Robert Owen and New Lanark: 1771-1858

Robert Owen & New Lanark: 1771-1858

Drawing of Robert Owen by Mary Ann Knight. Circa 1799. Copyright New Lanark Trust.

Robert Owen & New Lanark: Overview

Robert Owen was a Welsh-born entrepreneur who established a distinguished career in the burgeoning textile industry. However, Owen was far more than a successful businessman. At a time of great social upheaval he dreamed of creating a whole new society. To this end he worked tirelessly throughout his life, spearheading a vast movement for social, educational and political reform in which his community at New Lanark in Scotland played an important part. Possessed by an extraordinary vision and an energy to match, Owen and his followers achieved enormous advances in social justice, the benefits of which we still enjoy today.

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"I know that society may be formed to exist without crime, without poverty, with health greatly improved, with little, if any, misery, and with intelligence and happiness improved a hundredfold.”

Robert Owen sets out his vision in "An Address to the Inhabitants of New Lanark", 1816. Owen's philosophy reflected Enlightenment optimism that the human race was entering a new era of civilisation and progress.

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Robert Owen and New Lanark: 1771-1858

Background: The Industrial Revolution

Revolution has become a much over-used word, but no other can describe the transformation of the world from the late eighteenth century onwards. Within a few generations a centuries-old rural landscape of lords and serfs had given way to an urban throng of industrialists and factory workers. For the entrepreneurs who established the new factory system the mass production of goods generated unparalleled wealth; but the former farm labourers who sought work in the hastily constructed and poorly planned factory villages and towns quickly found themselves living amidst poverty, crime and squalor. These problems spiralled out of control as the factory system spread and the new urban centres multiplied and expanded.

So unique were these developments in human history that even those who pioneered them were unprepared for the consequences. Monarchs, businessmen, intellectuals, churchmen, politicians and ordinary working people struggled to comprehend and control the changes taking place around them. Amongst those trying to make sense of the new world was a young entrepreneur who first made his fortune in the textile industry. He then devoted his life to solving the problems that industrialism had created. His name was Robert Owen and it was in New Lanark in Scotland that he began his extraordinary campaign.

Illustration: Spinning frame and tartan cloth.

Robert Owen & New Lanark: 1771-1858

Robert Owen - the industrious youth

Robert Owen was born in 1771 in Wales, the son of a saddle maker. Despite these modest origins it was obvious that young Robert was an exceptional individual. Lively, intelligent and energetic, by the age of nineteen he had already set up his own business in the burgeoning Manchester cotton industry. It was on one of his many business trips to Scotland around 1797 that he first visited New Lanark and became determined to buy it.

Owen discovers New Lanark

This profitable textile mill village had been built a few miles south-west of Edinburgh by the shrewd Glasgow businessman David Dale in 1885. Dale was initially suspicious of the young Owen, but it is a revealing indication of Owen's charisma that he charmed Dale into selling New Lanark to him and also married Dale's daughter.

From the very beginning it was obvious that Owen's interest in the enterprise was more than commercial and he hinted at his deeper interests to a companion when he first visited New Lanark: “Of all the places I have seen I should prefer this one to try an experiment I have long contemplated.”

New Lanark, Circa 1818

Colour print of New Lanark by John Winning. Circa 1818. Copyright New Lanark Trust.

“Of all the places I have seen I should prefer this one to try an experiment I have long contemplated.”

New Lanark in 1818 when Owen was still conducting his social experiment. Today the village remains remarkably unchanged and is still recognisable from this 200 year-old print.

Owen's experiment

Owen believed that the surroundings in which people learned, lived and worked formed their personalities. He maintained that by giving children a good basic education and providing decent living and working conditions the worst of the problems created by industrialisation could be solved. New Lanark would be used to test these ideas.

Theory into practice at New Lanark

In the 25 years during which Owen controlled the village he introduced a wide variety of reforms: a clean-up and rebuilding programme; the abolition of child labour; a sickness fund and saving bank for his workers; and a reduction of working hours.

One of his most influential ideas, later adopted by the Co-operative movement, was a village store selling low-cost goods. Owen invested the profits from this into the educational programme that he believed essential to the formation of the human character.

Owen the educational pioneer

Owen set up an “Institution for the Formation of Character.” This provided infant schools for children aged from one to five years; day schools teaching reading, writing, numeracy, history, geography and science for the five to twelve year olds; and evening classes for the adults.

All this has become somewhat taken for granted today making it difficult to appreciate how groundbreaking these ideas were 200 years ago. Scotland had already begun to introduce a very good general education system after the Reformation Upheaval of 1560. Some historians have argued that the Scottish system was superior to any other in Europe in the early nineteenth century. Yet access to education for most working people was still limited: many families simply could not afford to send their children to school or were compelled to send them out to work instead. In the sphere of education Robert Owen was a genuine pioneer.

The New Lanark Institution

"The Character of man is, without a single exception, always formed for him."

Robert Owen in his book "A New View of Society"

Owen's Grandly-titled New Lanark Institution for the Formation of Character was a bold attempt to put his educational theories into practice. It was a considerable success, attracting much favourable comment both at the time and since. His pioneering development of infant schools is just one of Owen's many innovations that are still with us today.

Owen's influence

Owen was a gifted propagandist and self-publicist who quickly turned the mills into a tourist attraction and thousands of people came to see for themselves how he had put his theories into practice. Carried away by Owen's boundless enthusiasm, many were convinced that the experiment offered a glimpse of a new way of life. Some attempted to put Owen's ideas into practice themselves, setting up communal self-governing communities based on the New Lanark village. Others began to campaign for similar reforms to be imposed on other industries. Owenism, as his ideas came to be called, attracted a large body of followers and developed into one of the most important social and political movements of the nineteenth century.

A New View of Society

Owen set out his ideas in a book: A New View Of Society. He argued that by providing a good system of education and a rationally-planned living and working environment a better, fairer society could be created and the problems caused by industrialisation vanquished. The proof of all this, Owen argued, was visible in New Lanark where these theories had been successfully applied. The challenge facing humanity now was to replicate this model community throughout the world through a network of self-supporting “Villages of Unity and Mutual Co-operation”.

Triumph at New Lanark - Disaster at New Harmony

It was a grandiose vision, but Owen believed it could be realised. In 1825 he travelled to the United States where he bought a settlement called New Harmony on the American frontier and attempted to turn it into an Owenite “Village of Unity.” Unfortunately, it soon became obvious that what had worked at New Lanark could not be applied in this more difficult frontier environment. Realising that the project was doomed Owen made his excuses and returned to Scotland in 1827.

The New Harmony debacle cost Owen dearly: his credibility had been damaged, and he lost a considerable part of his fortune too. This forced him to sell off his shares in his beloved New Lanark and he ceased to have any connection with the village after 1831.

Abram Combe

Abram Combe was one of the many upon whom Owen and his New Lanark community made such an impression that they attempted to emulate him. In Combe's case, he and some associates established a co-operative village at Orbiston in Lanarkshire.

Unfortunately Combe's well meaning attempt to "ameliorate the condition of the labouring classes" at Orbiston had already run into difficulties even before his premature death brought the community to a close. Orbiston was sadly typical of the many failed attempts made by Owenite idealists to replicate the success of Owen's New Lanark experiment: humanity has yet to rise to the enormous challenge of establishing a system based on community of property.

Combe's grave can still be found in the grounds of St Cuthbert's church at the West End of Princes Street in Edinburgh, albeit now rather dilapidated and forgotten.

Owen's final years

If Owen was disheartened by the failure of his New Harmony venture he refused to show it, far less concede defeat: instead he embarked on the most radical phase of his career.

Despite the fact that he was now over 60 years old, an age at which most people consider slowing down and retiring, Owen continued to campaign for his ideas, helped along by an ever-increasing body of followers. He championed the burgeoning trade union movement; campaigned for factory reform; supported the Co-operative and other Owenite-inspired movements; and continued to write and speak publicly about social and political reform.

In 1858 he was taken ill during a public lecture in Liverpool and died shortly afterwards. Robert Owen campaigned for social justice right up until the very end of his life.

Illustration: Robert Owen's House, New Lanark Village.

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Robert Owen & New Lanark

The Historical Legacy

The nineteenth century bred rather more than its fair share of Utopian theorists. What separated Owen from all of them was the fact that he tried to put his ideas into practice. It is testament to his vision and tireless energy that he was so often successful in doing so. The number and variety of causes which he championed is staggering: education, factory and poor law reform, the abolition of child labour, the trade union and co-operative movements being just a few of these. For this reason it is difficult to assess the impact of Owenism: his ideas found their way into so many different campaigns for social reform, influencing and advancing them in a multitude of ways. Suffice to say, if we are better off today in any way compared to our nineteenth century counterparts it is partly due to the gargantuan efforts of Robert Owen, his followers and others like them.

Nowadays Owen is most remembered for the community he created at New Lanark. Ambitious and successful as New Lanark was, Owen's vision stretched far beyond establishing a communal factory village in Scotland. For Owen, New Lanark was intended to be only the first stage in establishing a worldwide network of communal, self-governing communities. This was one dream that never materialised despite the formidable efforts of Owen and his followers.

Nowadays looking back over a twentieth century littered with the wreckage of humanity's Utopian ideals we are unlikely to be surprised by the failure of Owens's vision. Yet against the troubled historical background of the early nineteenth century many were convinced otherwise. The Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars had all created enormous challenges to ways of life and thought that had existed for centuries. Public disorder, protests and riots increased as the impoverished and discontented of the new towns and cities revolted against their squalid and dangerous living and working conditions. All kinds of people searched for solutions to these problems and many made their way to New Lanark to see if they could find them there. When they arrived they could not help but contrast this orderly and peaceful textile village in the idyllic Scottish countryside with the alarming turmoil outside. If this gentle, charismatic Welshman's dream could be realised here, why not elsewhere? Both during and since Owen's lifetime many have tried. The results have been mixed. Sometimes they have been catastrophic. Humanity has yet to rise to the enormous challenge of establishing a system based on community of property.

As for New Lanark, the mills continued as a commercial operation after Owen's departure and most of his social and educational reforms were maintained by subsequent owners. However, the Scottish textile industry was squeezed by foreign competition after 1830 and New Lanark struggled. The community survived the twin scourges of war and slump in the first half of the twentieth century, but by the late 1960s the mills had been closed down. The village fell into a state of disrepair and what had once been a thriving business and community under Robert Owen now became something of a white elephant. For a while demolition was considered.

In the mid-1970s the New Lanark Conservation Trust was set up to find a way of saving the old mill village and it is thanks to their enlightened efforts that the village was restored. The enormous architectural and historical importance of New Lanark has since been internationally recognised, and the United Nations has accorded it the status of a World Heritage Site. New Lanark now boasts an award-winning Visitor Centre dedicated to providing information about this vital part of Scotland's heritage. Over 200 years after Owen showed his guests around his pioneering social experiment, New Lanark has come full circle: it is once again an international attraction where thousands go every year to discover for themselves Robert Owen's still unrealised vision of the future.

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Robert Owen & New Lanark

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