ABSTRACT
British factory legislation dates from 1802 when an enactment known as the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act was passed.1 This statute purported to curtail some of the worst abuses practised against the large numbers of pauper children who, during the closing decades of the preceding century, had been shipped from major centres of population to become apprenticed to cotton-masters whose early water-powered mills had been erected in remote locations where water, unlike labour, was in plentiful supply. Although space precludes description of the privations endured by these ‘pauperapprentices’, some idea of their plight can be gained from the terms of the enactment itself. Thus, for example, it banned their employment for more than twelve hours per day, provided for the eventual cessation of all night work by this class of employee and insisted on the provision of separate sleeping accommodation for males and females, not more than two apprentices being allowed to share one bed. Some rudimentary provision was also made for their physical and intellectual well-being by requirements covering such matters as clothing, ventilation, cleanliness and educational instruction.2
