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History Of The Industrial Revolution: The Invisible Children Of Britain

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The Invisible Children of Britain
The Industrial Revolution was one of the most significant events in history which shaped modern society. The Industrial Revolution changed the way the production of goods was manufactured. Which in turn created a huge demand for workers. Britain strayed away from traditional cottage houses and opened the door to factories. When thinking of those men and women who created Britain, we forget that a huge amount of the labor force came from children. During the 1800s, it was very common to use child labor. This was due to the fact that children were smaller and could fit into tight places, as well as having smaller hands that would easily fit into large machines. Sometimes you would find more children than adults …show more content…

“The Parish apprentice children were some of the first children to be brought into the factory setting. These were children who had been taken in by the government and placed in orphanages” (Reed 2001) . In the mindset of these factory owners they were taking children off the streets and providing them with housing and food. Transforming the most venerable individual in society, which were orphans, into state sponsored slaves. These children were not paid for their work, meaning that factory work became a substitute for social work. Sadly, these children would have been taken as early as seven or eight years old. Orphans could also have been easily replaced if any accidents occurred. Sarah Carpenter was a nine year who was sent to work in a mill in Derby during 1849. She said this in an interview, “We were always locked up after mill hours, for fear that any of us would run away. One day the door was left open. Charlotte Smith said, ‘she would be ring leader if the rest of us would follow’. She went out but no one followed her. The master found out. There was a carving knife which he took and grasped her hair close to her head. This head shave was a dreadful punishment, we were more afraid of it than any other, for girls are proud of their hair” (Carey 2011). This event shows how young these children were and how terrified they were of their master. Clearly, these children were not free if they were locked up because the master could not lose his means of production. In the factories children had no rights. Children were usually mistreated and abused by their employers and

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Document 1 describes the working conditions of British factories. In this excerpt, a testimony is given by a 28-year-old worker who began working in the mills at the age of 10. During that time he would work 16 hours straight with only one 40-minute break for lunch at noon. This left no time for school and resulted in the man being able to read but not write. And at times the children were even whipped to keep them awake.

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During the Eighteenth and the early Nineteenth centuries, Child labor was a major part of the industrial revolution, especially in Great Britain where child labor was a large part of the working class and soon became a social and political problem/issue. In late Eighteenth century child labor became a necessary thing for the working class and society of Britain and other countries such as modern day Germany and America. Children were hired because they could do jobs the adults simply couldn 't do because of their sheer size and incapability to do certain things like clean chimneys and fix the machines in the

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They also employed them because they were small and could go under and fix the machines easily. As children were expected to work at a young age in the Industrial Revolution time, they employed loads of children so than they didn’t have to do as much work and they could get more done at once. The jobs they done caused injuries frequently such as crushed fingers, broken arms, and even legs been pulled off. The factory owners did not force the workers to work they had a choice, either be homeless, or get underpaid and mistreated. The children had to fix broken machines and fix the broken threads, when they were still going.

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“During the 1800s there were few laws in Britain regulating the employment of children,” (Document#7). In the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, there were few to none laws controlling how long or under what conditions anyone worked, even kids. In spite of the horrible working conditions for all, workers were to be flooded with beneficial change in a few decades. In The Working Man’s Companion, it is written “you are surrounded… with an infinite number of comforts and conveniences which had no existence two or three centuries ago,” (Document #9). After years of horrid working conditions, worker unions were formed to create new laws for employers.

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This was at a time when there were no laws for child labor. Child labor was treacherous and some important people stepped in to stop it. These working conditions were hazardous and the kids were not safe. Child labor affects the child’s mental and physical health and it keeps children from struggling in school.(Doc. 7) Also, the reason why there were so many accidents in factories is because there were no safety regulations and requirements for uniforms.(Doc. 2)

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Child Labor in the 18th Century Children in the 18th century worked many different jobs. Some of the jobs required lifting heavy materials or items, such as bricks. Other jobs required very little lifting, but still asked children to complete hard work by today’s standards. Despite the tasks, there were many reasons why these children working was dangerous. While working, children were abused and some even lost their futures.

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Therefore, the innovative Industrial Revolution was an enormous improvement throughout Great Britain, regardless of the negativities it caused. The Revolutionary act in 1780 in England would not have been fulfilled without the help of hundreds of men, women, and children sparing dangerously long hours in factories or mines. Even though the work was tough, these people were essential in the rise of the Industrial Revolution. Document one of the evidence exemplifies the use of child labor in England, through a simple interview.

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I believe that the factory system in the 1800s were not right. According to John Birley children were beaten and treated very poorly at the mill he worked at as a child. In the article it states that the children worked from five in the morning till nine or ten at night. And on Saturday they worked till eleven or twelve o’clock. These conditions are not right because the children had school and did not have enough time to do anything they wanted to do like little kids today.

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However, boys were not allowed to be teachers or stay at home parents. “During the 1800’s there were few laws in Britain regulating the employment of children. Elizabeth testified before a parliamentary committee investigating conditions among child laborers in Britain’s textile industry.” (Document 7). Elizabeth is a great example of the unfair rights of the child labor laws.

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Along with no education, if they misbehaved or took too long while working, they would get strapped, also known as whipped. According to the document, the children were basically barely paid slaves who were abused, and almost died too many times to count, from all different non-natural reasons. Children working during the Industrial Revolution were causing the population downgrade, and families stopping at that

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In the 1800’s, a girl named Elizabeth Bentley testified before a parliamentary committee investigating conditions among child laborers in Britain’s textile industry. One of the questions stated: “What time did you begin work at the factory?” Elizabeth responded with this: “When I was six years old” (Document 7). This affected her education in years to come. Her health and well-being was affected as well, in which, by the end of her work, she lived in a poorhouse.

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Many children began working before the age of 7, tending machines in spinning mills or hauling heavy loads. The factories were often damp, dark, and dirty. Some children worked underground,

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Child Labor The industrial revolution was a big point in history. As machines began to complete tasks formerly done by adults they involved children in working the heavy machines. Children are so young and so fragile that it is even sickening to think they’d be working in factories with big machines. A child only knows so much about the world and learns more as he or she grows. The industrial revolution was a time when very important inventions were benefiting society in a positive way.

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In the United States of America Police Agencies are broken down into a few major categories; such as Federal Agency, State Patrol, County Sheriff and Municipal or Metro Department. One of the agency that I was interested in a was the D.C Metro Police Department. My interest in the structure of the department was based on the many different federal agency and how it affects their operational needs based on the many different jurisdictions in that one confined area. In the District of Columbia, they are about 35 different agencies comprised of Federal, State, County, Municipal and College Police officers. There are several different bureaus along with specialized units that make up the Metropolitan Police Department.

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Child labor was a great concern in the Industrial revolution but very few people did something to stop it. Women and Children were forced to work more than 10 hours a day with only forty minutes to have lunch. Elizabeth Bentley once said that they didn’t have any time to have breakfast or drink anything during the day. They worked standing up and if they didn’t do their work on time they were strapped (whipped). Children were treating like they were not important, like they didn’t deserve a better life.

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