[BOY INMATE OF THE CASUAL WARDS]1
I am now seventeen. My father was a cotton-spinner in Manchester, but has been dead ten years; and soon after that my mother went into the workhouse, leaving me with an aunt; and I had to work in a cotton factory. As young as I was, I earned 2s. 2d..2 a-week at first. I can read well, and write a little. I worked at the factory two years, and was then earning 7s. a-week. I then ran away, for I had always a roving mind; but I should have stayed if my master hadn't knocked me about so. I thought I should make my fortune in London?I'd heard it was such a grand place. I had read in novels and romances,?halfpenny and penny books,?about such things, but I've met with nothing of the kind. I started without money, and begged my way from Manchester to London, saying I was going up to look for work. I wanted to see the place more than anything else. I suffered very much on the road, having to be out all night often; and the nights were cold, though it was summer. When I got to London all my hopes were blighted. I could get no further. I never tried for work in London, for I believe there are no cotton factories in it; besides, I wanted to see life. I begged, and slept in the unions.3 I got acquainted with plenty of boys like myself. We met at the casual wards, both in London and the country. I have now been five years at this life. We were merry enough in the wards, we boys, singing and telling stories.
I live a roving life, at first, being my own master. I was fond of going to plays, and such-like, when I got money; but now I'm getting tired of it, and wish for something else. I have tried for work at cotton factories in Lancashire and Yorkshire, but never could get any. I'm sure I could settle now. I couldn't have done that two years ago, the roving spirit was so strong upon me and the company I kept got a strong hold on me. Two winters back, there was a regular gang of us boys in London. After sleeping at a union, we would fix where to meet at night to get into another union to sleep. There were thirty of us that way, all boys; besides forty young men, and thirty young women. Sometimes we walked the streets all night. We didn't rob, at least I never saw any robbing. We had pleasure in chaffing4 the policemen, and some of us got taken up. I always escaped. We got broken up in time,?some's dead, some's gone to sea, some into the country, some home, and some lagged.5 Among them were many
1. Short-term poor shelters. parishes. 2. Two shillings, two pence (s. for solidus and d. 4. Making fun of. for denarius, Latin for 'shilling' and 'penny,' 5. Were transported to one of Britain's penal col- respectively). onies or were arrested (slang). 3. Shelters for the poor maintained by two or more
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BESANT: THE 'WHITE SLAVERY' OF LONDON MATCH WORKERS / 1577
young lads very expert in reading, writing, and arithmetic. One young man? he was only twenty-five?could speak several languages: he had been to sea. He was then begging, though a strong young man. I suppose he liked that life: some soon got tired of it.
I often have suffered from cold and hunger. I never made more than 3d. a- day in money, take the year round, by begging; some make more than 6d. . . . but then, I've had meat and bread given besides. I say nothing when I beg, but that I am a poor boy out of work and starving. I never stole anything in my life. I've often been asked to do so by my mates. I never would. The young women steal the most. I know, least, I did know, two that kept young men, their partners, going about the country with them, chiefly by their stealing. Some do so by their prostitution. Those go as partners are all prostitutes. There is a great deal of sickness among the young men and women, but I never was ill these last seven years. Fevers, colds, and venereal diseases, are very common.
1851
ANNIE BESANT
In 1873 Besant (1847?1933) left the Church and her marriage to an Anglican clergyman to become active in feminist and socialist causes. When she heard about the high dividends and low wages at the match factory of Bryant and May, she wrote a series of articles, including this one published in the magazine Link, that led to a public boycott and a strike of fourteen hundred match workers.
The 'White Slavery' of London Match Workers
Bryant and May, now a limited liability company, paid last year a dividend of 23 per cent to its shareholders; two years ago it paid a dividend of 25 per cent, and the original .5 shares were then quoted for sale at .18 7s . 6d.' The highest dividend paid has been 38 per cent.
Let us see how the money is made with which these monstrous dividends are paid.* * *
The hour for commencing work is 6.30 in summer and 8 in winter; work concludes at 6 P.M. Half-an-hour is allowed for breakfast and an hour for dinner. This long day of work is performed by young girls, who have to stand the whole of the time. A typical case is that of a girl of 16, a piece-worker; she earns 4s. a week, and lives with a sister, employed by the same firm, who 'earns good money, as much as 8s. or 9s. per week.' Out of the earnings 2s. is paid for the rent of one room; the child lives on only bread-and-butter and tea, alike for breakfast and dinner, but related with dancing eyes that once a month she went to a meal where 'you get coffee, and bread and butter, and jam, and marmalade, and lots of it.' . . . The splendid salary of 4s. is subject to deduc
1. Eighteen pounds, seven shillings, six pence (s. for solidiis and d. for denarius, Latin for 'shilling' and 'penny,' respectively).
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1 556 / INDUSTRIALISM: PROGRESS OR DECLINE?
tions in the shape of fines; if the feet are dirty, or the ground under the bench is left untidy, a fine of 3d. is inflicted; for putting 'burnts'?matches that have caught fire during the work?on the bench Is. has been forfeited, and one unhappy girl was once fined 2s. 6d. for some unknown crime. If a girl leaves four or five matches on her bench when she goes for a fresh 'frame' she is fined 3d., and in some departments a fine of 3d. is inflicted for talking. If a girl is late she is shut out for 'half the day,' that is for the morning six hours, and 5d. is deducted out of her day's 8d. One girl was fined Is. for letting the web twist around a machine in the endeavour to save her fingers from being cut, and was sharply told to take care of the machine, 'never mind your fingers.' Another, who carried out the instructions and lost a finger thereby, was left unsupported while she was helpless. The wage covers the duty of submitting to an occasional blow from a foreman; one, who appears to be a gentleman of variable temper, 'clouts' them 'when he is mad.'
One department of the work consists in taking matches out of a frame and putting them into boxes; about three frames can be done in an hour, and Vid. is paid for each frame emptied; only one frame is given out at a time, and the girls have to run downstairs and upstairs each time to fetch the frame, thus much increasing their fatigue. One of the delights of the frame work is the accidental firing of the matches: when this happens the worker loses the work, and if the frame is injured she is fined or 'sacked.' 5s. a week had been earned at this by one girl I talked to.
The 'fillers' get Vid. a gross for filling boxes; at 'boxing,' i.e. wrapping papers round the boxes, they can earn from 4s. 6d. to 5s. a week. A very rapid 'filler' has been known to earn once 'as much as 9s.' in a week, and 6s. a
