0:00:00.537,0:00:02.141
They blamed high wages.

0:00:03.005,0:00:05.035
With one in ten men away fighting

0:00:05.426,0:00:07.278
able adult workers came at a premium

0:00:07.785,0:00:09.306
and cut into profits.

0:00:10.335,0:00:12.177
Pit's advice was short and simple

0:00:12.876,0:00:14.344
He was supposed to have told them,

0:00:14.982,0:00:16.394
Yoke up the children.

0:00:37.594,0:00:39.439
Luckily for Pit and for Great Britain

0:00:39.545,0:00:41.080
and PLC for the first time in it's history

0:00:41.301,0:00:43.224
the country was awash with children.

0:00:44.044,0:00:46.343
In the mid 1700s the population of Britain

0:00:46.675,0:00:48.720
was small and stationary around 5.7 million.

0:00:50.146,0:00:52.308
But by the end of the century it had shot up

0:00:52.484,0:00:53.924
by more than 50 percent.

0:00:54.092,0:00:55.291
to 8.7 million.

0:00:55.921,0:00:57.556
So what changed?

0:00:58.060,0:00:59.757
The answer's in here.

0:01:05.509,0:01:07.923
This is Sir Michael's in Shropshire

0:01:08.176,0:01:09.893
built by that great man of

0:01:10.045,0:01:11.104
the industrial age,

0:01:11.304,0:01:13.643
Thomas Telford in 1796.

0:01:16.675,0:01:18.080
There's been a church on this site

0:01:18.127,0:01:19.263
since Norman times.

0:01:19.526,0:01:21.251
The marriage registers are long.

0:01:21.671,0:01:22.959
And very well maintained.

0:01:26.392,0:01:28.542
Ah now these are beautiful records.

0:01:29.509,0:01:30.724
You can see here somebody's

0:01:30.923,0:01:32.306
not been able to sign their name,

0:01:32.535,0:01:33.526
so they put their mark.

0:01:34.003,0:01:35.334
And elsewhere they struggle to

0:01:35.402,0:01:36.443
write their signatures.

0:01:37.951,0:01:40.047
Now study of these and other records

0:01:40.698,0:01:42.387
have shown that as the 18th century

0:01:42.502,0:01:44.033
progressed more people

0:01:44.110,0:01:45.055
were marrying younger.

0:01:45.594,0:01:46.975
Now why was that?

0:01:48.375,0:01:49.802
Previously men and women were

0:01:49.927,0:01:51.142
employed to work the land

0:01:51.373,0:01:52.641
and lived in with their employer,

0:01:53.095,0:01:54.053
usually a farmer,

0:01:54.300,0:01:55.358
or a big local land owner.

0:01:56.175,0:01:57.301
These men liked to keep their

0:01:57.503,0:01:58.625
young employees single,

0:01:58.882,0:01:59.891
because married employees

0:01:59.891,0:02:00.557
had children

0:02:00.774,0:02:02.045
and were more of a burden.

0:02:02.727,0:02:04.475
But advances in farming practice

0:02:04.721,0:02:05.809
meant less people were needed

0:02:05.924,0:02:06.935
to grow food.

0:02:07.211,0:02:08.604
So fewer people lived in

0:02:08.705,0:02:10.637
and more were kicked out.

0:02:11.298,0:02:12.475
Of course that meant that

0:02:12.590,0:02:13.600
there was no master to

0:02:13.843,0:02:15.031
ask for permission to wed.

0:02:16.338,0:02:18.305
These liberated workers began traveling

0:02:18.344,0:02:20.349
earning their wages in new industries.

0:02:20.870,0:02:22.226
The pay wasn't great,

0:02:22.510,0:02:24.224
but it wasn't based on the sliding

0:02:24.338,0:02:25.344
scales of farmwork.

0:02:25.879,0:02:26.828
They reached their peak

0:02:26.970,0:02:28.643
potential earnings at younger ages

0:02:28.877,0:02:30.141
and so attempted to marry

0:02:30.313,0:02:31.469
and start families sooner.

0:02:33.262,0:02:34.718
Women with jobs found their earnings

0:02:34.787,0:02:36.224
could shore up new families,

0:02:36.559,0:02:37.997
adding again to the temptation.

0:02:38.176,0:02:39.223
to marry younger.

0:02:40.033,0:02:41.043
As for those women who

0:02:41.058,0:02:42.157
couldn't find work,

0:02:42.673,0:02:44.057
well they were eager to marry young

0:02:44.237,0:02:45.553
and gain financial protection.

0:02:47.391,0:02:49.536
The result in the early 1700s

0:02:49.589,0:02:51.142
the average age of British brides

0:02:51.215,0:02:52.641
had been nearly 27.

0:02:53.312,0:02:56.178
By 1800 it had fallen to 23 and a half.

0:02:56.916,0:02:58.673
Those 3 additional years of married life

0:02:58.875,0:02:59.887
were crucial.

0:03:00.450,0:03:01.757
Girls were at their most fertile

0:03:02.456,0:03:04.683
and could produce 2 additional babies.

0:03:04.951,0:03:07.526
[babies crying]

0:03:12.174,0:03:13.808
So at the very moment that Britain

0:03:13.951,0:03:15.470
was prepared to take the giant

0:03:15.508,0:03:17.830
technological leap into the machine age,

0:03:18.406,0:03:20.833
it had it's largest, youngest population.

0:03:22.009,0:03:23.675
And it was a mobile population.

0:03:24.038,0:03:25.548
able to adapt to change.

0:03:26.451,0:03:28.387
Every thing was tailored towards

0:03:28.479,0:03:30.639
delivering the industrial future.

0:03:35.003,0:03:36.290
But that industrial future

0:03:36.426,0:03:38.140
needed feeding.

0:03:38.959,0:03:41.330
Children played a role in that too.

0:03:42.843,0:03:43.766
We tend to think of children

0:03:43.766,0:03:45.173
from this time as working

0:03:45.257,0:03:46.468
in mines and factories.

0:03:47.123,0:03:48.060
But in fact,

0:03:48.258,0:03:49.638
child labor was ubiquitous.

0:03:50.342,0:03:51.667
Almost every work place

0:03:51.928,0:03:52.933
would have had children in it.

0:03:53.509,0:03:54.998
And the biggest employer

0:03:55.261,0:03:56.845
was actually agriculture.

0:03:58.932,0:04:00.102
Agriculture accounted for about

0:04:00.283,0:04:01.941
a third of children's jobs.

0:04:02.674,0:04:04.618
Often on small setups like this one.

0:04:05.786,0:04:06.971
This farm was attached to the

0:04:07.086,0:04:07.917
local rectory

0:04:08.313,0:04:09.441
and worked by a small team

0:04:09.604,0:04:10.867
including boys and girls.

0:04:14.714,0:04:16.266
[cows moo]

0:04:20.795,0:04:22.032
Of course agriculture is one

0:04:22.032,0:04:23.385
area where we still see

0:04:23.408,0:04:24.639
children working today.

0:04:25.092,0:04:26.639
Ushered into the life of the farm

0:04:26.809,0:04:28.802
under the watchful eye of their parents.

0:04:31.922,0:04:33.558
The children of the industrial revolution

0:04:33.750,0:04:35.046
rarely enjoyed such a

0:04:35.046,0:04:36.351
gentle introduction.

0:04:37.220,0:04:38.470
Unlike the factory apprentices,

0:04:38.789,0:04:40.946
child farm workers were often

0:04:41.259,0:04:42.351
the only children employed

0:04:42.657,0:04:43.795
on an establishment.

0:04:44.510,0:04:45.852
And they were also housed with

0:04:46.009,0:04:47.029
their master or another

0:04:47.152,0:04:48.306
adult worker.

0:04:48.629,0:04:49.505
And there was no one looking

0:04:49.505,0:04:50.822
over the shoulders of these

0:04:50.822,0:04:51.913
men to see how they were

0:04:51.913,0:04:53.761
treating their child employees.

0:04:54.306,0:04:55.721
As a result these children

0:04:55.836,0:04:56.953
were often more vulnerable

0:04:57.427,0:04:58.424
than the children who worked

0:04:58.424,0:04:59.414
in factories.

0:05:04.869,0:05:05.888
For example,

0:05:06.135,0:05:07.940
men's reminisces tiptoe around

0:05:08.009,0:05:10.062
the topic of child's sexual abuse

0:05:10.677,0:05:12.250
but in the testimonies I've read,

0:05:12.441,0:05:14.175
there are 2 cases where boys were

0:05:14.256,0:05:15.346
probably molested.

0:05:15.822,0:05:18.016
And both involved lonely little farm

0:05:18.217,0:05:20.003
workers consigned to the care

0:05:20.003,0:05:21.556
of other adults,

0:05:21.952,0:05:23.140
far from the protection

0:05:23.341,0:05:24.722
of friends and family.

0:05:32.838,0:05:34.139
Just like the heavy industries

0:05:34.259,0:05:35.390
agriculture had a job for

0:05:35.574,0:05:36.672
every age group.

0:05:37.235,0:05:38.677
And the entry level into farm

0:05:38.811,0:05:40.181
work began at 6 years old,

0:05:40.703,0:05:42.144
when children could be employed

0:05:42.426,0:05:43.917
as human scarecrows.

0:05:51.842,0:05:53.140
When I was 6 and 2 months old,

0:05:53.424,0:05:54.519
I was sent off to work

0:05:55.224,0:05:56.805
I do not think I shall ever forget

0:05:56.844,0:05:58.186
those long hungry days

0:05:58.186,0:05:59.700
in the fields scaring crows.

0:06:01.508,0:06:02.807
You can imagine the feeling

0:06:02.921,0:06:03.808
of loneliness.

0:06:05.757,0:06:07.367
Hours and hours passed without

0:06:07.367,0:06:08.849
a living creature coming near.

0:06:09.509,0:06:10.543
I cried most of the time.

0:06:11.837,0:06:13.802
And in desperation I would shout

0:06:13.869,0:06:14.919
as loud as I could.

0:06:15.237,0:06:17.613
Mother, mother, mother!

0:06:17.980,0:06:19.345
But mother could not hear.

0:06:20.322,0:06:21.926
She was working in the hay fields

0:06:21.949,0:06:22.971
who knows where.

0:06:25.836,0:06:26.893
By my 7th birthday

0:06:26.921,0:06:28.062
I was driving the plow,

0:06:29.087,0:06:30.726
Any repairs to plow or harness

0:06:30.754,0:06:32.560
had to be taken to tradesmen.

0:06:33.503,0:06:35.592
Once after working all day long

0:06:35.843,0:06:37.886
I had to carry a plow horse collar

0:06:38.075,0:06:38.995
that required whittling

0:06:38.995,0:06:40.519
And the plow coulter

0:06:40.733,0:06:42.834
that needed repairs at the blacksmith.

0:06:43.232,0:06:44.949
These 2 heavy things made a burden

0:06:45.111,0:06:46.310
far too much for me.

0:06:46.752,0:06:47.806
But I had to trudge with them

0:06:47.806,0:06:48.636
as best I could,

0:06:48.897,0:06:49.901
the mile and a half

0:06:49.947,0:06:51.218
across the fields to Evidon.

0:06:53.839,0:06:55.490
William Arnold was just 6 years old

0:06:55.504,0:06:56.616
when he went to work

0:06:56.616,0:06:58.278
on that farm in North Hamptonshire

0:06:58.782,0:06:59.682
And this is a horse collar

0:06:59.698,0:07:01.225
like the one he carried.

0:07:02.121,0:07:03.189
Let me show you just

0:07:03.222,0:07:04.530
how heavy this is...

0:07:04.997,0:07:06.644
[grunting]

0:07:11.004,0:07:11.993
Now we need the coulter

0:07:11.993,0:07:13.382
cuz he also carried that.

0:07:15.166,0:07:16.418
This is part of the plow.

0:07:20.713,0:07:21.727
40 pounds!

0:07:22.371,0:07:23.216
That probably weighs

0:07:23.216,0:07:24.395
more than he did.

0:07:36.632,0:07:37.556
In many ways,

0:07:37.586,0:07:38.555
the crow scarers and the children

0:07:38.676,0:07:40.476
fetching and carrying for farm

0:07:40.507,0:07:42.289
laborers were on the lowest rung

0:07:42.369,0:07:43.644
of the employment ladder.

0:07:44.397,0:07:45.941
But many testimonies tell us

0:07:46.463,0:07:47.638
that even at that level

0:07:47.875,0:07:48.934
and at a young age

0:07:49.481,0:07:51.033
the children saw these punishing

0:07:51.067,0:07:52.556
labors as an opportunity.

0:07:53.414,0:07:54.610
They were proper workers,

0:07:54.884,0:07:56.113
and they wanted to get on.

0:08:07.509,0:08:08.494
I our village there was...

0:08:08.892,0:08:10.307
and justice of the peace.

0:08:13.565,0:08:15.056
I began to draw up a pair of horses

0:08:15.172,0:08:16.193
that plow for him.

0:08:16.193,0:08:17.375
And after a bit,

0:08:18.127,0:08:18.818
thinking I suppose

0:08:19.362,0:08:20.918
I was a small likely lad

0:08:21.402,0:08:23.269
he made me a sort of stable boy

0:08:23.635,0:08:25.077
and gave me 8 shillings a week

0:08:25.311,0:08:25.884
to start with.

0:08:29.671,0:08:30.681
Here was a... lad

0:08:31.094,0:08:31.970
who was set on rising

0:08:31.970,0:08:33.369
as fast and as much as he could.

0:08:35.382,0:08:36.894
There were no slack off hours for me.

0:08:37.508,0:08:38.746
No taking it easy with

0:08:38.753,0:08:39.497
the other lads,

0:08:42.617,0:08:43.393
To make more money,

0:08:43.713,0:08:44.603
to do more,

0:08:44.911,0:08:45.919
to know more,

0:08:46.109,0:08:47.008
to be a somebody in

0:08:47.008,0:08:47.833
my little world,

0:08:48.083,0:08:49.042
was my ambition.

0:08:59.639,0:09:00.895
They might not have had much choice

0:09:00.895,0:09:01.969
about their employment

0:09:02.595,0:09:03.844
but many children were determined

0:09:03.977,0:09:05.920
to seize what opportunities came along

0:09:06.119,0:09:07.876
with a level of determination

0:09:08.445,0:09:10.669
and enthusiasm that's astonishing.

0:09:11.175,0:09:12.780
If sometimes hard to imagine.

0:09:13.152,0:09:14.754
For some jobs really did require

0:09:14.820,0:09:16.459
huge amounts of courage.

0:09:23.514,0:09:24.384
With a view of immediately

0:09:24.384,0:09:25.840
testing my capablitiies,

0:09:26.420,0:09:27.945
my new master persuaded me

0:09:27.945,0:09:29.517
to climb a chimney on my

0:09:29.517,0:09:30.727
very first morning.

0:09:31.036,0:09:32.076
With the feet standing up on

0:09:32.076,0:09:32.637
the grate,

0:09:32.853,0:09:33.692
the body would nearly

0:09:33.692,0:09:34.865
fill up the width of a chimney.

0:09:35.495,0:09:37.001
I climbed with my right arm

0:09:37.111,0:09:38.285
lifted above the head,

0:09:38.285,0:09:39.618
the left arm by my side.

0:09:39.721,0:09:41.101
The elbows were pressed

0:09:41.101,0:09:42.510
hard against the brick work

0:09:42.648,0:09:43.682
to hold the body suspended,

0:09:43.919,0:09:45.078
until the knees were drawn up.

0:09:45.742,0:09:46.640
Then the knees on one side

0:09:46.961,0:09:48.560
and the bare heels on the other,

0:09:48.751,0:09:49.862
held me secure.

0:09:50.589,0:09:51.642
While the right hand held the scraper

0:09:52.093,0:09:53.759
to bring down the soot

0:09:54.086,0:09:54.959
the knees and elbows

0:09:54.959,0:09:56.200
through the constant pressing

0:09:56.200,0:09:57.703
and the friction with the brick work

0:09:57.874,0:10:01.308
became peeled, thus allowing soot to penetrate.

0:10:01.810,0:10:04.115
It caused open, festering sores.

0:10:04.336,0:10:05.889
which took several weeks to heal.

0:10:07.207,0:10:08.644
Breathing was always more or less

0:10:08.811,0:10:09.562
a difficulty.

0:10:11.338,0:10:12.722
A hood, called a climbing cap

0:10:13.002,0:10:14.220
was drawn over the head

0:10:14.258,0:10:15.474
and tucked in at the neck.

0:10:15.842,0:10:17.055
But even with that protection,

0:10:17.253,0:10:18.484
I was subject to the taste

0:10:18.721,0:10:20.645
and inhalation of every kind of soot,

0:10:20.893,0:10:22.558
into my throat and lungs,

0:10:23.389,0:10:25.052
where fires had only just been put out,

0:10:25.364,0:10:27.336
the sulfurous fumes were sufficient

0:10:27.505,0:10:28.214
to stifle them.

0:10:29.097,0:10:30.179
Once the fumes were so strong

0:10:30.179,0:10:31.641
that I fell from top to bottom,

0:10:31.854,0:10:32.996
[boy screams]

0:10:33.084,0:10:34.090
lying sensible.

0:10:36.142,0:10:40.968
[Mary Poppins song: Chim Chim Chiree.]

0:10:44.757,0:10:46.008
Yes they really did put

0:10:46.008,0:10:47.262
kids up chimneys

0:10:48.675,0:10:50.420
And this is a kind of normal chimney

0:10:50.504,0:10:51.571
that George Elson would have

0:10:51.571,0:10:52.807
been dealing with.

0:10:57.332,0:10:58.635
But that one's so wide

0:10:58.722,0:10:59.643
that you would have no

0:10:59.756,0:11:00.594
challenge from that.

0:11:00.831,0:11:02.028
You'd have been up and down

0:11:02.028,0:11:03.140
there like grease lightning.

0:11:03.629,0:11:05.550
What really tested boy's metals

0:11:06.071,0:11:07.212
were chimneys that measured

0:11:07.212,0:11:08.774
9 inches by 9 inches,

0:11:08.966,0:11:10.039
which is this size.

0:11:10.635,0:11:12.059
And so ...

0:11:13.248,0:11:14.100
and wriggle through

0:11:14.100,0:11:15.866
and clean something like this.

0:11:17.138,0:11:18.769
Seems practically impossible.

0:11:22.744,0:11:24.389
Martin is president of the

0:11:24.424,0:11:26.782
National Association of British Chimney Sweeps.

0:11:28.127,0:11:30.021
So Martin, here's a very old chimney

0:11:30.086,0:11:30.970
right here.

0:11:31.230,0:11:32.330
And this is the kind of thing

0:11:32.330,0:11:33.807
those boys would have to clean.

0:11:34.033,0:11:34.673
So tell us,

0:11:34.836,0:11:36.472
how did they go about doing it?

0:11:36.795,0:11:37.990
Well the little boys were known

0:11:37.990,0:11:39.098
as climbing boys.

0:11:39.398,0:11:40.327
Apprentice to the trade

0:11:40.327,0:11:42.161
at 7 years old in some cases

0:11:42.638,0:11:43.674
and they used to use their

0:11:43.674,0:11:45.714
elbows and knees to scamper

0:11:45.757,0:11:46.560
up inside the chimney.

0:11:47.454,0:11:48.977
And uh, in many cases they

0:11:49.095,0:11:50.573
stripped naked

0:11:50.603,0:11:52.870
although they had some sort of early uniform

0:11:53.285,0:11:54.753
the soot used to fill the pockets

0:11:54.753,0:11:57.059
and because the chimney design

0:11:57.259,0:11:58.834
was so small they became wedged,

0:11:58.927,0:12:00.211
so they stripped naked so they could

0:12:00.279,0:12:02.530
escape back down the chimney

0:12:02.725,0:12:03.431
after cleaning it.

0:12:03.916,0:12:05.042
So what equipment did they have?

0:12:05.290,0:12:06.342
The little climbing boys

0:12:06.417,0:12:07.420
and in some cases girls,

0:12:07.884,0:12:09.811
they used to use a small scraper

0:12:10.085,0:12:10.772
such as this,

0:12:10.794,0:12:12.167
a little metal scraper

0:12:12.167,0:12:13.284
with a wooden handle

0:12:13.917,0:12:15.801
and the traditional sweep's hand brush.

0:12:16.231,0:12:17.200
which would literally,

0:12:17.200,0:12:18.375
they would scrape the soot away

0:12:18.375,0:12:20.082
and brush with the hand brush.

0:12:24.987,0:12:26.889
The exploitation of climbing boys

0:12:26.889,0:12:28.636
and girls was rightly seen

0:12:28.674,0:12:30.902
at the time as a national scandal.

0:12:31.755,0:12:32.795
However even when new

0:12:33.091,0:12:34.185
technology was introduced

0:12:34.459,0:12:35.420
in the form of jointed

0:12:35.420,0:12:36.474
chimney brushes,

0:12:36.593,0:12:38.874
and sweeps no longer needed children,

0:12:39.243,0:12:41.263
it didn't mean boys and girls

0:12:41.263,0:12:41.962
were spared.

0:12:43.418,0:12:44.537
There was still a great reluctance

0:12:44.553,0:12:46.322
for the master sweeps of the day

0:12:46.798,0:12:48.042
to do away with boys,

0:12:48.251,0:12:49.381
and it was far cheaper to

0:12:49.381,0:12:51.438
purchase a small boy from a family

0:12:51.568,0:12:52.748
for a guinea or 2

0:12:53.158,0:12:54.774
a few shillings for the poorer families,

0:12:55.425,0:12:56.443
and in some cases,

0:12:56.443,0:12:57.117
little girls as well.

0:12:57.720,0:12:59.018
So boys and girls were cheaper

0:12:59.018,0:12:59.571
than brushes.

0:12:59.619,0:13:00.650
Absolutely at the time.

0:13:01.825,0:13:03.893
In one horrible incident in Dover

0:13:03.922,0:13:06.951
where a master had sent a boy

0:13:06.951,0:13:08.886
up the chimney with a wet towel

0:13:09.010,0:13:10.977
to extinguish a chimney fire.

0:13:11.924,0:13:13.677
And apparently he climbed

0:13:13.677,0:13:14.557
into the flue

0:13:15.365,0:13:17.155
very reluctantly, the master threatened

0:13:17.155,0:13:18.054
to beat him.

0:13:18.607,0:13:19.704
He attempted to climb

0:13:19.704,0:13:20.662
further into the chimney

0:13:20.804,0:13:23.166
then got stuck in the chimney wedged

0:13:23.754,0:13:24.550
And apparently they heard

0:13:24.550,0:13:26.639
his screams for over 2 miles.

0:13:32.426,0:13:34.755
Not exactly Chim Chimney Cheree

0:13:34.838,0:13:36.392
in Mary Poppins is it now?

0:13:37.280,0:13:39.143
It shows how hard life was

0:13:39.293,0:13:40.854
and how few opportunities there were.

0:13:40.959,0:13:42.261
The many climbing boys

0:13:42.421,0:13:43.921
quit the trade and went off

0:13:44.057,0:13:45.474
to serve in the armed forces.

0:13:49.734,0:13:50.892
The scandal of boy soldiers

0:13:50.972,0:13:52.718
is something today that we associate

0:13:52.844,0:13:53.412
with the most

0:13:53.412,0:13:55.831
callous regimes in the developing world.

0:13:56.592,0:13:58.304
But putting boys into war zones

0:13:59.089,0:14:01.541
was actually an old British tradition.

0:14:02.949,0:14:04.637
For example, there were 13 of them

0:14:04.677,0:14:06.254
who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar

0:14:06.590,0:14:08.695
on this ship, HMS Victory.

0:14:10.119,0:14:11.661
One of them was a 16 year old

0:14:11.853,0:14:14.327
midshipmen Lieutenant William Rivers.

0:14:15.672,0:14:17.028
His father was also on board

0:14:17.197,0:14:18.599
and William first went to sea

0:14:18.752,0:14:20.559
with him on Victory age 6 and a half.

0:14:21.223,0:14:22.703
And he immediately saw action

0:14:22.756,0:14:23.886
and was wounded off....

0:14:31.843,0:14:33.009
I had the honor of serving

0:14:33.009,0:14:34.080
in 3 general actions.

0:14:34.779,0:14:35.850
In the first,

0:14:36.047,0:14:37.559
I received 2 wounds in my right arm.

0:14:39.789,0:14:40.910
And in the latter while I was

0:14:40.910,0:14:42.392
receiving orders from his late lordship

0:14:42.677,0:14:43.637
Admiral Nelson,

0:14:44.280,0:14:45.802
I received a wound on my face.

0:14:46.818,0:14:48.155
which was shortly followed

0:14:48.155,0:14:49.481
by a gun shot wound

0:14:49.481,0:14:51.163
which carried away my left leg.

0:14:57.402,0:14:58.429
Both William the father

0:14:58.505,0:14:59.642
and William the son...