Disputes on all sides caused the labourers working on the Syston to Peterboro’ railway to strike, because they had not received their wages and they could not purchase beer and necessities.
“The town of Stamford has been in some peril this week, from the misconduct of persons connected with the works on the railway in a grade which might be expected to exempt society from terror on their account. Owing to a disagreement between Mr. Worswick, the contractor for executing a great portion of the railway from Syston to Peterboro’, and Mr. Chester, his sub-contractor, the labourers on the line eastward of Stamford were not paid their wages on Saturday evening last, and as some delay in this respect had been experienced on a former occasion, the men on Monday became clamorous, refused to continue their work, and assembled in great numbers at Stamford. It seemed that early on that morning Mr. Chester, and a Mr. Roberts (who represented Mr. Worswick), were to have met on the line for the purpose of measuring the work which had been completed, and that Mr. Chester was not punctual to his appointment; in consequence of which, the admeasurement* was not completed; and Mr. Roberts, on meeting Mr. Chester at the George Inn at ten o’clock, refused to pay so large a sum as 400l.. which Mr. C. claimed as being due to him. Mr. Chester declined to receive a less sum, declaring that the whole was due to the labourers, and that without it he could not meet their demands. The dispute coming to the knowledge of the men, they became vociferous in the streets, and Mr. Roberts was in danger of being very roughly handled by them. On his going over the bridge, he was followed by a party whose movements indicated an intention of throwing him over the parapet into the river: he, however, succeeded in getting clear of them, and hastily made to the George inn, to which he was followed by the ‘navvies,’ and was loudly threatened by them. In order to save him from being pulled to pieces, the servants in the booking-office in the inn-yard thrust him into an inner room, the door of which the assailants speedily broke open; but fortunately it was practicable to get him upstairs before they entered; and after he had run through a whole suite of rooms, and fastened the door of each as he quitted, he was at last concealed in a cockloft known only to a few of the servants, and was thus lost to he pursuers. After a considerable time, he was supplied with a dress as a disguise, and was got out of the inn in a fly and driven to Ketton. During all this the navvies were on the watch, and it was feared that some outrage would be committed in the town in the course of the night, as many of the men declared that they had had nothing to eat for two days. Happily the temperate and excelled conduct of the policemen in this emergency preserved the peace; and on Tuesday morning the magistrates assembled at the Town-hall to investigate the case, and to take steps to protect the town from any outbreak of violence on the part of the ill-used labourers. Three of them were admitted to the Magistrates’ room; and with good temper and plainness they related the hardship of their case. There was no dispute whatever between them and their employer (Mr. Chester) about the amount of their wages: to each of 300 or 400 men sums were due, the want of which really prevented their obtaining any food for themselves or their families, as the tradespeople of Stamford and the villages refused to give them credit. One of the men candidly observed that he feared Mr. Chester had deceived himself as to the amount that would be due to him on admeasurement of the work done on the line; but that was no fault of the labourers, whose claim for wages was not in any case disputed, and who had toiled in intense heat which aggravated their privations. Mr. Chester, it was added, could supply the men with beer, which he himself sold to them, and which he set-off against their wages when the settlement took place, but he would supply them with nothing else, and now they could not obtain any money from him to purchase bread or other necessities. Mr. Chester was next introduced to the hall, and admitted the truth of all that the labourers had stated, but he declared that the fault of their not being paid did not rest with him, but with the agent of Mr. Worswick, who had refused to pay him a sum which would be equal to settling with the men. – It was pointed out to him that the peace of the town was greatly endangered by the presence of some hundreds of hungry and exasperated labourers, assembled from all parts of the county; and it was asked what he proposed to do to correct this state of affairs. Mr. Chester replied simply that he ‘could do nothing without money;’ and after a conversation of some length, there seeming to be no other way of keeping quiet the multitudes who were assembles to receive the support to which they were entitles, one of the Magistrates undertook to advance 200l. for Mr. Chester’s instant use, provided he would pay that sum amongst the men in proportion to their respective claims and necessities, and provided the men would immediately return to their work; the Magistrates at large undertaking to procure a settlement of the remainder of their claims, by sending for Mr. Worswick, and also immediately acquainting the Directors of the Railway, at Derby, with the state of affairs at Stamford. This was agreed to; the money was advanced; the men received 10s.each, and the great body of them returned to work; and Mitchell the policeman was dispatched to Derby with a representation of all the circumstances. – On Wednesday morning, Mr. Worswick appeared, and a long conference took place between him and the magistrates. At first he seemed inclined to put the case as one simply of a money transaction in which his agent wanted to extort a larger sum that he was entitled to ; but being strongly remonstrated with for having employed an agent without taking any security whatever for the faithful discharge of his duties, and informed that, if any outrage now arose from the continued privations of the labourers, the consequences would rest upon his own head, he consented to pay all the wages that were due to them men, and in future to see that they were regularly paid for their wok at short intervals. He also repaid the 200l. which had been advanced to Chester, and promised to prevent the continuance of the abominable truck system in beer and necessaries on the lines with which he is connected. – Since this good understanding was established, all had proceeded with order and pleasantness.
The policeman returned from Derby on Wednesday night, with a letter from Mr. Bell, the secretary of the Railway Company at the station there, expressing great concern for what had occurred at Stamford, and stating that the Chairman and other acting officers of the Midland Lines should be instantly informed of all the particulars, but saying that he himself could give no directions as to what should be done. Fortunately the happy turn which affairs have made this unimportant with reference to the late alarm at Stamford; but for future something should be clearly ascertained as to the means which would be at command in cast of tumult from such a cause as existed here on Monday and Tuesday. It is remarkable that on Saturday last the Magistrates, whilst sitting at the Town-hall, received a friendly visit from the Rev. D. F. Perkins, Rector of Swayfield, in the county, with the view of his making a representation as to a great disturbance in the streets which he had heard in the course of the previous Saturday night, whilst her was sleeping in the town, and which he understood proceeded from the conduct of some railway labourers assembled near St. Michael’s station-house. It had prevented his rest, and must have disturbed the whole neighbourhood for more than an hour. Mr. Perkins stated that he holds also a living in Warwickshire, near Coventry, and is a Magistrate for that county: in which latter capacity he had been called in to act with others in the case of disturbances by ‘navvies,’ and had made an application to the directors of the Railway Company, which had been received with the utmost respect and promptitude; and the Directors had signified that they were willing to incur any charge in supporting the rural constabulary of the district, and requested the Magistrates would select from the Company’s establishment such a number of men as they might think fit to aid the constables and whom the Directors would clothe with the county livery and place under the orders of the Magistrates, The Magistrates had, in consequence, made a selection of six men for the present from the company’s force, and they were acting in consonance with the purpose expressed.
The Stamford Mercury, 19th June, 1846.
- determination and apportionment of shares