child bullying in child labour

beaten, bullied, shoeless and dirty, they toiled all day, and often night, in conditions of Dickensian squalor. But the popular image of working children in Victorian times ignores one key part of their experience: the young labourers were remarkably stoical about their suffering.

From the 11-year-old pin-maker who proudly said she had never been ill during her 12-hour working days to the nine-year-old who got cut and beaten round the head by his masters, there was little moaning from the mouths of 19th century child labourers in hundreds of testimonies that are today made available online (originsnetwork.com).

The voices of children as young as five working in paper mills, iron foundries, bleachfields, potteries and factories are vividly revealed in transcripts of interviews for the second report of the Children's Employment Commission. Set up in 1840, the royal commission was headed by Lord Ashley - later Earl of Shaftesbury - who made his name campaigning to reduce the working hours of women and children