1834 - the year Robert Peel
First became Prime Minister, under William
The Fourth. Peel was northern, but with a feel
For Tory values, since he was the son
Of a rich industrialist. Melbourne
Was the Whig PM who had presided
Over the issue of voting reform
And Peel, a liberal Tory, now added
The Factory Act, and so regulated
The previously inhumane, awful
Working conditions, including children
Also, workhouses proliferated
A roof and bed for the poor, and a meal
For which, unlike now, they worked in return
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