The Industrial Revolution was a time of booming economic development that spurred demand for the production of goods. The use of machines in the manufacturing and transportation of those products created an additional demand for coal. The heavy demand for all of these products led employers to employ children to work in dangerous situations for a fraction of the wages given to adults. Amongst the many horrors that occurred in work situations, this map will chart some ares where coal mining took place, the Huskar Colliery tragedy in the Silkstone area, and well known textile factory cities like Manchester, Stockport, Bolton, and Hyde with textile. 

During the early part of the industrial revolution, there was little oversight regarding labor laws, and children were often used to reach small spaces. The children were used as "trappers" to open and close doors to allow airflow through the mines, and "drawers" who would drag cars of coal through small tunnels by chains that were attached to their waists. However, mining was very dangerous and injuries and death were not uncommon. There was the danger of toxic air, flooding, cave-ins, and other crush injuries. In 1838 at the Huskar Colliery, a stream flooded into a ventilation opening and killed 26 children. Most people did not know about these labor commissions and this horrific tragedy drew much-needed attention to the cause. Queen Victoria read about it in the London newspapers and pushed the prime minister to investigate the working conditions of British factories and mines. The Children's Employment Commission issued a report on mines in 1842, and laws were passed to limit girls and women from working in mines. This reduced the number of other children employed in the mines. In addition to that, in 1847, the Mines Act forbade the employment of women, girls, and boys under the age of ten from working in the mines. The minimum age was later pushed to 12 in 1872 and 13 in 1903.

Textile mills were another area in need of desperate reform during Victorian England; one-fifth of the textile mill labor force were children. In Manchester, 4000 children worked the mills; in Stockport, 1,600; in Bolton, 1,500 and in Hyde, 1300. Children were trained to work in small areas near machines, but the machines had no safety guards and the people who worked near them were often sucked into the machines, mangling body parts, cutting off appendages, scalping girls, and even crushing and dismembering children. Children as young as 5 were said to work in these factories for 12-16 hours a day. The fatigue of the workers caused even more accidents. One surgeon who worked near Lever Street School reported that 106 of the students were employed by the factories and 47 of those children had lost fingers or limbs to accidents with the machinery. In 1842, a German visitor remarked that walking down the streets of Manchester, it seemed like the people had been in a big war because of the sheer number of people missing arms and legs. 

Because of the dangerous nature of the factories, The Factory Acts were a series of laws in addition to the Regulation of Child Labor Law of 1833 that were passed and limited the age children could work in factories to 9 years and older. Trade Unions became legal in The Trade Unions Act of 1871 which further enabled labor reform in factories.

Works Cited

https://eh.net/encyclopedia/child-labor-during-the-british-industrial-re...

https://spartacus-educational.com/Mines_Collieries_Act.htm

https://spartacus-educational.com/child_labour.htm

https://spartacus-educational.com/IRaccidents.htm

https://www.victorianweb.ort/technology/ir/capuano.html

https://sites.google.com/site/primaryschoolhistory/victorians/victorian-...