Governments, Labour, And The Law In Mid-victorian Britain: The Trade Union Legislation Of The 1870s

. . . . . . . . . . - . This page intentionally left blank Governments, Labour, and the Law in Mid-Victorian Britain The Trade Union Legislation of the s M A R K C U R TH OY S CLAR ENDON PRE SS • OXFOR D 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Bangkok Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York © Mark Curthoys The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Data applied for ISBN – – – 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 Typeset by Regent Typesetting, London Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd, King’s Lynn, Norfolk In memory of P This page intentionally left blank A C KNO WL E D G E ME NT S My thanks are due to the archivists, librarians, and other holders of records who have enabled me to consult materials in their care. Over many years I have received great assistance from the staff of the Bodleian Library, the Modern History Faculty Library, Oxford, John Wing and his colleagues at the library of Christ Church, Oxford, David Webb of the Bishopsgate Institute, and Richard Storey and the staff of the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick. I am grateful to Mr B. A. Shillito of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel for granting me access to that department’s papers, to David Holland for enabling me to consult the papers of S. H. Walpole, and to the many individuals who helped to locate manuscript materials. Gordon Phillips, archivist of The Times, kindly identified the authors of leading articles in that newspaper. This book is based on research undertaken while I was the holder of a postgraduate studentship funded by the Department of Education and Science. I also wish to acknowledge financial assistance from the governing body of Christ Church, Oxford. I owe a longstanding debt of gratitude to David Steele, who introduced me to the problems of the mid-Victorian period through his special subject at the University of Leeds. His advice, suggestions, and personal support have been vital throughout the preparation of this work. To those who patiently heard the preliminary results of my researches, in papers delivered to the Oxford seminars