british history chapter 5

• Model/craft unions


  Small unions that operated among the skilled workers in the 1850s, leaders were restrained and respectable
• Model/craft unions


  • Regarded themselves as the elite of the working classes and sought to improve working conditions
  • Functioned as Friendly Societies setting up benefit schemes for their members in times of hardship
  • Won respect of Liberal politicians like Gladstone because of their preference for peace rather than striking, these benefitted from 1867 reform act extension of franchise
  • Their funds could not protected by law
• London Trades Council and Trades Union Congress


  Provided opportunities for different unions to exchange ideas, encouraged setting up of national organisation for the unions
• First TUC held in Manchester to bring pressure to bear on the government to give trade unions legal recognition


  1868
• Union leaders


  • Wanted to operate with Liberal gov and promote members as hard-working, respectable and God-fearing, represented trade union movement as a whole
• Until 1871 working-class electorate were supporters of Liberals
• Leaders of new model unions, confident that the Reform act of 1867 had given them bargaining power, pressed Royal omission of Inquiry into trade unionism to clarify legal position
• Gladstones gov passed legislation which angered working class: Trade Union Act 1871 which established rights for unions to have property and funds, protected by law and right to strike, and Criminal Law Amendment Act made any form of picketing illegal, any action taken illegal


  1871
• Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act passed by Disraeli replaced CLA act, encouraged growth so unions couldn't be prosecuted for doing anything collectively that would be legal if done by an individual , legalised peaceful picketing


  1875
• Artisans' Dwelling Act 1875


  Gave local authorities power to purchase, clear and then redevelop slums. The absence of a compulsory purchase order seriously weakened the Act's effectiveness and many city councils chose to avoid it
• Public Health Act 1875


  Pulled together all existing sanitary legislation, laid minimum standards of drainage, sewage of disposal and refuse, and a Medical Officer of Health charged with the reporting of all infectious diseases, success
• Employers and Workmen Act 1875


  Introduced contract of service that gave employees terms that were on a par with those of the employers
• Factory legislation 1874 + 1878


  Set code of regulations for conditions, reduction in hours for women and young people
• Merchant Seamans' Act 1876


  Introduced regular inspection of ships by the Board of Trade, better accommodation for sailors on board and the introduction of the Plimsoll line to indicate whether or not the shop was safe to go to sea
• After extension of franchise in 1867 it was government's interest to have an educated electorate
• Forster's Education Act 1870


  Made provision for elementary schools to be set up across the country, they were known as Board Schools run by state rather than religious organisations, moved away from laissez faire
• Sandon's Education Act 1876


  Attendance poor in rural areas was particularly poor a children worked, introduced by the Conservative government, set up attendance committees but stopped short of making attendance compulsory
• Self-help


  Emphasis on the individual, must take personal responsibility
• Self-Help by Samuel Smiles


  Key virtues for success were a sense of duty, strength of character, thrift and self-help
• Because of improvements in standards of living in public health, personal hygiene and education, society looked down on poor and they were regarded as lazy and feckless
• Contemporary thought was that the best way of addressing social evils was with minimum state interference and reliance on voluntary activity by middle class philanthropists
• By 1870 self-help was being questioned
• Liberal social reform legislation


  Carried out in the army and civil service by Gladstone's Liberal government, controversial as they attempted to establish principle of advancement by merit rather than family connections and wealth, illustrate Gladstone's adherence to self-help
• Reform of the licensing laws 1872


  Giving magistrates the power to issue licenses to publicans and prohibit publicans from tampering with beer, temperance groups didn't think it did enough and beerage felt it attacked industry, brewers and distillers voted Conservative
• Social reform groups


  Driving force between social reform legislation came from pressure groups like Health of Towns Association 1839, Ladies' Sanitary Reform Association of Manchester and Salford 1862, Ladies' National Association for the Repeal of Contagious Diseases Act, Octavia Hill
• John Stuart Mill introduced amendment to 1867 Reform Bill to allow women a parliamentary vote, defeated
• Gladstone agreed to principle of female emancipation by giving women ratepayers the vote in local elections


  1869
• Married Women's Property Act gave married women legal status
• Education Act 1870 made same provision for girls as boys to attend school
• Age of consent raised from 12 to 13 and then 16 in 1885