Charles Hindley (politician)

Charles Hindley (25 June 1796 – 1 December 1857) was an English cotton mill-owner and Radical politician who sat as Member of Parliament for Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire from 1835 until his death in 1857.

Many of his political views mirrored those of Richard Cobden, but unlike Manchester School Liberals he was an early supporter of the factory reform movement, and opposed to the New Poor Law.

J R Stephens a local Independent Methodist minister prominent in the Ten Hours and anti-poor law movements declared that he had first been made aware of the factory reform issue by Hindley.

[20] In June 1837, he was one of a handful of MPs present (in the British Coffee House, London) at a meeting of the Working Men's Association which passed a series of resolutions including 'that we agree to support and vote for a Bill, or Bills, to be brought into the House of Commons, embodying the principles of Universal Suffrage, equal representation, free election of representatives, without reference to property, the Ballot, and short Parliaments of fixed duration, the limit not to exceed three years'[21] - effectively the birth of the Chartist movement.

However, in practice, Hindley was far from being a Chartist: he held that to achieve anything radicals should at all times ally themselves to the Whigs,[22] and be prepared to accept compromises falling short of their declared aims.

His advice was rejected[26] with some heat (it being claimed that Hindley had promised not to raise the issue of an eleven-hour compromise)[27] and a Ten-Hour Bill was introduced and passed in 1847.

On the defeat of Graham's Bill, he threw himself into efforts to raise money to build and support denominational schools on voluntarist principles,[37] donating generously himself.

In 1836 mills associated with Hindley were fined for breaches of the current Factory Act, including two failures to keep a 'time book' (a record of the time worked by children and young persons).

In these cases Todd proved from patient observation the desirability of a steady administering of alcoholic stimulants at short intervals, day and night, while the danger lasted.