Children were sometimes subjected to beatings for falling asleep over their work, especially in the early years, when some were contracted out by workhouses as 'pauper apprentices' and badly abused.

Factory work in Victorian Lancashire The usual image of a factory is a huge multi-storey building with a very tall chimney pouring out black smoke; but most Victorian workplaces in the cotton ...

Factory work in Victorian Lancashire The usual image of a factory is a huge multi-storey building with a very tall chimney pouring out black smoke; but most Victorian workplaces in the cotton ...