A piecer had less stooping but more walking and leaning over for their job. A piecer would lean over a spinning machine to piece the threads together that had broken. Research done during that time proved how piecers walked about twenty miles each day. This was not as dangerous as being a scavenger but would still cause a worker’s fingers to bleed or hurt a knee. William Dodd in 1841 who was a piecer said,
“ . . . the continual friction of the hand in rubbing the piecing upon the coarse wrapper wears off the skin, and causes the finger to bleed. The position in which the piecer stands to his work is with the right foot forward, and his right side facing the frame: the motion he makes in going along in front of the frame, for the purpose of piecing, is. . .a sliding direction, constantly keeping his right side towards the frame. In this position he continues. . .constantly in motion. . . . the chief weight of his body rests upon his right knee, which is almost always the first joint to give way.”
Many children often worked extreme hours each day and on March 16, 1832 a man by the name of Michael Sadler tried to propose a bill that limited the amount of hours children under age 18, worked to ten hours a day. This bill did not pass and in return Sadler found out that it was normal for children to work even twelve hours a day. During the 1800s not everyone had clocks in their house so children at times would be late to work and would get a severe punishment as well as deducted wages. Workers were not allowed to wear watches, which then led to the assumption that owners were trying to trick workers out of the money they owe.
The rest of the life in the factory does not get much better. Factory owners were usually responsible for providing food for their workers. Child workers always complained about how bad the food was. In many textile mills the workers had to work and eat at the same time, which caused dust to cover their food.
Pollution also started to be an issue in Britain because many factories and mills were growing. Being near a factory was bad enough, but to spend at least ten hours a day in one as a child, could be deadly. There was a report written in the 1800s that said, "dirty; low-roofed; ill-ventilated; ill-drained; no conveniences for washing or dressing; no contrivance for carrying off dust and other effluvia". Many child workers suffered from headaches and sicknesses and later on the dust and cotton fiber would cause tuberculosis, bronchitis, asthma and many other diseases.
Even though children became very sick they would still work very long hours. It would be hard for them to work at the speed their supervisors wanted them to work at. Whenever they would work slowly, they would be hit with a strap showing how they were treated like animals. If a child felt sleepy in some factories their head was put in a water cistern to wake them up. Children also got punished for talking to other children or being late. If a child forced into working like a parish apprentice, would try to run away from the factory, he or she would be in danger of being sent to prison. If an over looker got suspicious and considered a worker a potential runaway, the child would be placed under restraints. The children were treated like mad animals in these factories regardless of their health, age or size.
If all of that sounds bad enough, it gets worse. Thousands of factory workers would be in hospitals for getting wounded and mutilated by the unguarded machines in factories. The dangerous parts of the machinery would be open and not fenced so children had a higher risk of getting hurt. If a worker ever got hurt during work, his or her wages would be stopped, there would be no one to take care of them and the worker would not be compensated aside from how badly injured the worker was.
Child labor was a cruel event during the Industrial Revolution. Many children suffered injuries, sicknesses and did not get to enjoy most of their childhood. Life as a child worker during the 1800s must have been very bad. This all could have been prevented but this helped many countries know not to make children work. Child labor was a mistake that should never be repeated anywhere.
Pictures and Diagrams
Resource Page
Factory Accidents. 22 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 15 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRaccidents.htm>.
Factory Food. 12 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 15 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRfood.factory.htm>.
Factory Inspectors. 12 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 15 Nov. 2002
< http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRinspectors.htm>.
Factory Pollution. 22 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 15 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpollution.htm>.
Piecers. 12 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 14 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpiecers.htm>.
Punishments in Factories. 22 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 11 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpunishments.htm>.
Sarah Carpenter. 12 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 14 Nov. 2002
< http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRcarpenter.htm>.
Scavengers. 12 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 11 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRscavengers.htm>.
Trager, James. Child Labor. 1996. The People's Chronology. 15 Nov. 2002 <http://www.geocities.com/snydersclasss/about_childlabor.html>.
Working Hours in Factories. 12 May 2002. Spartacus Educational. 14 Nov. 2002 <http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRtime.htm>.
