1833 Factory Act

Question 1

What did the 1833 Factory Act introduce?

Answer 1

• No children under 9 to be employed
• Children 9-12 to work a maximum of 9 hours a day
• Children 13-18 to work a maximum of 12 hours a day
• Children 9-11 to receive two hours of schooling per day (didn’t build any schools)
• No night work for anyone under 18
• Factory owners had to keep a register of all the children they employed
• 1.5 hours break to be given for meals every day

Question 2

How was the 1833 factory act enforced?

Answer 2

• 4 full time inspectors were appointed to enforce the act

Question 3

What Was introduced for those who broke the law?

Answer 3

Fines

Question 4

Why were fines an incentive to obey the law?

Answer 4

• too many fines could prove economically significant so there was an incentive to obey the law.

Question 5

What type of mill did the 1833 factory act cover but what happened by the end of the 1830s?

Answer 5

Textile Mills
- end of 1830s: fewer mill owners breaking the law

Question 6

How many inspectors were there to cover how many mills in the country?

Answer 6

• 4 inspectors for 4000 mills

Question 7

What was the major negative of this act?

Answer 7

• Focused on textile mills
• Ignored child workers and other industries
• Whig’s commitment to free trade
• Lives of many thousands of children were compromised in the interest of profitable business

Question 8

What was the positive of this Act?

Answer 8

• Showed a willingness by the government to recognise the negative effects of industrialisation on the general population and the understanding that some reform was needed in order to ensure the success of British businesses by looking after the workers.
• Possibility for further reform because it was not just children who were negatively affected by industrialisation