SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC HISTORY 



During the period of the strike the Chartists had their head quarters in 

 Bilston, and it can hardly be doubted that some of their more irresponsible 

 orators worked on the credulity and ignorance of the miners and led them to 

 hope for many material benefits as a result of gaining the ' Six Points ' of 

 the Charter. But all the evidence points to the fact that the Staffordshire 

 miners were not, at this time, in the least interested in politics, the con- 

 ditions of their lives were too narrow and restricted for that, and indeed to 

 some persons this absorption in purely material and physical needs seems to 

 have been regarded as a virtue. One employer of labour remarked, ' In 

 general colliers are very peaceable men and do not trouble themselves about 

 government ; so that they can get bread and cheese to eat I should never be 

 afraid of colliers.' 167 From personal observation Dr. Tancred gives a like 

 opinion as to the 'non-political character' of the South Staffordshire miners. 



No class of people, said he, are more totally devoid of any sort of political feeling 

 than the South Staffordshire miners. Not one of the Six Points of the Charter could 

 be made intelligible to them, and no orator could persuade them to listen for ten minutes 

 on such a theme. 168 



The special grievances of the South Staffordshire miners hardly existed in 

 North Staffordshire. 



The truck system was practically non-existent, and the relations of the 

 employers and their work-people appear to have been, on the whole, excellent, 

 some having, in the late depression in the iron trade, continued to raise coal 

 and ironstone at a loss, to keep their workmen employed. Moreover, the 

 printed statement of reasons for the strike, delivered by the trade-unionists to 

 the masters, related only to hours of work and wages. 169 



The North Staffordshire miners were largely piece-workers, and by 

 means of their good wages and thrift, many of them had been enabled to 

 build their own houses with gardens attached. Acting under the advice of 

 the unionist leaders they had made a demand for an eight-hours' day at 3-r., 

 and ultimately 4.?. per day, and nearly the whole of the 4,500 miners of 

 North Staffordshire had struck work simultaneously, remaining idle for five 

 or six weeks, after which time they returned to work at the masters' terms. 170 

 The wages of boys in the North Staffordshire mines in 1842 ranged from q.s. 

 to IOJ. weekly for boys from ten to eighteen. 171 



In some respects the conditions of work in the Staffordshire mines were 

 much better than those in other parts of the country. For instance, women 

 have never worked underground in this county, though girls and women were 

 employed to a considerable extent at this time on the pit banks, and in 

 helping to load and unload coal boats on the canal banks. 



The evidence obtained by the commissioners showed further that through- 

 out the whole of the collieries within the Potteries no young children were 

 employed in mines, as they found plenty of work above ground in the pottery 

 industry. 172 



167 Midland Mining Com. Rep. i (1843), vol. xiii. p. ex. 168 Ibid. ; T. Tancred's Rep. vol. xiii, p. ex. 



169 Rep. of Seymour Tremenheere, Rep. on Mines and ColRcries (1844), vol. xvi, 58. 



170 Rep. on Mines and Collieries (1844), vol. xvi, 59-60. 



171 Children's Employment Com. Rep. i (1842) [380], vol. xv, 154. 



171 S. Scriven, Children's Employment Com. Rep. i (1842), vol. xvii, App. 128. 'No young children were 

 employed below. This I found to be the case throughout the whole of the potteries, they being occupied in 

 the earthenware manufactures.' 



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