Biography

Owen was born in Newtown, Mid Wales, and at 19 was manager of a modern spinning mill in Manchester employing more than 500 people.  

Owen's ideas of mechanics are described as rudimentary, but his aptitude was in handling people. He made the factory so profitable that he was given a partnership, and he went on to build his own mill, also in Manchester.  

In 1799 he moved to New Lanark in Scotland, and bought a mill which he developed into a model village, building houses and setting up shops that sold good quality goods at fair prices.  

As he applied his social ideas, he built schools and raised the leaving age first from ten to 14, causing parents to protest at their children's loss of earnings. He also prompted the start of the "Co-operative Movement".  

Owen's philosophy was that it was possible for workers to be treated humanely, and for the business to still prosper.

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