Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution

Episode Summary:

In this episode of Explaining History, Nick delves into the harrowing yet complex world of child labour during the British Industrial Revolution. Moving beyond the Dickensian caricatures of helpless victims, we explore Emma Griffin's groundbreaking book, Liberty’s Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution.

Through the voices of those who lived it—captured in hundreds of working-class autobiographies—we uncover the brutal reality of 13-hour shifts in cotton mills and lonely vigils in sheep pastures. But we also find stories of agency, survival, and the nuanced family decisions that sent children as young as six into the workforce. Why did some destitute families hold their children back from work until age 10? And how did access to apprenticeships divide the working class into the "skilled" and the "unskilled"?

Plus: Stay tuned for an announcement about an upcoming live masterclass on Russian History for students!

Key Topics:

• The "White Slaves of England": How reformers and novelists shaped our view of child labour.
• The Age of Work: Analyzing data from 350 autobiographies to find the average starting age of a child worker.
• Agency vs. Victimhood: Why we must view historical subjects as complex human beings, not just statistics.
• The Skilled Divide: How apprenticeships offered a lifeline out of poverty.

Books Mentioned:

• Liberty’s Dawn: A People's History of the Industrial Revolution by Emma Griffin
• Oliver Twist & David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
• The Water-Babies by Charles Kingsley

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