Child Labor in Britain
19th Century Industrial Revolutin Carissa Williams
Jobs children Did In Factories
In this image a young girl is pulling a cart with a belt tied around her waist and chains going between her legs. She is crawling through a small tunnel in a mine on her hands and knees because she has no option. Her clothes stay wet almost all day because the tunnels are wet.
Four Facts:
*Chimney Sweeping-Children would have to climb the chimney while holding a brush over his/her head. The soot would fall down over the child and down to the bottom of the fireplace. The child would then slide back down the chimney, collect the soot, and hand it over to the master sweep who owned him. These children were around 6 years old and the chimneys were often very tight fits.
*Factories- Lucky children got apprenticed in a trade, the less lucky ones worked on farms, helped with the spinning in factories or crawled underneath machinery, to pick up cotton or fix the machine
*Coal Mines-Children worked as trappers which operated the air doors providing ventilation for the miners and drawers who pulled heavy carts of cut coal to the pits surface with heavy chains around their waistsbootlaces, polished shoes, ran errands and swept crossing places where rich people crossed the busy roads
*Street Children-Thousands of poor children worked and lived on the streets. They worked very long hours to buy bread, they sold matches, firewood, buttons, flowers ect.
Hours/Food/Working Conditions
Bad Working Conditions
The boys in this image are working in terrible conditions. They have no shoes on no safety equipment and are standing on the machines while they are still running. Just from looking at this picture you can see how un safe it was for them to work.
Four Facts:
*Children were worked 14 or more hours a day and could be as young as 5 years old. They had no breaks and were given no meals at times. Also some factories locked their workers into the factory during the shifts to make them work harder.
*Children were put in very hazardous conditions with little pay and equipment they only had thin clothes and maybe a helmet to protect themselves (coal mines). Children were a cheap source of labor, so they were used more often and given the worst and most dangerous equipment and job.
*Usually children ate gruel, corn and bread but were not allowed to ask for more
*Factories mines and other places children had to work were very unsanitary and unsafe. Bosses didn't care about there employees so they didn't care how dirty it was or unsafe as long as they got the job done
Accidents That Often Happend
Fire Burns Down Factory
In this image a factory has been burned down by cotton being stuck under the machine that a child couldn't get or missed. Accidents like this happen in factories all the time. Which is why children shouldn't be working in these conditions or factories.
Four facts:
*While working or fixing the machines children would fall in and either get seriously injured
or die
*While working on the machines the cotton would fall under the machine and if it didn't get cleaned up it could start a fire at burn the factory down and the people in it
* accidents to the hands, such as cut, broken, or crushed fingers, are common among the boy in the mines. Sometimes there are worse accidents such as a terrified shriek that is heard, and a boy is mangled and torn in the machinery, or disappears in the chute to be picked out later smothered and dead.
*Chimneys were such small places children would often get stuck or be frozen with fear from being in the chimneys
Punishments Children Faced
Mean Masters Friendly Children
In this image a child is hugging another child because the child had just gotten beaten by the over looker o master for some disobeying being late or being tired.
Four Facts:
*If misbehaved children were taken and beaten with a whip
*Children who worked long hours in the textile mills became very tired and found it difficult to maintain the speed required by the over lookers so they were usually hit with a strap to make them work faster. In some factories children were dipped head first into the water cistern if they became too tired to work.
*Children who were late were beaten by the over looker with a stick or a strap
*Sometimes bosses wouldn't feed children or give them breaks as punishment.
Efforts To Improve/Stop Child Labor
International Labor Organization
This image is the picture for the (ILO) they are an organization against child labor. They along with other organizations are trying to end Child labor forever. They believe kids should not be allowed or forced to work at such young ages
Four Facts:
*International Program on the Elimination of Child Labor (IPEC) or (ILO)- The goal of the program is achieved through strengthening the capacity of countries to deal with the problem and promoting a worldwide movement to combat child labor.
*End Child Labor (ECL)- ECL’s mission is to eliminate the worst forms of child labor in the United States. ECL’s programs and projects are oriented to address the child labor problem from numerous and different approaches.
*The Global march against child labor came about in 1998 due to the overwhelming response of the need to end child labor. It motivated many individuals and organizations to come together and fight against child labor and not an annual march.
*Union and Community Organizing, Free Education for All Children, Campaigns to Change Public Opinion, Universal Minimum Standard are all some ways organizations and governments are trying to stop child labor