A Factory Owner during the Industrial Revolution (Junior Cert History): Model Answers

A Factory Owner during the Industrial Revolution

My name is Brian Murray. I own a textile factory in Leeds, in the North of England. This factory has made me extremely wealthy. I have invested in three others, also in North England, in Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool. The newspapers refer to us factory owners as 'captains of industry'. I think that this title accurately describes our powerful position in society.

I have a very large workforce. I employ hundreds of women and children but very few men. My male employees manage the power looms, a fantastic invention by Edmund Cartwright. These looms use steam power to weave cloth and have significantly sped up the weaving process.

The men manage these machines, which are rather costly; therefore, I own a limited number. It makes more sense to have fewer male employees, as the men in my factory have to earn more than the women and children. The men are paid sixteen shillings (£1) a week, which is rather generous in my opinion. The women are paid half the wage of the men, and the children earn 2c per hour in their jobs as piecers or scavengers, which I believe is more than sufficient.

The women in the factory work as 'spinners'. They spin the thread using a water frame, a relatively new machine designed by Richard Arkwright, which can spin hundreds of threads simultaneously. Other women then weave the cloth using John Kay's 'flying shuttle'.

Threads often break when the water frame is spinning them. It is the job of the scavengers, the children, to crawl under the machines and gather the pieces of cotton. It is the work of the piecer to join them together. Scavengers also keep the room clean. There have been a few accidents among the children when crawling under the machines. I did not pay them for their time off or to see a doctor, then they'd all be asking for it, and I'd soon find myself bankrupt! They should simply take more care when they work!

Many people are complaining about the "poor treatment" of the children in my factory. However, this is not my fault! I used to employ the piecers myself, but now I pay the spinners extra money so that they can employ the piecers. Since this change, I have heard reports that the spinners punish the piecers excessively. I have tried to stop this by putting an overlooker in charge to ensure there wasn't too much beating going on.

The government has set up a 'Factory Inquiry Commission' and inspectors have visited my factory. I received the report today. Some of the children in the factory complained about the overlooker. Apparently he ties knots in a rope and whips them with it. Also, he supposedly has a leather belt. I seriously doubt these claims as I appointed the overlooker specifically to ensure the children's welfare.

Many of the female employees also complained to the investigators. They complained about the conditions in the factory. They claimed that the factory being hot, humid and damp causes illness. They complained that they could not open any windows. How often do I have to tell them that this will lower the room's moisture level and cause the cotton threads to snap! As if that weren't bad enough, they claim that the machines are hazardous. A couple of weeks ago, a woman caught her hair in a machine, and it ripped her scalp. I admit that she was lucky-her injuries could have been far worse. As if it was my fault!

The children in the factory begin work at five in the morning and finish at nine in the evening, with a generous dinner break of an hour. The report stated that the children were too tired at work, and this, in turn, could lead to accidents. This is not my fault! I cannot control what those children do in the evenings; they should be at home in bed, resting for another day's work. Furthermore, the workers complain about the heavy fines imposed for being late or breaking factory rules. But how else will they learn?

I think my workers have it good here. Over the past fifteen years, many changes have been made to improve this factory's conditions- to think they actually want more! Although these factory acts, put forwards by Lord Shaftsbury, have improved working conditions, they have seriously damaged my profits. For example, children are no longer allowed to work more than twelve hours a day and are not permitted to work night shifts. These laws have cost me a lot of money. I can no longer run a night shift. The workers have already received far too much, and now there's talk that children under nine will be forbidden to work and that no one under eighteen can work more than a twelve-hour day. Surely, they can't expect us factory owners to accept these changes will ruin our businesses.