People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
1. Read the text about “working conditions”.
The purpose of the factories was to make money. This was done by making
employees work for as long as possible and paying low wages. Working conditions
were poor because the early factories were often dangerous, unhealthy and miserable
places. The whole system was new and untried. Cotton manufacture required high
temperatures to prevent the thread snapping and, of course, the steam engines also
made factories hot. Dangerous machinery was not fenced off and there were no safety
regulations.
Going ‘out to work’ was a completely new way of life. For factory owners it meant
finding ways of organizing large numbers of people and making a profit. For
employees it meant keeping to time and going out to work every weekday, instead of
being at home. It also meant that for the first time the family was split up.
Many factories had strict rules so punishments were very harsh. Fines were common
and ‘overseers’ were employed to check that work was being done properly. Workers
were often heavily fined and the threat of dismissal was real. Both children and adults
were beaten for making mistakes or falling asleep. Corporal punishment was often
used to encourage better work.
Children were employed in the factories from a very early age and often had the job
of ‘scavenging’ under the machines to pick up waste cotton or wool. Older children
were piecers, they had to lean over the spinning-machine to repair the broken threads.
The use of machines meant that women and children could do most of the work, since
little muscle power was needed. Improvements came only after many working people
had experienced years of hardship and distress.
(Text adapted from HAMER, Rachel: Life and Work in 19th Century Britain, Depth Studies, Heinemann History, 1995, page 6;
and KELLY, Nigel, REES, Rosemary; SHULTER, Jane: Britain 1750-1900, Living through History, page 44; and
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRpiecers.htm)
Illustration of scavengers and piecers at work that appeared in Edward Baines' book The History of Cotton Manufacture (1835)
(http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRscavener1.JPG)
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
2. The beginnings and endings of the following sentences have been
mixed up. Match the correct head to its tail.
•
Working conditions were poor because
a. The early factories were often
1. to prevent the thread snapping.
b. The whole system was
2. fenced off.
c. Dangerous machinery was not
3. factories hot.
d. Cotton manufacture required high
temperatures
e. The steam engines also made
4. dangerous, unhealthy and miserable
places.
5. new and untried.
a - ____ ; b - ____ ; c - ____ ; d - ____ ; e - ____
•
Going ‘out to work’ was a completely new way of life and it meant:
1. keeping to time
2. finding ways of organizing large numbers of people
a. For factory owners
3. splitting up the families for the first time.
b. For employees
4. making a profit
5. going out to work every weekday
•
New jobs appeared
1. were employed to check that work was being done
properly.
a. Overseers
2. were children.
3. picked up waste cotton or wool under the machines
b. Piecers
4. were often experienced workers
c. Scavengers
5. had to lean over the spinning-machine to repair the broken
threads.
6. were usually paid on the basis of how much was produced
by the workers of which they were in charge.
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
•
Unit 5 Working Conditions
The fines
a. Many factories had
1. very harsh.
b. Fines were
2. real.
3. for making mistakes and falling
asleep.
c. The threat of dismissal was
d. Both children and adults were beaten
4. common.
e. Corporal punishment was
5. strict rules.
f. Punishments were
6. often heavily fined.
g. Workers were
7. often used to encourage better work.
a - ____ ; b - ____ ; c - ____ ; d - ____ ; e - ____ ; f - ____ ; g - ____
Source 1
The First Factory Act 1833
This Act applied to textile factories:
•
No child under 9 years old could work.
•
Children aged 9-12 could work for no more than 8 hours a day.
•
Young people aged 13-18 could work for no more than 12 hours a day.
•
Working children had to have 2 hours of schooling a day.
•
People under 18 not to work at night.
•
1 ½ hours per day for meal breaks.
•
Four factory inspectors, with sub-inspectors, were appointed to see factory
owners obeyed the law.
Children were allowed to work in shifts. This meant that mill owners kept their
factories open for the same number of hours and adults had to work for as long, or
longer, than before.
(Adapted from HAMER, Rachel: Life and Work in 19th Century Britain, Depth Studies, Heinemann History, 1995, pages 1516; and KELLY, Nigel, REES, Rosemary; SHULTER, Jane: Britain 1750-1900, Living through History, page 51)
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
3. Look at Source 1. Answer these questions using sentences.
a. Who won benefits after the Factory Act of 1833? Mention two
improvements they got.
b. What improvement did a working child aged 10 get after the Factory
Act of 1833?
Source 2
Source 3
A list of fines in a Manchester factory, 1840
NOTICE
List of Fines
For opening a window 1l
For being dirty at work 1l
For leaving an oil can out of place 1l
For being five minutes after the bell 1l
For having waste on the spindles 1l
For whistling at work 1l
http://www.nettlesworth.durham.sch.uk/time/victorian/
scavenger2.jpg
(From HAMER, Rachel: Life and Work in 19th Century Britain,
Depth Studies, Heinemann History, 1995, page 6)
4. Look at Source 2. Answer these questions using sentences.
a.
How many people are there?
b.
Who are the workers?
c.
Can you mention the names of the jobs?
d.
Do you know the name of the machine? If so, what is it?
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
5. Look at Source 3. Answer these questions using sentences.
a.
What would often happen in the factory if a worker arrived five
minutes after the bell?
b.
Mention two fines from the list that you think were the unfairest.
Explain your reasons.
6. Work in pairs. Imagine you are a child living around 1833. You are
working in a cotton mill. Describe your job and the changes you have
got recently. The following questions may help you organise your
ideas.
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
How old are you?
Where do you work?
How long have you been working there?
Is this your first time working?
What is your job? Describe your job.
Which machines are there?
Do you think it is dangerous working in the factory? Why?
How many hours do you work?
Do you go to school? How many hours per day?
Have your working conditions changed? Tell about the changes.
Is there an overseer in the mill?
Have you been beaten? If so, why?
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
Source 4
Laws to improve working conditions.
Factory Act 1819
Children to work no more than 12 hours a day.
Factory Act 1833
Children under 9 not to work in textile mills. 10-13-year-olds
limited to 48 hours’ work a week.
Factory Act 1844
Women limited to 12 hours’ work a day.
Factory Act 1847
Women and children limited to 10 hours’ work a day in textile
factories. Nothing said about the hours of men.
Factory Act 1850
Women’s and children’s work limit increased to 10.5 hours but
must be between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m.
Factory Act 1867
All previous laws about textile factories to apply to all factories
with more than 50 workers.
Factory Act 1874
No worker to work more than 56.5 hours per week for all
factory workers.
Factory Act 1878
All workshops using machines to obey factory laws. Inspectors
to check all factories and workshops.
Workers still not covered
Domestic servants
Seamstresses
Shopworkers
Farm labourers
(Adapted from HAMER, Rachel: Life and Work in 19th Century Britain, Depth Studies, Heinemann History, 1995, page 17; and
KELLY, Nigel, REES, Rosemary; SHULTER, Jane: Britain 1750-1900, Living through History, page 44)
7. Look at Source 4. Answer these questions using sentences.
a. Who benefited from improvements after the Factory Act of 1844?
b. Which law made the previous Acts applied to all factories?
c. Which workers were not covered after the Factory Act of 1878? What
do they have in common?
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
8. Work in pairs. Look at Sources 1 and 4. Answer these questions using
sentences.
a. In what way is it true that the factory acts were good for the children?
b. And for the women?
c. Why do you think the first factory acts were only applied to textile
factories?
9. Complete the following passage using the words from the box below.
change
working
harsh
children
conditions
owners
workers
train
cruel
people
steam
difficult
There have been criticisms of the (1) ____________ in factories and most employers
have been portrayed as (2) ____________. However, we must consider things from
the perspective of (3) ____________ at the time. Workers coming into factories from
agricultural work were used to working very long hours in (4) ____________
conditions. They were also used to their (5) ____________ working. In many families
the children’s wages were vital to life. But agricultural workers were not used to (6)
____________ to the clock. Being five minutes late meant nothing in a field, but cost
the employer money in wasted (7) ____________ in a factory. To (8) ____________
workers to be punctual, employers sometimes had to use (9) ____________
punishments.
Some factory (10) ____________, such as Robert Owen and Titus Salt, treated their
(11) ____________ better than most owners did. There were also large numbers of
reformers who campaigned for (12) ____________ and helped get laws passed to
improve conditions.
(Text adapted from: KELLY, Nigel, REES, Rosemary; SHULTER, Jane: Britain 1750-1900, Living through History, page 45)
10. In groups of four, write a dialogue about working conditions. Imagine
everyone is working at the same factory in 1850. Tell about all the
changes you have seen since you started working there. The dialogue
should include the following people:
a. You are a woman who has been working there since 1830. You are
married and you have got two daughters and three sons who work in
the same factory. Talk about what job you do.
b. You are a young man who has been working there since 1840. You are
the oldest son of the previous woman. You first worked as a scavenger
and then as a piecer. Explain what job you have now.
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People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
c. You are a young woman who has been working there since 1842. You
are the girlfriend of the previous man. Your brothers and sisters are
working in another cotton mill. Explain what job you have.
d. You are a man who has been working there since 1820. You are the
young woman’s father. You have done different jobs and seen different
machinery. Explain what job you have now.
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Llicència C 2006-2007
People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
Illustration of carding, drawing and roving that appeared in Edward Baines' book History of Cotton Manufacture (1835)
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRbainescarding.jpg
11. Linking past and present.
Answer these questions with your partner.
a. Can you find similarities and/or differences between the working
conditions in the 19th century and today? Why/Why not?
b. Try to think of present-day examples of working conditions. List them.
c. Where can you find unpleasant working conditions today?
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People and the Textile Industry
Unit 5 Working Conditions
d. Do you think there are children working somewhere at present? If so,
where and why?
e. Look for photos on the internet and stick them on here. Write a
sentence for each photo to describe it.
Maria del Roser Pujadas Jubany
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Llicència C 2006-2007