England becomes the Workshop of the World

Check out how cloth was made: Check out how cloth was made:

The factory machines worked on steam power, fuelled by coal. This meant that children were employed in the coal mines too, often in dangerous conditions. In 1842 a Royal Commission into the Employment of Children in Mines was set up to investigate working conditions in the mines and these two extracts are taken from the report the Commission produced. People were scandalised by the conditions described in the report and in 1842 the Act to Prohibit the Employment of Women and Children in the Mines and Collieries was passed. This included the following measures: Employment of women underground is illegal. Boys under the age of 10 are no longer to work underground. Parish apprentices aged can continue to work in the mines. 'Their chief occupation is to open and shut doors...by which a current of air is kept in its proper course for the due ventilation of the...mine...the trapper has to sit often exposed to damp completely in the dark and in silence.' '...the lads hurry with a belt and chain on all fours. Thirty-eight years ago they had no belt and chain, but used to run along on one hand and feet, and pull the corves with the other hand; that was much worse for them.'

1. Why did people begin to move to cities in the 18 th century? 2. By 1851 how much of the population of England lived in London? 3. What conditions did city dwellers have to put up with? 4. What does the term ‘cottage industry’ mean? 5. What was a a)scavenger b) piecer? 6. What were some of the jobs children had to do in the mines? 7. Name 2 people who worked hard to change the conditions of working children.