ABSTRACT
Kay-Shuttleworth had hardly got his inspectors organized and more or less accepted in the schools when another storm broke, and almost wrecked the policy that he was attempting to establish. The reports on social conditions which were published from 1841 to 1844 produced the most violent feelings in the nation. From them the governing class first really learnt the conditions of children's work in mines and factories; of women's and children's work in agriculture; and the sanitary condition of large towns and populous districts. They were horrified. The physical and mental gap which existed between the rich and the poor had kept the majority of the well-to-do genuinely ignorant of the conditions under which the mass of the people lived Among the more immediate results was a Factory Act which attempted seriously to limit the hours of work for children and as a necessary consequence to provide part-time education There were to be Factory schools supported out of the Poor Rate The Church immediately demanded control of these schools The Master was always to be a member of the Church of England and the clergyman and churchwardens were to be ex-officio members of the governing body. 1 With certain slight concessions to conscience the children were to be compelled to attend church The whole non-conformist body united in opposition to this attempt to use public money for the support of sectarian schools; and in the face of this unanimity the proposal was dropped
