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Child labour england 18th century
Child labour england 18th century
Child labour england 18th century
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It was from the late eighteenth century that Britain bit by bit getting changed from an agrarian to modern culture, as the populace moved from nation to mechanical urban communities, looking for better wages if worse living condition. Victoria's England was a tyke overwhelmed society. All through her long rule, one out of each three of her subjects was less than fifteen years old. In the 1830s and 40s, poor kids toiled in material plants and coal mines, where working conditions frequently demonstrated dangerously. Youngster work was not new, but rather as industrialization proceeded with it turned out to be more unmistakable, as masses of worn out, hindered kids swarmed the city avenues. Child work around then was synonymous to bondage. Youngsters were subjected to brutal torment, abuse, and even demise. These tyke workers were compelled to work in industrial facilities and workhouses …show more content…
Youngster work, in Victorian England, was a piece of a frightful framework which grabbed offspring of their youth, wellbeing, and even their lives. Youngsters were the perfect workers: they were shabby (paid only 10-20 for each penny of a man's compensation) and could fit into little spaces, for example, under apparatus, and through thin passages. The passage was tight, and a single 16in high in spots. The specialists could scarcely bow to it, not to mention stand. Thick, gagging coal dust filled their lungs as they crept through the dimness, their knees scratching on the unpleasant surface and their muscles contracting with torment. Compelled to scale the limited smokestacks, just 18in wide, he would rub his elbows and knees on the brickwork and stifle on coal
Imagine being forced to work in conditions that might cause you to lose a limb, to be beaten daily, or to be left with long term respiratory conditions. These terrible conditions were realities to families who worked in textile factories in the 1700’s. England was the first to adopt textile factories which would benefit with mass production of cotton material. According to the power point, “Industrial Revolution; Life in English Factories”, low and unskilled workers, often children, ran the machines and moved material, this helped lower the cost of goods. During this time, commissions investigated the working conditions of the factories.
Although, Conventional wisdom dictates that the age at which children started work was connected to the poverty of the family. Griffith presents two autobiographies to put across her point. Autobiography of Edward Davis who lacked even the basic necessities of life because of his father’s heavy drinking habit and was forced to join work at a small age of six, whereas the memoir of Richard Boswell tells the opposite. He was raised up in an affluent family who studied in a boarding school. He was taken out of school at the age of thirteen to become a draper’s apprentice.
Working conditions were described as dangerous, dirty, unhealthy, polluted, dark, dim and drafty. These workers who worked very hard with their strong muscles in these horrible conditions were not valued. If they were hurt and could not work, they were simply replaced. This was also stated in Document 4, with the same thing happening to children. In conclusion, both adult and child workers were not valued equally and treated like garbage.
With the gradual advancements of society in the 1800’s came new conflicts to face. England, the leading country of technology at the time, seemed to be in good economic standing as it profited from such products the industrial revolution brought. This meant the need for workers increased which produced jobs but often resulted in the mistreatment of its laborers. Unfortunately the victims targeted were kids that were deprived of a happy childhood. A testimony by a sub-commissioner of mines in 1842 titled Women Miners in the English Coal Pits and The Sadler Report (1832), an interview of various kids, shows the deplorable conditions these kids were forced to face.
When Queen Alexandrina Victoria took reign of england on june 20th 1837, her country was amidst a class evolution derived from the consequences of industrialization. Early industrialization saw vast exploitation of the lower classes, but by the mid 19th century reforms had improved working conditions. The late industrialization era saw the s...
Child labor started during the industrial revolution, cheap labor was needed, and the machines could be operated by children. Many children worked because of poverty, they were forced to work to help out their families. The lack of government regulations that enforced safety standards or that said how long the children were to work. They would work very long hours with nothing to show for it. Since children were so small they could fit into small spaces that the adult workers could
Child labor is nothing but cheap labor. The big companies loved cheap labor because then they could make an item for not very much money, and make a huge profit margin. Fried continues to state how cheap the labor was, “One glass factory in Massachusetts was fenced with barbed wire ‘to keep the young imps inside.’ These were boys under 12 who carried loads of hot glass all night for a wage of 40 cents to $1.10 per night.” Unlike, children today who are in bed sleeping by 8 pm each night, these children had to stay up all night working to make just enough income for their families.
Gaskell, Peter. The Manufacturing Population of England: Its Moral, Social, and Physical Conditions, and the Changes which have Arisen from the use of Steam Machinery; with an Examination of Infant Labour. 1833. New York: Arno Press, 1972.
"Child Labor during the British Industrial Revolution." EHnet. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Dec. 2017. (-- removed HTML --) .
The Industrial Revolution in nineteenth-century England brought about many changes in British society. It was the advent of faster means of production, growing wealth for the Nation and a surplus of new jobs for thousands of people living in poverty. Cities were growing too fast to adequately house the numerous people pouring in, thus leading to squalid living conditions, increased filth and disease, and the families reliance upon their children to survive. The exploitation of children hit an all time peak in Britain when generations of its youth were sacrificed to child labor and the “Coffers” of England.
In the working part of the middle class there was difficult, messy work and physical labor that was strenuous on the body. In Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, this is shown when Pip is realizing that he is only common person and meant to be a worker, “I took the opportunity of being alone in the courtyard, to look at my coarse hands and common boots” (92.) Being the ap...
...his was because at the time, thanks to machinery, a worker only needed a small skill set, to accomplish a job that was formerly difficult. They were also employed for their size. This did not come without it’s problems. Child workers faced harsh conditions. They were beaten and abused. They were also paid much less than any regular worker. 13
Imagine waking up at five in the morning to walk over a mile to a factory where you work until noon where you get a half hour break for lunch, then it’s back to work until nine or ten at night, when you are finally allowed to go home and you are only eight years old. Today that seems unimaginable, but during the early 19th century it was the everyday life of thousands of children whose ages range from as young as five until you died. During the Industrial Revolution many children were required to work dangerous jobs to help their families.
“Child labor is work that harms children or keeps them from attending school.” Back then in the U.S., children were working between ages 5 to 17. Between the 1800s and 1900s, many children worked in agricultural fields, fishing, mining, manufacturing, and even drug trade and prostitution. Even though child labor laws are still avoided around the world, the effects on child labor in the US, before, was unbelieveable. Children were suffering from health issues, reform movements grew and other countries followed enforced child labor too.
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 limited.