The bones that reveal the brutality of child labor in the British Industrial Revolution – 02/06/2023 – Market

“Seeing the hardships of these children written on their bones was very moving.”

Rebecca Gowland is a professor of bioarchaeology (the study of biological remains) at the University of Durham in the north of England.

And she is one of the authors of an unprecedented study, which reveals the horrific conditions of working children – some as young as seven years old – in 19th century England.

The lives of poor minors sent as “very poor apprentices” to textile factories during the Industrial Revolution have already been documented by historians.

But the University of Durham study “provides, for the first time, bioarchaeological evidence and analyzes bone remains from the apprentices,” the professor told BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language service.

According to Gowland, this “allows you to directly examine the impact of poverty and work on their bodies.”

The study was made possible by the discovery of more than 150 skeletons in the small town of Fewston, in the county of North Yorkshire (northern England).

The remains were found during the excavation of land to build a historic center next to an old church.

During the examination of the skeletons, the scientists were able to verify that the majority were children and adolescents and that they had signs of different diseases.

And, working together with historians, researchers managed to put together the puzzle of the hell that apprentice children lived every day.

But the discovery does not speak only of the past. The authors of the study point out that there is an urgent message for the present, as there are currently an estimated 160 million child workers worldwide.

child exploitation

The industrial revolution transformed the British socio-economic landscape in the 18th and 19th centuries.

But the industry’s heyday “was based on the low-paid work of women and children, which allowed British factories to be competitive in an increasingly globalized market”, highlights the study.

In 1845, 43% of workers in UK cotton mills were under 18. And, in other sectors, this index was substantially higher.

The factories were sometimes called “cotton mills” or spinning mills. They housed machines for the production of cotton threads or fabrics.

Many children from rural areas were sent to factories in English cities like London and Liverpool, but there was also displacement in the opposite direction.

Poor children were transported from the cities to spinning mills in rural villages such as Fewston.

Some children began their apprenticeships “from the age of seven,” according to Gowland. But the majority arrived at the factories between 10 and 13 years old.

There, they remained linked to their place of work until the age of 21, in the case of boys, or until they got married, in the case of girls.

Caroline, Sarah, Cornelius…

The apprentices who had their remains found in Fewston came from several cities, including Hull and London. They were apprentices like Caroline and Sarah, according to historical records.

“In 1803, Caroline Farmer was one of the youngest apprentices, aged seven, sent from the parish of Southwark, London”, “reports a document mentioned in the study.

“In September of that same year, 12-year-old Sarah Canty was apprenticed to Fewston from Lambeth, London, along with three other girls of a similar age,” the study continues.

“And in November of that same year, Sarah’s brother Cornelius, who was just seven years old, was sent to a factory in the county of Lancashire.”

Minors arrived at their new destinations from the “workhouses”, where they lived in cities.

Workhouses “were places where indigent people could go and stay,” explains Gowland. In them, people received little food and everyone was expected to work in exchange for their livelihood, including the children.

Minors used to stay there when they were orphaned or their parents were too poor to support them. “People only went to the workhouses when they were totally desperate”, according to the teacher.

Local and foreign children

The scientists needed to differentiate the skeletons of apprentice children from the remains of minors from the region, who were buried in the same place.

For this, they resorted to the analysis of isotopes (atoms of the same chemical element, but with different atomic mass) of strontium and oxygen, which are indicators of geographic places.

“As our teeth develop, the strontium and oxygen isotope values ​​within them reflect the geology and fresh water of the site,” according to Gowland.

“When we analyzed the smaller ones, we could see that many of them were not from the region because their strontium and oxygen isotope values ​​were very different from the local values.”

“And when we compared their isotope values ​​with those from other archaeological sites, we observed that some of the children had values ​​consistent with the London region”, continues the teacher. “This is in line with what we know from historical evidence, which says some of the children were sent to Fewston from the poorest parishes in London.”

Stories written in bones

The apprentices’ skeletons reveal the brutal conditions in the factories.

The bones of the youngest were deformed, they were short compared to other children of that time, and they showed signs of vitamin deficiency and respiratory disease.

“We observed many defects in their teeth, both permanent and baby teeth, which demonstrates the poor health of children during their first years of life, including intrauterine development,” according to Gowland.

There were also signs of rickets and other diseases caused by dietary deficiencies, such as scurvy.

“We can diagnose these conditions because they leave gaps in the bones”, explains the professor. “Vitamin D deficiency can cause certain bending of the long bones and other changes. Vitamin C deficiency is usually seen in the form of porous lesions in specific areas of the skeleton.”

“Respiratory diseases can be seen with reactive new bone formation in the ribs and sinuses.”

The children were also extremely short for their age.

“When a child doesn’t eat enough, their body prioritizes other biological functions, especially the brain and the immune system,” according to Gowland. “This comes at a cost to growth.”

“If the children get more resources later on, such as better nutrition, they may experience catch-up growth, but these children did not have this opportunity. It is likely that their diet was quite monotonous, consisting of bread and watered-down tea.”

From the analysis of carbon and nitrogen isotopes, the scientists deduced that the children had a diet so low in protein that it was similar “to that of victims of the Great Famine in Ireland in the 19th century”.

The fear of the ‘hell bell’

Reports from the time reveal what the daily life of the “very poor apprentices” was like.

“They lived in apprenticeships, with separate boys and girls,” explains Gowland. His working day was 14 hours, “from 6 am to 8 pm, five days a week, and 11 hours on Saturdays”.

The factories were large and had many heavy and extremely noisy machines, which caused hearing problems for the smallest.

The children worked all day at the machines and their tasks were dangerous. The so-called “turnover” children, for example, needed to collect the cotton that fell under the moving machines.

The Reverend Robert Collyer (1823-1912) was apprenticed at the Fewston factory from ages 8 to 14 and left one of the few first-hand accounts in existence. He says that if the children tried to sit down, the supervisor would punish their “little shoulders” with a leather strap.

“The result was that the weakest children were so crippled that the memory of their twisted limbs still casts a very sinister light on me”, says the reverend.

Collyer also describes his constant exhaustion (“he was more tired than words can express”) and his fear as he foresaw “the hellish bell” that woke the children, calling them to work.

The air inside factories was contaminated by cotton fibers that were inhaled by children, causing respiratory problems.

It is likely that the children “coughed a lot and died from common infections such as colds, as their immune systems were weakened,” according to Gowland.

In addition, “unsurprisingly, there were accidents.”

“At the Fewston factory, a boy named Henry Ludley Marwood died when his arm got caught in a machine. Death occurred a week later, when his arm was amputated”, says the teacher.

Lessons for the present

The study highlights that “this is not just a story of the past”.

Currently, according to the authors, “it is estimated that 73 million minors [de 5 a 17 anos] around the world perform hazardous work. That’s almost half of the 160 million child workers around the world.”

“I strongly believe that bioarchaeology has important lessons for us today,” says Rebecca Gowland. “It is essential that we do not continue to allow history to repeat itself.”

“When we hear about the Fewston children, we are astonished that these minors were treated in such a heinous way. These children have been dehumanized and treated as ‘the other’ throughout their lives and the same is true across the world today.”

For Gowland, the study demonstrates how serious the mark that can be left by poverty, even during pregnancy, on the growth of children.

“This project made me want to work more closely with public health researchers to offer a new perspective on the importance of investing in children’s health”, says the professor.

Tribute to the Children of Fewston

The remains of the children and others excavated at the site were reburied in a ceremony, according to Gowland. Members of the local Fewston community and the scientists who worked on the study attended the burial.

“Children were honored in a series of artworks and their names were embroidered on a children’s apron so they won’t be forgotten,” she says.

A permanent display preserves the children’s history at the historic Washburn Heritage Center in Fewston.

“I analyzed remains of children’s bones from different times and places”, recalls the teacher. “And I found the story of the Fewston children particularly impressive.”

“We all felt that we wanted to have the opportunity to tell their story. Since these children didn’t have a voice during life, we wanted to amplify their stories after death.”

The study that gave rise to this article is entitled “The expendables: Bioarchaeological evidence for pauper apprentices in 19th century England and the health consequences of child labour”. to the health of child labor”, in free translation) and was published in English by Plos One magazine.

This text was originally published here.