Industrial Revolution

Document 1

1843, Punch Magazine, a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and wood-engraver Ebenezer Landells.  Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 1850s, when it helped o coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration.

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Document 2

John Fairbrother, an overlooker at a textile factory, interviewed in 1830

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"Very often the children are woken at 4am. They work for 16 hours, with little breaks, until they go home at night to their parents.  Some children, called scavengers, had jobs such as cleaning the machines while they were still working, which was very dangerous. I have seen the factory owner with a horse whip standing outside the mill.

He punished the children who came late.”

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Document 3

Parliamentary Debates  1832, House of Lords Debate March 1, 1832

The Archbishop of Canterbury presented a petition from the inhabitants of Rochester to support the proper regulation and limitation of the hours of labor for children…that it was attended with the most serious injury to their morals; it was a disgrace to a Christian and civilized community to allow putting money in the pockets of master manufacturers…

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Document 4

The Saddler Commission Report on child labor initiated by the British Parliament, 1832

In 1832 Michael Sadler secured a parliamentary investigation of conditions in the textile factories and he sat as chairman on the committee and was very influential in passing the Factory Act of 1833.  

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The following are is his findings:

	Mr. Matthew Crabtree, called in; and Examined. 

What age are you?

--Twenty-two. 

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Have you ever been employed in a factory?

--Yes. 

At what age did you first go to work in one?

--Eight. 

How long did you continue in that occupation?

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--Four years. 

Will you state the hours of labour at the period when you first went to the factory, in ordinary times?

--From 6 in the morning to 8 at night. 

With what intervals for refreshment and rest?

--An hour at noon. 

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When trade was brisk what were your hours?

--From 5 in the morning to 9 in the evening. 

How far did you live from the mill?

--About two miles. 

Was there any time allowed for you to get your breakfast in the mill?

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--No. 

Did you take it before you left your home?

--Generally. 

During those long hours of labour could you be punctual; how did you awake?

--I seldom did awake spontaneously; I was most generally awoke or lifted out of bed, sometimes asleep, by my parents. 

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Were you always in time?

--No. 

What was the consequence if you had been too late?

--I was most commonly beaten. 

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Severely?

--Very severely, I thought. 

In those mills is chastisement towards the latter part of the day going on perpetually?

--Perpetually. 

So that you can hardly be in a mill without hearing constant crying?

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--Never an hour, I believe. 

When you got home at night after this labour, did you feel much fatigued?

--Very much so. 

Were the rest of the children similarly circumstanced?

--Yes, all of them; but they were not all of them so far from their work as I was. 

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And if you had been too late you were under the apprehension of being cruelly beaten?

--I generally was beaten when I happened to be too late; and when I got up in the morning the apprehension of that was so great, that I used to run, and cry all the way as I went to the mill.

Document 5

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Robert Owen, founder of New Lanark, Scotland, Book  of the New Moral World, 1841

The lowest stage of humanity is experienced when the individual must labour for a small pittance of wages from others. 

Women will be no longer made the slaves of, or dependent upon men…. They will be equal in education, rights, privileges, and personal liberty.  Parents shall be answerable for the conduct of their children, and householders for their lodgers.

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Document 6

Source: Friedrich Engels, German philosopher and communist, The conditions of the Working Class in England, 1844

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The employment of women at once breaks up the family, for when the wife spends twelve or thirteen hours every day in the mill, and the husband works the same length of time ther or elsewhere, what becomes of the children? Women often return to the mill three or four days after confinement (childbirth), leaving the baby, of course. In the dinner hour they must hurry home to feed the child and eat something. 

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Document  7

Source:  -William Alexander Abram, journalist and historian, journal article, 1888.

The three Reform Acts, of 1832, 1867, and 1884, all extended voting rights to previously disfranchised citizens. The first act, which was the most controversial, reapportioned representation in Parliament in a way fairer to the cities of the industrial north, which had experienced tremendous growth, and did away with "rotten" and "pocket" boroughs …which with only seven voters (all controlled by the local squire) was still sending two members to Parliament. 

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This act not only re-apportioned representation in Parliament, thus making that body more accurately represent the citizens of the country, but also gave the power of voting to those lower in the social and economic scale. …..Approximately one man in five now had the right to vote.

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