Lost Art Press

William Blackwell, a master cabinet-maker, carrying on business in Shoreditch, was charged at Worship-street with the following assault on Robert Everett: The prosecutor is a journeyman, and had worked for the prisoner. That morning in the shop they had some words about work, and the prisoner was said to have threatened to “crack” the prosecutor’s skull. The prosecutor declined to continue the work after the abuse, and proceeded to pack up his tools.

While he was putting them in his basket the prisoner rushed at him and tried to prevent him. A struggle took place, and the prosecutor was thrown down. The prisoner then knelt on his chest, and taking a mallet bound with iron from one of the benches deliberately hit the prosecutor on the head, inflicting a nasty wound near the temple, from which the blood flowed freely.

The prisoner cross-examined, with a view of showing that the blow was given in the struggle, and was the result of accident. The suggestion was, however, negatived in the most positive manner by the prosecutor and a fellow-workman, who corroborated his evidence, and also deposed to having heard the previous threat. The prisoner said that he was sorry, and Mr. Hannay sent him to gaol for twenty-one days, without the option of a fine.

The Cabinet Maker – (London) February 1, 1881

–Jeff Burks

Remarks and Suggestions by Individual Mechanics Relating to Apprenticeships, Employment of Boys in Shops and Factories, State of Trade, and Conditions in General of the Wage-Workers. 1884

From a Wood Turner.
So far the year 1884 has been very hard for workingmen in this city. Trade has been in a deplorable condition for six or seven months, during that length of time there have been in this place from thirty-five hundred to four thousand idle men, and a large number are still unable to obtain work. I have been out of work for five months of this year. The educational facilities of the city are good, but are not taken advantage of as they should be by a great number. Boys are put to work as soon as they can obtain employment, quite a number being under fourteen years of age.

From a Cooper.
The men employed with me are in moderately fair circumstances only. Their education is quite limited. They usually live up to their earnings. This last season they have been compelled to lose considerable time, from the fact that the mill has not been running full time, the low price of flour not warranting the firm in doing so. But I think, generally speaking, the cooperage business has been better in some other parts of the State than it has been at this point, and it is probable that coopers have done better than usual.

From a Pattern-maker.
Owing to business depression, our shop is nearly closed up, with no prospect of improvement at present. The financial condition of the mechanics of our shop is very good, over half of them owning property. They also have a good common school education. If all the boys who learn trades were classed and paid according to capability, and not according to the length of time they have served, I think we should have less snide workmen, and that they would learn faster. As it is now, they are paid according to the length of time they have been at the trade, with no inducement to become skilled workmen until they are journeymen, and then they see their error when it is too late. They seldom get over their old way of working, and frequently abandon the business entirely.
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Remarks and Suggestions by Individual Mechanics Relating to Apprenticeships, Employment of Boys in Shops and Factories, State of Trade, and Conditions in General of the Wage-Workers. 1884

From a Carpenter,
As regards apprentices, they are unknown in this city. A boy cannot be got into any place to learn a trade. The mechanics that we have now-a-days have not served an apprenticeship. A mechanic hires a laborer to help him do his work. For instance, a molder needs a helper to mold a horse-power wheel, or a mower wheel; or a blacksmith needs a striker. These helpers and strikers are kept at the same kind of work year in and year out, till they become more or less skilled in that one thing, and then they are journeymen, cheap journeymen. So with carpenters. The foreman has a laborer that he can use on a bench to take off the corners of rails, posts, etc., with a jack plane, and after a while he can plane off a smooth surface. Then he is a mechanic, ready to take the place of the man that has served an apprenticeship, though, in fact, he has no practical knowledge of the trade whatever.

From a Carpenter.
The past summer has been the dullest I ever saw. I have not worked four-fifths the time. I charge a great deal of this to the piece-work system. It would benefit the working classes wonderfully if that system could be abolished in this country.

From a Wood-Worker.
The financial condition of the laborers of this place is not very good. Our shops (agricultural) have been idle for nearly four months, and consequently workmen are out of money. Other shops are running on short time. If work does not improve before spring I think there will be a great deal of suffering, and the prospects for; an improvement are not very good. The social and educational condition of the laboring class of this town is good. We have excellent schools, and they are well attended by all classes of our people.
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