1833 First Report of the Central Board of His Majesty's Commissioners Appointed to Collect information In the Manufacturing Districts As to the Employment of Children in Factories And as to the Propriety and Means of Curtailing the Hours of their Labour With Minutes of Evidence and Reports by the District Commissioners

Description

An Important Work, Original Source, Very Scarce

First Edition. With the original rear wrap preserved, lacking the front wrap. These reports regard factory working conditions in different areas of Britain. The Commissioner's inquiry collected numerous interviews with adult and children factory workers. One of the reports to this work has remained of historical importance. Ellen Hooton, of Wigan, is interviewed in section D1. She is ten years old from Wigan and had been working for several years at a spinning frame in a cotton mill along with other children. Hooton's evidence was an important factor in the forming of the 1833 Factory Act. The 1833 Factory Act limited work for children in textile factories. It ensured no children under the age of 9 works, employers to have an age certificate for their child workers, children aged 9-13 are not to work more than 9 hours a day, children are not to work at night and that there should be two hours schooling each day for children among other regulations. The intentions of this act was to ensure children weren't mistreated, though children overworking in poor conditions still continued. With a list of inquiries to the start of the work. The reports are split into districts A-E. With the Northern Districts being A1 and A2, North Eastern District C1 and C2, Lancashire District, D1 and D2, Western District B1 and B2 and the Central Board 'E'. Those collecting the evidence are Mr Stuart, Mr Mackintosh, Mr Drinkwater, Mr Power, Mr Cowell, Mr Tufnell, Mr Horner, Mr Woolriche and Mr Spencer. An important, very scarce, original source document regarding child labour in the early nineteenth century.