Document – Testimony of Matthew Crabtree from the Sadler Committee Report (1832) and Andrew Ure, The Philosophy of Manufactures (1835)

Document

[The Committee members’ questions to the witness, Mr. Matthew Crabtree, have been italicized]

What age are you? Twenty-two. What is your occupation? A blanket manufacturer.

Have you ever been employed in a factory? Yes. At what age did you first go to work in one? Eight. How long did you continue in that occupation? Four years.

Will you state the hours of labor, at the period when you first went to the factory

in ordinary times? From six in the morning to eight at night.

With what intervals for refreshment and rest? An hour at noon. When trade was brisk, what were your hours? From five in the morning to nine in the evening. . . .

Will you state the effect that those long hours had upon the state of your health

and feelings? I was, when working those long hours, commonly very much fatigued at night when I left my work; so much so, that I sometimes should have slept as I walked, if I had not stumbled and started awake again; and so sick that I could not eat, and what I did eat I vomited.

State the condition of the children towards the latter part of the day, who have

thus to keep up with the machinery. It is as much as they can do, when they are not very much fatigued, to keep up with their work, and towards the close of the day, when they come to be more fatigued, they cannot keep up with it very well; and the consequence is, that they are beaten to spur them on. . . .

Were you beaten under those circumstances? Yes. Frequently? Very frequently. . . .

And is it your belief that if you had not been so beaten, you should not have got through the work? I should not if I had not been kept up to it by some means. . . .

Do you think that if the overlooker were naturally a humane person it would be

still found necessary for him to beat the children, in order to keep up their attention and vigilance at the termination of those extraordinary days of labor? Yes; the machine turns off a regular quantity of cardings,ⁱ and of course they must keep as regularly to their work the whole of the day; they must keep with the machine; and therefore, however humane the slubberⁱⁱ may be, as he must keep up with the machine or be found fault with, he spurs the children to keep up also, by various means; but that which be commonly resorts to, is to strap them when they become drowsy. . . .

Then it is your impression from what you have seen, and from your own experience, that those long hours of labor have the effect of rendering young persons who are subject to them exceedingly unhappy? Yes.

You have already said it had a considerable effect on your health? Yes.

Do you conceive that it diminished your growth? I did not pay much attention to that; but I have been examined by some persons who said they thought I was rather stunted, and that I should have been taller if I had not worked at the mill. . . .

Is the work done as well when you are so many hours engaged in it, as it would

be if you were at it less time? I believe it is not done so well in those long

hours; toward the latter end of the day the children become completely bewildered, and know not what they are doing, so that they spoil their work without knowing.

Then you do not think that masters gain much by the continuance of the work to

so great a length of time? I believe not.

Notes

Review

1. 1. How does Matthew Crabtree explain the impact of the factory system on workers, especially children?

2. 2. How does Crabtree portray workers’ encounters with machinery?