1.       John Aikin presents a picture of economic and social change in Manchester. Examples of changes were the growth in business, the growth and expansion of industry. There was a growth in employment and trade. The increase in fortunes meant greater expense and demand for luxury items and modern brick houses. He presents that Manchester had become like one of the commercial capitals of Europe.

2.       According to Ashworth’s statement some of the cottages were neat and clean while others were grossly neglected. What might have Ure to this false impression is that the cottages that he saw, and described, the people living in them were more well off than the people living in the grossly neglected cottages.

3.       “urban expansion in industrial towns was rapid and uncontrolled”

·         Heaps of filth piling up and no previsions made to remove it

·         Buildings built so close together that the suns rays don’t hit the bottom

·         Too few public necessaries

·         No proper drainage from buildings

·         Houses being built right near factories discharging dangerous acids

·         Slaughter houses in the centre of towns with waste being left to rot in an ash pit

·         One storied huts with no proper floor. The kitchen, bedroom and living room were all in one

·         Homes were being described as cattle sheds being crammed in amongst houses, factories and a river.

·         Bad sanitation and water supply

·         Streets are narrow, ill-vented, unpaved or contain heaps of refuse or disease causing stagment pools

·         Absence of sewerage and fresh water

·         Filth in many different factories all very close to housing

·         ‘Towers close to this crazy labyrinth of buildings’ therefore no thought or planning going towards where anything is built.

·         Homes built right next to rivers which when they overflow they cause flooding in the homes especially where there are small sewers.

4.       If I was a historian researching the social effects of industrialism the most important comment made by the housewife would be “they subscribe a penny a day to a funeral society for the children”. The importance of this comment is that with such bad housing, horrible working conditions, inadequate food and lack of medicine there was rare hope for hard working children during this time. Although there was a lot of growth and progress in industry, there was also a lot of poverty amongst working families.

5.        |CHILD LABOUR DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION|

During the industrial revolution children were a source of cheap labour to both factories and mines. From early on in their lives children were used in industry. Because of the availability and large numbers of child workers employers could pay them very low wages for the work they did.

Children as young as nine were employed in factories. Their small size meant they could get into narrow spaces and clean machines. Some children would work so hard one day that the fatigue would suspend them from work for up to several weeks. The children’s fingers were more sensitive that adults thus making them very useful in the cloth industry. Children would use their small and sensitive fingers to join broken pieces of thread together. The children working in these factories would work for long hours under harsh conditions. Some employers would beat children just to keep them awake!

The children working in mines had a great risk to their health and well being. There were large numbers of children looking for work in the mines so wages were very low. In some areas of England children were introduced to the mining industry form as young as four years old. Apart from the occasion of passing and re-passing of coal, children working in these mines would work without companionship. The pushing and dragging of carriages full of coal or rocks started with children that were as young as six years old.

In the busy time children would start work at three in the morning and would finish at ten, or later, at night. In the regular time children had to start work at six in the morning and would finish at half past eight at night. They could not be late for work, a quarter of their pay would get taken off if they were just five minutes late. When children started working slowly due to tiredness they would be strapped by the employer to make them speed up. If children worked overtime to get more money they would not get paid much at all for the extra hours they worked.

The effect that industrialism had on children varied. Some children worked so hard that they died at an early age, others went on to become rich, and it all depended on the child’s luck and their ability.  Some parents would supply a penny a week to a funeral society, this shows that children were expected, even by their parents, to die at a young age.