John Fielden Biography and Timeline

Fielden Campaigns For Reduced Working Hours

Industrialist and member of Parliament John Fielden pressed for limits on factory employment and criticised excessively long shifts.

Fielden Builds Parliamentary Reform Alliances

Fielden collaborated with factory reform supporters seeking stronger limits on working hours in textile mills.

Fielden Challenges Lengthy Textile Shifts

Fielden drew on his experience as a mill owner to argue that shorter working hours were practical.

Fielden Presses Ten Hour Legislative Principle

Fielden continued advocating the principle of restricting daily factory work to ten hours for protected employees.

Fielden Supports Shorter Factory Workday

Fielden supported further limits on labour time even after revised factory regulations were enacted.

Fielden Revives Ten Hour Bill Campaign

Fielden and his allies renewed efforts to secure a specific ten hour limit for protected factory workers.

Ten Hours Act

The Ten Hours Act limits daily factory labour for women and young people.

Reform of Working Hours

Sponsors the successful passage of the Ten Hours act

Role range: 1846-1852

Fielden Sponsors Ten Hours Legislation

John Fielden was a leading parliamentary sponsor of the Ten Hours Act passed in 1847.

Fielden Sponsors Ten Hours Act

John Fielden played a leading parliamentary role in securing the 1847 factory legislation establishing the ten hour principle.

Ten Hours Law Phased Into Operation

The 1847 Factory Act introduced a staged reduction in the working hours permitted for women and young people in regulated factories.

Fielden Secures Parliamentary Ten Hour Victory

John Fielden played a central part in obtaining passage of the 1847 Ten Hours Act.

New Factory Limits Initially Set Eleven Hours

The 1847 legislation provided an initial transitional limit of eleven hours for women and young persons before the ten hour rule took effect.

Ten Hour Factory Limit Takes Effect

The ten hour limit under the 1847 act took effect for women and young persons employed in textile factories.

Factory Reformers Demand Effective Enforcement

Campaigners warned that differing interpretations of the factory laws weakened practical protections despite the ten hour principle.