A Dictionary of British and Irish History

F

FABIAN SOCIETY

An organization founded in Great Britain in Jan. 1884 to promote SOCIALISM through peaceful evolution. It was named after the Roman general Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus (fl. 325–295 BC), who triumphed by dint of patience. Members included George Bernard SHAW and Sidney and Beatrice WEBB. The Fabians helped to form the LABOUR PARTY (1900) and continued to operate as an affiliated research agency in the early 21st century.

FACTORY

Term originally used for an overseas trading station (16th–19th centuries), sometimes combining a residence and warehouse (derived from ‘factor’, meaning ‘agent’). From the 18th century it also referred to a building or range of buildings with manufacturing machinery. The earliest large mechanized factory in the British Isles was the silk‐throwing factory built in 1715–19 at Derby (Derbyshire, C England) for John and Thomas Lombe. Five storeys high, it accommodated 300 employees.

Capital‐intensive modes of production and machinery (e.g., for textiles) moved much manufacture from homes and workshops into specialized large units. Early factories were located by watercourses to employ water power. (Factories were often called ‘mills’.) From the later 18th century steam power facilitated other locations, requiring access to coal; and ‘factory towns’ developed (e.g., MANCHESTER). See also INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

FACTORY LEGISLATION

Factory conditions caused concern from the later 18th century. The UK Parliament enacted legislation ...