<P> The work of children was important in pre-industrial societies, as children needed to provide their labour for their survival and that of their group . Pre-industrial societies were characterised by low productivity and short life expectancy, preventing children from participating in productive work would be more harmful to their welfare and that of their group in the long run . In pre-industrial societies, there was little need for children to attend school . This is especially the case in non literate societies . Most pre-industrial skill and knowledge were amenable to being passed down through direct mentoring or apprenticing by competent adults . </P> <P> With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in Britain in the late 18th century, there was a rapid increase in the industrial exploitation of labour, including child labour . Industrial cities such as Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool rapidly grew from small villages into large cities and improving child mortality rates . These cities drew in the population that was rapidly growing due to increased agricultural output . This process was replicated in other industrialising counties . </P> <P> The Victorian era in particular became notorious for the conditions under which children were employed . Children as young as four were employed in production factories and mines working long hours in dangerous, often fatal, working conditions . In coal mines, children would crawl through tunnels too narrow and low for adults . Children also worked as errand boys, crossing sweepers, shoe blacks, or selling matches, flowers and other cheap goods . Some children undertook work as apprentices to respectable trades, such as building or as domestic servants (there were over 120,000 domestic servants in London in the mid-18th century). Working hours were long: builders worked 64 hours a week in summer and 52 in winter, while domestic servants worked 80 - hour weeks . </P> <P> Child labour played an important role in the Industrial Revolution from its outset, often brought about by economic hardship . The children of the poor were expected to contribute to their family income . In 19th - century Great Britain, one - third of poor families were without a breadwinner, as a result of death or abandonment, obliging many children to work from a young age . In England and Scotland in 1788, two - thirds of the workers in 143 water - powered cotton mills were described as children . A high number of children also worked as prostitutes . The author Charles Dickens worked at the age of 12 in a blacking factory, with his family in debtor's prison . </P>

What was the state of child labor in the victorian era
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