Factories and Working Conditions

Question 1

What were typical mid-century factories like?

Answer 1

Employed around 50 workers, most of whom weren’t machine operatives

Question 2

How did most industry remain?

Answer 2

Small-scale and labour intensive

Question 3

What was manufacturing founded on?

Answer 3

Backstreet, unregulated workshops, with preponderance of cheap labour, particularly female labour

Question 4

What were factories like?

Answer 4

Isolating

Question 5

What was discipline in factories like?

Answer 5

• Fines allowed employers to compensate themselves at the loss of productivity
• 10 minutes late often resulted in a fine of 2hrs work in wages
• Talking = fine off daily wage
• Waste of resources punished with fine

Question 6

What did conditions result in?

Answer 6

• High injury rates due to lack of safety measures
• No legislation to improve this

Question 7

What was a working week like?

Answer 7

6 days long, commonly 14 hours a day especially for men

Question 8

Due to demands, what happened to mines?

Answer 8

they had to become deeper, 90 metres by the 18th century and 300 by 1850

Question 9

What was the result of deeper mines?

Answer 9

Hazards became more acute, with greater risk of flooding, gas explosions or collapsing shafts

Question 10

What was employment in mines like?

Answer 10

• Miners were not permanently employed, but ‘bound’ for agreed periods of time
• Agreement to work for allotted time, usually a year, on a fixed wage
• Mine owners were not obliged to provide constant work
• No guarantee of work therefore uncertain income