England was a society dominated by children. During the reign of Queen Victoria, one in three of her servants was under the age of fifteen. Child labor is a major problem because there is no system to guarantee their safety. At the start of the Industrial Revolution, there was a “high demand” for labor (Robson 53). Many families left rural areas to settle in new industrialized cities. After a while, things no longer seemed as “promising” as before (Boone 23). To survive, families had to put almost all their members to work. This has led to an increase in the number of child workers. Children were “mistreated, underpaid, and overworked” (Kincaid 30). According to the mining companies, using children to do all the heavy labor was the most sensible and efficient way to get the job done. Because the children were much smaller, it was easy for them to "maneuver in tight spaces" and on top of that, the children demanded little or no pay at all (Boone 43). These wages were enough to persuade companies to use children for all kinds of dangerous work, such as coal mining and chimney sweeping. Children were called upon to do many other “horrible” jobs, jobs that adults of that era could not bear, as long as the bills were paid (Robson 18). Working conditions and treatment of young children during this time were horrible and much was done to end it. In the Victorian era, families tended to be large and it was obvious at that time that families could not survive if the children did not work. There was an immense “increase in population” during this period, and by the end of the century most were living in cities rather than the countryside (Bristow 5). Due to the economic conditions at that time, it was only a...... middle of paper ...... At that time, whether children had rights was questionable, it is not It was not until the death of Queen Elizabeth in 1901 that this fact was effectively recognized. In the 1830s a series of laws were passed to try to ensure the safety of these working children, laws such as the Chimney Sweepers Act 1788, the Victorian child labor laws against use of children's chimney sweeps, chimney sweeps and the Chimney Regulation Act. of 1840 and the Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875. The success of these laws was due to the growing acceptance of the idea that children deserve to enjoy their childhood. As the era progressed, the artist created works that “embodied the innocence of children” and also depicted the horrific conditions in which they were forced to work (Kincaid 22). Even with such a stark description of working conditions, change did not come quickly, but it did happen nonetheless...