Part 7 (1/2)
It was about this time that the people of Keighley got the by-name of ”th' crooked legged 'uns.” It was not a mere local name, but became a general stigmatic description of Keighley folks throughout the country.
The great agitator, the late Richard Oastler, was agitating for the Ten Hours Bill at this time. Many of the young people of Keighley were then ”knock o' kneed” and otherwise deformed. This fact was represented to Mr Oastler by the local poet, Abraham Wildman. The latter was interested in the working folk, and had published some poems reflecting on their hard life. Oastler took up the case of the children, twelve of whom with crooked legs he had exhibited in the House of Commons. Wildman's poem, descriptive of these poor young folk, was submitted to the Duke of Wellington. His grace commended the poet, saying England would be in a deplorable condition if this were to be a fair sample of the soldiers that were to be sent from her factories. The term ”crooked legged 'uns”
stuck to these specimens through life; and, in fact, some of them still survive.
”WHITE SLAVERY”
Asked as to his recollections of early factory life, Bill said he believed that parents took the children to work in the mills from the very early morning till late at night; and in some cases they even allowed them to work on Sunday. One manufacturer allowed the children to work all night, but one father, who was accustomed to travelling away from home, returned to Addingham, and found three of his children undergoing this horrible white slavery. He went to the factory, demanded his children, and a.s.saulted the caretaker. The matter was brought to a trial at Bingley, Oastler backing the father. The poor man was fined for a.s.sault, but Captain Ferrand, who had been disgusted with factory oppression, a.s.sisted in taking the case further. The upshot was that the manufacturer was fined. Captain Ferrand's interest in the relief of the poor was deep and abiding, and he did a great and mighty work in connection with the factory laws. It was said at the time by the Radicals that his work was dictated by political expediency rather than by pure humane feelings. However, Bill is of opinion that the Radicals were mistaken. The Captain was a stern disciplinarian, but, under a rough exterior, Bill was sure there beat a warm heart for the weal of the poor, and especially of pity for those confined so long in factories.
OASTLER ON FACTORY LIFE
In volume II of _Cobbett's Magazine_, there is an article on ”Doctrinaire Government and the factory system,” and a quotation is made from a speech by Oastler, a.s.serting that ”the factory system has caused a great deal of the distress and immorality of the time, and a great deal of the weakness of men's const.i.tutions.” Oastler said he would not present fiction to them, but tell them what he himself had seen. ”Take,” he said, ”a little child. She shall rise from her bed at four in the morning of a cold winter's day-before that time she awakes perhaps half-a-dozen times, and says, 'Father, is it time-father, is it time?' When she gets up she feels about her for her little bits of rags, her clothes, and puts them on her weary limbs and trudges on to the mill, through rain or snow, one or two miles, and there she works from thirteen to eighteen hours, with only thirty minutes' interval. Homewards again at night she would go when she was able, but many a time she hid herself in the wool in the mill, not being able to reach home; at last she sunk under these cruelties into the grave.” Mr Oastler said he could bring hundreds of instances of this kind, with this difference, that they worked 15 instead of 18 hours.
This was delivered a few years before Bill was born, but it held good in some cases, he was sure, in his early boyhood. There were then some cotton mills in Keighley district, and the young were allowed to submit to toil which was far too exhausting to allow of nature battling for the support of the human frame. Hence, Bill's own description of the poor little factory girl is an apt corroboration:-
They are up in the morning reight early, They are sometimes afore leet; Ah hear ther clogs they are clamping, As t'little things go dahn the street.
They are off in the morning reight early, With ther basket o' jock on ther arm; The bell is ting-tonging, ting-tonging, As they enter the mill in a swarm.
They are skapering backward and forward, Ther ends to keep up if they can; They are doing ther utmost endeavours, For fear o' the frown o' man.
And naw from her ten hours' labour, Back to her cottage she shogs: Ah hear by the tramping and singing, 'Tis the factory girl in her clogs.
An' at night, when she's folded i' slumber, She's dreaming o' noises an' drawls;- Of all human toil under-rated, 'Tis our poor little factory girl.
THE LATE REV. W. BUSFIELD
I may add that the late Rev W. Busfield, rector of Keighley, was a staunch supporter of the Ten Hours Bill, when it had not many friends among the political Liberals, and when Cobden and Bright opposed it stoutly on Political Economy pleas. The rector supported Lord Ashley, Mr Ferrand, and Mr Oastler, and he lived to see the result of the advocacy of his friends.
RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE MR BUSFEILD FERRAND
The late Mr Busfeild Ferrand was a typical English squire. In life he was the owner of the St. Ives' estate at Bingley. He sprang from an aristocratic family, who had ever been loyal to monarchy and country.
Trained as a lawyer, he, however, like many other English gentlemen, did not follow his profession for gain or popularity. This training served him well in public life, and augmented the many sterling qualities of his character and his utility in the unpaid public service. He was a soldier, a civil administrator, an ardent and exceedingly able politician-Tory, of course, to the back-bone. He was a leading advocate for the ”Ten Hours Bill.” The champions of that great movement were Fielding, Ferrand, and Oastler. Mr Ferrand was instrumental in pa.s.sing the Truck Act, which did so much service to working men, in removing the deceptions and impositions of indirect payment of wages. He was a great advocate of allotments for working men, and set the first example to the wealthy and willing to provide the people with ground for healthy open-air recreation. As an agriculturist he was an enthusiast, and all who had tenancy of land under him found all well so long as they observed strictly the conditions of their tenancy, but woe to them and to all concerned if they infringed in the slightest degree the iron rule of discipline set down by Mr Ferrand. In every capacity of life, he was a disciplinarian who could not brook any breach of rule. Poaching, and every offence that interfered with the rights of the preserves on his estate, called forth prosecution for the offence. My first recollection of Mr Ferrand dates from the general election when this part of the country was contested by Messrs Morpeth and Milton. I was about eight years old at the time. The two politicians visited every part of the district, and on one occasion the Tory party came through Hoylus End. I, and my ”mates” were wearing party favours; but they were all ”yellow,”
while I was ”blue.” Mr Ferrand was with the electioneers, and he must have noticed that I was the most conspicuous Tory youngster; for he drew from his pocket a big handful of coppers and threw them down to me. From that day, I can say, I have been a Tory. During the campaign the local rhymesters and writers were very busy concocting electioneering ”squibs;”