University of Warwick institutional repository: http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick http://go.warwick.ac.uk/wrap/51965 This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. Potbank and Union: A Study of Work and Trade Unionism in the Pottery Industry, 1900-1924 by Richard Whipp r_°ý, Submitted for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Centre for the Study of Social History, University of Warwick. March 1983 I This thesis may be photocopied. i Contents pages Summary iii List of Tables iv-v Abbreviations vi Preface vii Introduction viii-xix Chapter 1 The Pottery Industry 1- 55 1.1 Historical Development of the Pottery Industry 3- 16 1.2 Industrial Structure. 1900-1924 16 - 25 38 1.3 Product Markets and Industrial Performance 25 - 1.4 Foreign Industry 38 - 45 1.5 Technology 45 - 53 Conclusion 53 - 55 Chapter 2 Work and Home 56 - 142 2.1 The Production Process and the Division of Labour 56 - 75 2.2 Workshop Custom and Practice 75 - 82 2.3 Wages 82 - 91 2.4 The Social Relations of the Workplace 91 - 104 Conclusion 104 - 107 2.5 Family, Home and Work 107 - 126 2.6 Health and Work 126 - 140 Conclusion 140 - 142 Chapter 3 Trade Unionism in the Pottery Industry 143 - 205 3.1 From Craft to Amalgamated Union 143 - 160 3.2 Union Structure and Organization 160 - 183 3.3 Membership 183 - 202 Conclusion 202 - 205 ii Chapter 4 Potters, Masters and Unions 206 - 277 4.1 The Pottery Firm 206 - 217 4.2 Management Strategy 217 - 243 4.3 The Industrial Relations of Pottery Manufacture I: Bargaining 243 - 264 4.4 The Industrial Relations of Pottery Manufacture II: Conflict 264 - 275 Conclusion 275 - 277 Chapter 5 Community. Movement and State 278 - 327 5.1 The Potters and the Community 278 - 303 5.2 The Potters, the Labour Movement and the State 303 - 325 Conclusion 325 - 327 Conclusion 328 - 344 Bibliography 345 - 359 Glossary 360 - 368 Appendices 369 - 371 iii Summary The thesis analyses work and trade unionism in the pottery industry between 1900-1924. It explores the structural influences on work and unionism and the experience of the people involved. The main contextual features studied include: the industrial framework; ceramic technology and production; the social relations of the workplace; the union's origins and growth; employer action and the potters' relationship with the community, labour movement and state. The study demonstrates how social and economic relations moulded perceptions and that individuals could shape those relations. There are five sections. The first shows the industry's economic structure was the principal determinant of the potter's work. Past industrial development conditioned responses to the events of the 1900-1924 period. Worker and management actions are related to the variety of markets and technology. Secondly, an examination of the production process reveals the sectionalism of the industry's internal relations which affected the potters' attempts at collective organization. Thirdly the evolution of trade unionism and its amalgamated form are explained. Initially the union was craft dominated but during the period came to reflect the composite workforce's response to industrial change. The workgroup, the family and local loyalties formed the basis of union organization. Fourthly, management's desire to control production had a major impact on work and union experience. Industrial bargaining and conflict reinforced the sectionalism of the workforce and the fragmentation of the union. Finally, the class consciousness and political attitudes of the potters resulted from the interaction of workplace and community and were also modified by the potters' relations with other classes, the labour movement and the state. The period constitutes a discontinuity in the development of the Potteries given the changes which occurred in technology, capital and labour organizations and industrial relations. The thesis is the first account of work and unionism in this era of the pottery industry's history and challenges orthodox interpretations of the technical and social aspects of pottery manufacture. It seeks to understand the social basis of work and trade unionism and to broaden the historical study of women workers, industrial disease and the intersection of home, work and trade unionism. iv List of Tables and Figures Tables page 1. Pottery Industry Size 1710-1901 6 2. Distribution of Pottery Manufacture in the Six Towns 1907 17 3. Output by Product Type in the Pottery Industry 1907-1924 19 4. Imports and Exports of Pottery and Total UK Exports, by Value, 1898-1924 28 5a. Percentage of Total Pottery Exports per Sub-Industry by Value, 1904-1924 31 5b. Proportion of Pottery Export Production within each Sub-Industry, by Value, 1907-1924 32 6. Size of Occupational Groups in the Pottery Industry 1922 67 7. Skill Hierarchy of Pottery Manufacture 71 8a. Wage Structure of the Pottery Industry for 1906 85 8b. Wage Structure of the Pottery Industry for 1924 85 9. Wage Distribution in the Pottery Industry 1924 89 10. Age Pyramid of the Pottery Workforce 1921 98 11. Lead Poisoning in Pottery Manufacture and British Industry 1900-1930 131 12. Leadership of the Potters' Union 174 13a. Union Membership in the Pottery Industry and UK 1898-1924 185 13b. Union Density in the Pottery Industry and UK 1898-1924 185 14. Occupational Composition of Burslem Lodge of the NSPW. 1920 190- 15. Analysis of Pottery Manufacturers' Obituaries and Profiles 1900-1924 215 16. Social Activities of Pottery Firms 1900-1924 235 17. Level of Dispute Activity by Occupation 1906-1924 251 Figures 1. The Production Process and Division of Labour of Pottery Manufacture 65 2. Examples of Family Employment in the Pottery Industry 113 V. List of Tables and Figures (continued) 3. Trade Unions in the Pottery Industry 1898-1924 148 4. Structure of the NSPW 1906-1924 162 5. The Leese Family's Union Membership, Burslem Lodge, 1920 194 Illustrations 1. Jigger and Jolly Machinery 60 2. Dress and Appearance on the Potbank 93 3. Burslem, 1910 110 Appendices 1. Destination of Exports 1900-1925 369 2. Exports per Sub-Industry 370 3. Single Company Wage Structure 1919 371 Map. 1. The Potteries 1900 villa Vi Abbreviations CATU Coll. - Ceramic and Allied Trade Union Collection. D (followed by number) - Document from CATU Coll. HBL - Horace Barks Reference Library, Hanley 1910 Lead Cee - Report of the Departmental Committee on the use of Lead in the Manufacture of Earthenware and China 1910 L (followed by number) - Letter from CATU Coll. MRC - Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick NCPI - National Council of the Pottery Industry NAS - National Amalgamated Society of Male and Female Pottery Workers, the potters' union title from 1906-1917 NSJFS - North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies NSPW - National Society of Pottery Workers, the potters union title from May. 1917 P. Gazette - The Pottery Gazette PRO - Public Records Office, Kew S. Advertizer - The Staffordshire Advertizer SRO - Staffordshire Record Office S. Sentinel - The Staffordshire Sentinel Times I. F. T. Supplement - The Times Imperial and Foreign Trade Supplement US. Report 1915 - Department of Commerce. Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Misc. Series No. 21. The Pottery Industry (Washington 1915). vii Preface I have incurred many debts of gratitude during my research, which I must repay. My thanks go to the staff of the university libraries of Warwick, Cambridge and Oxford; Birmingham Central Library; the British Museum; the British Library of Political and Economic Science; the Horace Barks Library; and the William Salt Library. The Gladstone Pottery Museum, the Dyson Perrino Museum, the Modern Records Centre, the Staffordshire Record Office, the Public Records Office and their directors and staff have all been extremely helpful. A number of individuals gave me valuable assistance. John Briggs, Dr. Malcolm Nixon, Muffi Fox and Frank Botham shared their knowledge of the pottery industry and the Potteries with me. My discussions with Liz Brown and Dr. Margarite Dupree on our common field of research were particularly useful. The participants at the social history seminars at Cambridge. Keele and Birmingham universities; the staff seminar at the Industrial Relations Research Unit, Warwick and the Maastricht, Anglo-Dutch Labour History Conference, 1982 are warmly thanked for their comments and criticisms on my work. The staff and students at the Centre for the Study of Social History gave help and advice freely during my research. I remain eternally grateful to the Ceramic and Allied Trades Union and their head office staff in Hanley. They provided me with every possible help during my period of study and lightened the long days spent in their basement. Moreover, they did so while they and their members were experiencing the effects of a recession similar in intensity to the one I was examining which occurred at the beginning of this century. Professor Royden Harrison provided me with continued advice and encouragement. I warmly appreciate the care and attention given to the manuscript by Deirdre Hewitt and commend her high standards of typing. It was my privilege to have Dr. Tony Mason as a supervisor: even if our modes of analysis differ I hope my standards have met his. Anne Whipp alone knows best the contribution she made to my period of research. viii Introduction This is a study of the pottery workers of Staffordshire, their working lives and their trade unions in the period 1900-1924. Work is a significant part of people's existence, yet how the potters experienced work and its changes in the early 20th century has gone largely unchron- icled.