Industry and Empire, 1705-1901
Protest and violence in the Industrial Revolution
Protest and violence
When people are unhappy with their lives, they often join together to protest. This might mean meeting in large numbers and listening to speeches and new ideas, or marching and demanding that the government improve their lives. Sometimes people protest peacefully, but sometimes they turn to violence.
There was an increase in protests and riots during the 19th century and the causes and motives of these varied.
Some focused on getting political rights, others were a reaction to the enormous changes of the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions.
Many of these examples of disorder were of great concern to the Government. Across Europe revolutions were threatening the elite ruling classes. The British Government had seen the brutality that followed the French Revolution of 1789 and were determined to crush any form of protest or disorder.
The Luddites
Nedd Ludd - Luddites were named after a man called Ned Ludd, who it was claimed lived secretly in the forest. He may well have been a mythical figure
New machinery was introduced into textile mills. The machinery produced cloth quicker and far more cheaply than weavers could do in their own homes.
In 1811, gangs of weavers smashed up 1,000 new machines in Nottingham and Derbyshire. Between 1812 and 1813, similar groups began smashing factory machinery in Yorkshire and Lancashire. They attacked at night.
The British government moved to quash the uprisings by making machine-breaking punishable by death. The unrest finally reached its peak in April 1812, when a few Luddites were gunned down during an attack on a mill near Huddersfield. The army had deployed several thousand troops to round up these dissidents in the days that followed, and 14 were hanged and many others were transported to Australia. By 1813, the Luddite resistance had all but vanished. It wasn’t until the 20th century that their name re-entered the popular lexicon as a synonym for “technophobe.”
Chartists
In 1838, a meeting in Birmingham drew up a list of six proposed changes to the voting system. The proposals included votes for all men over 21, secret voting, annual elections, equal constituency boundaries, and pay for MPs.
This list was called the People's Charter. The people who supported the demands were known as Chartists.
The Chartists drew up a petition to show the support for their changes. They presented it twice to Parliament, but each time it was turned down.
The movement turned violent. In Newport in 1839, 3,000 iron workers and coalminers met to show their support for the Chartists. Soldiers opened fire and 20 Chartists were killed. 500 Chartists were imprisoned and the leaders were sentenced to death at Newport, but were transported to Australia instead.
Chartism died down after a final failed attempt to present a petition to Parliament in 1848.
Matchstick girls strike
Who were the match girls?
In the 1800s, one of the largest producers of matches was the Bryant & May factory in London - and the vast majority of workers were women. At that time, the bit of a match that burst into flame was made from white phosphorus, which is an explosive - and poisonous - and chemical. The fumes from the white phosphorus could rot the teeth and cause them to drop out after a few months. The disease could spread to the jawbone too, and rot it away. Sometimes an infected person's jaw had to be completely removed, and in some cases the poison caused death.
More side effects
About 1400 match girls worked in the Bryant & May factory and many had nasty skin diseases. the factory didn't have sinks for workers to wash their hands, so the phosphorus burnt their skin and got into the food they ate. Some workers lost their hair and others shone in the dark because phosphorus is luminous. And they only earned a low weekly wage, which was reduced even further by the amount of fines the workers had to pay for breaking ridiculous rules. For example, a worker could be fined for simply leaving a match on a bench.
A strike in a match factory
In 1888, a women's rights campaigner and journalist, Annie Besant, interviewed some of the women in the factory. She published an article called: 'White Slavery in London.' As you'd expect, the factory owners werent happy. they sacked the women who spoke to Besant and forced the others to sign a document saying that the conditions in the factory were good.
Besant helped the workers to organise a strike. She also held public meetings and raised money to give to the striking women. Many newspapers took the women's side and within two weeks the women had been promised better pay and conditions and an end to the numerous fines, so they went back to work.
What was the significance of the match girls strike?
The Match Girls Strike was the first time in Britain that a group of factory workers succeeded in striking for better conditions and pay. It inspired other workers across the country.
In 1891, the Salvation Army opened up its own match factory, using less toxic red phosphorus and paying better wages.
In 1908 the House of Commons passed an Act prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in matches after 31 December 1910.
