ABSTRACT
This chapter deals with the employment of children during the early days of the factory system, it would be outside the scope of the subject to give any detailed account of the origin and growth of that system. The early factories had been erected in districts where water power was readily obtainable. The leading feature of the industrial revolution was undoubtedly the establishment of large factories in which all the motive power was supplied by a single mechanism installed in the centre of the factory, and looked after by a large number of hands working under the supervision of one man.’ The introduction of Hargreaves’ spinning jenny, and Crompton’s mule, together with the application of steam power to the machines, led to successive changes in the industries, the effect of which was to bring the concentration of machinery in special buildings and the beginnings of the factory system.
