Lord Shaftesbury WALT: to identify the improvements made for working children

What was wrong with the working conditions for children? Worked long hours Dangerous conditions No education Paid very little because they were younger Worked from a very young age Short breaks often with no fresh air

Lord Shaftesbury Anthony Ashley Cooper was born in 1801 He became the Earl of Shaftesbury in 1851 At the age of 25, he became a member of Parliament. He began to take an interest in the plight of poor children after reading newspaper reports about labour in industry

What could be done to improve working conditions? Laws were set up

1833 Lord Ashley proposed that children should work for a maximum of 10 hours a day This bill failed but the government realised that children needed to be protected A year later the Factory Act was passed

Factory Act It was now illegal for children under 9 to be employed in textile factories Children between 9 and 13 were still allowed to work for up to 12 hours a day Only 4 inspectors were employed to make sure this law was carried out. This worried some people. Why?

Coals Mine Act This meant women and children were not allowed to work underground Lord Shaftesbury continued his work for improved working hours for children in factories

Other interests Lord Shaftesbury was also interested in education for working class children He was chairman of the Ragged Schools Union - an organisation that had set up over a hundred schools for poor children He died in 1885