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Richard Oastler (20 December 1789 – 22 August 1861) was an English labour reformer, "Tory radical", and abolitionist. He fought for the rights of working children in the Factory Act of 1847, and was also a prominent leader of the Factory reform and anti-Poor Law movement. ==Career== Born in Leeds, West Yorkshire, Oastler was the youngest of ten children born to a linen merchant Robert Oastler and his mother was a daughter of Joseph Scurr. Richard later became steward for Thomas Thornhill, the absentee landlord of Fixby, a large estate near Huddersfield. Richard Oastler attended a Moravian boarding school from 1798 to 1806, and then (his father vetoing Richard's desire to become a barrister) started training to become an architect. After four years his failing sight forced him to give this up; in 1810 he became a commission agent. Early in 1820 he went bankrupt; later that year on the death of his father he was invited to succeed him as steward of the Thornhill estates, looking after a rent roll of £20,000 per year on an annual salary of £300. He accepted, moving to Fixby Hall in 1821.〔 In 1830 Oastler met John Wood, a worsted manufacturer from Bradford who agonised over the need to employ children in his factory. Already an abolitionist, Oastler, after a lengthy meeting with Wood, decided to join the struggle for factory legislation, and wrote a letter on the subject of "Yorkshire Slavery" to the ''Leeds Mercury'' newspaper. From this time forward, Oastler dedicated himself to the battle of what was now known as the 10-Hour Movement, and to campaigning for Poor Law reform. By 1836 Oastler was urging workers to use strikes and sabotage. This proved his downfall. Thornhill, hearing of his speeches, sacked him as his steward in May 1838 and called in unpaid debts. Oastler was unable to pay up and was jailed for debt on 9 December 1840. It took his friends and supporters more than three years to raise the money necessary to pay the so-called Factory King's debt. 'Oastler Committees' were formed in Manchester and other places to assist him, and 'Oastler Festivals' - the proceeds of which were forwarded to him - were arranged by working men. In 1842 an 'Oastler Liberation Fund' was started, and by the end of 1843 the fund amounted to £2,500. Some of Oastler's friends guaranteed the remaining sum needed to gain his release, and in February 1844 he emerged from the Fleet Prison. Having maintained his campaigning activity while in prison by publishing weekly ''Fleet Papers'' devoted to the discussion of factory and poor-law questions, Oastler continued his work and achieved some sort of success when the 1847 Factory Act restricted children to a 10-hour day in cotton mills. But it was not until six years after his death in 1861 that the act was widened to encompass children working in all factories. His later years involved editing a weekly newspaper called ''The Home'', which he commenced on 3 May 1851, and discontinued in June 1855. He died in Harrogate in 1861 and was buried in the churchyard of Kirsktall St. Stephens Parish Church in Leeds. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Richard Oastler」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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