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An 1876 illustration of children working in a British textile factory. When the Industrial Revolution began, manufacturers used children as a workforce. [1] Children often worked the same 12-hour shifts as adults, but they could work shifts as long as 14 hours. [2] [3] [4] By the 1820s, 50% of English workers were under the age of 20.
The Factory Act 1847 stipulated that as of 1 July 1847, women and children between the ages of 13 and 18 could work only 63 hours per week. The Bill further stipulated that as of 1 May 1848, women and children 13–18 could work only 58 hours per week, the equivalent of 10 hours per day. [2]
According to ILO minimum age convention (C138) of 1973, child labour refers to any work performed by children under the age of 12, non-light work done by children aged 12–14, and hazardous work done by children aged 15–17. Light work was defined, under this convention, as any work that does not harm a child's health and development, and ...
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The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act 1802 (42 Geo. 3.c. 73) was introduced by Sir Robert Peel; it addressed concerns felt by the medical men of Manchester about the health and welfare of children employed in cotton mills, and first expressed by them in 1784 in a report on an outbreak of 'putrid fever' at a mill at Radcliffe owned by Peel.
Children were still working in cotton mills throughout the 19th century and, while numerous acts of Parliament were introduced to cut down the hours and improve conditions, [8] those under the age of 14 were allowed to work in factories until the Education Act 1918 made attending school compulsory.
Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades, such as building, or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid 19th century). Working hours were long: builders might work 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while domestic servants were theoretically on duty 80-hours a week:
It was a response to the working conditions of children revealed in the Children's Employment Commission (Mines) 1842 report. The Commission was headed by Anthony Ashley-Cooper , Member of Parliament , who was styled Baron Ashley at the time, a courtesy title , and would succeed his father as the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury in 1852.