Peter Kirby – författare

What kinds of jobs did children do in the past, and how widespread was their employment? Why did so many poor families put their children to work? How did the state respond to child labour? What problems arise in the interpretation of evidence of child employment?Child Labour in Britain, 1750-1870- Offers a broad empirical analysis of how the work of children was integrated with the major economic and occupational changes of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain- Argues that working children occupied a unique position within the context of the family, the labour market and the state- Discusses the key issues involved in the study of children's employmentIn this clear and concise study, Peter Kirby convincingly argues that child labour provided an invaluable contribution to economic growth and the incomes of working-class households. Consequently, the picture that emerges is much more complex than that portrayed in many traditional approaches to the subject.

A comprehensive study of the occupational health of employed children within the broader context of social, industrial and environmental change between 1780 and 1850.Historians have long recognised the importance of child health during the Industrial Revolution, but few have explored the health of working children in any analytical detail. In this comprehensive study, Peter Kirby places the occupational health of employed children within a broad context of social, industrial and environmental change during the period 1780 to 1850. The book explores the deformities, fevers, respiratory complaints, industrial injuries and physical ill-treatment which have long been associated with child labour in the factory workplace. The result is a more nuanced picture of child health and child labour during the classic 'factory age' which raises important questions about the enduring stereotype of the health-impaired and abused industrial child.Peter Kirby is Professor of Social History and Director of the Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare at Glasgow Caledonian University.

A practical guide to the management of habitat for invertebrates.Many invertebrates are highly specialised creatures with very precise habitat requirements. This means that they can be very sensitive indicators of environmental change. It also means that they can be lost from a site through small changes in management of their habitat. This book is a practical manual covering management for invertebrates: it provides guidelines to enable reserve managers and conservationists to take account of the vulnerable habitat features so important to invertebrates.The introduction gives an overview of British invertebrate species, site size and vegetation structure, management need of invertebrates and a summary of invertebrate survey methods. The author then deals, chapter-by-chapter, with each major habitat type: woodland, grasslands, lowland heaths, freshwater wetlands,  and coastlands.This is a digital reprint of the 2001 edition (ISBN:0-901930-30-0) - there are no changes or updates from the 2001 edition.