Parliament established the Children's Employment Commission to investigate child labor in mines and factories.  In 1842 and 1843 they issued massive reports about the abusive conditions under which children were laboring in these industries.  This in part inspired EBB to write her famous poem, "The Cry of the Children," as a sort of call to action to stop the injustices.  Click here to see two student-created videos about what it was like to be a child working in nineteenth-century British mines and factories.