The expendables: Bioarchaeological evidence for pauper apprentices in 19th century England and the health consequences of child labour.

ABSTRACT: Child labour is the most common form of child abuse in the world today, with almost half of child workers employed in hazardous industries. The large-scale employment of children during the rapid industrialisation of the late 18th and early 19th centuries in England is well documented. During this period, the removal of pauper children from workhouses in cities to work as apprentices in rural mills in the North of England was commonplace. Whilst the experiences of some of these children have been recorded historically, this study provides the first direct evidence of their lives through bioarchaeological analysis. The excavation of a rural churchyard cemetery in the village of Fewston, North Yorkshire, yielded the skeletal remains of 154 individuals, including an unusually large proportion

SUBMITTER: Gowland RL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10191286 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature