Robert Owen

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Lore & Background

Robert Owen was born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire, Wales, on 14 May 1771, the sixth of seven children. He left school at age ten to apprentice as a draper in Stamford for four years, later working in London drapery shops. At about age 18, Owen moved to Manchester, where he spent the next twelve years. He borrowed £100 from his brother William to enter a partnership making spinning mules, but exchanged his shares for six spinning mules that he worked in rented factory space. In 1792, mill-owner Peter Drinkwater made him manager of the Piccadilly Mill. After two years, Owen left and went into partnership to establish and later manage the Chorlton Twist Mills. In July 1799, Owen and his partners bought the New Lanark mill from David Dale, and Owen became its manager in January 1800. At New Lanark, about 2,000 individuals were involved, 500 of them children brought from poorhouses at age five or six. Owen's truck store offered goods at prices only slightly above wholesale cost, placing alcohol sales under strict supervision—principles that became the basis for Britain's co-operative shops. In 1824, Owen moved to the United States and in January 1825 used a portion of his funds to purchase an existing town of 180 buildings and several thousand acres in Indiana, renaming it New Harmony. He gave addresses to the House of Representatives on 25 February and 7 March 1825, outlining his vision. The community attracted scientists and educators but lasted about two years. Other Owenite communities also failed, and in 1828 Owen returned to London, where he continued to champion the working class, lead in developing co-operatives and the trade union movement, and support child labour legislation and free co-educational schools.

Reader's Guide

Robert Owen's significance lies in his foundational role in utopian socialism and the co-operative movement. At New Lanark, he strove to run the mill on higher principles than purely commercial ones, improving conditions for workers who had been from the lowest social levels. His Institute for the Formation of Character and School for Children focused on becoming a better person rather than job skills. The New Harmony experiment, though lasting about two years, attracted over a thousand residents by the end of its first year and represented one of the earliest attempts at a socialist community in the United States—Owen's meetings with three former U.S. presidents (John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison), outgoing President James Monroe, and President-elect John Quincy Adams were perhaps the first discussions of socialism in the Americas. Owen's principles of co-operative shops influenced Britain's co-operative movement, and his advocacy for child labour legislation and free co-educational schools contributed to later social reforms. Despite the failure of his experimental communities, his ideas persisted and influenced later socialist and co-operative thought.

Did You Know?

• Robert Owen left school at age ten to apprentice as a draper in Stamford for four years.
• At New Lanark, about 500 of the 2,000 workers were children brought from poorhouses at age five or six.
• Owen's truck store at New Lanark sold goods at prices only slightly above wholesale cost, which became the basis for Britain's co-operative shops.
• In 1825, Owen purchased an existing town of 180 buildings and several thousand acres in Indiana, renaming it New Harmony.
• Owen gave addresses to the U.S. House of Representatives on 25 February and 7 March 1825, outlining his socialist vision.