Child Workers
Chapter 1
industrial Change in england 1780–1820
Until late in the eighteenth century, most of england’s output of woollens, worsteds, linens, fustians and cottons was produced by families in their own homes or in communal workshops. Children were fully involved in family units of production, learning to assist in a variety of ways from an early age.1 Work was flexible and was distributed among family members less by gender or even age than by availability and competing demands of the household.2 as the limitations of long-term expansion through domestic or proto-industrial production became apparent, merchant manufacturers, the organisers of the system, sought alternatives.3 Centralised production came to replace the diffuse networks of workers that had evolved since the later seventeenth century. By concentrating workers within a single unit, problems associated with embezzlement,4 quality control and discipline were overcome, and with the additional input of new technology, productivity gains were made.5 Many of the early ‘factories’ were little more than large workshops within which local labour congregated. although initially there was no technical imperative for units to be large, increased scale of production was a feature of the first purpose-built factories, and eventually mass production became the norm. Changes to manufacturing processes began in the textile sector in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The cotton industry was the most significant in terms of rate of expansion, productivity gains, and innovatory working practices, but
1 hans Medick, ‘the proto-industrial family economy: the structural function of household and family during the transition from peasant society to industrial capitalism’, in Pat thane and anthony sutcliffe (eds), Essays in Social History (oxford, 1986), vol. 2, pp. 32–4; Maxine Berg, The Age of Manufactures: industry, innovation and work in Britain 1700–1820 (london, 1994), pp. 157–8; Wanda Minge-kalman, ‘the
industrial Change in england 1780–1820
Until late in the eighteenth century, most of england’s output of woollens, worsteds, linens, fustians and cottons was produced by families in their own homes or in communal workshops. Children were fully involved in family units of production, learning to assist in a variety of ways from an early age.1 Work was flexible and was distributed among family members less by gender or even age than by availability and competing demands of the household.2 as the limitations of long-term expansion through domestic or proto-industrial production became apparent, merchant manufacturers, the organisers of the system, sought alternatives.3 Centralised production came to replace the diffuse networks of workers that had evolved since the later seventeenth century. By concentrating workers within a single unit, problems associated with embezzlement,4 quality control and discipline were overcome, and with the additional input of new technology, productivity gains were made.5 Many of the early ‘factories’ were little more than large workshops within which local labour congregated. although initially there was no technical imperative for units to be large, increased scale of production was a feature of the first purpose-built factories, and eventually mass production became the norm. Changes to manufacturing processes began in the textile sector in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. The cotton industry was the most significant in terms of rate of expansion, productivity gains, and innovatory working practices, but
1 hans Medick, ‘the proto-industrial family economy: the structural function of household and family during the transition from peasant society to industrial capitalism’, in Pat thane and anthony sutcliffe (eds), Essays in Social History (oxford, 1986), vol. 2, pp. 32–4; Maxine Berg, The Age of Manufactures: industry, innovation and work in Britain 1700–1820 (london, 1994), pp. 157–8; Wanda Minge-kalman, ‘the
Cited: 4 Child Workers in England, 1780–1820 6 Child Workers in England, 1780–1820 8 Child Workers in England, 1780–1820 10 Child Workers in England, 1780–1820 12 Child Workers in England, 1780–1820