Anthony Ashley Cooper, The Eldest Son Of The 6th Earl Of Shaftesbury, Was Born On 28th April, 1801. At The Age Of Seven He Was

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    Anthony Ashley Cooper, the eldest son of the 6th Earl of Shaftesbury, was born on 28th April, 1801. At the age of seven he was sent to boarding school and five years later he was transferred to Harrow. At the age of ten, Anthony was given the courtesy title of Lord Ashley. Harrow was followed by Christ College, Oxford and at the age of twenty-five he was elected as M.P. for Woodstock, a pocket borough under the control of the Shaftesbury family.

    Lord Ashley's early political career was undistinguished and political reporters of the time complained that his speeches in the House of Commons were inaudible. Lord Ashley began to take an interest in social issues after reading reports in The Times about the accounts given to Michael Sadler's Committee investigating child labour. Lord Ashley wrote to Michael Sadler offering his help in his campaign for factory reform. When Michael Sadler was defeated in the 1832 General Election, the Rev. George Bull, the Evangelical curate of Bierly near Bradford, asked Lord Ashley to become the new leader of the factory reform movement in the House of Commons. Ashley's critics claimed that he took up the factory question "as much from a dislike of the millowners as from sympathy with the mill-workers."


    Lord Ashley agreed to George Bull's request and in March 1833, he proposed a bill
that would restrict children to a maximum ten hour day. On 18th July, 1833, Ashley's
bill was defeated in the House of Commons by 238 votes to 93. Although the
government opposed Ashley's bill it accepted that children did need protecting and
decided to put forward its own proposals. The government's 1833 Factory Act was
passed by Parliament on 29th August.


    Under the terms of the new act, it became illegal for children under nine to work in textile factories, whereas children aged between nine and thirteen could not be employed for more than eight hours a day. The main disappointment of the reformers
was that children over thirteen were allowed to work for up to twelve hours a day.
They also complained that with the employment of on

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