these reports were falsified to aid in the passing of the laws. Two distinctive opinion groups have formed relating to the conditions of such factories, often being referred to as the pessimists and optimists. [More on these views below]
Coalmine tunnels were cramped, and its roofs were sometimes in danger of collapsing. The only light miners had was from candles or oil lamps, which would often go out. The flames were also a danger as there was always a risk of underground gases exploding. Sometimes there were rockfalls and clouds of choking dust. All miners would breathe in black dusk from the coal. The dusty air would get deep into their lungs so, later in the lives of many miners, they suffered all kinds of breathing problems. Living conditions were appalling. Families occupies rat and sewage-filled cellars, with 30 people crammed into a single room. Most children were malnourished and susceptible to disease, and life expectancy in such places fell to just 29 years in the 1830s. In these wretched circumstances, an extra few pennies brought home by a child would pay for a small load of bread or fuel for the fire: the difference between life and death. Boys were given more free time than girls and often ran wild outside. The following were hazards of working in the mill: Eye inflammation, lung disease, deafness, tuberculosis, mule-spinners' cancer, and body deformities. Work in chimneys was also dangerous and unhealthy. Very young boys were used for this work. Sometimes they had to work naked, since the flue was so small that clothing might get caught. The risks of the job included cancer, suffocation, being burnt, stunted growth, and deformed joints. The average height of the population fell in the 1830s as an overworked generation reached adulthood with knock-knees, humpbacks from carrying heavy loads and damaged pelvises from standing 14 hours a day. Girls who worked in match factories suffered from a particularly horrible disease known as phossy jaw, a bone cancer that literally disintegrated parts of the jaw. When a girl had phossy jaw, their face near the jaw gave off a green glow and slowly turned black. Fumes from the phosphorous into which matches were dipped ate at their jawbones, leaving them with empty cheeks that gave off foulsmelling pus, brain damage and eventually death from organ failure/cancer. It became more dangerous to work on farms as more heavy machinery was introduced. The children who worked on the machines were often involved in serious accidents. They could get scalped if their hair got caught up in moving parts, and hands and limbs were often crushed or cut off by moving blades. Disease accounted for many deaths in cities during the Industrial Revolution. With a chronic lack of hygiene, little knowledge of sanitary care, and no knowledge as to what caused diseases (let alone cure them), diseases such as cholera, typhoid and typhus could be devastating. As the cities got more populated, the problem worsened. Cholera was caused by contaminated water. Britain was hit by an outbreak of cholera in 1831-32, 1848-49, 1854 and 1867. It was caused by drinking water being allowed to come into contact with sewage, therefore, contaminating the water. Because many people used river water as their source of water, the disease spread easily. Sewage and industrial waste polluted the rivers and canals. "When I was a surgeon in the infirmary, accidents were very often admitted to the infirmary, through the children's hands and arms having being caught in the machinery; in many instances the muscles, and the skin is stripped down to the bone, and in some instances a finger or two might be lost."
- Michael War, a doctor working in Manchester, telling a parliamentary committee in 1819 |
"The smallest child in the factories were scavengers...they go under the machine, while it is going...it is very dangerous when they first come, but they become used to it."
- Charles Aberdeen worked in a Manchester cotton factory (1832) "The task first allotted to Robert Blincoe was to pick up the loose cotton, that fell upon the floor. Apparently nothing could be easier...although he was much terrified by the whirling motion and noise of the machinery and the dust with which he was half suffocated...he soon felt sick and was constantly stooping; his back ached. Blincoe took the liberty to sit down. But this he soon found was strictly forbidden in cotton mills. His overlooker, Mr. Smith, told him he must keep on his legs. This he did for six and a half hours without a break."
- John Brown, a reporter for "The Lion" (1828) "Woodward and other overlookers used to beat me with pieces of thick leather straps made supple by oil, and having an iron buckle at the end, drew blood almost every time it was applied."
- John Brown quoted in the "Lion" newspaper (1828) "Sarah Golding was poorly and so she stopped her machine. James Birch, the overlooker, knocked her to the floor. She got up as well as she could. He knocked her down again. Then she was carried to her house...she was found dead in her bed. There was another girl called Mary...she knocked her food can to the floor. The master, Mr. Newton, kicked her and caused her to wear away till she died. There was another, Caroline Thompson, who was beaten till she went out of her mind. The overlookers used to cut off the hair of any girl caught talking to a lad. This head shaving was a dreadful punishment. We were more afraid of it than any other punishment for girls are proud of their hair."
- An interview with an unknown woman who worked in a cotton factory as a child (1849) "I have seen my master, Luke Taylor, with a horse whip standing outside the mill when the children have come too late...he lashed them all the way to the mill."
- John Fairbrother, an overlooker, interviewed in 1819 "I went into the pit at seven years of age. When I drew by the girdle and chain, my skin was broken and the blood ran down...If we said anything, they would beat us."
- Robert North, who worked in a coal mine in Yorkshire "If we were five minutes too late, the overlooker would take a strap, and beat us till we were black and blue."
- Joseph Hebergram "Sometimes they [the miners] beat me if I am not quick enough."
- Patience Kershaw, who had a bald patch on her head from years of pushing carts - often with her scalp pressed against them - for 11 miles a day underground. "The blacksmith had the task of riveting irons upon any of the apprentices, whom the master ordered. These irons were very much like the irons usually put upon felons. Even young women, if they suspected of intending to run away, had irons riveted on their ankles, and reaching by long links and rings up to the hips, and in these they were compelled to walk to and fro from the mill to work and to sleep."
- Robert Blincoe "Irons were used as with felons in gaols, and these were often fastened on young women, in the most indecent manner, by keeping them nearly in a state of nudity, in the depth of winter, for several days together."
- Samuel Davy "When I was seven years old I went to work at Mr. Marshalls factory at Shrewsbury. If a child was drowsy, the overlooker touches the child on the shoulder and says, "Come here". In a corner of the room there is an iron cistern filled with water. He takes the boy by the legs and dips him in the cistern, and sends him back to work."
- Jonathan Downe telling Michael Sandler and his committee in 1832 “Children worked under deplorable conditions and were being exploited by the industrialists. A picture was painted of the “dark satanic mill” where children as young as five and six years old worked for twelve to sixteen hours a day, six days a week without recess for meals in hot, stuffy, poorly lit, overcrowded factories to earn as little as four shillings per week."
- Tuttle, 2001 'I have to trap without a light and I'm scared. I go at four and sometimes half-past three in the morning, and come out at five-and-half-past...Sometimes I sing when I've light, but not in the dark. I don't like being in the pit.'
- Sarah Gooder, aged eight, was used as a 'trapper'. Crouching in the darkness of the tunnel wall, they waited to open trap doors which allowed the carts to travel through. "...almost universally ill-looking, small, sickly, barefoot and ill-clad."
- Doctor Turner Thackrah describing the children leaving the Manchester cotton mills "The infants, when first introduced to these abodes of torture, are put at stripping the full spools from the spinning jennies and replacing them with empty spools. They are put to work in a long room where there are about twenty machines. The spindles are apportioned to each child, and woe be to the child who shall be behind in doing its allotted work. The machine will be started and the poor child's fingers will be bruised and skinned with the revolving spools. While the children try to catch up to their comrades by doing their work with the speed of the machine running, the brutal overlooker will frequently beat them unmercifully, and I have frequently seen them strike the children, knocking them off their stools and sending them spinning several feet on the greasy floor."
- Samuel Fielden, observing what happened in a textile factory in Lancashire "I have known more accidents at the beginning of the day than at the later part. I was an eye-witness of one. A child was working wool, that is, to prepare the wool for the machine; but the strap caught him, as he was hardly awake, and it carried him into the machinery; and we found one limb in one place, one in another, and he was cut to bits; his whole body went in, and was mangled."
- John Allett "About a week after I became a mill boy, I was seized with a strong, heavy sickness, that few escape on first becoming factory workers. The cause of the sickness, which is known by the name of "mill fever", is the contaminated atmosphere produced by so many breathing in a confined space, together with the heat and exhalations of grease and oil and the gas needed to light the establishment."
- Frank Forrest, a child worker in Dundee "...their complexion is sallow and pallid, with a peculiar flatness of feature, caused by the want of a proper quantity of adipose substance, their stature low, a very general bowing of the legs...nearly all have flat feet."
- A doctor who observed mill workers Ten-year-old Joseph Arkley forgot to shut a trap door, allowing poisonous gas to seep into the tunnel. He died along with ten others in the resulting explosion.
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Playtime
Outdoors, most children played in the street or in the fields and woods. Not many families had gardens big enough to play in, and there were no children's playgrounds. Rich families had playrooms or nurseries, but poorer children played wherever they could find space. With ten or more children often crammed into one or two rooms, play-space for poor families was a luxury. Playing outside was the usual escape.
Toys prior to the Industrial Revolution had been made of wood, fabric or ceramics. Tin toys were produced in the early years of the 19th century in Germany, England and France.
In street games, children shared toys like hoops, marbles and skipping ropes with friends in the street or in the school playground (if they could afford an education). They played chasing games such as tag (which had lots of other names, such as touch or tig) and played catch with balls. If they didn't have a proper ball, they made balls from old rags, and bats from pieces of wood. They also played hopscotch.
Street games such as hopscotch and skipping were mainly girls games. Both sexes played with wooden or metal hoops, which they propelled with hooked poles. Street games of baseball and touch football were also popular among boys. Girls were discouraged from such rough and dirty play.
Many poor children lived in tiny country cottages or in city slums. There was no money for toys, nowhere to play except alleys and yards. Many children had to work, while others were too sick and hungry to play. Yet most poor children still managed to make some fun. They played with whatever they could find, perhaps dancing to the music of a hurdy-gurdy man, paddling in a stream, or climbing trees and lamp-posts.
Outdoors, most children played in the street or in the fields and woods. Not many families had gardens big enough to play in, and there were no children's playgrounds. Rich families had playrooms or nurseries, but poorer children played wherever they could find space. With ten or more children often crammed into one or two rooms, play-space for poor families was a luxury. Playing outside was the usual escape.
Toys prior to the Industrial Revolution had been made of wood, fabric or ceramics. Tin toys were produced in the early years of the 19th century in Germany, England and France.
In street games, children shared toys like hoops, marbles and skipping ropes with friends in the street or in the school playground (if they could afford an education). They played chasing games such as tag (which had lots of other names, such as touch or tig) and played catch with balls. If they didn't have a proper ball, they made balls from old rags, and bats from pieces of wood. They also played hopscotch.
Street games such as hopscotch and skipping were mainly girls games. Both sexes played with wooden or metal hoops, which they propelled with hooked poles. Street games of baseball and touch football were also popular among boys. Girls were discouraged from such rough and dirty play.
Many poor children lived in tiny country cottages or in city slums. There was no money for toys, nowhere to play except alleys and yards. Many children had to work, while others were too sick and hungry to play. Yet most poor children still managed to make some fun. They played with whatever they could find, perhaps dancing to the music of a hurdy-gurdy man, paddling in a stream, or climbing trees and lamp-posts.
Clothes
1750 - 1820
Slip gowns for little boys were slit from waist to hem for more freedom of movement. Boys were breeched between two and four years of age and wore transitional cotton calico jump suits or tunics and trousers. Breeches could also be of wool, leather or linen. During the 1780s the 'skeleton', an all-in-one suit with a large collar, was popular. Younger boys were the first to wear trousers, but for reasons of practicality rather than fashion. By 1800 boys' trousers were made of cotton or linen. Boys' fashions often followed those of their fathers so that by 1820 boys were wearing long 'hussar' pantaloons with a loose fitting jacket and waistcoat.
In the early 1800s, girls wore 'chemise' dresses in cotton, often in white, gathered at the neck and bust with drawstrings and cotton drawers, closed with a back flap, attached to a tape around the waist or to a bodice with shoulder straps. Fashions for little girls often reflected those of their mothers but were simpler. Working girls wore a dress of coloured linen or cotton and a woollen petticoat. Outer wear included capes, tippets (a shoulder covering with long front ends) or short 'spencer' jackets.
1820 - 1890
By the 1820s the 'skeleton' suits had gone out of fashion. Trousers were now cut to lie flat over the stomach with a wide flap opening and no waistband instead of being fastened to the jacket. 'Spencer' jackets and tailless jackets were favoured. Trousers were often white, jackets of a dark colour. Young boys wore open neck shirts. 'Hussar tunics' became popular in the 1830s. These consisted of trousers with a matching knee length jacket which had a 'skirt front' open from waist to hem and 'hussar décor' (lines of braid and buttons).
In the 1840s, flat cloth caps came into fashion and remained so for boys. During the 1860s boy's clothes were similar to men's clothing but shorter and wider. Long woollen stockings were worn by both boys and girls. Knickerbocker suits with 'plus four' trousers (full and fastened below the knee), waistcoats and cut-away jackets became popular. This fashion lasted for about twenty years until the end of the 1870s. The 1870s saw the introduction of 'sailor suits' which remained in vogue until about 1920. Sailor suits had a naval 'blouse' with a square collar and wide trousers. In the 1880s boys also had to wear combinations and woollen vests.
Girls wore cotton drawers with a shallow bodice, a cotton or flannel chemise (loose shift like a shirt), calico petticoats (sometimes of red flannel in winter after the 1870s) and woollen stockings. Younger girls wore corded cotton stays. Girls wore restrictive cotton dresses like their mothers but girl's dresses had looser waists and from the 1860s skirts were knee length. Some girls' dresses were made in the more comfortable Princess style. Outer wear was a pelisse (coat dress) or a small cape for better off girls, and a shawl for poorer girls. In 1881 knitted jackets, dresses and undies in jersey fabrics were popularised by the well known Jersey actress, Lily Langtry.
1750 - 1820
Slip gowns for little boys were slit from waist to hem for more freedom of movement. Boys were breeched between two and four years of age and wore transitional cotton calico jump suits or tunics and trousers. Breeches could also be of wool, leather or linen. During the 1780s the 'skeleton', an all-in-one suit with a large collar, was popular. Younger boys were the first to wear trousers, but for reasons of practicality rather than fashion. By 1800 boys' trousers were made of cotton or linen. Boys' fashions often followed those of their fathers so that by 1820 boys were wearing long 'hussar' pantaloons with a loose fitting jacket and waistcoat.
In the early 1800s, girls wore 'chemise' dresses in cotton, often in white, gathered at the neck and bust with drawstrings and cotton drawers, closed with a back flap, attached to a tape around the waist or to a bodice with shoulder straps. Fashions for little girls often reflected those of their mothers but were simpler. Working girls wore a dress of coloured linen or cotton and a woollen petticoat. Outer wear included capes, tippets (a shoulder covering with long front ends) or short 'spencer' jackets.
1820 - 1890
By the 1820s the 'skeleton' suits had gone out of fashion. Trousers were now cut to lie flat over the stomach with a wide flap opening and no waistband instead of being fastened to the jacket. 'Spencer' jackets and tailless jackets were favoured. Trousers were often white, jackets of a dark colour. Young boys wore open neck shirts. 'Hussar tunics' became popular in the 1830s. These consisted of trousers with a matching knee length jacket which had a 'skirt front' open from waist to hem and 'hussar décor' (lines of braid and buttons).
In the 1840s, flat cloth caps came into fashion and remained so for boys. During the 1860s boy's clothes were similar to men's clothing but shorter and wider. Long woollen stockings were worn by both boys and girls. Knickerbocker suits with 'plus four' trousers (full and fastened below the knee), waistcoats and cut-away jackets became popular. This fashion lasted for about twenty years until the end of the 1870s. The 1870s saw the introduction of 'sailor suits' which remained in vogue until about 1920. Sailor suits had a naval 'blouse' with a square collar and wide trousers. In the 1880s boys also had to wear combinations and woollen vests.
Girls wore cotton drawers with a shallow bodice, a cotton or flannel chemise (loose shift like a shirt), calico petticoats (sometimes of red flannel in winter after the 1870s) and woollen stockings. Younger girls wore corded cotton stays. Girls wore restrictive cotton dresses like their mothers but girl's dresses had looser waists and from the 1860s skirts were knee length. Some girls' dresses were made in the more comfortable Princess style. Outer wear was a pelisse (coat dress) or a small cape for better off girls, and a shawl for poorer girls. In 1881 knitted jackets, dresses and undies in jersey fabrics were popularised by the well known Jersey actress, Lily Langtry.
Child Labour Movements
From the opening of the first cotton mills, there were attempts to stop the use of child labour. Many factors came into play to bring about a change in the use of child labour. Some people were concerned with the social and physical wellbeing of the children working in the factories. One of the most debated issues related to the decline in child labour was that adults were being withheld work so that children could do the jobs because the factories didn't have to pay the children like they do adults. There were people in this time, some being notable public figures, that strongly advocated the use or the abolishment of child labour, or at least the improvement of conditions. (They campaigned for the regulation, improvement, and/or abolishment of child labour.) The majority of the legislation, however was ineffective and did not stop child labour. Pessimists such as Alfed, Engels, Marc and Webb and Webb argued that children worked under deplorable conditions and were being exploited by the industrialists. The optimists, on the other hand, were looking at the value that came from the labour provided by these children. In many cases, these were the factory owners and managers who benefited from the labour. Factory owners loved child labour, and they supported their reasoning with ideas that it was good for everything from the economy to the building of the children's characters. Parents of the children who worked were almost forced to at least approve of it because they needed the income. Optimists argued that the employment of children in factories was beneficial to the children, their families and the country. Another argument was that the factory work were no harder than the agricultural work previously done by children, or that the factory conditions where no worse than they had been on farms, in cottages or up chimneys. Ure and Clapham argued that the work was easy for children and helped them to make a necessary contribution to their family's income. Many factory owners claimed that employing children was necessary for production to run smoothly and for their products to remain competitive. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, recommended child labour as a means of preventing youthful idleness and vice. Later, in the early 20th century, activists went even further to protect children's rights in labour.. Among these figures was Jane Addams, founder of the Hull House. Activists in the U.S. made the government set up the Children's Bureau in 1912. This made it the U.S. government's responsibility to monitor child labour. |
Reforms
Ineffective parliamentary acts to regulate the work of children in factories and cotton mills had been passed as early as the start of the 19th century. The British government took steps to protect children from the harsh atmosphere by passing numerous acts. The first Chimney Sweeping Act was passed in 1788 and banned the hiring of apprentices under the age of 8. It was not enforced. Also, parents who wanted their boys sent to be apprentices often lied about their ages. The first Factory Act of 1802 - called "The Factory Health and Morals Act" - passed by the British Parliament applied principally, though not exclusively, to apprentices in cotton and woolen mills. There were few positive results from this piece of legislation as children were still permitted to work in mining and other hazardous occupations:
The Cotton Fabrics Regulation Act of 1819 set the minimum age of workers to 9 years old, and they could only work a maximum of 12 hours per day. In the Factory Act of 1833, an attempt to establish a normal working day in a single department of industry, textile manufacture, was brought about. This act limited the amount of hours children of certain ages could work.
The Factory Act of 1844 was an extremely important one in the history of family legislation.
After further radical agitation, one of the final regulations that the British parliament passed was the Ten Hour Bill of 1847, which:
The 1844 Factory Act contained a fatal defect. It did not provide when the ten hours were to be worked; between 5:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m. - so that, apparently, they might be taken any time between those limits. The result was the immediate reintroduction of the discredited Relay System, with all its opportunities for trickery and evasion, and renewed discontent among the operatives. Sir George Grey proposed as a compromise to fix the period of employment for protected persons from six in the morning till six in the evening in summer, and from seven in the morning till seven in the evening in winter (with one and a half hours out for meals), and that all work should cease at two o'clock on Saturday: the effect of which would be to slightly increase the weekly working hours from fifty-eight to sixty, while rendering the enforcement of the definite working day practically secure. The Factory Extension Act of 1867 recommended the extension of the system of factory inspection to a number of occupations previously regarded as quite outside its sphere, and its modified application in others, hereafter to be dealt with; which seemed practically to exhaust the whole field of material labour. The provision was made to restrict the hours during which children, young persons and women are permitted to labour in any manufacturing process conducted in an establishment where fifty or more persons are employing. Reformers campaigned for new laws to improve working conditions for children and give children the opportunity for schooling. The Education Act of 1870 said that there had to be a school in every town and village. 'School Boards' of local people built and ran the new schools. Families paid a few pennies a week to send their children, though not all children went to school. The textile operatives, besides being the first to benefit by factory laws, had by this time become a well-organised body outside their sphere, they had evolved a powerful and well disciplined trade union to represent their interests. The success of the agitation was shown by the passing of the Factory Act 1874 which took half-an-hour a day off textile factories alone, leaving all others still subject to the settlement of 1850. The fifth Chimney Sweeping Act of 1875 finally ended the work of the climbing boys, forcing the use of machines. By 1880, the law said that all children aged 5 to 10 must go to primary school, so every child would receive at least a basic education. The Factory Act 1891 made the requirements for fencing machinery more stringent. Under the heading Conditions of Employment two considerable additions to previous legislation. The first is the prohibition on employers to employ women within four weeks after confinement; the second the raising the minimum age at which a child can be set to work from ten to eleven. |
Education
At the start of the 19th century, very few children went to school. Most poor children worked. If they went to school, their families lost the money they earned. In 1840 perhaps only 20% of the children of London had any schooling, a number which had risen by 1860, when perhaps half of the children between 5 and 15 were in some sort of school, if only a day school or a Sunday school; the others were working.
Children working lengthy hours had limited access to education. Many families relied on income earned by each family member and did not allow children to attend school at all. Those fortunate enough to be enrolled often attended only portions of a school day or only a few weeks at a time.
Most children could neither read nor write as they would not have time to go to school.
There were some good schools for boys, for example, grammar schools and public schools. Only richer families could afford to pay the school fees, though some schools gave free places to poor boys. Poor girls did not go to school when the Victorian age began meaning they had little education. Girls from wealthy families would usually be taught at home by a governess. Sometimes, wealthy girls may have attended boarding schools too.
At the start of the 19th century, very few children went to school. Most poor children worked. If they went to school, their families lost the money they earned. In 1840 perhaps only 20% of the children of London had any schooling, a number which had risen by 1860, when perhaps half of the children between 5 and 15 were in some sort of school, if only a day school or a Sunday school; the others were working.
Children working lengthy hours had limited access to education. Many families relied on income earned by each family member and did not allow children to attend school at all. Those fortunate enough to be enrolled often attended only portions of a school day or only a few weeks at a time.
Most children could neither read nor write as they would not have time to go to school.
There were some good schools for boys, for example, grammar schools and public schools. Only richer families could afford to pay the school fees, though some schools gave free places to poor boys. Poor girls did not go to school when the Victorian age began meaning they had little education. Girls from wealthy families would usually be taught at home by a governess. Sometimes, wealthy girls may have attended boarding schools too.
Food
Children working in the factories were given very little time to eat, usually half an hour for breakfast and lunch, so food needed to be quick to eat and nutritious. The child factory worker's diet provided very little nourishment, giving them just barely the energy they would need for their long working hours. There were no supermarkets, fridges or freezers so people had to shop daily and from several different shops - the butchers, the greengrocers or grocers. Shopping food was often delivered to the door by travelling milkmen, grocers or pedlars. Common foods/drinks included: - Oatcakes - Solidified porridge - Bread and soups - Mutton (cheaper meat from older sheep) - Bacon - Potatoes - Gruel (a thin soup made from oats or potatoes mixed with milk and water) - Apples, pears and berries (depending on the season) - Beer (even for children) - Water (usually polluted) Less common foods/drinks included: - Tea (more expensive than beer, though) - Tropical fruits (they weren't easily available) - Milk and dairy products (expensive, but a shortage of these products led to rickets (a disease that makes bones soft)) "The hours of labour at that mill were from five in a morning till eight at night, with an interval for refreshment of thirty minutes at noon."
- Evidence given to the Factory Inquiry Commission 1833 "Our common food was oatcake. It was thick and coarse. This oatcake was put into cans. Boiled milk and water was poured into it. This was our breakfast and supper. Our dinner was potato pie with boiled bacon it, a bit here and a bit there, so thick with fat we could scarce eat it, though we were hungry enough to eat anything. Tea we never saw, nor butter. We had cheese and brown bread once a year. We were only allowed three meals a day though we got up at five in the morning and worked till nine at night."
- Sarah Carpenter, a child worker at Cressbrook Mill |
"I have been in the mills at all hours and I have never in my life seen the machinery stopped at meal times in any of the mills..."
- Evidence given to the Factory Inquiry Commission 1833 "Our regular time was from five in the morning till nine or ten at night; and on Saturday, till eleven, and often twelve o'clock at night, and then we were sent to clean the machinery on the Sunday. No time was allowed for breakfast and no sitting for dinner and no time for tea. We went to the mill at five o'clock and worked till about eight or nine when they brought us our breakfast, which consisted of water-porridge, with oatcake in it and onions to flavour it. Dinner consisted of Derbyshire oatcakes cut into four pieces, and ranged into two stacks. One was buttered and the other treacled. By the side of the oatcake were cans of milk. We drank the milk and with the oatcake in our hand, we went back to work without sitting down. We then worked till nine or ten at night when the water-wheel stopped. We stopped working, and went to the apprentice house, about three hundred yards from the mill. It was a large stone house, surrounded by a wall, two to three yards high, with one door, which was kept locked. It was capable of lodging about one hundred and fifty apprentices."
- John Birley as an apprentice at Cressbook Mill |
Extent of Child Labour
The extent to which child labour was used is staggering to consider. The actual number of children working in cotton mills is hard to come up with. In the early part of the Industrial Revolution no English censuses were taken that counted children working until the 1841 census. The breakdown of the starting age of child laborers in the cotton factories of Manchester and Stockport estimated from later inquiries, nearly half of the workers in the factories started while they were under the age of 10. The same report also noted that another 27.9% of the workforce started between the age of 10 and 13. The 1841 British Census reports that the textile industry employed almost 107,000 children and the children accounted for a significant portion of the employees in the textile industry.
The Hammonds say the official age at which children began working was age 6, but documents from church records show the children were really four or five.
The most common explanation for the increase in supply is poverty - the family sent their children to work because they desperately needed the income. The prevailing view of childhood for the working-class was that children were considered "little adults" and were expected to contribute to the family's income or enterprise.
The extent to which child labour was used is staggering to consider. The actual number of children working in cotton mills is hard to come up with. In the early part of the Industrial Revolution no English censuses were taken that counted children working until the 1841 census. The breakdown of the starting age of child laborers in the cotton factories of Manchester and Stockport estimated from later inquiries, nearly half of the workers in the factories started while they were under the age of 10. The same report also noted that another 27.9% of the workforce started between the age of 10 and 13. The 1841 British Census reports that the textile industry employed almost 107,000 children and the children accounted for a significant portion of the employees in the textile industry.
The Hammonds say the official age at which children began working was age 6, but documents from church records show the children were really four or five.
The most common explanation for the increase in supply is poverty - the family sent their children to work because they desperately needed the income. The prevailing view of childhood for the working-class was that children were considered "little adults" and were expected to contribute to the family's income or enterprise.
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Death does not concern us, because as long as we exist, death is not here. And when it does come, we no longer exist.
- Epicurus