This book examines the scale and nature of child employment in Britain and the changing attitude of society toward it in the years between 1780 and 1890. The author discusses the efforts of philanthropists and the State to regulate the lives and employment conditions of young workers, and examines the attempts made to improve the education and physical welfare of children in this period. She concludes that in the century after 1780 there was a progressive lengthening of childhood as a stage of life and a recognition of the "special" needs of children.