{"product_id":"young-workers-of-the-industrial-sue-wilkes-9781036113834","title":"Young Workers of the Industrial Age: Child Labour in the 18th and 19th Centuries","description":"The industrial revolution was forged with the lives of our ancestors' children.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAll over Britain, children and young people toiled for hours every day. Their workplaces were pitch-dark mines, fiery furnaces, brightly-lit mills with deadly machines, and mud-filled brickyards.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSome workers were pauper apprentices, sent thousands of miles from their homes and indentured until the age of twenty-one.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAlmost every item in our ancestors' homes and wardrobes was made by children and youngsters: buttons, glass, carpets, cotton, cutlery, pins, candles, lace, pottery, straw hats, and even matches.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn grand houses and ordinary homes, tiny chimney sweeps climbed chimneys choked with soot, and boys and girls worked as domestic servants. On the land, both sexes worked in all weathers. Children worked at home, too - many helped their parents earn a living.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom the early 1800s, men like Robert Owen tried to improve children's lives. But reform was held back for decades by wealthy mill-owners, landowners and politicians who believed that profits were more important than people.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSue Wilkes tells the story of the battle for workplace and educational reforms led by Lord Shaftesbury, Richard Oastler, and the indefatigable factory inspectors. But it took many decades to transform society's attitude towards childhood itself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eYoung Workers of the Industrial Age\u003c\/i\u003e takes a fresh look at the childhoods stolen to create Britain's industrial empire.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Sue Wilkes\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1036113833\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781036113834\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Pen and Sword History\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/30\/2024\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 272\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover","brand":"Sue Wilkes","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":46372641669375,"sku":"9781036113834","price":39.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_27c2a425-0402-4203-8a6a-f3728fd0b908.jpg?v=1732726534","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/young-workers-of-the-industrial-sue-wilkes-9781036113834","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}