Leading Points in the Development of Factory Legislation.
| Date. | Industries affected. | Class of Workers chiefly protected. | Nature of Regulations. | Mode of Administration. | Effectiveness. | ||
| 1802 | Cotton and 'other mills' (applied exclusively to cotton). | Apprenticed Pauper Children. | 12 Hours Day. Night-work regulated. Education, sanitation. | Local Justices to appoint visitors. | Virtually inoperative. | ||
| 1819} | Do. | Children | Prohibition of work | Do. | Do. | ||
| 1820} | Do. | (not Paupers). | under 9 years. Young persons (under 16) a 12 hour day. Regulation for meal-time. Amendment of 1802 Act. | ||||
| 1825 | Do. | Do. | Shortened Saturday labour. Penalties provided for breach of Factory Regulations. | Do. (Millowners and relatives prevented from acting on the Bench in reference to Factory Acts.) | Generally evaded. | ||
| 1833} 1834} | All Textile Industries. | Children and Young Persons. | 48 Hours Week for Children (9-13), 69 Hours for Young Persons (13-18). Prohibits night-work for Young Persons. Children in Silk Mills, 10 Hours Day. | Government Inspectors (4). | 1 out of every 11 millowners convicted in 1834, in spite of defiant attitude of magistrates. | ||
| 1842 | Mines. | Children and Women. | No underground work. | Mine Inspectors. | |||
| 1844} to } 1846} | Printworks. | Children, Young Persons, Women. | Factory Acts applied. 'False relay' system for children checked. 6-1/2 Hours Day for Children. Female Young Persons age raised to 21. 12 Hours Day for Women. No night-work for women. | Government Inspectors. | Improved administration, but 'false relay' system reestablished. Fines inadequate. | ||
| 1847} to } 1850} | Textile Factories, Printworks, etc. | Do. | 10 Hours Day, afterwards 10½ Hours Day for Young Persons and Women, practically for Men. | Increased Staff of Government Inspectors. | Largely defied or evaded for some time. | ||
| 1860 | Bleaching and Dyeing. | Do. | Do., with special regulations for overtime. | ||||
| 1860 | Coal and Iron Mines. | All Workers. | Restriction on male labour under 12. Safety, ventilation, etc. | Mine Inspectors. | |||
| 1863 | Finishing processes in Bleaching and Dyeing, Bakehouses, Alkali Works. | Children, Young Persons, Women. |
| ||||
| 1864 | Non-textile Factories, (Earthenware, Fustian Cutting, Cartridges, Lucifer Matches, Paper-staining). | Do. | |||||
| 1867 | All Factories & Workshops. | Do. | Factory Acts Extension Act. Workshops Regulation Act, applying to Workshops. Factory rules affecting hours, education, etc. in modified form. | Workshops Act left at first to local authorities, brought under Factory Inspectors, 1871. | Workshops Act dead letter in 1868-69. Later, fines inadequate. Inspectors inadequate. | ||
| 1867 | Agriculture. | Children, Women. | Act for Suppression of Agricultural Gangs fixing minimum age at 8, regulating employment of Women. | ||||
| 1870 | Printworks, Bleaching, Dyeing. | Children, Young Persons, Women. | Application of chief provisions of 1867 Factory Act. | ||||
| 1871 | Brickworks and Fields. | Children and Young Female Persons. | Forbids employment. Improved conditions for Women. | ||||
| 1873 | Agriculture. | Children. | Minimum age raised to 10. | ||||
| 1878 | Factories, Workshops, Agriculture. | Children, Young Persons, Women, (incidentally Men). | Consolidation of Factories & Workshops Act (extending some provisions to agriculture). | Increased Staff of Inspectors. | |||
| 1891 | Do. | Do. | Amendment of Factories & Workshops Act. Age for Children raised to 11. Protection in dangerous trades. | Board of Trade power to schedule dangerous trades. | |||
| 1892 | Shops. | Children, Young Persons. | Limits working-day. | ||||
| 1893 | Various Trades. | All workers. | Restrictions on dangerous trades. | Appointment of working men and women Inspectors. | |||
| 1893 | Railways. | Adult males | Restrictions on hours of labour. | Increased number of Inspectors. |
FOOTNOTES:
[239] The figures for the periods 1841 to 1881 are drawn from Mr. Charles Booth's Occupations of the People. The figures for 1891 are drawn from the Census Report, and arranged as nearly as possible in accordance with Mr. Booth's classification.
[240] Here also the figures for 1891 give a result slightly divergent from the above. While the number of women employed continues to increase, reaching 691,441, the number of men employed are greater than in 1881, amounting to 408,392, a large proportionate increase, though less than that of the women.
[241] The recent statistics of tailoring and shoemaking, which are becoming more and more machine industries, mark this movement strongly. In the tailoring trade, while male workers increase from 107,668 in 1881 to 119,496 in 1891, female workers increase from 52,980 to 89,224. In the boot and shoe trade, while men increase from 180,884 to 202,648, women increase from 35,672 to 46,141. In Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, where boots and shoes are a machine-industry, 40 women are employed to 100 men, though the proportion for the whole industry is only 23 women to 100 men.
[242] Report to Commission of Labour on Employments of Women, pp. 142, 146.
[243] Quoted Wells, Contemporary Review, 1887, p. 392.