The Age of George III

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The 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act

With the start of industrialisation, it had become common for factory owners to employ pauper or orphaned children in their mills as "apprentices".  The practice had been started by Sir Robert Peel, MP, a factory owner of Bury in Lancashire and father of Prime Minister Peel.  In his mills, conditions were so bad that an outbreak of "fever" had caused most of the pauper apprentices to die.  Peel (senior) was reluctant to stop employing these children because they did not have to be paid, thus cutting the cost of the finished textiles. His reason was that his competitors had copied him and also were using child labour.  If he stopped, he would affect his profits and would go out of business.

One man who owned and ran a very different type of textile mill was Robert Owen.  He was a philanthropist who looked after his workers, refused to employ children under the age of ten and provided his workforce with decent housing and a school.  Owen thought that his way was the best and persuaded Peel to put through parliament the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act. This piece of legislation was the first attempt at reforming working conditions in factories.  The Act attempted to legislate for "pauper apprentices" and fixed a maximum twelve hour working day for the children.  Other terms of the Act were

• mills must have sufficient windows to ensure a flow of fresh air
• the walls and floor of the mill must be washed regularly
• separate bedrooms must be provided for the two sexes
• there must be no more than two children to a bed
• two suits of clothing must be provided for each child, one to be new each year
• for at least the first four years of their apprenticeship, children must be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic
• on Sundays, there must be at least an hour's teaching of Christianity, conducted by the local Anglican minister

Employers breaking these regulations were to be subjected to fines ranging between £2 and £5. Unfortunately, there were no inspectors appointed to enforce the law.