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

1787

提示A year in the late 1780s.

为什么Its 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).

提示A sweet ingredient in tea.

为什么Many 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?'

提示It asks for recognition of a shared humanity.

为什么The 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.

提示The trade was banned, but not the whole system.

为什么Enslaved 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.

提示A word from the world of learning a skill.

为什么The 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

提示Think of the loaf on the table.

为什么Industrialists 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.

提示A well-funded campaign using the printed word and speakers.

为什么Its 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).

提示A root crop that the poor depended on.

为什么Peel 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.

提示They could enter mills by day or by night.

为什么Earlier 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

提示Within five years of the 1844 defeat.

为什么The 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

提示He also promoted co-operative ideas.

为什么Many 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.

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

为什么They 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.

提示Their members had a valuable trade.

为什么The 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

提示It replaced a cautious approach with a combative one.

为什么Historians 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

提示Named for a toxic element in match heads.

为什么The 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

提示In pre-decimal money, twelve pence made a shilling.

为什么They 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.