Impact Of Textile Workers In The Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution brought many changes to the lifestyle and way work was completed for citizens of Britain between 1750 and 1900. Machines that provided effective, cheap and fast production of goods began to replace the jobs once held by people. This development effected many groups of workers, but especially those in the textile industry. The introduction of machinery had a significant impact on the lives of these industrial workers due to the low and high demand for goods, unfair wages and unhealthy and dangerous working conditions it inaugurated. The lives of industrial textile workers were significantly impacted by the Industrial Revolution.

Firstly, industrial textile workers were immediately impacted by the high demand for goods. This affected the ages of workers employed, the length of shifts and the amount of materials required. As textile factory owners “extracted the greatest amount of labour from workers for the lowest wages possible” (Source A), many employed women and children to power machines to cope with the high demand as they could pay them less. This can be seen in Source H, as many of the people depicted are children and females. Factory owners also lengthened the hours of workers shifts, to the point where employees were working over 14 hours per day, regardless of age (Source G). The long hours workers of all ages were subjected to shows that the industrial revolution had a significant impact on the lives of textile workers.

Secondly,