Question

Describe the life of worker during the 19th century in england

Answer 1

Answer:

Manchester in the 19th century

Article written by:

Emma Griffin

Theme:

Poverty and the working classes

Published:

15 May 2014

Professor Emma Griffin explains how industrialisation, and in particular the cotton industry, transformed Manchester into the United Kingdom’s third most populous city.

At the start of the 18th century, Manchester was a small, market town with a population of fewer than 10,000. By the end of the century, it had grown almost tenfold, to 89,000 souls. In the 19th century, the population continued to grow unabated, doubling between 1801 and the 1820s and then doubling again between then and 1851, to 400,000 souls. This was phenomenal growth transforming Manchester into Britain’s second city. Manchester continued to grow steadily down to the end of the century. In 1901 its population stood at around 700,000; only London and Glasgow were greater in size.

Work

Manchester’s growth rested largely on the growth of the cotton industry, and by mid-century the city typified Britain as the ‘workshop of the world’. Young men and women poured in from the countryside, eager to find work in the new factories and mills. The mills paid relatively high wages and they also employed large numbers of children. As a consequence, families migrating to the city often saw a considerable rise in their incomes. But not all aspects of life in the factories were pleasant. The rise in child labour was of course undesirable from the perspective of child welfare. Factory workers also had to work more intensively than farm workers. Agricultural workers were used to frequent spells of unemployment. Days were by necessity shortened during in the dark winter months and in bad weather men could not work at all. Factory workers were expected to work much more extensively, as the factory owners, having made heavy investment in expensive machinery, wanted to keep their machines running. Employers tried to lure in good workers through higher wages, but they were also very quick to punish any of their workers whose behaviour risked leaving their valuable machines idle.

Information concerning the state of children employed in cotton factories

Published in Manchester, Nathan Gould’s Information concerning the state of children employed in cotton factories (1818) provided statistical and documented information on the employment of children in cotton