The Laboring Classes of England

by William Dodd

THE

LABORING CLASSES

OF

ENGLAND,

ESPECIALLY THOSE ENGAGED IN

AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES;

IN A SERIES OF LETTERS.

By an Englishman.

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ALSO,

A Voice from the Factories,

A POEM,

IN SERIOUS VERSE.

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BOSTON:
PUBLISHED BY JOHN PUTNAM, 81 CORNHILL,
AND SOLD BY THE AUTHOR,
8 Mount Vernon Avenue.
1847.

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Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1847,
BY JOHN PUTNAM,
In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts.

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CONTENTS

Letter I.
Introduction,	5
Letter II.
Incidents in the Life of the Author,	13
Letter III.
General Condition of the Laboring Classes,	26
Letter IV.
Agricultural Laborers of Wilts, Dorset, Devon, and Somerset,	34
Letter V.
Agricultural Laborers of Kent, Surrey, and Sussex,	39
Letter VI.
Ignorance and Superstition in Kent,	44
Letter VII.
Agricultural Laborers of Suffolk, Norfolk, Lincoln, Yorkshire, and Northumberland,	52
Letter VIII.
The English Factory System—its Early History,	60
Letter IX.
History of an Orphan Boy,	65
Letter X.
The Lace-Makers of Nottingham,	84
Letter XI.
Flax Spinners,	88
Letter XII.
A Factory conducted on Christian Principles,	94
Letter XIII.
The Contrast,	100
Letter XIV.
Condition of Female Operatives,	105
Letter XV.
Value of Human Life in English Factories,	111
Letter XVI.
Statistical Facts—Increase of Machinery—Ditto of Individual Labor, and of early Superannuation of Operatives,	128
Letter XVII.
Wages, Strikes, and Turn-outs for Wages—Means used by the manufacturers to prevent them—Ten-hour System—Conclusion,	128
A Voice from the Factories—A Poem,	149