Child Labour During The Industrial Revolution

Throughout history, children have always worked, either as apprentices or servants. However, child labor reached a whole new scale during the time period of the Industrial Revolution. Throughout the time frame of late 1800s-early 1900s, children worked long hours in dangerous factory conditions for very little wages. They were considered useful as laborers because their small stature allowed them to be cramped into smaller spaces, and they could be paid less for their services. Many worked to help support their families, and by doing so, they forwent their education. Numerous nineteenth century reformers and labor groups sought to restrict child labor and to improve working conditions.

However the industrial revolution was not all good. The working class had no other option but to turn up at the factories for work. The factory system resulted in over-crowding and unhygienic conditions and also the development of slum areas. Many factory owners who needed cheap, unskilled labour, profited greatly by using children and women to run the machines and because they were small and could fit in tunnels as well not only that they were more suited for factory life because they could adopt more quickly and easily than men. By the age of 6, many children were already working twelve hours a day in factories. These children had no free time to do anything plus they earned low wages. Hardly any of the children went to school they had to work in factories to earn money. Quite a lot of the people who worked at factories got sick and died because of the toxic fumes in the factories. While others were severely injured because the machines didn't have safety guards so many children got killed by machinery when they fell asleep and got caught up in the machines. Many of the children who were orphans, hired by the employers would

Conditions of factories were not safe for anyone, let alone a small child. Due to these conditions many children died before their prime. Many children “began work at age 5, and generally died before they were 25” (www.victorianweb.org), America was beginning to lose an entire generation due to these working conditions that so many had to endure. Children were hired at an alarming rate. “In 1870, the first time census reported child workers, there were 750,000 workers in the United States age 15 and under, not including those who worked on family farms or in other family businesses” (“Child Labor in America”), these numbers were not something that was looked over, it astonished many. “A cotton manufactory of 5 or 6000 spindles will employ those 200 children” (Bremner 232). The workforce would continuously grow, hiring more and more children each day. Factories were good for using children as a means of their productivity. “Textile factories, for the most part […] were in the forefront of this industrial revolution, and children formed an essential component of the new industrial workforce” (Bremner 232). Many times without these children working some of these factories would not have survived through the revolution.

At the time living conditions during the Industrial Revolution were poor. In Manchester the houses are overcrowded (Document 2). Most people lacked beds, food, clothing and more (Document 7). Most people spent 12-14 hours in a factory working with little to none breaks, enclosed rooms that are polluted, and not good pay. (Document 7). This

Children most of the time worked in mines, glass factories, textiles, canaries, and home industries. A lot of these industries are filled with dangers that can easily kill them. In this quote “Children as young as six years old during the industrial revolution worked hard hours for little or no pay” (Child labor in factories). A good number of these kids were harassed and mistreated by the factory bosses. If children didn’t arrive on time to work, they would have to be punished by the factory bosses. The punishment was that the children would have to sprint up and down the factory aisle until they were completely drained out of energy and they had to do this nude carrying a backpack full of heavy objects. This caused a lot of children to develop

The Industrial Revolution resulted in changes to living and working conditions. Rather than the village lifestyle that supported families working in small groups to oversee local production, there was a shift in population from rural landscapes to vast cities. This resulted in work in factory settings. Fredreich Engels describes how this ‘caused the isolation of the individual’ in his book The Condition of the Working Class in England . The working class were especially sacrificed, being subject to overcrowding, and inappropriate conditions. Engels describes the unhygienic living and working conditions including ‘rough, dirty’ unpaved streets that lacked sewers and gutters. This contributed to the spread of disease. Factories were made for the machine, and the work was autonomous with workers being assigned one part of a production

They had worked long hours for ridiculous wages. Were unable to enjoy their childhood due to labour. Most importantly many children died while working in the industrial revolution. With bigger, more powerful machines, the danger of labour was increased that much more. The amount of deaths, and injuries of the youth in the workforce lead to child labour laws.

The Industrial Revolution in Britain led to many social changes for the country as well as its people. Prior to the revolution, many people, especially of the lower class in terms of wealth, lived in the countryside where they worked fields to feed their own families. After the Industrial Revolution began, however, this all changed as the demand for more and more goods became abundant, and a method of increasing the supply was needed. Factories would be built in towns by the upper class business owners, and peasants would move into these towns to work in the factories. Small factory towns would later become factory cities, and most of the citizens of these cities were the people that worked in the factories. The living conditions in these cities were horrendous, and the working conditions were terrible as well. People of all ages worked in the factories, and some children as young as six would work twelve to sixteen hours – and sometimes more – each day. Life during the Industrial Revolution was tough, but there were some positives as well.

Children in the industrial revolution as young as six years hold worked hard long hours in the industrial revolution for little to no pay.children sometimes use to work 19 hours a day with a one total break.but children that work in the factories used to work 12-14 hours with the same minimal break but not only they worked long hours that worked in horrible conditions in the factories.children in the factories work with large,heavy equipment,which was very dangerous was very common for children using or working around or very close to. Many accidents occurred,injuring or killing children Woking on the job because they were Woking very close to machines and breathing in dust particles in the cotton factories.children in the industrial revolution

The roles available required long hours and supplied little pay. The poverty level became very excessive and each capable member of the family was required to work in order keep the family above deprivation. Families migrated from the rural farm areas to the newly industrialized, crowded towns on the lookout for work opportunities. in the course of this revolution, children became one of the groups that had been extensively affected due to the fact they were referred to as to workers within the factories. A family could no longer be capable of earning enough itself if the children weren 't employed. This caused the excessive rise of child labour in factories. Children worked long hours on their family’s farms when they were living in the rural areas but in the cities the children worked extensively hard for very long hours for larger companies

While the upper class reaped all the benefits of the industrial revolution and lucrative religious ventures, the lower class citizens were being treated like animals. The revolution into industry sent poor farmers into the cities looking for jobs that were controlled by the wealthy upper class. Immediately these people were exploited, being given long hours, low wages, and horrible living arrangements. The working class citizens were being exposed to conditions of “filth, ruin, and uninhabitableness, with the defiance of all considerations of cleanliness,

One major political change of the industrial revolution were the laws that were created during the time to abolish child labour. Back in the early stages of the industrial revolution, children were used as labourers, because of their size and nimble fingers which allowed them to manoeuvre around and work in small spaces in factories and mines where adults couldn’t reach. They were paid less than adults, worked for long hours (12 -14 hours per day) with terrible conditions and little rest and abused by their owners. Soon enough, people

With the construction of the railway, people were able to move from their small towns to the more urbanized areas of the country. When they arrived they found out that life was much different from what they were normally use to. The cities continued to grow in size at a rapid pace. Unable to keep up with the growing population as a result of urbanization, people found a lack for housing, good sanitation, or recreational facilities available. This added more misery to the working classes that did not have all that much to begin with. Living in the city was very different from what people from countryside were use to. Homes took the shape of small unsanitary places that were squashed between many other houses with similar characteristics. Most of these homes had only one room for a whole family to live in. Living conditions were indeed terrible but working conditions were much worse.

The Industrial Revolution occurred in Britain from 1760 to 1840. During this time many people moved from farming areas to the city for work. Britain had three different classes, upper, middle and working/lower. These three classes had different living and working conditions. The lower class had the harshest conditions and punishments out of the three, they worked 12 hours a day and then went home to a crowded diseased ridden house late a night. The middle class actually benefitted from the revolution, going from working in factories to owning them. And the upper class had the easiest life out of the three, not having to work and living in beautiful mansions.

Mass production played a big role in the Industrial Revolution and its working conditions. The Industrial Revolution was a time of progress in terms of new machines and technology being used in manufacturing products. With a stronger demand for all kinds of products there was an even bigger demand for a larger workforce, which also varied in gender and age. Child labor was fairly common during this period; children were hired to perform some of the tasks the adults were unable to perform. Such as working in mines that involved small crawl areas or in textile factories where their small fingers could fix broken threads. Working conditions were not only harsh on children, but also for the adults. As a result of mass production, people often worked long hours with almost no rest. Consequently, these long working hours lead to accidents,