Factory Reform in 19th Century Britain Flashcards
Which wealthy London merchant campaigned to improve working conditions for chimney sweeps and in what year was his act introduced? 2 marks
Jonas Hanway, 1788
Which author raised public awareness of the mistreatment of child chimney sweeps in his book ‘The Water-Babies’ in 1863?
Charles Kingsley
Why were the 1834 and 1840 Chimney Sweeps Acts pointless?
The acts were ignored because there was no way of enforcing them
What did the 1875 Chimney Sweepers’ Act provide?
Required sweeps to be licensed and made sure that the police enforced all previous legislation
When was the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act passed and what did it do?
1802 - determining the fair treatment of apprentices and general cleanliness of the workplace
Which act of parliament was brought about by Robert Owen?
1819 Cotton Mills Act
Where did Robert Owen have his experimental factory town?
New Lanark
What provisions were included in the 1833 Factory Act? Give 3 points.
Forbade the employment of children under 9 in all textile mills, children under 13 were not allowed to work for more than 9 hours a day and not more than 48 hours in one week, under 18s not allowed to work for more than 12 hours a day or at night at all, factory children had to have 2 hours of education each day
Which 2 people were pressing parliament to introduce a 10 Hour Day?
Richard Oastler and George Bull
Why was the 1833 Factory Act criticised by reformers at the time?
Because it did not provide for it to be enforced as there was only a small team of 4 as inspectors
Which MP worked tirelessly to get the 10 Hour Act passed?
John Fielden
What did the 1844 Factory Act provide?
First health and safety act in Britain e.g. all dangerous machinery to be fenced off, no child to clean mill machinery in motion, limited children to 6 and half hours work, 3 hours schooling, maximum 12 hour day for those 13-18, 12 hour rule applied to women.
Give 2 reasons why the 1833 Factory Act was important?
4 man inspectorate created, most advanced act for its time, system of government control, home office responsible, penalties for evasion,
When was the next substantial Factory Act after 1844?
1867
What did the 1867 Factory Act propose? 2 points
Applied all existing legislation to all factories employing more than 50 people, brought regulation to other industries e.g. iron and steel mills, brought more improvements to the working conditions.
When did the government set up a royal commission into coal mines?
1842
What forced the government to set up a royal commission into coal mines? Give 2 reasons.
Public outcry over the reports of working conditions in mines, degradation of women and children working in mines, children working in the dark as trappers and strappers, treatment by employers
Which MP was responsible for the Mines and Collieries Act in 1842?
Anthony Ashley-Cooper/Lord Shaftesbury
What did the Mines and Collieries Act provide?
Prohibition of underground work for women and girls and for boys under 10
Which later act improved safety rules and raised the age limit for boys from 10 to 12?
Coal Mines Regulation Act of 1860
What did the Coal Mines Regualtion Act of 1872 do?
requirement for pit managers to have state certification of their training, miners given the right to appoint inspector from among themselves
What did the Mines Regulation Act of 1881 do?
Empowered the home secretary to hold inquiries into the causes of mine accidents
Give the dates of 2 further factory acts of the 19th Century.
1878, 1890, 1891, 1895
Who set the template for the factory system?
Richard Arkwright in 1771
Define capitalism
economic concept where trade, businesses and the means of production are mostly own privately and run for profit
Give 3 reasons why capitalism did not benefit the factory workers. 3 marks
Owners put profit before welfare, driving down of wages to maximise profit, health and safety issues, poor ventilation, no job ssecurity, decline of independence, more automised working environment, exploitation of workers, long hours, children working in factories
What was the average working day for a male in a factory in the early 19th Century?
12-14 hour days
What is the mimimum hour working day that men had to work throughout the 19th Century despite legislation?
10 Hours
If a factory worker was 10 minutes late for a shift what was a common punishment?
docked 2 hours pay
Why were there hardly any health and safety measures in factories before 1844?
Employers did not care and would not spend any money on them causing large numbers of accidents.
What was invented in 1815 to help miners see in the dark?
the Davy Lamp
Why did production of coal increase from 6 to 55 million tons between 1770 and 1850?
To feed the steam engines of the industrial revolution
Within coal mining what was the most common form of employment contract?
miners were ‘bound’ to their employers for an agreed length of time e.g. a year and for an agreed sum
What was the problem with the contract system within mining?
Employer did not have to provide work throughout the year
What was the average factory wage?
12-15 shillings a week
What act was passed in 1875 which required sweeps to be licensed and made sure that the police enforced all previous legislation?
Chimney Sweepers’ Act
What act was passed in 1802 determining the fair treatment of apprentices and general cleanliness of the workplace
Health and Morals of Apprentices Act
What act was passed in 1842 which prohibited underground work for women and girls and for boys under 10
Mines and Collieries Act
What act was passed in 1881 which empowered the home secretary to hold inquiries into the causes of mine accidents
Mines Regulation Act
What did the Cotton Mills and Factories Act do and when was it passed?
1819 - limited child labour to 12 hours a day
What did the Ten Hour Act do and when was it passed?
1847 - limited the number of workday hours
What did the Public Health Act do and when was it passed?
1846 - created a central Health Board for the first time
What act in 1819 limited child labour to 12 hours a day?
Cotton Mills and Factories Act
What act 1847 limited the number of workday hours?
Ten Hour Act
What act in 1846 created a central Health Board for the first time?
Public Health Act
By 1821 what % of the working population were under the age of 20
50%
Which group did factory reforms NOT help
Men
What did Lord Shaftesbury propose 1833?
Children should work for a maximum of 10 hours a day
Who suggested children should work for a maximum of 10 hours a day?
Lord Shaftesbury
What was Lord Shaftesbury chairman of?
Ragged Schools Unions
What was Ragged School Union?
Set up over one hundred schools for children
Michael Sadler
. Served as honorary treasure of the poor rates
. Concerned about conditions of children working in the local factories
What did Michael Sadler introduce in 1832?
Legislation which propose limiting the hours of all people under 18 to 10 hours a day
What did Michae Sadler do in 1833
Wrote a report for the government about exhausted children who were forced to work
Was Michael Sadler successful?
. Not that successful;
. He lost his seat to Shaftesbury who then became leader in factory reform
What did Robert Peel try to do?
Bring in legislation to ban children under 10 from any employment but was not successful
What did Robert Peel continue do?
Campaign and a parliamentary inquiry led to the passing of the Cotton Mills Act of 1819
Titus Salt
. Owned five textile mills in Bradford
. Showed concern for pollution
What did Titus Salt do
Added the Roada smoke burner which produced little smoke
What did William Corbett do?
Criticised the government and attacked the use of German troops to put down a meeting in Elly
Why was Corbett unsuccessful?
He was convinced for sedition and sentence to two years imprisonment
What Corbett do after release?
Published ‘on the political register’ as a pamphlet for only 2d
How many copies of ‘on the political register’ were in circulation?
40,000
What did Corbett do in 1830?
Published his book ‘Rural Riots’
What did Cobbett’s works expose?
Corruption and poor working conditions
Name a books Robert Owen wrote
‘A new view of society’ in 1814
What did Robert Owen do in 1815
Sent a proposal to parliament about his ideas for factory reform
What had Robert Owen planned to establish?
A Grand National Consolidated Trades Union
Protest movements
. Radical protests gave a reason for repressive policy
. Taught the working class the effectiveness of an organised approach
Why was the 1833 factory act different?
Previous acts only applied to the cotton industry by the 1833 act applied to woollen producing industries
What did the 1833 act not grant?
A 10 hour day but did make changes to child labour
What did Adam Smith argue?
Children had always been employed in this system and conditions were exaggerated
What did Titus Salt argue about reform?
It was better for a child to work in a factory and earn a wage than stay outside and freeze to death
What were working people trapped in?
The poverty cycle
What were there outbreaks of in 1830
Cholera
When was something finally done about cholera?
When Edwin Chadwick published his report ‘the sanitary condition of the labouring population of Great Britain in 1841’
What was Chadwick a prominent member of?
The Poor Law Comission
What did Chadwick create
The workhouse system
What did Chadwick do after the passage of the public health act in 1848?
He stood as commissioner for board of health until 1854
The health of towns association
Established in 1844 to apply pressure for a health act
When was the first outbreak of typhus and what did this mean?
1848 - saw the introduction of the first public health bill
What did the first Central Board of Health do?
Oversaw sanitation such as fresh water supplies and sewage
But was not compulsory
Had no money and only established in areas with a mortality rate of 23 in every 1000
1852 first burial act
Created a public network of cemeteries in London overseen by a burial board
1866 sanitary act
Made sanitation inspections compulsory and made disregarding quarantine for contagious diseases punishable
How effective was social reform?
Acts were created but not enforced
What improvements were made socially?
. Gas supply better quality
. Town hall
. Streets widened
In Manchester how many died before the age of 5?
57%
Report of the Board of Health July 1849-Peter Lane
. People’s responsibility to keep towns clean
. Streets had to be cleaned every 24 hours in Manchester
1870
Elementary Education Act passed
1872
Public health act divides England and Wales into districts under health authorities, medical officers and staff
Cholera epidemic in 1832 in Manchester
They knew it was coming so two months prior the board of health inspected the poorest parts
Miasma
Doctor’s believed bad air caused disease
How many died from the cholera epidemic and how many of them were in Manchester?
31,000 and 900 of them in Manchester
What was made illegal in 1844?
Building back to back housing in Manchester but they were still built in 1850
What did Manchester appoint in 1867
A medical officer of health
1840 vs 1899 infant mortality
. 1840 - 144 out of 1000 died before 1
. 1899 - risen to 163 who died before 1
Why did the army want health measures
To maintain the empire in the Boar as many were not fifty for service
In Manchester how manny recruits were fit?
Only 100 out of 900
