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Beginning of 19th century
1/5 of poulation moved into cities -
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Disease!
Most of the new towns were dirty and unhealthy. The household rubbish was thrown out into the streets. Housing conditions like these were a perfect breeding grounds for diseases like cholera, typhus, smallpox and dysentery. -
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Very Little Pay
They got paid very poorly even though they worked hard and put themselves at risk. -
Factory Act 1819
Limited the hours worked by children to a maximum of 12 per day. -
Population Increases
By 1825 half the population of the country had set up home in the cities. Most cities were not prepared for this great increase in people. -
Coal MInes
Coal mines were dangerous places where roofs sometimes caved in, explosions happened and workers got all sorts of injuries. There were very few safety rules. -
Children unsafe!
Younger children often worked as "trappers" who worked trap doors.
Older children might be employed as "coal bearers" carrying loads of coal on their backs in big baskets -
NO ROOM!!!
People crowded into already crowded houses. Rooms were rented to whole families or perhaps several families. If there was no rooms to rent, people stayed in lodging houses. -
Living Conditions
The worker's houses were usually near the factories so that people could walk to work. The houses were cheap.There was no running water or toilet. A whole street would have to share an outdoor pump and a couple of outside toilets. -
Factory Act 1833
Children under 9 banned from working in the textiles industry and 10-13 year olds limited to a 48 hour week. -
Child labor :(
Many factory workers were children. They worked long hours and were often treated badly by the supervisors or overseers. Sometimes the children started work as young as four or five years old. -
The Mines Act
The government in 1842 forbidded the employment of women and girls and all boys under the age of teen down mines. Later it became illegal for a boy under 12 to work down a mine. -
Factory Act 1844
Maximum of 12 hours work per day for Women. -
Factory Act 1847
Maximum of 10 hours work per day for Women and children. -
Effort...
In 1848, Parliament passed laws that allowed city councils to clean up the streets -
Cotton Mills
Thousands worked in the cotton mills. There were some serious accidents, some children were scalped when their hair was caught in the machine, hands were crushed and some children were killed when they went to sleep and fell into the machine. -
Factory Act 1874
No worker allowed to work more than 56.5 hours per week.
