Robert Owen

Question 1

1.When was Robert Owen born?

Answer 1

1771

Question 2

2.Where was Robert Owen born?

Answer 2

Newtown, Wales

Question 3

3.What occupation did Robert Owen’s father have?

Answer 3

Postmaster

Question 4

4.How old was Robert Owen when he became the manager of his first spinning mill employing 500 workers?

Answer 4

19

Question 5

5.What did Robert Owen set up in 1794?

Answer 5

His own factory

Question 6

6.What did Robert Owen use for the first time in 1794?

Answer 6

American Sea Island Cotton

Question 7

7.Why was Robert Owen’s marriage important to his future ideas?

Answer 7

His new father-in-law operated humane practices at his mill in New Lanark and Owen inherited it and built upon it it.

Question 8

8.What famous ‘ism’ did Owen first use to describe his belief system?

Answer 8

Utopian socialism

Question 9

9.Where was Robert Owen’s model town?

Answer 9

New Lanark, Scotland

Question 10

10.What was the name of the pamphlet of ideas Owen produced in 1813?

Answer 10

A New View of Society

Question 11

11.Who visited Owen’s model town in 1816?

Answer 11

The future Tsar of Russia

Question 12

12.Name 3 practical steps Owen took to improve the lives of his workers?

Answer 12

Reduced the working hours, made the factories light and airy, built new cottages, built the first infant school, introduced a diverse curriculum, built parks and gardens, introduced a scheme which gave the workers goods at a cost price.

Question 13

13.What act of parliament did Owen contribute to?

Answer 13

1819 Factory Act

Question 14

14.What did Owen set up at Gray’s Inn Road, London for the benefit of workers?

Answer 14

A ‘Labour Exchange’

Question 15

15.When did Owen start the London Co-operative Society?

Answer 15

1824

Question 16

16.What did the London Co-operative Society aim to do?

Answer 16

Co-operative shops that sold at reasonable prices and gave profits back to all who bought goods there.

Question 17

17.Why did Owen go to the USA in 1824?

Answer 17

To set up an experimental co-operative village at New Harmony in Indiana.

Question 18

18.What union did Owen set up in 1834 and why was this important?

Answer 18

The Grand National Consolidated Trades Union, first successful attempt at uniting workers nationally

Question 19

19.Give 2 reasons why Owen’s organisation (previous question) failed.

Answer 19

Government, Tolpuddle, employers, The Document, communication, not all unions joined.

Question 20

20.Which organisations did workers turn their attention to after the failure of Owen’s organisation?

Answer 20

Chartists, Anti-corn Law League, Anti-poor law.