A factory inspector is someone who checks that factories comply with regulations affecting them.
The enforcement of UK Factory Acts before that of 1833 had been left to local magistrates, which had meant that any compliance with those acts within the cotton industry to which they applied was effectively voluntary. The initial role of the Factory Inspectorate was to ensure compliance with the limits on age and working hours for children in the cotton industry, thus protecting them from overwork and injury. Four factory inspectors were appointed, with powers equivalent to a magistrate, the right to enter at will any cotton mill at work, and powers to introduce regulations (without parliamentary approval) to effectively implement the Factory Act.[1] The inspectors were assisted by 'superintendents', who had none of their powers (the lack of a right of entry being a particular weakness). The Factory Act 1844 made the superintendents into 'sub-inspectors' with the right of entry at will. By the same Act, the inspectors lost their magisterial powers and the right to make regulations was transferred to the Home Secretary; a duty to guard machinery was laid on employers (but only where the machinery was in areas accessed by children or young people), the Factory Inspectorate therefore becoming concerned with the adequacy of machine guarding.
In 1893 Mary Paterson and May Tennant were the first two women to become factory inspectors earning £200 a year. Factory Inspectors had existed since 1833 but for the first sixty years they were all men.[2]
A chronological list of Her (His) Majesty's Chief Inspector of Factories:[3] [4] [5]
| Alexander Redgrave CB; b. 9 June 1818, d. 1894 | 1861–78 joint chief inspector with Robert Baker, chief inspector 1878–91 | |
| Robert Baker; b. 1803, d. 1880 | 1861–78 joint chief inspector with Alexander Redgrave | |
Frederick H. Whymper
| 1891–92 | |
| Richard Edward Sprague Oram; b. 1830, d. 8 March 1909 | 1892–96 | |
| Dr Arthur (Sir Arthur) Whitelegge; b. 17 October 1852, d. 25 April 1933 | 1896–1917 | |
Sir Malcolm Robinson CB
| 1917–20 | |
| Robert Ernest Graves CBE; b. 22 December 1866, d. 21 May 1922 | 1920–22 died in office | |
| Sir Gerald Bellhouse CBE; b. 1867, d. 15 September 1946 | 1922–32 | |
| Sir Duncan Randolph Wilson CBE; b. 1875, d. 1 March 1945 | 1932–39 | |
| Sir Wilfred Garrett; b. 1880, d. 1967 | 1939–46 | |
| Howard Everson Chasteney; b. 9 August 1888, d. 18 February 1947 | 1946–47 died in office | |
| Sir George Percy Barnett; b. 19 October 1894, d. 19 October 1965 | 1947–57 | |
| Thomas Warburton McCullough CB, OBE; b. 13 March 1901, d. 28 December 1989 | 1957–63 | |
| Ronald Kington Christy CB; b. 18 August 1905, d. 29 August 1987 | 1963–67 | |
| William John Conway Plumbe; b. 17 March 1910, d. 9 November 1979 | 1967–71 | |
| Bryan Hugh Harvey CBE; b. 17 October 1914, d. 22 February 2004 | 1971–74 | |
| James (Jim) Dominic George Hammer CB; b. 21 April 1929 | 1975– 84 | |
| David Charles Thomas Eves CB; b. 10 January 1942 | 1985–88 | |
| A. J. (Tony) Lineham | 1988–92 | |
| David Charles Thomas Eves CB; b. 10 January 1942 | 1992–2002 |