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Oastler , Richard , 1789-1861 , factory reformer
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Richard Oastler was born in Leeds in 1789. After his business as a commission agent failed in 1820, he was appointed steward to Thomas Thornhill, an absentee Yorkshire squire. An opponent of slavery in the colonies, he began to campaign vigorously for improvements to the working conditions in British factories, and had some success in influencing legislation. He fell from prominence after the rise of Chartism in the early 1840s. He died in 1861.