The United Kingdom and Human Rights - College of Social ...

60 Human Rights, Values and Choice
made by factory inspectors under the 1833 Act altered
public opinion in England and elsewhere and fuelled the
thoughts of Engels and Marx. Working hours were first
limited in 1812 to the twelve hour day and in 1847 to ten
hours, resulting in "English hours" being spoken of
throughout Europe. Laws governing safety of machinery
were another English concern. Although Joseph II of
Austria had in 1786 been first to limit child labour, the
Factories Inspectors' Reports led in England in the mid-
18498 to action to protect children and women, something
the rest of Europe followed at a distance.
Public health was a field in which this country once
led the world. From the sixteenth century commissioners
of sewers were appointed. From early Victorian times
Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890) persuaded Governments to
legislate for and spend on public health, a process which
culminated in Disraeli's 1875 Public Health Act. 9 It is
ironic today to read the Webbs' Poor Law History:
"main drainage, the water carriage system, and a
publicly managed supply of filtered drinking-water
were contributed to the world mainly by Great
Britain." 10
The Webbs went on to emphasise the significance of
British experiments in medical inspection and treatment
of children at school as well as work in Child Care
Committees. These ideas went to the rest of the world,
as also did ideas about preventive medicine from
Germany and France.
In health for the individual the United Kingdom was
first to have a National Health Service, rather than wide
provision of insurance, as in Europe. A national health
service might first have been created in Australia had it
not been for the thirties' depression. The British
Dominions of Australia and New Zealand had both been
leaders in social legislation for workers. Indeed, in 1907