Children in Victorian Era Textile Mills

The textile industry really came of age in Victorian England during the Industrial Revolution. During this time, owners of factories and mills saw children as cheap effective labor. In fact for the same work a child could earn less than their adult counterparts, and girls would earn even less than boys! Children were hired in these mills for their size and energy, and there were some jobs that children performed as good or even better than adults. Children were such an asset to so many textile mills and factories, that in some mills more children than adults were employed.

In these mills children didn't have rights. The most grueling, gross, and dangerous jobs were given to children! For example, because of their small size, children were told to clean underneath machines. An English child named Charles Aberdeen worked in a Manchester cotton factory, and in 1832 he wrote in his diary, “The smallest child in the factories were scavengers…they go under the machine, while it is going…it is very dangerous when they first come, but they become used to it.” (Aberdeen). The sharp, whirring gears of the massive machinery could mangle a child’s fingers, rip their arms from their sockets, or even pierce their skull without missing a stitch! Children were constantly in danger and there were little to no safety measures put in place. For example, they were forced to work dangerously long hours, thus more likely to make critical mistakes. In fact, the average child worked 6 days a week, 13 hours each day! (Price).

The workers were painfully aware that if they were injured they would be forced to carry on with their work, or be out of a job. They would also be fired if the children were not obedient or spoke out. In 1849, an anonymous former child worker told the English newspaper The Lion his experiences seeing abuse in the mills. He is quoted as saying, “Sarah Golding [12] was poorly and so she stopped her machine. James Birch, the over looker, knocked her to the floor. She got up as well as she could. He knocked her down again. Then she was carried to her house...she was found dead in her bed. There was another, Caroline Thompson, who was beaten till she went out of her mind.” (The Lion)

Children in Today's Sweatshop Labor

Today’s versions of the inhumane mills of the Industrial Revolution are called sweatshops. Sweatshop labor is widely regarded as barbaric and cruel. However you can still find many businesses with some sort of connection to the heinous practice. The International Labour Organization estimates that there are around 170 million children involved in child labor. Even though the situation is improving with a 30% drop of child labor between 2000 and 2012, the numbers are still appalling. With companies racing to get their clothes out on the market as fast and cheaply as possible, children provide a low-cost solution. UNICEF, in their explanation of the use of child labor, stated: "Child labour is a particular issue for fashion because much of the supply chain requires low-skilled labour and some tasks are even better suited to children than adults. In cotton picking, employers prefer to hire children for their small fingers, which do not damage the crop"(Moulds). Many large companies indirectly employ children. This result is from an intricate supply chain that makes it difficult for businesses to control every stage of production.

Amazingly, the working conditions for the children haven't changed much since the Industrial Revolution. In fact, the methods of punishment and treatment of the children are eerily similar. The Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights found that in many sweatshops, "The children report being routinely slapped and beaten, sometimes falling down from exhaustion, forced to work 12 to 14 hours a day, even some all-night, 19-to-20-hour shifts, often seven days a week, for wages as low as 6 ½ cents an hour. The wages are so wretchedly low that many of the child workers get up at 5:00 a.m. each morning to brush their teeth using just their finger and ashes from the fire, since they cannot afford a toothbrush or toothpaste."(Goldsmith)