The Ten Hours Act came into effect in 1847, limiting working hours for women and young people in British textile factories.
Formally the Factories Act 1847 received royal assent on 8 June and commenced on 1 July. It initially reduced the permitted working time for women and people aged 13 to 18 to 63 hours per week. The weekly limit was reduced further, to 58 hours, from 1 May 1848—equivalent to a ten-hour day over five weekdays plus a shorter Saturday.
The law grew out of the Ten Hours Movement, a long campaign led by factory reformers including Lord Ashley, Richard Oastler and manufacturer-politician John Fielden. Earlier Factory Acts had regulated children's employment and, in 1844, imposed limits affecting women, but they had not achieved the desired ten-hour working day.
A common mix-up is 1850: the Factory Act of that year corrected loopholes and clarified the hours during which women and young people could work. The central Ten Hours Act itself belongs to 1847, even though its practical enforcement developed through later legislation.