An abbey is a monastery or religious community of the highest class, governed by an abbot, assisted generally by a prior, sub-prior, and other subordinate functionaries; or, in the case of a female community, superintended by an abbess. An abbey invariably included a church. A priory differed from an abbey only in being scarcely so extensive an establishment, and was governed by a prior. In the English conventual cathedral establishments, as Canterbury, Norwich, Ely, etc, the archbishops or bishops held the abbot's place, the immediate governor of the monastery being called a prior.
Some priories sprang originally from the more important abbeys, and remained under the jurisdiction of the abbots; but subsequently any real distinction between abbeys and priories was lost. The greater abbeys formed most complete and extensive establishments, including not only the church and other buildings devoted to the monastic life and its daily requirements, such as the refectory or eating-room, the dormitories or sleeping-rooms, the room for social intercourse, the school for novices, the scribes' cells, library, and so on; but also workshops, storehouses, mills, cattle and poultry sheds, dwellings for artisans, labourers, and other servants, infirmary, guest-house, etc. Among the most famous abbeys on the continent of Europe were those of Cluny, Clairvaux, and Citeaux in France; St Galle in Switzerland, and Pulda in Germany; the most noteworthy English abbeys were those of Westminster, St Mary's of York, Fountains, Kirkstall, Tintern, Rievaulx, Netley; and of Scotland, Melrose, Paisley, and Arbroath. Research Abbey
The Cotton Famine was a destitution in the English cotton manufacturing districts, especially in Lancashire, and caused by the outbreak of the American Civil War. The cotton supply failed on account of the blockade of the southern ports of the United States, and the mill-owners finally had to close their mills - nearly two million people becoming unemployed and destitute. A Relief Fund was started, and a Relief Act passed by parliament, by which loans were granted to the guardians of the poor for instituting relief works. By June, 1865, the distress was at an end, greatly increased supplies of cotton having been obtained from Brazil, Egypt, India, and elsewhere. Research Cotton Famine
The Cotton Mills Act was passed in 1819 laying down a minimum age for the employment of children and a maximum working week of 72 hours. Research Cotton Mills Act
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
Felt is a fabric which is not woven, but made of fibres, usually wool or wool and cotton, which when subjected to beating and vibration grip one another in the form of layers. The materials to be felted are carded and placed in a machine, where they are kept wet and intimately mixed together by a process of beating. Pressure then unites the whole into a compact mass. The use of felt as a material for hats, tents, cloaks, etc, is very ancient. For hat-making the fur of rabbits, beavers, raccoons, and the wool of sheep was generally used. Felt being a good non-conductor of heat it was much used for roofing, sheathing boilers, hot-water reservoirs, etc. The felt for such purposes was made from the coarsest woollen refuse from paper-mills.
The Homestead Riots was a bloody industrial dispute in American in 1892. On the final refusal of the workingmen's association to accept certain changes in the wage scale, the proprietors of the Carnegie Steel Mills, at Homestead, Pennsylvania, closed the works on July the 1st, 1892. The employees declared a strike about the same time. A mob prevented the sheriff from placing pickets in the mills. On July the 6th a body of 300 Pinkerton detectives arrived. A bloody fight between these men and the strikers immediately took place, resulting in considerable loss on both sides. The Pinkertons surrendered. The Pennsylvania militia was then ordered out and remained at Homestead until September to protect the mills. Many of the strikers were arrested and indictments were found against them. Research Homestead Riots
The Meal Moth (Pyralis farinalis) is a moth of the family Pyralidae with a wing span of between 18 and 30 mm native to central Europe and also found in mills and flour-stores flying from June to August. Research Meal Moth
The Mediterranean Flour Moth (Ephestia kuehniella) is a moth of the family Pyralidae with a wing span of between 20 and 25 mm. Although rare in the wild, the moth is a pest of mills and food stores where the caterpillars cause immense damage. Between two and five generations are produced, depending upon local conditions which fly from spring to autumn. Research Mediterranean Flour Moth
Alfred T A Torbert was an American soldier. He was born in 1833 and died in 1880. He led a Federal brigade at Manassas, Crampton's Gap and Gettysburg in 1862. In 1864 he was placed in command of a division of cavalry in the Army of the Potomac. He fought at Cold Harbor, Trevillian Station, Winchester and Cedar Creek. He commanded at Tom's River, Liberty Mills and Gordonsville. He was Consul General at Paris from 1873 to 1878. Research Alfred Torbert
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
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