[345]William Newton was born at Congleton in 1822, his father, who had once occupied a superior position, being then a journeyman machinist. The boy went to work in engine shops at the age of fourteen, joined the Hanley Branch of the Journeymen Steam-Engine Makers’ Society in 1842, soon afterwards moving to London (where he worked in the same shop as Henry James, afterwards Lord James of Hereford, then an engineer pupil, and later noted for his knowledge of Trade Unionism), and rose to be foreman. After his dismissal in 1848 for his Trade Union activity he took a public-house at Ratcliffe, and devoted himself largely to the promotion of the amalgamation of the engineering societies. In 1852 he became, for a short period, secretary to a small insurance company. At the General Election of 1852 he became a candidate for the Tower Hamlets. He was opposed by both the great political parties, but the show of hands at the hustings was in his favour. At the poll he was unsuccessful, receiving, however, 1,095 votes. In 1860 he was presented with a testimonial (including a sum of £300) from his A.S.E. fellow-members. In later years he became the proprietor of a prosperous local newspaper and was elected by the Stepney Vestry as its chairman and also as its representative on the Metropolitan Board of Works. He became one of the leading members of that body, on which he served from 1862 to 1876, filling the important office of deputy chairman to the Parliamentary, Fire Brigade, and other influential committees. In 1868 he again contested the Tower Hamlets against both Liberals and Conservatives, receiving 2,890 votes; and in 1875 he unsuccessfully fought a bye-election at Ipswich. He died March 9, 1876, when his funeral, in which the Metropolitan Board of Works took part, assumed a public character.
[346]This journal is preserved in the Manchester Public Library (341, P. 37). It was a well-written 16 pp. 8vo, issued, at first fortnightly and afterwards monthly, at 2d. No. 1 is dated July 4, 1840.
[347]Minutes of delegate meeting at Manchester, May 12, 1845. An admirable account of this society, founded on documents no longer extant, is given in an article by Professor Brentano in the North British Review, October 1870, entitled “The Growth of a Trades Union,” For some other particulars see the Jubilee Souvenir History of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, 1901.
[348]Executive Circular, 1846, cited in proceedings in R. v. Selsby. Two full accounts of the trial were published, viz. a Verbatim Report of the Trial for Conspiracy in R. v. Selsby and others(Liverpool, 1847, 66 pp.), published under the “authority of the Executive of the Steam-Engine Makers’ Society,” and a Narrative, etc., of the Trial, R. v. Selsby(London, 1847, 68 pp.). Both are preserved in the Manchester Public Library, P. 2198. The legal report is in Cox’s Crown Cases, vol. v. p. 496, etc. Contemporary Trade Union reports contain many references to the proceedings. It was noticed as an instance of the animus of the prosecution that the indictment contained 4914 counts, and measured fifty-seven yards in length. W. P. Roberts organised the defence, which cost the Union £1800. The firm in whose works the dispute arose became bankrupt within a few years. See the Jubilee Souvenir History of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, 1901.
[349]The Trades Advocate and Herald of Progress was an 8 pp. quarto weekly, price 1d., No. 1 being dated June 1850. The volume from June to December 1850 is preserved in the Manchester Public Library (401 E, 18). An able article by John Burnett in the Newcastle Weekly Chronicle, July 3, 1875, gives a vivid picture of the struggle for amalgamation.
[350]This was pointed out in Professor Brentano’s article in the North British Review, already quoted.
[351]The organ of the Executive Council was the Operative, a well-written weekly journal, which was set on foot by Newton in January 1851. The price was at first 1½d., and afterwards 1d. per number. The issues from the beginning down to July 1852, probably all that were published, are preserved in the British Museum (P. P. 1424, a.m.). Newton acted as editor, and contributed nearly all the articles relating to the engineers and Trade Unions generally.
[352]The largest and most powerful of the other Unions in 1851 were those of the Ironfounders and the Stonemasons, which numbered between four and five thousand members each. It must be remembered that the previous ephemeral associations of the cotton-spinners and miners, which often for a time counted their tens of thousands of members, were exclusively strike organisations, with contributions of 1d. or 2d. per week only. The huge associations of 1830-34 had usually no regular subscription at all, and depended on irregularly paid levies. A trade society which, like the Amalgamated Engineers, could count on a regular income of £500 a week was without precedent.
[353]See the resolutions of the Birmingham Delegate Meeting of the Iron Trades, September 28, 1850, in the Trades Union Advocate, November 1850.
[354]It was resolved: “That we are prepared to assist the workmen at Messrs. Platt to the utmost of our power, but cannot consent to the men leaving their situations, because they may not at present be able to obtain the working of the machines.” The best account of the struggle is to be found in the Jubilee Souvenir History of the A.S.E.(1901), pp. 34-41.