Workhouses Were Full of Child Labor
Sadly, children were forced into labor at these workhouses just like adults. This could happen for any number of reasons. If a man was unemployed and sent to a workhouse, his entire family had to go, too. The children were separated from the adults, and forced to work in their own section. Of course, there were also many orphans in these workhouses that had little to no hope of escaping. By 1839, nearly half of the workhouse population was children. If the child was under 7 years old, they were allowed to live in the female section with their mothers. The conditions these children lived in were horrible. In 1838, a physician visited the workhouse in Whitechapel and reported that the children were skinny, pale, and not allowed to go outside for any fresh air or exercise.