ORIGINAL 1842 REPORT EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN IN MINES COLLIERIES IRON WORKS THOMAS TANCRED

On the Employment of Children and Young Persons in the Mines and Collieries and Iron Works in the West of Scotland, and on the State, Condition and Treatment of such Children and Young Persons. Original, 1841 report by Thomas Tancred, Esq. This is an original Scottish government report, not a reprint.

An important Scottish government report to Queen Victoria on child labor and working conditions in mines and collieries, with wages, job descriptions, living conditions, working hours and testimony. A fascinating look at the use of child labor at the very beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

The 68-page report, completed in 1841 and published in 1842, is a summary of a larger report, and includes pages numbered from 311 to 378. It is softbound in blue paper, with illegible writing on the cover, possibly in Scots. The covers are frayed and torn, and the binding is loose in places. The inside pages have some creasing and wrinkling but are readable and intact. 13 3/8 inches x 8 5/8 inches.

Following is from the report:

"The children, in rags and filth were allowed to corrupt each other, exempt from all the restraints of school or of domestic control. This domestic discomfort seemed attributable to the crowded state of the habitations, which, from the want of buildings to contain the rapidly increasing population, were filled with lodgers. I was assured that some houses, with a family and only two rooms took in as many as 14 single men as lodgers. It is needless to observe how impossible it must be for a woman to preserve decency, cleanliness, or comfort under such circumstances. An infatuated love of money, for no purpose but to minister to a degrading passion for ardent spirits, seems the allpervading motive of action in this quarter." 

The text of the full report can be seen at:

http://www.cmhrc.co.uk/cms/document/1842_W_Scotland.pdf 

This is a scarce original. I am not aware of any other original copies offered anywhere. 

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