Committee on Child Labour

Historical Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.06: English Writing and Culture of the Romantic Period, 1789-1837.
Vol. editors: Daniel Cook (University of Dundee), Daniel Robinson (Widener University)

Domains

Labour Relations
Welfare and social services

Dates

Date of occurrence 1832-1833

Places

United Kingdom (Location)

In 1831, Tory Radical MP Michael Sadler proposed a bill to the House of Commons that would place legal constraints on child labour in factories. Although this initial bill was rejected, it led to the establishment of the Sadler Commission, which gathered information from factories around the country. Workers gave testimony to a commitee including Sadler himself. Several recent historians have challenged the bleak and gruesome picture of child labour given in the Sadler report, but it was ultimately effective in guaranteeing the passing of the 1833 Factory Act, which limited the working day of children (aged 14-18) to a maximum of 12 hours, and outlawed the employment of children under 9.

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108 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Committee on Child Labour". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 30 August 2013 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=4709, accessed 23 November 2024.]

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Committee on Child Labour

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