John Fielden
John Fielden was a British industrialist and Radical Member of Parliament for Oldham.
He entered Parliament to support William Cobbett, whose election as fellow-MP for Oldham he helped to bring about. Like Cobbett, but unlike many other Radicals, he saw Radicalism as having little more in common with Whiggism than with Toryism: in the Commons he sat with the Whigs but frequently did not vote with them. Whigs and the more orthodox Whig-Radicals, therefore, thought the name of one of the machines used in his cotton-spinning business, "the self-acting mule," a highly appropriate soubriquet. Having started work in his father's cotton mill when little more than ten, he was a firm and generous supporter of the factory reform movement. He also urged repeal of the New Poor Law and pressed for action to be taken to alleviate the 'distress of the country', but found little support in Parliament on these issues. Despairing that the concerns of the poor would never be given adequate attention by a 'Ten-Pound Parliament', he became a 'moral force' Chartist. On the failure of the Chartist National Petition he argued for the movement to organise further petitions; when this advice was rejected he ceased to appear at Chartist events: whilst supporting the aims of Chartism, he concentrated on single issues, striving to attract wider support for reform. In 1847 he introduced and piloted through the Commons the Ten Hours Act, limiting the hours of work of women and children in textile mills.
Family firm
John Fielden was the third son of Joshua Fielden, a Quaker who about the time of John's birth set up as a cotton spinner in Todmorden. Joshua started cotton spinning in a small way, but by his exertions and those of his sons Fielden Brothers grew to be one of the largest cotton manufacturers in England. According to William Cobbett in 1832 they were involved in spinning weaving and printing and employing over 2,500 persons. Cobbett also stressed that the brothers were "famed for their goodness to every creature who is in their employ... let others do what they may, these gentlemen have preferred a little profit, and even no profit, to great gains from half starvation of the people from whose labour they derive those gains."John began working in the family mill "when I was little more than ten years old" and was, therefore, able in later life to speak from personal experience of the unsuitability for children of that age of even a ten-hour day. When slightly older, he assisted his father with the purchase of raw materials and sale of finished goods – attending market in Manchester involved a round trip of 40 miles on foot, and a twenty-hour day. After the death of his father in 1811, and of his eldest brother Samuel in 1822, John was responsible for purchasing and sales, his brother Thomas looked after a permanent warehouse Fieldens set up in Manchester, James looked after production, and the eldest surviving brother was responsible for machinery.
Whilst Todmorden was at some distance from ports and home markets, the firm's main site at Waterside lay in a narrow valley used first by the Rochdale Canal and then by the Manchester and Leeds Railway as part of an indirect but relatively low-level route between Manchester and Leeds, and the firms' expansion was helped by the consequent improvement in communications. In addition to the establishments owned by Fielden Brothers in and around Todmorden, individual members of the family also owned mills in their own right; for example in 1844 Robinwood Mill was bought by John Fielden - however he did not operate it as a separate concern, but let it to the family firm.
In 1846, the firm was said to be processing 200,000 pounds of cotton per week; thought then to be the largest weekly consumption of cotton of any firm in the world. A correspondent for the Morning Post reported that within 2 miles of Todmorden there were thirty-three mills, eight of them operated by Fielden Brothers:
Owing to the excellent example of the Messrs. Fielden, who employ upwards of 2,000 hands, the factories heres are much better regulated, and greater regard paid to the health and morals of the workpeople than in most other places which I have visited. This firm have always worked their mills less time than that sanctioned by the Legislature, and have done their utmost to sustain the wages and mitigate the toil of their workpeople. Whenever a man meets with an accident they give him half wages during his illness, and pay for medical aid. They also change to less laborious and more healthy employment those who have become incapacitated for great exertion.
Private life
In 1811, he married Ann Grindrod of Rochdale, and bought and converted the "Coach and Horses" public house as a family home named Dawson Weir. They had seven children: Jane, Samuel, Mary, Ann, John, Joshua and Ellen. Ann died in 1831; John remarried Elizabeth Dearden of Halifax in 1834; she survived him, dying in 1851.Fielden was a deeply religious man but always nonconformist in his affiliations. Born into a Quaker family, by the age of seventeen he was a teacher in a Methodist Sunday School. When the Methodist Unitarians seceded from the Methodists, John went with them. A Unitarian Chapel was built in Bank Street, Todmorden 1823 but struggled financially. In 1828, John bought the chapel, paid off its debts and supported its running costs throughout his life. He taught in the Sunday School for many years, eventually becoming its Superintendent. He founded several other Sunday Schools. He is buried in the small burial ground of the chapel.
Politics
Although their father had been a Tory, John and his brothers were Radicals. John in particular a follower of William Cobbett. The brothers supported in principle, and in practice both Parliamentary Reform, and factory reform.Parliamentary reform
John was involved in Reform Bill agitation in Manchester. He was a member of the deputation which carried to London a petition calling upon the Commons to refuse to vote supply until the Reform Bill was passed. To resolve differences between local Radical and Whig supporters of the Bill he subsequently drafted an address to the King declaring a preference for universal manhood suffrage but expressing willingness to settle for Lord Grey's Reform Bill. It being intended to form a Manchester Reform Association a sub-committee was set up to draft rules and a statement of objects: Fielden was a member of the sub-committee and responsible for the draft produced. On passage of the Reform Act, Fielden Brothers gave a dinner for their entire workforce:Two thousand pounds weight of beef of the choicest cuts... between three and four hundred puddings weighing 7 or 8 lbs each, and a proportionate quantity of other dishes, bread and vegetables. There were 24 barrels or 3456 quarts of good brown stout Messrs. Fieldens... assisted at the tables. After the workpeople had dined, nearly 2000 persons not connected with the works partook of the remainder of the repast.
Election to Parliament
As early as July 1831, hoping the Reform Bill would soon be passed, the Manchester Times had turned its thoughts to who should be Radical candidates for Manchester and other nearby newly enfranchised boroughs, asking "Can the people of Rochdale send a better representative than their neighbour Mr John Fielden?". For Manchester itself, it thought that only a very moderate Radical would stand a chance of election As for William Cobbett he should not seek election: he would be wasted in Parliament; he was a better speaker than a debater, and a better writer than either. Nonetheless, an election committee for Cobbett was formed in Manchester and invited Cobbett to a fund-raising dinner in his honour. Fielden was persuaded to take the chair for the meeting. His speech of welcome and introduction for Cobbett showed him to be a close adherent to Cobbett's views. Cobbett thought it an able speech, said as much in his own speech, and printed it two weeks running in his Weekly Political Register.Whilst preparations for Cobbett to stand for Manchester went ahead, Fielden decided to stand, not for Rochdale, but for Oldham. He declared he would not wish to be an MP unless Cobbett had also been elected for Oldham or for some other place. Cobbett had high hopes of being elected for Manchester but allowed his name to go forward as the other Radical candidate for Oldham. "And is not the honour of being chosen by such a man as Mr John Fielden as his colleague… more than a reward for all that the hellish borough-mongers and their base and bloody press have been able to inflict upon me and upon my family?"
Although in ill-health Fielden then devoted his energy, influence, and resources to securing the election of both himself and Cobbett for Oldham. Fielden and Cobbett were duly elected for Oldham, Fielden heading the poll. Cobbett came bottom of the poll in Manchester, with half the votes of the successful candidates: he blamed this on the result of the Oldham election being known at an early stage of the Manchester poll.
"Mr Cobbett's ... political shadow"
Fielden did not have a powerful voice,nor were his views congenial to more than a few MPs. Consequently, he found it difficult to command the House's attention:
it is not in my power to convey to you the difficulties which an unobtrusive member experiences in the discharge of his parliamentary duties - it must be seen to be believed - groaning, stamping, coughing, shuffling, in fact, a perfect cock-pit; and all this is experienced whilst statements are making as to the deprivations and sufferings of the poor, that would, or ought, to melt a heart of iron.
However, he acted as a reliable second to Cobbett. In 1833 Cobbett sought to provoke debate on currency policy by moving a resolution to remove Sir Robert Peel from the Privy Council. "A motion more frivolous, more absurd, and...more disreputable to its author, was never made within the walls of either house of parliament." Fielden loyally seconded the motion. Cobbett and Fielden were tellers for the motion: only four other MPs voted for it: nearly 300 MPs voted against, then further voted to expunge it. The causes Cobbett took up included those close to Fielden's heart; 'the distress of the country' and opposition to the New Poor Law. Fielden's support of Cobbett went beyond the purely Parliamentary: when Cobbett was on his deathbed in 1835, he was asked if he wished to draw up a will; he replied that he had made his arrangements, and "Mr Fielden knows all about it". At Cobbett's funeral, Fielden was in the first coach of mourners. Fielden later paid for a memorial tablet for Cobbett.