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The persecution of trade unionists and their families: from Tolpuddle to Ascott-under-Wychwood to the miners’ strike
New writing has underlined the importance of the 1873 case that victimised striking farmworkers and led to a national outcry — yet aspects of the law used against them remain on the books, writes professor KEITH EWING
(L to R) A postcard of the original Wellesbourne Tree where Joseph Arch first addressed a crowd of agricultural labourers in 1872; Caricature of Joseph Arch MP by Leslie ‘Spy’ Ward and captioned maliciously ‘the agricultural labourer’ by Vanity Fair, June 26 1886
[Public Domain]
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THIS is the time of year when the labour movement gathers to remember the sacrifice of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. As they do so, a newly published book reminds us of the continuing persecution of farm workers and their families, tracing the story of the “Ascott Martyrs.”
The latter was a group of 16 women and two infants from Oxfordshire who were jailed in 1873, also for trade union-related activities.
The case is much less well known than Tolpuddle, though it is alluded to fleetingly by Sidney and Beatrice Webb in their History of British Trade Unionism published in 1920, where reference is made to the “ruthless victimisation” of farm workers who joined Joseph Arch’s National Agricultural Labourers Union in 1872.
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Labour movement history in Britain shows workers secured reforms through collective pressure and political representation, rather than being gifted from above, writes KEITH FLETT
Long before modern labour movements, England’s farmworkers fought back against their oppression – and for some, like Elizabeth Studham, the price was exile to Australia. MAT COWARD tells the story
ANN HENDERSON looks at the trailblazers of the Women’s Trade Union League and their successful fight for female factory inspectors — a battle that echoes in today’s workplace campaigns
ANSELM ELDERGILL examines the legal case behind this weekend’s Tolpuddle Martyrs’ Festival and the lessons for today