The poorest families in Victorian Britain would have to send their children up chimneys so they could afford to put meals on the table. They would often suffer from eye infections, skin irritations and breathing problems. They would be pricked with pins to force them to work and when they grew too big, they were out of a job. Many children would be horrifically injured, through bad burns and would have to spend their rest of their lives unable to work and therefore live in poverty. In many ways, the only escape for these children is if they suffocated to death.
