=Source.=--_The Curse of the Factory System_, by John Fielden, M.P.
London, 1836.
"Oldham, 25th February, 1836.
"Sir,
"I am instructed by the Master Spinners and Manufacturers in this
Township to forward you the inclosed copy of a Memorial, the
original of which has this day been forwarded to John Frederick
Lees, Esq., one of the Members for this Borough, for presentation
to the Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council for Trade, and to
solicit your assistance and influence in obtaining an alteration of
the present Factory Regulation Act.
"I am, Sir,
"Your obedient Servant,
"KAY CLEGG.
"John Fielden, Esq., M.P.
"House of Commons, London."
"_To the Right Honourable the Lords of His Majesty's Privy Council
for Trade, etc., etc._
"The Memorial of the Undersigned Mill-owners, Occupiers of Mills,
Master-Spinners, and Manufacturers of the Township of Oldham, in
the County of Lancaster.
"Showeth,
"That an Act of Parliament was made and passed in the third and
fourth years of the reign of his present Majesty, entitled 'An Act
to regulate the labour of children and young persons in the Mills
and Factories of the United Kingdom.'
"That the eighth section of the said Act enacts 'That after the
expiration of thirty months from the passing of such Act it shall
not be lawful for any person whatsoever to employ, keep, or
allow to remain, in any factory or mill for a longer period than
forty-eight hours in any one week, any child who shall not have
completed his or her thirteenth year of age.'
"That the said Act has prohibited the employment of children under
twelve years of age for more than nine hours in any one day since
the first day of March one thousand eight hundred and thirty-five,
and such prohibition has tended greatly to injure the interests
both of your Memorialists and the parents of such children,
without any advantage resulting to the children themselves.
"That your Memorialists are looking forward with great anxiety
and alarm to the situation in which they will be placed on the
first day of March next, by the working of children under thirteen
years of age being restricted to forty-eight hours in one week,
for that such restriction will have the effect of throwing all
children under thirteen years of age wholly out of employment,
and will render it impossible for your Memorialists to work their
respective mills with advantage, in proof whereof your Memorialists
confidently appeal to the Factory Inspectors of this district for
the truth of their assertion.
"That your Memorialists are far from wishing a total repeal of the
provisions of the said Factory Act, but humbly submit that it is
absolutely necessary to the carrying on of the cotton trade with
advantage, to allow the employment of children of eleven years of
age for sixty-nine hours a week.
"That your Memorialists approve of the principle of appointing
responsible superintendents over the mills and factories of
the United Kingdom, and are favourable to a restriction of the
employment of young persons under twenty-one years of age to
sixty-nine hours in the week.
"Your Memorialists, therefore, pray that a Bill may be
forthwith introduced by his Majesty's Government, which shall
prevent the latter part of the above-mentioned section from
coming into operation on the first of March next, and which
shall permit children of eleven years of age to be employed for
sixty-nine hours per week in the mills and factories of the
United Kingdom."
This memorial is signed by seventy-two mill-owners, but I do not
think it necessary to publish their names. The following is the
answer that I returned to Mr. Clegg:
"London, February 29, 1836.
"Sir,
"I have received your letter of the 27th, and a copy of the
memorial sent to Mr. Lees.
"The prayer of the Memorialists, that young children between eleven
and thirteen years of age should be allowed to work in factories
sixty-nine hours in the week instead of forty-eight hours a week,
which the law now prescribes, is so revolting to my feelings, and
so opposed to my views of the protection such children are entitled
to, that I must decline supporting the prayer of the Memorialists.
"The work-people have long petitioned that the maximum of time for
those under twenty-one should be fifty-eight hours per week. This I
should be glad to see adopted, as an experiment, and would support
such a proposition by my vote; but I do not think the restriction
is sufficient.
"I am embarked in the same business with the Memorialists. I have
had long experience in it. I have paid great attention to this
question; and, after mature consideration of it, I am convinced
that eight hours work per day, in factories, is as long as ought
to be exacted from either children or adults, and I am of opinion,
too, that such a regulation, combined with a daily system of
training and instruction, would be more advantageous both to
masters and servants, than the regulation now in practice. But the
subject is so important, and is likely to be brought under the
consideration of Parliament so soon, that I propose to publish my
opinions, and the reasons for those opinions, and the conclusions I
have come to on this question, in reply to the Memorialists.
"I am, Sir,
"Your obedient Servant,
"JOHN FIELDEN.
"Klay Clegg, Esq., Oldham."