Whistle As You Walk Away

I learnt a lot from this play that we did, about the lives of poor Victorian children; like their working conditions, punishments, hours, pay, as well the Act of Parliament.

There were several jobs you could have; you could be a scavenger (mostly only for small people) a piecer or a doffer. These mostly depended on your age! The conditions were bad, as well as being dangerous, however the owners didn’t care if their workers got killed or hurt. At the mill no one cared about you, the owners only cared if you were doing your job.

Not only did they not care about you, but they didn’t pay the children much money at all! They didn’t care about the hours they were working or what the punishments did to them, like the strap! The children had to work over 12 hours which must have been very tiring.

In 1833 a law was passed through a new Act of Parliament. This meant that children between the ages of 9-13 years could only work for up to 9 hours a day, and for children between the ages 13-18 only 12 hours a day (this was all because of Lord Shaftesbury).

Jessica, Year 5

                         An inspector calls