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Victorians, Work & Strikes
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Find
out more from the BBC
Find
out more from Learning Curve
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In the C19th there were many small furniture makers in the
area around Shoreditch and Hackney. As the century progressed,
clothing came to replace furniture. This was often made in ‘sweated’ conditions – that
is, where people (usually women) worked in overcrowded and
often unsafe conditions, for very low wages.
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1888 Match Girls Strike.
Trade union membership had been increasing throughout the
east end, but there had been little success in improving
pay and working conditions. However, in 1888, the girls at
Bryant and May’s match factory in Fairfield Road, Bow,
went on strike to protest against their poor pay, unhealthy
working conditions and the petty fines they were made to
pay.
They were supported in their strike by Annie Besant, who
petitioned parliament as well as leading a boycott of Bryant
and May’s matches. The strike was successful, with
the company giving in to many of the girls’ demands.
It was also important in that it showed workers could be
successful, as further demonstrated by the Beckton Gas Works
employees who were able to win shorter working hours and
a pay increase in June 1889.
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Match Girls (& boy)
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London
as a 19th Century Port
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1888 was notorious for another reason – on 7th August
the first of Jack the Ripper’s victims was found.. Whilst
the murders were never solved, they did lead to change, as social
reformers sought to bring an end to the homelessness of many,
especially children, in the East End. Find
out more |
1889 The Dockers Strike was the next large scale industrial
action in the East End.
Whilst low pay was a factor, it was also in response to the way labour
was controlled and organised in the docks. Many men were suspicious of
the ‘plus’ system, which gave men a kind of bonus at the end
of a job, but they were not told in advance what the job involved. The ‘contract’ system
used in the docks was also unpopular. In this case, the dock company let
the work out to contractors, who then employed the labourers needed to
complete the work. As the contractors were paid according to the tonnage
(weight of goods) moved, they worked the labourers very hard. To add to
this, most labourers were employed on a casual basis – having to
turn up at the docks every day to see if they would be picked for work.
It was a violent and competitive atmosphere, made worse by the fact that
increased mechanisation had reduced the man power required, at a time of
increased numbers of casual labourers. Following marches into the city,
and picketing of the docks, eventually an agreement was reached to pay
the ‘Dockers tanner’ (sixpence, in pre-decimal money). Even
so, it took the intervention of Cardinal Manning and Sydney Buxton, MP
for Poplar, before a final agreement over the exact date from which the
payment was to be made was reached. |
Visit Our Local Legends section to find out more..
Click
here for The History Of Londons website on Victorian Tower
Hamlets
Visit our local
Women's Library
Click
here to find out morefrom the BBC,
or Play the Victorian Women's Rights Game
Check out the
Votes for Women Website
Click here for weblinks
about Victorian Children
Click here for the Island
History Trust
Click here to find out more with the Ragged
School Museum
Download the "Victorianopoly" (pdf)
Game to play
Play the Victorian
Crime Game
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| Images & more on the Great Dock Strike |
Click
here to find out about the East End Hop Pickers |
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