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There was now a complete change in both daily and family life within the whole country. People would spend their working hours away from their family instead of all being together in fields or a cottage industry. There were still some people working in fields and it was undoubtedly very hard work but also far healthier than working in factories. At the beginning of this time women and children worked in factories and down the mines but in 1842 the law was changed so that no boys under 10 or any females of any age could work in the mines. At one time almost one quarter of the all working people, that is people with jobs, were children. They would sometimes work 12 hours a day, six days a week. No one worked on a Sunday. Once gas lighting became available, factories would be open even later. People had very little leisure time. As I said in the homes section last time, children would spend any time they had for play in the streets outside their houses. For the ordinary people their lives were ruled by the need to work to earn money. They had very little time for entertainment and very little money to spend on it.
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