Child Labor and England’s Industrial Revolution Essay

Child Labor and England’s Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution in nineteenth-century England brought about many changes in British society. It was the advent of faster means of production, growing wealth for the Nation and a surplus of new jobs for thousands of people living in poverty. Cities were growing too fast to adequately house the numerous people pouring in, thus leading to squalid living conditions, increased filth and disease, and the families reliance upon their children to survive. The exploitation of children hit an all time peak in Britain when generations of its youth were sacrificed to child labor and the â€Å"Coffers† of England. From the late 18th century to the mid 19th century, the economy in†¦show more content†¦One child, Miss Elizabeth Bentley testified to the British Parliament in 1832 (during investigations), â€Å"That at the age of four, she worked from five in the morning until nine at night, six days a week. She received one penny and hour and with that she helped support her widowed mother and herself (IRbentley.htm).† Often times the children were not given their breaks and were told to eat their lunch as they worked. In the cotton, silk, and lace factories this resulted in the food becoming littered with material, rendering it difficult (if not impossible) to eat. The factories that these children worked in were extremely dirty and infested with rats, leading to poor health and the spread of disease. According to Miss Elizabeth Bentley: â€Å" after years of working in the card room, her lungs became so damaged that she could barely breathe. Her health forced her to quit and left her incapable of working by the time she was twenty (IRbentley.htm). Along with respiratory problems, each year thousands of children lost fingers, hands, and other various body parts in factory accidents. 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