Robert Owen essays

Robert Owen essays Robert Owen was the sixth child to his parents and was born in Newtown (Mid Wales) in 1771. As a child he showed exceptional intelligence and was unusually studious for a boy of his age. He was a voracious reader and spent a lot of time reading philosophical texts and biographies of famous men. He joined as an apprentice in a draping company even when he was just 10 years old. This early exposure helped him start his own cotton business and in a few years he became the manager and finally a partner of Chorlton Twist Company', one of the biggest cotton mills in London. Soon his company bought the New Landmark mills' and he became an accomplished businessman. Robert Owen was a great social reformer who spent all his wealth and devoted his entire life towards the betterment of the society. Robert Owen was a philanthropist who was not simply contended with his business interests but also very concerned about improving the living standards of his workers. In spite of the growing discontent of his partners Robert spent considerable amount of money towards building houses for them and improving their living conditions. He was also seriously concerned about improving the moral standards of the employees and implemented a system of supervising their behavior, which bore good results. Robert very much believed that environment and education had a great impact on shaping the character of men and hence showed great interest in providing a healthy ambience for children to grow up. To this effect he spent a lot of money and opened the famous Institute for the Formation of Character", a place of education for the children of the deprived class as well as being a learning center for the elderly workers. He pioneered socialism without being totally averse to capitalism. One ...