Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet (25 April 1750 – 3 May 1830), was a British politician and industrialist and one of the early textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution.

They were also engaged in the adult and infant textile industry, then organised on the basis of the domestic system (most of the work being undertaken in the home).

As elsewhere, the shortage of labour in the rural districts was mitigated by employing pauper children as 'apprentices', imported from any locality that wanted them off their hands.

Sir Robert Peel advocated for or sided with progressive reforms in legislation, worker's rights and the first near-national system of vital healthcare (poor law union workhouse trained and dedicated infirmaries) enduring through 19th century Britain and beyond.

In 1790 he was elected Member of Parliament for Tamworth, having bought the borough along with Lord Bath's estate in the area, and carried these principles into political life.

He made Drayton Manor in Staffordshire his principal residence and started to adopt the lifestyle of a country gentleman.

[3] In the 1818 general election, Peel and his son William had been the two MPs returned by Tamworth in a contested election; in 1820 Peel left Parliament (restoring the general custom at Tamworth of returning un-contested one MP of the proprietor's choosing and one representing other local interests).

[4] In a biography of his son Robert, by Douglas Hurd, it states Peel had "a good life, well sustained by family pleasures, worldly success, orthodox Christian faith and a strong practical mind".