{"id":526,"date":"2021-04-01T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T08:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertowenmuseum.co.uk\/?p=526"},"modified":"2021-07-14T10:58:31","modified_gmt":"2021-07-14T09:58:31","slug":"300-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.robertowenmuseum.co.uk\/test\/300-words\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Owen in 300 words"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Robert
Robert Owen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Robert Owen, Britain\u2019s first \u201cSocialist\u201d, was born in Newtown in 1771, over his father\u2019s saddler\u2019s shop in Broad Street. Robert was a bright and athletic child. At the age of ten, he insisted on leaving home, and was apprenticed to a draper\u2019s in Stamford.<\/p>\n

After five years, he moved to a draper\u2019s in Manchester, and later switched to cotton\u00a0 spinning. At just 21 years old, he was manager of a new, steam-powered\u00a0 mill with 500 employees. Later, he formed a partnership to build new mills in Manchester. In 1799, the partnership bought the extensive cotton mills and workers\u2019 village at New Lanark, with Owen as\u00a0 manager.<\/p>\n

Owen did much to improve the working and living conditions there, and found that it paid. He built fine schools, including the first infants\u2019 school and adult evening classes. He published his ideas on education in \u201cA New View of Society\u201d, which was widely read. He promoted a Factory Bill to improve working conditions generally, but its\u00a0 provisions were much diluted.<\/p>\n

When peace in the war with France came in 1815, after Wellington’s victory at the Battle of Waterloo, there was considerable unemployment. Owen proposed building \u201cVillages of Co-operation\u201d for the unemployed, but the cost was prohibitive. Owen went on to advocate co-operative living for all, and in 1824 he purchased the Indiana town of New Harmony for a community experiment. It failed: the habit of private\u00a0 enterprise was too ingrown.<\/p>\n

Returning to England, Owen found that many small co-operative businesses had sprung up. He opened \u201cLabour Exchanges\u201d to facilitate trade between them. In 1834, he headed the short-lived Grand National Consolidated Trades Union, which collapsed following the conviction of the \u201cTolpuddle Martyrs\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Owenites founded a major community at Queenwood in Hampshire in 1839, but this failed due to over-lavish building. Owen returned to Newtown in 1858 to die. Some of his ideas live on in the Co-operative Movement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Robert Owen, Britain\u2019s first \u201cSocialist\u201d, was born in Newtown in 1771, over his father\u2019s saddler\u2019s shop in Broad Street. Robert was a bright and athletic child. At the age of ten, he insisted on leaving home, and was apprenticed to a draper\u2019s in Stamford. After five years, he moved to a draper\u2019s in Manchester, and […]<\/p>\n

<\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/svg><\/span><\/a><\/path><\/g><\/path><\/g><\/circle><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/span><\/a>