Samuel Starling, a ladies’ shoemaker, confessed that he had belonged to a ‘society of townsmen’ while he had worked in the employ of Mr Maggs. What is more, some labourers found themselves compelled to join a society, as the 1820 case of Samuel Starling and James Mills illustrates. Making them illegal only caused resentment. Trade unions, or combinations, still existed in all but name, most calling themselves ‘friendly societies’. The Combination Laws, introduced by William Pitt, made it illegal for workers to form any combination ‘for obtaining an Advance of wages or for lessening their Hours of working’ 4.įor radicals like Francis Place and their supporters in Parliament, including Joseph Hume and Sir Francis Burdett, these laws were not only crude reactionary hangovers from the war with France, when such associations were viewed with particular suspicion, they were also ineffective. In an attempt to prevent any revolutionary movement from these organisations, trade unions were made illegal in 1800 under the Combination Laws. Towards the end of the 18th century the Industrial Revolution had caused even greater numbers of skilled workers to ‘combine’ in order to protect their interests, with the rise of mechanisation and automation across rural and urban trades 3. Extract from the Treasury Solicitor papers relating to the prosecution of Ladies Shoemakers under the Combination Laws, 1820.
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