Coal mining came along in 1700; coal mining was an easy process in the early days as it was inexpensive and easy as coal was close to the surface. 2 types of coal mines existed before the industrial revolution had begun. The drift and bell mines, both were small and produced large quantity of solid coal. As the years went on coal mining got deeper and deeper, as the coal mines got deeper the working conditions got more and more dangerous. However Coal shafts were created to help with getting deeper into the mines and could go hundreds of feet into the ground.
Coal mining was found in different parts thought Britain some include Northwich, Crewe, nantwitch, lymm, Manchester, middlewich and sandwich The mines were described by the children as ‘cold, wet, dark, lonely and painful. The mines stood at 16in high, little light would beamed into the dark narrow tunnels, water dripped though the mines, skin and bones ripped and brock from having to carry and pull coal for miles each day.
Robert North, who worked in a coal mine in Yorkshire, said: ‘I went into the pit at seven years of age. When I drew by the girdle and chain, my skin was broken and the blood ran down… If we said anything, they would beat us. His master threatened to ‘knock out his brains’ if he did not get up to work, and pushed him to the ground, breaking his thigh. Eventually, bent double and crippled, he returned to the workhouse, no longer any use to the brute.’
The children’s rights were minimal; they worked long hours, for minimal money, to supply for them and their family. The work hours would range between 10 and 19 hours depending on the gender, job and money earned. The children worked in horrible conditions; they worked near large, heavy and dangous equipment, like machines, large trucks and were made to put their hands into tiny spaces to fix the machines.
In a coal mine in central Britain it was recorded that, 58 deaths out of a total of 349 deaths in one year were 13 and under. Life for all those who worked underground was very hard, expessally for the young children who worked in the mines.
Health issues during the industrial revolution was a major problem especially in the mining industry. Employers forced young children into labour demanding jobs that caused physic and phycholgic pain, an example of these jobs was coal mining, being a trapper was horrifying, children would have to sit underground in tiny passageways for hours on end, the air was thin, and there was nowhere to move. By 1900 over 2.1 million children were employed 1/6 were employed in mining industries
It was common to find children ages 5 to 18 working fourteen hour days within the factory system, with the allowance of a one hour break, some worked night shifts lasting up to 16 hours.
In 1802 the law was changed concerning children’s rights and labour restrictions. Children underneath the age of 15 were no longer permitted to work above 12 hours a day, the laws improved in 1833 children below the age of 9 were no longer permitted to work and children between the age of 9 and 13 were only permitted to work 9 hours a day, 2 hours of education was required. The law was once again changed in 1842 to no allow woman and children to work underground, the final law throughout the industrial revolution that involved work requirements for woman and children was placed in 1847, woman and children (14 up) were only permitted to work up to 10 hours on a daily bases usually between 6 in the morning and 6 at night.
