Fabrikakte - Wikipedia

Kinder bei der Arbeit in einer Baumwollspinnerei (Mule Spinning England 1835) ^[a]

Die Factory Acts waren eine Reihe britischer Arbeitsgesetzgesetze, die vom britischen Parlament verabschiedet wurden, um die Bedingungen der Industrie zu regeln Beschäftigung. Die frühen Gesetze konzentrierten sich auf die Regelung der Arbeitszeit und des Wohlbefindens von kleinen Kindern, die in Baumwollspinnereien beschäftigt waren, waren jedoch praktisch nicht erzwungen, bis durch das Gesetz von 1833 eine professionelle Fabrikinspektion geschaffen wurde. Die Regelung der Arbeitszeit wurde dann durch ein Gesetz von 1844 auf Frauen ausgedehnt. Das 1847 Factories Act (bekannt als Ten Hour Act), zusammen mit den Gesetzen von 1850 und 1853, die Mängel im Gesetz von 1847 beheben, trifft auf ein langjähriges Bestehen (und 1847 gut organisiert) Forderung der Mühlenarbeiter nach einem Zehnstundentag. Die Fabrikgesetze strebten auch danach, die Bedingungen zu verbessern, unter denen Mühlenkinder mit den Anforderungen an die Belüftung, Hygiene und Bewachung von Maschinen arbeiteten. Die Einführung des Zehnstundentages hatte keine der von seinen Gegnern vorhergesagten schlimmen Folgen, und sein scheinbarer Erfolg beendete theoretische Einwände gegen das Prinzip der Fabrikgesetzgebung; Ab den 1860er Jahren wurden mehr Industrien in das Factory Act einbezogen, bis Sidney Webb die kumulative Wirkung der Jahrhunderte der Fabrikgesetzgebung prüfte.

Das Regulierungssystem, das mit dem Schutz der winzigen Klasse von armen Auszubildenden in Textilfabriken begann, schließt jetzt jeden Arbeiter in jeder verarbeitenden Industrie ein. Seit den Stunden der Arbeit und der sanitären Einrichtungen erstreckt sich das Gesetz auf das Zeitalter der Arbeitsaufnahme, den Schutz vor Unfällen, Mahlzeiten und Feiertagen, die Vergütungsmethoden und im Vereinigten Königreich sowie in den fortschrittlichsten englischsprachigen Gemeinden. auf den Lohnsatz selbst. In der Tat ist das Spektrum der Werksgesetze in den einen oder anderen Ländern mit den Bedingungen der industriellen Beschäftigung einhergegangen. Keine Klasse von handverarbeiteten Arbeitnehmern, kein Gegenstand im Tarifvertrag, kein Alter, kein Geschlecht, kein Handel oder Beruf ist jetzt außerhalb ihres Umfangs. Dieser Teil von Robert Owens Sozialphilosophie hat sich jedenfalls dem praktischen Urteil der zivilisierten Welt empfohlen. Es hat sogar, wenn auch erst in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, die Ökonomen selbst - jetzt in einen gesetzlichen Mindestlohn - umgewandelt, und der Vorteil der Fabrikgesetzgebung ist heute unter den gegenwärtigen englischen Generationen ein ebenso "orthodoxer" , Deutsche und amerikanische Professoren als "laisser-faire" galten ihren Vorgängern. ... Von allen Erfindungen des 19. Jahrhunderts in der sozialen Organisation ist Factory Legislation die am weitesten verbreitete. ^Vorwort

Er kommentierte auch den schrittweisen (zufällig fast fabianischen) Weg dieser Transformation

Die lediglich empirischen Vorschläge von Dr. Thomas Percival und der Manchester Justices von 1784 und 1795 sowie die experimentelle Gesetzgebung des älteren Sir Robert Peel im Jahr 1802 wurden von Robert Owen 1815 zu einem allgemeinen Prinzip der Industriellen Regierung erweitert kam in aufeinanderfolgenden Generationen von Home Office-Administratoren in vorläufigen Raten zur Anwendung. ... Dieses Jahrhundert des Experiments in der Fabrikgesetzgebung liefert ein typisches Beispiel für den praktischen praktischen Englischpsychismus. Wir haben mit keiner abstrakten Theorie der sozialen Gerechtigkeit oder der Rechte des Menschen begonnen. Wir waren offenbar immer noch nicht in der Lage, das Thema, zu dem wir Gesetze erlassen haben, allgemein zu beurteilen. Jedes nachfolgende Gesetz zielte darauf ab, ein einzelnes festgestelltes Übel zu heilen. Vergebens drängten die Einsprechenden, dass andere Übel, die nicht mehr zu verteidigen waren, in anderen Berufen oder unter anderen Klassen oder bei Personen eines anderen Alters als denen, auf die sich die jeweilige Gesetzesvorlage bezog, bestanden. Weder Logik noch Konsequenz, weder die zu nette Betrachtung der gerechten Justiz noch der quixotische Appell eines allgemeinen Humanitarismus durften einem praktischen Heilmittel gegen ein erwiesenes Unrecht im Wege stehen. Dass diese rein empirische Methode, mit industriellen Übeln umzugehen, langsame Fortschritte gemacht hat, ist dagegen kaum zu beanstanden. Mit dem House of Commons des 19. Jahrhunderts hätte keine andere Methode einen Fortschritt gesichert. ^{: Vorwort}

Gesetz über Gesundheit und Moral der Lehrlinge 1802 [ edit

] Das Gesetz über die Gesundheit und die Moral von Lehrlingen 1802 (42 Geo III c.73) wurde von Sir Robert Peel eingeführt. Sie befasste sich mit den Bedenken der Ärzte in Manchester bezüglich der Gesundheit und des Wohlergehens von Kindern, die in Baumwollspinnereien beschäftigt waren, und äußerte sich erstmals 1784 in einem Bericht über den Ausbruch von "Fieberfieber" in einer Mühle in Radcliffe im Besitz von Peel. Obwohl das Gesetz einige Hygieneanforderungen für alle Textilfabriken enthielt, beschäftigte es sich hauptsächlich mit der Beschäftigung von Auszubildenden. Die Beschäftigung von "freien" (nicht unter Vertrag stehenden) Kindern wurde nicht reguliert. Es erlaubte (aber erforderte es nicht), dass die örtlichen Behörden die Einhaltung der Anforderungen durchsetzen, und blieb daher weitgehend nicht erzwungen. Als erster Versuch, viele Fabrikkinder zu verbessern, wird dies oft als Wegbereiter für zukünftige Fabrikgesetze gesehen. Im besten Fall hat es den Weg nur teilweise geebnet; Aufgrund seiner Beschränkung auf Auszubildende (wo es eine lange Tradition der Gesetzgebung gab), war es den späteren Factory Acts überlassen, den Grundsatz der Intervention des Parlaments aus humanitären Gründen in Bezug auf das Wohlergehen der Arbeiter gegen die politische und wirtschaftliche "Orthese" von Laissez-faire festzulegen das Alter, das das als schlecht beraten empfand.

Nach dem Gesetz sind die Vorschriften und Vorschriften am 2. Dezember 1802 in Kraft getreten und galten für alle Textilfabriken und -fabriken, in denen drei oder mehr Auszubildende oder zwanzig Mitarbeiter beschäftigt waren. Die Gebäude müssen über ausreichende Fenster und Öffnungen für die Belüftung verfügen und sollten mindestens zweimal jährlich mit Kalk und Wasser gereinigt werden. dazu gehörten Decken und Wände. ^[2]

Jedem Lehrling sollten zwei Kleidungsstücke, geeignete Wäsche, Strümpfe, Mützen und Schuhe sowie jedes Jahr ein neues Set zur Verfügung gestellt werden. Die Auszubildenden konnten während der Nacht (zwischen 21.00 Uhr und 6.00 Uhr) nicht arbeiten, und ihre Arbeitszeit konnte nicht mehr als 12 Stunden pro Tag betragen, mit Ausnahme der Zeit für die Pausen. ^[2] Es wurde eine Schonfrist vorgesehen, in der die Fabriken Zeit hatten, sich anzupassen. Die gesamte Nachtarbeit der Auszubildenden sollte jedoch bis Juni 1804 eingestellt werden.

Alle Auszubildenden sollten in den ersten vier Jahren ihrer Ausbildung in Lesen, Schreiben und Rechnen ausgebildet werden. Das Gesetz legte fest, dass dies an jedem Arbeitstag innerhalb der üblichen Arbeitszeiten erfolgen sollte, gab jedoch nicht an, wie viel Zeit dafür aufgewendet werden sollte. Der Unterricht sollte in einem dafür vorgesehenen Teil der Mühle oder Fabrik stattfinden. Jeden Sonntag sollten die Lehrlinge eine Stunde lang die christliche Religion unterrichten. an jedem zweiten Sonntag sollte der Gottesdienst in der Fabrik abgehalten werden, und jeden Monat sollten die Auszubildenden eine Kirche besuchen. Sie sollten zur Bestätigung in der Church of England zwischen 14 und 18 Jahren vorbereitet werden und müssen mindestens einmal im Jahr von einem Geistlichen untersucht werden. Männliche und weibliche Auszubildende sollten getrennt schlafen und nicht mehr als zwei pro Bett. ^[2]

Die örtlichen Richter mussten zwei Inspektoren ernennen, die als "Besucher" bezeichnet werden, um sicherzustellen, dass die Fabriken und Mühlen den Anforderungen entsprechen Handlung; Der eine sollte ein Geistlicher sein, der andere ein Friedensrichter, und er sollte weder mit der Mühle noch mit der Fabrik in Verbindung stehen. Die Besucher hatten die Befugnis, Geldbußen für die Nichteinhaltung der Vorschriften zu verhängen, und die Befugnis, die Räumlichkeiten zu jeder Tageszeit zu besichtigen. ^[2]

Das Gesetz sollte an zwei Orten in Berlin ausgestellt werden die Fabrik. Eigentümer, die sich weigerten, die Bestimmungen des Gesetzes einzuhalten, wurden mit Geldbußen zwischen 2 und 5 GBP geahndet. ^[2]

Gesetz über die Baumwollspinnerei und -fabriken von 1819 [ edit

The 1819 Cotton Mills and Factories Act (59 Geo. III c66) stellte fest, dass keine Kinder unter 9 Jahren beschäftigt werden sollten und dass Kinder im Alter von 9 bis 16 Jahren auf 12 beschränkt waren
Arbeitszeit pro Tag. ^[3] Sie galt nur für die Baumwollindustrie, bezog sich jedoch auf alle Kinder, ob Auszubildende oder nicht. Es wurde von Sir Robert Peel im Parlament gesehen; Es hatte seinen Ursprung in einem von Robert Owen im Jahr 1815 vorbereiteten Entwurf, aber das Gesetz, das 1819 hervorging, war von Owens Entwurf stark verwässert. Es war auch praktisch nicht durchsetzbar; Die Vollstreckung wurde den örtlichen Richtern überlassen, aber sie konnten eine Mühle nur inspizieren, wenn zwei Zeugen vereidigt hatten, die Mühle bräuchte das Gesetz.
Ein Änderungsgesetz ( 60 Geo. III., Ca. 5 ) wurde im Dezember 1819 verabschiedet. Wenn bei einem Unfall eine Fabrik außer Betrieb gesetzt wurde (wie gerade in New Lanark geschehen war), wurde in den übrigen Werken durch Nachtarbeit gearbeitet diejenigen, die zuvor in der betroffenen Fabrik gearbeitet hatten, waren bis zur Behebung des Unfalls zugelassen. ^[4]

Cotton Mills Regulation Act 1825 [ edit ]

[Eine große Manufaktur]: die (Wasser) Mühle-Komplex in Darley Abbey End-on-Ansicht

Im Jahr 1825 führte John Cam Hobhouse ein Gesetz ein, das es den Richtern erlaubte, auf eigene Initiative zu handeln und Zeugen zu Anhörungen zu zwingen; Er stellte fest, dass es bislang nur zwei Anklagen nach dem Gesetz von 1819 gegeben hatte. ^[5] Gegen den Gesetzentwurf stimmte ein Millowner-Abgeordneter ^[b] zu, dass der Gesetzentwurf von 1819 weitgehend umgangen wurde, sagte jedoch weiter, dass dies Milleniener den Mühlenhändlern in die Arme nahm "Die Bestimmungen von Sir Robert Peels Tat waren in vielerlei Hinsicht umgangen worden. Nun lag es in der Macht der Arbeiter, viele Menschen zu ruinieren, indem sie die Strafen für Kinder verhängt, die außerhalb der durch diese Tat festgelegten Stunden arbeiten", und das zeigte sich Er sagte, dass die beste Vorgehensweise die Aufhebung des Gesetzes von 1819 war. ^[5] Andererseits unterstützte ein anderer Millowner-Abgeordneter ^[c] Hobhouses Bill, in dem er

sagte, er stimmte zu, dass die Rechnung lautstark gefordert wurde, und Als Inhaber einer großen Manufaktur räumte er ein, dass viel Abhilfe geschaffen werden müsse, und bezweifelte, dass eine Verkürzung der Arbeitszeit selbst den Interessen der Hersteller schaden könnte, da die Kinder, während sie beschäftigt waren, dies tun könnten das i r Beschäftigung mit größerer Kraft und Aktivität. Zur gleichen Zeit gab es nichts, was einen Vergleich mit dem Zustand der Neger in den Westindischen Inseln rechtfertigen könnte. ^[5]

Hobhouses Bill versuchte auch, die Arbeitsstunden auf elf pro Tag zu begrenzen; das verabschiedete Gesetz (19459010 Cotton Mills Regulation Act : 6 Geo. IV., ca. 63 ) verbesserte die Vorkehrungen für die Durchsetzung, behielt aber einen Montag-Freitag-Tag bei ein kürzerer Tag von neun Stunden am Samstag. Das Gesetz von 1819 hatte festgelegt, dass zwischen 11.00 und 14.00 Uhr ein Mahlzeitenbruch von einer Stunde eingenommen werden sollte. ; ein späteres Gesetz ( 60 Geo. III., ca. 5 ), das zulässt, dass wasserbetriebene Mühlen die angegebenen Stunden überschreiten, um die verlorene Zeit auszugleichen und die Grenzwerte auf 11.00 bis 16.00 Uhr auszudehnen; Das Hobhouse-Gesetz von 1825 setzte die Grenzwerte auf 11 bis 15 Uhr fest. Die Behauptung eines Elternteils über das Alter eines Kindes war ausreichend und befreite den Arbeitgeber von jeglicher Haftung, falls das Kind tatsächlich jünger sein sollte. JPs, die Mühlenbesitzer waren, oder die Väter oder Söhne von Mühlenbesitzern, konnten keine Klagen nach dem Gesetz hören.

Gesetz zur Änderung der Gesetze über die Beschäftigung von Kindern in Baumwollspinnereien und Manufakturen 1829 [ edit ]

Im Jahr 1829 verabschiedete das Parlament ein Gesetz zur Änderung der Gesetze über die Beschäftigung von Kindern in Baumwollspinnereien und Manufakturen, das die formellen Erfordernisse für die Zustellung rechtlicher Dokumente gegenüber Mühlenbesitzern lockerte (in den Dokumenten mussten nicht mehr alle Partner genannt werden) das Anliegen, die Mühle zu besitzen oder zu betreiben; es wäre ausreichend, die Mühle anhand des Namens zu identifizieren, unter dem sie allgemein bekannt war. ^[7] Die Gesetzesvorlage, die den Commons verabschiedete, unterlag einer geringfügigen Textänderung der Lords (fügte die Worte " "^[d]) aufgenommen und erhielt dann die königliche Zustimmung, ohne dass der Commons zuerst die Abänderung der Lords zur Kenntnis genommen wurde (oder ihr zustimmt). ^[8] Um diesen unbeabsichtigten Verstoß gegen das Privileg zu korrigieren, ein weiteres Act (keine weitere Änderung) zum Gesetz wurde bereits am letzten Tag der Parlamentssitzung verabschiedet. ^[9][e]

Gesetz über die Arbeit in Baumwollspinnereien von 1831 (Hobhouse's Act) [ edit ]

Mule Spinning in action: child ' Piecers 'verbrachten ihren Tag damit, gebrochene Fäden an der beweglichen Maschine auszubessern

Ein Gesetz zur Aufhebung der Gesetze über Lehrlinge und andere junge Menschen, die in Baumwollfabriken und in Baumwollspinnereien beschäftigt sind, und um weitere Vorkehrungen zu treffen (1 & 2 Will . IV c39)

(Aufgehobene Rechtsakte waren 59 Geo III, ca. 66; 60 Geo III, ca. 5; 6 Geo IV, ca. 63; 10 Geo IV, ca. 51; 10) Geo IV, ca. 63 )

Im Jahr 1831 führte Hobhouse eine weitere Gesetzesvorlage ein, mit der er die Unterstützung der führenden Hersteller anführte, die das Gefühl hatten, es sei denn, das Haus sollte einen Schritt nach vorn machen und sich einmischen Um der Nachtarbeit in den kleinen Fabriken, in denen sie praktiziert wurde, ein Ende zu setzen, könnten die großen und angesehenen Fabriken, die sich an das geltende Recht halten, nicht mit ihnen konkurrieren. "
Durch das Gesetz wurden die früheren Gesetze aufgehoben und ihre Bestimmungen in einem einzigen Gesetz zusammengefasst, das auch weitere Beschränkungen vorsieht. Nachtarbeit war für alle unter 21 Jahren verboten, und wenn eine Mühle nachts gearbeitet hatte, lag die Beweislast beim Mühlenbesitzer (um zu zeigen, dass keine Minderjährigen beschäftigt waren). Die Begrenzung der Arbeitszeit auf zwölf war jetzt bis zum Alter von achtzehn Jahren gültig. Beschwerden können nur verfolgt werden, wenn sie innerhalb von drei Wochen nach der Straftat erhoben werden. Andererseits waren JPs, die Brüder von Mühlenbesitzern, nun auch von der Anhörung von Factory-Act-Fällen ausgeschlossen. Hobhouses Anspruch auf allgemeine Unterstützung war optimistisch; Der Gesetzentwurf umfasste ursprünglich alle Textilfabriken. das Gesetz, wie es erneut verabschiedet wurde, galt nur für Baumwollspinnereien.

Labour of Children usw. in Factories Act 1833 (Althorp's Act) [ ]

Carding, Roving und Zeichnung in einer Baumwollfabrik in Manchester c. 1834

Die erste "Zehn-Stunden-Rechnung" - Sadlers Rechnung (1832), Ashleys Rechnung (1833) [ edit ]

Unzufrieden mit dem Ergebnis von Hobhouses Bemühungen, 1832 Michael Thomas Sadler führte ein Gesetz ein, das den Schutz bestehender Fabrikgesetze für in der Baumwollindustrie tätige Kinder auf diejenigen in anderen Textilindustrien ausdehnte und die Arbeitszeit von Kindern in den gesetzlich vorgeschriebenen Industrien auf zehn pro Tag reduzierte. In den Textilbezirken von Yorkshire und Lancashire war ein Netzwerk von "Short Time Committees" aufgewachsen, das für ein "Zehnstundentagesgesetz" für Kinder arbeitete. Viele Mühlenhände in der Ten Hour Movement hofften, dass dies in der Praxis auch die Grenzen einschränken würde Erwachsener Arbeitstag. Zeugen eines der Komitees, die Beweise in Bezug auf Peels Bill erhoben hatten, hatten festgestellt, dass es nur wenige Mühlenarbeiter über vierzig gab und dass sie selbst erwarteten, die Mühlenarbeit in diesem Alter wegen "Tempo der Mühle" einstellen zu müssen, sofern die Arbeitszeit nicht reduziert wurde. ^[11]
Hobhouse wies Richard Oastler, einen frühen und führenden Befürworter der Fabrikgesetzgebung für die Wollindustrie, darauf hin, dass Hobhouse angesichts des Widerstands der schottischen Flachsspinner und des "State of Public Business" so viel er konnte, als er konnte: [19659049] Wenn Sadler einen Gesetzentwurf vorlegt, der den Zielen der Kurzzeitkomitees entspricht, „darf er keine einzige Phase mit einem Erlass einleiten, und… er wird nur einen Hauch von Spott und Extravaganz über diese Art von Gesetzgebung werfen ^[12] Oastler antwortete, ein Misserfolg mit einem Zehn-Stunden-Gesetzentwurf würde "seine Freunde nicht entmutigen. Er wird sie nur zu größeren Anstrengungen anregen und zweifellos zu einem gewissen Erfolg führen S Adlers Bill (1832) [ edit ]

Sadlers Bill, als sie eingeführt wurde, entsprach in der Tat den Zielen der Kurzzeitkomitees. Hobhouses Nachtarbeitsverbot bis zu 21 Jahren wurde beibehalten; Kein Kind unter neun Jahren sollte beschäftigt werden; und der Arbeitstag für Achtzehnjährige sollte nicht mehr als zehn Stunden betragen (acht am Samstag). Diese Beschränkungen sollten für alle Textilindustrien gelten. ^{: 51} Die Debatte zur zweiten Lesung über Sadlers Gesetzesentwurf fand erst am 16. März 1832 statt, da das Reformgesetz Vorrang vor allen anderen Gesetzen hatte. Inzwischen waren Petitionen sowohl für als auch gegen das Gesetz den Untergebenen vorgelegt worden; Sowohl Sir Robert Peel (nicht der Urheber des Gesetzes von 1802, als auch sein Sohn, der zukünftige Ministerpräsident) und Sir George Strickland hatten gewarnt, dass das Gesetz in seiner derzeitigen Fassung zu ehrgeizig sei: mehr Abgeordnete hätten sich für eine weitere Werksgesetzgebung als für, aber dagegen geäußert Viele Unterstützer wünschten, dass das Thema von einem Auswahlkomitee geprüft wird. Sadler hatte dem widersprochen: "Wenn die vorliegende Gesetzesvorlage auf ein Gesetz verwiesen würde, würde es in dieser Sitzung kein Gesetz werden, und die Notwendigkeit der Gesetzgebung war so offensichtlich, dass er nicht bereit war, sich der Verspätung eines Ausschusses zu unterwerfen, wenn er dies in Betracht zog konnte keine neuen Beweise zu diesem Thema erhalten. "19659055] In seiner langen Rede in zweiter Lesung machte Sadler wiederholt geltend, ein Ausschuss sei nicht notwendig, schloss jedoch mit der Annahme, dass er weder das Parlament noch die Regierung davon überzeugt habe, und dass die Gesetzesvorlage nicht angenommen wurde würde an ein ausgewähltes Komitee verwiesen. ^[16] (Lord Althorp antwortete auf die Regierung und stellte fest, dass die Rede von Sadler ein starkes Argument für die Prüfung von Gesetzen sei, meinte jedoch, die Details des Gesetzesvorschlags nicht direkt zu unterstützen; die Regierung unterstütze das Gesetzentwurf als führender Ausschuss für ein ausgewähltes Komitee, würde jedoch im Voraus keine Unterstützung für die vom Gesetz empfohlenen Rechtsvorschriften zusagen. ^[16] Dadurch wurde praktisch keine Chance für die Verabschiedung eines Fabrikenverordnungsgesetzes geschaffen Das Parlament wurde aufgelöst. Sadler wurde zum Vorsitzenden des Komitees ernannt, der es ihm ermöglichte, seinen Fall durch Anhörung von Zeugenaussagen von Sadlers Auswahl vorzulegen, vorausgesetzt, Gegner der Gesetzesvorlage (oder eines Teils davon) hätten dann ihre Innings. ^[17] Sadler Versuch (31. Juli 1832), seine Gesetzesvorlage voranzutreiben, ohne auf den Bericht des Ausschusses zu warten; Als dieses anormale Verfahren von anderen Abgeordneten beanstandet wurde, zog er die Gesetzesvorlage zurück. ^[18] Sadler berichtete als Vorsitzender des Komitees über das Protokoll der Beweise am 8. August 1832, als sie zur Drucklegung aufgefordert wurden. ^[19] Das Parlament befand sich Kurz darauf vorgesagt: Sadler kündigte seine Absicht an, in der nächsten Sitzung eine Zehnstundenrechnung wieder einzuführen ^[20]

Ashleys Rechnung (1833) [ edit ]

. Sadler jedoch nicht ein Abgeordneter in der nächsten Sitzung: Bei der ersten Wahl für den neuen Wahlkreis mit zwei Mitgliedern in Leeds wurde er von Thomas Babington Macaulay, einem Whig-Politiker von nationalem Rang, und John Marshall, dem Sohn eines der führenden Mühlenbesitzer von Leeds, auf den dritten Platz geschlagen. Kurzfristig setzte sich die Kurzzeitbewegung für einen neuen parlamentarischen Befürworter der Fabrikreform ein, der schließlich die Dienste von Lord Ashley, dem ältesten Sohn des 6. Earl of Shaftesbury, sicherte. Als das neue Parlament zusammentraf, war die öffentliche Meinung (vor allem außerhalb der Textilbezirke) von „dem Bericht des Ausschusses von Herrn Sadler“ stark betroffen. Auszüge davon erschienen im Januar 1833 in Zeitungen und zeichneten ein Bild vom Leben eines Mühlenkindes als einer systematischen Überarbeitung und systematischen Brutalität. Die Schlussfolgerung aus vielen Zeitungen war, dass Sadlers Bill wiederbelebt und verabschiedet werden sollte. Als Ashley jedoch einen Gesetzesentwurf einführte, der die Abgeordneten von Sadler im Wesentlichen reproduzierte, kritisierte er beide Berichte (da die einzigen bezeugten Zeugen Sadlers waren, war der Bericht unausgewogen; da Zeugen nicht auf Eid ausgesagt hatten, wurden Zweifel an der Richtigkeit / Wahrhaftigkeit der Lurriden geäußert Berichte über das Fabrikleben) und Sadlers Verhalten. "Ein Hauch von Spott und Extravaganz" war nicht auf Werksgesetze geworfen worden, sondern auf die Verwendung ausgewählter Komitees zur Ermittlung von Fabrikbedingungen. ^[21] Zur Untersuchung und Berichterstattung wurde eine Fabrikkommission eingesetzt. Sadler und die Short Time Committees lehnten jede weitere Feststellung ^[22] ab und versuchten, die Arbeit der Kommissare zu behindern. ^[23] Ashley's Bill führte Anfang Juli 1833 eine zweite Lesung durch (als die wahrscheinlich wichtigsten Empfehlungen der Kommission waren) bekannt, aber der Bericht stand den Abgeordneten noch nicht zur Verfügung); Ashley wollte, dass der Gesetzentwurf von einem Ausschuss des gesamten Parlaments geprüft wurde, und unterlag Lord Althorps Änderungsantrag, den Gesetzentwurf an ein ausgewähltes Komitee zu verweisen. ^[24] Auf der Stufe des Komitees war jedoch der erste Punkt zu berücksichtigen, in dem das Gesetz von der Kommission abwich Bis zu welcher Arbeitszeit die Arbeitszeit begrenzt sein sollte, verlor Ashley (stark) die Abstimmung darüber und überließ es Althorp, auf der Grundlage der Empfehlungen der Kommission ein Factory Act ^[25] zu leiten. ^{: 54}

1833 Factory Commission [ edit ]

Diese tourte durch die Textilbezirke und führte umfangreiche Untersuchungen durch. Es verschwendete wenig Zeit damit und noch weniger bei der Betrachtung seines Berichts; Wie bei den anderen Whig-Kommissionen der damaligen Zeit wurde vermutet, dass sie eine gute Vorstellung von den Empfehlungen hatte, bevor sie ihre Arbeit aufnahm. Während der Ermittlungen der Factory Commission wurden die Beziehungen zwischen ihr und der Zehn-Stunden-Bewegung gründlich kontrovers, und die Zehn-Stunden-Bewegung versuchte einen Boykott der Ermittlungen der Kommission zu organisieren. Dies stand im krassen Gegensatz zu der Praxis der Kommissare, mit der Führungsspitze zu speisen Hersteller der Bezirke, die sie besucht haben. Der Bericht der Kommission ^[26] unterstützte nicht die schärferen Details von Sadlers Bericht - Mühlen waren keine Brutstätten sexueller Unmoral, und das Schlagen von Kindern war weitaus seltener, als Sadler behauptet hatte (und aussterbte). Große Millowner wie die Strutts tolerierten das nicht (und zeichneten sich in der Tat durch ihr eifriges Wohlwollen gegenüber ihren Mitarbeitern aus). Die Arbeitsbedingungen für Mühlenkinder waren denen in anderen Industrien vorzuziehen: (Nach einem Besuch der Kohlenmine in Worsley hatte einer der Mitarbeiter der Kommission geschrieben "da dies die beste Mine meines Landes sein sollte), kann ich mich nicht irren zu der Schlussfolgerung gelangt, dass die härteste Arbeit in der am schlechtesten durchgeführten Fabrik weniger hart, weniger grausam und weniger demoralisierend ist als die Arbeit in den besten Kohlebergwerken "^{[26]: D2, 79-82 [19659074])}

Nichtsdestotrotz berichtete die Kommission ^{[26]: 35–36} dass Mühlenkinder unangemessen lange Arbeitszeiten verrichteten, was dazu führte

• Permanente Verschlechterung der körperlichen Verfassung:


• Die Entstehung von Krankheiten oft völlig unwiderruflich: und


• Der teilweise oder vollständige Ausschluss (aufgrund übermäßiger Ermüdung) von den Mitteln, eine angemessene Ausbildung zu erhalten und nützlich zu werden Gewohnheiten zu nutzen oder von diesen Mitteln zu profitieren, wenn sie

gewährt wurden, und dass diese Beeinträchtigungen so ausgeprägt und signifikant waren, dass ein Eingreifen der Regierung gerechtfertigt war, aber wo Sadlers Bill für alle Arbeitnehmer unter achtzehn Jahren zehn Tage lang war, empfahl die Kommission eine Acht-Stunden-Tag für Kinder unter dreizehn Jahren, in der Hoffnung auf ein Zwei-Schicht-System, mit dem die Mühlen 16 Stunden am Tag laufen können.

Althorp's Act (1833) [ edit ]

Der Factory Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV) c103 war ein Versuch, einen regulären Arbeitstag in der Textilherstellung zu etablieren. Das Gesetz hatte folgende Bestimmungen:

• Kinder unter 9 Jahren konnten nicht in der Textilherstellung beschäftigt werden (außer in Seidenfabriken).


• Kinder unter 18 Jahren dürfen nachts nicht arbeiten (dh nach 20.30 Uhr und vor 5.30 Uhr) [19659086] Kinder (9–13 Jahre) dürfen nicht länger als 8 Stunden mit einer Mittagspause arbeiten. (Die Arbeitgeber könnten (und es war vorgesehen, dass sie dies tun würden) ein „Relay-System“ betreiben, bei dem zwei Schichten von Kindern zwischen ihnen den erlaubten Arbeitstag abdeckten; erwachsene Mühlenarbeiter könnten daher einen 15-Stunden-Tag „arbeiten“.


• Kinder ( (9–13 Jahre) konnte nur eingestellt werden, wenn sie über ein Schulmeisterbeschein verfügten, dass sie in der Vorwoche zwei Unterrichtsstunden pro Tag hatten (dies wurde durch Abzug eines Pennys im Schilling vom Lohn der Kinder gezahlt. Eine Fabrik Der Inspektor konnte die Zahlung eines solchen Geldes an einen "inkompetenten" Schulmeister verbieten, aber eine von ihm ausgestellte Bescheinigung nicht stornieren.) ^[27]


• Kinder (14 - 18 Jahre) dürfen nicht mehr arbeiten mehr als 12 Stunden pro Tag mit einer Mittagspause.


• Für routinemäßige Inspektionen in Fabriken vorgesehen und zur Überwachung solcher Inspektionen ein (dem Innenministerium untergeordnetes) Fabrikinspektorat mit dem Recht, die Einreise zu fordern, und der Vollmacht, tätig zu werden, einrichten als Richter. (Unter früheren Gesetzen war die Aufsicht durch örtliche "Besucher" (Friedensrichter (JP) und Pfarrer) und praktisch diskretionär). Die Inspektoren wurden ermächtigt, Regeln und Vorschriften für die detaillierte Anwendung des Gesetzes zu erlassen und durchzusetzen, und zwar unabhängig vom Innenminister.


• Millowners und ihre nahen Angehörigen waren nicht mehr von Anhörungsfällen, die nach früheren Gesetzen eingebracht worden waren, ausgeschlossen Es ist unwahrscheinlich, dass sie von ihren Kollegen auf der lokalen Bank effektiv überwacht werden oder bei der Überwachung anderer Mühlenbesitzer eifrig sind.

Das Gesetz enthielt keine Angaben dazu, ob Mond- oder Kalendermonate vorgesehen sind, in denen das Wort "monatlich" und eine Klausel mit begrenzter Arbeitszeit verwendet wurde pro Woche, für die ein Tageslimit vorgesehen war. ^[28] Daher wurde im Februar 1834 ein kurzes Änderungsgesetz verabschiedet. ^[29]

"Ineffectual Gesetzesversuche" (1835–1841) [] [1945922]] [1945922]]. 19659031] Das Gesetz von 1833 hatte bei seinem Inkrafttreten nur wenige Bewunderer in den Textilbezirken. Die kurzfristige Bewegung lehnte die Ersetzung von Ashleys Bill ab und hoffte, eine Zehn-Stunden-Rechnung zu erhalten. Millowners waren verärgert, und politische Ökonomen missbilligten die Einmischung der Gesetzgebung als Reaktion auf die öffentliche Meinung und hofften, dass das Gesetz bald (ganz oder teilweise) aufgehoben werden könnte. Im Jahr 1835 stellte der erste Bericht der Fabrikinspektoren fest, dass die Schulungsklauseln völlig unpraktisch waren und die Arbeit weiterleiteten (mit einem doppelten Satz von Kindern, die beide acht Stunden arbeiteten). Die Lösung, die Althorp's Bill erlaubte, Ashley's Vorteil zu überbieten Kinder) war schwierig, wenn nicht gar nicht praktikabel, da nicht genügend Kinder vorhanden waren. ^[30][g] Sie berichteten auch, dass sie weder durch Fabrikarbeit verursachte Deformierungen feststellen konnten noch gesundheitliche Schäden oder Lebensverluste von Fabrikkindern, die durch die Arbeit von A entstehen Zwölf-Stunden-Tag. ^[30]

Poulett Thomson's Bill (1836) [ edit ]

Drei der vier Inspektoren hatten in ihrem ersten Bericht empfohlen, dass alle Kinder ab 12 Jahren zugelassen werden sollten Zwölf Stunden am Tag arbeiten. ^[30] Im West Riding folgte eine Aufregung, um das Gesetz von 1833 zu entspannen oder aufzuheben, ^[32] . Die Kurzzeitbewegung behauptete, Arbeiter würden von ihren Arbeitgebern "angehalten" Petitionen zur Aufhebung zu unterzeichnen und durch Versammlungen abzuhalten und Petitionen für eine zehnstündige Akte zu erheben. ^[33] Charles Hindley bereitete einen Gesetzesentwurf vor, der die Arbeitszeit für jede Mühle beschränkte, die Personen unter 21 Jahren ohne Kind beschäftigte unter zehn Jahren beschäftigt werden und keine Bildungsklauseln. ^[34] Hindleys Gesetzentwurf wurde am Ende der Parlamentssitzung von 1834/15 veröffentlicht, wurde aber nicht in der nächsten Sitzung vorgezogen, da er mit einem Regierungsentwurf, der von Charles eingeführt wurde, vorgegriffen wurde Poulett Thomson, der Präsident der Handelskammer, erlaubt Kindern zwölf oder mehr Jahren, zwölf Stunden am Tag zu arbeiten. ^[35] Die zweite Lesung von Poulett Thomsons Bill wurde von Ashley abgelehnt, der die Rechnung als Gefühl der totalen Aufhebung des Schutzes anprangerte für Fabrikkinder. Die Gesetzesvorlage wurde mit einer Mehrheit von nur zwei (178-176) in zweiter Lesung verabschiedet - eine moralische Niederlage für eine Regierungsmaßnahme. Obwohl Poulett Thomson die Debatte mit der Bemerkung eröffnete, er sei "im Moment nicht bereit, die gesamte Frage der Fabrik wieder zu öffnen", hatte Peel gesagt, er würde für die zweite Lesung stimmen, nicht weil er die Gesetzesvorlage unterstützte, sondern weil Im Ausschussstadium könnten weitere Änderungen der Werksgesetzgebung eingeführt werden. ^[36] Poulett Thomson (schließlich) gab das Gesetz auf. ^[37]

Im Jahr 1837 kündigte Poulett Thomson an, eine Fabrik in Betrieb zu nehmen Rechnung; Ashley, der beabsichtigt hatte, eine Zehn-Stunden-Rechnung einzuführen, ließ dies fallen und versprach stattdessen eine Zehn-Stunden-Änderung der Regierungsgesetzgebung. ^[38] Mit der Regierungsgesetzgebung war nach dem Tod von König William und der US-Regierung kein Fortschritt erzielt worden Konsequente Auflösung des Parlaments, beendete die Sitzung.

Fox Maules Bill (1838) [ edit ]

In der Sitzung von 1838 wurde vom US-Außenministerium Fox Maule eine weitere Gesetzesvorlage für die Fabrikfabrik eingeführt. Kinder in Seidenmühlen sollten nicht mehr als zehn Stunden pro Tag arbeiten (dies wurde jedoch nicht durch eine Altersbescheinigung gestützt). Ansonsten wurden keine Änderungen der Altersgrenzen oder der Arbeitsstunden vorgenommen, sondern die Bildungsklauseln des Gesetzes von 1833 aufgehoben und durch Alphabetisierungsprüfungen ersetzt. Nach einer Übergangszeit sollten Kinder, die das Neue Testament nicht lesen konnten, nicht mehr als neun Stunden am Tag beschäftigt werden; Kinder, die keinen einfachen Leser lesen konnten, der vom Innenminister veröffentlicht werden sollte, konnten nicht eingestellt werden. ^[39] Seine politischen Gegner verspotteten den Gedanken, dass Lord John Russell seine unbestrittenen Talente auf die Herstellung einer Lesefibel konzentrierte, was bald angekündigt wurde Sobald der Gesetzentwurf in das Komitee aufgenommen wurde, sollte er geändert werden, um die Bildungsklauseln von 1833 wiederherzustellen. ^[40] Die zweite Lesung des Gesetzentwurfs war für den 22. Juni vorgesehen, aber Anfang Juni gab Russell bekannt, dass der Gesetzentwurf für die Sitzung aufgegeben worden war. 19659114] Ashley verurteilt die Selbstgefälligkeit der Regierung [ edit ]

Am 22. Juni, als die Regierung ein Gesetz über irische Zehnten vorlegen wollte, zog Ashley sie zurück und brachte die zweite Lesung der Werksvorlage vor. Er beklagte sich über das ausweichende Verhalten von Ministern sowie die Apathie und Selbstzufriedenheit der Regierung bei der Fabrikreform. Peel (der normalerweise, selbst in Opposition, die Behinderung von Regierungsgeschäften durch Hinterbenker ^[h] ablehnte) unterstützte Ashley: Er vertrat die Sache ganz anders als Ashley, aber die Frage war wichtig, umstritten und sollte nicht umgangen werden: "so long as ineffectual attempts at legislation remained on the table of the house, the excitement of the manufacturing districts would continue to be kept up"^[42][i] Ashley's motion was lost narrowly 111 to 119.^[42][19659009]Ashley later attacked the government and its complacency and connivance at the shortcomings in the current Factory Act identified by the government's own Factory Inspectors:^[45]

• Althorp's Act had claimed superiority over Ashley's Bill of 1833 because of its shorter working hours for children and its provision for education. Those provisions had been violated from the outset, and continued to be violated, and the government connived at those violations: "notwithstanding the urgent representations and remonstrances of their own inspectors, the Government had done nothing whatever to assist them in the discharge of their duties"


• Millowners sat on the bench and adjudicated in their own cases (because Althorp's Act had repealed the provisions in Hobhouse's Act forbidding this): they countersigned surgeon's certificates for children employed in their own factory .^[j] One factory inspector had reported a case of a millowner sitting as magistrate on a case brought against his own sons, as tenants of a mill he owned.


• Magistrates had the power to mitigate the penalties specied in the Act. The inspectors reported that magistrates habitually did so, and to an extent which defeated the law; it was more profitable to break the law and pay the occasional fine than to comply with the Act.

"After these representations .. by his own inspectors, how could the noble Lord opposite reconcile it with his conscience as an individual, and with his public duty as a Minister of the Crown, during the whole course of his administration, never to have brought forward any measure for the removal of so tremendous an evil?"

• The education clauses were not observed in one mill in fifty; where they were, the factory inspectors reported, "the schooling given is a mere mockery of instruction"; vice and ignorance, and their natural consequences, misery and suffering, were rife among the population of the manufacturing districts. "Would the noble Lord opposite venture to say that the education of the manufacturing classes was a matter of indifference to the country at large?"

"He wanted them to decide whether they would amend, or repeal, or enforce the Act now in existence; but if they would do none of these things, if they continued idly indifferent, and obstinately shut their eyes to this great and growing evil, if they were careless of the growth of an immense population, plunged in ignorance and vice, which neither feared God, nor regarded man, then he warned them that they must be prepared for the very worst result that could befall a nation."

Fox Maule tries again (1839-41)[edit]

In the 1839 session, Fox Maule revived the 1838 Bill with alterations. The literacy tests were gone, and the education clauses restored. The only other significant changes in the scope of the legislation were that working extra hours to recover lost time was now only permitted for water-powered mills, and magistrates could not countersign surgeon's certificates if they were mill-owners or occupiers (or father, son, or brother of a mill-owner or occupier). Details of enforcement were altered; there was no longer any provision for inspectors to be magistrates ex officiosub-inspectors were to have nearly the same enforcement powers as inspectors; unlike inspectors they could not examine witnesses on oath, but they now had the same right of entry into factory premises as inspectors.^[46] Declaring a schoolmaster incompetent was now to invalidate certificates of education issued by him, and a clause in the bill aimed to make it easier to establish and run a school for factory children; children at schools formed under this clause were not to be educated in a creed objected to by their parents.^[27]

The bill, introduced in February, did not enter its committee stage until the start of July^[47]
In committee, a ten-hour amendment was defeated 62-94, but Ashley moved and carried 55-49 an amendment removing the special treatment of silk mills.^[47][48] The government then declined to progress the amended bill.^[49]

No attempt was made to introduce a factory bill in 1840; Ashley obtained a Select Committee on the working of the existing Factory Act,^[50] which took evidence, most notably from members of the Factory Inspectorate,^[51] throughout the session with a view to a new bill being introduced in 1841.^[52] Ashley was then instrumental in obtaining a Royal Commission on the employment of children in mines and manufactures,^[53] which eventually reported in 1842 (mines) and 1843 (manufactures): two of the four Commissioners had served on the 1833 Factory Commission; the other two were serving factory inspectors.^[54]

In March 1841 Fox Maule introduced a Factory Bill^[55] and a separate Silk Factory Bill.^[56] The Factory Bill provided that children were now not to work more than seven hours a day; if working before noon they couldn't work after one p.m.^[57] The education clauses of the 1839 Bill were retained.^[57] 'Dangerous machinery' was now to be brought within factory legislation.^[58][59] Both the Factory and Silk Factory bills were given unopposed second readings on the understanding that all issues would be discussed at committee stage, both were withdrawn before going into committee,^[60] the Whigs having been defeated on a motion of no confidence, and a General Election imminent.

Graham's Factory Education Bill (1843)[edit]

The Whigs were defeated in the 1841 general election, and Sir Robert Peel formed a Conservative government. Ashley let it be known that he had declined office under Peel because Peel would not commit himself not to oppose a ten-hour bill; Ashley therefore wished to retain freedom of action on factory issues.^[61] In February 1842, Peel indicated definite opposition to a ten-hour bill,^[62] and Sir James Graham , Peel's Home Secretary, declared his intention to proceed with a bill prepared by Fox Maule, but with some alterations.^[63] In response to the findings of his Royal Commission, Ashley saw through Parliament a Mines And Collieries Act banning the employment of women and children underground;^[64] the measure was welcomed by both front benches, with Graham assuring Ashley "that her Majesty's Government would render him every assistance in carrying on the measure".^[64]
In July, it was announced that the Government did not intend any modification to the Factory Act in that session.^[65]

The education issue and Graham's bill[edit]

The Royal Commission had investigated not only the working hours and conditions of the children, but also their moral state. It had found much of concern in their habits and language, but the greatest concern was that "the means of secular and religious instruction.. are so grievously defective, that, in all the districts, great numbers of Children and Young Persons are growing up without any religious, moral, or intellectual training; nothing being done to form them to habits of order, sobriety, honesty, and forethought, or even to restrain them from vice and crime."^[66][k] In 1843, Ashley initiated a debate on "the best means of diffusing the benefits and blessings of a moral and religious education among the working classes..."^[69]

Responding, Graham stressed that the issue was not a party one (and was borne out on this by the other speakers in the debate); although the problem was a national one, the government would for the moment bring forward measures only for the two areas of education in which the state already had some involvement; the education of workhouse children and the education of factory children. The measures he announced related to England and Wales; Scotland had an established system of parochial schools run by its established church, with little controversy, since in Scotland there was no dissent on doctrine, only on questions of discipline. In the 'education clauses' of his Factory Education Bill of 1843, he proposed to make government loans to a new class of government factory schools effectively under the control of the Church of England and the local magistrates. The default religious education in these schools would be Anglican, but parents would be allowed to opt their children out of anything specifically Anglican; if the opt-out was exercised, religious education would be as in the best type of Dissenter-run schools. Once a trust school was open in a factory district, factory children in that district would have to provide a certificate that they were being educated at it or at some other school certified as 'efficient'. The 'labour clauses' forming the other half of the bill were essentially a revival of Fox Maule's draft; children could work only in the morning or in the afternoon, but not both. There were two significant differences; the working day for children was reduced to six and a half hours, and the minimum age for factory work would be reduced to eight. Other clauses increased penalties and assisted enforcement.

Reaction, retreats, and abandonment[edit]

A Second Reading debate was held to flesh out major issues before going into committee.^[70] At Lord John Russell's urging, the discussion was temperate, but there was considerable opposition to the proposed management of the new schools, which effectively excluded ratepayers (who would repay the loan and meet any shortfall in running costs) and made no provision for a Dissenter presence (to see fair play). The provisions for appointment of schoolmasters were also criticised; as they stood they effectively excluded Dissenters.

Out of Parliament, the debate was less temperate; objections that the Bill had the effect of strengthening the Church became objections that it was a deliberate attack on Dissent, that its main purpose was to attack Dissent, and that the Royal Commission had deliberately and grossly defamed the population of the manufacturing districts to give a spurious pretext for an assault on Dissent.^[71] Protest meetings were held on that basis throughout the country, and their resolutions condemning the bill and calling for its withdrawal were supported by a campaign of organised petitions: that session Parliament received 13,369 petitions against the bill as drafted with a total of 2,069,058 signatures.^[72] (For comparison, in the same session there were 4574 petitions for total repeal of the Corn Laws, with a total of 1,111,141 signatures.^[73] )

Lord John Russell drafted resolutions calling for modification of the bill along the lines suggested in Parliament;^[74] the resolutions were denounced as inadequate by the extra-parliamentary opposition.^[75] Graham amended the educational clauses,^[76] but this only triggered a fresh round of indignation meetings^[77] and a fresh round of petitions (11,839 petitions and 1,920,574 signatures).^[72] Graham then withdrew the education clauses^[78] but this did not end the objections,^[79] since it did not entirely restore the status quo ante on education;^[80] indeed the education requirements of the 1833 Act now came under attack, the Leeds Mercury declaring education was something individuals could do for themselves "under the guidance of natural instinct and self-interest, infinitely better than Government could do for them".^[81] Hence "All Government interference to COMPEL Education is wrong" and had unacceptable implications: "If Government has a right to compel Education, it has right to compel RELIGION !"^[81]
Although as late as 17 July Graham said he intended to get the bill though in the current session,^[79] three days later the bill was one of those Peel announced would be dropped for that session.^[82]

Factories Act 1844 ('Graham's Factory Act')[edit]

In 1844 Graham again introduced a Bill to bring in a new Factory Act and repeal the 1833 Factory Act.^[83] The Bill gave educational issues a wide berth, but otherwise largely repeated the 'labour clauses' of Graham's 1843 Bill, with the important difference that the existing protection of young persons (a twelve-hour day and a ban on night working) was now extended to women of all ages.^[84] In Committee, Lord Ashley moved an amendment to the bill's clause 2, which defined the terms used in subsequent (substantive) clauses; his amendment changed the definition of 'night' to 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. - after allowing 90 minutes for mealbreaks only ten-and-a-half hours could be worked;^[85] this passed by nine votes.^[86] On clause 8, limiting the hours of work for women and young persions, the motion setting a twelve-hour day was defeated (by three votes: 183-186) but Lord Ashley's motion setting the limit at ten hours was also defeated (by seven votes:181-188).^[87]

Voting on this Bill was not on party lines, the issue revealing both parties to be split into various factions. On clause 8, both 'ten' and 'twelve' hours were rejected (with exactly the same members voting) because five members voted against both 'ten' and 'twelve'.^[88]
Faced with this impasse, and having considered and rejected the option of compromising on some intermediate time such as eleven hours,^[l] Graham withdrew the Bill, preferring to replace it by a new one which amended, rather than repealed, the 1833 Act.^[89]A Radical MP warned the government during the debate on clause 8 that Ashley's first victory could never be undone by any subsequent vote: morally the Ten-Hour question had been settled;^[87]:c1402 Government might delay, but could not now prevent, a Ten-hour Act. However, the new bill left the 1833 definition of 'night' unaltered (and so gave no opportunity for redefinition) and Lord Ashley's amendment to limit the working day for women and young persons to ten hours was defeated heavily (295 against, 198 for),^[90] it having been made clear that the Ministers would resign if they lost the vote.^[91]

As a result, the Factory Act of 1844 (citation 7 & 8 Vict c. 15) again set a twelve-hour day,^[92] its main provisions being:

• Children 9–13 years could work for 9 hours a day with a lunch break.


• Ages must be verified by surgeons.


• Women and young people now worked the same number of hours. They could work for no more than 12 hours a day during the week, including one and a half hours for meals, and 9 hours on Sundays. They must all take their meals at the same time and could not do so in the workroom


• Time-keeping to be by a public clock approved by an inspector


• Some classes of machinery: every fly-wheel directly connected with the steam engine or water-wheel or other mechanical power, whether in the engine-house or not, and every part of a steam engine and water-wheel, and every hoist or teagle,^[m] near to which children or young persons are liable to pass or be employed, and all parts of the mill-gearing (this included power shafts) in a factory were to be "securely fenced."


• Children and women were not to clean moving machinery.


• Accidental death must be reported to a surgeon and investigated; the result of the investigation to be reported to a Factory Inspector.


• Factory owners must wash factories with lime every fourteen months.


• Thorough records must be kept regarding the provisions of the Act and shown to the inspector on demand.


• An abstract of the amended Act must be hung up in the factory so as to be easily readand show (amongst other things) names and addresses of the inspector and sub-inspector of the district, the certifying surgeon, the times for beginning and ending work, the amount of time and time of day for meals.


• Factory Inspectors no longer had the powers of JPs but (as before 1833) millowners, their fathers, brothers and sons were all debarred (if magistrates) from hearing Factory Act cases.

Factories Act 1847[edit]

After the collapse of the Peel administration which had resisted any reduction in the working day to less than 12 hours, a Whig administration under Lord John Russell came to power. The new Cabinet contained supporters and opponents of a ten-hour day and Lord John himself favoured an eleven-hour day. The Government therefore had no collective view on the matter; in the absence of Government opposition, the Ten Hour Bill was passed, becoming the Factories Act 1847 (citation 10 & 11 Vict c. 29). This law (also known as the Ten Hour Act) limited the work week in textile mills (and other textile industries except lace and silk production) for women and children under 18 years of age. Each work week contained 63 hours effective 1 July 1847 and was reduced to 58 hours effective 1 May 1848. In effect, this law limited the workday for all millhands to 10 hours.

This law was successfully passed due to the contributions of the Ten Hours Movement. This campaign was established during the 1830s and was responsible for voicing demands towards limiting the work week in textile mills. The core of the movement was the 'Short Time Committees' set up (by millworkers and sympathisers) in the textile districts, but the main speakers for the cause were Richard Oastler (who led the campaign outside Parliament) and Lord Ashley, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury (who led the campaign inside Parliament). John Fielden, although no orator, was indefatigable in his support of the cause, giving generously of his time and money and - as the senior partner in one of the great cotton firms - vouching for the reality of the evils of a long working day and the practicality of shortening it.

Factories Act 1850 (the 'Compromise Act')[edit]

A Victorian power loom (Lancashire loom)

The Acts of 1844 and 1847 had reduced the hours per day which any woman or young person could work but not the hours of the day within which they could do that work (from 5:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.). Under the 1833 Act millowners (or some of them) had used a 'relay system' so that the mill could operate all the permitted hours without any protected person exceeding their permitted workday. The 1833 Act had hoped that two sets of children would be employed and each work a full half-day (the 'true relay' system, which left the other halfday free for education). Instead, some mills operated a 'false relay' system in which the protected persons worked split shifts. The false relay system was considered objectionable both because of the effect on the protected persons ^[n] and because an inspector (or other millowners) could relatively easily monitor the hours a mill ran; it was much more difficult if not impossible to check the hours worked by an individual (as an inspector observed "the lights in the window will discover the one but not the other") Section 26 of the 1844 Act required that the hours of work of all protected persons " shall be reckoned from the time when any child or young person shall first begin to work in the morning in such factory." but nothing in it or in the 1847 Act clearly prohibited split shifts (although this had been Parliament's intention).^[o] The factory inspector for Scotland considered split shifts to be legal; the inspector for Bradford thought them illegal and his local magistrates agreed with him: in Manchester the inspector thought them illegal but the magistrates did not. In 1850 the Court of Exchequer held that the section was to be too weakly worded to make relay systems illegal.^[94][p] Lord Ashley sought to remedy this by a short declaratory Act restoring the status quo but felt it impossible to draft one which did not introduce fresh matter (which would remove the argument that there was no call for further debate). The Home Secretary Sir George Grey was originally noticeably ambivalent about Government support for Ashley's Bill: when Ashley reported his difficulties to the House of Commons, Grey announced an intention to move amendments in favour of a scheme (ostensibly suggested by a third party)^[95] which established a 'normal day' for women and young persons by setting the times within which they could work so tightly that they were also the start and stop times if they were to work the maximum permitted hours per day. Grey's scheme increased the hours that could be worked per week, but Ashley (uncertain of the outcome of any attempt to re-enact a true Ten Hours Bill) decided to support it^[96] and Grey's scheme was the basis for the 1850 Act (citation 13 & 14 Vict c. 54). The Short Time Committees had previously been adamant for an effective Ten-hour Bill; Ashley wrote to them,^[96] noting that he acted in Parliament as their friend, not their delegate, explaining his reasons for accepting Grey's "compromise", and advising them to do so also. They duly did, significantly influenced by the thought that they could not afford to lose their friend in Parliament.^[97] The key provisions of the 1850 Act were :

• Women and young persons could only work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. or - in winter, and subject to approval by a factory inspector-^[98]:43 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.: since they were to be allowed 90 minutes total breaks during the day, the maximum hours worked per day increased to 10.5


• All work would end on Saturday at 2 p.m.


• The work week was extended from 58 hours to 60 hours.

Various public meetings in the textile districts subsequently passed motions regretting that the 58-hour week had not been more stoutly defended, with various stalwarts of the Ten-Hour Movement ( various Cobbetts and Fieldens (John Fielden now being dead) and Richard Oastler) offering their support and concurring with criticism of Ashley's actions, but nothing came of this: the meetings were poorly attended (that at Manchester was attended by about 900^[99] ) and the Ten-Hour Movement had now effectively run its course.

Children (8-13) were not covered by this Act: it had been the deliberate intention of the 1833 Act that a mill might use two sets of children on a relay system and the obvious method of doing so did not require split shifts. A further Act of 1853 set similar limits on the hours within which children might work.

Factories Act 1856[edit]

Power shafting, belts and power looms in operation ^[q]

In April 1855 a National Association of Factory Occupiers was formed "to watch over factory legislation with a view to prevent any increase of the present unfair and injudicious enactments". The 1844 Act had required that "mill gearing" - which included power shafts - should be securely fenced. Magistrates had taken inconsistent views as to whether this applied where the "mill gearing" was not readily accessible; in particular where power shafting ran horizontally well above head height. In 1856, the Court of Queen's Bench ruled that it did. In April, 1856, the National Association of Factory Occupiers succeeded in obtaining an Act reversing this decision: mill gearing needed secure fencing only of those parts with which women, young persons, and children were liable to come in contact. (The inspectors feared that the potential hazards in areas they did not normally access might be obvious to experienced men, but not be easily appreciated by women and children who were due the legislative protection the 1856 Act had removed, especially given the potential severe consequences of their inexperience. An MP speaking against the Bill was able to give multiple instances of accidents to protected persons resulting in death or loss of limbs - all caused by unguarded shafting with which they were supposedly not liable to come into contact - despite restricting himself to accidents in mills owned by Members of Parliament (so that he could be corrected by them if had misstated any facts).^[100] (Dickens thereafter referred to the NAFO as the National Association for the Protection of the Right to Mangle Operatives.^[101]:37Harriet Martineau criticised Dickens for this, arguing that mangling was the result of workers not being caref ul and: "If men and women are to be absolved from the care of their own lives and limbs, and the responsibility put upon anybody else by the law of the land, the law of the land is lapsing into barbarism"^[101]:47)) For other parts of the mill gearing any dispute between the occupier and the inspector could be resolved by arbitration. The arbitration was to be by a person skilled in making the machinery to be guarded; the inspectors however declined to submit safety concerns to arbitration by those "who look only to the construction and working of the machinery, which is their business,and not to the prevention of accidents, which is not their business"

Factories Act Extension Act 1867[edit]

In virtually every debate on the various Factories Bills, opponents had thought it a nonsense to pass legislation for textile mills when the life of a mill child was much preferable to that of many other children: other industries were more tiring, more dangerous, more unhealthy, required longer working hours, involved more unpleasant working conditions, or (this being Victorian Britain) were more conducive to lax morals. This logic began to be applied in reverse once it became clear that the Ten Hours Act had had no obvious detrimental effect on the prosperity of the textile industry or on that of millworkers. Acts were passed making similar provisions for other textile trades: bleaching and dyeworks (1860 - outdoor bleaching was excluded), lace work (1861), calendering (1863), finishing (1864). A further Act in 1870 repealed these acts and brought the ancillary textile processes (including outdoor bleaching) within the scope of the main Factory Act.^[102]
In 1864 the Factories Extension Act was passed: this extended the Factories Act to cover a number of occupations (mostly non-textile): potteries (both heat and exposure to lead glazes were issues), lucifer match making ('phossie jaw') percussion cap and cartridge making, paper staining and fustian cutting. In 1867 the Factories Act was extended to all establishments employing 50 or more workers by another Factories Act Extension Act. An Hours of Labour Regulation Act applied to 'workshops' (establishments employing less than 50 workers); it subjected these to requirements similar to those for 'factories' (but less onerous on a number of points e.g.: the hours within which the permitted hours might be worked were less restrictive, there was no requirement for certification of age) but was to be administered by local authorities, rather than the Factory Inspectorate. There was no requirement on local authorities for enforcement (or penalties for non-enforcement) of legislation for workshops. The effectiveness of the regulation of workshops therefore varied from area to area;^[103] where it was effective, a blanket ban on Sunday working in workshops was a problem for observant Jews.^[104] The Factory and Workshop Act 1870 removed the previous special treatments for factories in the printing, dyeing and bleaching industries;^[105] while a short Act of 1871 transferred responsibility for regulation of workshops to the Factory Inspectorate,^[106] but without an adequate increase in the Inspectorates's resources.^[107] ; a separate Act allowed Sunday working by Jews.^[108]

Factories (Health of Women, &c.) Act (1874)[edit]

(37 & 38 Vict. c. 44)

The newly-legalised trade unions had as one of their aims a reduction in working hours, both by direct concession by employers and by securing legislation. The 1873 Trades Union Congress (TUC) could congratulate itself on "a general concession of the 'nine-hour day' in all the leading engineering establishments of the kingdom" but regretted that a Private Member's Bill introduced by A. J. Mundella seeking to reduce the hours worked by women and children in textile industries^[109] had not succeeded, although the Government had responded by setting up a commission on the workings of the Factory Acts.^[110] (The TUC had had to support the measure through a committee also containing non-unionists; Lord Shaftesbury (as Ashley had become) had declined to support any measure brought forward on a purely trade union basis.)^[110]

Mundella again introduced a nine-hour bill in 1873; he withdrew this when the government did not allow enough time for debate; he reintroduced it in 1874, but withdrew it when the government brought forward its own bill, which became the Factories (Health of Women, &c.) Act. This gave women and young persons in textile factories (silk mills now lost their previous special treatment) a working day of ten hours on weekdays (twelve hours broken into sessions of no more than four and a half hours by two meal breaks of at least an hour); on Saturday six hours could be spent on manufacturing processes, and another half-hour on other duties (such as cleaning the workplace and machinery).The provisions for children now applied to 13-year-olds, and (over a two-year period) the minimum age for children was to increase to ten.^[111]

Shaftesbury's valedictory review[edit]

Shaftesbury spoke in the Lords Second Reading debate; thinking it might well be his last speech in Parliament on factory reform, he reviewed the changes over the forty-one years it had taken to secure a ten-hour-day, as this bill at last did. In 1833, only two manufacturers had been active supporters of his bill; all but a handful of manufacturers supported the 1874 bill. Economic arguments against reducing working hours had been disproved by decades of experience. Despite the restrictions on hours of work, employment in textile mills had increased (1835; 354,684, of whom 56,455 under 13: in 1871, 880,920 of whom 80,498 under 13), but accidents were half what they had been and 'factory cripples' were no longer seen. In 1835, he asserted, seven-tenths of factory children were illiterate; in 1874 seven-tenths had "a tolerable, if not a sufficient, education". Furthermore, police returns showed "a decrease of 23 percent in the immorality of factory women". The various protective acts now covered over two and a half million people.^[112]

During the short-time agitation he had been promised "Give us our rights, and you will never again see violence, insurrection, and disloyalty in these counties." And so it had proved: the Cotton Famine had thrown thousands out of work, with misery, starvation, and death staring them in the face; but, "with one or two trifling exceptions, and those only momentary", order and peace had reigned.^[112]

By legislation you have removed manifold and oppressive obstacles that stood in the way of the working man's comfort, progress, and honour. By legislation you have ordained justice, and exhibited sympathy with the best interests of the labourers, the surest and happiest mode of all government. By legislation you have given to the working classes the full power to exercise, for themselves and for the public welfare, all the physical and moral energies that God has bestowed on them; and by legislation you have given them means to assert and maintain their rights; and it will be their own fault, not yours, my Lords, if they do not, with these abundant and mighty blessings, become a wise and an understanding people.^[112]

Factory and Workshop Act 1878 (the 'Consolidation Act')[edit]

In the debates on Mundella's bills and the 1874 Act, it had been noted that years of piece-meal legislation had left factory law in an unsatisfactory and confusing state;^[r] the government had spoken of the need to consolidate and extend factory law by a single Act replacing all previous legislation, but had not felt itself able to allocate the necessary legislative time. In March 1875, a Royal Commission (headed by Sir James Fergusson) was set up to look at the consolidation and extension of factory law.^[115] It took evidence in the principal industrial towns, and published its report in March 1876. It recommended consolidation of legislation by a single new Act. The new Act should include workplaces in the open air, and carrying, washing and cleaning; however mines and agriculture should be excluded. Work by protected persons should be within a twelve-hour window (between 6 am and 7 pm: exceptionally for some industries the window could be 8 am to 8 pm). Within that window: in factories two hours should be allowed for meals and no work session should exceed four and a half hours; in workshops work sessions should not exceed five hours and meal breaks should total at least one and a half hours.^[116] Sunday working should be permitted where both worker and employer were Jewish.^[117] All children should attend school from five until fourteen; they should not be allowed to attend half-time, nor be employed under the new Act, until ten. From ten to fourteen employment would be conditional upon satisfactory school attendance and educational achievement.^[116]

The government announced that the report had been produced too late for legislation in the current parliamentary session, but legislation would be introduced in the following one.^[118] A bill was given a First Reading in April 1877,^[119] but made no further progress;^[s] at the end of July it was postponed to the following year.^[121] In 1878, the Bill was given a higher priority: it had its first reading as soon as Parliament convened in January; the Second Reading debate was held on 11 February^[122] and it entered Committee stage on 21 February;^[123] the Third Reading in the Commons was given at the end of March.^[124]

Provisions of the Act[edit]

The Factory and Workshop Act 1878 (41 & 42 Vict. c. 16) replaced all the previous Acts (it listed sixteen acts repealed in their entirety) by a single Act of some hundred and seven clauses. The Chief Inspector of Factories described it as much less restrictive than the legislation it replaced:^[125] "The hard and fast line [drawn by the previous Acts] is now an undulating and elastic one, drawn to satisfy the absolute necessities and customs of different trades in different parts of the kingdom."^[126]

The protected persons fell into three categories:^[113]

• 'Children' (aged 10–14, but a child of 13 who had met required levels of academic attainment and had a good school attendance record could be employed as a 'young person')


• 'Young persons' (aged 14–18, of either sex: as noted above 13-year-olds satisfying educational requirements could be employed as young persons)


• 'Women' (females aged over 18; it had been urged that women did not require protection, and their inclusion in factory legislation deterred their employment. The countering arguments (that married women required protection from husbands, and unless unmarried women were subject to the same protection, Parliament would be legislating to promote immorality; and that the restrictions were in the interests of public health, since they ensured some maternal attention for the children of working women) had generally prevailed.)^[92]

The premises being regulated were now separated into five categories:^[113]
Factories fell into two types;

• 'textile factories' - those within the scope of the 1874 Act


• 'non-textile factories' - workplaces carrying out a number of specified processes ((textile) print works, bleaching and dyeing works, earthenware works (excluding brickworks), lucifer match works, percussion cap works, cartridge works, paper staining works, fustian cutting works, blast furnaces, copper mills, iron mills, foundries, metal and india-rubber works, paper mills, glass works, tobacco factories, letterpress printing works, bookbinding works) and additionally any workplace in which mechanical power was used (replacing the former distinction between factory and workshop on the basis on the number of employees)

Workshops were places in which the manufacture, repair or finishing of articles were carried out as a trade without the use of mechanical power and to which the employer controlled access (it was irrelevant whether these operations were carried out in the open air, and shipyards, quarries and pit banks were specifically scheduled as workshops, unless factories because mechanical power was used). Laundries (originally in the Bill) were excluded from the final Act; in Ireland much laundry work was carried out in convents and Irish members objected to inspection of convents by an (allegedly) exclusively Protestant inspectorate.^[127]

• Workshops


• Workshops not employing protected persons other than women


• Domestic workshops (workshops carried out in a private house, room etc by members of the family living there)

The Act excluded domestic workshops carrying out straw-plait making, pillow lace making or glove-making and empowered the Home Secretary to extend this exemption. The Act also excluded domestic workshops involving non-strenuous work carried out intermittently and not providing the principal source of income of the family.

Requirements and enforcement arrangements were most stringent for textile factories, least stringent for domestic workshops (and the inspectorate had no powers to secure entry into dwellings). The Act gave the Home Secretary some latitude to vary the requirements for specific industries (but not individual workplaces) to accommodate existing practices where these were not detrimental to the underlying purpose of the Act.^[113]

The Act followed the recommendations of the Commission by setting a limit of ​56 ¹⁄₂ hours on the hours worked per week by women and young persons in textile factories, 60 hours in non-textile factories and workshops (except domestic workshops, where there was no restriction on the working hours of women), but allowing greater flexibility on how those hours were worked for non-textile factories and workshops. The ban on Sunday working (and on late working on Saturday) was modified to apply instead to the Jewish Sabbath where both employer and employees were Jewish. Except in domestic workshops, protected persons were to have two full holidays and eight half-holidays The full holidays would normally be Christmas Day and Good Friday, but other holidays could be substituted for Good Friday (in Scotland and for all-Jewish workplaces, substitution for Christmas Day was allowed; Ireland kept Saint Patrick's Day as a holiday). Half holidays could be combined to give additional full-day holidays;^[113] it had to be clarified later that the Act's definition of a half-holiday as "at least half" of a full day's employment "on some day other than Saturday" was to give the minimum duration of a half-holiday, not to prohibit one being taken on a Saturday.^[128]

Children were not to be employed under the age of ten, and should attend school half-time until fourteen (or until thirteen if they had a good record of school attendance and satisfactory scholastic achievement). (In Scotland, for factory children only, this overrode attempts by local school boards to set standards of scholastic attainment to be met before a child could cease full-time schooling; the Scottish education acts ceded precedence to the factory acts.^[129] In England and Wales it was unclear whether factory acts or education acts had precedence until the Elementary Education Act of 1880 settled the matter in favour of school board bye-laws, but without any standardisation of criteria between different boards.^[130] Specification of a minimum educational attainment before a factory child could work half-time then became enforceable in England, but remained unenforceable in Scotland until passage of the Education (Scotland) Act 1883.^{[131][113]:222-224}) 'Half-time' could be achieved by splitting each day between school and work, or (unless the child worked in a domestic workshop) by working and attending school on alternate days. If the former, the child should work morning and afternoons on alternate weeks; if the latter the schooldays in one week should be workdays the next (and vice versa). No child should work a half-day on successive Saturdays. Surgeons no longer certified the apparent age of a child (or young person), age now being substantiated by a birth certificate or school register entry, but (for employment in factories) they were required to certify the fitness for the work of children and young persons under the age of sixteen.^[113]

Protected persons should not be allowed to clean moving machinery, the requirement to guard machinery now extended to the protection of men as well as protected persons, and the Home Secretary might direct that some or all of the fine imposed for a breach of this requirement be paid to any person injured (or the relatives of any person killed) as a result. ^[113] (Guarding was now only unnecessary if the position of machinery meant it was equally safe if unguarded, but hoists still only needed to be guarded if a person might pass close to them.)^[132] There were restrictions on the employment of some classes of protected persons on processes injurious to health. Young persons and children could not work in the manufacture of white lead, or silvering mirrors using mercury; children and female young persons could not be employed in glass works; girls under sixteen could not be employed in the manufacture of bricks, (non-ornamental) tiles, or salt; children could not be employed in the dry grinding of metals or the dipping of lucifer matches. Inspectors were given powers to require the mitigation of dusty atmospheres by mechanical ventilation or other mechanical means.^[113]

Subsequent minor Acts[edit]

The Factory and Workshop Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict. c.53) gave additional powers for the regulation of white-lead manufacture and bakehouses (but sanitary requirements for retail bakehouses were to be enforced by local authorities);^[113] in the same session a private member's bill intended to prohibit the employment of female children in the manufacture of nails was defeated at Second Reading.^[133] The Factory and Workshops Act 1878 Amendment (Scotland) Act 1888 affected the choice of full-day holidays in Scottish burghs; formerly they had been the sacramental fast days specified by the local church  – they could now be specified by the burgh magistrates.^[134]
The Cotton Cloth Factories Act of 1889 set limits on temperature (and humidity at a given temperature) where cotton cloth was being woven.^[113][u]

Inadequate resources for strict enforcement[edit]

The TUC had few complaints about the Act, but complained that the inspectorate enforcing it was too small and lacking in 'practical men'. The latter complaint was partially addressed by changing the recruitment process and appointing a number of former trade union officials to the inspectorate.^[136][137] The total number of inspectors increased from 38 in 1868 to 56 in 1885, but (the general secretary of the TUC complained) these had to cover the more than 110,000 workplaces registered (in 1881) and attempt to detect unregistered workplaces falling within the scope of the Act: 16 out of 39 districts in England had no registered workshops and only half the registered workshops had been inspected in 1881.^[138] When, after several unsuccessful attempts to extend some of the protections of the Act to shopworkers, Sir John Lubbock succeeded in securing passage of a Shop Hours Regulation Act at the end of the 1886 session, the Act made no provision for (and the Home Secretary Hugh Childers refused to accept any amendment allowing) enforcement by inspection.^[139][v] The Evening Standard thought that this meant the Act would be a dead letter, given experiences with the Factory Acts:

The Factory Acts are enforced by an elaborate machinery of inspection. Anyone who has taken the trouble to inquire into the matter knows perfectly well that without this stringent inspection they would be absolutely worthless. Even as it is they are contravened openly every day, because the best inspection must, from the nature of the case, be somewhat spasmodic and uncertain. When an Inspector discovers that the law has been broken he summons the offending party; but, as a rule, if he does not make the discovery himself, no one informs him of it. The chief provisions of the last Factory Act are hung up, legibly printed on white cardboard, "plain for all men to see", in every room of every factory. No one can be ignorant of them; yet when they are disregarded, as they are constantly, it is the rarest thing for any of the women affected by the illegality to give information.^[140]

Factory Act 1891[edit]

Under the heading Conditions of Employment were two considerable additions to previous legislation:
the first is the prohibition on employers to employ women within four weeks after confinement (childbirth); the second the raising the minimum age at which a child can be set to work from ten to eleven

Factory and Workshop Act 1895[edit]

The main article gives an overview of the state of Factory Act legislation in Edwardian Britain under the Factory and Workshop Acts 1878 to 1895 (the collective title of the Factory and Workshop Act 1878, the Factory and Workshop Act 1883, the Cotton Cloth Factories Act 1889, the Factory and Workshop Act 1891 and the Factory and Workshop Act 1895.)^[141]

Factory and Workshop Act 1901[edit]

Minimum working age is raised to 12. The act also introduced legislation regarding the education of children, meal times, and fire escapes.
Children could also take up a full-time job at the age of 13 years old.

Factories Act 1937[edit]

The 1937 Act (1 Edw. 8 & 1 Geo. 6 c.67) consolidated and amended the Factory and Workshop Acts from 1901 to 1929. It was introduced to the House of Commons by the Home Secretary, Sir John Simon, on 29 January 1937 and given Royal Assent on 30 July.^[142][143]

Factories Act 1959[edit]

This Act was to amend the previous Acts of 1937 and 1948, as well as adding more health, safety and welfare provisions for factory workers. It also revoked regulation 59 of the 1939 Defence (General) Regulations. The Act is dated 29th July 1959.^[144]

Factories Act 1961[edit]

This Act consolidated the 1937 and 1959 Acts. As of 2008^[update]the 1961 Act is substantially still in force, though workplace health and safety is principally governed by the Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974 and regulations made under it.

See also[edit]

1. ^ On the left an (expensive) adult male – on the left a female 'piecer' (mending broken threads) and a 'scavenger' (sweeping up debris before it can contaminate the threads) (the children may be drawn to look older than in real life: the scavenger looks a bit too big/old for the job
   


2. ^ George Philips; "the Member for Manchester" in fact MP for Wootton Bassett but his mill was in Salford and his business interests in Manchester^[6]
   


3. ^ William Evans, MP for East Retford; he and his step-father had a variety of commercial interests in Derbyshire, including large water-powered mills at Darley Abbey on the Derbyshire Derwent
   


4. ^ to make a list indicative, rather than prescriptive ; a prudent amendment and not as trivial as it sounds. An Elizabethan parliament, feeling that nobody should take up a trade without having served an apprenticeship, passed a law to that effec t. However, since the law listed the trades then practised, without any preceding 'to include', the Act was subsequently held to cover only the trades it listed: trades which developed subsequently did not (legally) require an apprenticeship. Adam Smith in Wealth of Nations mocked the consequent illogicality.
   


5. ^ Unfortunately Hansard for 1829 is not accessible online; nor do Hutchins and Harrison appear to take any notice of these very minor bits of Factory Legislation. The necessary trawl through contemporary newspapers for 1829 throws up some interesting straws in the wind on the spirit of the age: two very young children accidentally locked in a Bolton cotton mill over the weekend (Lancaster Gazette13 June 1829) were there from 5 p.m. Saturday to 5 a.m. Monday , and a millowner working a nine-year-old more than twelve hours was fined £20 thanks to a prosecution at Stockport brought by a member of a society for enforcing the provisions of the 1825 Act ('Overworking Children in Cotton Factories' Manchester Times 25 April 1829). The same prosecutor had less success with a later prosecution at Macclesfield ('Overworking Children and Paying in Goods' Manchester Times 15 August 1829) (but if laws are passed to change behaviours not to punish wrongdoersthe Truck Act action was successful : the millowner having been found not guilty (on a defence that his tokens could be exchanged for legal tender at face value at the company shop) promised to take the bench's advice and to henceforth pay in coin of the realm )
   


6. ^ by which he meant that Parliament had been fully occupied with the Reform Bill, so time could not have been found for a debate on opposed clauses: as noted above the Third Reading debate on Hobhouses's Bill took place c. 2 am
   


7. ^ As of May 1835, there were reported to be 360,000 employed in factory labour, of whom 100,000 were children under fourteen, 80-90,000 adult males, and the remaining 170-180,000 women and young persons (aged 14-20)^[31] The 1841 Census reported that in England, Scotland and Wales there were about 7.3 million people under 21, which would appear to imply that whilst less than 3% of the adult population of the UK were factory workers, factory children constituted about 7% of the total 10-13 age-group. The 1841 Census reported the population of Lancashire and the West Riding of Yorkshire to be about 10% of the total British population.
   


8. ^ In this case and presumably on Peel's instructions, obstruction seems to have been avoided: once the debate on Ashley's motion was complete the reading of the Irish tithes bill was unopposed
   


9. ^ 1838 had seen the first flowering of Chartism in the manufacturing districts, which would lead to monster meetings at Kersal Moor (September 1838)^[43] and Peep Green (Hartshead Moor)(October 1838):^[44] the speeches at those meetings suggest however that the New Poor Law was the major immediate issue, rather than factory legislation.
   


10. ^ age certificates for children could be issued by surgeons other that those approved by a factory inspector, provided the certificate was counter-signed by a magistrate
    


11. ^ A member of the Commission separately suggested, in his capacity as Factory Inspector, that the Plug Plot Riots and other Chartist disturbances in Ashton-under-Lyne could have been averted had more attention been p aid in the past to the education of the humbler classes of the district by their superiors).^[67] It is unclear how far this political aspect drove the education initiative. For the record, the Chartist Northern Star supported Graham's education clauses; education and intellectual culture were the means "by which the working man comes to know something of the framework of society, and to understand what his rights are, as a first step towards the assertion of them"^[68]
    


12. ^ of the five MPs who voted 'against both 'ten' and 'twelve', three seem to have given no explanation, of the other two William Aldam spoke in support of an eleven-hour day in the 22 March debate,^[87] William Ewart spoke in favour of an eleven-hour compromise in the 25 March debate^[89]
    


13. ^ dialect word for 'hoist' (OED)
    


14. ^ both because thrown out of mill for a couple of hours in all weathers, and because releasing teenagers from factory discipline and leaving them to their own devices for a couple of hours in the proximity of members of the opposite sex (and possibly of dram-shops) was inconsistent with Victorian morals
    


15. ^ The legal issues are laid out concisely and in layman's language in a newspaper r eport of the 1849 prosecution of the employers of Isabella Robinson 15 year-old cotton spinner at a mill in Colne "last Tuesday she began to work at 6 am; she worked until 6:15 , then she gave over working and someone else worked in her place; she returned to work at 8:30 and worked until 12:30, when she went to dinner and was away an hour; she came back at 1:30, and worked till 7:15"^[93]
    


16. ^ prompting Punch to suggest it would be more appropriate to refer to the Unsatis-Factory Act
    


17. ^ at Boott Mills, Lowell Massachusetts, but arrangements in Victorian Britain would have been much the same
    


18. ^ According to the then Chief Inspector of Factories the more recent Acts "were necessarily incomplete and experimental ... by the time the last of these several Acts had received the Royal assent there existed a perfect chaos of regulations – all good in themselves when enacted – all having a direct purpose, which most of the trades have outlived, and which required constant care and consideration to prevent an application of them which would have imperiled that impartiality and that uniformity of administration which are absolutely essential to secure harmonious and cheerful co-operation".^[113] The lace manufacturers of Nottingham told the 1875 Royal Commission that workers in the industry fell under one (or none) of three different acts; all branches customarily worked a 54-hour week but most workers – where the Act of 1874 did not apply – preferred to breakfast before starting work: a work pattern incompatible with the Act.^[114]
    


19. ^ Irish members were making their presence felt by obstructing progress with legislation across the board: the Canal Boats Act 1877 was, however, passed. This addressed a recommendation of the Factory and Workshop Commission, which had taken evidence on the living conditions of barge children, but the Act led to the registration and regulation of canal boats as residences, rather than as workplaces.^[120]
    


20. ^ The Home Secretary assured the Commons that religion was not a consideration when appointing to the inspectorate; upon inquiry he found that the inspector for Manchester was a Catholic.
    


21. ^ The problem this addressed was the risk to health to workers in damp clothing leaving a hot mill for the ambient temperature of a mill town.^[135] A more comprehensive amendment of the Factory Act had been drafted, but parliamentary time could not be found.
    


22. ^ Gladstone's administration had been defeated on Irish issues; a dissolution was to follow once essential non-controversial Bills had been passed. Therefore no controversial amendments to the Bill could be accepted; its remaining opponents also objected to its treatment as non-controversial.
    

References[edit]

1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Statutes at Large: Statutes of the United Kingdom, 1801–1806. 1822.
   


2. ^ Early factory legislation. Parliament.uk. Accessed 2 September 2011.
   


3. ^ "Cotton Factories Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 41: cc815–6. 7 December 1819. Retrieved 19 December 2015.
   


4. ^ ^{a b c} "Cotton Mills Regulation Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 13 (cc643–9). 16 May 1825. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
   


5. ^ "Member Biographies: George Philips". The History of Parliament. Retrieved 2 August 2014.
   


6. ^ "Employment of Children". Manchester Times. 30 May 1829. p. 263.
   


7. ^ "Imperial Parliament". Morning Post (23 June 1829).
   


8. ^ "Imperial Parliament (subheading: Legislative Mistake)". Hull Packet. 30 June 1829.
   


9. ^ "Appentices in Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 2 (cc584–6). 15 February 1831. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
   


10. ^ "Section I: Extracts from the evidence of Working Spinners, Overlookers, and Managers Shewing the mode of conducting Cotton Factories; the Hours of Working; and the Effects of the System on the Health and Constitutions of the Children". Reasons in favour of Sir Robert Peel's bill, for ameliorating the condition of children employed in cotton factories; comprehending a summary view of the evidence in support of the bill, taken before the Lords' committees in the present session of parliament. W. Clowes. 1819. pp. 1–39. Retrieved 23 July 2014. see in particular the evidence of a 36-year-old spinner Robert Hyde pp 25–30
    


11. ^ John Cam Hobhouse to Richard Oastler, 16 November 1831, quoted in 'Alfred' The History of the Factory Movement from the year 1802, to the Enactment of the Ten Hours' Bill in 1847(1857) vol I, pp 138–41 , reproduced in Ward, J.T. (1970). The Factory System: Volume II: The Factory System and Society (David & Charles Sources for Social & Economic History). Newton Abbot: David und Charles. ISBN 0 7153 48957. (pages 92–94; quote is from page 94 of Ward)
    


12. ^ Richard Oastler to John Cam Hobhouse, 19 November 1831, quoted in 'Alfred' The History of the Factory Movement from the year 1802, to the Enactment of the Ten Hours' Bill in 1847(1857) vol I, pp 141–6, reproduced in Ward, J.T. (1970). The Factory System: Volume II: The Factory System and Society (David & Charles Sources for Social & Economic History). Newton Abbot: David und Charles. ISBN 0 7153 48957. (pages 94–98; quote (italics are in original) is from page 98 of Ward)
    


13. ^ the correspondence can also be found as "Correspondence Relative to the Factories Act". Leeds Intelligencer. 24 November 1831. in the British Newspaper Archive
    


14. ^ "Factories Regulation Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 11 (cc 204-5). 14 March 1832.
    


15. ^ ^{a b} "Factories Regulation Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 11 (cc340–98). 16 March 1832.
    


16. ^ "Factories' Commission". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 17 (cc79–115). 3 April 1833. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
    


17. ^ "Factories Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 14 (cc965–6). 31 July 1832. Retrieved 16 August 2014.
    


18. ^ "Friday's Express". Stamford Mercury. 10 August 1832.
    


19. ^ "Local Intelligence". Leeds Intelligencer. 11 August 1832.
    


20. ^ "As to the proceedings of Mr Sadler and his committee, or rather Mr Sadler in committee, last year, they are a perfect burlesque on legislative inquiries" "Sheffield Independent". quoting undated Manchester Guardian. 23 March 1833.
    


21. ^ "Mr Sadler's Speech". London Standard. 2 May 1833.
    


22. ^ "The Factory Commission – Replies to Mr Sadler's Protest". London Standard. 30 May 1833.
    


23. ^ "FACTORIES REGULATIONS". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 19 (cc219–54). 5 July 1833. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
    


24. ^ "Factories' Regulations". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 19 (cc898–913). 18 July 1833. Retrieved 8 September 2014.
    


25. ^ ^{a b c} (Report of the Commissioners on Conditions in Factories, Parliamentary Papers, 1833, volume XX ), subsequent extracts are as given in extracts from Young, G M; Hancock, W D, eds. (1956). English Historical Documents, XII(1), 1833-1874. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 934–49. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
    


26. ^ ^{a b} R J Saunders "Report on the Establishment of Schools in the Factory District" in Great Britain. Parlament. House of Commons (1843). Parliamentary Papers, House of Commons and Command. H.M. Stationery Office.
    


27. ^ "Factories Regulation Bill". The Examiner. 9 February 1834. p. 8.
    


28. ^ "Parliamentary Analysis". Morning Post. 21 February 1834. p. 3.
    


29. ^ ^{a b c} "Factory Bill". Caledonian Mercury. 23 February 1835. p. 4.
    


30. ^ "Factory Question". Evening Standard. London. 10 June 1836. p. 2.
    


31. ^ "Information on the Factory Act". Leeds Times. 28 February 1835. p. 3.
    


32. ^ "Factories Regulation Bill". Manchester Times. 14 March 1835. p. 3.
    


33. ^ "New Factory Bill". Bolton Chronicle. 19 September 1835. p. 2.
    


34. ^ "The Factory Bill". Westmorland Gazette. 26 March 1836. p. 1.
    


35. ^ "Factories Regulations Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 33: cc737–88. 9 May 1836. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
    


36. ^ "Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 34: cc306–7. 10 June 1836. Retrieved 17 August 2015.
    


37. ^ "The Standard". Evening Standard. London. 6 April 1837. p. 2.
    


38. ^ full text of the draft Bill is given in "New Factory Bill". Leeds Mercury. 28 April 1838. p. 7.
    


39. ^ "Imperial Parliament". Bell's Weekly Messenger. 6 May 1838. p. 4.
    


40. ^ "Factory Bill". Sherborne Mercury. 11 June 1838. p. 3.
    


41. ^ ^{a b} "Factories". Evening Standard. London. 23 June 1838. p. 4.: not to be found in the on-line Hansard,; that jumps from volume 42 to volume 44
    


42. ^ "Great Radical Demonstration on Kersal Moor". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 29 September 1838. p. 4.
    


43. ^ "The Peep Green Demonstration". Leeds Times. 20 October 1838. p. 5.
    


44. ^ "Children in Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 44: cc383–443. 20 July 1838. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
    


45. ^ full text is given in "New Factory Bill". Leeds Mercury. 2 March 1839. p. 6.
    


46. ^ ^{a b} "Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 48: cc1063–94. 1 July 1839. Retrieved 18 August 2015.
    


47. ^ "The Parliament". The Champion. 7 July 1839. p. 2.
    


48. ^ "Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 49. 26 July 1839.
    


49. ^ "The Factory Act". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 52: cc860–1. 3 March 1840. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
    


50. ^ "Factory Bill". Leeds Mercury. 28 March 1840. p. 5.
    


51. ^ "Factory Bill". Leeds Mercury. 18 July 1840. p. 4.
    


52. ^ "Employment of Children". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 55: cc1260–79. 4 August 1840. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
    


53. ^ "List of commissions and officials: 1840-1849 (nos. 29-52):29 . Children's Employment 1840-3". British History Online. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
    


54. ^ "Children in Factories". Morning Post. 27 March 1841. p. 2.
    


55. ^ "The Poor Law Amendment Bill". Evening Mail. London. 31 March 1841. pp. 5–6.
    


56. ^ ^{a b} "Factories Bill". Yorkshire Gazette. 1 May 1841. p. 7.
    


57. ^ "Factories". Birmingham Journal. 3 April 1841. p. 3.
    


58. ^ "Notice of Motions". Evening Mail. 24 May 1841. p. 6.
    


59. ^ "Church Rates". Evening Chronicle. 9 June 1841. p. 2.
    


60. ^ "Lord Ashley and the Ten Hours Factory Bill". London Evening Standard. 8 September 1841. p. 2.
    


61. ^ "Factory Bill". Evening Standard. London. 3 February 1842. p. 2.
    


62. ^ "Poor-Law - Factory Regulations". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 60: cc100–2. 7 February 1842. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
    


63. ^ ^{a b} "Employment of Women and Children in Mines and Collieries". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 63: cc1320–64. 7 June 1842. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
    


64. ^ "House of Commons, July 11". Evening Standard. London. 12 July 1842. p. 2.
    


65. ^ 2nd Report of the Commission on the Employment of Children (Trades and Manufactures), (1843) Parliamentary Papers volume XIII, pp 195-204 as quoted in Royston Pike, E, ed. (1966). Human Documents of the Industrial Revolution. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. pp. 204–208.
    


66. ^ Horner, Leonard (7 March 1843). "Reports of the Inspectors of Factories". Morning Post. p. 3.
    


67. ^ "The Government Factory Bill". Northern Star and Leeds General Advertiser. 25 March 1843. p. 20.
    


68. ^ "Condition and Education of the Poor". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 67: cc47–114. 28 February 1843. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
    


69. ^ "Factories - Education". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 67: cc1411–77. 24 March 1843. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
    


70. ^ e.g. open letter by Edward Baines junior published as "Effect of the Government Education Bill on Sunday Schools". Leeds Mercury. 8 April 1843. p. 4.; Jelinger Cookson Symons, a member of the Commission staff who Baines had attacked by name responded in "Morals and Education in the Manufacturing Districts". Leeds Mercury. 30 September 1843. p. 6.
    


71. ^ ^{a b} "Petitions Against the Factory Bill". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 19 August 1843. p. 5.
    


72. ^ "Political Intelligence". Leeds Times. 22 July 1843. p. 3.
    


73. ^ "National Education". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 68: cc744–7. 10 April 1843. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
    


74. ^ "The Factories Education Bill". Staffordshire Advertiser. 15 April 1843. p. 1.
    


75. ^ "FACTORIES—EDUCATION". Hansard House of Commons Debates: cc1103–30. 1 May 1843. Retrieved 30 August 2015. reports his exposition of the amendments; text of amended clauses is in "Factories Education Bill Amended clauses proposed by Sir James Graham". Evening Chronicle. 3 May 1843. pp. 3–4.
    


76. ^ e.g. "Factories Education Bill Large and Important Meeting in the Tower Hamlets". Morning Chronicle. 12 May 1843. p. 6. - page 6 also gives accounts of a similar meeting at "St James Clerken Well" and a "Great Meeting at Manchester"
    


77. ^ "The Factories — Education". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 69: cc1567–70. 15 June 1843. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
    


78. ^ ^{a b} "State of Public Business". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 70: cc1215–23. 17 July 1843. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
    


79. ^ "The Factories Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 70: cc483–4. 30 June 1843. Retrieved 30 August 2015. gives Graham's explanation of this
    


80. ^ ^{a b} "Sir James Graham's Third Edition. Labour clauses - Compulsory Education". Leeds Mercury. 1 July 1843. p. 4.
    


81. ^ "Public Business - Withdrawal of Measures". 70. 20 July 1843: cc1281–3. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
    


82. ^ "Employment of Children in Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 72: cc277–86. 6 February 1844. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
    


83. ^ brief abstract is given in e.g. "The New Factory Bill". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 17 February 1844. p. 7.
    


84. ^ "Hours of Labour in Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 73: cc1073–155. 15 March 1844. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
    


85. ^ "Hours of Labour in Factories - Adjourned Debate". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 73: cc1177–267. 18 March 1844. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
    


86. ^ ^{a b c} "Hours of Labour in Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 73 (cc1371–464). 22 March 1844. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
    


87. ^ names and constituencies given in "The Worcester Journal". Berrow's Worcester Journal. 28 March 1844. p. 3.
    


88. ^ ^{a b} "Hours of Labour in Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 73: cc1482–525. 25 March 1844. Retrieved 1 September 2015.
    


89. ^ see account given by Sir James Graham in 1846 "The Factories Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 85 (cc1222–50). 29 April 1846. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
    


90. ^ Letter Sir Robert Peel to Frederick Peel dated Friday June 1844 printed in Peel, George (1920). The Private Letters of Sir Robert Peel. London: John Murray. pp. 257–8. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
    


91. ^ ^{a b} Hutchins, B L; Harrison, A (1903). A History of Factory Legislation. Westminster: P King and Sons. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
    


92. ^ "The Ten Hours Act The Relay System at Colne". Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser. 25 August 1849.
    


93. ^ "Factories". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 109 (cc883–933). 14 March 1850. Retrieved 16 July 2014.
    


94. ^ "A Manufacturer" (27 April 1850). "The Ten Hours Act". Leeds Mercury. giving text of a letter to the Times - John Walter, both the editor of the Times and a Government MP, was said by contemporaries to have discussed such a scheme before the date the letter was supposedly written
    


95. ^ ^{a b} letter Lord Ashley , dated 7 May , to "The Short Time Committees of Lancashire and Yorkshire""Lord Ashley and the Factory Act". London Standard. 9 May 1850.
    


96. ^ "The Factory Question". Preston Chronicle and Lancashire Advertiser. 18 May 1850.
    


97. ^ (von) Plener, Ernst; trans Weinmann, Frederick L (1873). The English Factory Legislation, from 1802 Till the Present Time (1st ed.). London: Chapman and Hall.
    


98. ^ "The Ten Hour Bill - The Government Measure". Preston Chronicle. 1 June 1850. p. 7.
    


99. ^ "Factories Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 141 (cc351–77). 2 April 1856. Retrieved 17 July 2014.
    


100. ^ ^{a b} Martineau, Harriet (1855). The factory controversy; a warning against meddling legislation. Manchester: National Association of Factory Operatives. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
     


101. ^ "The New Act on Factories and Workshops". Kentish Gazette. 30 August 1870. p. 8.
     


102. ^ paragraph (not separately titled) in editorial material under general heading "Birmingham Daily Gazette". Birmingham Daily Gazette. 3 August 1870. p. 4.
     


103. ^ "The Jews and the Factory Act". Glasgow Herald. 30 July 1870. p. 3.
     


104. ^ Factory acts
     


105. ^ "Inspectors of Factories". Liverpool Daily Post. 30 August 1871. p. 5.
     


106. ^ "The Royal Commission on the Factory and Workshops Acts : Sittings at Sheffield". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 14 July 1875. p. 3. gives details for Sheffield
     


107. ^ "Correspondence". Western Daily Press. 22 June 1871. p. 3. gives a concise account of the history of the measure
     


108. ^ summarised in "The 'Factories, Hours of Labour' Bill". Bolton Evening News. 18 April 1872. p. 3.
     


109. ^ ^{a b} "Trades Union Congress at Leeds". Sheffield Daily Telegraph. 14 January 1873. p. 3.
     


110. ^ "Factories". Nottingham Journal. 21 August 1874. p. 3.
     


111. ^ ^{a b c} "Second Reading". Hansard House of Lords Debates. 220: cc1326–40. 9 July 1874.
     


112. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k} Redgrave, Jasper A; Redgrave, Alexander (1893). The factory & workshop acts, 1878 to 1891: with introduction, copious notes, and an elaborate index (5 ed.). London: Shaw.
     


113. ^ "Royal Commission on the Factory and Workshops Acts". Nottingham Journal. 25 June 1875. p. 3.
     


114. ^ "The Factory and Workshops Acts". Globe 30 March 1875. 30 March 1875. p. 5.
     


115. ^ ^{a b} "The Factory Acts : Report of the Royal Commission". Evening Standard. London. 17 March 1876. p. 3.
     


116. ^ "Board of Deputies of British Jews". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 9 August 1876. p. 3.
     


117. ^ "Factory and Workshop Commission — The Report - Question". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 228: cc618–9. 27 March 1876.
     


118. ^ "Factories and Workshops Law Consolidation Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 233: cc756–63. 6 April 1877.
     


119. ^ "The Canal Boats Act". Shipping and Mercantile Gazette. 15 August 1877. p. 6.
     


120. ^ "Question". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 236: cc165–6. 30 July 1877. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
     


121. ^ "[Bill 3.] Second Reading". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 237: cc1454–82. 11 February 1878. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
     


122. ^ "[Bill 3.] Committee". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 238: cc63–85. 21 February 1878. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
     


123. ^ "Factories and Workshops Bill". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 239: cc261–7. 29 March 1878. Retrieved 23 March 2018.
     


124. ^ Mr (Alexander) Redgrave, reported in "Trade Work & Wages: Sheffield Chamber of Commerce". Newcastle Courant. 31 January 1879. p. 7.
     


125. ^ "Annual Report for 1878 of Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Factories and Workshops", quoted in "Factories and Workshops: Chief Inspector's Report". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. 12 April 1879. p. 6.
     


126. ^ "Fastory and Workshop Acts — Employment of Females in Laundries". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 288: c23. 12 May 1884. Retrieved 24 March 2018.
     


127. ^ "Sunderland Chamber of Commerce". Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette. 5 January 1881. p. 3.
     


128. ^ "Factory and Education Acts (Scotland).—Resolution". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 276: cc1910–35. 9 March 1883. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
     


129. ^ "Education and Factory Act Anomalies". Sheffield Independent. 16 March 1883. p. 3.
     


130. ^ "Education (Scotland) [Bill 226.] Committee". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 283: cc416–29. 13 August 1883. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
     


131. ^ "Important Case under the Factory Act". Bradford Daily Telegraph. 29 August 1879. p. 2.
     


132. ^ "Second Reading". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 279: cc343–54. 9 May 1883. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
     


133. ^ "Special Correspondence". Aberdeen Free Press 26 April 1888. 26 April 1888. pp. 4–5.
     


134. ^ 1888 annual report of Chief Inspector of Factories, quoted at length in "Factory Inspectors on Ventilation and Shuttle Accidents". Todmorden Advertiser and Hebden Bridge Newsletter. 31 May 1889. p. 7.
     


135. ^ "Factory and Workshops Act – Factory Inspectors – Appointment of Mr. J. D. Prior". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 258: cc1377–9. 21 February 1881. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
     


136. ^ Second leader (paragraph beginning "The chorus of praise...") in editorials under general heading "The Independent". Sheffield Independent. 24 July 1886. p. 6.
     


137. ^ "Class II.—Salaries and Expenses of Civil Departments". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 298: cc1193–317. 4 June 1885. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
     


138. ^ "Committee on Re-Commitment". Hansard House of Commons Debates. 306: cc1785–819. 17 June 1886. Retrieved 4 April 2018.
     


139. ^ untitled paragraph (column 1, page 5) in editorials under general heading "The Standard". Evening Standard. London. 2 November 1886. pp. 4–5.
     


140. ^ The Short Titles Act 1896, section 2(1) and the second schedule
     


141. ^ "House of Commons Hansard; vol 319 c1199". Hansard. Parliament of the United Kingdom. 29 January 1937. Retrieved 2008-09-28.
     


142. ^ Factories Act 1937 (PDF). London: His Majesty's stationery Office. 30 July 1937. ISBN 0-10-549690-1. Retrieved 2008-09-28.
     


143. ^ "Factories Act 1959". www.legislation.gov.uk. Retrieved 22 December 2018.
     

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]