The Lives of Working Children from Labouring Families at the end of Nineteenth Century

In the 19th century I think children missed out on most of their childhood as most of them took on jobs such as chimney sweepers, street sellers and farms for example. These were mainly children from poor families who were seen as extra farm hands and were exploited by receiving low pay for long hours and working in poor conditions. Families did not look at how the children were treated and the possible impact

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.

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.

The industrial revolution in the 19th century brought about a huge population exodus from the countryside into the cities by people seeking work. The massive influx forced the labouring classes to live in slums, where overcrowding was a key factor and where the spread of diseases such as diphtheria and scarlet fever were an ever present threat. The small houses could be home for as many as ten people, all living together in small unventilated rooms. Between the rows of terraced houses there were open drains and rubbish where children played, and water came from wells that were often polluted. The poor living conditions, long working hours in the mills, and low pay, all contributed to the general ill-health of the population and the frequent spread of disease.

During the 19th century children from ages of 3 onwards were forced into employment, mainly to work in factories. Child labour was extremely popular and played a big part of Britain’s economic success. Adults seemed to

During the 18 and beginning of the 19th century in certain regions of the U.S child labor made up more than 40 percent of the population (Wolensky). That’s almost half of the working population. Since the beginning of time children have always been known to help their families with domestic tasks. Most of these kids worked in factories because they were easy to control and paid less than adults. Kids earned less than half of what adults made in the work force. In these factories they usually cleaned under and inside machines while functioning because of their small size.. That’s how these kids felt as it was described in a article in our history book. They were always in danger of getting hurt or even dying, which many did. Kids as young

Child Labor Essay Evaluation Child Labor during the Industrial Revolution was a very difficult time for children because of the labor and hardship that children were forced to face at the time. Labor was long and hard, pay was little, if any pay was given at all. Due to their labor taking up almost all of their time, they would often have little education, as quoted in Mr. Coal, “It is only half past seven o’clock in the morning. Boys of his age should be eating breakfast and getting ready for school.” “When he first started at work, he wanted to go to school, but now he does not care.

Child labour became a popular trend during the Industrial Revolution, beginning in the late 1700s. During this era, many products could be made using power-driven machines. Since children were able to operate these machines, were easier to fit in small places, and most importantly, cheaper to pay, growing amounts of factories had hired children. As this became a common practice, child labour unfortunately became very popular by the mid - 1800s.

First things first child labor was very common during the Victorian Era for lots of reasons. Families were very poor because back then lots of work equaled what we think of as minimum wage today. Kids would work long hours usually from early morning to late into the night. Kids would work in harsh conditions that were usually very dangerous. Charles Dickens showa this in the story “Martha, who was a poor apprentice at a milliners, then told them

Child labor had a very negative effect on lower class children during the Victorian era. In the Victorian era, lower class children performed jobs such as working in coal mines, working in textile mills, and working as chimney sweeps. First, in the article by UK Parliament, the Factory Act in 1844, “ limited the hours worked by children to six and a half, with three hours' schooling”(Later Factory Legislation). The 1844 Factory Act shows that children were expected to work in mines and mills to support their family.

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

The Industrial Revolution affected families in countless different ways. For the bulk of people who were in the working class lived in small houses. Considering that these houses were so small, the people in them would be crammed together. "There were 63 families where there were at least five persons to a bed; and there were some in which even six were packed in one bed, lying at the top and bottom-children and adults" (Spievogel 569, 1). The houses were unsanitary and the people from the working class were more likely to come in contact with a disease. The people of the working class were not as physically healthy looking because they did not eat and live as well as the middle class or wealthy did. The working classes had very poor working conditions and were not paid fairly. Not just the men worked, but women

There is no denying that the nineteenth century in England was a time of tremendous changes throughout the social and economical spectrums. As the adults adjusted to these changes prompted by the Industrial Revolution as best they could, many children, in particular orphans, were faced with poor living conditions that limited their successes later in life. Although most orphaned children were fortunate enough to be placed into sufficient living circumstances, many of them were not as privileged. By discussing the various living conditions of orphans in nineteenth-century England, one can better understand their position in the English society and realize why their later successes were so

People often lived and worked in family unit, presenting everything by their own hand. Porter (1999) points out that around 75% British lived in the village, and most people ensure their life by farming. As a result of the Industrial Revolution, this situation no longer continued. The new law required that all owner’s of gazing grounds must afford the expense for fence, which lead to many farmers go bankrupt, at the meantime, many hand weavers unemployed because the new machines capability of produce big amount outputs (Stearns, 1998). Consequently, it forced many people find jobs in new factories, and moved to cities where the factory located (Porter, 1999). It is also important to state that although they worked for long hours, they only get paid little money. As they could not afford the higher living expenses in big cities, they had to move into the slum house. It is necessary to point out that over 12,000 people lived in 1,400 houses, nearly one family shared per room (included about nine people at average) (Engles, 1968: 62). This lead to several distress like air pollution, typhoid and cholera to threaten people’s lives (Stearns, 1998). Dean (1983: 104) also describes that the living conditions were fearful, in the course of early year of Industrial Revolution, over half of children aged under five years old dead because of the infectious

Childhood looked much different for the poor children of the Victorian Era as compared to the rich children. Poor families had to look for any way to make money to survive. Many poor children were part of the Child Labor force. When people realized children could fit into machines easier, work faster, have lower salaries child labor began to rise. Some families would purposely have many children so that they go to work to make more money for the family. These jobs were often dangerous and many children died. Because the lower class families needed money for survival more than their children needed and education, children were pulled from school to go work in factories.