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These children are only 5 years old. You might be wondering why they 

are sad. They are sad because they are about to start their work at the 

factory. They work 8-12 hours, 6 days a week. These children are so poor 

they do not go to school or have proper clothes.

These children also do not live in individual houses. They live in a big 

house, for lots of other poor people. It is called a workhouse. When 

they entered the workhouse, they were separated from their families. 

If they try and speak to their families, they can be severely punished. 

The workhouse provided everything they needed: 

a place to live, clothing, education and medical care. 

In return for these facilities, the children must work.

Poor children had terrible health. They were often caught diseases in which 

many did not have cures back then, so lots children died. They caught 

diseases from dirty water and the lack of sewerage facilities. Because they 

were so poor, they were quite often left hungry. Pollution was another 

problem, this caused their lungs to become infected and they slowly 

blackened.

Poor, working children did not have much time to play considering they 

worked 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week. Nor could they afford expensive 

toys. They used their imagination and made-do with what they had. They 

used a piece of rope, for skipping, pegs to make dolls for the girls and 

bags filled of sawdust for the boys.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the filthy cities, lived the rich children. 

These children lived a much better life than the poor. These families had 

their own houses, with many rooms and some even had small farms 

attached. Private bathrooms and flushing toilets were huge luxuries back 

then and these houses all had them.

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