Description:In the past children from poorer families in Britain had to earn a living as a matter of routine. Going to school was not common until 1870. Many children worked from a young age, often in seasonal or casual employment. In Birmingham children worked in the metal trades making items like buckles and pins. They also worked in brickyards, made lace, and sold items in the streets. Other children would beg on the streets. Children could also be placed as apprentices, usually for a period of seven years. The boys were apprenticed to learn a trade while the girls were usually placed as domestic servants. Some of the most well known child workers are the ‘climbing boys’ who climbed up chimneys to sweep them.
Gradually, well-meaning child rescuers and social reformers became concerned about the physical and moral effects that working had on children. They campaigned for laws to regulate or stop child employment. Even after the introduction of mass schooling in 1870, poorer children still worked as ‘half-timers’ (part-time), or took the opportunity to earn a few pennies. Children left school at an earlier age than now, and started work at 13 or 14.
Poor adults who could not support themselves were sent to the workhouse. The children were placed in a children’s workhouse called the Asylum for the Infant Poor where they would live and work. This document describes the work done by poor children under the age of 13. At the time it was written in about 1830 there were 124 children making pins, 11 working at glass polishing and 56 making lace. A few of the boys worked in local manufactories and brought their wages back to the workhouse.