In late February 1834 there occurred two
incidents, which involved early trade unionism in different parts of
the country. One in Dorset received, in time, national and
international prominence whilst the other, in the Staffordshire
Moorlands, would be forgotten and reports of the incident overlooked.
The incident in Tolpuddle led to 5
men being tried and eventually transported for 7 years to Australia.
The other 5 men in the Moorlands would again lead to imprisonment and
a trial for the same offence although the outcome would be very
different.
Both events took place
in a rural England seething with anger and discontent in the early
19th century. It
was a time of great change where the certainties and traditions of
the countryside were being swept away. A policy of enclosing the
land, undermining the age old rights of grazing livestock on common
land, of gathering brushwood or turf for fuel and collecting
gleanings from the community harvest to keep the family in bread
during the winter months had been disastrous for the rural poor.
Their position was further worsened by an economic depression. They
had no redress and were powerless to influence a parliament that was
controlled by the very landowners who were suppressing them. The
people who worked on the land received no compensation whatsoever for
the loss of their land and previously held centuries old rights. They
were driven to desperation.
By the 1830s a vicious circle of low
wages, lack of influence and growing poverty tightened, men were
often placed in wretched situations forced to tramp for miles to
obtain help from the parishes that administered the poor laws. As
rural crime rates increased the response of the Government grew
harsher as people did as young as 14 were hanged for stealing and
others transported for petty theft.
Finally in the early 1830s the
countryside erupted in rebellion and the so-called “Captain Swing”
Riots broke out. Villagers around the country marched on the homes of
the local squire or magistrate to demand a decent living wage and
improved living conditions. To show their feelings hayricks were
burnt and machinery wrecked, although there is no record of anyone
being killed.
The reaction of the authorities was
savage and around the country over 250 people were sentenced to,
although only 9 were executed.
The background of these hard times
forms an overture to the events both in Tolpuddle and in Flash as
working people in both communities sought solutions to the basic
problem of how to secure a livelihood.
The answer for both was to look to
community action through joining a trade union. By 1834 Trade Unions
were legal and had been so since 1824. In that year laws that had
existed to make trade unions illegal had been repealed. The right for
working men to come together and to bargain with their employers was
established. Under the circumstances working men and women took
advantage of the relaxed laws and membership of the early trade
unions increased.
However one aspect of trade unionism
at the time had been omitted from the appeal – the ritual of
initiating the member into the union. It was the ritual that bought
the wrath of the Government down on the heads of the people, both in
Dorset and in North Staffordshire. The initiation ceremony dated back
to the years when belonging to a trade union was breaking the law and
early trade unionists needed to know that their business was secret
and their plans concealed.
The Dorset men were convicted of
administering an illegal oath using legislation that had originally
been intended for use during a naval mutiny- the illegal oath
legislation and it was the same legislation that was intended to be
used against another group of workers a few hundred miles further
north.
But what was the position in the
Moorlands at this time? The township of Alstonefield had a
population of 649 and with the population of other townships in the
area such a Warslow and Quarnford the wider community added up to an
area population of 4700. The Directory of 1834 mentions that an Act
of Parliament had recently been laid down to enclose all the common
land in the area which surely must have rankled who relied on the
commons for additional food and fuel to eke out their meagre wages.
Another source of irritation was that the value of the land would
have been made over to a local Vicar to the value of £300 a year. It
is worth noting that early trade unionism was very much involved
Methodists and other dissenters who were often at odds with the
established Church of England. I will conjecture that the 5 men on
trial were Primitive Methodists, a sect founded in North
Staffordshire. The dispute in the area centred on button making and
there existed in the area called Oliver a maker of “Florentine
buttons”.
Button making in the
early 19th century
was a cottage industry and increased use of machinery and adverse
trade circumstances and wage reduction in the early 19th
century caused many to look to forming a new trade union which caused
them to be in conflict with the law.
The authority mindful of the increase
in unrest in both town and country decided on a harsh course and a
number of local men were arrested.
The 5 men in the dock at
Stafford in August 1834 were named as William Ball, Thomas Malkin,
Joseph Coates, Joseph Haywood and Henry Booth- were all from Leek.
All these names occur as common surnames in the area which they still
do today. They were indicted for administering an illegal oath to
Elizabeth Bestwick at Alstonefield on the 27th
February 1834. The evidence of Elizabeth Bestwick of Alstonefield is
extremely interesting as it sheds light on how early trade unionist
operated
In February 1834
Mr Brunt said to me that the best thing to do was to commence a
union. On the 27th
all the defendants came to the Travellers Rest and explained the
advantages of joining a trade union and said that we would not have
cause to repent it. We of our own free will not make buttons for
under 6d and 10d. They were singing and praying, but they did not
compel me to take the oath. We took it of our own free will. They
sang and prayed and took the oath in the clubroom, our eyes were
blindfolded. A woman did it , but I did not know whom. She led us in
and we went to a large dining table. We all knelt down with our right
hand on our left breast and our left hand on a Bible. We kissed the
book and solemnly declared that we would not make buttons for 6d and
10d, but we would keep all the secrets of the lodge and never give
the consent that the money should be divided or appropriated for any
other than the union and if we did our souls would drop into a
bottomless pit.
The first time they came to the
Travellers Rest “ Now sister you are a member of our honourable
society and may you all prove worthy of the honour conveyed upon
you”.
Mr Haywood gave me my oath.
Sarah Bestwick was sworn in at the same time. I took hold of her
hand. We were to subscribe 2d a week at the quarter of the year. We
were to turn out for higher wages. We would be allowed 6 shillings a
week. All the prisoner’s were present.
Taylor, Johnson and Bowcock
came to the Flash. Some time after this we were initiated and told us
that the Dorchester men had been transported for taking the oath and
bid us be initiated again. We readily consented to it. When I tool
the oath my hands were readily bound, but the handkerchief hurt my
eyes and I saw all the persons, the hatchet and the sword. They had
on a kind of surplice. Two had light dresses on.
In August when the case came to trial it must
have seemed a forgone conclusion. The 5 men pleaded guilty and their
dread must have been reinforced when they realised that the judge at
their trial was the same judge at the trial in Dorset and in that
case Mr Justice Williams had been remorseless.
However the outcome was very
different. Firstly unlike in the case of the Dorset men the local
magistrate Greaves spoke up for the 5 men indicating that they were
respectable and industrious men and what they had done the men had
done in their ignorance. The men were contrite and leniency was asked
for.
Secondly, public opinion had turned
in favour of the Dorset men. Mass demonstrations and petitions had
been organised in many places in the country including Stoke on Trent
where a public meeting had been organised by the Potter’s Union in
the Swan Inn in Hanley and a petitioner comprising of several
thousand names had been collected. In London a demonstration of over
200,000 had taken place against the injustice suffered by the Dorset
Labourers. The country was mobilised and the authorities did not want
a repeat in North Staffordshire of the events in the south
Thirdly the unions had ceased to
administer oaths so they were not likely to be caught again in this
trap.
The men were realised and were sent
on their way back to their Moorland homes and their families.
The Times delivered a homily to the
wealthy during this poverty wracked period.
“ Let the rich be taught that
Providence will not suffer them to oppress their fellow creatures
with impunity. Here are thousands of Englishmen; industrious, kind
hearted but broken hearted human being, exasperated into madness by
insufficient food and clothing, by utter want of the necessaries for
themselves and their unfortunate families”
