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Wilson, Gordon McAndrew (1977) The miners of the West of Scotland and their trade unions, 1842-74. PhD thesis. http://theses.gla.ac.uk/2112/ Copyright and moral rights for this thesis are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This thesis cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the Author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the Author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Glasgow Theses Service http://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] The Miners of the West, of Scotland and their Trade Unions 1842-74 GORDON McANDREW WILSON Thesis submitted for Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Department of Scottish History, University of Glasgow. JANUARY 1977 -- 3_i - Contents Page Preface Thesis Summary vii Chapter One: The Location and Ownership of the Mines of the West 1 of Scotland 1842-74'' Chapter Two: The Miners' Work 30 Chapter Three: The Miners' Wages 53 81 Chapter Four: The Mining Population and the Miners' Way of Life Chapter Five: Narrative Account of Trade Unionism among the 117 Miners of West Central Scotland, I 1842-55 148 Chapter Six: Narrative Account of Trade Unionism II 1855-74 196 Chapter Seven: Union Organisation and Administration 232 Chapter Eight: The Strike Policy of the Miners 273 Chapter Nine: The Darg and Other Policies of the Miners Appendix Figure 1: Map of West Central Scotland Showing Principal Mining Communities of Mid-nineteenth Century 299 Figure 2: Plan of Stoop-and-Room Mine 300 Figure 3: Plan of Longwall Mine 301 Figure 4: Graph of Fluctuations in Output per Man per Year in Scottish Collieries 1861-74 302 Figure 5: Graph of Fluctuations in Coal Miners' Wages and Pig Iron Prices in West of Scotland 1850-74 304 Figure 6: The Truck Store in Quarter, Lanarkshire 305 Figure 7: Houses in McNeil Street, Larkhall 306 Figure 8: Houses in Main Street, Holytown 307 Table 1: Number and Location of Collieries in West of Scotland 1854-74 308 -iv - Page Table 20: Membership of Seven District Miners' Unions 1872/3 329 Table 21: Entry Fees and Subscriptions for Miners' Unions in West Central Scotland 1824-75 330 Table 22: Miners' Strikes Which Involved'Severäl Districts of West of Scotland 1842-'74 331 Table 23: Miners' Strikes Which Involved One District in West Central Scotland 1854-74 332 Table 24: Miners' Strikes Which Involved Two, Three or Four Mines in West Central Scotland 1854-74 333 Table 25: Miners' Strikes in Single Mines in West Central Scotland 1854-74 334 Table 26: Summary of All Types of Miners' Strikes in West of Scotland 1854-74 335 Table 27: Causes of Major Strikes of Miners in West Central Scotland 1842-74 336 Table 28: Causes of Lesser Strikes of Miners in West Central Scotland 1854-74 337 in Table 29: Incidence of Miners' Strikes Shown District by District the West of Scotland 1842-74 338 Table 30: The Successes and Failures of Major Strikes 1842-74 340 Table 31: The Successes and Failures of Lesser Strikes 1855-74 341 Table 32: Principal Instances of Restricted Working by West of Scotland Miners 1842-74 343 Bibliography 346 Supplementary, detailed source references for strikes referred to in Tables 22-31 are contained in a pocket on the back cover of this thesis. -v- Preface The miners of the West of Scotland who are the subjects of this thesis were those who worked in the coal and iron mines of Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire and parts of Dunbartonshire and Stirlingshire, the mines, in other words, of the Clyde Valley from its source to the sea. In the text the terms West of Scotland, West Central Scotland and Clyde Valley are virtually inter-changeable since they denote the same mining region. This delineation of the West of Scotland differs somewhat from that of the nineteenth century Mines Inspectors who for administrative purposes divided the Lanarkshire coalfield in two and included East Lanarkshire in the territory of the inspector for East Scotland. That division had no meaning economically and has no value for the purposes of this thesis. The period 1842-74 has a certain unity in that it began with a strike and ended with a strike. The 1842 dispute was on an unprecedented scale and marked the beginning of a new period of combination among the miners. In 1874 the strike was even more extensive but because of its failure it was followed by several years of declining trade unionism in the mining industry of the West of Scotland. The year 1874 was a turning point for two other reasons; the first effects of the 'Great Depression' were being felt in the industry and Alexander McDonald the most prominent Clyde Valley miners' leader went South of the Border to become a Member of Parliament. For these reasons 1874 was the end of an era in the history of mining in the West of Scotland. Several abbreviations are used in the text of the thesis and in the notes for each chapter. They are as follows: A. S. E. - Amalgamated Society of Engineers EcHR - Economic History Review G. U. L. - Glasgow University Library - vi - N. L. S. - National Library of Scotland SHR - Scottish Historical Review S. R. A. - Strathclyde Regional Archive S. R. O. - Scottish Record Office T. U. C. - Trades Union Congress The command numbers of Parliamentary Papers are cited in the Chapter notes in brackets after the title and date of each Paper. - vii - The Miners of the West of Scotland ana their Trade Unions 1842-74 Thesis Summary Against the background of an expanding mining industry dominated particularly by the iron trade and with ironmasters as the most substantial employers, a mining population emerged which was rapidly recruited from many parts of the United Kingdom with a particularly high proportion of Irish workers. Although the coalface workers required some skill and experience they could have no real claim to artisan status when new workers were being introduced and learning the job so quickly. During the period unemployment was never a problem. Production increased but not productivity as miners tended to reduce output when wages were high, and vice versa. Wages fluctuated frequently mainly because of the movements in iron prices, producing the most regular disputes in the mining industry. The miners' sense of grievance about wages was increased by employers' deductions, weighing methods and the use of truck. Mining communities, some urban others more rural, produced a spirit of solidarity through institutions like friendly societies which assisted the growths of trade unions by providing organisational experience for potential leaders. Housing conditions and the provision of schools varied from community to community and were often used by employers as means of controlling their workers for example by evicting strikers from company houses. A structure of district miners' unions had emerged in the West of Scotland before 1842 but it assumed a new strength in the strike of that year and in the events of subsequent years. Several districts gave support to the Miners' Association in 1843-4 and the Holytown district attached itself to the National Association for United Trades in 1845-6. These district unions went into decline several times during the following - viii - years but it was always the same organisational structure which was revived when the occasion demanded, often led by the same men, like William Cloughan, John Muir or Thomas Hailstones. Their policies were also consistent during these years based upon an acceptance that pig iron prices could control wage levels. Restricted output and strikes were the most frequent responses of the miners to their Industrial grievances. The year by year fluctuations in union activity continued throughout our period with the same basic organisation and policies. Further-attempts at national organisation were made in 1855 with Alexander McDonald's Scottish Union of Coal and Ironstone Miners (which he revived in 1862) and with the Miners' National Association formed in England in 1863. But these unions were built upon established district organisations which had been involved for years in collaboration at county and at Scottish level. From the mid-fifties more substantial union funds were raised and more emphasis was put on securing improved working conditions through Parliamentary legislation. The union also sought in the sixties and early seventies to provide friendly society benefits for its members and generally to approximate more closely to the 'new model' style of unions. The leaders who emerged tended to have similar views about the value of restricting output, about the need for restraint and effective organisation of strikes and about the importance of unions being peaceful, law-abiding and 'respectable'. These attitudes were reflected in the rules which were formulated for several of the district and national unions of the period. These rules dealt with size of committees, functions of office-bearers and organisation of finance. As unions aspired to provide friendly society benefits in the sixties, finance became more complex and subscriptions higher. The rules also included provisions for control of members including regulation of entry into mining, a feature of union organisation which was - ix - diminishing by 1874, but which had not disappeared Despite the leaders' professed caution about striking the miners withdrew their labour regularly throughout the period, sometimes in large, district or regional strikes, but more often in small one pit turn-outs.