Children’s Work and Welfare, 1780–1880s

112 Pages·1994·10.793 MB·English

by  Pamela Horn (auth.)

STUDIES IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL HISTORY
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PUBLISHED TITLES INCLUDE
B. W. E. Alford British Economic Performance since 1945
B. W: E. Alford Depression and Recovery? British Economic Growth, 1918-1939
J. L Anderson Explaining Long-Term Economic Change
Michael Anderson Approaches to the History of the Western Family, 150()-1914
R. D. Anderson Universities and Elites in Britain since 1800
DndltfY Baines Emigration from Europe, 1815-1930
Theo Barker and Dorian Gerhold The Rise and Rise of Road Transport, I 77D-1990
P. ]. Cain Economic Foundations of British Overseas Expansion, 1815-1914
S. D. Chapman The Cotton Industry in the Industrial Revolution
Neil Charksworth British Rule and the Indian Economy, 180D-1914
Roy Church The Rise and Decline of the British Motor Industry
L A. Cillrlrson Proto-Industrialization: The First Phase of Industrialization?
D. C. Cokman Industry in Tudor and Stuart England
Michael Collins Banks and Industrial Finance in Britain, 180D-1939
P. L Cottrell British Overseas Investment in the Nineteenth Century
M. A. Crowthor Social Policy in Britain, 1914-1939
Ian M. Drummond The Gold Standard and the International Monetary System, 190()-1939
Allin Dyer Decline and Growth in English Towns, 140D-1640
M. E. Fal.W.r The Industrialisation of Russia, I 70D-1914
]. R. Hams The British Iron Industry, I 70D-1850
J. Hamson The Spanish Economy from the Civil War to the European Community
Joha Hatcher Plague, Population and the English Economy, 1348-1530
J. R. Hoy The Origins of the Liberal Welfare Reforms, 1906-1914
Colin H'!Ywood The Development of the French Economy, I 7S D-1914
R. H. Hilton The Decline of Serfdom in Medieval England
Pameill Horn Children's Work and Welfare, 178D-1880s
R. A. Houston The Population History of Britain and Ireland, ISOD-17 50
E. L Jones The Development of English Agriculture, 1815-1873
W. J. Macpherson The Economic Development ofj apan, c. 1868-1941
Donald N. McC/oslay Econometric History
Hugh McLeod Religion and the Working Class in Nineteenth Century Britain
J.D. Marshall The Old Poor Law, 1795-1834, Second Edition
Alan S. Milward The Economic Effects of the Two World Wars on Britain
G. E. Mingi!JI Enclosure and the Small Fanner in the Age of the Industrial Revolution
R. J. Moms Class and Class Consciousness in the Industrial Revolution, 178D-1850
]. Forbes Munro Britain in Tropical Mrica, 187D-1960
Cormac 0 Grnda The Great Irish Famine
R. B. Outhwaite Dearth, Public Policy and Social Disturbance in England, ISSD-1800
R. B. Outhwaite Inflation in Tudor and Early Stuart England
R. ]. Overy The Nazi Economic Recovery, 1932-1938
P. L. Payne British Entrepreneurship in the Nineteenth Century
Roy Porter Disease, Medicine and Society in England, 155D-1860, Second Edition
Alastair]. Reid Social Classes and Social Relations in Britain, 185D-1914
Richard Rodger Nineteenth-century Housing, I 78D-1914
Michael E. Rose The Relief of Poverty, 1834-1914
Michael Sanderson Education, Economic Change and
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S. B. San/ The Myth of the Great Depression, 1873-1896
C. Schmik The Growth of Big Business in the United States and Western Europe,
185D-1939
Joan Thirsk England's Agricultural Regions and Agrarian History, !SOD-I 75 0
Michael Turner Enclosures in Britain, 175D-1830
J. R. Ward Poverty and Progress in the Caribbean, 180D-1960
Robert Woodr The Population of Britain in the Nineteenth Century
OTHER TITLES ARE IN PREPARATION
Children's Work and
Welfare, 178 D-1880s
Prepared for
1he Economic History Sociery by
PAMELA HORN
M
MACMILLAN
© Pamela Hom 1994
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ISBN 978-0-333-60200-3 ISBN 978-1-349-13315-4 (eBook)
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Contents
Acknowledgements 6
Editor's Preface 7
Introduction: 1780-1850s 9
(i) Differing perspectives of childhood and child
employment 9
(ii) The scale and nature of child employment 13
2 The Impact of Industrialization: 178Q-1850s 22
(i) 'Traditional' employments 22
(ii) The factory system and textile production 29
(iii) Mining, metalwork and miscellaneous
manufactures 40
3 Rescue and Reform: 183Q-1867 50
(i) State intervention: its scope and limitations 50
(ii) Philanthropy and childhood deprivation 62
4 Work and Welfare: 1868-1880s 79
Conclusion: The Working-class Child in the 1880s 92
Appendices 95
Select Bihliograpf!y 98
Index 108
5
Acknowledgements
I should like to thank Dr Michael Sanderson for his gener
ous help and guidance. His encouragement has been of
great assistance.
P.H.
The author and publishers wish to thank the following for
permission to use copyright material:
Manchester University Press for material from W. B. Stephens,
Education, Literacy and Socie~ 183~70 (1987), pp. 322-3.
Every effort has been made to trace all the copyright
holders, but if any have been inadvertently overlooked the
publishers will be pleased to make the necessary arrange
ment at the first opportunity.
6
Editor's Preface
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sively edited since its inception in 1968 by Professors M. W.
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7
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MICHAEL SANDERSON
General Editor
Universi~ of East Anglia
8
1 Introduction: 17Bo-JB50s
(i) Differing perspectives of childhood and child employment
At the end of the eighteenth century two opposing philo
sophies underpinned contemporary attitudes towards child
hood. The first, and most widely held, stemmed from a
belief in the innate sinfulness of all humanity and the
consequent need to curb and control youthful high spirits.
Habits of industry must be inculcated since 'idleness' was
equated with moral weakness, and each child had to be
trained so as to ensure that the correct values and beliefs
were absorbed.
For the upper classes this disciplined approach meant an
emphasis on drudging memory work and the 'culture of the
mind' [Cruickshank, 1981]. For the lower orders, it led to
concern to promote early employment, either paid or unpaid.
The educational writer and reformer, Mrs Sarah Trimmer,
reflected these ideas when she declared in 1787 that it was
'a disgrace to any Parish, to see the Children of the Poor,
who are old enough to do any kind of work, running about
the streets ragged and dirty'. Likewise the Philanthropic
Society, set up in 1788 to rescue criminal or abandoned
children, regarded 'indolence' as the prime source of evil and
'industry' as the principal virtue. This not only encouraged
acceptance of child labour in agriculture, mining, manufac
ture and, especially for girls, in domestic service but it
encouraged the promotion of schools of industry and similar
educational institutions in the last decades of the eighteenth
9