Factory Acts - Labour of Children, Etc., in Factories Act 1833

Labour of Children, Etc., in Factories Act 1833

The Factory Act 1833 (3 & 4 Will. IV) c103 was an attempt to establish a regular working day in the textile industry. The act had the following provisions:

  • Children (ages 14–18) must not work more than 12 hours a day with an hour lunch break. Note that this enabled employers to run two 'shifts' of child labour each working day in order to employ their adult male workers for longer.
  • Children (ages 9–13) must not work more than 8 hours with an hour lunch break.
  • Children (ages 9–13) must have two hours of education per day.
  • Outlawed the employment of children under 9 in the textile industry.
  • Children under 18 must not work at night.
  • Provided for routine inspections of factories.

Read more about this topic:  Factory Acts

Famous quotes containing the words labour of, labour, factories and/or act:

    “Criticism is a study by which men grow important and formidable at very small expense. The power of invention has been conferred by nature upon few, and the labour of learning those sciences which may, by mere labour, be obtained, is too great to be willingly endured; but every man can exert some judgment as he has upon the works of others; and he whom nature has made weak, and idleness keeps ignorant, may yet support his vanity by the name of critic.”
    —Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)

    “The habits of our whole species fall into three great classes—useful labour, useless labour, and idleness. Of these the first only is meritorious; and to it all the products of labor rightfully belong; but the two latter, while they exist, are heavy pensioners upon the first, robbing it of a large portion of its just rights. The only remedy for this is to, as far as possible, drive useless labour and idleness out of existence.”
    —Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)

    “This is not only a war of soldiers in uniform. It is a war of the people, of all the people, and it must be fought not only on the battlefield but in the cities and the villages, in the factories and on the farms, in the home and in the heart of every man, woman and child who loves freedom.”
    —Arthur Wimperis (1874–1953)

    “Faith means belief in something concerning which doubt is still theoretically possible; and as the test of belief is willingness to act, one may say that faith is the readiness to act in a cause the prosperous issue of which is not certified to us in advance.”
    —William James (1842–1910)