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Mines act 1842
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Mines and Colliries Act 1842
Samuele Schiavina 5N
What is the act
Commonly known as the Mines Act 1842, was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act prohibited female labour as well as the employment of boys under ten years old in coal mines. It was a response to the working conditions of children revealed in the Children's Employment Commission (Mines) 1842 report. The Commission was headed by Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
Reasons for the act
At the beginning of the 19th century methods of coal extraction were primitive and the workforce, men, women and children, laboured in dangerous conditions. In 1841 about 216,000 people were employed in the mines. Women and children worked underground for 11 or 12 hours a day for smaller wages than men.
Something terrible happens
A stream overflowed into the ventilation drift after violent thunderstorms causing the death of 26 children; 11 girls aged from 8 to 16 and 15 boys between 9 and 12 years of age.The disaster came to the attention of Queen Victoria who ordered an inquiry.
Pictures
Commission result
Commissioners visited collieries and mining communities gathering information sometimes against the mine owners' wishes. The report, illustrated by engraved illustrations and the personal accounts of mineworkers was published in May 1842. Victorian society was shocked to discover that children as young as five or six worked, opening and shutting ventilation doors down the mine, pushing and pulling coal tubs and corfs.
In 1840 Lord Ashley headed the royal commission of inquiry, which investigated the conditions of workers (especially children) in the coal mines.
Lord Anthony Ashley-Cooper
Lord Ashley deliberately appealed to Victorian prudery, focussing on girls and women wearing trousers and working bare-breasted in the presence of boys and men, which "made girls unsuitable for marriage and unfit to be mothers". Such an affront to Victorian morality ensured the bill was passed.
The Act
-No females could be employed underground.
-No child under 10 years old was to be employed underground.
-Parish apprentices between the ages of 10 and 18 could continue to work in the mines.