THE work of a Huddersfield man who campaigned against child labour in Yorkshire was the focus of a public conference held at the university.
The event, entitled Yorkshire Slavery; the campaign for the release of the oppressed, looked at the campaign waged by Richard Oastler to reduce the working hours of children employed in the Yorkshire mills, a practice he dubbed ‘Yorkshire Slavery’.
Oastler, of Fixby Hall, was known in Yorkshire as the Factory King after his pioneering work to reduce children’s working hours helped to bring about the 1847 Ten Hours Act.
The conference, held in the university’s Castle Hill Suite, celebrated Huddersfield’s heritage as the centre of such pioneering reform.
Speakers included Dr John Hargreaves, from the university, Prof Edward Royle, of York University, and Colin Dews, from the Wesley Historical Society.
Huddersfield University was recently awarded almost £50,000 towards a project to commemorate the campaign against child labour in the 1880s.
The grant, given by the Heritage Lottery Fund, is enabling the university to pay for the project, which aims to bring to a wide audience the area’s connections with Yorkshire Slavery and the pioneering campaigns for the reduction in children’s working hours.
Oastler, originally from Leeds, was the steward of the Thornhill Estate and lived at Fixby Hall for nearly 18 years from 1821.
During his campaigning he formed the Fixby Hall Compact with the working men of Huddersfield, by which they agreed to work together for the reduction of working hours.
The conference was one of a number of events and exhibitions the university is holding as part of the project.
Other events will include workshops for schoolchildren, colleges and local societies.
The university will also be compiling educational packages linked to the national curriculum.
