Factory (from factor), is a name which appears originally to have been given to establishments of merchants and factors (agents) resident in foreign countries; it now signifies a place in which the various processes of a particular manufacture are carried on simultaneously. The rapid growth of factories in this sense is a comparatively recent development of industry, resulting from the free use of machinery and the consequent subdivision of labour sine the late 18th century. Amongst the advantages of the factory system are generally counted: increased productivity arising from the minute division of labour; the mechanical accuracy, and the cheapness of the product turned out by machinery (mass production); the facilities for union and co-operation for common improvement afforded by bringing large masses of workmen together. But this last consideration is probably more than counterbalanced by the smaller amount of independent intelligence called forth in the individual worker, through the monotony of the minutely subdivided operations. Since the 19th century the disadvantages of the factory system have been recognised, and were originally cited as the unhealthiness of the crowded rooms, and the increasing demand on the labour of women and children, which was perceived as interfering with the economy of domestic life. This last issue was sought to be redressed by factory acts, first passed in the late 18th century. Research Factory
Factory Acts are acts passed for the regulation of factories and similar establishments. In the 18th and 19th century it was considered that women and children were not qualified fully to protect themselves against the strain of competition, and asa result the British legislature passed a series of acts to regulate the conditions of their employment in factories.
The immediate occasion of the first act passed to regulate factory employment in England was the outbreak of an epidemic disease which committed great havoc among the younger persons employed in factories in the district round Manchester at the beginning of the 19th century.
An act was passed in 1802, The Health and Morals of Apprentices Act, in which provision was made for the regular cleansing and ventilation of mills and factories, and also for limiting the hours of work to twelve daily and forbade night work for children, and made provisions for their proper accommodation.
In 1819 an act followed after Robert Owen, an important factory-owner in Scotland, demonstrated that it was possible to improve factory conditions and make profits at the same time, and later campaigned for State reform. This Act prescribed an hour and a half for meals in the course of a working day, and prohibited children under nine years of age being employed in factorywork at all.
Early Factory Acts were not enforced, and as such were impotent. In 1833 the first truly effective Factory Act was passed. This act applied to all textile factories, and stated that no child under the age of nine was to work in a mill; children under the age of 13 were restricted to working no more than nine hours in a day and children between the ages of 13 and 18 were restricted to working no more than 12 hours in a day. The vital feature of this Act was that it was successfully enforced by full-time inspectors, whose job was to see that it was obeyed in the factories.
Various acts were passed up to 1878, when a general factory and Workshop Act was passed, consolidating the previous series of statutes. Another general act was passed in 1901 and since then numerous regulations and acts have been introduced.
The original acts contained general provisions regarding drainage, sanitary conveniences, overcrowding, ventilation, fencing of dangerous machinery, etc. Addressing what we would now term health and safety.
Factories are distinguished from workshops as making use of, originally, steam or other mechanical power. In the 19th century British textile factories the hours of labour for women and young persons (the latter between 14 and 18 years of age) were restricted to 10, but only 6.5 on Saturday and 56 in the week. In 19th century British non-textile factories and workshops the hours permitted were 10.5 per day and 60 per week at most. Children (of 11 to 14 years) were still employed, but not allowed to be employed more than 6.5 hours on any one day. Provision was made for a certain number of annual holidays. Special provisions for particular kinds of factories were made by separate acts, and under these the employment of females and young persons was regulated in bleaching and dyeing works, lace-factories, manufactories of earthenware, Lucifer matches, percussion caps, cartridges, blast-furnaces, copper-mills, forges, foundries, manufactories of machinery, metal, India-rubber, gutta-percha, paper, glass, tobacco, letterpress printing, bookbinding, etc. The factory act of 1895 included laundries. Certain exceptions in regard to working overtime were provided for; thus women could sometimes work 14 hours a day. Before the start of the 20th century there was no direct interference in any of the factory acts with the labour of adult male persons but it was recognised that indirectly the position of the male-labourer was also affected by legislation of this sort, causing some consternation among the factory owners.
The factory acts were among the first employment laws formalised to protect workers, and while they originally sought to protect primarily women and children, during the 20th century they evolved into more general employment laws offering regulation and some protection to all employees, with the employment of children being stopped all together and later men being treated equally with women, an employee being considered a person irrespective of sex. Research Factory Acts
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
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