ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL - Historic Society of Lancashire … · 2017-05-30 · ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL 81 The Rathbones seem to have been influenced by Owen's ideas on subjects

ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL

BY JAMES MURPHY, M.A., PH.D., F.R.HIST.S.

Read 8 December 1960

The author of this paper will not attempt to give an account of all that Robert Owen is known to have said and done in Liverpool, since, apart from other considerations, this would involve the inclusion of a good deal of material which is readily available elsewhere. Instead, he will endeavour to furnish new or little-known information concerning some of Owen's activities in the town and his relations with some of those who lived there.

1 OWEN AND THE RATHBONES

ROBERT OWEN'S first connections with the town of Liverpool were, apparently, commercial, since he claimed

in his autobiography (Vol. 1, p. 33) that he purchased the first consignment of American Sea Island cotton ever brought into the port. As early as 1818, however, Owen's social experiments attracted the close attention of the fifth William Rathbone (1) (1787-1868), head of a family already distinguished for philan thropic activity in Liverpool and a man sincerely anxious to discover enlightened ways in which to help the poor and oppressed. Rathbone visited New Lanark in April 1818, and after inspecting the schools there submitted a written question naire 12 ' about them to someone connected with them, possibly to Owen himself: the questions and answers Rathbone then sent to his wife, Elizabeth. Since the report shows how greatly Rathbone was impressed by Owen's educational experiment in its very early days, and has never been published, it is given in full in Appendix A.

111 Henceforward, unless otherwise indicated, all references to "William Rathbone" relate to this fifth William. For accounts of the Rathbone family see A Sketch of Family History During Four Generations . . ., by William Rathbone [the sixth] (1894); William Rathbone, [the sixth] (London, 1905), by Eleanor Rathbone; Records of the Rathbone Family (1913), by Augustine Birrell and Emily A. Rathbone; Eleanor Rathbone (London, 1949), by Mary D. Stocks. The Rathbone Family Papers are in the University Library, Liverpool.

( -> The document was copied by the present writer some years before the Rathbone Family Papers were presented to the University of Liverpool; it has not yet been found among the papers so presented.

79

80 ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL

Plate 11. ROBERT OWEN

ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL 81

The Rathbones seem to have been influenced by Owen's ideas on subjects other than education. In his account of the history of Co-operation in Liverpool, W. Henry Brown <3) wrote of one of Owen's early schemes for "establishing in dustrial committees for the improvement of the conditions of the poor", and went on:

"At the meeting in the Freemason's Hall, London, at which the scheme was launched in June, 1822, loans of £55,000 were promised. Mrs. Wm. Rathbone, 141 of Liverpool, offered £1,000; and promises of £100 each were made by the Rev. John Yates and James Cropper, two other residents on the Mersey. One of the villages was to be developed in Scotland; another near Liverpool. The plans were prepared, the rules and regulations drawn up on the Owenite plan; £55,000 was not sufficient to launch this economic Mayflower. So the vision ended."

According to Brown (op. cit. p. 37), "although Owen's scheme never got berthed on the Mersey, it influenced co-operative development" many years later, since in 1884 J. T. W. Mitchell of Rochdale "showed the actual plan of Owen's proposed Liverpool village of 1822 to William Maxwell", who was deeply impressed by it at the time when he was planning the industrial colony at Shieldhall, Glasgow.

For many years the Rathbones took a keen interest in Owen's schemes. When Owen returned to England in July 1827 from the experimental communal colony he had set up in New Harmony, Indiana, he stayed with the Rathbones; and Elizabeth Rathbone wrote to her mother-in-law giving her a very full account of Owen's opinions about New Harmony and his proposals for its future (Appendix B). In September of the following year, when William Rathbone heard that Owen was planning to return to America he wrote to Owen advising him as to the ships available for the crossing from Liverpool to New York and told him he would be expected to "come direct" to the Rathbone house in Bedford Street. (5)

But though the Rathbones showed great interest in Owen's plans to found communities at home and abroad, it seems clear that what most deeply influenced them was his fundamental doctrine that man is the product of the circumstances in which he lives, and, as a corollary, that education is of supreme importance. On 19 September 1849 Elizabeth Rathbone wrote to Lady Byron, widow of the poet, and, as we shall see, herself for a time an admirer of Robert Owen's ideas:

"We knew Mr. Owen his doings and sayings and writings intimately when he was rational and practical, and have read all but his last work & the influence

131 A Century of Liverpool Co-operation (Liverpool, n.d.), pp. 32, 33. 11 > Presumably the widowed mother, not the wife, of the fifth William

Rathbone.(5) Owen Correspondence in Co-operative Union Library, Manchester.


of circumstances, how far they extended, was a subject of much anxious thought and discussion as connected with parental responsibilities and the poor, and I believe we are more indebted to Mr. Owen for leading the way in many good works than is generally allowed. His schools led the way to a more extended system of education for the poor, & Mr. Rathbone wrote to me of his infant school, long before any other was established." 191

It would obviously be wrong to suggest that the important philanthropic work of the Rathbones of Owen's day and later (7) had its origins solely in the doctrines of Robert Owen, but it is surely fair to claim that some of Owen's ideas influenced the Rathbones and encourgaged them to believe that certain kinds of philanthropic activity were especially necessary and im portant. William Rathbone's mother and sister helped to organize one of the first infant schools established in Liver pool ; (8) his wife provided the money to set up the South Corporation Infants' School (1833) and for some years super vised its work and maintained it out of her own pocket; (9) of other, more important, contributions of the Rathbones at this time to the development of education in Liverpool the writer has given an account else where ; <10) and it is pleasing to note that Elizabeth Rathbone lived to give much appreciated advice to W. E. Forster when his Education Bill of 1870 was passing through Parliament. 1111

II OWEN S VISITS TO LIVERPOOL

When Owen's father-in-law died, Owen assumed responsi bility for the upbringing and education of his wife's four sisters. One of these, Mary, married the Reverend James Haldane Stewart, vicar of St. Bride's Church, Liverpool, and a man of most decided evangelical views. In his autobiography, published in 1857, Owen wrote of the difficulties which arose because he disbelieved in "the truth of any of the religions of the world", whereas his "truly affectionate" sister-in-law was fervently religious. He remarked that Mary, "after kind sayings in the first portion of her letters always concluded with

161 Rathbone Family Papers.'" To choose from many examples, William Rathbone's son William (the

sixth) founded the District Nursing Service and was one of the founders of University College, Liverpool; Eleanor Rathbone, M.P., daughter of the sixth William, worked for many good causes and was largely responsible for the introduction of family allowances.

181 Duncan Street East (Society of Friends), 1824. MS in the records of the Liverpool Meeting of the Society of Friends.

191 Report of a Committee of the Manchester Statistical Society on the State of Education in the Borough of Liverpool in 1835-1836 (London, 1836), p. 72.

1101 See The Religious Problem in English Education: The Crucial Experiment (Liverpool, 1959), by James Murphy.

1111 W. Rathbone [the sixth], A Sketch of Family History . . ., p. 57.


the most earnest solicitude that I would believe in her faith . . . I was always gratified by her extreme solicitude for my con version" (p. 101). An extant letter from Mary to Owen (20 July 1842), shows how great her solicitude was; and when, in December 1834, one of her sons wrote from Falkner Street to inform Owen that another of her sons, William, had just died, the writer said:

"Mamma will write to you as soon as she is able, but at present she is feeling too much to do so, but she begs me to add that when your letter arrived Dear William said 'Oh! I wish I could write to dear Uncle Owen to entreat of him to give up all his present vain pursuits, for oh! how uncertain life is!' and at that very moment little did he think, dear boy! that he was so soon to be in Eternity!!! Oh! take his advice dearest Uncle, ere it be too late, for rest assured you will never repent of it!"' 121

Nothing could display more clearly Owen's extraordinary optimism or capacity for self-delusion than the fact that shortly afterwards he actually wrote:

"This morning, while at breakfast with my brother-in-law, the Reverend Mr. Stewart of St. Bride's church, who is a most conscientious Evangelical minister and a Tory, I opened to him in a preliminary manner, my intention of making a serious attempt to unite the various religious and political parties on principles altogether different from those by which any of them have been yet influenced. I was much satisfied with this first attempt, with a conscientious ultra Evangelical minister and Tory." 1131

It is perhaps not surprising that relations between Owen and his Liverpool relatives became somewhat strained and that, as he said later, "intercourse gradually diminished". (14)

Owen's attempt to win over his evangelical brother-in-law took place during the second of two visits to Liverpool which he made in September 1836, and at this time Owen appears to have been particularly optimistic and self-confident. With great satisfaction he wrote:

"I breakfasted with Mr. James Martineau, the brother of Miss Harriet Martineau, on Saturday last. He is deeply interested in promoting the education of the working classes, and he is engaged just now in preparing a report to the Committee of Management on the plan of education for their New Mechanics' Institute. ... I was surprised and pleased to discover that Mr. Martineau, who is a minister of the Unitarian sect in this town, agrees with me in many of our fundamental principles in the science of human nature and of society." 1161

Owen stated that he visited Liverpool on this occasion not only to see his relatives but also "to ascertain what measures

(i2) Owen Correspondence.1131 New Moral World, 8 October 1836, p. 394.1141 The Life of Robert Owen. Written by Himself. . .. (London, 1857), Vol. 1,

p. 101.1151 New Moral World, 8 October 1836, p. 394. On a later visit to Liverpool, in

January 1838, Owen was invited by Martineau to meet "two or three friends" at his "family tea-table". Owen Correspo ndence.


would be the most likely to arouse the inhabitants of Liverpool to a true sense of the ignorance, degradation, and folly, in which they are all involved". He therefore "sought out those who are occupied in what is called a liberal education for the people". At the time a great controversy was raging in Liverpool because the newly-elected Liberal town council, urged on by William Rathbone, had thrown open to children of all sects two elementary schools owned by the council, so as to demonstrate to the government that it might successfully establish a national system of education based on the example provided by the Liverpool Corporation Schools; most of the Conservatives and all but one of the local Church of England clergymen were bitterly opposed to the council's policy. (16) Owen dismissed the controversy somewhat acidly: "I soon found that a warm contest existed between the Whigs and Tories to decide who should have the privilege of educating the children of the poorer classes, in order that the victors might train them to become the supporters of their party." This was manifestly unfair to William Rathbone and his followers, but the reason for Owen's bitterness is at once made clear; he felt that the credit due to him as the pioneer of infant education was being unjustly given to another:

"The Conservatives and the friends of the people, as they call themselves, are each making great exertions to succeed in their object. The Conservatives have subscribed liberally to support their system of schooling, while the New Cor poration have invited Mr. Wilderspin, whom, in their placards they designate the 'celebrated founder of the Infant School System', to lecture upon the system of Infant Education. Seeing such notice placarded over the town, I intended to be one of Mr. Wilderspin's audience that I might ask him in public a few questions respecting the origin of every part of this system."' 171

William Rathbone must have been almost in despair: it was he who had persuaded the education committee of the council to invite Samuel Wilderspin to reorganize the Corporation Infant Schools. The Conservative newspapers of the town, as part of the general campaign against the Liberals, were attacking Wilderspin in particular and the education of infants in general: in fact, it was found possible to combine "Wilder- spinian Humbug", "Infant Education Quackery" and Rathbone's Unitarianism in one target, since it was claimed that "it was the disease of the sect to which Mr. Rathbone belongs to take too many liberties with the infant mind". (18) A public conflict between Wilderspin and Owen, in which Rathbone would have had to support Owen and oppose a

1181 See Murphy, op. cit.<"> New Moral World, 8 October 1836, p. 393.(i8i Liverp00i Mail, 4 October 1836.


man whose help he had sought, would have delighted and encouraged the Conservatives, and disgraced and embittered Wilderspin. There was no subject on which Owen felt more strongly than on his claim to have originated infant education, yet eventually he wrote: "Mr. Wilderspin's friend begged I would not put any questions to him at his lecture on Tuesday, therefore I did not attend it." (19) It seems almost certain that the only friend of Wilderspin's who could have mollified Owen in the circumstances was William Rathbone; it says a great deal for Robert Owen that the argument was safely transferred to the columns of the New Moral World. (m

Owen was able to convince himself that at this time he very much impressed those men in Liverpool who were most interested in education. He wrote:

"I went, according to promise, to Liverpool to meet the friends of education there, (21> and I was detained discussing the subject with them until a late hour in the evening, and I left them deeply imbued with the desire to withdraw from the errors and absurdities of the Old World, and to begin at least some part of the New. When I retired, I left the whole party warmly engaged in considering how they could best commence; I promised to meet them in Liverpool again next week, when they will have had more time to reflect upon all the principles which I explained to them, and be better prepared to form a sound judgement concerning them; for I am always doubtful of the permanence of impressions when received without much reflection and cool deliberation. They seemed, however, to be most earnest in their desire to commence immediately a Co operative plan of domestic expenditure. " (22)

Probably the most unusual of all Owen's attempts to obtain converts was made in Liverpool at this period, October 1836. He felt that Liverpool "required to be awakened" to appreciate his ideas, that "the acquisition of riches" had been the "universal object with all classes of its inhabitants". He claimed that "Minds trained to endeavour to buy cheap and to sell dear, are placed under most unfavourable circumstances for the acquirement of superior attainments ; and as to real morality,

Moral World, 8 October 1836, p. 394.1201 Ibid., 15 October, 22 October, 1836.1211 The phrase "friends of education" seems vague, but it is very likely that

Owen was referring to Rathbone and some of the other Liberal councillors. The Liverpool Education Committee had a few months earlier invited the phrenologist and educationist James Simpson to lecture in Liverpool, whereupon the "Friends of Education in Manchester" formed a committee to invite Simpson to Man chester, they having "observed with admiration that a large proportion of the friends of intellectual improvement in Liverpool, including the Mayor and Educational Committee of the Town Council" had issued the invitation to Simoson. The lectures were followed by a public dinner arranged by Richard Cobden and others: William Rathbone attended and spoke. National Education. Report of the Speeches Delivered at a Dinner Given to James Simpson, Esq., by the Friends of Education in Manchester . . . (Manchester, 1836). Owen had by this time become friendly with Simpson.

1221 New Moral World, S October 1836, p. 394.


it cannot exist under any such system." He therefore attended a fancy dress ball in the town dressed as "the Schoolmaster Abroad" (23) and distributed leaflets setting forth his ideas; he went to the ball at 10.30 p.m. taking with him the small supply of leaflets then ready, but he had arranged, he explained,

"to have a regular supply as they could be printed, up to one o'clock, by which time I had about 2,000, and before two o'clock, I had not one left; and as I remained until four o'clock in the rooms, many appeared quite disappointed that I had none to give them. ... It gave me ... much pleasure to have so good an opportunity to sow the seeds of a better state of society among them."

The "Lessons" conveyed in the leaflets are too lengthy to reproduce here but perhaps a short extract may suffice by way of illustration:

"THE SCHOOLMASTER ABROAD

The time has arrived for the world to go to school to learn its alphabet of knowledge, to enable it to attain the happiness which it desires to possess.

First LessonA The earth is yet, except in some few places, covered with unreclaimed

wastes, morasses and forests, for want of people to cultivate and improve it.

B It is yet far too large for the family which it has to support; there can be, therefore, no rational cause for contests between individuals or nations to apportion any part of it to themselves.

Z But above all things remember these three great truths.1st. That our convictions and feelings are instincts of human nature, and

not acts of the will.2nd. That the whole character of every individual is formed for and not

by him.3rd. That the creating Power of the universe and society form this

character; that it is, however, chiefly formed by the inferior or superior, the vicious or virtuous circumstances which society pre pares for the individual from its birth." 1241

It is hardly to be wondered at that the Conservative Liverpool Standard (14 October 1836) accused Owen of distributing "dangerous and sophistical papers . . ., thus creeping into the paradise of innocent and happy hearts".

Ill OWEN AND FINCH

Volume 109 of the TRANSACTIONS contains a paper' 25 ' on John Finch, the Liverpool socialist, one of the most

1831 Lord Brougham's remark "Look out, gentlemen, the schoolmaster is abroad" was often quoted at this time.

1241 New Moral World, 8 October 1836, p. 394.<25 > "John Finch, 1784-1857, A Liverpool Disciple of Robert Owen", by

R. B. Rose.


prominent and most devoted followers of Robert Owen; the author gives an account of many of Finch's activities, but makes no use of the Owen Correspondence in the library of the Co-operative Union 126 ' in Manchester, which throws a great deal of additional light upon the relations between Finch and Owen, as the present writer hopes to show.

On 16 February 1831 Finch sent to Owen a printed circular in which he made detailed proposals concerning the estab lishment and organization of a hostel for seamen to be set up in Liverpool and run on co-operative lines. The chief objective was:

"To rent or purchase a large building, convertible into proper apartments for store-rooms for provisions, clothing, and sea-stores; a savings bank, library, school, lecture, reading and dining rooms, and other conveniences for boarding and lodging at least 500 seamen, and to raise, by subscription, a sufficient sum of money to furnish and stock the building for these purposes. . . . The seamen to pay such a sum weekly, for board and lodging, as will cover the expenses."

It was intended that "clothing and all other necessaries" should be purchased in bulk and sold to the seamen at low prices; great stress was laid on the claim that the enterprise would become self-supporting and that merchants and ship owners who advanced money to found the hostel would eventually have their loans repaid. Nothing came of Finch's proposals, but in view of later developments in Finch's ideas it is worth noting that he laid it down as one of the proposed regulations for the hostel that every seaman was "to attend a place of worship on Sundays, at least once a day, or pay a fine". Nevertheless, in a letter published in the Liverpool Mercury (14 January 1831) Finch claimed that the existing "Seamen's Friend Society" was too sectarian and paid too much attention to preaching. He would act upon the principles that "man is the creature of circumstances", and that "the right way to improve the morals" of labourers was "first of all, to better their conditions".

On the back of the circular outlining his plans Finch wrote what may have been his first letter to Owen, and it is here given in part:

"Dear Sir,I have for some time past employed my leisure time in devising means for

bringing your new principles for the improvement of society into a practicable form so as to obtain all the advantages from them that are attainable in the present state of the place in which I reside you have probably seen my plan for improving the condition of the Dock Labourers.. . . (27)

(26i j g]-atefuiiy acknowledge the assistance so courteously afforded to me by the librarian and assistant librarian on my many visits.

la" For an account of this plan see Rose (op. cit).


I now send you my plan for improving the condition of the Seamen1281 which is still more Co-operative than the former indeed I think as much so as is prac ticable with this class but if you can offer some suggestions for improvement I shall be happy to receive them as far as the Sailors [are?] concerned?] there would be no difficulty in bringing it into operation [MS torn] fear if its success is to depend upon the assistance of the higher classes it will not be effected there is such a carelessness and indifference on their part in general to the interests and comforts of the labourers that it is really distressing to witness. . . .

I will endeavour to prepare the minds of the people a little for you should you favour us with a few lectures. . . . Lady Byron 129 ' informs me that you intend to bring your principles before Parliament soon I hope you will do so but do let me intreat you not to allude to the subject of the Christian Religion nor to be drawn into any discussion upon it by any remarks that may be made by Honourable Members of those Houses Christianity really has nothing to do with your social arrangements or rather nothing can promote the practice of genuine Christianity so effectually as Co-operation. I have given the subject a great deal of consideration and this is my firm conviction & I believe that your principles would have been adopted to a great extent long ago if you had been silent upon Religion I hate Establishments I hate creeds I hate persecu tion and bigotry I disapprove of paid priests I abominate all shackles upon the freedom of thought and all irrational dogmas of reputed orthodoxy in all religions as much as you can do but does not the religion of nature teach love to God and love to man and the practice of all the personal and social virtues And what is genuine Christianity but a system of morals inculcating all these to their greatest extent with those additional motives and reasons that Christ is a Divinely commissioned instructor who places before us eternal felicity as the reward of our obedience."

Finch concluded his letter by wishing Owen "every present and future blessing" and calling Owen his friend.

Five months later, on 29 June 1831, Finch sent to Owen another printed circular giving particulars of the "Resolu tions, (30) &c. Passed at the First Meeting of the Co-operative Congress, Held in Manchester on Thursday and Friday, May 26th and 27th, 1831"; on the back of this circular, also, Finch wrote to Owen, again somewhat formally:

"Mr. Owen, Dear Sir, I received your long letter and am much obliged for the portion of your valuable time that you have devoted to one so unworthy, your suggestions are very proper ... I am sorry to hear that our friends in London are not able to undertake a weekly Newspaper, but are you aware of a weekly paper, published I believe under the patronage of Lady Byron, and other warm friends to co-operation, called the Englishmans Register and devoted to the interests of the working classes, could you not see her Ladyship, and make some arrangements with her and the Editors, about devoting some part of its columns to the cause, I know it would not be listened to for one moment,

1281 Finch organized a petition in support of his plan to be presented to the king by "the Right Hon. Captain Lord Byron". (Liverpool Mercury, 18 February 1831).

1291 See W. Henry Brown, Brighton's Co-operative Advance 1828-1928, (Manchester, n.d.): "If Robert Owen was the father of Co-operation, we may regard Lady Byron as its godmother." Brown states that before 1832 Lady Byron fostered the establishment of a co-operative society at "Gateacre" near Liverpool, and "sent £5 towards the expenses of the first exhibition of Co-operative pro ductions ever held in this country" in Liverpool, 1832. (pp. 55, 60).

1301 The resolutions were mainly concerned with the proposal to establish a wholesale warehouse in Liverpool for the use of co-operative societies.


unless with the express stipulation that all attacks I will not say upon the cor ruptions, of Christianity, but upon practical Christianity were studiously and systematically avoided I give you this caution, because I am anxious that so good a cause should not bs hindered in its progress by dissertations upon sub jects which to me appear to have no necessary connexion with any one principle which even you yourself advocate in the paper you distributed at the Delegate Meeting." \^

Finch went on to invite Owen to lecture in Liverpool, and said that he would be glad to receive from Owen "a few instructions^ before beginning "a journey on business, and Co-operative Missionary Tour" (311 about 12 July: he suggested that Owen \ might travel to Liverpool with a "Relative of Lady Byron" whose heart was "much engaged in the cause" and who was expected to visit the town at about that date. At this time Finch was addressing Owen as "Your Brother in the good cause".

By November 1832 Finch was still no more than "with the greatest respect" Owen's "very obedient servant" when he wrote offering to make all the necessary arrangements and to put Owen up if the latter would come to lecture in Liverpool. But when he wrote to Owen on 19 November 1833 Finch described himself as "Your Son in the best of causes", and the transition from respectful friendship to acceptance of discipleship was well under way. We shall see later how far this process went.

In the letter referred to Finch wrote:

"The success of pur principles is certain and the time for their general intro duction into practice draws nigh I rejoice to see you laboring in the Trade Unions 1521 for tho I know that at present the great body of the working classes

131 ' Finch's efforts on behalf of co-operation in Liverpool seem to have met with little success. According to the Liverpool Mercury of 7 January 1831 he had recently addressed 'the annual meeting of the first Liverpool Co-operative Society ... in the large room over their store, No. 2 Greenland street'. The report of the Society was said to be encouraging but complaint was made that members gave insufficient support to their store, partly because of distance and indifference but mainly because so many members needed credit which "compels them to go to the shops where they are in debt". In a letter printed in The Crisis, 22 September 1832, a follower of Owen's, probably William Pare, wrote "I ... proceeded to Liverpool. Co-operation seems to be dying away there."

1321 In The Crisis, No. 1, Vol. Ill (7 September 1833) Owen was reported as stating that he had visited "Manchester and afterwards Liverpool, in both of which places he had the most interesting and satisfactory interviews with the working men; they insisted upon his returning speedily to see them, which he promised". But a letter from "The Operatives" of the Liverpool Central Com mittee of the Builders' Union and addressed to "Robert Owen, Philanthropist, Manchester" shows that some workmen were very cautious: "When we had the honor of a visit from you we held out a kind of promise that we would most likely formally invite you to attend a Meeting in L'pool. But on Consideration we think it advisable not to do so, as the Liverpool Public might think that we were lending ourselves to some other purposes than those we originally intended. Nevertheless we will be most glad to meet you when Convenient, and shall prepare a proper place to hold the Meeting ... be so good as to write the Day we may expect you." (23 August, 1833).


is too ignorant to understand you and too drunken and vicious to unite in such a manner as to insure success from their own exertions unassisted by the more wealthy still you are diffusing knowledge of the most valuable kind among the leading minds belonging to that most powerful body and adopting those means that will compel those who are able to help them to come forward to their assistance in their own defence The Meeting of Parliament is now drawing nigh and we must be prepared to cause the introduction of every subject there that will in any way forward our views and among these none [MS defective] likely [MS defective] before Parliament and before the public a concise rational [MS defective] for a National System of Education. With this view I have penned a few thoughts upon the subject which I shall now send in this form to some of the most leading characters in the Kingdom leaving others to follow out these principles into detail [sic],... The plan I have laid down you will at once per ceive would in three or four years relieve the country from 6 millions in poor rates, render all the Charity Schools in the Kingdom useless & remove the greater part of drunkenness ignorance and vice from Society."

The "plan" referred to had originally been sent to "the Members of the Liverpool Mechanics' Institution": Finch now requested that it should be printed in The Crisis "with such remarks and explanations" as Owen might think necessary. (33)

On 12 October 1836 Finch wrote to Owen that he had lectured on "Teetotal Temperance" in a number of towns in Scotland and in Cockermouth, Carlisle, Workington and Kendal: he had preached temperance "as the forerunner of an improved Social System'" and he instructed Owen to enquire for "friends to the Social System" and readers of the New Moral World in the following places:

"Preston Staines seller of unstamped Publications near the Market Place sells about one dozen of the New Moral World weekly 1341 enquire for him and for Grubb Tailor a very eloquent man also see Mr. Swindlehurst and my Son make your abode with my Son Edward Finch.

Kendal Enquire for the Co-operative Society leaders Gaskell etc., and Swindlehurst.

Carlisle Edward Armstrong Nailer will introduce you to the Co-operative Societies and Trades Unions there are many friends to the Social System in Carlisle.

Cockermouth You should go there the New Moral World [sic] and there is a Social System Society there of 50 Members I delivered two Lectures there on the Social System to large and attentive audiences they were much gratified enquire of Mr. Adair Hair Dresser, he is not a member but he can put you in the way of finding out who are give my respects to him you will find many intelligent men there.

Glasgow There is a Social System Society there your old servant Edward Morris at the Ticket Office Port Dundas could give you information see the Reverend Geo Harris Unitarian Minister and the unstamped venders.

(33) j( was printed in the Liverpool Mercury, 8 November 1833.134 ' See the letter sent from Liverpool by "John Forgham, an operative" to

Robert Owen, 8 October 1836: "The Readers of the New Moral World here, are about a dozen: the number of Christs apostles." Finch wrote to Owen, 20 January 1837: "The New Moral World might have a very large circulation but there is abominable carelessness and neglect somewhere. All the branches in Huddersfield, Bradford, Halifax, Glasgow, Paisley, Liverpool complain grievously of the loss of sale and falling off in demand owing to the irregularity in receiving the work it is frequently never sent at all."


Paisley There is a Social System Society here Mr. Dunlop preacher at theUnitarian Chapel can inform you who are the leading men and the MoralWorld is read here.

Edinburgh I did not find any Socialists here I believe there are some MessrsA Cruikshank Quaker and Silk Mercer Georges Street is one of the mostactive Teetotallers.

Dumfries See D. Halliday Printer and the Editors of the Times."

On this occasion Finch added the advice:

"It will be better not to identify the Social System with the Temperance cause keep them quite distinct the Temperance Societies when religious Sec tarianism and party politics are entirely excluded you perceive will be the very best preparation for our great consummation."

Nevertheless he informed Owen three months later (20 January 1837) that he had been "labouring very hard in Socialism and Teetotalism in Scotland".

In his letter to Owen of 12 October 1836 Finch had remarked: "We shall be most happy to see you in Liverpool on your return and hope your lectures will be successful I fear our people here are behind other places there is a great deal of religious bigotry which even Temperance Societies cannot yet surmount." The great controversy over the Liverpool Corporation Schools had aroused bitter religious conflict in the town and seems finally to have convinced Finch that no compromise was possible with "sectarianism". (35) Moreover, as time passed he became more and more inclined to regard socialism itself as a religion and Owen as some kind of religious leader; although a very able and hard-headed businessman, Finch appears to have lost, in this connection, not a little of his commonsense, so that instead of advising Owen coolly and intelligently he now often encouraged Owen's natural inclination to underestimate the obstacles confronting socialists and to think of himself as being in some ways a Messiah.

In March 1837 Finch sent Owen some copies of a pamphlet he had written entitled The Foolery of Sectarianism, consisting of reprints of letters originally published in the Liverpool Albion and later in the New Moral World (11 March 1837 onwards). Finch wrote:

"Dear Father Owen,... I send you 150 wedges, which / request you will effectually drive into super

stition. Circulate my Foolery of Sectarianism among all our friends in Man chester and other places within their sphere, and if you can prevail upon them to get it reprinted, and give it a more extended circulation I think it will materially assist our cause. I have only 1,000 copies which I am sending by Post to all the Members of our Common Council, Dock Committee, Magistrates, Ministers of Religion of all sects. to the leading members of the House of Lords and Com mons, Bishops, Ministers of State, and the King The time is now come when

1351 See New Moral World, 11 March 1837.


Figure 13. FINCH ASKS OWEN TO MAKE HIM A BISHOP


we must all speak out in a voice of thunder and compel all men to think and if possible to act with us for the Reform of the whole World."

Part of Finch's purpose in writing the pamphlet, he declared, was to demonstrate

"That ancient prophecy points to a period when such a state of Society as Mr. Owen describes and recommends shall be universal throughout the world. Second, That the present time appears to be the most favourable period that ever occurred in the history of the world, for entering into such a state. Third, that Mr. Owen's character and conduct answers most exactly the description of the great person pointed out by the Prophets, as the honoured instrument, in the hands of God, for effecting these most important and beneficial changes." (New Moral World, 17 June 1837.)

In August 1838 Finch wrote to Owen a letter which must surely rank as one of the most extraordinary that Owen ever received:

"Dear Father,'He that desireth the Office of a Bishop desireth a good thing.'' I know that I

was orally ordained first Bishop of the New Moral World by you at the Meeting of Congress, / now wish to be 'Confirmed' in that office by a writing given by your own hand, and may I request that you will give it. You are aware that I take the place of St Peter, and therefore it is necessary that you should deliver up to me the 'Keys' with your blessing and solemn charge as was done on a similar occasion....You perceive that I have something of the spirit of James & John when they asked their master that one of them might sit on his right hand and the other on his left in his kingdom and you can tell me whether I am of such a spirit as will qualify me for such an honor...I am preaching and writing every hour I can spare the subject engrosses nearly all my thoughts and feelings I shall I trust have more leisure soon and then I intend to join you & to become your amanuensis and servant I shall then be able to take half your labor...do take care of yourself or you will be like Moses bring us to the borders of Canaan and never enter into its rest."

It is a pity that no record remains of Owen's reply to this letter, but whatever answer Finch received seems not to have lessened his enthusiasm for socialism or his devotion to Owen, since a month later he wrote from Liverpool:

"...We are doing all we can here and are doing well. Our numbers and our zeal increases Our members are turning street preachers . . . [opponents] call most furiously on their Gods to send doxvn fire from heaven upon us. But either he is from home or on a journey or peradventure he sleeps and must be awaked."

On 23 April 1839 Finch wrote to "Mr. Jas Braby" about land to be purchased for the use of an Owenite community, and with characteristic assurance and optimism he added:

"I very much prefer taking land on loan to purchasing land for our first com munity and 99 years lease is as good as having it our own long before the end of that period all the land in the Kingdom will be laid out for Communities. By taking on lease all our means become available for practical operations at once and in a very short time we shall be prepared for a second and a third experi ment."


Soon afterwards Finch wrote to Owen a letter which not only illustrates the confidence and enthusiasm of the writer but contains carefully considered proposals for the founding of a socialist community based on industry. In the letter to Braby to which reference has just been made, Finch, after discussing the arrangements for purchasing agricultural land for the community of which he was to become acting governor, went on "I shall rely more on your judgment than on my own for you know I am not trained for an agriculturist and have had little experience in it". It was natural that an industrialist should yearn to set up an industrial community; indeed it has often been pointed out that in Owenite communities skilled industrial workers were too often called upon to undertake agricultural pursuits for which they were quite untrained. Finch's letter to Owen on the subject is therefore of considerable interest (Appendix C).

In December 1839 Finch asked for Owen's help in completing the Hall of Science which the Owenites were building in Liver pool and which Finch wished to see in being before taking charge of the Queenwood Community at Tytherley in Hamp shire. He wrote:

"/ wish 1 could see you here [i.e. in Liverpool] because we are in considerable difficulties as to procuring money for roofing and finishing our new institution and 1 think you could contrive to negociate a loan for us from some of your old friends here we shall want it for a short period only ... I intend to go down to Titherley [sic] again as soon as I can arrange this business but if I go before that is done the business will stand and a loss will be sustained by the society . . . We intend if possible to open it on Good Friday next and wish to secure your services on that joyful occasion (36) ... I also wish to spend a day with you alone to discuss a code of laws which I have drawn up for the government of Queen- wood Community to converse with you about the erection of industrial buildings and dwelling houses there and other matters in order that I might obtain all the information from you that will be necessary for conducting this important experiment to a successful termination that we might as soon as possible pre pare for a larger and more perfect one."

As we have seen, in what may have been his first letter to Owen, Finch had urged the socialist leader to avoid religious controversy and had pointed out that attacks on prevailing religious beliefs had done great harm to the socialist cause. It is curious, therefore, that within less than ten years later Finch's own criticisms of religious beliefs and believers were calling forth complaints even from his fellow-socialists, in words not very different from those he had used to Owen. As early as September 1838 Owen had received from J. Mitchell of Preston, who described himself as a follower and "Hbl Svt" of Owen's, a letter complaining at great length of Finch's "fulsome" flattery

186 ' Owen was present at the opening in 1840 and spoke on several occasions.


of Owen and deploring the intolerant and provocative language in which Finch expressed his views about the religious beliefs of persons "taught under the old and bad Sistem". Mitchell added:

"Do use your influence with Mr. F & with Such as Mr. Finch he is a man worth being laboured with Possessing a very ready Delivery, & Considerable powers of arguement Could he be pruned of his luxuriance mischievous enemy making luxuriance at variance with his own professions If he could be pruned of that quality he would be a most useful man but Dear Sir there is no one but yourself, I think that can prune him.

Events were showing that this was sound advice. Owen was to have spoken on 29 and 30 January 1838 at the Music Hall in Liverpool on "The best means of removing Ignorance and Poverty", but at the last moment the proprietors withdrew their permission on religious grounds. Thereupon arrangements were made to use the hall of the Liverpool Medical Institution, but again permission was withdrawn: the secretary wrote that "under the present circumstances of embarrassment of the Funds of this Institution the Trustees (having ascertained that serious offense might be given to a number of Friends were the Lecture Room to be appropriated to Mr. Owen's Lectures)" could not allow Owen to use the hall. Oddly enough, when Finch lectured on the Religion of the New Moral World, Owen somewhat primly "said a few words, recommending the socialists to cease any longer discussing theological questions, which never had been, and never possibly could be of any utility". <37) In the following year more lively opposition to Owen's ideas made itself manifest in the town: circulars and advertisements attacked "infidelity under the name of socialism"; Finch defended Owen's principles at a great public meeting; and the New Moral World counter-attacked by castigating the Protestant clergy who had denounced the Corporation Schools, thus making Liverpool "an arena for the display of bigotry and sectarianism in their most revolting aspects". 138 '

Very soon after Finch became acting governor of the Queen- wood Community his behaviour gave rise to considerable criticism and undoubtedly helped to bring Owenite socialism into disrepute among many Christians. On 25 January 1840 Henry Phillpotts, bishop of Exeter, a fervent Tory well known for intolerance in religious matters, complained in the Lords that according to information he had received the leaders of the Queenwood Community had announced that a lecture would be

1371 New Moral World, 17 February 1838. 1381 Ibid., 7 September 1839.


delivered at two o'clock every Sunday, after which, if the weather was so bad as to prevent a return to work, there would be music, dancing and singing. The clergyman of the parish had expressed very great alarm at the fearful consequences which would ensue: already more than five hundred people were attending these meetings. (39)

This first complaint alleging desecration of the Sabbath was not in itself particularly dangerous or harmful, but the reports circulating about Finch's lectures indicated that more serious charges might soon be made. The prominent socialist Henry Travis wrote to Owen at this time:

"I have to-day finished a draft of instructions' 401 to our advocates to abstain from attacks on religious notions which may be called 'blasphemy'. We were much grieved to find Finch so imprudent at Tytherley We must now adopt the course you inculcated in your address to the missionaries in July last . . . Finch is written to by his father in socialism, Pare, 1411 about adopting a wiser course in his ministrations at Tytherley if they are continued ... it has long seemed to me that our present course is to advocate our views with deference to pre vailing venerations."

One of Finch's lectures had been attended by a notoriously unscrupulous opponent of socialism named Brindley, and Finch well knew that such reports as Brindley would spread were likely to lead to dangerous accusations of blasphemy; indeed the bishop of Exeter made an attack on Finch in the House of Lords very soon afterwards, quoting from a report made by "two gentlemen named Brindley and Tomkins" of a lecture given by Finch: the bishop demanded that the "detestable establishment [Queenwood] must be put down; it could not be endured, or the Government ought not to be endured, if it tolerated that society". (42)

Anticipating this second attack, and evidently expecting to be prosecuted for blasphemy, Finch wrote an explanatory letter to Owen: the latter at once sent it to a lawyer, Thos. J. Arnold, who advised Owen that the letter should be sent to Lord Normanby, the Home Secretary, evidently so that Normanby would be in a better position to reply to the bishop of Exeter's charges as soon as they were made. Finch's letter at once made it clear that he was in no mood to truckle to his critics:

1381 Hansard, Third Series, Vol. LI, Col. 530.1401 The circular embodying these instructions is among the Owen corres

pondence: its terms are very much more emphatic than might be gathered from this letter.

141 ' Pare had more reason than most socialists to feel aggrieved since the mounting opposition to socialism led to his being compelled to resign from his post as Superintendent Registrar in Birmingham.

'"> Hansard, Third Series, Vol. LI, Col. 1187.


"Queenwood Community 29th 4th Mo Year 1 N M W 14"29 Jany 1840

Dear & Honored FatherI have intended for more than a week past to write to you, but was daily

expecting to see you face to face here, that our joy might be full. How your heart must rejoice, as well as the hearts of all your true and faithful disciples, at the present position & aspect of our affairs, that the Priesthood of the Old Immoral World should storm and rage, fret, threaten, and attempt to persecute, as soon as they were forced by the almost miraculous spread of our principles from their hiding places and pretended contempt of our numbers and power, was what I always foresaw, and I trust we are prepared to meet. And I am indeed glad that you have been spared, with vigorous intellect, strong constitution, and full of years and wisdom, to direct our councils and proceedings in this the great crisis of our fate. The destinies of England and the happiness of the world are indeed now in your hands. It is for you to appear again before Kings and Princes, and Priests and Nobles, and the great ones of the earth, to still the raging tempest of human passion by the divinity of your principles, and to direct our Bark in peace & safety to the long desired Haven of Community. All eyes are now turned towards Titherley, and great expectations are formed from our proceedings here, I therefore think it my duty to inform you of what we have done, what we are doing, and what we intend to do, who and what manner of persons we have here, their characters and conduct, and to give explanations of some things charged against us by the Bishop of Exeter and other members of the House of Lords."

His defence against the bishop's accusations has a naivete which is almost charming: he seems not to have seen that almost all that he said could provide ammunition for his critics. Thus he denied that there was labour or dancing at Tytherley on Sundays, but added that he would have seen no harm in it if there had been. He continued:

"That vile blackguard Brindley was here last Sunday, and attended our after noon Lecture, I took a text 'Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature, he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved and he that believeth not shall be damned' In which I said first that the word Gospel meant 'Good News' 'Glad Tidings' I then showed that what the priests call 'Gospel' Original Sin Trinity Devils Election Eternal Torments &c is not 'Gospel', 'Good News', but bad news, bad tidings. In which I argued in the same way that these doctrines are argued by the Unitarians and if there were any possible atrocity in what I said the same atrocity is committed in every Unitarian Chapel in the Kingdom every Sunday.

I then shewed that the Socialist principle that the character of man is formed for him is the most glorious Gospel ever proclaimed to man; and that the Salvation it brought was of the most important kind to the whole human race. But that in order to produce its effects, men must believe it and be baptized with its spirit, that is he that believelh and is baptized will be saved from all the miseries of the Old Immoral World, and he that believeth not will be damned to endure these evils still."

Finch went on to explain that it had been necessary to lecture to those in the neighbourhood who cared to listen since the local clergy had been preaching against the socialists and it was feared that "an ignorant and infuriated mob" might attack them. He quoted testimonials concerning his life and character

'"' 29th of the 4th Month of the 1st Year of the New Moral World, judged to have begun with the founding of the community on 1 October 1839.


which might be drawn to Lord Normanby's attention, and he concluded:

"Perhaps Ministers may think it bsst and the quickest way to put down Socialism to punish me for what Brindley & the Bishop of Exeter may call blasphemy tell them that if I am prosecuted no person shall go bail for me, that I will go to prison, and when called before the Court I will plead my own cause, that I will not pay one farthing for council [sic] to plead for me."

Finch again wrote to Owen on "23rd 5th Mo Yr 1 N M W" (i.e. 23 February 1840) and his letter shows how unrealistically optimistic were the views of the two men and how different was their outlook from that of Owen's more anxious disciples; Finch wrote:

"Revered and Honored Father... I agree with you as I have before expressed that the great battle between

truth & error misery and happiness is near at hand and the contest will be fierce and short ... 1 scarcely think however that it will come quite so soon as you expect there must first be a union among all the religious parties Church Dis senters and Catholics and this will take place as soon as the Priesthood of all these different Sects are fully awake to the dangers that beset them and the destruction that impends over them for they have a common interest or imaginary interest in opposing us and it is only owing to their disunion jealousy and intestine hatred of each other that they have permitted us to proceed so far as we have done it is only by a general union of all these parties that any impres sion can be made upon us and I think this Union will come too late for them. ... I long to see you my good Father that we may have some sweet converse together on the all important objects of your Divine Mission to the world . . ."

As late as 18 April 1840 Finch was writing to Owen about "the late agitation", of the benefits which he claimed it had brought to the socialist cause, of the possibility that Finch might be involved in "a prosecution by the Hampshire Magi strates" all this with evident satisfaction. He added:

"Nothing is now wanting but carrying out successfully the experiment at Tytherley to that we must devote all our energies ... if we can only show a good practical experiment at Tytherley [your plans] will settle the whole business and as soon [as?] they get into general circulation the great object of your life will be in a fair way of accomplishment."

The failure of "the experiment at Tytherley" has been described in detail elsewhere. (44)

In those letters which Finch wrote to Owen between 1840 and Owen's death in 1858, and which are extant, there are strikingly few references to Finch's own activities in Liverpool, although these would surely have been of interest to Owen. Yet it is clear that Finch's respect for Owen and his faith that Owen's principles would ultimately triumph were quite un affected by the many disappointments which came the way of both men.

(44) See e.g., Podmore, F., Robert Owen.


In April 1840 he wrote asking Owen to bring about "an act of mercy" by arranging to have Prince Albert petition the Queen to release "all the State Prisoners for Political offences" if they promised that they would "never more advocate the attaining their rights by physical force". Finch was thinking particularly of Chartists such as Bronterre O'Brien (who had just been im prisoned in Kirkdale Gaol) and he was convinced that clemency "would do more to put down Chartism than all the penal laws ever passed in Parliament". He assured Owen: "Bronterre O'Brien is entirely with us and I know he is sick both of politics and his party. Lovett is also with us and many others."

But as the two men neared the end of their lives most of Finch's letters seemed designed above all to assure Owen that the success of their ideas and plans was certain. On 7 March 1848 Finch wrote, evidently carried away with joy:

"Permit me to offer my warmest congratulations on the unspeakable hap piness you must experience in the wonderful changes that have taken place among that noblest of the nations of the Earth the French People all your prophecies are being fulfilled all your highest aspirations for human liberty and social development and for human improvement and human happiness are about to be realized in that glorious country you see the labour of your soul and the business of your life realized and must be abundantly satisfied . . ."

Even much less striking events than a revolution in Paris could give comfort, as when an article in the Liverpool Albion ex pressed liberal views on the treatment of juvenile delinquents and Finch took this as "another proof of the progress, the immense progress society is making towards the full acknow ledgment of the Divine Principles" which Owen had taught to the world (1 April 1850).

In 1852 Finch begged Owen to come to Liverpool to help him _ to prepare for the press "a great Work" which Finch had written a version of the Bible which would make priests un necessary, and which appeared to him essential "for the speedy adoption of [Owen's] System by the World". Finch's comment was typical of the extraordinary devotion which he, like Owen, had always displayed for the Cause:

"/ shall give away the first edition of 1000 copies which I believe will take away all the money I have in the world, which is what I have saved out of the allowance the inspectors of our estate have made me while our affairs were wind ing up. But I must have the book circulated among the most influential parties from all countries no matter what the consequences may be."

Four years later, on 12 May 1856, Finch and his wife sent birthday greetings to Owen. The war in the Crimea had just ended, and Mrs. Finch wrote:


"My dear husband says your Millenium has begun; & that you have lived to see the close of the last great War which will ever agitate mankind diplomacy has adopted your principle of arbitration to settle disputes among nations thus Europe is become a community of kingdoms, and the development of the power of each, will henceforth be the simple fact of providing for each other's wants by industry."

A year later John Finch died, and a year later still, in 1858, Robert Owen also died, soon after he had painfully made his way to Liverpool to struggle through the last brief public address he was ever able to give.

APPENDIX A

ACCOUNT OF THE NEW LANARK SCHOOLS COMMUNICATED BYWILLIAM RATHBONE TO HIS WIFE ELIZABETH

(RATHBONE FAMILY PAPERS)

Lanark 28 April 1818[Q] Before we leave Lanark I wish to ask what numbers of children we saw

this morning when all were collected and going thro their excercises [sic] together, and whether, when so collected, they generally appear so happy, so fearless, yet so decent and orderly?

[A] The number is 270 to 300 this morning (29th April) there were 292 present & they are in all respects the same every day as you saw them on the 28th. The ages from 2 years & a half to 10 chiefly but there are a few from 10 to 12 years of age as the parents may retain them in school as long as they wish.

[Q] How many, as being under the age appointed for their going to school, were in the playground and room, and whether that gaiety, playfulness, and activity, with the freedom from quarreling [sic] or troublesome habits, which I remarked with so much pleasure, was accidental ?

[A] There were of this description present to-day (29th April) 107. The usual attendance is from 90 to 120 & they are always in all respects as you saw them yesterday morning.

[Q] I saw only one young woman attending them, how many are usually employed, and how many Masters for the whole number?

[A] One man & one young woman attend the infant class which includes the proceeding [sic] number. For the higher classes there are four men & one sewing mistress, also a music master & occasionally a dancing master.

[Q] Were those boys and girls we saw last night learning to read, write, sew &c., after being employed in the Mill during the day for ten hours and a half, required to attend the school in the evening?

[A] No. Their attendance is entirely optional; they are not in any case asked to attend or found fault with for non-attendance.

[Q] In the different times we have had oppo3"3 of attending to the children while at their lessons, or when we occasionally passed thro the schools I never saw any instrument or instance of punishment, nor heard a harsh com mand or angry word, are these means of exciting attention generally dispensed with ?

[A] It is contrary to rule, to inflict any punishment whatever or to use a harsh expression however ill a child may be supposed to act, but such is the general conduct of these children that they seldom require any correction even on the other system of managing children.


[Q] Tho we have now been so much with them at different times, and tho the little ones were so noisey [sic] and free from restraint, while the older children were remarkably attentive to all their employments, I saw or heard no appearance or sound of distress, except in one instance, a little boy was walking into the play room and weeping I was not nearenoughtoenquire the cause, and before I could overtake him, he had mixed with the rest, and I could not discover him I saw no instance of the angry passions (but observed many signs of affectionate and kind dipositions), and only two or three of anything amounting to rudeness, these were a push from one boy to another (not resented) as they were joyously going out of school at their dinner time, I mean the infants who first went out, previous to the older ones who walked in pairs to the music of the little band. What means have been used to produce these effects upon children evi dently belonging to the lowest class in society, and who continue to live, and take all their meals, with their Parents, some of them, I presume, at a distance from the Manufactory, for I recognised several at Lanark as we passed thro the town this morning during the two hours allowed for dinner.

IA] These effects have been produced by an undeviating kindness in manner & voice & by a constant attention to repress the first appearance of irritation & quarreling [sic] among the children when they first attend the school & in a short time they lose the habit of irritation and anger which they had previously acquired and become kind and affectionate to each other upon all occasions indeed with very few exceptions & these are always of very short duration.

[Q] What age is the youngest child admitted into the Mill?[A] At 10 years of age.[Q] What age is the youngest child allowed to attend the schools &c. ?[A] About 2J years but they are never refused on account of the age.[Q] What number of persons of both sexes are at this time employed or taught

at the New Lanark Mills? and what proportion of these are under fifteen years of age? [No reply given]

[Q] Are any allowed to work more than ten hours and a half, out of the four and twenty?

[A] No.

APPENDIX B

EXTRACT FROM A LETTER POSTMARKED 27 JULY 1827 FROMELIZABETH RATHBONE TO HER MOTHER-IN-LAW HANNAH MARY

RATHBONE (RATHBONE FAMILY PAPERS).

. . . You have been very much wanted the last few days. Mr. Owen returned from New Harmony on Wednesday and was very much disappointed that you were absent. He went on to Scotland yesterday morning. He is looking very well, in very good spirits, & there was a playfulness a disengagedness of mind, which I never saw in him before ... He said he felt ten years younger. And would not exchange the experiences of the last two years for the possession of the town of Liverpool His plan originally was to select a community out of the preliminary association in which he received all who came; but some hot headed young man proposed one day that every member of the association should become a member of the Community, and it was carried by acclamation. All was confusion. Those who had been in an inferior station tried to pull down those above them. One man was idle, another wd not work for those who would not work for themselves, &c., &c., &c. So the only resource was to dissolve it entirely, and let the people


form themselves into associations. Mr. Owen says he is convinced the only plan is for a few families not more than 5 or 6 who know each other well, and like each others society to form a community, and after having formed their own regulations to admit others whom they likewise know well & who will conform to those regulations. And to allow those communities who have previously been used to servants to have a sufficient number of them to do the drudgery Now a years probation is required before admittance as a member He has left ten communities formed 5 are in active operation & five only waiting till the harvest is off the ground to begin. These are all round New Harmony and have erected temporary buildings. The town itself contains those who cannot prevail on any community to receive them. These are gradually dropping off and the rest work for the Communities and receive wages. He says they have been very glad of the reports to their disadvantage, as they could have any number they had accom modation for. Other Communities have been begun. He visited two which had been in operation some months before he heard of them. He has bought two other tracts of land on the Ohio one with fine clay, the other with coal so that now they have all within themselves I mean materials for supplying themselves with everything The terms of his contracts with the communities are a lease for 10,000 years the quantity from 300 to 2000 acres according as it is for grazing manufactures &c the parties to pay annually if demanded 50 cents for the whole lot. 2d The land to remain the undivided property of the whole community. 3d The Community may make reasonable compensation for the services of any member who may leave the community in conformity with the rules. 4 no spirituous liquors manufactured or sold. 5. The community to be industrious temperate economical & orderly surplus gains to go to a fund for establishing other communities. 6th After seven years the community to consist of 20, 30, 40 or 50 Persons to each 160 acres according to the object of the Community. 7th children educated in community schools from 4 to 12. 8th Mr. Owen reserves all mines &c., for the benefit of all the Communities. 9th. Each Community to make its own rules. Each Community to send a delegate which board [sic] are to govern all transactions with each other &c Exchange is now carried on between the Communities on the principles of labor for labor. Notwithstanding the motley and fluctuating population of about 2,000 Mr. Owen says they have been very moral less drunken he thinks than in any similar number, not one illegitimate child, nor one separation between man & wife. The laws of Indiana allow of separation quite too easily & for too many causes Mr. O. thinks. He requires six month notice [sic] and thinks friends may settle matters in that time if there are any hopes of comfort.

You will probably have known most of this before, but I give you all I learnt, at least a sketch of it as I believe you would rather hear some twice than be without any . . .

Mr. Owen has left us a set of New Harmony Papers from the beginning to the present day. We sent it unopened to be put in boards to prevent any being lost.

APPENDIX C

LETTERS FROM JOHN FINCH TO ROBERT OWEN (OWEN CORRESPONDENCE)

Liverpool 8 June 1839 Honoured Father,

I received your kind letter, and am happy to say that I have great hopes that myself, my two sons, and the rest of my family will yet spend many happy years with you in a state of Community . . . the time for the emancipation of the world is now fully come, the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands will itself become a great mountain that will cover the whole earth, the character of man is formed for him and not by him, & the knowledge and practice of this great truth will regenerate and save the whole human race The arrangement of the circumstances for the first practical exhibition of this great principle is


intrusted to the only human being capable of giving it full effect, there is no other name under the heavens given among [sic] whereby they can be saved Among those that have been born of women there hath not risen a greater Prophet than John, but he that is least in the New Moral World is greater than he, Owen is chosen Governor of the first Community, he shall choose as his Deputy John, John shall use his influence to convert his whole family, they shall concentrate all their means to purchase an Estate, this shall be let on long lease to the first Community with power to purchase at prime cost at any time this estate shall be situated in the manufacturing districts. The surplus manufactures of the establishment shall be Steam Engines and Machinery, the Governor and Deputy Governor shall choose all the choicest minds and best moral characters that are to be found in our branches, the Deputy Governor has a man in his eye more fit than any other that he knows to conduct the Mercantile part, another the Engineering, and a third the Accounts, superintendents of Buildings, Agri culture, and Education the Governor will have to provide, these Officers with the Governor & Deputy will form a Council for directing and superintending the whole these arrangements will secure the confidence of all our branches, capital will flow into our treasury in abundance with such arrangements minds and means success is certain & Community after Community will spring into existence in every direction, the tide of public opinion will set in our favour soon all England will become socialized, nation after nation will cheerfully follow our example, and all mankind will become one great family and knowledge and virtue peace liberty & happiness will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.

The estate must be in the manufacturing districts, because there the greatest number of our best friends are to be found, because capital will flow in there in the greatest abundance, because there the influence of example will be more extensively seen & felt, and because there we shall obtain materials and dispose of our productions to the greatest advantage.

The Manufactures must be Engines and Machines, because a great number of our most intelligent, most moral, and best circumstanced members are of these trades because there is the most certain demand for thsse articles, because they are the most profitable trades we can at present follow & because there is every probability that the demand for them will not only continue but greatly increase these are my opinions

I shall be happy to learn from you in detail the views you entertain upon these momentous matters We must be up and doing whilst it is day, the night approaches when no man can work . . .

Your affectionate Son in Truth & LoveJohn Finch

Seven months later (29 January 1840) when he was already acting governor of the Queenwood Community, Finch wrote to Owen with regard to the plans for the Community's new buildings:

"... we shall want your advice, and the advice of others more competent to decide this matter than I pretend to be, with this only proviso on my part, and in this I know that I speak the sentiments of all our old tried and best friends, that we must not with our present means attempt a community upon your grand and magnificent scale, but a number of neat convenient cottages, two stories [sic] high, fitted up in a manner suited to the ideas and feelings of a number of decent working men just escaped from the ugly old world, and who will be much happier in such houses than in palaces. Whitwell's plan will not do for Titherley, first because it will be too grand for us, second because our friends will not have patience to wait for the completion of such a Community and third because in our opinion our second experiment must be nearer the manufacturing districts, for the purpose of giving employment to our mechanical and manufacturing members, who cannot be beneficially employed in this locality and this second must begin soon as possible." [sic]

In spite of Finch's advice the buildings eventually erected were "on the most magnificent scale." (F. Podmore, Robert Owen, Vol. II, p. 542).

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ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL - Historic Society of Lancashire … · 2017-05-30 · ROBERT OWEN IN LIVERPOOL 81 The Rathbones seem to have been influenced by Owen's ideas on subjects