From Crow-Scaring to Westminster: An Autobiography

And sinners plunged beneath that flood,
Lose all their guilty stains.

The third hymn was: —

Stop, poor sinner, stop and think
Before you further go.
Will you sport upon the brink
Of everlasting woe?
On the verge of ruin stop,
Now the friendly warning take,
Stay your footsteps or you'll drop
Into the burning lake.

The last hymn does not appear in the present-day Primitive Methodist hymnal. Needless to say, I have long ceased to use the hymn. It was too horrible for my humanitarian spirit. I might say that at my first service I was not quite sure that I held the book the right way up, as I was not quite certain of the figures. I had, however, committed the hymns to memory correctly, and also the lesson, and I made no mistakes. In those days we used to give out the hymns two lines at a time, as very few people could read, and they could possibly remember the two lines. There was no musical instrument in many of the small village chapels at that time. My wife went with me to my first appointment and listened. My first text was taken from the first chapter of John: "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world." I would not like to say the sermon was a very intellectual one. It was, however, well thought out as far as my limited knowledge would allow me to do so, and in preparing it I had the assistance of my wife. We had spent nights in thinking it out, and it certainly was orthodox in the extreme. I made rapid progress with my education under the tutorship of my wife, who would sit up very late at night to teach me. She would sit on one side of the fireplace and I on the other. I would spell out the words and she would tell me their pronunciation.

By the time the next plan came out I could just manage to read my lesson and hymns, but not until I had gone through them many times with my wife and had mistakes rectified.

One interesting little incident occurred about this time. I went to an appointment one Sunday about eight miles from my home. A brother lay-preacher was planned at the chapel in an adjoining village, hence we travelled most of the way together. Coming home it was very dark, and we had to travel some distance by a footpath across some meadows. We lost ourselves! I told my companion to follow me, but it turned out that it was a case of the blind leading the blind, for no sooner had I instructed my companion than we both walked into a ditch up to our knees in water, and had to walk the rest of the way home with wet feet! This was not the day of bicycles nor yet horse-hire. The circuit to which I was attached was very large, and for many years I walked sixteen miles on the Sunday, conducted two services, and reached home at eleven o'clock at night. Whatever may have been our weaknesses in those days, it must be admitted we were enthusiastic and devoted to the cause we advocated. No sacrifice was too great.

Having once learned to read, I became eager for knowledge. Until then I possessed only a Bible and hymn-book and two spelling-books. But I had no money to buy other books. My wife and I talked it over, and I decided I would give up smoking and purchase books with the money saved. I was then smoking 2 oz. of tobacco a week, which in those days cost 6d. This did not seem much, but it was £1 6s. a year. It was a great sacrifice to me to give up smoking, for I did enjoy my pipe. I had, however, a thirst for knowledge, and no sacrifice was too great to satisfy my longing. My first purchase was Johnson's Dictionary, two volumes of The Lay-preacher, which contained outlines of sermons, Harvey's Meditations among the Tombs and Contemplation of the Starry Heavens, a Bible dictionary, and a History of Rome. These I bought second-hand from Mr. James Applegate, who was a great reader. The Lay-preacher I used extensively for some years, and it certainly did help me for the first few years. I ultimately discarded the two volumes and relied upon my own resources, and I should advise every young man with the advantage of education, who is thinking of engaging in such great and good work, never to use such books, for it is far better for him to think out subjects for himself and store his mind well with knowledge.

The different Primitive Methodist services of my early days would be out of date now, and the quaint sayings of those days, though effective then, would cause some amount of amusement to our young educated folk of to-day. One form of service was called a "love-feast," at which small pieces of bread were taken round with water. The meeting was thrown open for anyone to speak, and then the simple, faithful, uneducated, saintly people, in relating what to them was Christian experience, would express themselves in peculiar phrases. I call to mind the statement made by a brother at one meeting who said he felt "like a fool in a fair." At the same meeting another said he thanked God that although that was the first time he had attempted to speak, he was getting used to it. Others would relate what dreadful characters they had been and what religion had done for them.

Although my preaching efforts did not give me entire satisfaction, still I can look back with pleasure at some of the results of my labours. Although uneducated and not well informed and although I used such phrases and put the Gospel in such a way that I should not think for one moment of doing to-day, still it had its effect. I can recall instances of ten and twelve of my hearers at my Sunday services making a stand for righteousness. Many of them in after years became stalwarts for truth.

They also soon began to be dissatisfied with the conditions under which they worked and lived. Seeing no hope of any improvement they migrated to the North of England, and found work in the coalfields, and never returned to their native county. When in Newcastle last December I met several of my old converts and friends.

With my study of theology, I soon began to realize that the social conditions of the people were not as God intended they should be. The gross injustices meted out to my parents and the terrible sufferings I had undergone in my boyhood burnt themselves into my soul like a hot iron.

Many a time did I vow I would do something to better the conditions of my class.

CHAPTER IV

PIONEERS AND VICTIMS

The year 1872 will throughout history be considered the most interesting period from the standpoint of the agricultural labourers of England. There had been some improvement in the condition of the labourers of England through the increase of the purchasing power of their wages, largely due to the abolition of the wicked Corn Laws and the adoption of Free Trade. Moreover, agriculture was never more prosperous than it was from 1849 to 1872. But, despite the increase in the purchasing power of the labourers' wage, the condition of the workers had not improved at the same rate as agriculture had improved. The working hours were as long as they had been for the preceding hundred years, the labourers were no more free to bargain with their employers than their fathers had been for fifty years before, and there was much discontent. In fact, the whole countryside was seething with discontent and we were much nearer a serious upheaval than many people thought. The farmers were arrogant and oppressive, and the gulf between the farmer and the labourer was greater than ever before. The labourer had acquired a little knowledge and the town workers were uprising. Many of the sons of the labourers who had left agriculture since 1864, being disgusted with the low wages of the labourer, had sent glowing accounts over to their friends, and a great migration had again set in until very few young men were left in the villages.

Early in the year 1872 a few labourers met in the village inn at Barford, in Warwickshire, and decided to make an effort to form a Union. But they were without a leader, and it was in search of such a person that they turned their attention to Mr. Joseph Arch, who was a Primitive Methodist lay-preacher. They waited upon him at his residence and informed him that they wanted to form a Union for the agricultural labourers and asked him if he would lead them. Mr. Arch hesitated for a time, as his clear vision could discern that it would cause a tremendous upheaval and he was not sure of his class. After due thought, and through the persuasive powers of Mrs. Arch, he ultimately consented. Accordingly it was arranged that a meeting should be held under what is now known as the Welbourne Tree.

This meeting was attended by at least two thousand agricultural labourers from all parts of the country, and it was there decided to form a Union. The news of the meeting spread rapidly throughout the country. All the newspapers gave it prominence with such headlines as "The Uprising of the Agricultural Labourer." Numerous meetings were held in various parts of the country, and in the second week in May a meeting was held on the children's playground at Alby where I was at work. This was a month before my marriage. I attended the meeting. It was addressed by a local preacher, who was an agricultural labourer, named Josiah Mills, and by Mr. Burton from Cromer. I also spoke, although, as stated before, I could not read. Still, I related my experience of how I was obliged to go to work at the age of six.

A branch of the Union was formed and I became a member. But, as Mr. Arch had foreseen, trouble soon arose, for this new movement met with the most bitter opposition.

Labourers were discharged by the hundred. It was evident that the farmers were bent on crushing the movement in its infancy. Many labourers who lived in their employers' cottages were victimized and turned out into the road. One case which personally came to my notice was that of a poor man and his wife and family who were turned out on to the road with all their furniture and a friendly publican took them in. Scores of farmers locked their men out because they would not give up their Union cards.

This threw Mr. Arch on to his beam ends, as he and his men had no previous knowledge of Trade Unionism. Happily for him and the movement generally a leading Trade Unionist by the name of Mr. Henry Taylor paid Arch a visit and offered him all the help possible. This brought help from other Trade Unionists.

In Norfolk we were specially favoured, as the proprietors of the Norfolk News and the Norwich Mercury (the latter one of the country's earliest newspapers) opened the columns of the Eastern Weekly Press and the Peoples' Weekly Journal respectively to Labour news. Thus the news of the Union spread rapidly and the story was told of the uprising of the agricultural labourer. Hundreds of meetings were held in Norfolk as well as in other counties, branches of the Union were formed everywhere, and within six months 150,000 labourers had joined some Union. It must be remarked that in the first six months the branches formed were all independent Unions.

During the summer Arch, with the help of Mr. Taylor, drew up a list of rules and called a conference of the branches formed in the Warwick district, at which it was decided to form a National Union, its central office to be at Leamington. Mr. Arch was elected President and was sent on a mission throughout the country to explain the rules. Arch soon gathered around him a number of persons who were prominent in the political world, including the late Sir Charles Dilke, Howard Evans, John Bright, George Mitchell, and a host of others. Among those in Norfolk who rallied to Arch were the late Mr. Z. Walker, who remained a faithful follower to the end, the late Mr. Lane of Swaffham, the late Mr. Colman, the late Mr. George Rix, and Mr. George Pilgrim. But all the branches did not join with Mr. Arch. Kent and Sussex formed a Union of their own, which became very strong in those two counties. Lincolnshire also formed a Union and it became known as the "Lincolnshire Amalgamated Labour League." A Mr. Banks became its General Secretary. This Union gained considerable support in Norfolk and had several strong branches in the county, and among its warm supporters were the late Mr. James Applegate of Aylsham, the late Mr. James Ling of Cromer and Mr. James Dennis of Hempton.

All these Unions grew in strength, but unfortunately a spirit of rivalry grew up between them and much mischief was done.

My first acquaintance with Arch was at Aylsham in September 1872, when he came over to explain the code of rules drawn up by the Warwickshire Committee and to invite the branch there to join the Union. The meeting was held in Aylsham Town Hall, which was packed. All in the audience were, however, not in sympathy with the movement. There were several farmers present.

One farmer asked Arch if his mother knew he was out?

Quick as lightning came the retort: "Yes," replied Arch, "and she sent me out to buy a fool. Are you for sale?"

That was just such an answer as the farmer who asked the foolish question deserved. He had, however, no further opportunity of asking questions, for he was soon roughly handled and was promptly thrown out of the hall.

There were many strikes and lock-outs during the first nine months of this uprising of the labourers. The greatest opposition was raised by the farmers.

I was involved in a strike in the first year of the Union's existence. Although only just twenty-two years of age and recently married and unable to read, I became greatly interested in the movement and never lost a chance of attending a Union meeting.

The first general demand we made for an increase in wages took place in March 1873. We asked that wages should be increased from 11s. to 13s. a week, so far as Norfolk was concerned, and this demand was granted. It had never reached that figure before. This gave a great stimulus to the movement generally. The Aylsham branch of which I was a member decided not to join Arch's Union, but joined the Lincolnshire Amalgamated League, which governed on the principle of each district holding its own funds and paying a quarterly levy to the central fund, on the same principle which obtained with the Oddfellows and Foresters Friendly Societies. The next great struggle was in the spring of 1874, when a demand was made for another 2s. increase and time off for breakfast. Up to that time we were not allowed to stop for breakfast, and we had no food from tea-time the previous day until dinner-time the next day. Many farmers allowed the concession but others would not. The man I worked for at Oulton, Mr. James Rice, was one of the latter, although a member and a deacon of the Congregational Church in that village. We adopted all kinds of methods to snatch time to eat our piece of bread. Scores of times I have held the plough with one hand and eaten the bread with the other. Others, when a number were working together, would set one to watch to see if the boss came while they ate their bread.

This demand was hotly contested and I became involved and struck work. Fortunately for me I had another trade at my back, namely brickmaking. There was a great call for brickmakers at this time and I obtained work at once with James Applegate at Blickling, himself a leader of the Amalgamated Labour League, so I had not to call on the funds of the Union at all and I did not go back to farm work for several years. During these two years I had made rapid progress with my education, and I was so far advanced that I could begin to read a newspaper. I had, however, not been in ignorance of happenings in the world around me, for my wife had always read to me the weekly papers. The first newspapers I read were the Eastern Weekly Press and the People's Weekly Journal, the two local papers. I had, however, not spoken at a Labour meeting since the first meeting was held two years before, but I had been on the preachers' plan for two years and had begun to have a little confidence in myself. I at once begun to speak at local labour meetings.

The strike going on at this time was successful, and the village labourer in Norfolk for the first time in his history received his 2s. 6d. per day and the right to stop for breakfast.

But the great struggle began as soon as this was settled. The farmers of Suffolk at once locked their men out, not on the question of wages, but because the men would not give up their Union cards. Some four thousand men were locked out and thrown on to the funds of the various Unions. Arch and others visited the large centres of industry and over £20,000 was collected for the funds. Religious services were held on the Sundays and spiritual addresses given. I at once threw myself into this kind of work, although only a young man of twenty-four years of age, and in the village in which I then lived, Oulton, I preached my first Labour sermons. My soul burned with indignation at the gross cruelty inflicted on my parents and the hardships I had undergone, and I became determined to fulfil the vow I had made when quite a lad, namely, to do all I could to alter the conditions under which the labourers lived. I was, however, most anxious to ensure myself that I was doing the right thing from a religious point of view, and again by the assistance of my dear wife I searched the Scriptures and soon was able to satisfy myself I was doing the right thing. Then, as now, to me the Labour movement was a most sacred thing and, try how one may, one cannot divorce Labour from religion.

I found work when the strike took place with Mr. James Applegate, who was many years my senior and himself a leader in the Labour League and an advanced politician, although he possessed no vote. He had posted himself up in Radical politics, for in those days we only knew two political parties. Anyway, I had a real political schoolmaster, and my first political lessons were of the Liberal school of thought. I set myself to work hard in the study of political questions and got possessed of every scrap of political information. My means would not allow me to purchase literature, but I soon became a most ardent Liberal.

Soon after the great struggle of 1874 the labourers began to lose interest in the various Unions. Many of the young men again left the villages and either migrated to the North of England or emigrated to America. I still kept up my political studies and at the same time, by the assistance of Mr. Applegate, I became skilled in the work in which I was then engaged. I kept with Mr. Applegate for five years.

It was in 1880 that my father died.

In October 1879 I obtained a situation with the late Mr. John Cook of Thwaite Hall as brickmaker and burner, and moved into part of an old farmhouse at Alby Hill. One of the conditions of employment was that I should take the work by contract; that I should raise the earth, make the bricks and burn them at 10s. per thousand, the employer finding all tools and coal for burning. Further, whilst I was not so engaged he was to find me work as a farm labourer. I also undertook to do my harvest on the farm. On leaving Oulton I was out of the reach of the Union to which I then belonged.

I then joined Arch's Union and became an active member. I got along very well with my employer for some few years, but in 1885 an agitation arose for the granting of the franchise to the agricultural labourers and all rural workers. I at once threw myself into the movement and spoke at many meetings. I had become fairly well educated by this time by hard study. I was, however, laying up in store for myself some serious trouble, for my employer was a bigoted Tory.

The franchise was introduced into the House of Commons by Mr. Gladstone, who was then Prime Minister, and was met with bitter opposition by the Conservatives. As stated previously, a great campaign was commenced in which I took a leading part, this greatly enraging the local Tories. After my speech at a meeting one night in March 1895 my employer came to me at my work and in a most autocratic manner said he had been informed that I had been speaking at some Liberal meetings and demanded to know if this was true? I at once replied that it was true. His reply to that was that if I wished to remain a man of his I should have to give that kind of thing up, for he would not have any man of his attending such meetings, setting class against class. The fighting spirit that I inherited from my mother at once rose and I replied in dignified language that much as I respected him as an employer, I respected my liberty a great deal more and could not on any condition comply with his request. Further, I considered so long as I did my work satisfactorily and did not neglect it in any way and led an honest and straightforward life, neither he nor anyone else had any right to dictate how I spent my evenings. I should therefore claim my liberty as a citizen. He had no arguments to use against this, but said I would have to leave. It was then that my spirit of independence was put to the test. I was not long in deciding, and I told him at once I should take his notice, for my whole soul revolted against such tyranny. This seemed to stagger him, for it was the first time his authority had been challenged in such a way. As soon as he had time to recover himself, he asked when I wished the notice to expire. I told him not until I had finished my contract, for I had already raised sufficient earth to make 100,000 bricks and I should complete that before I left. He insisted that he would force me to leave at once. I told him to try and put the threat into execution and I would sue him for breach of contract. Again he was completely taken back and asked me if I meant it? I told him I did and defied him to break the contract. He at once saw he was in the wrong and said: "Very well, finish your contract." I replied that I intended to and then he could carry out his threat. Being thwarted in this direction he thought he would hit me in another way.

My wife's mother was a widow and was living with me. The Guardians allowed her 2s. 6d. per week. My employer was a member of that Board, which at once took 6d. a week off her relief. My victimization was made known throughout the country. I at once informed the leaders of the Union, and also the Liberal Party, and this act of political tyranny was denounced on every Liberal and Labour platform. Coming at a time when the labourers were about to be enfranchised it caused quite a stir in the country.

I was offered by the Liberals an organizing and lecturing position, but this I declined, as, having insisted upon finishing my contract, I did not intend giving the Tories an opportunity to say I had broken it. Further, I had no wish to give up manual labour, nor had I confidence in myself that I could do the work. I felt I was not sufficiently educated or well informed to do that kind of work; thus I kept at my brickmaking. Into this I put more energy than I think I had ever done before. It was a fine season and I was able to turn out a better class of brick than in previous seasons. At the same time I attended as many political meetings in the evenings as I could and I also read every bit of literature I could get hold of.

During the summer the Franchise Bill, coupled with a Redistribution Bill, was passed, and for the first time in English history the agricultural labourers were enfranchised. Norfolk was mapped out into six single-member rural constituencies. Where I lived became known as North Norfolk. It became evident that there would be a General Election in November, and that by the time I had finished my contract the election would be near. This the leading Tories appeared to advise my employer would put him into a very awkward position, for he had not only given me notice to leave my employment, but also my house on October 11th. Hence he came to me in July and said he wished to withdraw both notices and wished all misunderstanding to cease. After consultation with some of my friends I accepted the offer. I was, however, never satisfied, although the offer to withdraw the notices was genuine as the following correspondence will show.

In July I received the following letter from the late Mr. Charles Louis Buxton, who was the then leader of the Liberal Party in North Norfolk: —

    Bolwick Hall, Aylsham,
    July 20, 1885.

Dear Mr. Edwards,

I was delighted to hear yesterday that your employer had withdrawn his notice for you to leave your work and house, and hope everything will go on smoothly and that you will be quite happy and that we shall have no more of this kind of victimization,