Address of the Coal Miners of the North Staffordshire District - A notice from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
This notice invites us to explore the hardships suffered by North Staffordshire's coal miners in 1831 - when their early trade unions were still not widely recognised.
Employers often intimidated organised ...
An Address to the Coal Miners - Pamphlet from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
An apparently neutral observer introduces himself in this pamphlet, claiming to weigh up the respective cases of the coal masters and miners' union during industrial unrest in 1831.
Claiming to wish ...
Clough Hall Colliery Anti-Union Notice - from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
Colliery owners did not take kindly to miners' early attempts to form trades unions.
Market forces
Most believed in an 'iron law of wages,' which dictated that wages would be related to market forces.
This ...
General Meeting of the North Staffordshire Coal Masters - A notice from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
In this notice, 32 North Staffordshire mine owners outline their unity with regard to two pressing issues.
Wages
At this time, miners were attempting to secure an increase in their wages by forming ...
Meeting at the Eagle Inn, Lane End - from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
In 1831, a new Coal Miners' Union Society published a set of rules and orders.
Both the union and its rules caused an uncomfortable stir amongst local coal masters.
This notice was published by ...
Protest of the Journeymen Potters - from the Enoch Wood scrapbook
This handwritten poem protests at social extremes of wealth, status and poverty in the Potteries at around the time of the Napoleonic Wars.
War
War with France had affected the fortunes of the Potteries ...
Rules, Orders, Articles and Regulations Made and to be Observed by the Associated Coal Miners' Union Society in the County of Stafford - document from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
During the 1830s, tensions ran high in the mining industry as colliery owners accused miners of "adminstering illegal oaths" and forming an early trade union.
For this very offence, four Dorset labourers ...
The Coal Miners' Address to the Public - A notice from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
So-called 'blackleg' labour has been a controversial feature of industrial tension for generations.
Traitors
When North Staffordshire's miners formed a trade union in the early 1830s, their masters ...
The Miner's Manual - Handbill from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
This single-sheet Miner's Manual was published in response to attempts by coal masters to crush the activities of organised labour. The notice probably dates from the early 1830s.
"This Act shall not ...
The Red Flag Anthem. Photographed by William Blake.
Lantern slide showing a page containing the lyrics to the song "The Red Flag" written by J. Connel. The song is a famous socialist anthem and one of many clues suggesting Blake's own ideological beliefs. ...
To the Coal Miners of the North Staffordshire District - A notice from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
During 1831 tensions ran high in the North Staffordshire coal industry, as miners threatened to unite against their employers.
At this time, early trade unions were barely recognised by employers. ...
To the Colliers in the Parishes of Wrexham and Rhuabon - Pamphlet from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
The colliers of North Staffordshire were not the only mine workers to organise industrial action in 1831.
Tensions also arose across England and in Wales, where this bilingual pamphlet was issued.
"Violence, ...
To the Miners Lately Employed in the Pinnox Colliery - from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
When trade unionists protested about wages or welfare, their employers rarely agreed whole-heartedly.
In the Spring of 1831, a notice had appeared in which North Staffordshire miners campaigned for ...
Twenty Pounds Reward - A notice from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
Goldenhill colliery owner Robert Williamson, writing from Longport, here finds himself at the centre of an industrial dispute.
Combination
Miners at his pit have formed a 'combination' in an effort ...
Women's Society, Burslem - Document from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook
'On the basis of charitable principles,' 28 Burslem women announce their plan to bring relief to the town's poor.
They include the wife of pottery manufacturer Enoch Wood and local printer J. Tregortha. ...