Peter Kirby. Child Workers and Industrial Health in Britain, 1780–1850

In the vast historiography of industrialization (once the Industrial Revolution) in Britain, it is generally agreed that the first decades of this complex and multifaceted process were the most destabilizing and dangerous for workers. Some skilled workers, notably handloom weavers, lost their livelihoods; women and children entered into textile factory work in large numbers; the absence of any laws regarding working hours and safety meant that workers were often treated extremely poorly. From the late 1820s, though, a combination of reform movements, official inquiries, and legislation resulted in better conditions for workers, especially women and children. In Child Workers and Industrial Health in Britain, 1780–1850, Peter Kirby challenges this narrative, arguing that industrial work was not harmful to children and that mid-century reforms did not clearly improve the lives of child industrial workers. While our existing portrait of child industrial workers has been a “pessimistic” one that depicts child workers as “victims of avaricious employers and an inherently brutal system,” Kirby seeks to reveal them as “viable workers and earners in their own right” (p. 2). Kirby's book is a thorough work of social history that uses a wide range of sources. However, his inconsistent approach to primary sources weakens his argument.

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