Working conditions during the Industrial Revolution

Question 1

What were some of the negative effects of the Working conditions during the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 1

Increased production of consumer goods at a low price and improvements in methods of transport
benefited the growing middle class, but for most of the workers there were negative effects: poor working
conditions with long hours and dangerous machinery, crowded cities with poor sanitation, and pollution
from the extensive burning of coal.

Question 2

What were the Role of governments in the Industrial Revolution?

Answer 2

The British Factory Act of 1883 and a range of other laws regulated the employment of children and generally improved working conditions in mines and factories.

Question 3

General working conditions:

Answer 3

However, for ordinary workers who had moved from the countryside or emigrated from Ireland and Scotland, working and living conditions were poor. Houses were
crowded together with little natural light and no sanitation. To keep the machines running in the factories, people had to work up to twelve-hour shifts. There was little protection from contact with moving machine parts and no compensation for injured workers.

Question 4

Working conditions on children:

Answer 4

They were working near dangerous
machinery and, being under the control of
employers rather than their parents, they
could easily be exploited. Yet wages were
so low for adults that a family could not
survive without children working.

Masters of chimney sweeps found
it cheaper to force little children through
the chimney rather than use a brush.
Pressure to change these conditions
came from a variety of groups in society:
* evangelical churchmen who felt it their
Christian duty to look after the weaker
people in society
* rich landowners who resented the new
wealthy industrialists
* industrialists themselves who wanted to
stop unscrupulous use of cheap labour
by their competitors.

Question 5

A series of bills that passed between
1830 and 1867 gradually led to some
regulation of the industry, although the
hours worked and the conditions of work
were still harsh by today’s standards.

Answer 5

Some of the most important of these were:
* The Factory Act of 1833, which set legal
limits to the working hours of children
and was enforced by the appointment of
factory inspectors
* The Mines Act of 1842, which banned
the employment of women and
under-age children in the mines

• The Ten Hours Bill of 1847, which
  limited the time worked by women
  and children in factories to ten hours a
  day. Because women and children were
  essential for the running of the machines,
  it effectively meant that a man’s work
  day was also limited to ten hours.
  A series of bills were passed to improve the conditions of children working as chimney sweeps; but
  because the business was so profitable, these were not enforced and it was not until 1867 that effective
  legislation was passed.

Question 6

Working conditions on the Trade Union:

Answer 6

At the end of the eighteenth century, only wealthy landowners had the right to vote. This meant they
controlled Parliament and the making of laws. In 1799–1800, afraid of what had happened to the aristocrats
during the French Revolution, the government passed the Combination Acts. These acts made it a serious
offence for workers to organise together to improve their working conditions.

Some of the better-off workers were able to establish their own unions and one of the first of these
was the Amalgamated Society of Engineers. It included workers from all over England and was able to
employ fulltime staff to help in its organisation.