Robert Owen Day

Robert Owen DayExploring social enterprisefrom the past to the future

Robert Owen was a man who lived about 200 years ago. He was a successful businessman in the textile industry.

Owen thought that ordinary working people should be able to enjoy education, good health, decent living conditions, and recreation.

His ideas were not popular amongst many other businessmen at the time who were only concerned with making as much money as possible out of their workers.

Owen tried lots of schemes to improve the lives of his workers – some of these were more successful than others! Co-operatives and trade unions, for example, are still helping people today.

And his idea of ‘sustainable communities’ is becoming popular again in days when we need to be more aware of our impact on the environment.

Robert Owen’s story is one from the past which may help us to solve the problems of today and the future.

Today you will learn more about Owen’s life and his ideas.

We hope you will have fun too!

Robert Owen Day

Welcome to


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Owen’s story begins …Robert Owen was born in Newtown, a small town in Wales, in 1771. His father ran the local saddler and ironmonger shop and was also the town postmaster.

At the age of seven, Owen had learned everything he could from the local schoolmaster and started to use his knowledge to help teach the younger children.


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Childhood daysOwen almost died at the age of 6 or 7 after falling off his horse crossing a narrow bridge.

He also injured his stomach eating scalding hot flummery, a type of porridge.

“On my hastily taking a spoonful of it I found it was quite scalding hot, the body of it retaining all its heat. The consequence was an instant fainting from the stomach being scalded. In that state I remained so long that my parents thought life was extinct.”


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Starting workThe Industrial Revolution made a big impact on the lives of ordinary people. People who had previously lived in small, rural towns had to move to the expanding cities for new work opportunities.

At the age of 10, Owen was given forty shillings and sent to London in search of work. He stayed with his brother until he was offered a job as a draper’s apprentice in Stamford in Lincolnshire. He worked in Mr McGuffog’s drapers shop for three years.

Owen later moved to Manchester where he worked at Satterfield’s wholesale drapery. When he was 18, he set up his own business making cotton-spinning machines. In 1792, he became manager of Bank Top Mill in Manchester.


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Life in the millsWorking life changed dramatically during the Industrial Revolution. Rather than working in their own home or outside on farms, people were forced to work in dangerous and crowded mills. Many workers were unhappy with the new conditions.

Whilst managing a mill in Manchester, Owen helped found the Manchester Board of Health, which carried out inspections in mills. They discovered terrible living and working conditions.


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New LanarkOwen became a mill manager at New Lanark in 1800. His enlightened management techniques improved life for the workers there and New Lanark soon became a model village. His system of reforms became famous and over 20,000 people visited the site.

Owen paid close attention to the health and welfare of the New Lanark villagers, unlike many mill owners.Drunkenness and theft was common, but Owen believed that by improving the conditions for his workers he would be rewarded with a staff of hardworking and dedicated employees. He improved the educational and recreational facilities, encouraging workers to attend evening classes and go for walks in their spare time.

New Lanark is now a World Heritage Site and can still be visited today.


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The people had been

collected hastily from

any place where they

could be induced to

come and the great

majority of them were

idle, intemperate,

dishonest, devoid of

truth and pretenders to

religion which they

supposed would cover

and excuse all their

shortcomings and

immoral proceedings


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Working childrenBy the start of the 19th century, lots of children were working in mills all over the country. Many of them were orphans who were supposed to be given food, clothing and access to education rather than wages. But by the time they had worked all day in the mills they were too tired to study in the evenings.

Owen refused to let children under the age of 10 work in the mills. Older children could only work up to 14 hours a day and he gave them time off for meals. This was unpopular with other mill owners, but Owen further reduced working hours to 12 hours per day in 1816.


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Working childrenIn 1816, he also opened the Institute for the Formation of Character. It taught similar subjects to those taught in schools today – history, geography, reading, writing and arithmetic. Owen also helped mothers by establishing the first infant school in Britain. Owen believed learning should be pleasurable, so there were no punishments or rewards, and there were weekly concerts.


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A decent place to livePeople needed encouragement to take up work in mills, rather than continuing to work outside on farms. One of the ways mill owners attracted new employees was by providing housing for workers. It was often very crowded, there was usually only one room for each family and many people shared the primitive bathroom facilities.

Owen wanted to improve this at New Lanark. Workers’ houses were very different there. Sewage was removed each day and the streets in the village were cleaned regularly, helping improve the health of villagers. Each family had an extra room.

However, there were new rules and regulations. Houses had to be cleaned at least once a week and the villagers were banned from keeping animals in the houses. At first, the villagers, especially women, protested against having their homes investigated by officials, who became known as the bug hunters.


8Community and

democracyOwen wanted to encourage community responsibility at New Lanark to improve the village and ensure it was a peaceful place to live.

Owen set up a committee of democratically elected individuals representing each neighbourhood, which met once a month. This was the villagers’ chance to suggest any changes and improvements.

People were also taught how to budget, and all the profits from the village store were used for the benefit of the community.


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New HarmonyOwen was passionate about sustainable communities, believing that society could be improved if people lived in small communities like New Lanark. They would be arranged in large squares with agricultural land, schools, workshops, communal kitchens and places of worship.

Encouraged by his success at New Lanark, he began to write on the subject and gave regular lectures. In 1825 he sold New Lanark and moved to America where he bought a settlement in Indiana.


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New HarmonyThere, he set up the utopian community New Harmony with his partner William Maclure. However, the project ended in failure. It attracted lots of people with good ideas, but few people had practical skills in construction of farming. Housing was overcrowded and there were real food shortages.


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Trade UnionsA trade union is an organisation of workers who have come together with common goals to try to improve conditions. Owen believed that if working people formed trade unions, they would have a better chance of protecting themselves from the evil of industry. In 1833, he helped set up the Grand National Consolidated Trade Union. Membership grew quickly and at its height the union had half a million members.

The Grand National Consolidated Trade Union was formed just before a trade slump that meant business slowed down and employers cut wages. The Union organised strikes in response.

In 1834, Owen helped lead a procession to the Prime Minister in protest at the sending of six Dorset farm workers (the Tolpuddle Martyrs) to Australia. They were defeated and the government disbanded the union.


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Labour exchangeOwen encouraged the establishment of the National Equitable Labour Exchange in London in 1832, to help workers sell their products in a more profitable manner. The members of the exchange were encouraged to use labour notes instead of money in all their transactions.

The notes allowed workers to buy and sell their goods based on the manufacturing time and the cost of the materials and it worked well at first. However, eventually the system lapsed due to pricing disputes over the value of products and the time taken to make them. Cash was exchanged for labour notes, which saw the values of the notes decrease.


It has taken almost 200 years for some of Owen’s dreams to come true. He believed that children should be at school rather than working in factories. In many parts of the world today children still have to work and miss out on education.

Although he didn't persuade all the other factory owners at the time, Owen did start to get businesses thinking about their social responsibilities – people and planet – as well as profit.

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Owen’s ideas live onHis followers, known as Owenites, set up the first co-operatives. One early co-operative was started by the Rochdale Pioneers in 1844, and grew into the Co-operative which has stores in the high street today. There are around one billion co-operative members in over 100 countries today.

The environmental problems of the 21st century are causing many people to explore Owen’s ideas about sustainable communities and plans are being developed for a number of new ‘eco towns’ around the UK.


Robert Owen Day

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