Chapter 8 The West in the Age of Industrialization and Imperialism
The Industrial Revolution was a revolution in every sense of the term. It affected
politics, work, people's standards of living, marriage patterns, child-rearing,
leisure, and the structure of society itself. In preindustrial Europe landowning aris­
tocrats dominated society and politics, and peasants were the largest socioeconom­
ic group. Preindustrial cities consisted ofa middle class, or bourgeoisie, made up of
merchants fld professionals at the top and artisans and small shopkeepers below
them. They also contained numerous servants and unskilled workers who earned
wages as porters and laborers.
Society after the Industrial Revolution looked quite different. Cities had grown
enormously, especially industrial centers like Birmingham, England, which grew
from 73,000 to 250,000 between 1801 and 1850, and Liverpool, which grew from
77,000 to 400,000 in the same half-century. Europe in 1800 had twenty-one cities
with populations over 100,000. By 1900 the number of such cities had reached 120.
Within these cities there had emerged a new class of factory workers, the "prole­
tariat," who took their place in the working class alongside skilled tradesmen, ser­
vants, and day laborers. Industrialization and urbanization also increased the size,
diversity, and wealth of the middle class. To the ranks of merchants, lawyers, doc­
tors, and shopkeepers, there now were added industrialists, managers, govern­
ment officials, white-collar workers, and skilled professionals in such fields as
engineering, architecture, accounting, the sciences, and higher education.
This new and expanding middle class dominated the nineteenth century. Its
members controlled Europe's liberal, parliamentary governments, set the stan­
dards of taste in literature, music, and art, and drove forward and reaped the bene­
fits from Europe's industrialization. They considered themselves responsible for
the material and moral progress of the age. To others, however, the rise of the mid­
dle class had a different meaning. To Karl Marx, the German socialist, the bour­
geoisie were selfish materialists, exploiters and oppressors of the workers, and
responsible for the poverty and squalor of the industrial age. Marx and his follow­
ers looked forward to the coming revolution in which workers would rise up and
destroy the bourgeoisie, end class exploitation, and initiate a new era of coopera­
tion, harmony, and equality.
English Workers in the
Early Industrial Revolution
"'''''''
61 '" TESTIMONY BEFORE
PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES
ON WORKING CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND
A key to England's early industrial growth was the large pool of workers willing to
accept low wages for long hours of labor in factories and mines. Many of these
workers were displaced farmers or farm workers, forced from rural areas because
of land shortages caused by population growth and the consolidation of small
farms into large estates by wealthy landowners. Rural families moved to cities or
267
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The World in the Age of Western Dominance
coal-mining towns, where they provided the workforce for the early Industrial
Revolution. Few avoided poverty, crowded housing, and poor health.
Eventually, the British government responded by passing laws to protect factory
workers and miners, especially children, from exploitation. When considering leg­
islation, parliamentary committees held hearings to gather testimony from work­
ers, employers, physicians, clergy, and local officials. Their statements, some of
which are included in the following excerpts, present a vivid picture of working­
class conditions in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Section 1 includes testimony from the records of the Sadler Committee, chaired
by Michael Thomas Sadler in 1831 and charged with investigating child labor in
cotton and linen factories; section 2 includes testimony taken by a parliamentary
commission appointed in 1833 to investigate working conditions in other textile
industries; section 3 presents evidence taken in 1842 by a committee investigating
conditions in coal mines.
QUESTIONS FOR ANALYSIS
1. What differences were there between working conditions in the mines and in
the cotton factories?
2. As revealed by the questions they asked, what did the committee members
consider the worst abuses of working conditions in the factories and mines?
3. What does the testimony of Hannah Richardson and George Armitage reveal
about (a) the economic circumstances of working-class families and (b) atti­ tudes of working-class families toward their children?
4. Consider the testimony of the workers themselves. Do the workers express
anger? Do they demand changes? What might explain their attitudes?
5. For what reasons do William Harter and Thomas Wilson oppose factory laws?
In what ways do their views reflect the economic philosophy of Adam Smith
in the Wealth ofNations (source 39)?
What were your hours of labor in that mill?­
From 5 in the morning till 9 at night, when they
were thronged [busy}.
For how long a time together have you worked
ELIZABETH BENnEY
that excessive length of time? - For about half a
What age are you? - Twenty-three....
year.
What time did you begin to work at a factory? . What were your usual hodes oflabor when you
- When I was six years old ....
were not so thronged? - From 6 in the morning
What kind of mill is it? - Flax-mill. ...
till 7 at night.
What was your business in that mill? - I was
What time was allowed for your meals? -­
a little doffer,'
Forty minutes at noon.
I>
I. Testimony beforethe Sadler Committee, 183 I
I A worker, usually a young child, whose job was co clean the
machines used in textile manufacturing.
f.,'
I~
Chapter 8 The West in theAge ofJndustrialization and Imperialism
Had you any time to get your breakfast or
drinking? - No, we got it as we could.
And when your work was bad, you had hardly
any time to eat it at all? - No; we were obliged
to leave it or take it home, and when we did not
take it, the overlooker took it, and gave it to his
.
t
pIgs.
Do you consider doffing a laborious employ­
ment?- Yes.
Explain what it is you had to do. - When the
frames are full, they have to stop the frames, and
take the flyers off, and take the full bobbins off,
and carry them to the roller; and then put empty
ones on, and set the frames on again.
Does that keep you constantly on your feet?­
Yes, there are so many frames and they run so
quick.
Your labor is very excessive? - Yes; you have
not time for any thing.
Suppose you flagged a little, or were too late,
what would they do? - Strap us.
Are they in the habi t of strapping those who
are last in doffing? - Yes.
Constantly? - Yes.
Girls as well as boys? - Yes.
Have you ever been strapped? - Yes.
Severely?- Yes.
Could you eat your food well in that factory?
- No, indeed, I had not much to eat, and the
little I had I could not eat it, my appetite was so
poor, and being covered with dust; and it was no
use to take it home, I could not eat it, and the
overlooker took it, and gave it to the pigs ....
Did you live far from the mill? - Yes, two
miles.
Had you a clock? - No, we had not.
Supposing you had not been in time enough in
the morning at the mills, what would have been
the consequence? - We should have been quat­
teredo
What do you mean by that? - If we were a
quarter of an hour too late, they would take off
half an hour; we only got a penny an hour, and
they would take a halfpenny more ....
Were you generally there in time? - Yes, my
mother has been up at 4 o'clock in the morning,
and at 2 o'clock in the morning; the colliers used
269
to go to their work about 3 or 4 o'clock, and
when she heard them stirring she has gOt up out
of her warm bed, and gone out and asked them
the time, and I have sometimes been at Hunslet
Car at 2 o'clock in the morning, when it was
streaming down with rain, and we have had to
stay till the mill was opened ....
I>
2. Commission (or Inquiry into the Employment o(
Children in Factories. Second Report, 1833
JOHN WRIGHT [A silk mill worker in
his mid thirties]
Are silk-mills clean in general? - They are; they
are swept every day, and whitewashed once a year.
What is the temperature of silk-mills? - I
don't know exactly the temperature, but it is very
agreeable.
Is any artificial heat required? - In the winter
it is heated by steam.
To what degree? - I cannot speak positively;
but it is not for the work, only to keep the hands
warm and comfortable.
Why, then, are those employed in them said to
be in such a wretched condition? - In the first
place, the great number of hands congregated
together, in some rooms forty, in some fifty, in
some sixty, and I have known some as many as
100, which must be injurious to both health and
growing. In the second place, the privy is in the
factory, which frequently emits an unwholesome
smell; and it would be worth while to notice in
the future erection of mills, that there be betwixt
the privy door and the factory wall a kind of a
lobby of cage-work. 3dly, The tediousness and
the everlasting sameness in the first process preys
much on the spirits, and makes the hands spirit­
less. 4thly, the extravagant number of hours a
child is compelled to labor and confinement,
which for one week is seventy-six hours, which
makes 3,952 hours for one year, we deduct 208
hours for meals within the factory which makes
the net labor for one year 3,744; but the labor
and confinement together of a child between ten
years of age and twenty is 39,520 hours, enough
270
The World in the Age of Western Dominance
to fritter away the best constitution. 5thly,
About six months in the year we are obliged to
use either gas, candles, or lamps, for the longest
portion of that time, nearly six hours a day, being
obliged to work amid the smoke and soot of the
same; and also a large portion of oil and grease is
used in the mills.
What are the effects of the present system of
labor? - From my earliest recollections, I have
found the effects to be awfully detrimental to the
well-being of the operative; I have observed fre­
quently children carried to factories, unable to
walk, and that entirely owing to excessive labor
and confinement. The degradation of the
workpeople baffles all description: frequently
have two of my sisters been obliged to be assisted
to the factory and home again, until by-and-by
they could go no longer, being totally crippled in
their legs....
WILLIAM HARTER [The owner of silk
mill in Manchester]
What effect would it have on your manufacture
to reduce the hours of labor to ten?
It would
instantly much reduce the value of my mill and
machinery, and consequently far prejudice my
manufacture.
How so? - They are calculated to produce a
certain quantity of work in a given time. Every
machine is valuable in proportion to the quantity
of work which it will turn off in a given time. It
is impossible that the machinery could produce
as much work in ten hours as in twelve. If the
tending of the machines were a laborious occupa­
tion, the difference in the quantity of work
might not always be in exact proportion to the
difference of working time; but in .my mill, and
silk-mills in general, the work requires the least
imaginable labor; therefore it is perfectly impos­
sible that the machines could produce as much
work in ten hours as in twelve. The produce
would vary in about the same ratio as the work­
ing time.
What may be said about the sum invested in
your mill and machinery? - It is not yet near
~.-.-~~~~~_'--, -~.~~---
complete, and the investment is a little short of
20,000 pounds.
Then to what extent do you consider your
property would be prejudiced by a bill limiting
the working hours to ten! - All other circum­
stances remaining the same, it is obvious that any
property in the mill and machinery would be
prejudiced to the extent of one-sixth its value, or
upwards of3,OOO pounds.
How would the reduction in the hours of labor
affect the cost of your manufactures! - The cost
of our manufactures consists in the price of the
raw material and of the expense of putting that
said material into goods. Now the mere interest
of the investment in buildings and machinery,
and the expense of keeping the same in repair,
forms a large item in the cost of manufacturing.
Of course it follows, that the gross charge under
this head would be the same upon a production
of 10,000 pounds and 12,000 pounds, and this
portion of the cost of manufacturing would con­
sequently be increased by about 16%.
Do you mean to say, that to produce the same
quantity of work which your present mill and
machinery IS capable of, it requires an additional
outlay of upwards of 3,000 pounds! - I say dis­
tinctly, that to produce the same quantity of
work under a ten-hours bill will require an addi­
tional outlay of 3,000 or 4,000 pounds; therefore
a ten-hours bill would impose upon me the ne­
cessity of this additional outlay in such perish­
able property as buildings and machinery, or I
must be content to relinquish one-sixth portion
of my business.
I>
3. Testimony before the Ashley Committee on the
Conditions in Mines, /842
EDWARD POTTER
I am a coal viewer, and the manager of the South
Hetton colliery. We have about 400 bound
people (contract laborers), and in addition our
bank people (foremen), men and boys about 700,
Chapter 8 The West in theAge ofIndustrialization and Imperialism
In rhe pirs 427 men and boys; of rhese, 290
men ....
Of rhe children in rhe pits we have none under
eight, and only three so young. We are constant­
ly beset by parents coming making application
to rake children under the age, and they are very
anxious and very dissatisfied if we do not take the
children; and there have been cases in times of
brisk rrade, when the parents have threatened ro
leave the colliery, and go elsewhere if we did not
comply. At every successive binding, which takes
place yearly, constant attempts are made to ger
the boys engaged to work to which they are not
competent from their years. In point of fact, we
would rather not have boys until nine years of age
complere. If younger than that, rhey are apr ro
fall asleep and get hurt: some ger killed. It is no
interest to the company to take any boys under
nme ....
HANNAH RICHARDSON
I've one child that works in the pit; he's going on
ten. He is down from 6 ro 8.... He's nor much
rired with the work, it's only rhe confinement
thar rires him. He likes it pretty well, for he'd
rather be in the pit rhan go to school. There is
not much difference in his health since he went
into rhe pit. He was at school before, and can
read pretty well, but can't write. He is used pret­
ty well; I never hear him complain. I've another
son in rhe pit, 17 years old.... He went into the
pir ar eight years old. It's nor hurt his health nor
his appetite, for he's a good size. It would hurr us
if children were prevented from working rill 11
or 12 years old, because we've nor jobs enough ro
live now as it is....
MR. GEORGE ARMITAGE
I am now a teacher ar Hoyland school; I was a
collier at Silksrone until I was 22 years old and
worked in rhe pit above 10 years.... I hardly
know how ro reprobate rhe pracrice sufficiently
of girls working in pirs; norhing can be worse. I
have no doubt thar debauchery is carried on, for
271
which rhere is every opportunity; for the girls .
go constantly, when hurrying, to the men, who
work often alone in rhe bank-faces apart from
every one. I think it scarcely possible for girls to
remain modest who are in pits, regularly mixing
with such company and hearing such language as
they do - it is nexr ro impossible. I dare venture
ro say that many of the wives who come from pits
know nothing of sewing or any household duty,
such as women ought ro know - they lose all
disposition ro learn such things; rhey are ren­
dered unfir for learning rhem also by being over­
worked and nor being trained to the habit of it. I
have worked in pits for above 10 years, where
girls were consrantly employed, and I can safely
say ir is an abominable system; indecent lan­
guage is quite common. I think, if girls were
trained properly, as girls ought to be, that there
would be no more difficulty in finding suitable
employment for them than in other places. Many
a collier spends in drink whar he has shur up a.
young child the whole week to earn in a dark
cold corner as a trapper. The educarion of rhe
children is universally bad. They are generally ig­
norant of common facrs in Christian history and
principles, and, indeed, in almosr everyrhing
else. Lirtle can be learned merely on Sundays, and
rhey are roo rired as well as indisposed to go to
night schools....
THE REV. ROBERT WILLAN,
CURATE OF ST. MARY'S, BARNSLEY
I have been resident here as chief minister for 22
years. I think rhe morals of the working classes
here are in an appalling srare.... The ill manners
and conducr of rhe weavers are daily presented to
view in rhe streets, but the colliers work under
ground and are less seen, and we have less means
of knowing .... The master-sin among rhe
youths is that of gambling; rhe boys may be seen
playing at pitch-and-toss on the Sabbarh and on
week-days; rhey are seen doing this in all direc­
tions. The nexr beserring sin is promiscuous sex­
ual intercourse; this may be much induced by the
manner in which rhey sleep - men, women, and
.t .
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The World in the Age of Western Dominance
children ofren sleeping in one bed-room. I have
known a family of farher and mother and 12
children, some of them up-grown, sleeping on a
kind of sacking and straw bed, reaching from one
side of the room to the other, along the floor;
they were an English family. Sexual intercourse
begins very young. This and gambling pave the
way; then drinking ensues, and this is the vortex
which draws in every other sin.
THOMAS WILSON, ESQ.,
OWNER OF THREE COLLIERIES
I object on general principles to government in­
terference in the conduct of any trade, and I am
satisfied that in the mines it would be productive
of the greatest injury and injustice. The art of
mining is not so perfectly understood as to admit
of the way in which a colliery shall be conducted
being dictated by any person, however experi­
enced, with such certainty as would warrant an
interference with the management of private
business. I should also most decidedly object to
placing collieries under the present provisions of
the Factory Acr' with respect to the education of
children employed therein. First, because, if it is
contended that coal-owners, as employers of chil­
dren, are bound to attend to their education, this
obligation extends equally to all other employers,
and therefore it is unjust to single out one class
only; secondly, because, if the legislature asserts a
right to interfere to secure education, it is bound
to make that interference general; and thirdly,
because the mining population is in this neigh­
borhood so intermixed with other classes, and is
in such small bodies in anyone place, that it
would be impossible to provide separate schools
for them.
'The Factory Act of 1833, which regulated employment of
children and women, applied to textile factories.
Middle-Class Success and How to Achieve It
TT..,.
62 T Samuel Smiles,
SELF-HELP and THRIFT
No writer expressed the hopes, fears, expectations, and values of nineteenth­
century Europe's middle class more faithfully and successfully than the Scottish­
born biographer, essayist, and businessman Samuel Smiles (1812-1904). Born into
the family of a papermaker and shopkeeper, Smiles received a medical degree,
worked as a journalist in Leeds, and held several managerial posts in the railroad
industry. He wrote biographies, histories, and travel narratives, and achieved
worldwide fame through his inspirational books on morality and personal behav­
ior. Although it had been rejected by six publishers, his book Self-Help (1859) be­
came a bestseller that went through dozens of editions and was translated into
seventeen languages, including Arabic,' Chinese, and Japanese. With an upbeat "­
message that hard work, discipline, and high moral standards guaranteed success,
'
Self-Help was followed by Character (1871), Thrift (1875), and Duty (1880). With
his life spanning the century that saw the triumph of the middle-class values he
championed, he died in 1904 at the age of ninety-three.
In the following excerpt, the first two sections, "Self-Help and Individualism"
and "Habits of Successful Men," are from Self-Help; the third section, "Faults of
the Poor," is from Thrift.