Malavika Santhosh Nair Mr. Russell Industrial Revolution, Child Labor 17th November 2015 Good afternoon friends and teacher, indeed the topic is very sensitive and disconcerting to many, but I’m elated that I can share my experiences with you all today, a very profound and deeply painful experience that I have gone through, as a small child in the 19th Century. But now, when I see my grandchildren happy and leading a life children should lead, I feel satisfied as mine and my parents fight against this practice has finally born fruits. Before then, in 1859, there were terrible working conditions endured by thousands of children across Britain every day. As a 13 year-old textile worker in Wigan, I was employed as a scavenger picking up loose …show more content…
Poor children have always started to work as soon as their parents could find employment for them. But, during industrialization, with new factories and mines hungry for workers, resulting in a surge of child labor. Child labor has never been a particularly appealing part of society, but during the industrial revolution, the practice became even uglier than its earlier incarnations. Children were often put in dodgy industrial jobs and paid menial wages. Research has shown that the average age at which children started work in early 19th-century Britain was 10 years old, but that this varied widely between regions. In industrial areas, children started work on average at eight and a half years old. Most of these young workers entered the factories as piercers, standing at the spinning machines repairing breaks in the thread. In the mines, children usually started by minding the trap doors, picking out coals at the pit mouth, or by carrying picks for the miners. In towns, most boys were employed as errand boys or chimney sweeps, though once again finding employers who wanted to hire a child could be a difficult task. The average age for starting work was 11 and a half years old. There was, therefore, considerable variety in the age at which children started work, with those in the industrial districts typically starting work the youngest. All children labored under the same disadvantages, though, working for very …show more content…
In 1821, approximately 49% of the workforce was under 20. In rural areas, children as young as five or six joined women in 'agricultural gangs' that worked in fields often a long way from their homes. Changes came in 1833 when the Factory Act was passed. The Act not only created the post of factory inspector, but also made it illegal for textile factories to employ children less than 9 years of age. The Act came at a time when reformers like Richard Oastler were publicizing the terrible working conditions of children, comparing the plight of child laborers to that of slaves. The timing was significant: slavery was abolished in the British Empire in