North East England has long been known as a heartland of trade unionism and indeed by the end of the 19th century, when trade unionism was firmly established across the country, the North East had one of the highest numbers of trade unionists per head of population of regions in Britain.
What isn’t so well known is the very important role played by Methodists and Primitive Methodists in the establishment of the early trade unions in the region, which tended to be found in the mining industry.
Early stirrings
There were some early stirrings of trade unionism as far back as 1731, followed by early industrial strikes; five between 1738 – 1771 involved Tyneside keelmen. Keelmen ran the keel boats, low narrow boats that took coal from the ends of wagonways upstream to the large coal ships near the mouths of the rivers. Many were of Scottish origin and descended from the Border Reivers, who had been so prominent in the border area until the unification of the crowns in 1603.
The Keelmen’s trade was closely allied to pitmen in the coal industry; neither were well-treated and indeed were often on what we would now call zero-hour contracts. Consequently, in 1731 pitmen with Tyne watermen and Wear watermen were prepared to strike. It was so dangerous to do that, as the employers would hire thugs to attack any working people organising in this way, that they had to meet in places like the woods near Chester-le-Street at night, to avoid detection.
Another early feature of industrial life in the North East was the annual bond. With this bond pit owners could hold men to stay in their mines for a whole year, so preventing them from moving somewhere else for better wages, or a safer working conditions. This was a serious form of indenture and if a miner tried to move mines he could be arrested.
In 1765, there was a strike across the coalfield in the North East, known as the Pitmen’s Great Stand. This was a large strike, which even gained support in London and while it was not ultimately successful, and the annual bond remained in place, it did at least show the miners just what collective strength they had and was a pointer to the future.
The future, however, would be delayed by the passage of the Combination Acts of 1799 and 1800. These made trade unionism illegal. It has been noted that, ‘the laws, as finally amended, sentenced to three months in jail or to two months’ hard labour any workingman who combined with another to gain an increase in wages or a decrease in hours or who solicited anyone else to leave work or objected to working with any other workman.’
Methodism and the Unions
As the population of the North East expanded rapidly in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, it was groups like the Methodists and the more radical Primitive Methodists who took the gospel to the mining communities. Consequently, Methodism in its various guises became the faith of many miners, and in particular their leaders.
Methodists brought with them a strong faith and a desire for reason and reconciliation to be the guiding stars to settling disputes. As a result of this, moderation was the watchword for many of the North East unions until the 1920’s.
Thomas Hepburn
Probably the most important of the early trade union leaders in the North East was Thomas Hepburn (1796-1864). Hepburn was a voracious learner, could read the bible by the age of eight, and later when working and had a young family, he went to night school three days a week.
From Methodism, Hepburn was said to have learnt both his distinctive oratory style as a trade union leader and the idea of orderly processions before mass meetings. His education through the Primitive Methodists also helped him to become a leader of men.
This enabled him to lead a major strike in 1831-2, in which at one point he addressed a meeting of 20,000 pitmen; although this strike was defeated and Hepburn found himself somewhat isolated afterwards. Hepburn did drift away from Methodism but returned to it later in life.
Hepburn is still remembered at a memorial service every October at St. Mary’s church in Heworth, Gateshead, in whose graveyard he is buried.
Thomas Burt
Thomas Burt (1837-1922) was another huge figure in the development of trade unions in North East England. Burt was a leader of the Northumberland miners and became one of the first two working-class men in the country to be elected as an MP, when he was elected in 1874.
Again, he came from a Methodist background; his father was a lay preacher and his parents expected him to go to school once and church twice on Sundays. Through this connection he picked up the democratic values inherent in Methodism.
John Wilson
John Wilson (1837-1915) was a miners’ leader and MP for mid-Durham. After an aimless period of life, he had converted to Methodism in his mid-thirties and then risen to the positions he was to hold.
It has been said of Wilson that he had ‘never undertaken any work in addresses or speeches which … pressed so heavily upon me as the duty of preaching’ as he ‘occupied the pulpit in many parts of the United Kingdom and America.’ At a commemoration service for Wilson, it was said that he would “never have been an MP, if he had not been a P.M.” [Primitive Methodist.]
John George Harrison
The example of John George Harrison (1890-1921) acts an interesting counterpoint to Hepburn and Burt. Harrison was not a miner, but a schoolteacher and his Methodism was accompanied by more radical beliefs and an attachment to socialism. He was union organiser in the Deerness Valley to the west of Durham.
Harrison endorsed the idea that the first socialists were the prophets in the Old Testament, as they made the ‘first passionate plea for the poor, the wretched and the heavy burdened’. He also argued that the ‘finger posts of duty and expediency seldom point to the same direction. Compromise can never lead to the attainment of the highest ideals.’ (See Moore, R. (2009) ‘Pitmen Preachers and Politics.’ Cambridge University Press)
This brand of more uncompromising, less deferential style of community action was not necessarily to the taste of all Methodists in Deerness Valley, but Harrison was able to persuade a number to his way of thinking by questioning the social and economic order in religious and moral terms.
Biblical allusion was important and the Bible was the basis for discussion. It has been said that: ‘through this approach Harrison bridged traditional Methodist thinking and a more secular ideology. The religious could adopt radical political views without a loss of faith.’
What Methodism provided early trade union leaders
It may seem remarkable that almost all the early trade union leaders in the North East came from a Methodist background. However, some investigation soon reveals that it wasn’t perhaps so surprising after all. Methodism provided some of the most meaningful education on offer to young men and boys at the time, through their networks of Sunday schools.
It also gave many of the early trade union leaders opportunities to hone their public-speaking skills, through becoming lay preachers. Having held groups of men when preaching the gospel, they were then able to do the same when talking to them about the need for industrial action or for that matter the need for compromise.
The earlier trade union leaders tended to be moderate. However, they were still imbued by Methodist social teaching and its democratic and egalitarian values. This would also play a major part in the development of early trade unions in the North East.
This article is based on a piece originally published in in the 2017 Northeast Labour History Journal which can be found here.
To find out more about the Northeast Labour History Society and how to join see here.
