Alan McLawhorn

3/8/2017
Thomas Cole

In 1831, Michael Sadler, a member of the British Parliament, created the Sadler

Committee to improve the treatment of factory workers, including children. Sadler introduced a

bill to limit children to work only ten hours a day, and since he needed support for the bill, he

had child workers to speak to the committee about the conditions they worked in. However,

members of Parliament were not moved and instead followed the policy of laissez-faire. Sadler

had to convince them that they should modify the policy in the case of children, on the grounds

that the state was obliged to provide for the welfare of children when their parents were unable to

do so (pg. 587). Hearings were held, and the one of the witnesses chosen by Sadler was Joseph

Hebergam, a seventeen-year-old factory worker. Hebergam had been working since he was

seven, and said he worked from 5 A.M to 8 P.M. He only had thirty minutes for lunch, and no

extra time for dinner. The Committee also asked that Hebergam shows the bruises he obtained

from working. Eventually the bill was accepted as the Factory Regulations Act of 1833. While

the Sadler committee did help improve conditions for children, they still had to work at an

extremely young age, since they were allowed to work nine hours a day to their thirteenth

birthday, and twelve hours a day until they turned eighteen.

The Luddites were a group of hand loom weavers in England, whose goal, unlike the

Sadler Committee which was to help the child workers, was to destroy the new factory

machinery, which they blamed for rising unemployment and low wages. They demolished the

new textile machinery, which was different then the Sadler Committees peaceful way of protest.

Instead of going to Parliament, the Luddites just used force to become heard. The Luddites
actions led the way for other workers to protest, but the Peterloo Massacre would occur, where

eleven workers were killed and four hundred were injured. This massacre led to the realization

of the three different social groups divided by their economic standing.