Trade Unions

• How many trade union members by 1850 (estimated)?

  250 000
• Where were the Hatters organised?

  Midlands, Bristol and Lancashire
• Where were the Woolworkers organised?

  In the west country - organised town clubs
• How important were trade unions in this period:

  • tended to be a small group of skilled male workers - mainly those who had completed long apprenticeships
  • aims were to keep traditions, skills and incomes
  • law saw them as hostile - interference with trade and businesses
  • could be prosecuted under existing consipracy acts
  • named workers 'combinations'
  • strikes - employers retaliated by locking out workers e.g. 1764 West Country weavers
  • pressure employees against unions - dismissal lack of references
  • law didn't recognise the right to come together to interfere with trade
• How many groups were prosecuted from 1710-1800?

  29 groups
• Early Unions:

  • hostility from employers and legal threats, unions often resorted to secrecy
  • meeting often held at night
  • sometimes relied on passwords, oaths and symbols - raised fears about them especially in the 1790s = worried about similar actions as in France
  • left few written records
  • 1799 - 1800 laws against swearing illegal oaths and combinations of working men made the need for secrecy paramount - against possible disorder
• Challenges for Trade Unions:

  • technological advancements - increased use of machinery especially in the textile industry
  • rise in factories and workshops put pressure on trade unions to keep traditional practices
  • growth in factory system + semi - skilled female/ juvenile labour -> business men used cheap labour
  • 1814 Statute of Artificers reduced apprenticeship restriction and threatened craftsmens livelihoods
  • Combination Acts 1799 and 1800 - banned working men's organisation although there was legislation against them anyway
  • Strikes
• 1824 Repeal of the Combination Acts:

  • after a royal commission report they were repealed
  • legalisation would ease tensions and reduce strike action - led to more strikes
  • 1825 - Amending Act
  • removed the right to picket or negotiate wages
• John Doherty:

  • He received very little formal education and at the age of ten went to work at the Buncrana cotton mill.
  • cotton spinner. At the age of eighteen Doherty left Ireland to seek better pay and conditions in England.
  • oherty joined the Manchester Spinners' Union and in 1818 took part in a strike for higher wages. During the strike Doherty was arrested while picketing and charged with assault. He was found guilty and sentenced to two years' hard labour.
  • Doherty was innocent
  • formed Grand General Union of Operative Spinners of the United Kingdom
• John Owens:

  • son of Owen Owens
  • ducated privately at Ardwick, John joined his father in the family business in 1817
  • purchased calicoes and coarse woollens from local manufacturers such as John Fielden and Thomas Ashton and then shipped them to China, India and North America
  • Owens, who never married, decided that he would leave most of his wealth to help establish a further education college for men
• Owen and GNTCU:

  • His workers were treated well with decent housing, access to education and leisure facilities and not for profit shops -> "model employer"
  • developed early ideas of socialism
  • Grand National Consolidated Trade Union 1834 -> umbrella term, made up of smaller unions
  • inclusion of some agricultural workers
  • co-operative movement based on this
• Innovative Features of the GNTCU:

  • mutual support during strikes
  • sickness benefits - normally had to pay
  • female members - usually excluded
  • agricultural worker member ship
  • short - lived ==> affected by Tolpuddle Martyrs
• How effective were unions:

  • unions lacked leverage - strikes were difficult to fund and enforce
  • many employers forced employees to sign the 'document' so they couldn't join a union
  • Miner Association (1842) had 60 000 member but couldn't get any better wages
  • 1836 economic slump - jobs were scarce so people would work for worse wages
• How many members of the GNCTU?


  OCR says 16 000 but Owen claimed 500 000
• How important was trade unionism 1800-1850: important


  Trade union involvement had increased considerably, organisations were getting larger and more national in character. Some collaboration between different occupations. Trade union members becoming more politically aware -> first step into politics.
• How important was trade unionism 1800-1850: not important 


  exclusively for skilled workers, most weren't unionised, technological displacement still occurred, employers + legal systems were still hostile, Chartism + Anti Poor Law League picked up more traction.
• Tolpuddle Martyrs:

  • October 1833 - group of agricultural workers in Dorset set up a branch of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers
  • Secret Oath was against the 1797 Naval Mutiny Act - Home Secretary allowed local authorities (made up of local employers) to charge the 6 members
  • March 1834 - sentenced to transportation to Australia for 7 years
• Topuddle Martyrs: pt 2

  • March 1834 - GNCTU held a mass protest meeting against the severity of the sentences
  • 100 000 attended a protest at King's Cross London
  • the men were still sentenced to transportation BUT pardoned in March 1836
  • unrest due to the swing riots - fear of the tolpuddle martyrs being violent revolutionaries
• How did trade unions address the problems:

  • radical movement - spread radical ideas
  • mass movements for the reform of parliament were influential for example in the use of banners which were taken up by trade unions as a sign of solidarity
  • ideas of socialism - Robert Owen
  • insufficient funds
  • time of economic downturn
• The Merthyr Rising:

  May 1831, Coal and steel workers employed by the powerful Crawshay family took to the streets of Merthyr Tydfil in south Wales. Called for reform protesting against the lowering of their wage and levels of general unemployment. Gradually the protest spread to nearby industrial towns and villages. By the end of May, the whole area was in rebellion and the armed force had to be used. 20 people were shot by troops and the ringleaders were tried and hanged.