The working class and poor – Factory conditions 1844

By Amy Underwood and Jade Hall

Genre – a report about factory conditions in

1844. Audience – middle class/upper class who read

the newspaper, gentlemen. Purpose – to show/inform the wealthy about

the conditions of poverty and factory life, which needed serious attention to.

G.A.P

The factory report was written and founded by Freidrich Engels in 1844.

He focused his report on the conditions of women and children in the work houses.

He believed in equal rights, and was one of the founders of Marxism – the theory about political and economic which class struggle is the central element to social change.

Content

Women were obligated to work during

pregnancy. Most of the women in the factories were

unmarried, which shows the possibilities that women were mistreated by men, had no rights, because they did not have wealth from marriage.

Today women have rights, receive maternity leave, are valued for their contributions, paid for their work – similar wage to men, but sometimes still not equal.

Women

1819 – children under 9 were not allowed to

work in cotton mills. Under 18s weren’t allowed to work between 8:30pm and 5:00am.

9-13 year olds were not allowed to do more than 12 hours a day, but most children worked for longer because there were no factory inspections.

They were paid with food and shelter, not money, so they couldn’t get out of the situation.

Children

The air in The Midlands wasn’t pure because it

was known as ‘The Black Country’, due to the pollution from the factories.

Industrial revolution, lead to over-crowding , disease, more factories.

Scientific knowledge was vague. They still had renaissance methods of cutting and chopping limbs.

Health

Employers gave employees the sack if they

could no longer work. Some employers had to pay for doctors. Middle class/Upper class Their employees didn’t matter to them – a lot

of them died while working. People didn’t have rights, it was either the

work house or starve.

Employers

In 1829 – Metropolitan police Act – enforce rules and

protect 1838 – Charles Dickens produced Oliver Twist, this could

have had a very big impact, because the rural areas were finding out about city life.

1839 – photography was invented, people could finally see some of the shocking images from the work house.

In the report, “if children cannot take care, the employment of children must be forbidden”

In 1850 – 1 and a half hours break introduced. In 1922 there was a ban on child labour. However, today in 3rd world countries sweat shops still

use child labour!

Public reaction

Semantic change “affection” changed to

“infection”

Language

Scrofulous

scrofulous - afflicted with scrofula ill, sick - affected by

an impairment of normal physical or mental function; "ill from the monotony of his suffering"

scrofulous - morally contaminated; "denounce the scrofulous wealth of the times"- J.D.Hart

immoral - deliberately violating accepted principles of right and wrong

scrofulous - having a diseased appearance resembling scrofula; "our canoe...lay with her scrofulous sides on the shore"- Farley Mowat

ugly - displeasing to the senses; "an ugly face"; "ugly furniture"

Scrofulous

The report is very direct and descriptive. “The

most common accident is the squeezing off of a single joint of a finger”.

“A stunting effect upon the growth of the operative”.

This shows that at the time there was no health and safety precautions as there are today, and woman and children of all ages were put at harms way on a daily basis.

Language

In the report it mentions that children do jobs

as: “Wet-spinners”

“Doublers” “Flax-spinners”

“Throstle-spinning”

These jobs are not around in the UK any longer, but in 3rd world countries where

children labour factories provide clothing to stores such as Primark.

Jobs

Throstle-Spinning

When report was written

These can cause them injuries such as:

“hand being crushed in wheels” lockjaw

Loss of limbs – “common loss of whole finger half or a whole hand, an arm etc.” “blood spitting” “stunted growth”

Diseases of the knee-pan Being crushed Lungs collapsing Chest pains Asthma

We no longer have these fears when we enter the world of work as we have laws that protect us, compensation to take care of us, unions to

speak for us and human rights which allow us to choose where we work and what risks we are willing to take.

Injuries

Knee-pan

When report was written

http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GuuTD0i2jU

Horrible Histories