Gas stokers' plea for clemency, 1873
This document is a 'memorial' to the Home Secretary from five men
who were imprisoned for their part in the London gas stokers' strike
of 1872. The men believed they had been engaged in a 'legal exercise
of their rights of combination for the protection of labour'. However,
the trial judge ruled that the threat to strike in order to get an
employer to reinstate a worker victimised for trade union activity
was still a criminal conspiracy in common
law .Catalogue reference: HO 45/9326/18243, no. 28 (1873) |
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