Industrial Revolution Dbq

The Industrial Revolution was the period of change where machines were used to make goods, replacing goods being made by hand. It was also the period of transformation in production and technology. The Industrial Revolution first started in Britain in the 1750s and ended around 1914. During this period, children were forced to work for a long amount of time to earn money for their families.

Source A is about a girl named Sarah Gooder, who is 8 years old. Her job is as a trapper in a Gawber pit. A trapper’s job was done by opening and closing wooden trap doors, which helped provide ventilation to circulate through the mine. Sarah explains how she had to get up early and was often very sleepy. This source is an extract from the Parliamentary

This was because children were cheaper to hire, smaller than adults, and their parents sold them for money. Working in factories was dangerous since children had no safety gear and worked barefoot. In Source A, Sarah Gooder was a trapper in a gawber pit. This source gives an insight into Sarah’s working experience in 1842. She describes it by saying that she’s sleepy, scared and she says she “doesn’t like being in the pit”. She had to wake up early and work late. Sarah sings when she has light, but doesn’t when she has no light because she fears the dark. Sarah learns about God in Sunday school and prays to God, hoping that he will help make her life better. Sarah also says she would “rather be at school than in the pit”. Working experiences for children working in the mine are poor. Source A shows they are often sleepy and don’t like working in the pit. Being a climbing boy was another job that children had during the Industrial Revolution. A climbing boy was like a trapper, the child had to be small to fit up the chimney. Their job was to climb up a slim chimney to clean it. They were often in the dark and, like trappers, they were paid little wages. In Source A, Sarah Gooder gives an insight into what a child worker’s experience was like working as a

Sarah Gooder expresses how the working environment was dark and how she didn’t like being there in the pit. She states how they didn’t get a proper education, only Sunday school, where she learned about God and how to pray. As a result of this, Sarah has limited skills in reading and writing, and in Source A, there are grammatical mistakes, which shows how unequal getting an education was in 1842 for working children. More than 50% of children face the same fate. During this period, working conditions were unjust for young children. Working long hours and having health issues such as lung cancer and malnutrition were common ways workers were effected in the Industrial Revolution, however, the 1842 Mines and Collieries Act changed all of this. This Act helped change working conditions in mines since it banned underground work for girls and boys under the age of ten, which was an improvement in working