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Anon.
An Account of the Great Meeting of Pitmen, at Black Fell, on Wednesday, April 6th 1831.
Publisher: J. Marhsall; Newcastle,
Date of Publication: 1831
Stock Code: 14385
Broadside, approximately 38 x 15.5 cm. Single sheet, titled in bold. Edges a little frayed, slight toning to top edge. Remarkably crisp and clean for such a cheaply printed and ephemeral document. Broadside which describes a meeting of a “great number” (Fynes) od an early trade union of miners, led by Thomas Hepburn, in dispute with their employer over wages, fines, and rights to housing. Hepburn was a veteran labour organiser, whose campaigning had won shorter working days for boys in the North East. The meeting described here was a precursor to a series of meetings between the trade union and the Marquess of Londonderry, which was a significant step in the history of trade unionism. The gains made in the 1831 strike were soon overturned in the 1832 strike. £180.00