ROBERT OWEN’S EXPERIMENT AT NEW LANARK from paternalism to socialism OPHÉLIE SIMÉON palgrave studies in utopianism Palgrave Studies in Utopianism Series Editor Gregory Claeys Royal Holloway, University of London UK Utopianism is an interdisciplinary concept which covers philosophy, sociology, literature, history of ideas, art and architecture, religion, futur- ology and other fields. While literary utopianism is usually dated from Thomas More’s Utopia (1516), communitarian movements and ideolo- gies proposing utopian ends have existed in most societies through his- tory. They imagine varied ideal beginnings of the species, like golden ages or paradises, potential futures akin to the millennium, and also ways of attaining similar states within real time. Utopianism, in the sense of striving for a much improved world, is also present in many trends in contemporary popular movements, and in phenomena as diverse as films, video games, environmental and medical projections. Increasingly utopia shares the limelight with dystopia, its negative inversion, and with projections of the degeneration of humanity and nature alike. This series will aim to publish the best new scholarship across these varied fields. It will focus on original studies of interest to a broad readership, including, but not limited to, historical and theoretical narratives as well as accounts of contemporary utopian thought, interpretation and action. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/15242 Ophélie Siméon Robert Owen’s Experiment at New Lanark From Paternalism to Socialism Ophélie Siméon Sorbonne Nouvelle University Paris, France Palgrave Studies in Utopianism ISBN 978-3-319-64226-0 ISBN 978-3-319-64227-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64227-7 Library of Congress Control Number: 2017949214 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Cover credit: © Picture by Ophélie Siméon Printed on acid-free paper This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature The registered company is Springer International Publishing AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland A cknowledgements Many people have helped and advised me at various stages of this research. I owe a great debt to Professor Neil Davie, who acted as my supervisor then, and whose steadfast inspiration, kindness and insightful editorial guidance later helped me complete this study. Special thanks go to my colleagues Yann Béliard, Fabrice Bensimon and Sarah Pickard, who carefully read through various drafts of this work. Their constructive comments on both the form and content of this book have been invaluable. Many thanks to Christian Auer, Samir Boumediene, Christian Civardi, Catherine Crimp, Ian Donnachie, Bill and Rosie Findlay, Lilas Fréchet, Joanna Innes, Michel Lallement, Marc Lenormand, Thomas Le Roux and Françoise Poulet for their advice and encouragement in the forma- tive stages of my research. David Cranstoun, Raphaël Gans, Alan E. Laurie and Nicholas Young helped me locate rare archival and scholarly materials. This study has greatly benefited from their insights into the lives of New Lanark’s inhabitants. I am greatly indebted to the staff of the New Lanark Trust, especially former directors Jim Arnold and Lorna Davidson. I am also grateful to Gregory Claeys who commissioned this project, and who has shown constant support of my research. Many thanks to Carmel Kennedy and Emily Russell, who have been tremendous editors, and to Hemapriya Eswanth, who supervised the production stage of this book. v vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Lastly, my warmest thanks go to my friends and family, and especially to my husband Cyril, to whom I dedicate this work. Ophélie Siméon c ontents 1 Introduction 1 2 Beginnings 13 3 The “Preparatory Phase”, 1800–1816 45 4 Towards the “New Moral World”, 1816–1825 87 5 Visions of New Lanark 109 6 Rethinking New Lanark: The Model and The Myth 141 Select Bibliography 167 Index 169 vii l f ist of igures Fig. 1.1 Portrait of Robert Owen, circa 1830 3 Fig. 2.1 British Cotton Mill Villages, 1771–1825 25 Fig. 2.2 New Lanark: Mill no. 3 and Mill Canal 27 Fig. 2.3 H ugh William Williams, portrait of David Dale. Oil on canvas, circa 1800 30 Fig. 2.4 New Lanark: Workers’ Tenements, circa 1790 33 Fig. 3.1 P lan of River Clyde and Mills at New Lanark, 1809. By John Bell, surveyor 52 Fig. 3.2 N ew Lanark Ticket for Wages, circa 1815, Robert Owen & Co 58 Fig. 3.3 Map of Mills and Village at New Lanark, 1863 77 Fig. 4.1 A View and Plan of the Agricultural and Manufacturing Villages of Unity and Mutual Co-operation, 1818 93 Fig. 5.1 New Lanark, General View, circa 1818 111 Fig. 5.2 G eorge Hunt. Mr. Owen’s Institution, New Lanark (Quadrille Dancing), 1825. Aquatint Engraving 113 Fig. 6.1 B anknote of the National Equitable Labour Exchange, Birmingham, 1833 147 Fig. 6.2 Robert Owen, circa 1840 149 ix CHAPTER 1 Introduction On 1 January 1816, Robert Owen, managing partner of the New Lanark spinning mills, gathered his workers and their families to inaugurate an educational and cultural centre, the Institute for the Formation of Character (IFC).1 Amenities included new nursery and primary schools for the children of the factory village, an assembly room, a library and a non-denominational chapel. The aim was to improve significantly the conditions of the working classes through life-long instruction and the promotion of harmonious community feeling. The IFC’s grand opening marked the culmination of a sixteen-year social experiment. Owen had acquired the New Lanark Company in 1799 from his father-in-law, Scottish entrepreneur David Dale. The lat- ter had founded the concern in 1785 on the River Clyde, twenty-five miles south-east of Glasgow, as a joint venture with renowned inven- tor and cotton master Richard Arkwright. From the onset, New Lanark had gained a reputation as an enlightened factory, following Dale’s desire to “unite the things which […] have been thought impossible to go on together, the prosperity of the works and the health, morals, […] of the people” (Dale 1795, quoted in Currie 1831, 132). Owen pursued a similar ethos, albeit with increasingly universal aims. From the early 1800s onwards, the village was used to test his deterministic intuition that the careful engineering of the labouring classes’ material, moral and intellectual environment would provide a valuable answer to the social and economic upheavals of the new industrial age. Bestowed with superior amenities, New Lanark was evidence that workers’ © The Author(s) 2017 1 O. Siméon, Robert Owen’s Experiment at New Lanark, Palgrave Studies in Utopianism, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-64227-7_1