Industrial Britain 1745–1901, Year 11: anti-slavery, reform leagues and trade unions (Power and the people option)

1787

HintA year in the late 1780s.

The whyIts founders included Thomas Clarkson and Granville Sharp. It aimed to win over the public with information and petitions, rather than quiet lobbying of MPs.

They refused to buy sugar grown on Caribbean slave plantations (a sugar boycott).

HintA sweet ingredient in tea.

The whyMany who boycotted sugar also signed petitions, which gave the campaign a mass base even though many of those taking part had no vote.

'Am I not a man and a brother?'

HintIt asks for recognition of a shared humanity.

The whyThe design came from the seal of the Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade. The medallions were handed out free at abolitionist meetings, and supporters wore them as a badge of their beliefs.

Slavery itself in the British colonies.

HintThe trade was banned, but not the whole system.

The whyEnslaved people already in the colonies stayed enslaved; slavery itself was not abolished until the Act of 1833. The Royal Navy's West Africa Squadron began patrolling for slave ships in 1808.

Apprenticeship: they stayed tied to their former owners' estates.

HintA word from the world of learning a skill.

The whyThe Act passed in August 1833 and came into force on 1 August 1834. Parliament set aside £20 million to compensate the slave owners, not the people who had been enslaved.

The Corn Laws

HintThink of the loaf on the table.

The whyIndustrialists opposed them, and campaigners said they kept bread dear, while landowners and farmers gained. The Anti-Corn Law Association of Manchester, founded in 1838, grew into the national League that campaigned for repeal.

With travelling lecturers, huge numbers of pamphlets and large public meetings.

HintA well-funded campaign using the printed word and speakers.

The whyIts best-known leaders were Richard Cobden, the chief strategist, and John Bright, its great speaker. It drew its backing mainly from the middle class.

The failure of the Irish potato harvest (the famine).

HintA root crop that the poor depended on.

The whyPeel was a Tory, and repeal split his party and ended his government soon afterwards. Historians differ over how much the League itself mattered in 1846.

Factory inspectors.

HintThey could enter mills by day or by night.

The whyEarlier Acts, in 1802 and 1819, had little effect. The 1833 Act also banned employing children under nine in most textile mills (silk excepted) and ordered working children to attend school.

1847

HintWithin five years of the 1844 defeat.

The whyThe Factories Act of 1847, known as the Ten Hours Act, met a long-standing demand by mill workers for a ten-hour day for women and young people. Lord Ashley, later Earl of Shaftesbury, had taken over leadership of the cause in Parliament after Michael Sadler lost his seat.

Robert Owen

HintHe also promoted co-operative ideas.

The whyMany strikes were lost and the Tolpuddle case discouraged people from joining, so the union soon fell apart.

They were charged with swearing an illegal secret oath when they formed a union of farm workers.

HintThe charge was about a ritual promise, not the group itself.

The whyThey were sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia, but there were huge protests and they were pardoned in 1836. The case became one of the best-known episodes in early trade union history.

Skilled craftsmen, such as engineers.

HintTheir members had a valuable trade.

The whyThe Amalgamated Society of Engineers, founded in 1851 and led by William Allan, was the leading example. These unions preferred negotiation to strikes and gained a reputation for respectability.

New unionism

HintIt replaced a cautious approach with a combative one.

The whyHistorians link its rise to the 1888 matchgirls' strike and the 1889 London dock strike. Its unions were open to workers who had been left out by the craft unions.

Phossy jaw

HintNamed for a toxic element in match heads.

The whyThe Bryant and May workers also faced low pay and fines. About 1,400 walked out in July 1888 and won their demands, and a union of women match workers followed.

6

HintIn pre-decimal money, twelve pence made a shilling.

The whyThey also demanded a minimum four-hour shift. The dockers won, helped by £30,000 sent by workers in Australia, and the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union grew quickly.