Page 87 - Copshaholm Curriculum Book_2015

Children worked in many industries, like textile mills, tobacco factories, and garment
workshops.

By 1900, there were close to 2 million children under the age of 15 working throughout
the country.

Working Conditions

¾ Workers: In the 1840’s as factories replaced the textile mills. The workers were
primarily women and children, and very often, entire families worked in factories
together. Every family member’s earnings helped the family survive.

¾ Hours: The factory workers began their day at 4:00 a.m., and it ended at 7:30
p.m. They were allowed one break at 7:30 a.m. for breakfast, and another at
noon for lunch.

¾ Conditions:
o Factories often had no windows to allow for ventilation, or heating systems
to help the workers stay warm in the winter.
o Poor lighting led to accidents.
o Machines crushed workers hands and arms, because there were no
safety devices on them.
o Textile workers got lung diseases from breathing dust and fiber all day.
o Steel workers risked injuries working close to red-hot vats of melted steel.
o In mines, cave-ins buried miners alive.
o If a worker got hurt, they were fired.
o There was no such thing as insurance.

Workers felt lucky because they had a job!

Life in the City

In the cities of the 1800’s, poor people lived in the oldest part of the city, near the
downtown district. The middle class lived farther out in neat row houses or new
apartment buildings. Beyond them, lived the rich. They lived in large homes with big
lawns that had lots of trees.