By the end of August 1894, the Scottish Coal Miners strike was by then into its 9th week. I hope you find my research into this difficult time as interesting and thought provoking as I did.
Its estimated over 70,000 men had been idle in resistance by collective Coalmasters proposals to reduce their earnings by 1 shilling per day. The men argued that the reduction of this 1 shilling would put them below a line by which they could look after their family and instead they argued that rather than a reduction, their 17 shilling a week wage should be increased to 24 shillings to account for some modest standard of living.
The masters on the other hand argued that the price they were getting for coal meant wages like those existing could not be sustained. However, the whole strike smacked of greed. In Lanarkshire alone, Bairds Coalmasters were estimated to have extracted around £20,000,000 worth of coal by that year, an unfathomable sum of around a third of a billion pounds in today’s money! It created vast wealth for the colliery owners with lifestyles many could only dream of. A stark contrast to how miners lived.
In Lanarkshire, the men faced this strike with barely a loaf between them, for of course their wages had stopped and they were living well below their means for over 2 months with no income. Evictions were happening for non payment of rent and pawn shop business was booming. And yet, they held out, determined as ever to continue their struggle and get the wage they felt they deserved. Some men did however return to work, causing trouble at picket lines and in some cases rioting, as I evidenced recently here.
The effect this was all having on Lanarkshire residents is documented fairly well. Reporters took to the streets to get statements from miners and their wives and observed themselves what was happening in and around Blantyre’s streets. Outwardly, there were few signs of distress as people walk about the streets, but it was only when entering homes, you could see the reality of what was happening. Many homes were furniture less, the occupants having taken items to pawn. Any thrifty residents had eaten into their small savings and were only getting by.
Those who had never saved or couldn’t were living below how humans should. Sickness was on the rise. Homelessness was increasing. The cupboards were bare.
As Blantyre knows only best how to act in times of crisis, women took to looking after others in the community, creating soup kitchens, which are estimated to have been feeding up to 4,000 people a day! Each individual received a pint of soup or broth and a sixth portion of a half loaf. For those using this service, it was the only food they would receive in that whole day. A sum of £11 a day was required to keep the operation going, with donations coming in from local businesses, benefactors and those who could still afford to pay something to help others. This vital service, looked out for others, (just as Blantyre residents did when Covid struck so many years later) and in this case though, kept the ‘wolf from the door’.
The situation specifically in Blantyre was well documented by an Aberdeen reporter, who finding themselves arriving in Blantyre having come from Cambuslang, decided to write about the experience.
“In Blantyre, hundreds of idle men stand at street corners, who stare curiously at me, this stranger. Outwardly it was like a holiday in the village, but the joyous spirit of holidays was missing. Some men stand idle in the streets with that listless look which is the mark of unemployment, depressing enough; but when all the men seem to be out of work, the effect is correspondingly heightened.”
There were between 2000 and 3000 miners in Blantyre during this time with the mining village having a reputation for being “a rough place”. The pits in the District were owned by 3 firms – Messrs Merry & Cunningham, Messrs Baird and Messrs W. Dixon & Co. As mentioned earlier, the owners had made fortunes from their collieries in one way either from coal or iron but still unable to give the lowly miner a living wage of 24s a week.
The reporter on his visit, concluded things were not going well in Blantyre. The soup kitchens despite being donated £250 since the strike began, often ran out daily, whilst people were still queueing and at the time of the visit, were £33 in debt. Treasurer of the Soup Kitchen Committee, Andra McInulty said, “We need more. We cannot drop the soup kitchen”. It was a rally cry to the merchants in the town to do more, but many shopkeepers had already donated and talk in the streets was that if this continued, it would be the shopkeepers themselves who would need the kitchens. There was no business or profit in making continual donations, something would need to change.
Then by August, some of the pawnshops started closing. Not because of bankruptcy, but because they were overstocked. People were selling and not buying. Shelves and warehouses were full.
All this though, only hardened the miners resolve. One miners’ wife told the Aberdeen reporter during the last week in August 1894, that she did not see her man ever wanting to give in and told a tale of how two miners who had returned to work, faced a nighty wrath of miners and their wives in the village, when so many people were struggling. As the reporter heard of how the “two miserable blacklegs” were set about, he was left in no doubt he would never like to be on the receiving end of the mouth and fists of Blantyre women!
In the face of all this adversity, organisations rallied. It is particularly worth noting that this was a turning point for the Salvation Army, who until that point often faced ridicule and aggression, but whom were now being seen to be feeding 1,500 people a day in Blantyre , mainly children with a breakfast of bread and jam and tea daily for weeks. The Roman Catholic priest and congregation making similar notable contributions.
For those interested, there are similar descriptions for Cambuslang, Burnbank and Hamilton in the Aberdeen People’s Journal of 25th August 1894 which can be found on British Newspaper Archives.
AI imagines the idle men on the streets.
