Children's Working Conditions - Hyde, UK - Timelines on Waymarking.com

"Pulling the plug, Ringing the change’ is a sculpture that recognises the important part the people of Hyde played in the reform of parliament, and their struggle to improve the working conditions of men, women and children.

The sculpture sits outside Hyde Town Hall, and consists of images in bronze of two children running triumphantly, one holding aloft a ‘plug’ the other ringing a bell. A torn banner inscribed with the slogan ‘Pulling the Plug, Ringing the Change’ is draped between the figures creating a sense of movement.

A cast aluminium base is used both to elevate the figures and to act as a symbol of a robust industrial object. This also accommodates the interpretive designs including the six point ‘Declaration of the Chartists of Hyde’. The panels that fit into the rebated sections are of six contemporary children of Hyde photographed by Guy Woodland and etched in zinc. The ages of each child, from six to fourteen represent the significant changes in law that protected the working conditions of children of that age.

Direct descendants of the Hyde chartists unveiled the sculpture in December 2002.

The Chartist agitation of 1838-48 was one of the most remarkable social upheavals ever known in the history of Britain. The townspeople of Hyde played a particularly important role in ‘ringing the changes for social and political reform.

Notable among these was John Bradley, a clogger, of 8 Manchester Road who was responsible for helping frame the ‘Declaration of the Hyde Chartists’ which demanded the proper recognition of the rights of the labouring classes.

On the 14th of August 1848 a band of Chartists, armed with guns , pistols, swords and pikes marched through Hyde at midnight, determined to effect a stoppage of the mills for a month by drawing the plugs from the boilers, thus bringing the machinery of the owners to a standstill." link

The Timeline Text

The text of the six panels describing the improvements in children's working conditions are as follows.

1802	THE HEALTH AND MORALS OF APPRENTICES ACT prohibited night work for children and limited day work to twelve hours
1819	THE FACTORY ACT - limited child labour to 72 hours a week, with a minimum age of nine years.
1833	ALTHORP'S FACTORY ACT - limited children between nine and thirteen to ten hours per day, and stipulated that each child had to be given two hours of schooling each day.
1847	THE FIELDEN ACT - fixed working day at ten hours for women and all young persons under eighteen years of age.
1853	Act passed stating that children could only be employed between 6am and 6pm with one and half hours for meals.
1875	The minimum working age of children was raised to ten. In 1891 the age of eleven, twelve in 1901 and fourteen in 1920

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