Remembering Tolpuddle: Rural history and commemoration in the inter-war labour movement

History Workshop Journal

Volumn 44, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 143-169

  Griffiths, Clare ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 53249098684     PISSN: 13633554     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/hwj/1997.44.145     Document Type: Review

References (132)

1. In a 1991 cartoon in the Landworker the connection was made through a pun, that farm workers were still badly paid and lived in poor houses, 'But poor people can't be transported any more . . . Since they did away with the bus service!'
2. For recent accounts see Joyce Marlow, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, 1971;
3. Stephen Usherwood, 'The Tolpuddle Martyrs, 1834-7', History Today, Jan. 1968;
4. Roger Wells, 'Tolpuddle in the context of English Agrarian Labour History, 1780-1850', in John Rule (ed.), British Trade Unionism, 1750-1850, 1988.
5. Reginald Pound, 'Six Inspired Peasants', Daily Express, 30 May 1933.
6. The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, 1834-1934, TUC, 1934, pp. 95-7.
7. Reg Groves, Sharpen the Sickle! The History of the Farm Workers' Union, 1949, pp. 22-3.
8. Sidney and Beatrice Webb, The History of Trade Unionism, rev. ed. 1920, p. 144.
9. H. H. Elvin, in Report of the Proceedings at the 54th Annual Trades Union Congress, 1922, p. 449.
10. Tom Mackley, Towards the Dawn - The Revolution in Rural England - An Appeal to Land Workers, ILP, 1919;
11. D. J. Shackleton, Report of the Proceedings at the 42nd Annual T.U.C., 1909, p. 48.
12. Robert Tilling to Walter Citrine, 29 Jan. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/7, Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick (afterwards, MRC). There are extensive files on the Tolpuddle commemoration in the TUC archive at the Modern Records Centre, and I am grateful to the staff at the centre for all their help.
13. Report of the 27th Labour Party Conference, 1927, p. 198.
14. Arthur Henderson specifically referred to Tolpuddle as 'one of the most sacred spots he knew in the whole history of the Trade Union Movement' (Report of the 27th Labour Party Conference, 1927, p. 199). In his speech at the 1934 Commemoration, Henderson described Tolpuddle as 'sacred to us, as trade unionists' (MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC).
15. Report of the 27th Labor Party Conference, 1927, p. 199.
16. I am grateful to John Nortcliffe, of the TGWU, for the copy of a local newspaper cutting describing this event.
17. Record, Transport and General Workers' Union, V: 53, Dec. 1925.
18. M. Hammett to Walter Citrine, 13 Mar. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/7, MRC.
19. William Puckett to Walter Citrine, 23 Apr. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/7, MRC.
20. General Council's Report, Report of the Proceedings at the 65th Annual TUC, 1933, p. 219.
21. James was a salvationist who had worked as foreman in a coal yard. In 1917 he helped set up the Dorchester branch of the agricultural workers' union, and became its first branch secretary.
22. The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, 1834-1934. The Story of the Dorsetshire Labourers who were convicted and sentenced to seven years' transportation for forming a trade union, TUC, 1934. The volume was issued in two bindings, the standard edition in green cloth at 3/6, and a presentation, deluxe edition half-bound in blue morocco at 5/-.
23. The logo was the winning design in a competition, and was the work of E. J. Fey, a designer from Birmingham (MSS 292/1.91/40, MRC). An adapted version was also used for the 150th commemoration.
24. Those who could not come to Dorchester were encouraged to hold their own meetings, and observe a minute's silence in tribute to the martyrs. There were also local initiatives linked to the Commemoration, such as the 'Dorchester Labourers' Centenary Recruitment Week' organized by the Warrington Trades Council and Labour Party (Report, 13 Nov. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/46, MRC).
25. Dorsetshire Labourers' Centenary, T.U.C. Commemoration - Handbook and Programme of all events, TUC, 1934.
26. Uncontroversially, the winning vehicle showed George Loveless, the leader of the Tolpuddle stalwarts, preaching under the Martyrs' Tree.
27. Miles Malleson and Harry Brooks, Six Men of Dorset - a play in three acts, Left Book Club, 1937. The play was essentially written by Harry Brooks, a local signalman, but Malleson was brought in to give professional advice and lend a higher profile to the play.
28. Letter from Walter Citrine to the inhabitants of Tolpuddle, 4 Feb. 1935, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC.
29. Memo, 'After the Battle', [Sept. 1934], MSS 292/1.91/23, MRC.
30. Memo, 'After the Battle', [Sept. 1934], MSS 292/1.91/23, MRC.
31. MSS 292/1.91/20, MRC.
32. 'After the Battle', as above.
33. Manchester Guardian, 1 Sept. 1934.
34. Labour Organiser, Sept. 1934.
35. Miss L. Priddle to Walter Citrine, 18 Oct. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/9, MRC.
36. Frank Knott to Walter Citrine, 6 June 1934, MSS 292/1.91/12, MRC.
37. By 23 August, arrangements were being made for a single Daily Herald van to tour Dorset villages for the three days before the Commemoration, with the distribution of up to 20,000 handbills. Whether this had replaced the original more ambitious plans to use cinema vans is not clear (Assistant Secretary of TUC to E. P. Harries, 23 Aug. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/21, MRC).
38. E.g. reply to A. Kirkwood of the RCA in Bolton, who offered to distribute literature, August 1934, MSS 292/1.91/33, MRC.
39. Bookmark inserted in copies of The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, 1934, MSS 292/1.91/11, MRC.
40. Report of the Proceedings at the 64th Annual T.U.C., 1932, p. 263.
41. The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, TUC, 1934, p. xi.
42. 'After the Battle' (see n. 26 above).
43. Memo by Walter Citrine for Finance and General Purposes Committee of the General Council, 17 Jan. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/19, MRC.
44. The Tolpuddle Martyrs. How the T.U.C. will commemorate the Dorsetshire Labourers Centenary. TUC pamphlet, Nov. 1933.
45. Record, TGWU, Sept. 1934, p. 42.
46. William Puckett to Walter Citrine, 23 Apr. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC; Joyce Marlow, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, 1971, p. 267.
47. MSS 292/1.92/21, MRC.
48. MSS 292/1.92/23, MRC.
49. They had initially intended to establish a museum in the Standfield cottage, but this idea was rejected when they realised that the structure of the cottage had been so drastically remodelled that there was little of the authentic building remaining (Walter Citrine, T.U.C. Cottages, Tolpuddle. A Memorial to Brave Men, 1934, p. 1).
50. Article for the Labour News Service, Nov. 1934, N.U.A.W./DII/7, Rural History Centre, University of Reading (afterwards, RHC).
51. Dorset Daily Echo, 31 Aug. 1934.
52. National Newsagent, Bookseller and Stationer, 22 June 1935; MSS 292/1.92/21, MRC.
53. Walter Citrine, T.U.C. Cottages. Tolpuddle. A Memorial to Brave Men, 1934. One architect and prospective Labour candidate wrote to Citrine to criticize the TUC for snobbery in employing a titled architect rather than one from within the movement (Charles Barrow to Citrine, 26 Oct. 1933, MSS 292/1.92/1, MRC);
54. perhaps with this in mind, the booklet on the cottages was keen to stress that Unwin senior had been a friend of William Morris, and that his son was a member of the Labour Party. Raymond Unwin had presented some of his views on cottage design in Cottage Plans and Common Sense (Fabian Tract, 1902), where he stressed the importance of air and sunlight in living rooms, and also advocated a communal centre for cottage developments, similar to the central hall at Tolpuddle.
55. Sunday Sun, (?) Oct. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/43, MRC.
56. When the first bills suggested that energy costs in the cottages would exceed the sum put aside for maintenance and annual expenses, Citrine was prompted to offer the residents tactful advice about how to use their novel facilities with greater economy (Citrine to tenants of Memorial Cottages, 9 Jan. 1935, MSS 292/1.92/18, MRC).
57. C.f. Record, TGWU, May 1936, noting that Transport House was an 'honourable exception'.
58. Citrine emphasized that the TUC had assumed a commitment to the welfare of the whole village: villagers were encouraged to make use of the library and come to cinema shows in the hall, and the weekly whist drives held there were very popular, though there was some concern that non-unionists generally outnumbered trade unionists at these social events. The General Council also made grants to extend the parish burial ground (mindful that the cottage project was increasing Tolpuddle's aged population) and to repair a wall of the Methodist chapel when it collapsed in high wind. (MSS 292/1.91/57, MRC.)
59. The subsequent history of the memorial cottages and their tenants is worth a note by way of slight digression. Citrine and his colleagues made every effort to be model landlords, responding to the old people's problems, from late coal deliveries to broken kettles. A turkey was ordered for each house at Christmas, money was provided for beef tea and brandy when the cottagers were ill, there were trips to the cinema in Dorchester, and some of the tenants were even taken to see the Silver Jubilee parade in London in 1935. The General Secretary of the TUC spent a surprising amount of time overseeing the lives of six elderly couples: the first generation of tenants certainly felt they had a right to bring their problems directly to Citrine. Sadly, the six couples who moved into the cottages in 1934 do not seem to have lived happily ever after. Problems with the design and construction of the cottages soon came to light: the heating system did not work, and the fires smoked so badly that it was necessary to open the windows to guard against suffocation. By the beginning of 1937, damp was penetrating the walls of the end cottages. These structural problems were soon eclipsed by problems amongst the tenants themselves. Personal disagreements and antagonisms became the subject of local gossip. Citrine regretted that there should be such ill-feeling 'in what ought to be a very happy and co-operative little community' (Citrine to George Loveless, 20 Oct. 1937, MSS 292/1.92/3, MRC). Many of the difficulties focussed around one of the tenants, George Loveless. Loveless enjoyed special status, as a descendant of the Martyrs, living in the cottage of his namesake and acting for the TUC as a semi-official caretaker; he kept Transport House informed about what was going on, did some maintenance and gave guided tours to visitors, earning a small commission on the postcards and books which he sold to them. However Loveless was also very jealous of his privileges, suspecting his neighbours of luring visitors into their homes for unofficial tours and covert souvenir selling. For their part, the other cottagers regarded Loveless as arrogant, spreading stories about them and their families and misrepresenting what was going on to the TUC. In particular, a feud developed between Loveless and his neighbour Robert Neesam, which had a shocking outcome. In August 1943, whilst Neesam was working on the path between his garden and that of George Loveless, Loveless raised some objection to what he was doing. A fight broke out between the two men, one aged seventy-six, the other seventy-five, in which Loveless hit Neesam on the head with a spade. Neesam died a few days later, and for a while it looked as though Loveless would be charged; in fact the inquest found insufficient evidence about how the fatal blow to the head had been caused. It was a strange codicil to the TUC's experiment in sheltered housing. Loveless himself died in 1946, but his wife lived on in the cottages until her death in May 1952, by which time she was the sole survivor of the original cohort of tenants.
60. NUAW meeting at Tolpuddle, attended by Citrine, 2 Oct. 1936, MSS 292/1.92/5, MRC.
61. F. E. Hanstead, 'Six Village Hampdens - A Retrospect', Dorset Year Book, 1936, p. 23; NUAW, Executive Council minutes 21 Aug. 1936, RHC; MSS 292/1.91/16, MRC.
62. Speech to meeting of London Trades Council, 9 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC. The comparison with Stratford was a common one; it had been mentioned with regard to a museum in the cottages (Memo to General Council, 17 Jan. 1933) and was picked up after the war when a man from Warwick became the new NUAW organizer in Dorset (Dorset Daily Echo, 8 July 1946).
63. Walter Citrine to H. G. Reynolds, 30 Apr. 1940, MSS 292/1.91/57, MRC.
64. MSS 292/1.91/57, MRC.
65. A. H. Telling to Walter Citrine, 24 Aug. 1936, MSS 292/1.92/29, MRC.
66. The Trumpet, Manchester Clarion Cyclists, Sept. and Oct. 1951.
67. Walter Citrine, Men and Work, 1964, p. 301.
68. David Englander, 'Tolpuddle: the Making of the Martyrs', History Today, Dec. 1984, pp. 47-50."
69. Joyce Marlow, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, 1971, p. 267.
70. Raymond Postgate, 'The Martyrs of Tolpuddle', News Chronicle, 23 Nov. 1933.
71. Walter Citrine to F. C. James, 12 July 1933, MSS 292/1.91/23, MRC.
72. Walter Citrine to Adrian Hands, Dorchester Town Clerk, 19 Sept. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/27, MRC.
73. As note 67.
74. L. H. Pike to Walter Citrine, 23 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/7, MRC.
75. E.g. Eric Muggeridge, WTA, to E. P. Harries, 16 Aug. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/20.
76. Methodist Recorder, 6 Sept. 1934.
77. The President of the North Dorset Labour Party, Frank Knott, wrote to Citrine, 11 Mar. 1933, advising him to, 'Keep this matter from being made into a religious question' (MSS 292/1.91/7, MRC).
78. H. L. Hamer, Amalgamated Society of Woodworkers, Rochester, to Editor of Daily Herald, 5 June 1934, MSS 292/1.91/12, MRC.
79. Methodist Recorder, 6 Sept. 1934.
80. As note 74, in a speech while unveiling the plaque on Standfield's cottage.
81. Souvenir programme of the West Dorset Liberal Association Committee, Demonstration for Tolpuddle Martyrs, Saturday, 7 July 1934, D 574/24, Dorset County Record Office, Dorchester.
82. Marlow, Tolpuddle Martyrs, p. 274.
83. MSS 292/1.91/27, MRC. The Dorchester Local Labour Party reported this to Citrine and asked that the TUC should expose the Liberals, since they had always been obstructionists to trade unionism, not its allies, but Citrine decided that this would be to give it too much publicity. Whether publicity over Tolpuddle had much party political effect in the area is doubtful. The Liberals did increase their share of the vote in West Dorset in the general election a year later, in a straight contest with the Conservatives. The Liberal poll increased from 39.8% in 1931 to 45.9% in 1935. West Dorset had a solid history of Conservative allegiance.
84. Dorset Daily Echo, 13 July 1934.
85. Southern Times, 24 Mar. 1934.
86. MSS 292/1.91/16, MRC.
87. Marjorie M. Firth and Arthur W. Hopkinson, The Tolpuddle Martyrs, 1934, pp. 3-4.
88. The authors wrote to the TUC asking for an assurance that they would be welcome guests at the Commemoration: 'The fact that we have tried to keep party politics out of our own book - even though it has an introduction by a member of the Government [Walter Elliot, Minister of Agriculture] - does not, I hope, condemn us utterly.' (Arthur Hopkinson to Walter Citrine, 17 Aug. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/16, MRC.)
89. 'Travesty of Justice' was the title of Stafford Cripps' contribution to the book.
90. Illustrated folder to advertize The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, ?Feb. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/11, MRC.
91. J. S. Middleton to Walter Citrine, 4 June 1934, MSS 292/1.91/12, MRC.
92. Citrine insisted that this would impair the value of the film from a historical point of view, and professed himself puzzled that films always had to include such sentiments: 'What finer drama could one wish for than that which is portrayed in actual history by the six Dorchester labourers?' (Memo on visit to Sound City Film Corporation, 20 Nov. 1933;
93. Speech to London Trades Council, 9 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC.)
94. Programme notes for production of Six Men of Dorset, at Concert Hall, Bournemouth Pavilion, Nov. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/59, MRC.
95. W. Kean, foreword to Centenary Commemoration of the Tolpuddle Martyrs. The Story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs Centenary Commemoration - Dorchester 1934 (TUC, 1935), p. 3.
96. Speech to meeting of London Trades Council, 9 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC. The Pageant of Labour hoped to 'inspire a revival of the spirit which animated the early trade union pioneers'. (Publicity leaflet, MSS 292/1.91/45, MRC.)
97. 'Notes and Suggestions on Dorchester Celebrations', [1934], MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC.
98. MSS 292/1.91/43, MRC. An advertizing leaflet expressed the hope that the pageant would 'inspire a revival of the spirit which animated the early trade union pioneers'.
99. Allen Hutt, Class against Class. Tolpuddle and To-day. A historical comment on the T.U.C. Tolpuddle Centenary Campaign [subtitled 1834-1934. The Tolpuddle Martyrs - And What The General Council Does Not Say], April 1934.
100. E.g. N. H. Barron of Preston, to Walter Citrine, 27 July 1934, MSS 292/1.91/9, MRC.
101. E.g. the inscription on Hammett's gravestone.
102. J. S. Middleton to Walter Citrine, 4 June 1934, MSS 292/1.91/12, MRC.
103. Railway Review, 7 Sept. 1934.
104. MSS 292/1.91/16, MRC.
105. C.f. remarks by B. Shiva Rao, representing the Indian National Trades Union Federation at the 1934 Congress in Weymouth, Report of the Proceedings at the 66th Annual T.U.C., 1934, p. 301.
106. The topicality of Tolpuddle for other countries was also raised in 1984 at the 150th anniversary: 'Throughout the third world there is a Tolpuddle every day in every continent and country ruled by a Squire Frampton or a Viscount Melbourne', wrote Neil Kinnock in the preface to Joyce Marlow, The Tolpuddle Martyrs (rev. ed., 1985), p. 11.
107. E.g. Labour Research, Aug. 1934, p. 174.
108. MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC.
109. F.A. F. Livingstone to Harold Laski, 2 Feb. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/26, MRC.
110. E.g. Nottingham's May Day pageant in 1921 had tableaux portraying phases of history from the twelfth century onwards (W. S. Rainbird, of Nottingham Labour Party, in The Labour Organiser, May 1921, pp. 12-13). One might note that this pageant represented a less positive vision than that at Dorchester thirteen years later. This was partly a reflection of the longer timescale being illustrated. The Nottingham pageant emphasized that the drab industrial work and wage labour of recent years were an aberration in that longer timeframe, but presented its final tableau as symbolic only, showing the aims, rather than achievements of labour in reaching out towards self-realization and a fuller life.
111. The Story of the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Commemoration, TUC, 1934, p. 56.
112. Record, TGWU, X: 114, March 1931.
113. E.g. an article in the League of Youth Bulletin, June 1931, stressed that those who did not join a trade union were accepting wages and conditions they had not fought for, placing this in the context of the history of Labour's struggles, and specifically, of the Dorsetshire labourers themselves.
114. Even where the advances achieved were not necessarily so obvious, in the agricultural sector, such arguments were also marshalled: e.g. 'Let us be true to the stalwarts of the past' (1928 NUAW circular, RHC);
115. 'You may think that taking another man's coat is not your style, but if you are not in the union, you are taking another man's wages' (c. 1925, NUAW circular, RHC). C.f. cartoon in News Chronicle, 19 Nov. 1941, depicting the modern farm worker acknowledging the Tolpuddle Martyrs as he receives £3 minimum wage: 'What you sowed, we are reaping' (copy on display in Memorial Cottages, Tolpuddle).
116. The term referred to areas where Labour organization was rudimentary or non-existent, and was associated with rural areas in particular.
117. Tom Higdon, The Labourer, Dec. 1917.
118. Memo, E. P. Harries to Walter Citrine, 9 Mar. 1934, MSS 292/1.91/7, MRC.
119. Speech at the NUAW's Tolpuddle Martyrs' celebration dinner, Eastern Daily Press, 7 Sept. 1934.
120. Speech to meeting of London Trades Council, 9 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC.
121. E.g. William Holmes, on unfurling a new union banner at Doncaster, Doncaster Chronicle, 6 May 1921.
122. In the post-war period, it became easier for the agricultural union to look back to Tolpuddle as the origin of the movement, and recently it has been the commonplace to do so, e.g. forewords by Bill Morris (General Secretary of TGWU) and Barry Leathwood (National Secretary of Rural, Agricultural and Allied Workers' Trade Group) in Bob Wynn, Skilled at All Trades. The history of the farmworkers' union, 1947-1984, 1993.
123. The Executive Committee did take the unusual step of meeting outside London, and hosted a dinner in Dorchester Town Hall, at which Andrew Conley and a number of MPs were present.
124. NUAW, EC minutes, 21 Sept. 1934, NUAW B 1/8, RHC.
125. Report of NUAW conference, May 1934, NUAW B VI/17, RHC.
126. '1834-1934. All to Dorchester', WTA leaflet, MSS 292/1.91/20, MRC; Southern Times, 21 Apr. 1934.
127. The link with Hardy's novels was occasionally made explicit, e.g., 'Were they the victims of some malign destiny, such as Thomas Hardy might have seen to be written in their stars,' The Book of the Martyrs of Tolpuddle, TUC, 1934. p. 2 - though Citrine concludes here that they were rather the victims of a state of society.
128. The TUC was advised to acquire books by rural authors, MSS 292/1.92/8, MRC.
129. Citrine to William Pluckett, 17 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/7, MRC.
130. Interview with Walter Citrine, 6 Nov. 1933; Report of Departmental Conference, 3 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.91/17, MRC. Also Citrine to James Lunnon, 8 Nov. 1933, MSS 292/1.92/1, MRC.
131. It later transpired that many of these imported workers were non-unionized and unskilled (MSS 292/1.92/29, MRC).
132. Preface to Joyce Marlow, The Tolpuddle Martyrs (2nd ed. 1985), p. 9.