The Labour Movement in the UK from the 16th Century to Chartism

Begining of land enclosure

1500

English feudal lords start fencing off communal lands, making some peasants into dependent workers, who rely almost exclusively on wages.
Restrictions has also prevented workers from leaving and seeking better wages.

Vagabonds act

1536

The 1536 act provided that “sturdy” vagabonds should be set to work after being punished.[1] It also provided that local mayors, bailiffs, constables, and other officers were responsible for ensuring that the poor in their parish were cared for such that they need not beg.

Statute of Artificers

Apr 10, 1562

This act by Queen Elizabeth I. was an eminent one in the series of laws that took away the guilds' capacity to regulate wages. The 1562 placed the power to regulate wages and employment in the hands of local officials in each parish, responding to weavers who stated that the owners were "giving much less wages and hire for weaving of clothes than they did in the past."

Decline in the practice of wage regulation

1700

The doctrine of parliamentary involvement in wages regulation established in the Elizabethan Era remained in place until about 1700 at which point the practice of wage regulation began to decline

First traces of trade unionism

1718

As early as 1718 a royal proclamation was given in opposition to the formation of any unsanctioned bodies of journeymen attempting to affect wages and employment.

Leicestershire union of wool-combers

1751

In 1751 wool-combers in Leicestershire formed a union which both disallowed hiring non-members and provided aid for out-of-work members.

Massacre of St George's Fields

May 10, 1768

On 10 May 1768, government soldiers opened fire on demonstrators that had gathered at St George's Fields, Southwark, in south London. The protest was against the imprisonment of the radical Member of Parliament John Wilkes, who was an early political advocate of mass suffrage and workers rights.

Rights of Man

1791

Rights of Man (1791), a book by Thomas Paine, including 31 articles, posits that popular political revolution is permissible when a government does not safeguard the natural rights of its people. Using these points as a base it defends the French Revolution against Edmund Burke's attack in Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).

London Corresponding Society

Jan 25, 1792

The London Corresponding Society (LCS) was a federation of local reading and debating clubs that in the decade following the French Revolution agitated for the democratic reform of the British Parliament. In contrast to other reform associations of the period, it drew largely upon working men (artisans, tradesmen, and shopkeepers) and was itself organised on a formal democratic basis.

"An Act to prevent Unlawful Combinations of Workmen"

1799

After the quick spreading of radicalism in England (not marginally as an effect of the French Revolution), the British government quickly reacted in quite repressive manners: after trialing the leadership of L.C.S., banning Paine's books and restricting public gathering and speech, they made the forming of unions illegal in the 1799 Combination Act. Despite this, trade unionism continued illegally.

Failure of Minimum Wage Bill

1808

The bill which had been seen by supporters as a needed countermeasure for the endemic poverty among the working classes of industrial Britain has failed in parliament, displaying their commitment to laissez-faire policy.
This resulted in the first large scale strikes in the new factory districts: Within days over 15,000 weavers would begin striking in Manchester resulting in mass vandalism of machinery. It only ended it was agreed that weavers would receive a 20% increase in wages.

Forming of the Luddite movement

1811

The Luddites were members of a 19th-century movement of English textile workers which opposed the use of certain types of cost-saving machinery, often by destroying the machines in clandestine raids. They protested against manufacturers who used machines in "a fraudulent and deceitful manner" to replace the skilled labour of workers and drive down wages by producing inferior goods.

General strike of Scottish weavers

1812

In 1812, a general strike among weavers was called in Scotland after employers refused to institute wage scales. This upheaval in the far north of Britain, along with the 1810 miners strike in Northumberland and Durham, failed due to suppression by the police and the military.

Society of Spencean Philanthropists

1812

In 1812 the first radical, socialist, pro-labor society, the 'Society of Spencean Philanthropists', named after the radical social agitator Thomas Spence, was formed.

The Spa Fields riots

1816

The Spa Fields riots were incidents of public disorder arising out of the second of two mass meetings at Spa Fields, Islington, England on 15 November and 2 December 1816. The meetings had been planned by a small group of revolutionaries, who invited the popular radical Henry Hunt to address the crowd. They hoped that the meetings would be followed by rioting, during which they would seize control of the government by taking the Tower of London and the Bank of England - which did not happen.

Counter-actions of the government

1817

Following the increasing number of riots and strikes (partially caused by the 1815-46 Corn laws), the British government also began using hired spies and agent provocateurs to disrupt the labour movement, entrap radicals, and orchestrate violent incidents that would turn public opinion against the workers.The most infamous was Oliver the Spy who, in 1817, incited and encouraged an armed uprising in Derbyshire, known as the Pentrich Rising, which led to the leadership being executed.

Philanthropic Hercules

1818

In spite of government suppression, the labour movement in Britain continued, and 1818 marked a new round of strikes as well as the first attempt at establishing a single national union that encompassed all trades, led by John Gast and named the "Philanthropic Hercules". Although this enterprise quickly folded, pro-labour political agitation and demonstrations increased in popularity throughout industrial Britain.

Peterloo Massacre

1819

During this event the mounted units of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry and 15th Hussars attacked the attendees of a crowd composed of about 80,000 people that had gathered to legally demonstrate support of the political reformers and listen to a speech by Henry Hunt. The attack resulted in 18 deaths and up to 500 injuries, all suffered by demonstrators. The British government responded with another round of draconian measures aimed at putting down the labour movement, known as the Six Acts.

Forming of Chartism

1838

Chartism was possibly the first mass working-class labour movement in the world, originating in England between 1838 and 1848. It takes its name from the People's Charter of 1838, which stipulated the six main aims of the movement as:

1. Suffrage for all men age 21 and over
2. Voting by secret ballot
3. Equal-sized constituencies
4. Pay for Members of Parliament
5. An end to the need for a property qualification for Parliament
6. Annual election of Parliament