Page "Industrial Revolution" Paragraph 97

Child labour had existed before the Industrial Revolution, but with the increase in population and education it became more visible.

Many children were forced to work in relatively bad conditions for much lower pay than their elders, 10-20 % of an adult male's wage.

Children as young as four were employed.

Beatings and long hours were common, with some child coal miners and hurriers working from 4 am until 5 pm.

Conditions were dangerous, with some children killed when they dozed off and fell into the path of the carts, while others died from gas explosions.

Many children developed lung cancer and other diseases and died before the age of 25.

Workhouses would sell orphans and abandoned children as " pauper apprentices ", working without wages for board and lodging.

Those who ran away would be whipped and returned to their masters, with some masters shackling them to prevent escape.

Children employed as mule scavenger by cotton mills would crawl under machinery to pick up cotton, working 14 hours a day, six days a week.

Some lost hands or limbs, others were crushed under the machines, and some were decapitated.

Young girls worked at match factories, where phosphorus fumes would cause many to develop phossy jaw.

Children employed at glassworks were regularly burned and blinded, and those working at potteries were vulnerable to poisonous clay dust.