READING
Report on Committee on Children in Manufactories (1816), testimony by
Robert Owen and Sir Robert Peel
The Industrial Revolution brought with it a terrible degradation of
living conditions for the mass of families that lived in the shadows
of the factories around which industrialization took place. Among
those that suffered the greatest hardship were children. Hence, laws
were promulgated protecting children from the vagaries of child labor.
Two public figures in particular who fought for such laws were the
utopian socialist Robert Owen and the Conservative parliamentarian
Robert Peel. Here Owen and Peel present testimony exposing the extent
to which child labor has become a common practice in factories, as
well as the scandalous conditions under which children are made to
work.
Mr. Robert Owen, Again Called in, and Examined
Have you anything to add to your evidence of yesterday?--Some
questions were put to me yesterday respecting the early age at which
children are employed at Stockport; I knew I had made a memorandum at
the time, but I could not then put my hand upon it; I have since found
it; and I can now reply to the questions regarding those cases. Mr.
George Oughton, secretary to the Sunday school in Stockport, informed
me about a fortnight ago, in the presence of an individual, who will
probably be here in the course of the morning, that he knows a little
girl of the name of Hannah Downham, who was employed in a mill at
Stockport at the age of four. Mr. Turner, treasurer to the Sunday
school, knows a boy that was employed in a mill at Stockport when he
was only three years old...
They were mentioned to you as a rare instance?--They were mentioned to
me in the midst of a very numerous assembly of very respectable
people; I inquired of them whether they knew, as they were surrounded
with, I believe, two or three thousand children at the time, what was
the age at which children were generally admitted into cotton mills;
their answer was, Some at five, many at six, and a greater number at
seven. I have also received very important information from a very
respectable individual at Manchester, relative to the age at which
children are employed, the hours they are kept at work, and a variety
of other particulars from very authentic sources...
Does the information you propose to give come from the manufactory to
which it relates?--No manufacturer would give information against
himself.
State what you know relative to the number of hours which children and
others are employed in their attendance on mills and
manufactories?--About a fortnight ago I was in Leeds; and in
conversation with Mr. Gott, whose name is well-known to many gentlemen
in this room, he stated to me that it was a common practice, when the
woollen trade was going on well, to work sixteen hours in the day: I
was also informed by Mr. Marshall, who is another principal, and
considered a highly respectable manufacturer in Leeds, that it was a
common practice to work at flax-mills there sixteen hours a day
whenever the trade went well: I was also informed by Mr. Gott, that
when the Bill, generally known by the name of Sir Robert Peel's Bill,
was brought in last session of Parliament, the night-work at Leeds was
put an end to. In Stockport, on Sunday fortnight, I saw a number of
small children going to the church; they appeared to me to be going
from a Sunday school; the master was with them; I stopped the master,
and asked him what he knew of the circumstances of the manufacturers
in Stockport; he said he knew a great deal, because he himself had
formerly, for many years, been a spinner in those mills; his name is
Robert Mayor, of the National School in Stockport; he stated the he
was willing to make oath that mills in Stockport, within the last
twelve months, had been worked from three and four o'clock in the
morning until nine at night, that he himself has frequently worked
those hours.
Sir Robert Peel, Bart.
The house in which I have a concern gave employment at one time to
near one thousand children of this description. Having other pursuits,
it was not often in my power to visit the factories, but whenever such
visits were made, I was struck with the uniform appearance of bad
health, and, in many cases, stinted growth of the children; the hours
of labour were regulated by the interest of the overseer, whose
remuneration depending on the quantity of the work done, he was often
induced to make the poor children work excessive hours, and to stop
their complaints by trifling bribes. Finding our own factories under
such management, and learning that the like practices prevailed in
other parts of the kingdom where similar machinery was in use, the
children being much over-worked, and often little or no regard paid to
cleanliness and ventilation in the buildings; having the assistance of
Dr. Percival and other eminent medical gentlemen of Manchester,
together with some distinguished characters both in and out of
Parliament, I brought in a Bill...for the regulation of factories
containing such parish apprentices. The hours of work allowed by that
Bill being fewer in number than those formerly practised, a visible
improvement in the health and general appearance of the children soon
became evident, and since the complete operation of the Act contagious
disorders have rarely occurred.
From: Owen, Robert and Sir Robert Peel. Report on Children in Factories,1816.
1) Explain the dependence of the children on the master, despite the
cruel overwork and harsh treatment.
2) How did society react to the factorys' labor practices?
3) What were the advantages and disadvantages of employing orphans and
homeless children?
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