The Children Who Built Victorian Britain Part 1

The catalyst to Britain's Industrial Revolution was the slave labour of orphans and destitute children. In this shocking and moving account of their exploitation and eventual emancipation, Professor Jane Humphries uses the actual words of these child workers (recorded in diaries, interviews and letters) to let them tell their own story. She also uses groundbreaking animation to bring to life a world where 12-year-olds went to war at Trafalgar and six-year-olds worked the fields as human scarecrows.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• victorian britain
• children
• bbc
• documentary

[akissy]

@whitegirlblackshirt Who refuses to work? x.x omg... there's tons of lazy asses who refuse to work all over the world!! They think it's a pain in teh ass, from made up teenage girls who think daddy will always be there to middle aged men who think they are too much for any job, to ppl who refuse to study and hence can't find a job!! It's all over the place!!!

[akissy]

I'm not justifying, but ppl gotta understand that practicality was all. Human rights and the welfare of children are very very new. It's not that they were evil people who just wanted to screwed kids over and rob them of a childhood. Childhood was only for the aristocrats, and even then it was very short lived: you died off sickness or were trained from very small to do what was expected of you.This is how the world was till the middle 19th century hit, it's not justification but tis the truth.

[creolelady182]

Because of Britain's hideous laws favoring the wealthy during that time- great Britain remained idled and its people stuck in poverty. yet the Royal family could do nothing but pity them. people lived in filth and squalor. The females if they did not have a male protector was doomed to the streets. It ceases to amaze me that the masses did not protest and riot but then the Royal Family had a huge Police Force and a well paid military to keep these people at bay

[rosiethebear300]

@leedshunk See the bigger picture! It was only because the children were orphans and there were no protection for them and the parishes didn't want to have to try and feed them all(although it was a measly bread and gruel) and orphan children were abundant. If these children had have been adult would it have been OK to work 12 or more hours a day 6 or 7 days a week for a slice of bread and shelter from the rain while the filthy rich got richer? people can't afford basics working 7 days/wk toda

[rosiethebear300]

@leedshunk You gotta be kidding - with excalating wage slave labour in north america today. You try and live on welfare when you can't get a job that pays your rent, hydro and food!

[BunnieGunn]

YAY theres my animation at 05:25

thanks for uploading the whole show!!