Palatine of Lancaster. Concerned at the working conditions for children in the cotton industry, and even more concerned that some of his mills had been run by their 'overseers' (managers) contrary to his own paternalistic intentions, in 1802, he introduced the Health and Morals of Apprentices Act which tended to limit the hours that apprentice children worked in the mills, and obliged the mill owners to provide some form of schooling. In 1815, at the urging of Robert Owen, he introduced a Bill introducing stricter limits on the hours children (whether or not apprentices) could work in textile mills; in 1819 this was passed (heavily amended, and applying only to the cotton industry) as the Cotton Mills and Factories Act. In 1817, he retired from business, the various partnerships which had operated his mills being dissolved. In the 1818 General Election, Peel and his son William had been the two MPs returned by Tamworth in a contested election; in 1820 Peel left Parliament (restoring the general custom at Tamworth of returning un-contested one MP of the proprietor's choosing and one representing other local interests). Family Peel married his first wife Ellen Yates (the daughter of his partner) on 8 July 1783. They had eleven children, including: Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. William Yates Peel, MP and politician. married Lady Jane Elizabeth Moore, daughter of Stephen Moore, 2nd Earl Mount Cashell and his wife Margaret King. Edmund Peel, MP and politician General Jonathan Peel, soldier, politician and owner of racehorses (including 'Orlando', the winner of the 'Running Rein' Derby of 1844) Laurence Peel (b. 1801), MP and politician, who married Lady Jane Lennox, daughter of Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond; described by one historian as "the youngest and least talented, but perhaps the most personally attractive of the Peel brothers". Harriet Peel, who married the 2nd Baron Henley. Mary Peel who married George Robert Dawson (politician); great-great-grandparents to Lord Moyola. Peel had high hopes for his children, especially his eldest son, Robert, who he would make repeat the substance of each Sunday's sermon after mass. Peel accepted that he would not mingle with high society, but intended to prepare his son to be able to. In 1799 he (or his immediate family benefit trust) was estimated the seventh-wealthiest small family unit in Britain, owning £1.5M (). He was one of ten known British millionaires