Overview

Revelations about the employment of women and children in mines shocked respectable society and aroused alarm in Parliament

Further campaigning led to a shortened working day for women and children and tightened safety regulation

Large numbers of young children employed in textile factories triggered demands in Parliament for new laws to stop these abuses

The system of providing for the poor was centuries old, and attempts to reform it in the 18th century had failed

By the 1830s, as public concern grew, Parliament acknowledged the need for a comprehensive reform of the Poor Law

The 1833 Factory Act marked the beginning of government inspection of factory conditions

Parliamentary concern about the employment of child labour initially focused on chimney sweeps apprentices