The Industrial Revolution and Child Labor

The Industrial Revolution had a negative effect on society due to the child labor and horrible working conditions. Until the 1780s most work would have been done by hand. It was the movement which powered machinery. Great Britain was the first country which was industrialized. The reasons why it started in Great Britain was because the agricultural revolution, the enclosure movement, capital, natural resources, and supply of markets.

There were many accounts concerning child labor in the 1700s. Child labor happened with children as young as five years old.

Since they had smaller hands, they were employed to tending the machines in factories. They were obligated to work long hours that even worn out most adults. They would begin at around six in the morning and end at about seven thirty or even later then that (“Child Labor Accounts (England), 1833”. This would make it hard for them to wake up the next morning, since they always started a six o’clock. One father was ordered to beat his children and pinch them, to wake them up for the next days works (“Child Labor Accounts (England), 1833”). Since the children’s family was so in need, they gave the money they would make to their parents. With the time they make for working over hours, since they were obligated to do so, they saved it for themselves. Most would use the extra money for clothes (“Child Labor Accounts (England), 1833”.

Since they woke up so early, they did not have time to stop for breakfast. Most times they would go into work without having a bite to eat. They had only half an hour for dinner time. 1.75 million children, or around eighteen-point two percent, who were aged between ten to fifteen years old were found working (Benson). This statistic did not include the children who were under ten who held a job in factories, mills, and or on the streets (Benson). If they had included these children, it would exceed more then two million or around twenty-one percent (Benson). Kid often were seen working as newsies and seen working late into midnight hours. These long hours would make they sick and the bad weather would take a tole of them (Benson). These children would work twelve to fourteen hours with only eating in-between breaks.

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