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Robert Owen was a man ahead of his time. During his lifetime, he endeavoured to improve the health, education, well-being and rights of the working class. This driving ambition to create a better society for all took him around the world, from a small mill village in Lanarkshire in Scotland to New Harmony, Indiana in America with varied success. Although, he encountered much criticism and opposition in his lifetime, he influenced reformers who came after him and many of his views are as relevant and resonate today in their modernity and progressive nature.
Born on the 14th May 1771, in Newtown, a small market town in Wales, Robert was the sixth of seven children born to the local saddler and ironmonger. He was an intelligent boy who read avidly, loved music and was good at sports. He began his career in the textile industry early on, from around the age of 10. By the time he was 21 he was a mill manager in Manchester. His entrepreneurial spirit, management skill and progressive moral views were emerging by the early 1790s. In 1793, he was elected as a member of the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, where the ideas of reformers and philosophers of the Enlightenment were discussed. He also became a committee member of the Manchester Board of Health which was set up to promote improvements in the health and working conditions of factory workers. Meanwhile, in Scotland, New Lanark Cotton Spinning Mills were being established. This enterprise was to prove pivotal in Owen’s career as a businessman and social pioneer.
David Dale was, for his time, considered an enlightened employer and although he employed pauper apprentices, the education and welfare of his workers were important to him.
When Dale sold New Lanark Mills to his new son-in-law Robert Owen in 1799, little did he know that this would become “the most important experiment for the happiness of the human race that has yet been instituted in any part of the world. “ Robert Owen.
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A Model Community Under Robert Owen’s management from 1800 to 1825, the cotton mills and village of New Lanark became a model community, in which the drive towards progress and prosperity through new technology of the Industrial Revolution was tempered by a caring and humane regime. This gained New Lanark an international reputation for the social and educational reforms Owen implemented. New Lanark had the first Infant School in the world, a creche for working mothers, free medical care, and a comprehensive education system for children, including evening classes for adults. Children under 10 were not allowed to work in the Mill. |
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Leisure and recreation were not forgotten; there were concerts, dancing, music-making and pleasant landscaped areas for the benefit of the community. When Owen opened the Institute for the Formation of Character, which was effectively a community education centre for his workers, he outlined his visionary plans for an astonishingly progressive and enlightened system of education which he believed was the key to a happier society, and universal harmony. |
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Inspiring a Modern Approach |
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His Works |
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A New Society for a New Millennium |
Women Rules for the Inhabitants of New Lanark The Environment Health, Preventive Medicine & Health Education Care for the Elderly and Infirm International Co-operation Campaign for Universal Harmony |
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Find out more about Robert Owen
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These booklets can be purchased from New Lanark’s Online Shop: http://newlanarkshop.co.uk Web Links New Lanark World Heritage Site The Robert Owen Museum, Newtown National Cooperative Archive Rochdale Pioneers Museum The Open University Support the campaign for a Robert Owen bank note  This site has been produced by New Lanark Trust, an independent Scottish Charity. For more information about New Lanark visit www.newlanark.org |
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