A interesting situation arose in 1894 at Auchinraith Colliery, Blantyre, which had to be resolved in the highest courts.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh had a most difficult decision to make in January 1895 which could have affected the whole question of miners being able to picket in general. During 1894, Merry & Cunninghame, the colliery owners applied for an interdict against a number of Blantyre miners whom they said were trespassing on their ground.
During the strike, pickets were said to have went to the houses of their colleagues at Merry’s Rows , which belonged to the Coalmasters. Without those particular picketing miners living there, and the houses being used as a place of meeting for picketing, this clearly enraged the Coalmasters.
The houses at Merry’s Rows were indeed owned by Merry & Cunninghame and had a private road connecting the homes to the colliery. To prevent the picketers returning, an interdict was sought and obtained. However, the trade unionists appealed stating that the Coalmasters outside of their work could not restrict the movements of miners where they chose or chose not to go, a point seemingly fair.
On Monday 14th January 1895, Lord Young after hearing counsel, gave his judgement. He upheld the decision of Sheriff Davidson that even if it could be proven of being their at the invite of the workmen, the picketers by being in the homes of Merry & Cunninghame, were indeed trespassing.
He was glad no violence had arisen and pointed out miners had every right to be on the public road, given it was County owned. The deeper question which arose in the proceedings was however, ‘Does Merry & Cunninghame have the power to prohibit pickets going on to their land?”
It had been decided in court that the Coalmasters DO have the right to prohibit pickets going on any of their land. The judge pointed out this was a dangerous case which could impact picketing in general, for as Merry & Cunninghame pointed out in their defence, all they needed to do was secure land all around the colliery itself, or building homes in certain places, effectively building a ring of fence around their workmen and preventing them picketing anywhere near the colliery.
The decision standing, it presumably struck a deadly blow to picketers everywhere, the legality of picketing itself referred to in the Conspiracy and Protection of Property Act 1875. It was later decided that there greater impact of this should be taken to the House of Lords and discussed in Parliament.
The 1898 map of Blantyre shows the former Auchinraith Colliery and I’ve marked up to show proximity of both Merry’s Rows and the tied Auchinraith Rows not far from the colliery, connected as the article says, by a public road. (which would become Auchinraith Road).
On Social Media, the following comments were received on Facebook:
Drew Fisher I guess this map explains the size and shape of Bobby Robertson’s garden in Auchinraith Road.
Janet Vining Mitchell My ancestors lived there.
Margaret Stewart The miners didn’t stand a chance