Richard
Oastler, the son of
a clothing merchant, was born in Leeds on
20th December, 1789. Richard attended a Moravian boarding school from
1798 to 1810 and became a commission agent. Oaster did this job for
ten years and in 1820 was appointed as steward for Thomas Thornhill,
the absentee landlord of Fixby, a large estate near Huddersfield.
In 1830 Oastler met John Wood, a worsted
manufacturer from Bradford, who agonised
over the need to employ children in his factory. After a lengthy meeting
Oastler decided to join the struggle for factory legislation.
Unlike most of the people in the factory reform movement, Oastler
was a supporter of the Tory Party. He strongly
opposed universal suffrage, trade unions and was a warm supporter
of the rigid class structure of the early 19th century. However, Oastler
believed it was the responsibility of the ruling class to protect
the weak and vulnerable. For example, Oastler thought the 1834
Poor Law was too harsh and campaigned for it to be reformed.
Oastler thought the best way to protect children
was to obtain a maximum ten hour day. On 29th September 1830, Oastler
wrote a letter to the Leeds Mercury
attacking the employment of young children in textile factories. John
Hobhouse, the Radical M.P. read the letter and decided to introduce
a bill restricting child labour. Hobhouse proposed that: (a) no child
should work in a factory before the age of 9; (b) no one between the
ages of 9 and 18 should work for more than twelve hours; (c) no one
aged between the ages of 9 and 18 should work for more than 66 hours
a week; (d) no one under 18 should be allowed to do night work.
After details of Hobhouse's Bill was published, workers began forming
what became known as Short Time Committees
in an effort to help promote its passage through Parliament. The first
Short Time Committees were formed in Huddersfield
and Leeds but within a few months, with
the help of Richard Oastler, they were established in most of the
major textile towns.
Parliament was dissolved in April, 1831 and so Hobhouse's Bill had
to be reintroduced after the General Election. Hobhouse's proposals
for factory legislation were discussed in Parliament in September
1831. Richard Oastler and the Short Time Committees were furious when
Hobhouse agreed to make changes to his proposals. Although Hobhouse's
Bill was passed it only applied to cotton factories and failed to
provide any machinery for its enforcement.
Unhappy with what Hobhouse had achieved, the Short
Time Committees continued to work for factory legislation. A magnificent
orator, Richard Oastler soon became leader of what was now known as
the Ten Hour Movement.
In 1836 Oastler began advocating workers to use strikes and sabotage
in their campaign for factory legislation and changes in the poor
law. When Thomas Thornhill heard about this he sacked Oastler from
his post as steward of Fixby. He also began legal proceedings against
Oastler for unpaid debts. Unable to pay back the money he owed, Oastler
was jailed for debt in December 1840. His friends began raising money
to help him but it was not until February 1844 that the debt was paid
and Oastler was released from Fleet Prison.
Once released, Oastler returned to his campaign for the ten hour day.
In 1847, Parliament passed an act that stated that children between
13 and 18 and women were not to work for more than ten hours a day
and 58 hours a week. However, the 1847 Factory
Act only applied to parts of the textile industry. It was not
until 1867, six years after the death of Richard
Oastler, that the existing Factory
Acts applied to all places of manufacturing.
Child
Labour Debate Activity (International School of Toulouse)
Child
Labour Simulation (Spartacus Educational)
(1)
Richard Oastler describing a meeting with John Wood, a factory owner
from Bradford, in September 1830.
John
Wood turned towards me, reaching out his hand and in the most impressive
manner pressed my hand in his said: "I have had no sleep tonight.
I have been reading the Bible and in every page I have read my own
condemnation. I cannot allow you to leave me without a pledge that
you will use all your influence in trying to remove from our factory
system the cruelties which are practised in our mills." I promised
I would do what I could. I felt that we were each of us in the presence
of the Highest and I knew that that vow was recorded in Heaven.
(2)
Richard Oastler, speech on 7th July, 1832.
Very
often the children are awakened by the parents at four in the morning.
They are pulled out of bed when almost asleep. The younger children
are carried on the backs of the older children asleep to the mill,
and they see no more of their parents till they go home at night,
and are sent to bed.
(3)
Richard Oastler, letter published in the Bradford Observer
(17th July, 1834)
The
mill-owners obtained their wealth by overworking and by defrauding
the factory children. They were praying people, but took care their
work people should neither have time nor strength to pray. These hypocrites
pretended it was necessary to keep these poor infant slaves at this
excruciating labour just to preserve them from "bad company"
and to prevent them learning "bad habits".
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