Organisation amongst bookbinders.
The bookbinders' organisation sprang up in 1779-80, as most organisations then did, from friendly meetings in certain houses of call. It was at first known as "The Friends." In 1786, the working day was from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., with certain breaks for meals, giving, perhaps, an actual working time of twelve and a half hours per day. But in March of that year, a Conference of the sections decided to ask for a reduction of an hour per day, and their petition was followed by the discharge of workmen.[15] The employers then went further, and in May, 1786, indicted twenty-four of the ringleaders for conspiracy. In a manifesto to the public, the men complained that their wages were only from 15s. to 18s. per week, rising in a few cases to a guinea, and proceeded to charge the employers with having "with vindictive rage forced into the sweet retreats of domestic felicity" wives who were employed in the trade. This action on the part of the employers was not prompted, however, by an objection to women, for, according to the testimony of Mr. W. M. Hall,[16] one of the men indicted, an attempt was made to supply the book market as a temporary makeshift during the dispute with the imperfect work of women. He says, "I cannot remember the exact time of striking the women. This I remember, it was on account of them and the apprentices doing books in boards, by the booksellers consenting to take them so for a time, I was appointed to strike Black Jock's[17] women. I went at one o'clock to see Maria, his forewoman, who used to dine in the shop, she being single. I told her she must inform the other women of the injury they were doing us by continuing at work. If they were willing to serve our interest and leave their work, they should receive their wages for doing nothing. If we gained our cause, they should be sure of employ, and the advantage of the hour also. Coming downstairs, I met Mr. McKinley.
[15] In the Report of the Committee on Trades' Societies published in 1860 by the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science, Mr. Dunning tells the history of the London Consolidated Society of Bookbinders. pp. 93-104.
[16] The Finishers' Friendly Circular, May, 1846, No. 4.
[17] An employer named John McKinley.
"'Well, Mr. Hall, are you coming to work again directly?'
"'Sir, if you will grant the hour——'
"'Come in here,' he says, going into his dining-room, and setting down a large square bottle of Hollands to give me a glass, taking one himself and pouring out another. Pat, pat, pat! came our ladies downstairs. 'What is all this about?' I was glad to make my escape. The six or seven women were all subpœnaed against me on the trial."
The narrative of this famous struggle—one of the most important in the history of Trade Unionism, involving persecution, imprisonment, and death—contains no further records of the part played by women in it, but Mr. Hall's reminiscence indicates how they behaved. The men were successful, and in 1794, the working day was again reduced, so that it lasted from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. Presumably the women shared in these advantages, and also in that of an afternoon tea half-hour, which was theirs exclusively until 1806, when the men, during a period of active trade and overtime, demanded the same privilege. James Watson, in his "Recollections,"[18] hints that the kind indulgence of the women to the men, permitted in some shops, made the afternoon tea half-hour a general demand. "Their kind friends, the ladies, while preparing for their own comfort, neglected not those of their less fortunate companions, but contrived by making their tea to accommodate them as much as possible, and the men, if not immediately under the eye of their employer, would seat themselves on the end of their presses for ten minutes or so and thus partake of it." A strike to secure the half-hour was unsuccessful, but the men gradually won their point. Mr. Watson tells how, after the strike, it happened that he was being engaged by one of the opposing masters. The master, "being pressed upon the point, damned the half-hour, but said I might come in and do as I liked. I accordingly accepted the situation, and at tea-time, when I prepared to sit down, I expected to be supported by the men of the shop who were well aware of my intention, but not one of them would move. I was thus placed in an awkward position, and could only turn to my good friends, the ladies, to countenance my proceedings, who kindly invited me to their tea table." In about a month, Mr. Watson informs us, every man in the place was following his example.[19]
[18] British Bookmaker, June, 1892.
[19] The friendly conduct of "the ladies" was long remembered in the trade, and was celebrated as late as 1847 in a song:—
"What we enjoy we dearly bought,
And nobly they the battle fought,
Who—though the ladies' aid they sought,
Would—right or wrong—have tea.
Chorus—
"Then let us all our voices raise,
And loudly chant to-night in praise
Of those who gained in byegone days,
The time we have for tea."