Primary Source: 1832 Parliamentary Investigation of Textile Factories

In 1832 Michael Sadler secured a parliamentary investigation of conditions in the textile factories and he sat as chairman on the committee. The following interview is taken from the large body published in the committee's report and is representative rather than exceptional. It will be observed that the questions are frequently leading; this reflects Sadler's knowledge of the sort of information that the committee was to hear and his purpose of bringing it out. The immediate effect of the investigation and the report was the passage of the Act of 1833 limiting hours of employment for women and children in textile work.

Sadler: You say you were locked up night and day?

Peter: Yes.

Sadler: Do the children ever attempt to run away?

Peter: Very often.

Sadler: Were they pursued and brought back again?

Peter: Yes, the overseer pursued them, and brought them back.

Sadler: Did you ever attempt to run away?

Peter: Yes, I ran away twice.

Sadler: And you were brought back?

Peter: Yes; and I was sent up to the master's loft, and thrashed with a whip for running away.

Sadler: Were you bound to this man?

Peter: Yes, for six years.

Sadler: By whom were you bound?

Peter: My mother got 15 shillings for the six years.

Sadler: To what mill did you next go?

Peter: To Mr. Webster's, at Battus Den, within eleven miles of Dundee.

Sadler: In what situation did you act there?

Peter: I acted as overseer.

Sadler: At 17 years of age?

Peter: Yes.

Sadler: Did you inflict the same punishment that you yourself had experienced?

Peter: I went as an overseer; not as a slave, but as a slave-driver.

Sadler: What were the hours of labour in that mill?

Peter: My master told me that I had to produce a certain quantity of yarn; the hours were at that time fourteen; I said that I was not able to produce the quantity of yarn that was required; I told him if he took the timepiece out of the mill I would produce that quantity, and after that time I found no difficulty in producing the quantity.

Narrator: Audience, why would taking the clock out of the mill allow Peter to produce more yarn?

Sadler: How long have you worked per day in order to produce the quantity your master required?

Peter: I have wrought nineteen hours.

Sadler: Was this a water-mill?

Peter: Yes, water and steam both.

Sadler: To what time have you worked?

Peter: I have seen the mill going till it was past 12 o'clock on the Saturday night.

Sadler: So that the mill was still working on the Sabbath morning?

Peter: Yes.

Sadler: Were the workmen paid by the piece, or by the day?

Peter: No, all had stated wages.

Sadler: Did not that almost compel you to use great severity to the hands then under you?

Peter: Yes; I was compelled often to beat them, in order to get them to attend to their work, from their being over-wrought.

Sadler: Were not the children exceedingly fatigued at that time?

Peter: Yes, exceedingly fatigued.

Sadler: Did you find that the children were unable to pursue their labour properly to that extent?

Peter: Yes; they have been brought to that condition, that I have gone and fetched up the doctor to them, to see what was the matter with them, and to know whether they were able to rise or not able to rise; they were not at all able to rise; we have had great difficulty in getting them up.

Sadler: When that was the case, how long have they been in bed, generally speaking?

Peter: Perhaps not above four or five hours in their beds.

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. How is this document related to the Industrial Revolution?
2. Which country led the first Industrial Revolution and why?
   
3. Define textiles. How were textiles related to other technologies like water mills and steam engines?
   
4. Why would the fact that workers were paid a set wage instead of paid for each piece require Peter to use more severe punishment?
5. What is the significance of Sadler’s question about the factory being open on Sundays?
6. Why was Peter willing to beat the workers when he was once a worker himself?
7. Given Peter’s interview, what reasons might factory owners give or believe that would justify employing workers under these types of conditions?
8. What evidence from this interview would Karl Marx use to support his critique of capitalism?