INDUSTRIES 



Derwent being supposed to be peculiarly adapted 

 for tempering steel. The following document 

 gives an idea of the trade in this commodity : 



Sent on board the Anne Ralph Jackson Master by 

 William Johnson Skipper the I5th April 1712 as by 

 shipping bill of this day's date viz. : 

 250 Baggs of Nailes 



5 Casks 



10 Whole Faggots of Steel 



6 Half Faggots of ditto 

 45 Bundles of Hoops 

 10 Bundles of Rod Steel 



20 Whole Bars of Blistered Steel 



8 Barn of Iron 

 172 Bundles of Rod Iron 

 525 Parcels being 21 tuns. 



The extant Crowley Law Book is the joint 

 work of Sir Ambrose Crowley and his son John, 

 who on the death of his father in 1713 carried 

 on the works on the same lines. 



This voluminous code of laws and orders, 

 numbering 119, deals with every detail of the 

 workman's life, and lays down the most minute 

 directions for the carrying on of the firm's busi- 

 ness. Possibly Ambrose Crowley had tried his 

 prentice hand on a similar experiment at his 

 works in Thames Street, Greenwich, as two or 

 three allusions arc made to the success which 

 had attended the enactment of a similar rule in 

 the older establishment. 



The most interesting feature is the arrange- 

 ment by which the workpeople, instead of settling 

 their grievances by an appeal to the law of the 

 land, sought remedy in a local tribunal set up for 

 their benefit by Sir Ambrose Crowley, as he says 

 in the preamble to the law dealing with the court, 



to prevent which (sundry irregularities), I did frame 

 and it hath been my continual thought to be framing 

 such good wholesome Rules and Orders for them to 

 be governed by as would make them quiet and easy 

 among themselves and a happy and flourishing people 

 among their Neighbours. The better to see such good 

 Rules ordered and observed have thought fit to com- 

 mit the Administration of the same to five persons to 

 be termed Arbitrators that in my absence shall hear 

 and determine all petty differences amongst my work- 

 men and to whom they may appeal in case of any 

 Aggrievance and -to have power to inflict the penalties 

 upon the offenders and disturbers of our peace and 

 Societie as by the said Rules and Laws are pre- 

 scribed." 



This committee of arbitration consisted of the 

 chaplain, two members appointed by Ambrose 

 Crowley, and two elected by the workpeople, 

 one being chosen from the nailers and the other 

 from the odd waremen. Each workman who 

 had given bond, received a stock of iron and 

 paid to the poor box at Winlaton was allowed 

 a vote. The standard of conduct required from 

 the arbitrators was high, they were disqualified 



n Law Book of the Crowley Iron Works, Winlaton, 

 fol. 806. * Ibid. Law 49, fol. 84*. 



283 



by selling strong liquor, behaving badly in church, 

 going there drunk, conniving at the chaplain's 

 letting the seats in church, treating or standing 

 treat, misapplying the poor's money, spending the 

 public money on liquor, except at a funeral, even 

 then their expenditure was limited to gs. They 

 took a stringent oath to hold sacred the standing 

 law and rules of the factory, to foster and rightly 

 administer the fund devoted to the poor. Con- 

 sidering the onerous nature of their duties, their 

 pay was small ; 2d. an hour while they were 

 attending at court or overlooking the workpeople's 

 stock, the last payment being forfeited if they sat 

 down or drank or smoked during their supervi- 

 sion hours.* 4 Time was divided into ten weeks, 

 and every Wednesday when the unit was three 

 or eight, the court sat. Both plaintiff and defen- 

 dant paid a nominal fee, id. and id. respectively, 

 to the clerk. There was a right of appeal from 

 the court of arbitration to the council, or a fresh 

 trial was granted, in case either party was dis- 

 satisfied with the verdict, on the payment of a 

 fee of 2s. 3 * The final court of appeal was 

 Ambrose Crowley himself. John Crowley, in 

 re-enacting this law after his father's death in 

 1713, says that the reason why the court was 

 first instituted was to avoid the expenses of liti- 

 gation ; evidently the workpeople had been some- 

 what disorderly, for their constant appeals to the 

 magistrates ' had brought an odious character upon 

 the works.' He adds, too, that the proceedings 

 were instituted at the request of the governors of 

 the poor, the committee of grievances, and in the 

 name and behalf of the whole society. The juris- 

 diction of the court was restricted ; in case of 

 treason, murder, felony, or any other heinous crime, 

 the criminal was prosecuted in the ordinary law 

 courts, the prosecution being instituted by Crow- 

 ley himself, and the cost defrayed out of the 

 poor's stock. 36 The court sat first at Winlaton, 

 but in 1816 it was moved to Swalwell." 



The Court Book of the Arbitrators, covering 

 the period from 1806 to 1846, is still extant, 

 and the record of the proceedings of one court 

 throws light on the nature of the cases brought 

 forward : M 



Wednesday Evening March I ith, 1807. Account 



53*9- 



present T. Litchfield T. Hall 



A. Hall W. Bennett 



J. Hirst W. Belt 



R. Rutter A. Belt 



T. Hall B. Jameson 



J. Rowell 



Law No. 1 6 was read. 



Benjamin Summcrland requests the loan of 5/- 

 Granted. 



14 Ibid. Law 40, verses iz-38,fols. 854, 85^. 

 u Ibid. Order 50, verses 3-9, fol. 87. 

 * Ibid. Law 53, Preamble, fol. 90^. 

 " Crowley MS. Newcastle-upon-Tyne Free Library, 

 24 July, 1816, Account 16818. 



'" Crowley MS. Newcastle-upon-Tyne Free Library. 



