Life at work in Britain during the I ndustrial Revolution : Child labor

1. ASSELIN Amandine, DUPOUY Elisa, 2nde5 Life at work in Britain during the Industrial Revolution : Child labor

2. I. Introduction The IndustrialRevolutionis a periodapproximately at the XVIII century. It’s characterised by a serie of extraordinary innovations. In particullary by the invention of the steam machine which really revolutioned the way of life and of work. Everything were more affordable and it permitted to people to travel because it led the apparition of the locomotive and the steam boat. It was a very important period for the Britain and the rest of the world. The Industrial Revolution had very bad consequences on the landscape and the cities turned black

3. Most of the work was done outside the home, in specially designed bulding. It the born of the factories. The mechanization started in the textil industry. A new class of people emerged : workers. But an adult was less useful than a child so factories owners prefered to employe children. There were a lot of avantages, and it was not shocking that they had expected to work. Two children workers in a textile factory

4. II. Causes The child labor began because families had no help from the governement. They were obliged to send their children work in factories and they relied on their wages to survive. But children workers were often orphans. Some of them were given an education at work but many were not. At this time, school wasn’t compulsory and not affordable. A child worker during the Industrial Revolution

5. Factories owners prefered to employe children because they were paid less than adults and apprentices were not paid. They just worked for food and shelter. They lived in apprentices workhouses. Overseers were looking after them and they used their whips when a child were not doing his work. People in favour of child labor assured that they didn’t used it to beat a child and that ill treatments were very rare. The more work the children did the more overseers were paid. An apprentices workhouse during the industrial revolution

6. III. Conditions at work Children were more supple than adults so they can crawl under the machines to repair broken threads. But it was very dangerous because they did it when the machines were working so some were badly injured. They were a lot of accidents. A child worker were crawling under a spinning wheel

7. Children worked from 5 o’clock in the morning to 7 o’clock with a break of thirty minutes for breakfast and dinner. They win just 2 dollars a day whereas they do a very hard and tiring work. Some of the worst conditions were seen in factories. Line work in a factory

8. The most of little children were afraid of the noise in the mills, and some were of the smell too.The smell seemed unbearable they suffocated with the dust.Whereas, some people said that children working at home were, most of the time, working for longer hours and less wages than these employed in factories. A very noisy factory during the industrial revolution

9. In the textile industry, people were afraid by the conditions of working. There were a lot of work hour and a little wage. To fight against it, workers and reformers created the unions and associations and forced the government to limit the work day and to protect children. People manifested against the child labor

10. IV.Conclusion • During the industrial revolution, the child labor was very common but if some people thought it was normal, other persons were outraged of it. Whereas, it permitted to england to develop the industry, trade, and travel. It boosted the country. new factories after the industrial revolution