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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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Robert Owen
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(1771–1858) Industrialist, reformer and utopian socialist. Son of a Welsh postmaster, he made an early reputation managing a cotton mill in Manchester. He then bought the mills at *New Lanark on the Clyde and turned them into a model industrial community: his workers were well housed, goods were provided in the village store at little more than cost price, and the children were educated (he opened the country's first infant school there in 1816). New Lanark was profitable and became the object of widespread interest.
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Owen's thoughts moved on to common ownership, and several utopian communities were fostered by him (most notably at New Harmony in the USA), but none survived for long. He was regarded with increasing suspicion by the ruling classes (particularly after he had declared his rejection of conventional religion), but his ideas were influential in the development of the *cooperative movement and the *trade unions.
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