by TARQUIN O’FLAHERTY.
Probably the two greatest contributors to turning the tide of government repression in early 19^th century England were the death from porphyria (an hereditary disorder which makes men mad and turns their urine blue) of George the Third, (1820) and a substantial and sustained upturn in the economy.  This last eased the possibility of revolution.  ‘Prinny’, or the Prince Regent, builder of the scandalously expensive Royal Pavilion at Brighton, famous drinker and fornicator, living apart from his Queen, and carrying on a long time, quite public affair with a Mrs. Fitzherbert, became Mad King George’s successor, George the Fourth.  This liason alone was enough, considering Prinny’s already well established scandalous reputation, to bring the monarchy into disrepute.  There was very quickly no dignity, no authority and very little respect for the office of King.  This, and the economic good times, played straight into the hands of the reformers.

To this point any attempt to form a body to represent workers’ rights had been outlawed.  Unions were seen by employers and the government as unlawful attempts to restrict trade.  Membership of trade unions had been made illegal by the 1799 and 1800 Combination Acts and people who defied these rulings went to prison.  The courts of the day came to regard trade unionism as criminal conspiracies and their judgements reflected this.

At the time, the ruling class in England was composed of two political parties; Tories and Whigs.

The Tories (originally from the Gaelic word ‘toir’(pursuit) and employed by the English to describe the outlawed and dispossessed Irish) were aristocratic Loyalists and Royalists to a man.

Whigs were a different bottle of Holy Water altogether.  Associated with Scottish Presbyterianism, they supported the Revolution of 1688 and it’s general principles but opposed the Tories and were known for their habit of asking awkward questions.  They also tended to be a bit more liberal in their views than the Tories, but not much.  Dr. Samuel Johnson believed that the First Whig was probably the Devil himself!

Undoubtedly, both parties regarded the peasantry as little more than slaves.  This seems almost incomprehensible now but for a very long time, this was the case.  The peasantry were regarded as an almost separate, sub-human group who were not really entitled to rights of any kind.  Thomas Carlyle referred to the (Irish) peasantry as …‘white monkeys….’ and is horrified to discover that their skin colour is the same as his own.  If their skin had been black, he went on, it would have been easier to bear.

But all was not lost.  In the economic upswing of the 1820’s and in a dazzling display of political wizardry, Francis Place the reformer “branch stacked’ the relevant Parliamentary Committee, repealed both Combination Acts, and made Unions legal.  It is difficult, considering the forces arrayed against him, to believe that this occurred, but it did.  Place, with his colleague Joseph Hume kept both the more militant Trade Unionists out and failed to inform some of the more reactionary employers.  In this way, and by packing the committee with sympathisers, he had his Bill read and passed into law before these elements were aware of what was going on.  That this was possible does point up how disorganised and chaotic politics was at the time, and of course how much could be achieved through careful planning.

Things were changing, including governments.  Governments were still repressive but perhaps less so than formerly.  Home Secretary Sidmouth was out and Peel was in and the main concern now was to prevent these new elements falling in with the ‘Radicals’. While the economy surged, the new and legal Unions flourished and spread.  By 1825/6 the boom had sunk to a whimper.  Employers sacked staff and demanded and got wage cuts. In 1827 things improved once more and the cycle began again.  For three years, with the odd hiccup, the economy surged and the Unions grew.

Crucially, the build up of the Trade Union Movement was largely due to the improvements in the economy.  England was after all ‘The Workshop of the World’, Europe was finally starting to rebuild, and England was there to provide every thing Europe, and the Empire  needed.

TO BE CONTINUED