Factory Acts

The Factory Acts were a series of acts passed by the British Parliament to limit the number of hours worked by women and children first in the textile industry, then later in all industries.

Factory Act of 1802

The Factories Act 1802 (citation 42 Geo.lll c.73, sometimes also called the " Health and Morals of Apprentices Act") was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which regulated factory conditions, especially in regard to child workers in cotton and woollen mills. It was the culmination of a movement originating in the 1700s, where reformers had tried to push several acts through Parliament to improve the health of the workers and apprentices. The act had the following provisions:

Factory owners must obey the law.
All factory rooms must be well ventilated and lime-washed twice a year.
Children must be supplied with two complete outfits of clothing.
The work hours of children must begin after 6 a.m., end before 9 p.m., and not exceed 12 hours a day.
Children must be instructed in reading, writing and arithmetic for the first four years of work.
Male and Female children must be housed in different sleeping quarters.
Children may not sleep more than two per bed.
On Sundays children are to have an hour's instruction in the Christian Religion.
Mill owners are also required to attend to any infectious diseases.

Fines of between £2 and £5 could be imposed on factory owners, but the Act established no inspection regime to enforce conditions. The act failed to provide a clear law of the hours one is permitted to work and failed to include supervision to make sure the law was being followed. The law was largely ignored by the factories but paved the way for more factory acts to follow.^{[citation needed]} Richard Oastler in 1804 comments on the act:

This act gives little authority to parliament and less restriction on factories. How can factories not resist to break the law?^{[citation needed]}

Factory Act of 1833

The Factory Act of 1833 (citation 3 & 4 Will IV c. 103 also known as the Labour of Children, etc., in Factories Act 1833 ) was an attempt to establish a regular working day in the textile industry. The act had the following provisions:

The normal working day started at 5:30 a.m. and ended at 8:30 p.m..
Young people (ages 13-18) must not work more than 12 hours, including one and a half hours for meals.
Children (ages 9-13) must not work more than 9 hours.
Children (ages 9-13) must have two hours of education per day.
Children and Young people may not work at night(from 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m.)

Factory Act of 1844

The Factories Act 1844 (citation 7 & 8 Vict c. 15) further reduced hours of work for children and applied the many provisions of the Factory Act of 1833 to women. The act applied to the textile industry and included the following provisions:

Children 8-13 years could work for six and a half hours a day
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
Factory owners must wash factories with lime every fourteen months
Ages must be verified by Surgeons
Accidental death must be reported to a surgeon and investigated
Thorough records must be kept regarding the provisions of the act.

NYA!!!

Factory Act of 1847

After the Whigs gained power in parliament the Ten Hour Bill was passed becoming the Factories Act 1847 (citation 10 & 11 Vict c. 29) which limited the workweek for women and children under 18 years of age to 63 hours effective 1 July, 1847 and 58 hours effective 1 May, 1848. In effect, this limited the workday to 10 hours.

Factory Act of 1850

This Act (citation 13 & 14 Vict c. 54) redefined the workday which had been established under the Factory Acts of 1844 and 1847. No longer could employers decide the hours of work. The workday was changed to correspond with the maximum number of hours that women and children could work. The act included the following provisions.

Children and Women could only work from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the summer and 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the winter.
All work would end on Saturday at 2 p.m..
The work week was extended from 58 hours to 60 hours.

Factory Act of 1867

Officially named the Factory Extension Act, the Factory Act of 1867 applied the regulations of the Factory Act of 1850 to all industries employing more than 50 workers.

Factory Act of 1874

The workday in the textile industry was reduced to 9 and a half hours.

Factory Act of 1878

This brought all the previous Acts together in one consolidation.

Now the Factory Code applied to all trades.
No child anywhere under the age of 10 was to be employed.
Compulsory education for children up to 10 years old.
10-14 year olds could only be employed for half days.
Women were to work no more than 56 hours per week

References

Encyclopedia of British History
W.R. Cornish and G. de N. Clark. Law and Society in England 1750-1950. (Available online here).

External links

The 1802 Health and Morals of Apprentices Act