RICHARD

See also:

• RICHARD OASTLER (1789-1861)

OASTLER (1789-1861)  , English reformer, was born at Leeds on the loth of December 1789, and in 182o succeeded his father as steward of the Thornhills' extensive Fixby estates at Huddersfield, Yorkshire . In 183o John Wood, a Bradford manufacturer, called Oastler's attention to the evils of child employment in the factories of the district . Oastler at once started a campaign against the existing labour conditions by a vigorous letter, under the title " Yorkshire Slavery," to the Leeds Mercury, Public opinion was eventually aroused, and, after many years of agitation, in which Oastler played a leading part, the Ten Hours Bill and other Factory Acts were passed, Oastler's energetic advocacy of the factory-workers' cause procuring him the title of " The Factory King." In 1838, however, owing to his opposition to the new poor law and his resistance of the commissioners, he had been dismissed from his stewardship at Fixby; and, in 184o, being unable to repay 2000 which he owed his late employer, Thomas Thornhill, he was sent to the Fleet prison, where he remained for over three years . From prison he published the Fleet Papers, a weekly paper devoted to the discussion of factory and poor-law questions . In 1844 his friends raised a fund to pay his debt, and on his release he made a triumphant entry into Huddersfield . Oastler died at Harrogate on the 22nd of August 1861 . A statue to his memory was erected at Bradford in 186g .