Child Labor in England
In 1800's (during Industrial Revolution): Isiah Powers
Boy in Factory Cleaning
This boy covered in dirt and dust is cleaning around the machine while being supervised by an adult co-worker. Also being gossiped by young children behind him.
Jobs Children Did in the Factory
These children could've had multiple jobs, one things most smaller children were used as scavengers, fixing the machines as they were running. They would also spend all day in textile mills picking up loose cotton with little to no breaks. Kids were forced to opporate/clean machinery throughout the day. Child labor in the coal mines included pushing the trollies of coal back and forth to the serface and back.
Hours, Food, and Working Conditions
Children could work as long 19 hours a day at the most but most worked 12-14. They had little to no pay at all, if they were it was a fraction of what adults got paid. With the very little breaks they had three of them where their meals which consist of oatcake and milk and potato pie with boiled bacon. Conditions were unbearable, child abuse and sometimes murder was common yet over looked by the law!
Injured Young Boy
This boy has gotten his whole arm chopped off while working in a factory, now he has a deformity he has to deal with for his entire life.
Accidents that Often Happen
Many accidents could happen in a mill but most included sundered limbs and fingers. Sometimes vital body parts or the whole body can get caught and cause death. Other incidents can be boiling water or hot surfaces severely burning your skin and cause deformities. Shift managers where known, if they caught you slipping, could actually go and kill you themselves or cause you severe pain.
Weapons Used for Child Disciplin
This included whips, chains and weights, sharp pointers, roman whips, twigs, night sticks and many more.
Punishments Children Faced
One way of punishment would be the overseer "weights" you, which means to strap a weight behind attached at the neck and make you walk the aisles of the mill. Thick leather straps with metal buckles on the end would be used to beat the kids if they did wrong. overseers would poke the children with clothing pins to make them work faster. they would pretty much use anything to beat or make a fool of the children.
Child Labor
This is a symbolic picture of a young girl (symbolizing child labor) carrying the sack of money (mass profits from cheap labor) for the wealthy in the back (the factory owners) watching her.
Efforts to stop Child Labor
Labor unions started to form against child labor and would cause riots and big city rebellions. But it didn't just start fights, it actually caused the government to start making laws against children working in the factories. It started with setting lower hours of work, then it set an age limit of 9 at first. They eventually set the limit to a thirteen age.