Britain Begins the Industrial Revolution

7th Grade Industrial Revolution in Britain

Inventions and Labor

Multiple Choice

Which activity led to a population explosion during the Industrial Revolution?

• Invention of the steam engine

• Crop Rotation

• Agricultural Revolution

• Urbanization

Multiple Choice

His steam engine was an improvement of the Newcomen steam engine

• James Hargraves

• Richard Arkwright

• James Watt

Multiple Choice

Invented by James Hargrave in 1770, this innovation could spin many spindles of wool at one time.

• Steam Engine

• Spinning Jenny

• Spinning Mule

• Flying Shuttle

Multiple Choice

This British invention could carry tons of iron to use in factories.

• Spinning Jenny

• Flying Shuttle

• Locomotive

• Spinning Mule

Multiple Choice

Prior to the Industrial Revolution people lived in what kind of society?

• Industrial

• Agrarian

• Hunter Gatherer

• Urban

Multiple Choice

Which word best describes an agrarian society

• Hunter Gatherer

• Manufacturing

• Agriculture

• Big Business

Children and the Industrial Revolution

Children in the Mills

If businessmen in the Industrial Revolution were going to develop their factories they needed people to work for them. Many of the early textile factory owners employed large numbers of children. This was not shocking as children had always been expected to work before the Industrial Revolution. Some of the children in the mill were apprentices. These children were often orphans, who were sent to the factories from the large towns. They lived in the apprentice house near the factory. Other child workers came from m the local area. Their families relied on their wages to survive.

Children in the Mills

The factory owners paid overseers to make sure the children worked as hard as they could. The more work the children did the more the overseers were paid. The overseers were given whips. Children had many advantages as factory workers. They were paid less than adults, and apprentices were not paid at all but just worked for food and shelter. Children were also more supple, so it was easier for them to crawl under the machines to repair broken threads. They did this when the machines were working and some were badly injured. Some children were given an education at work but many were not.

Open Ended

Why did mills children for labor?

Open Ended

Leonard Horner, a factory inspector, describes what happened to a young girl in a textile factory “She was caught by her apron which wrapped around the shaft. She was whirled round and repeatedly forced between the shaft and the carding engine. Her right leg was found some distance away.”

Based on the account of Leonard Horner, how would you describe the working conditions for children who worked in mills?