Victorian London saw widespread child labor under dangerous conditions. Children as young as 5 worked long hours in textile mills, mines, gas works, and other industries, often dying before age 25 due to the harsh conditions. Poor children with no families roamed the streets, stealing or begging to survive. It took time for the government to pass laws protecting working children, as many felt it was acceptable for children to work to support themselves or their families. Reformers like Lord Shaftesbury worked to convince the public that child labor was harmful to children's health, development, and education. Child labor remains an issue in some parts of the world today.

1. Victorian London

2. LaborFrom the seventeenth century on took granted that families would not be able to support itself if the children were not employed.Many children worked 16 hour days under bad conditions and so did their elders.The textile industry had children put to work at the age of 5. Iron and coal mines children both boys and girls began work at age 5. They most likely died before they were 25. Gas works, shipyards, construction, match factories, nail factories, and the business of chimney sweeping, for example were where child labor was to be enforced in all of England by four inspectors.

3. Continued From Slide TwoThey had children working at many different jobs. Such as Chimney Sweeps, Brick workers, Mills, factories, and scaring birds away from farmers crops. Poor children roamed the streets with no money and no home to got to. The children of the streets were often orphans with no one to take care of them. They stole or picked pockets to buy food and slept in outhouses or doorways. Some street children did jobs to earn money. They would work as crossing sweepers who sweep a way through the mud and horse dung of the main paths to make way for ladies and gentlemen. Other poor children sold lace, flowers, matches or muffins etc. out in the streets for money.

4. How Did They Fix This?It took time for the government a while to decide that working children should be protected by laws. Many people did not see anything wrong with the idea of children earning their stay. They also believed that people should not expect others to protect or keep them. They felt they had the right to send their children out to work. People such as Lord Shaftesbury and Sir Robert Peel worked hard to persuade the public that it was wrong for children to suffer with health problems and to miss out on schooling because of work.

5. THE ENDAlways remember in America we have a child labor law. But in other places in the world there are still child workers. Lots of them die from cruelty.