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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Factory Acts
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The unregulated mills and factories of the early *Industrial Revolution exploited cheap labour, particularly that of women and children, and reformers in the 19C fought a long campaign to outlaw the worst excesses. The first Factory Act (1802) limited to twelve the hours an apprentice child could work each day. Significant improvements were made, after a long struggle, in the act of 1833: children under 9 were not to work; children aged 9–13 were limited to eight hours a day and the 13–18 group to twelve hours; those between 9 and 13 were to be educated for two hours each day (the first compulsory education in Britain); and inspectors, albeit at the start only four for the whole country, were to be allowed into the factories.
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The next milestone, again long fought for (particularly by Lord *Shaftesbury), was the act of 1847 which limited the working day for women and children to ten hours. By then the principle of legislative control was well established, and subsequent Factory Acts were often more concerned with making the control effective.
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