The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong

by Frances Milton Trollope

This novel tells the story of Sir Matthew Dowling, a wealthy businessman who adopts a young factory boy, Michael. He uses the child to demonstrate his willingness to help the poor, but, quickly tiring of him, sends the boy to an establishment for unwanted pauper children.

Genres: Classics, Victorian, Historical Fiction

224 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1968

About the author

Frances Milton Trollope (1779 – 1863), more popularly known as Fanny Trollope, was an English novelist and writer whose first book, Domestic Manners of the Americans (1832), caused an international sensation upon its publication. Trollope’s more than 100 books include strong social novels, such as the first anti-slavery novel, Jonathan Jefferson Whitlaw (1836), which influenced Uncle Tom’s Cabin author Harriet Beecher Stowe; the first industrial novel, Michael Armstrong: Factory Boy; and The Vicar of Wrexhill, which took on the corruption of the church of England; as well as two anti-Catholic novels, The Abbess and Father Eustace. Between 1839 and 1855 Trollope published her Widow Barnaby trilogy of novels, and her other travel books include Belgium and Western Germany in 1833, Paris and the Parisians in 1835, and Vienna and the Austrians. Her first and third sons, Thomas Adolphus Trollope and Anthony, also became writers; Anthony Trollope was influenced by his mother's work and became renowned for his social novels.
She is sometimes confused with her daughter-in-law, the novelist Frances Eleanor Trollope.

Reviews

[Katie Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really enjoyable and interesting read, one of those Victorian social critic novels I just love. I'm really enjoy the works of Frances Trollope so far, and I can't wait to read more by her.

[G.J. Griffiths · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book shortly after reading about Robert Blincoe, the Real Oliver Twist, by John Waller, (https://www.gjgriffithswriter.com/aut...) which I also gave 5 stars. The story of Michael Armstrong is as gripping as any thriller story you may come across and as interesting and intriguing as any book by Dickens or Gaskell about 19th century life for child apprentices in mills or factories. To begin with I was not aware of the works of Frances Trollope and it is a great discovery. Her writing is as incisive, detailed and poignant as any of my favourite writers of those times, including the two authors above as well as George Eliot and Thomas Hardy. What a pity Frances Trollope is no longer in print!

There is an excellent start to the book which allows the reader to become well acquainted with the characters and later events that befall the central character, Michael Armstrong. The steady build up to the dramatic ending is full of incident that informed and pulled me in and had me rooting for all the cotton apprentices who had to endure the evil practices forced upon them by such heartless employers as Sir Matthew in the story.

I highly recommend this book to fans of any of the authors mentioned above.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

hmm mixed feelings. On the one hand her vivid depictions of the horrors of child labour and factory life are effective and powerful- though she doesn't go quite as far as offering a socialistic response to the industrial process I felt that her portrayal of capitalism and the ensuing degradation and cruelty were compelling and convincing. What stops this from being a great, or even a good novel is that none of the characters are as true to life as the conditions and circumstances she places them in. The only emotions expressed were despair or joy, the female characters were virtually identical, and other than Lord Fauntleroy I don't think there has been a more sickeningly good child than Michael Armstrong.

[John Mansell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before Engles, before Stowe, before Gaskell, writing contemporaneously with Carlyle and Dickens, Trollope provides an Inferno-like journey into the textile factories of Manchester circa 1840. Her research explores the social and business practices that gave rise to the watershed experience of the British Industrial Revolution. Her writing was consistent with the the Sadler Report. Students of Economics would gain a lot from paying attention to the business practices described. Also, anyone interested in public health needs to read this work

[Kalle · Rating 2 out of 5]

I suppose there is a reason I had not heard of this book before: it is not very good. It was a real chore to read through the first parts of the novel, though it did get slightly better towards the end. Overall the narrative was rather uneven; I'm not sure in what conditions it was written but it feels like some editing could have improved it quite a bit.

The social commentary and the preachy tone made it also rather un-engaging to read in the 21st century (and yes, I know Trollope is known for her social novels). I do like plenty of misery and horribleness in my books, but the conditions of the factory workers were explored in a way that did not go enough into details. The characters were mostly caricatures, ranging from cartoon villains ("he ruined my show, I will sent him to hell as a revenge!") to the most beautiful and noble ladies ("oh, we must help the poor!"), to poor old factory workers, and the passive protagonist, who is missing for large chunks of the book. Oh, and money and status in society are the most important things.

I would recommend this only to the hardcore Trollope fans. If you are looking for an engaging 19th century English novel, look elsewhere.

[Matthew Gurteen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first part of a longer work examing the working class in England, Frances Milton Trollope's 'Life and adventures of Michael Armstrong, the factory boy' was just okay. Maybe subsequent volumes are better, but I could not find myself invested in this one. Although fictional, it puts politics before the story and fails in both. Its two closest works are probably Friedrich Engels' non-fiction 'The Condition of the Working Class in England' and Elizabeth Gaskell's fictional 'Mary Barton'. Both of those works are amazing, and 'Life and adventures of Michael Armstrong, the factory boy' seemed like a strange amalgamation of the two. The characters were two-dimensional, and the story never really goes anywhere. I understand that this is just a first volume, however, which is why I have been more generous. Overall, though, I could only recommend 'Life and adventures of Michael Armstrong, the factory boy' if you are studying the period or its topics. I would not recommend this book for pleasure reading.

[Jay Daze · Rating 3 out of 5]

Melodramatic as hell at points, with a good dose of Victorian Christian morality and middle class thirst for orderly, non-violent change. (Trollope decided not to follow up on Michael's life due to real life riots where workers took matters into their own hands, much to her horror.)

But despite all this and actually thanks to the sometimes cheesy melodrama, this is an author challenging British industrialism use of children as expendible commodities to be worked to death - but in an entertaining and heartfelt story.

Charles Dickens may have done it better, but Frances Milton Trollope was another important voice to bring this injustice to the public consciousness.

***

The end of the book plays off as a joke something that is actually really creepy! Michael may have no idea what is going on but it is very apparent to the reader.

[Emma Glaisher · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is so much that is important about this book. Yet Fanny lets the importance of the topic down by some heavy-handed plotting. The first half is shocking (and sometimes funny) and I learnt a lot. But the general horror is inevitably sacrificed to the specific sentimentality.
Michael never really develops satisfactorily. We never learn of any legal changes to the system or that Mary is still campaigning for them. The final high jinks at Dowling Lodge were particularly embarrassing.
Yet it is a book that should not be lost. At its time it was telling a story that needed telling, and Fanny did this in the best way she could.

[Melissa Vinson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Along the lines of Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist, this novel is an unforgiving exploration of nineteenth-century child labour. First published in 1840, it tells the story of a young factory boy, Michael Armstrong, who is “adopted” by Sir Matthew Dowling, a wealthy factory owner in England, as the Industrial Revolution was coming into fruition. In order to make himself appear willing to help the poor, he takes in Michael, who happens to be the sole provider for his sick mother and lame brother. However, he quickly tires of this endeavor and under the guise of setting young Michael up in an apprenticeship, sends him instead to an establishment for unwanted pauper children, with conditions far worse than he currently experiences in Sir Matthew’s factory. Michael escapes, and a series of dangerous adventures follows.

While this novel was written to shed light on the deplorable conditions that factory workers, and more importantly, children 8 years old and under, worked in, the main message of this story is that individual philanthropy was incapable of solving the wider social ills that grew from nineteenth-century industrialization. Mrs. Trollope faced much contemporary criticism for her work and was ridiculed for writing about the “vulgar” and “low-bred.” Today, however, this is a novel which is celebrated for its pioneering attack upon the social problems that plagued the era in which Trollope lived, as well as being regarded as one of the finest examples of her literary achievements.