1,400 people living and working in the community. Business boomed and the village attracted thousands of visitors from all over the world. These included William and Dorothy Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge and Robert Owen. They were attracted by a very successful spinning business, but New Lanark also became known as a model factory community where business, philanthropy and education all came together for the first time anywhere in Britain. The community became as famous for its social & educational provision as it did for anything else – something which Owen was later to capitalise upon. The apprentice children Much of the focus was on Dale’s treatment of his child employees – the so-called apprentice or pauper children. It was common practice for large numbers of children to be employed in mills and elsewhere from the age of 6 or 7 to age 15 or thereabouts. In New Lanark, village children worked alongside some 300 apprentice or pauper children from the charity workhouses in Glasgow and Edinburgh. They were often orphans, looked after by the parish, which was very keen to reduce costs by sending them out to work. The children were not paid but were given board & lodging in No.4 Mill. To begin with, they worked as reelers and pickers but later they worked at a range of jobs where they could learn skills which they could use when they left the mills. Some joined the army and navy; some became joiners or smiths and some were kept on in New Lanark. Employers like Dale were seen as charitable and benevolent because they offered the chance of employment, board and lodging and the acquisition of transferable skills. The children worked from 6am until 7pm, with breaks for breakfast and dinner. They were given two sets of work clothes which were laundered regularly and a blue dress uniform for Sundays. Sleeping quarters were regularly cleaned and there is evidence to show that many of the pauper children enjoyed better conditions than some of the local children. Public Health campaigner, Dr James Currie was one of the many visitors. He noted that:The utmost cleanliness, health and order pervaded the whole manufactory. The children looked cheerful and happy with rosy cheeks and chubby countenances, and I found a variety of excellent regulations established for health, morals and knowledge. Much like Owen later on, Dale was convinced that a good education was essential for