Factories Act 1844
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1844 c. 15 |
(7 & 8 Vict.) C A P. XV.
[6th June 1844]
'WHEREAS the Laws relating to Labour in Factories require to be amended:' Be it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That this Act shall take effect from and after the First Day ofOctober in the Year One thousand eight hundred and forty-four, except any Provisions for the taking effect of which any other Time shall be herein-after specially limited, all which last-mentioned Provisions shall take effect from and after such Time as shall be herein-after specially mentioned in that Behalf.
II Restriction on Power of Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors.
II. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act no Inspector of Factories shall have Power in that Capacity to act as a Magistrate, or to make Rules, Regulations, and Orders as authorized by an Act, herein-after called ‘the Factory Act,’ passed in the Fourth Year of the Reign of His late Majesty, and intituledAn Act to regulate the Labour of Children and young Persons in the Mills and Factories of the United Kingdom , except as herein-after mentioned; and that no Inspector or Personappointed to superintend the Execution of the Provisions of the Factory Act and of this Act, under the Direction of an Inspector, herein-after called a Sub-Inspector, shall be liable to serve upon any Jury, or to serve any Parochial or Municipal Office, so long as he shall continue to hold the Office of Inspector or Sub-Inspector.
III Power of Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors.
III. And be it enacted, That every Inspector and Sub-Inspector shall have Power to enter every Part of any Factory at any Time, by Day or by Night, when any Person shall be employed therein, and to enter by Day any Place which he shall have Reason to believe to be a Factory, and to enter any School in which Children employed in Factories are educated, and at all Times to take with him into any Factory the certifying Surgeon of the District herein-after mentioned, and any Constable or other Peace Officer whom he may need to assist him, and shall have Power to examine, either alone or in the Presence of any other Person, as he shall think fit, every Person whom he shall find in a Factory or in such a School, or whom he shall have Reason to believe to be or to have been employed in a Factory within Two Months next preceding the Time when he shall require him to be examined touching any Matter within the Provisions of this Act, and the Inspector or Sub-Inspector may, if he shall see fit, require such Person to make and sign a Declaration of the Truth of the Matters respecting which he shall have been or shall be so examined; and every Inspector and Sub-Inspector shall have Power to examine the Registers, Certificates, Notices, and other Documents kept in pursuance of this Act; and every Person who shall refuse to be examined as aforesaid, or who shall refuse to sign his Name or affix his Mark to a Declaration of the Truth of the Matters respecting which he shall have been examined, or who shall in any Manner attempt to conceal or otherwise prevent any Child or other Person from appearing before or being examined by an Inspector or Sub-Inspector, or who shall prevent or knowingly delay the Admission of an Inspector or Sub-Inspector to any Part of a Factory or School, or shall prevent an Inspector or Sub-Inspector from examining any Register, Certificate, Notice, or other Document kept in pursuance of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of wilfully obstructing the Inspector or Sub-Inspector in the Execution of the Powers intrusted to him.
IV Protection of Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors.
IV. And be it enacted, That the Provisions of an Act passed in the Twenty-fourth Year of the Reign of KingGeorge the Second, intituled An Act for the rendering Justices of the Peace more safe in the Execution of their Office, and for indemnifying Constables and others acting in obedience to their Warrants , as amended by any subsequent Act, so far as they relate to rendering Justices of the Peacemore safe in the Execution of their Office, shall extend to protect the Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors in the Exercise of their Duties under this Act.
V Office of Factory Inspectors.
V. And be it enacted, That a proper Office, to be called ‘The Office of the Factory Inspectors,’ shall be provided inLondon or Westminster for the Use of the Inspectors, and for the Preservation of the Factory Records, and all Documents relating to the several Proceedings under this Act; and One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State shall appoint from Time to Time such Clerks and Servants as may be deemed necessary to carry on the Business of the said Office, and may at pleasure remove them or any of them; and the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland shall fix the Salaries of the Clerks and Servants in fit Proportion according to the Duties they may have to perform.
VI Management of the Office, and regulating the Duties of the Inspectors, &c.
VI. And be it enacted, That One of Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, or the Inspectors, with the Approval of such Principal Secretary, from Time to Time may make Regulations for the Management of the said Office, and for regulating the Duties of the several Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors, and of the Clerks and Servants of the said Office, in the Execution of this Act, so that they be not contrary to the Provisions herein contained; and the Regulations so made and approved shall be binding on the said Inspectors and Sub-Inspectors, Clerks, and Servants respectively.
VII Persons beginning to occupy a Factory to send Notice to Office of Inspectors.
VII. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act every Person, on beginning to occupy a Factory, shall within One Month send, addressed ‘To the Office of the Factory Inspectors,London ,’ a written Notice, containing the Name of the Factory, the Place, Township, Parish, and County where it is situated, the Post Office to which he desires his Letters to be addressed, the Nature of the Work, the Nature and Amount of the moving Power, and the Name of the Firm under which the Business of the Factory is to be carried on.
VIII Certifying Surgeons to be appointed by an Inspector.
VIII. And be it enacted, That after the passing of this Act any Inspector shall have Power to appoint a sufficient Number of Persons practising Surgery or Medicine to be certifying Surgeons, for the Purpose of examining Persons who shall be brought before them to obtain the Surgical Certificates of Age required by the Factory Act and by this Act, and of giving the said Certificates, and shall from Time to Time make Regulations for their Guidance, and shall in every such Appointment specify the Factories or District for which each Surgeon is appointed, and may from Time to Time, annul any such Appointment, and in like Manner make another or others; but every Appointment of a certifying Surgeon, and every Order annulling such Appointment, may be revoked by the Secretary of State, on Appeal made to him for either Purpose; and the Inspector of the District shall make known the Name of the certifying Surgeons so from Time to Time appointed or discontinued to the Occupiers of the Factories in that District in such Manner as to him shall seem fit; but no Surgeon, being the Occupier of a Factory, or having a beneficial Interest in any Factory, shall be a certifying Surgeon.
IX Form of Surgical Certificate.
IX. And be it enacted, That the Certificates of Age required by the Factory Act or by this Act, herein called Surgical Certificates, shall be given according to the Form and Directions contained in the Schedule (A.) annexed to this Act; and the Certificates given by any such certifying Surgeon shall be as valid as if countersigned by an Inspector, Justice of the Peace, or Burgh Magistrate; and the Name of every Person for whom a Certificate of Age is required by the Factory Act or by this Act, and the Date of the First Day of Employment or Re-employment of such Person, shall be registered in the Form and according to the Directions given in the Schedule (B.) annexed to this Act, before it shall be lawful to employ such Person in a Factory: Provided always, that no Surgical Certificate shall be required for any young Person above the Age of Sixteen Years.
X Certificates not given by certifying Surgeon must be by Persons duly authorized, and countersigned by a Magistrate.
X. And be it enacted, That no such Surgical Certificate given by any Person who is not an appointed certifying Surgeon shall be of any Force, unless it is given by a Person duly authorized by an University or College, or other public Body having Authority in that Behalf, to practise Surgery or Medicine, and countersigned, according to the Form and Directions given in the Schedule (A.) to this Act annexed, by some Justice of the Peace, not being the Occupier of a Factory, and not being the Father, Son, or Brother of the Occupier of a Factory; and no Person shall countersign any such Surgical Certificate in the Absence of the Person named therein, or without Proof that the Person brought before him is the same...
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