Factory Legislation Flashcards
Causes
The Industrial Revolution meant that people were increasingly working in factories rather than at home. Huge machines were used to produce goods, which led to greater profits for factory owners. Life in the factories was tough: long hours, dangerous equipment, noise, dirt.
Accidents were common such as children losing limbs and in some cases even their lives. Children as young as 4 worked in the coalmines and some six year olds worked in factories.
Methods
MP Micheal Sadler published a report showing the injuries sustained by children in textile factories due to the machines and employers’ abuse. He called for a 10 hour maximum day for those under 18 ‘The 10 Hour Movement’.
Lord Shaftsebury, a Christian, supported the Ten Hour Movement, supported better education for factory children and legislation such as the Mines Act of 1842.
Robert Owen, a mill owner in New Lanark near Glasgow, introduced a ten hour working day in his mills, and provided educational opportunities for children.
Edwin Chadwick published a report linking poor sanitation for factory workers with outbreaks of cholera and reported on the causes of poverty.
Josephine Butler, an evangelical Christian, was concerned about child prostitution, and campaigned for the age of consent to be raised from 13 to 16.
Titus Salt: he was an industrialist and built a whole town, Saltaire in Bradford, next to his mill, decent housing, bathhouses, a hospital and a Church for his workers. He was a Christian.
George Cadbury: he was a Quaker, created a model town called Bournville, he instituted pensions, created a workers’ welfare scheme.
Elizabeth Fry: a Quaker who believed in prison reform, she worked at Newgate Prison to improve conditions for women and children, which led to the prison reform acts.
1833 Factory Act: children under 9 could not be employed, children 8-13 may only work 9 hours a day, children 13-16 could only work 12 hours a day. No one under 18 years could work at night. Every child must have 2 hours teaching a day. 4 factory inspectors would inspect all mills.
Mines Act 1842 meant that women and children under 10 were not allowed to work underground, no child under the age of 15 could be in charge of winding machines.
Outcomes
Long Term: limited work day until 12 hours
every child had 2 hours teaching a day
Short term: poor people were still disadvantaged
