Young Workers of the Industrial Age (Hardback)
Child Labour in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Imprint: Pen & Sword History
Pages: 272
Illustrations: 32 mono illustrations
ISBN: 9781036113834
Published: 4th October 2024
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The industrial revolution was forged with the lives of our ancestors’ children.
All over Britain, children and young people toiled for hours every day. Their workplaces were pitch-dark mines, fiery furnaces, brightly-lit mills with deadly machines, and mud-filled brickyards.
Some workers were pauper apprentices, sent thousands of miles from their homes and indentured until the age of twenty-one.
Almost every item in our ancestors’ homes and wardrobes was made by children and youngsters: buttons, glass, carpets, cotton, cutlery, pins, candles, lace, pottery, straw hats, and even matches.
In grand houses and ordinary homes, tiny chimney sweeps climbed chimneys choked with soot, and boys and girls worked as domestic servants. On the land, both sexes worked in all weathers. Children worked at home, too – many helped their parents earn a living.
From the early 1800s, men like Robert Owen tried to improve children’s lives. But reform was held back for decades by wealthy mill-owners, landowners and politicians who believed that profits were more important than people.
Sue Wilkes tells the story of the battle for workplace and educational reforms led by Lord Shaftesbury, Richard Oastler, and the indefatigable factory inspectors. But it took many decades to transform society’s attitude towards childhood itself.
Young Workers of the Industrial Age takes a fresh look at the childhoods stolen to create Britain’s industrial empire.
This is a book is a must read for anyone who is curious about the plight of children in the industrial age and the lengths the world went to offer a better life for children of today.
NetGalley, Abigail Tyn
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
NetGalley, Colin Edwards
This is an excellent book. Although it’s crowded with mentions of Acts of Parliament; with names of heroes and villains (and the children); and with statistics, it is never too dry. The changing focus upon one industry, then another, keeps the reader’s attention. This is not a comfortable subject – one’s heart bleeds when reading the tales of exploitation and cruelty – but it is a must-read for anyone interested in social- or labour-history.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
NetGalley, A D
From education I remember learning about children in workhouses and what type of work they did but this book gave me a much more detailed and interesting account of the truth of child workers during this time.
Very insightful with a great deal of detail on relevant laws of the time, as well as moving case studies of individual experiences. The author did a wonderful job of making this engaging and easy to read while also imparting deep research. A great addition to the social history of the period.
NetGalley, Louise Gray
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
NetGalley, Pippa Elliott
The content is shocking at times but the author’s style is highly readable. It is a detailed, factual account of how small victories over the decades led to change. A true account of evolution rather than revolution. I can heartily recommend it.
Well-written and highly readable, this is not simply a sad story about the past and children’s place in it, important as that is. It’s also a reminder that we shouldn’t be too smug. Maybe our children can go to school and play instead of working for wages. But for many children, the whole idea of such a childhood is still out of reach, even in the 21st century.
NetGalley, Cynthia Comacchio
About Sue Wilkes
Sue Wilkes is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She has written extensively on social history, and industrial history and heritage. Sue was born in Lancashire, and has lived in Cheshire since the early 1980s. She read Physics at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Sue is married, with two grown-up children.
She is the author of nine books and is a well-known family historian. A regular contributor to Jane Austen’s Regency World for over two decades, Sue has written many articles for history and family history magazines such Who Do You Think You Are?. She loves exploring Britain’s history and heritage, and is a keen gardener.
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