Eliza
Marshall
was born in
Doncaster in 1815. At the age of nine her family moved to Leeds
where she found work at a local textile factory. Eliza was interviewed
by Michael Sadler
and his House of Commons Committee on 26th
May, 1832.
Child
Labour Debate Activity (International School of Toulouse)
Child
Labour Simulation (Spartacus Educational)
(1)
Eliza Marshall was interviewed by Michael
Sadler and his House of Commons Committee
on 26th May, 1832.
Question:
What was your hours of work?
Answer: When I first went to the mill we worked for six in the morning
till seven in the evening. After a time we began at five in the morning,
and worked till ten at night.
Question: Were you very much fatigued by that length of labour?
Answer: Yes.
Question: Did they beat you?
Answer: When I was younger they used to do it often.
Question: Did the labour affect your limbs?
Answer: Yes, when we worked over-hours I was worse by a great deal;
I had stuff to rub my knees; and I used to rub my joints a quarter
of an hour, and sometimes an hour or two.
Question: Were you straight before that?
Answer: Yes, I was; my master knows that well enough; and when I have
asked for my wages, he said that I could not run about as I had been
used to do.
Question: Are you crooked now?
Answer: Yes, I have an iron on my leg; my knee is contracted.
Question: Have the surgeons in the Infirmary told you by what your
deformity was occasioned?
Answer: Yes, one of them said it was by standing; the marrow is dried
out of the bone, so that there is no natural strength in it.
Question: You were quite straight till you had to labour so long in
those mills?
Answer: Yes, I was as straight as any one.
Young
girl factory worker
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