Factory Acts
The Act was not effectively enforced, and did not address the working conditions of 'free children' (children working in mills who were not apprentices) who rapidly came to heavily outnumber the apprentices. Regulating the way masters treated their apprentices was a recognised responsibility of Parliament and hence the Act itself was non-contentious, but coming between employer and employee to specify on what terms a man might sell his labour (or that of his child) was highly contentious. Hence it was not until 1819 that an Act to limit the hours of work (and set a minimum age) for 'free children' working in cotton mills was piloted through Parliament by Peel and his son Robert (the future Prime Minister). Strictly speaking, it is Peel's Cotton Mills and Factories Act of 1819 which (although also ineffective for want of a means of proper enforcement) paved the way for subsequent Factory Acts that would regulate the industry and set up effective means of regulation; but it is Peel's Act of 1802 which first recognised by legislation the evils of child labour in cotton mills that the Factory Acts addressed.