Together, brother workers
Introduction
Victorian Bournemouth (240) examines the development of unionisation among the resort’s workers during the 1890s. The text discusses the Trades’ Council, which acted as a coordinating body for various unions formed within the town. The council focused on shaping public perception of unionism and made efforts to affect wage standards for workers on Council projects. The founder, a tailor, participated in initiatives related to literacy, such as the Free Library, and in educational programs, including the Oxford University Extension project.
Victorian Bournemouth (240): background
Survey
Bournemouth’s steady growth from resort to borough within fifty years consisted of an apparent ceaseless increase in the built environment and the emergence of a complex economy. Its dominant factors included construction, hospitality, and the retail trade, the latter comprising both manufacturers and resellers. The number of men involved had multiplied. Over twenty years since 1871, the population of building artisans had grown sixfold. Woodworkers provided around 40% of the group, the largest trade. Other pools of skilled artisans working outside construction also kept pace with the economy’s growth. By 1891, over a hundred tailors worked across Bournemouth, a number that would double over the decade. Baking, meat provision, and footwear provided work for many men, their number also multiplying. None of these large groups, however, participated in civic power. That lay in the hands of the employers, not least building contractors, whose firms provided the basis of substantial wealth.
Macro-trends
In the nineteenth century, several initiatives advanced the case for permanent combination amongst labouring people. The Trade Union Act 1871 legalised such collectivism. Most unionisation had concerned skilled men. Examples of these included building artisans and tailors, many of whom worked in Bournemouth. In London, strikes by match girls (1888) and dockers (1889) expanded the potential for unionisation among unskilled workers and women. Indeed, in 1892, Ben Tillett, hero of the dockers’ strike, visited Bournemouth, giving several addresses to crowded audiences. Many working men attended. During the 1880s, Bournemouth’s economy appeared to suffer from the macro-depression affecting the country. Severe winters exacerbated the situation. Community action had to support distressed working people through soup kitchens and coal donations. Self-help insurance schemes, some provided by friendly societies, assisted with medical and unemployment expenses. Thus, climatic, economic, and intellectual conditions had created fertile ground for unionism to grow in Bournemouth.
Victorian Bournemouth (240): unionisation
First stage
In late 1889, J.C. Webber, owner of the South-Western Hotel, Springbourne, chaired a public meeting there. The event concerned forming a union for house painters. The local Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners sent representatives. Formed earlier in the decade, this had about 60 members. Elias Davies of the Tailors’ Society also spoke. The new union already had some 30 members. Two years later, another meeting occurred at the same hotel. This time, Davies presided. He intended to create a Trades’ Union Council to serve Bournemouth and its district. Several unions sent representatives: tailors, carpenters, painters, bricklayers, and plasterers. Davies discussed the current weakness of Bournemouth’s unions. Only a tenth of the workforce had joined a union. Little knowledge about them existed. They had no representative on the Council. The other unions supported his initiative. Webber, an Improvement Commissioner (and future mayor), agreed to represent the group.
Trades’ Union Council
Davies appears to have succeeded, for during the 1890s the press contained several reports of the Trades’ Council. Its organisers understood the benefits of using the media to communicate with respectable decision-makers. One letter, sent in 1892, reported intelligence based on research conducted in the town. The letter contained a quantitative analysis of employment levels. It referred to men standing idle in town and to many empty cottages in Springbourne. The union tried to secure minimum wage agreements on Council projects. It showed interest in education, receiving a delegation from the Oxford University Extension project, offering special rates for working men. Davies spoke at a conversazione, welcoming the link, but observing that deficiencies in elementary education constituted the main problem to address. The Trades’ Council, therefore, leaned towards achieving constructive control by managing public opinion. Unions should belong to the community, not act as its enemy.
Victorian Bournemouth (240): people
Committee members
The names of men associated with the Trades’ Council committee sometimes appeared in press accounts. In most cases, plausible identifications have emerged from the census. The majority worked in the building industry, woodworkers and painters providing the most, but a bricklayer and plasterer also featured. Each occupation had its union. Thus, the men steering the Union consisted of skilled artisans rather than manual labourers. They came from similar social backgrounds. Their fathers either preceded them into the same trade or worked in similar occupations, for example, a coachman. All men had immigrated to Bournemouth from elsewhere. Some continued their travels after the 1890s, but several appeared to have acquired wives and settled within the Bournemouth district. They resided in the suburbs: Springbourne, Boscombe, Malmesbury Park. Here lived many working people. They appear, therefore, to have represented the main groups of the town’s skilled artisans.
Elias Davies
A Welshman, a stone-mason’s son, Elias grew up in his native Tenby. Davies, however, did not follow his father’s trade, becoming a tailor. His wife had worked in service. The couple arrived in Bournemouth during the late 1880s. Here, as an employee, he developed a speciality in women’s clothing. By 1901, the couple had settled in Bath. In addition to unionism, Davies also participated in other parts of community life. As noted, he had an interest in education. He saw limits in the Oxford University Extension scheme. This had aimed too high for adults who had had minimal school learning. He became involved in the Free Library scheme, first as Springbourne’s secretary, then as a member of the Library Council. The idea of a Labour Bureau interested him. He felt comfortable writing to the press. Although active in the community, he did not settle in Bournemouth for the long term.
Takeaway
Victorian Bournemouth (240) has explored the foundation and activities of the local Trades’ Council, a group which acted as a central point for several of the resort’s unions. Established under the guidance of the tailor Elias Davies, the group played a role in establishing credibility for unionisation. Davies had an interest in literacy and education. He showed a willingness to speak in public or to write to the press. Although Bournemouth experienced its first strike during the 1890s, the Trades’ Council did not appear to act in a militant fashion.
References
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