Factory Reform in Britain
Factory Reform in Britain
1.
Reform of the early factories and mines in Britain was considered necessary for many reasons.
Firstly, in Britain, the mistreatment of women particularly in factories helped reform to start taking place. Women (and children) were used for fundamental jobs in textiles factories which involved manoeuvring into places that men could not manoeuvre into. Women often had to work very close to running machines, and since there were no machine monitors at this time, several accidents occurred. Despite the fact that they were considered to be vital to factory production, word soon spread about the dangers these women had to face in factories.
However, the main reason for early factories and mines reforms in Britain to be considered necessary was the mistreatment of children. They also had to do dangerous jobs in factories and mines such as wriggling into crevices or crawling under running machines to clean up looms because of their slighter build. Many humanitarians strongly opposed the exploitation of children in factories and mines. Activists such as Richard Oastler and Michael Sandler (who were Tory churchmen and factory owners) pushed the idea that child labour had to be reformed. They published many complaint letters to contradict this mistreatment, complaining about the long hours children had to work and their lack of time to rest and eat.
As a result of these complaints made by humanitarians like Oastler, parliament was persuaded to appoint a commission of enquiry into factory conditions. A report was produced, supporting humanitarian views about child labour in factories and mines, lead by Michael Sandler. These reports said that children had to work for the same number of hours as the adults, and that these exhausting, sometimes 16 hour days of work had permanent and devastating effects on the children’s health. Disease spread quicker through these small children who were sent to work from just four years old. These
1.
Reform of the early factories and mines in Britain was considered necessary for many reasons.
Firstly, in Britain, the mistreatment of women particularly in factories helped reform to start taking place. Women (and children) were used for fundamental jobs in textiles factories which involved manoeuvring into places that men could not manoeuvre into. Women often had to work very close to running machines, and since there were no machine monitors at this time, several accidents occurred. Despite the fact that they were considered to be vital to factory production, word soon spread about the dangers these women had to face in factories.
However, the main reason for early factories and mines reforms in Britain to be considered necessary was the mistreatment of children. They also had to do dangerous jobs in factories and mines such as wriggling into crevices or crawling under running machines to clean up looms because of their slighter build. Many humanitarians strongly opposed the exploitation of children in factories and mines. Activists such as Richard Oastler and Michael Sandler (who were Tory churchmen and factory owners) pushed the idea that child labour had to be reformed. They published many complaint letters to contradict this mistreatment, complaining about the long hours children had to work and their lack of time to rest and eat.
As a result of these complaints made by humanitarians like Oastler, parliament was persuaded to appoint a commission of enquiry into factory conditions. A report was produced, supporting humanitarian views about child labour in factories and mines, lead by Michael Sandler. These reports said that children had to work for the same number of hours as the adults, and that these exhausting, sometimes 16 hour days of work had permanent and devastating effects on the children’s health. Disease spread quicker through these small children who were sent to work from just four years old. These