Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819

Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819

Act of Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Citation	59 Geo. 3. c. 66
Introduced by	Sir Robert Peel (Commons)
Other legislation
Repealed by	Labour in Cotton Mills Act 1831
Status: Repealed

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The Cotton Mills and Factories Act 1819 (59 Geo. 3. c. 66) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which was its first attempt to regulate the hours and conditions of work of children in the cotton industry. It was introduced by Sir Robert Peel, who had first introduced a bill on the matter in 1815. The 1815 bill had been instigated by Robert Owen, but the Act as passed was much weaker than the 1815 bill; the Act forbade the employment of children under 9; children aged 9–16 years were limited to 12 hours' work per day and could not work at night.^[1] There was no effective means of its enforcement, but it established the precedent for Parliamentary intervention on conditions of employment which was followed by subsequent Factory Acts.