ABSTRACT
Owen’s Report to the Committee of the Association for the Relief of the Manufacturing and Labouring Poor and his activities supporting the Villages of Unity and Cooperation and the cooperative movement had made an impact by stimulating the idea that the British labourer could change the environment for the better. The reality was that most of his projects had very little impact on the quality of labourers’ lives and working conditions. However, unions had formed for the workers to express their dissatisfaction with society. In the late summer of 1818, the ‘Union for the Promotion of Human Happiness’ was formed, and this provided a lead for many other unions, particularly in the north of England, between 1818 and 1819. 1 The purpose of this union and others like it was to promote radical reform of Parliament by means of suffrage for all male persons, and to improve the health and living conditions of citizens.
