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Congreves were a predecessor of the Lucifer matches. The splints were dipped in sulphur and then tipped with the chlorate of potash paste, in which gum was substituted for sugar, and there was added a small quantity of antimony sulphide. The match was ignited by drawing it through a fold of sandpaper under pressure. The matches were banned in France and Germany on account of being dangerous.
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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.
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The Loco-foco was the radical faction of the American Democratic party between 1835 and 1837. The faction was properly of New York, though the name was afterward made national. During the Federalist control of the Government, the method of granting bank charters and controlling banks was charged by the opposing faction with favouritism and corruption. Upon their gaining control, things did not, in the opinion of many, improve; and in 1835 there was formed in New York the Equal Rights party, opposed to special privileges in granting bank charters to corporations. At a meeting in Tammany Hall, on October 29th 1835, the regular Tammany Democrats tried to gain control. Finding themselves outnumbered, they turned out the lights and retired. The Equal Rights men produced candles and loco-foco matches, and continued the meeting. Hence the name. This party was beaten at the elections, but nevertheless exercised considerable influence.
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Prometheans were the first safety matches. They were invented in 1805 by a French chemist named Chancel, and consisted of splints of cedar wood ripped with a past of chlorate of potash mixed with sugar. On dipping the match into a bottle containing asbestos wetted with sulphuric acid it burst into flame upon drawing it out. Prometheans were introduced into Britain following the Battle of Waterloo.
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Safety matches are matches which can not be ignited by friction alone. In 1847 the Austrian chemist Schrotter discovered that red phosphorus gives off no fumes and is virtually inert; but being mixed with chlorate of potash under slight pressure explodes. In 1855 Bottger of Sweden put red phosphorus on the match box, and on the matches so that the matches could be ignited by rubbing or striking the match against the box, thus forming the forerunner of the modern safety match.
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A slow match is a simple type of fuse which smoulders very slowly. Traditional slow matches were prepared by soaking loose hemp cords in a dilute solution of potassium nitrate and then drying them. When ignited, such a fuse burns at a rate of about eight centimetres an hour. Formerly slow watches were employed in matchlock guns as a means of keeping a light ready for use over lengthy periods, and more recently in military and civil blasting to provide a delay action in various types of projectiles and in fireworks.
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Andrew Stoddart was an English cricketer and rugby union player. He was born in 1864 at South Shields and died in 1915. In 1885 he joined Hampstead CC and made his first appearance for Middlesex. Andrew Stoddart was renowned as a batsman, scoring 485 of the 814 total runs Hampstead scored against the Stoics on August the 4th 1886, as well as a batsman he was also a change bowler, though not of any merit. As a rugby union player, he was one of the finest of his time and played in ten international matches.
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Colin Blythe was an English cricketer. He was born in 1879 and died in 1917. He played for Kent and England as a slow left-arm bowler, taking 2506 wickets in 16 seasons, 100 of them in test matches including 15 in the test match against South Africa at Headingley in 1907. He was killed in action during the Great War, in France in 1917.
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Denis Chales Scott Compton CBE was an English cricketer and footballer. He was born in 1918 at Hendon and died in 1997. He played cricket for Middlesex from 1936 and for England from 1937 to 1957, playing in 78 test matches and is regarded as the best all-round cricketer of all time. In 1947 he scored a record 18 centuries. In addition, when younger he played Association Football for Arsenal and England, being England captain in 1943 and playing with Arsenal when they won the cup in 1950. In 1957 following a knee injury he retired from cricket and football to work as a journalist and broadcaster.
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Eric Brook was an English Association Football player for Barnsley, Manchester City and England, for whom he made 18 appearances in full international matches between 1929 and 1937. He was born in 1908 and died in 1965.
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The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
©1993 - 2009 The Probert Encyclopaedia
Southampton, United Kingdom
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