A HISTORY OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 



finishers' union was not concerned) should be 

 accommodated in the factories. It is suggested 

 that the union hoped by this means to get a 

 closer hold on its own members, and also to be 

 better able to recruit among non-unionists. 

 Although it was a serious matter from the manu- 

 facturers' point of view, requiring enlarged 

 premises and more foremen, it was carried through 

 without serious trouble. Many of the workmen 

 disliked the new arrangement intensely, as they 

 had to keep regular shop hours, instead of being 

 able to work or not as they felt inclined. 



The union having gained its point fairly 

 easily, turned its attention to the wages question, 

 and in 1895 brought out a fresh statement de- 

 manding advances. The war chest was well 

 filled, and perhaps the men rather overestimated 

 their power. There had been some friction on 

 the arbitration board at Leicester in the previous 

 autumn. The new demand, instead of being 

 brought before the arbitration board, was put 

 into three factories in Northampton at the begin- 

 ning of March, 1895, with an intimation that it 

 must be accepted or the men would be with- 

 drawn. Simultaneously, in Leicester, a demand 

 was made that no work should be partly made in 

 the town and then completed in the villages. 

 Faced by these serious conditions, the manufac- 

 turers closed their ranks, and on 9 March gave 

 notice of a general lock-out. In 1887 North- 

 ampton alone had been affected, but now the 

 federation embraced in addition Leicester, 

 London, Bristol, Leeds, Birmingham, Kettering, 

 Rushden, and Higham Ferrers. 



In 1890 'The Incorporated Federated Asso- 

 ciations of Boot and Shoe Manufacturers of Great 

 Britain and Ireland ' had been formed. The strike 

 of 1887 had shown the manufacturers that, just 

 as it was impossible for an isolated employer to 

 stand against the men's union, so was it becom- 

 ing increasingly hard for any one town to make 

 effective resistance, as the men on strike were 

 supported by their fellows in other districts. 

 The original members of the federation are 

 named above. Anstey, Glasgow, Kingswood, 

 Newcastle-on-Tyne, Stafford, South Wigston 

 and Scottish East Coast have since joined, while 

 Birmingham has withdrawn. 



When the lock-out took effect some 31,000 

 men belonging to the union were put out of 

 employment, besides a number of non-unionists. 

 Efforts at conciliation were made by the Board 

 of Trade, by the members of Parliament for the 

 towns affected, by Dr. Creighton, bishop of 

 Peterborough, and others, but it was not until 

 29 April that a compromise was effected, chiefly 

 owing to the good offices of Sir Courtenay 

 Boyle, Permanent Secretary to the Board of 



Trade. The lock-out had continued seven 

 weeks.' 



By the deed of settlement it was provided that 

 the arbitration principle should be carried a step 

 further than in 1887 by the appointment of an 

 umpire, whose decision should be final. The 

 agreement was guaranteed by each side defxjsiting 

 a thousand pounds, to be forfeited in case of any 

 breach of its provisions. 



About the year 1900 a determined attempt 

 was made by American boot manufacturers to 

 capture the English market, and some of our 

 newspapers indulged in the most gloomy fore- 

 bodings. Without doubt the American prices 

 were very low, and it appeared at first glance as 

 if Northampton trade would suffer severely. 



Although we practically had in use the same 

 labour-saving appliances as our competitors, in 

 organization and manipulation of labour we were 

 still far behind. The difficulty, however, was 

 faced in the right spirit, and within a very short 

 time, by bringing our methods thoroughly 

 up-to-date, goods were produced quite equal in 

 value to anything sent us from across the 

 Atlantic. 



Between 1890 and 1900 numbers of new 

 machines were introduced, which it is impossible 

 even to mention here, until at last there seemed 

 to be a separate machine for each operation in 

 the making of a boot. 



In 1 90 1 Messrs. John Cave & Sons, of 

 Rushden, brought out a complete welting and 

 stitching plant of English manufacture. This 

 was introduced to the trade by the Standard 

 Rotary Machine Company in the following year. 



No operation is too insignificant to exercise 

 the inventive faculty of the boot trades engineer. 

 A typical modern Northampton factory is divided 

 into twelve departments, and in the production 

 of a boot no less than sixty-one distinct types of 

 machine bear their part. 



In its staple trade the county can boast of few 

 firms possessing any great length of continuous 

 existence. The business of Sharman & Ekins of 

 Wellingborough is by far the oldest, having been 

 founded by Mr. Samuel Sharman about 1749. 

 In Northampton that of Mr. T. B. Evans (founded 

 1825) takes precedence, followed by F. Bostock 

 (1835), Manfield & Sons (1843), Henry Mar- 

 shall (1848), John Marlow & Sons, Ltd. (1866), 

 and Henry Wooding & Sons (1867).^ 



' The dispute had reduced the funds of the union 

 from sixty-two thousand pounds to two thousand. 



' The old-established firms of J. Dawson & Sons 

 (1780) and Wm. Hickson & Sons, Ltd. (18 12) manu- 

 factured in London till 1 886 and 1867 respectively, 

 at which dates they removed to Northampton. 



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