STEAM POWER AND STRIKES.
As the nineteenth century advanced, steam power gradually replaced hand
and water power on the pot-banks. Before 1800, steam had been introduced
to drive the flint mills; the glaze-grinding mills, the pumps and lawn
sifters came next. But lathes and throwers’ wheels were still driven
by hand, and so were the “jiggers”—revolving moulds on which flat bats
of clay were “flat-pressed” to make plates and saucers. A tramway was
laid about 1815 from Longton and Fenton to the canal wharf at Stoke; but
transport along both tramway and canal was still drawn by horses. With
the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway, however, in 1830,
a new era began in transport, as important as the first canal for the
potting industry.
Land transport had, of course, become thoroughly organized and cheapened,
and coaches, carrier carts and wagon transport had kept increasing in
speed and numbers. In the 1818 Directory, for instance, we find that
no less than eleven coaches passed through the district each way every
day. Every afternoon the “Light Post Coach,” from Liverpool to Burton
and London, ran through the Potteries from the “Red Bull” at Lawton to
Lane End; and two hours later the “Prince Coburg” from Liverpool passed
through, branching off from the other route at Stoke, and going through
Trent Vale, Stone and Lichfield to London. The “Regulator” too, on three
days of the week, ran through the Potteries by the same route on its
journey from Liverpool to Birmingham. In addition to these coaches three
others ran from Liverpool to London, and one from Manchester to London,
passing through Newcastle, as did also one from Liverpool and two from
Manchester on their way to Birmingham. You could travel from Newcastle at
6 a.m. to the “Swan with Two Necks,” in Fetter Lane, in fifteen hours.
In 1833, however, the Bill for the Grand Junction Railway, from
Birmingham to Manchester, was passed, and by the completion of this
railway in 1837, Whitmore, the nearest station, five miles from the
Potteries, was brought within seven hours of London by four trains a day.
Coal gas had been introduced in 1826 into Burslem, and by 1840 the
beginnings of a water supply were visible. At this period, just before
modern sanitation, locomotion, economies and “civilization” took root,
John Ward, in his “Stoke-on-Trent,” gives us a table showing the
dimensions of the trade. It runs as follows:[177]
A Table, showing the amount of conveyance of Goods and
Merchandise to and from the Boro’ of Stoke-upon-Trent, by the
navigation from the Trent to the Mersey, for one year ending
30th June 1836.
INWARD TRADE.—
Tons
_From Liverpool_
Clay and Stone from Devon, Dorset and Cornwall 70,000
Flint Stone from Gravesend and Newhaven 30,000
Borax, Boracic Acid, Cobalt, Colours, Bone Ash, etc. 4,000
Timber 9,000
Corn, Grain and Flour 7,000
Groceries and Colonial Produce 6,500
Butter, Bacon and other provisions 1,500
Wine, Spirits, Ale and Porter 800
Miscellaneous Goods 1,000
------ 129,800
_From South Staffordshire_
Iron, Steel and Copper 7,060
Stourbridge Bricks 1,200
------ 8,260
_From London_
Mercery, Haberdashery, from London and the West 500
Groceries, &c. 1,500
Miscellaneous 1,050
------ 3,050
_From Manchester_
Cotton, Silk and Woollen Goods 1,200
Window Glass and Lead 300
Malt, &c. 500
Miscellaneous Goods from the North 500
------ 2,500
-------
Total Imports 143,610
OUTWARD TRADE.—
_To Liverpool_
Earthenware and China, for America, Ireland, Scotland
and foreign Countries 51,000
Bricks and Tiles for same countries 10,000
------ 61,000
_To Manchester_
Earthenware and China 3,500
Bricks and Tiles 30,000
Coal, to Manchester and Stockport 25,000
Miscellaneous Goods 1,000
------ 59,500
_To South Staffordshire_
Ironstone 15,000
------ 15,000
_To Birmingham and the West_
Earthenware and China 6,000
------ 6,000
_To London and the South_
Earthenware and China 12,000
Coals, Cannel and Slack 30,000
------ 42,000
_To Chester and North Wales_
Earthenware and China 1,000
-------
Total Exports 184,500
It will be noticed that the Stourbridge bricks were already in request
for the pot-ovens, and that the total weight of ware exported out of the
district amounted to 72,500 tons, of which nearly three-quarters went
abroad. Through the courtesy of Mr Philips, Manager of the N. S. Ry. Co.,
I am able to give some corresponding figures for later dates, as follows:
By Canal, By Railway Total Ware Exported
’000 tons ’000 tons from District Year
44 ? ? 1862
66 ? ? 1872
64 ? ? 1882
52 81 132 1884
58 80 137 1886
67 82 149 1888
57 93 150 1890
56 98 154 1892
50 97 147 1894
56 109 165 1896
42 118 160 1898
45 119 164 1900
42 120 162 1901
36 123 160 1902
44 129 173 1903
47 127 174 1904
42 129 172 1905
48 135 184 1906
This shows an export trade from the North Staffordshire Potteries of
184,000 tons of ware in 1906 against 72,500 tons exported in 1836, but it
must be remembered that ware is now much finer and lighter than it was
seventy years ago, so that the real increase in value is more marked than
the increase in weight seems to indicate.
As trade and population increased within the narrow limits of the
Potteries the conditions of life became harder and poverty more
severe. Already in 1792 we read of troops being sent, to Wolverhampton
of all places, to keep order during a strike in the Potteries of
Staffordshire.[178] While in 1813 a Chamber of Commerce was formed and
attempted to fix a uniform increased price for earthenware. A price list
was in fact drawn up for the commoner sorts of ware, and remained in
force for twenty years or more, though it was regularly evaded by special
rebates and discounts.[179]
The first Trade Union is heard of in 1824. It was formed immediately on
the passage of the combination laws, and the men struck for a rise at
Martinmas 1825. The men were utterly beaten and their union destroyed.
Little capital was required to start a pot-factory in those days, and the
strikers tried to employ themselves in an early example of a co-operative
factory. They were however before their time and the experiment only
hastened their defeat.[180]
The best days for the Trade Unions came in 1833, when Robert Owen, the
socialist, visited the Potteries and brought them all the enthusiasm
of a great cause. A new union was founded, and was welcomed by many of
the best employers as a lever to raise prices as well as wages. Chas.
J. Mason, who was then supplying the world with his “ironstone” china,
formed a Masters’ Association to work with the men’s union; and wages
were raised. The dissentient masters refused to grant the rise, and a
four months’ strike began at Martinmas 1834, and ended in a victory for
the men.[181]
During the years 1833-5 wages are said to have increased by 25 per
cent.[182] But in March 1836 the masters united in a Pottery Chamber of
Commerce and preparations were made for war. Before however an account
is given of what is still known as “the great strike,” the two customs
of the trade must be described, against which, then and for years
thereafter, the men struggled in vain.
By the “Annual Hiring” Agreement men were engaged only at Martinmas (Nov.
11). They were bound to serve all the following year to make ware at
fixed prices, and if they broke their agreement they could be, and were,
imprisoned. It was entirely a one-sided bargain. An employer could keep a
man tied to a situation which gave him but one day’s work a week, yet if
the man left he might be prosecuted. Even if not prosecuted, nobody could
engage him without a written discharge. The system was similar to the
Native Pass Laws of South Africa.
The greatest number of male workers were flat or hollow-ware pressers and
throwers. These men were paid by piece, and only for those pieces which
were good. By a strange trade custom, however, they were not paid for
those pieces which left their hands in good condition, but only for those
that ultimately came good from the oven. In other words, they suffered
for other people’s breakages and carelessness. The men could get no proof
that the ware was bad at all. They had no appeal. Some masters were
even said to refuse to pay for what they themselves afterwards sold as
“seconds.”
Against these customs the men decided to strike. They demanded the right
to give a month’s notice to leave and to be paid for all ware which came
“good-from-hand.” The masters replied that they “could not allow the
old usages of the trade to be broken up,” and they drew up a new clause
to be added to the annual agreements in future. By this new clause the
agreement was to be suspended if work at a factory ceased, but only
till work was resumed again. In fact the men were to be suspended from
work and wages but not from servitude. If they found work during the
“suspension” they were to throw it up as soon as their old master wanted
them back.[183]
As soon as notice of the new agreement was given to the men, the workmen
at fourteen factories came out. This was on Sept. 1, 1836. When Martinmas
came round sixty-four more of the biggest factories were laid idle, and
seven-ninths of the trade stopped. It is doubtful whether the whole
history of Trade Unionism records a more desperate fight than the one
that followed. Strike pay never exceeded 6s. for married men and 4s. for
single men, but the funds became exhausted. Help came—£7,000 of it—from
Sheffield and Manchester, and that too vanished. Twenty thousand potters
were out of work, and so were the retail tradesmen and all allied trades.
The men began to dribble back at Christmas, for it was a very hard
winter and the savings were all gone. Then several hundred devoted men,
taking the remains of their clothes and household furniture, marched
in procession to the pawn-shops and paid over all the money they could
raise into the common fund. This example inspired the last 10,000 to hold
out three weeks longer, and at least got terms for the men. A conference
was presided over by Mr Twemlow of Betley on January 20, 1837, and the
masters agreed to guarantee four days’ work a week, and to break in the
presence of the man all ware for which they refused to pay him, on the
ground that it came “bad from oven.”[184]
But even these concessions were futile for the union was broken. The men
took what they could get. Gradually all the old wrongs crept back again
into the trade customs, and even the wage-prices of 1833-6 were whittled
away by a system of “allowances.” A potter of 1843 gives an account of
his engagement. He applied for work as a journeyman, and was asked what
kind of a journeyman he wanted to be, as there were several kinds. “There
were,” said the manufacturer, “some, like those of so-and-so, who took
pay in provisions; others, like those of such a one, who took their pay
in haberdashery and jewellery; but the class to which he wished to direct
particular attention was the one which allowed 2d. in the shilling, which
class was divided into two parties; those who consented to the twopences
being stopped out of their wages on Saturday evening, and those who
preferred to compound with their dignity, get their money in full on
Saturday and pay back the twopences on Monday morning.”[185]
Wages in fact sank to subsistence level, and the smaller the master the
more he beat down his men by allowances and undercut his selling prices.
Some of them kept shops as well as factories, and broke the Truck Act
every day. The Chamber of Commerce in 1836 stated the average wages as
follows: In 1833-4, men 17s. to 21s., women 6s. to 11s., child of 14, 3s.
to 3s. 6d.; in 1836, men 21s. to 28s., women 10s. to 15s., child 3s. 6d.
to 4s. 6d. These figures probably exaggerate slightly the rise in wages,
and under the allowance system they soon sank again to the pre-union
level.
The general election took place in the middle of the black year 1837, and
the return of the two Conservative masters, Davenport and Copeland, for
Stoke-on-Trent, resulted in rioting on the part of the wage-earners who
were then non-voters. These riots were repeated in a more serious form at
the election of 1841, but it was the houses rather than the factories of
the unpopular side that were demolished.
During those busy years of the railway boom, the Trade Unions again
raised their head in North Staffordshire. The third union was started in
September 1843. It began with a small success—a partial strike lasting
nine months—but as a rule it avoided conflicts and tried to work by moral
suasion and public opinion. With this end in view they published a paper,
“The Potters’ Examiner,” in which the more flagrant cases of “truck” and
“allowance” were exposed. They succeeded in gradually levelling up the
bad masters. A few prosecutions stopped the truck system, and allowances
vanished in 1844 under gentle pressure from a strong union and doubts as
to their legality. It is only fair to say that the best firms had never
countenanced the “allowances,” and were glad to see the worse makers
forced to drop them.
A development, however, that helped the union at first more than anything
else, was the invention of pot-making machines. The potting industry had
survived so long without machinery, that the workmen had begun to think
themselves safe. These flat and hollow ware-pressers had skill, and they
were paid by the piece. At one fell swoop, and in the middle of their
settled lives, they saw themselves suddenly deprived of all the value
of their skill and training, and likely to be replaced by women and
lads. During 1845-6 Mr Ridgway tried a “paste-box” machine, and Chas.
J. Mason bought some sort of a plate “jolly.”[186] The men promptly
struck and prevented their adoption, but the panic was intensified when
Messrs Copeland introduced a similar dread machine, which the potters in
their terror called the “Scourge.” This machine too was withdrawn, but
not because of the union. The general election of 1847 was approaching
and Alderman Copeland stood for Stoke-on-Trent. It is curious to think
that the panic fear of the workers postponed the introduction of these
machines for twenty years. And indeed the pottery workers themselves
have lost something through the introduction of machinery. The proportion
of women and young persons employed in the industry is double what it was
in 1850, and the work of married women is not good for the rest of the
people.
Incidentally this machinery panic broke down the union. Encouraged by
William Evans, their leader and the editor of the “Examiner,” the union
attempted to emigrate the unemployed—almost to emigrate _en masse_ and
fly from the wrath to come. They bought a great estate in Wisconsin,
called it Pottersville, and to it in 1846 they sent out settlers as to
a new Utopia. The scheme failed, and with it, in 1849, collapsed the
third potters’ union. Drained of money for America, it had been growing
weaker ever since 1847—they could only humbly petition against Copeland’s
“Scourge,” and as the union weakened “allowances” crept back into use,
while “good-from-oven” and the annual hiring flourished as before.[187]
It is said that but for the opposition of the Newcastle innkeepers the
main line of the London and Manchester Railway would have run up the
Trent valley, and Newcastle would now occupy the position of Crewe as a
universal junction. However that may be, in 1846 a company was formed for
giving the potteries direct railway communication with the main trunk
lines. The moving spirit in this enterprise was Alderman Copeland, M.P.
for Stoke, and senior partner in Messrs Copeland and Garrett—the pottery
firm that had once been Spode’s.
[Illustration: ALD. W. T. COPELAND, M.P.
1797-1868]
William Taylor Copeland (1797-1868),[188] son of William Copeland, the
partner of the second Spode, had become sole owner of the old Spode china
factory at Stoke in 1833. He had been Lord Mayor of London in 1835, and
from 1837 till 1865 was generally Conservative member for Stoke-on-Trent.
With the help of his partner, Thomas Garrett, Lord Ingestre, Richard
Cobden, and some London financiers, the North Staffordshire Railway was
formed. Bills were passed through Parliament in 1846, and by the end of
1849 Stoke was connected up with Stafford, Derby, Crewe, and Manchester.
They were forced by Parliament to buy out the Canal Company’s monopoly
at a very high figure—£1,700,000—which large addition to the capital of
the company has always been urged as an excuse for any exceptionally high
transport rates on this railway.
We may add here that the loop line through Tunstall was finished in
1875; while the tramways with horse draft were commenced in 1861, turned
into steam traction in 1895, and into the present electric system by the
British Electric Traction Company in 1902.
The railway at first affected principally the passenger traffic, and it
was only gradually that it came into use for the carrying trade of the
district, as the following figures show:
Total weight of goods and minerals carried by N.S.R. in 1,000 tons
Canal Rail Year
1370 — 1819
1286 — 1840
1356 — 1849
1259 273 1850
1595 1245 1860
1563 2324 1870
1244 3369 1880
1076 4309 1890
1168 5587 1900
1130 6515 1906[189]
The partnership between Copeland and Garrett was dissolved in 1847, and
the firm took the title of “W. T. Copeland, late Spode.” This was again
changed in 1867 when Alderman Copeland’s four sons were admitted into the
business, and the name became “W. T. Copeland & Sons.” It was about 1846
that Messrs Copeland developed the “Parian” body, a hard white stoneware
second only to marble as a material for statuettes and bas-reliefs. It
is composed largely of feldspar, and figures in this material, modelled
by some of the best artists of the last half century, still form a large
part of Messrs Copeland’s productions.
Alderman Copeland, who was also a great patron of the Turf, died in 1868
and his son, Richard Pirie Copeland, then became sole owner of the works.
Mr R. P. Copeland bought Kibblestone Hall, and served as High Sheriff for
the county in 1902. His sons have now joined him in the management of the
historic works at Stoke.