On
16th March 1832 Michael Sadler introduced
a Bill in Parliament that proposed limiting hours in all mills to
10 for persons under the age of 18. After much debate it was clear
that Parliament was unwilling to pass Sadler's bill. However, in April
1832 it was agreed that there should be another parliamentary enquiry
into child labour. Sadler was made chairman and for the next three
months the parliamentary committee interviewed 48 people who had worked
in textile factories as children.
On 9th July 1832 Michael Sadler discovered
that at least six of these workers had been sacked for giving evidence
to the parliamentary committee. Sadler announced that this victimization
meant that he could no longer ask factory workers to be interviewed.
He now concentrated on interviewing doctors who had experience treating
people who worked in textile factories. Several of these doctors expressed
concerned about the number of textile workers who were suffering from
physical deformities.
Cripples
in the yard of children's home in London.
Child
Labour Debate Activity (International School of Toulouse)
Child
Labour Simulation (Spartacus Educational)
(1)
Sir Samuel Smith worked as a doctor in Leeds.
He was interviewed by Michael Sadler's House of Commons Committee
on 16th July, 1832.
Question:
Is not the labour in mills
and factories "light and easy"?
Dr. Samuel Smith: It is often
described as such, but I do not agree at all with that definition.
The exertion required from them is considerable, and, in all the instances
with which I am acquainted, the whole of their labour is performed
in a standing position.
Question:What
are the effects of this on the children.
Dr. Samuel Smith: Up to twelve
or thirteen years of age, the bones are so soft that they will bend
in any direction. The foot is formed of an arch of bones of a wedge-like
shape. These arches have to sustain the whole weight of the body.
I am now frequently in the habit of seeing cases in which this arch
has given way. Long continued standing has also a very injurious effect
upon the ankles. But the principle effects which I have seen produced
in this way have been upon the knees. By long continued standing the
knees become so weak that they turn inwards, producing that deformity
which is called "knock-knees" and I have sometimes seen
it so striking, that the individual has actually lost twelve inches
of his height by it.
Question:
Are not the females less capable
of sustaining this long labour than males.
Dr. Samuel Smith: Yes. In
the female the pelvis is considerably wider than the male. When having
to sustain the upright posture for long periods, the pelvis is prevented
from being properly developed; and, in many of those instances, instead
of forming an oval aperture, it forms a triangular one, the part supporting
the spine being pressed downwards, and the parts receiving the heads
of the thigh-bones being pressed inwards. When they are expecting
to become mothers, sometimes because of the development of the bones
of the pelvis, there is not actually space for the exit of the child
which is within the womb. Under these circumstances, it is often the
painful duty of the surgeon to destroy the life of the child in order
that he may preserve the more valuable one of the mother. I have seen
many instances of this kind, all of which, with one exception, have
been those of females who have worked long hours at factories. I believe
if horses in this country were put to the same period of labour that
factory children are, in a very few years the animal would be almost
extinct among us. Every gentleman who is in the habit of using horses
well knows the effect produced upon them by too long continued labour;
you may give them what corn you please, but nothing will counteract
the effects of too long continued labour.
(2)
Sir William Blizard worked for twenty
years as a lecturer on surgery and anatomy at the Royal College of
Surgeons. Sir William Blizard was interviewed by Michael Sadler's
House of Commons Committee on 21st May, 1832.
Question: Is not the female
constitution particularly liable to present and permanent injury,
by undue exertion or improper treatment at that particular period?
Dr. William Blizzard: No doubt of it; it is admitted that at an early
period the bones are not permanently formed, and cannot resist pressure
to the same degree as at a mature age, and that is the state of young
females; they are liable, particularly from the pressure of the thigh
bones upon the lateral parts, to have the pelvis pressed inwards,
which creates what is called distortion; and although distortion does
not prevent procreation, yet it most likely will produce deadly consequences,
either to the mother or the child, when the period.
(3)
William Dodd wrote about the disabilities
he suffered from his time as a child worker in his pamphlet A Narrative
of a Factory Cripple (1841)
In the spring of 1840, I began
to feel some painful symptoms in my right wrist, arising from the
general weakness of my joints, brought on in the factories. The swelling
and pain increased. The wrist eventually measured twelve inches round
and I was worn down to a mere skeleton. I entered St. Thomas's Hospital
and on 18th July, I underwent the operation. The hand being taken
off a little below the elbow. On dissection, the bones of the forearm
presented a very curious appearance - something similar to an empty
honeycombe, the marrow having totally disappeared.
(4)
Edward Baines, The History of the Cotton
Manufacture (1835)
The
human frame is liable to an endless variety of diseases. Many of the
children who are born into the world, and who attain the age of ten
or twelve years, are so weakly, that under any circumstances they
would die early. Such children would sink under factory labour, as
they would under any circumstances they would die early.
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