Samuel Plimsoll's Address to the Cleveland Ironstone Miners, Saltburn 1874

Some of the Tweddell descendants now live in and around Bristol and often pass by the statue of Samuel Plimsoll MP and, until recently had no idea there was any link between their forebear from Stokesley - George Markham Tweddell (GMT), North Yorkshire and  Samuel Plimsoll. However it was known the GMT  had associations with the Cleveland Ironstone Miners Union through the work of Tony Nicholson who in his MA thesis of 1982  -
The growth of trade unionism amongst the Cleveland Ironstone Miners 1850-1876: T Nicholson. Nicholson, T; Department of Humanities. Book. English.
Published Teesside Polytechnic : Department of Humanities 1982

mentions the role of GMT in respect to the union. (I hope to make some notes from Tony's dissertation soon to put on here.)

I am thankful to the Labour Councillor for Redcar and Cleveland - David Walsh for sending me two cuttings from the Middlesbrough - Daily Gazette 1874 and 1875, which are verbatim reports of the East Cleveland Ironstone Miners annual political meetings. This was prompted by the launch of the second part of  Sheila Crossman's book on Joseph Shepherd, which, as described by the Northern Echo recently is - http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/history/memories/11265880.Engineers_of_change/

"JOSEPH SHEPHERD is the “miners’ champion” in the title of a new book by Sheila Crossman of Guisborough. Joseph was the first secretary of the Cleveland Miners’ Association who tried to organise the ironstone workers to get a fairer deal from their bosses, including Sir Joseph Whitwell Pease of Darlington. The 1870s were fractious times, of strikes and lock-outs, of blacklegs and boycotts, with the men not knowing how to unite and often distrusting their own leaders as much as the mineowners....."

And from http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/columnists/backtrack/11311331.Plimsoll_lines/

"Joseph Shepherd, a sort of 19th century Arthur Scargill and a man described by The Northern Echo in 1876 as “the King of Cleveland.”

Shepherd, down the pit at the age of nine, formed the Cleveland Miners Association in 1872, from what

Sheila terms his “power base” at Brotton. The terms may never before have been used in the same sentence. The union was manifestly needed. They were ironstone miners, maybe 10,000 men and boys between the Tees and Whitby working 12-hour shifts winter and summer. Wages hadn't increased for 14 years, conditions were lethal. Alexander MacDonald, the miners’ national president, reported that he had seen “more crutches, more lame men, more blind men in Cleveland than all the other mining districts in the country.”

The Middlesbrough Exchange, a newspaper, was blunter yet. “The men are not cared for so much as a dog.” It concluded. The masters occupied the grandest halls in the district, most of which survive."

Thousands of miners formed themselves into lodges with heliotropic names like Rose of Summer, Flower of Cleveland and Lily of the Valley.

The Miners’ Champion  and the second part The Forgotten Man are both available for £10 each from Guisborough Bookshop, Kirkleatham Museum, Cleveland Ironstone Mining Museum and Whitby Bookshop or, with £2 added for post and packing, from the author at 48 Deepdale, Guisborough TS14 8JY."

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Introduction

In this article from the (Middlesbrough) Daily Gazette September 7th 1874, Samuel Plimsoll MP address 4000 Cleveland Ironstone miners in a field in Saltburn, East Cleveland on the Franchise and the then proposed Merchant Shipping Bill. At this stage those in the Boroughs had the vote but not those in the country and there was a disequilibrium of representation which Plimsoll takes up in the article. He also discusses the fielding of working class representatives to Parliament, through the liberals - the early stage of what led to the formation of the Independent Labour Party some decades later. According to this site by local historian John Lawson, "Kate Middleton's Great-Great-Grandfather Thomas Temple was an ironstone miner in 1871 and was living in Brotton in 1874, he would have been a member of the union and attended several of the yearly Demonstration days." http://ironawecleveland.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/cleveland-ironstone-mining-family-of.html

It seems Samuel Plimsoll stayed in Redcar -" In Wetherspoons, another display claims that Plimsoll

was holidaying in Redcar when, noticing the number of wrecks, he was “inspired” to invent the Plimsoll Line as a sort of loading gauge." There is a blue plaque to Plimsoll above what is now Marks and Spencer in Redcar marking where he is said to have taken his rest. The plaque reads: "Samuel Plimsoll "The Sailors' Friend" While staying in a house on this site he was inspired to invent the Plimsoll Line a safety mark for loading ships in 1876"

Now Marks and Spencers - it is said that Samuel Plimsoll stayed here on his visit to Redcar.

I will upload the 1875 meeting at which George Markham Tweddell after this but here is the first article from 1874 - 

The Daily Gazette September 7, 1874

THE CLEVELAND MINERS' ANNUAL POLITICAL DEMONSTRATION.

Samuel Plimsoll from Look and Learn

Mr. PLIMSOLL, M.P., ON THE FRANCHISE.

ON SATURDAY, THE CLEVELAND IRONSTONE MINERS HELD THEIR ANNUAL POLITICAL DEMONSTRATION.

On Saturday, the Cleveland Ironstone Miners held their annual political demonstration at Saltburn. Early in the day that pleasant seaside resort began to present a lively appearance. Groups of men, women and children began to power into the town by road and rail, and later in the day the various lodges of the association made their appearance, some preceded by their banners and bands. About four thousand persons were present, which – taking into consideration and the fact that the weather was extremely threatening, may be counted a fair muster. Although the sky was frequently covered with clouds which looked black and ominous, the rain happily kept off until the meeting was concluded, and then, to make up for its forbearance, came down in a steady pour. The meeting was held in a field opposite the Convalescent Home, and a platform was extemporised from a couple of wagons which were sheltered from the wind by a snug haystack.

Saltburn by the Sea

The following lodges were represented at the meeting : -

Faithful Lodge – Brotton

Lily of the Valley Lodge – Guisborough

Preservation Lodge – Brotton

Prospects Lodge - Skelton

Miners Pride Lodge – Lofthouse

Miners Refuge Lodge – Marske

Star of Hope Lodge – Normanby

Friendship Lodge – Skinningrove

Loyal Lodge – Rosedale

Unity Lodge – Hinderwell

Grand de Mont Lodge – Grosmont

Loyal branch Lodge – Rosedale

Redcar New Branch – Redcar

Live and Let Live – Brotton

Flower of the Valley – Carling How

Onward Lodge – Eston

Hopeful Lodge – Ormesby

Hope to Prosper – North Skelton

Flower of the Dale – Boosbeck

Star of Cleveland – Stanghow

Rose of Summer – Stanghow.

Mr. Thomas Green, president of the Association, presided over the meeting, and was supported on the platform by Mr Plimsoll, MP; Mr Lloyd Jones, Mr Cudlip, Mr Stephen Emmerson, and others.

The CHAIRMAN said his duties would be very light, seeing that he was supported by such able speakers,

and it would be wrong of him to occupy that time that ought to be devoted to them. They regularly made it a practice to hold a meeting every year, which took the form of a political demonstration, because they considered there were several things that disgraced the statute book, and they held that the means of getting rid of those obnoxious matters, was by holding similar to that. He trusted they would never grow faint-hearted, but persevere until they got rid of the many objectionable things they had to complain of, which would be referred to that afternoon.

Mr. R. Hodgson, of Brotton, then proposed the first resolution which was as follows; -

“That in the the opinion of this meeting the present system of parliamentary representation is a most flagrant violation of acknowledged rights, and therefore pledges itself to do its utmost to bring about an assimilation of the Borough and County franchise.” 

Everyone who read a newspaper or took the slightest interest in the welfare of the country would acknowledge that it was only right that those who contributed to the wealth of the nation should have a voice in making the laws they were called upon to obey. To insist upon a man conforming to a law he had no voice in making., although he is compelled to contribute towards the legal ordinances of the country, was a flagrant act of injustice, and demanded immediate and positive attention. (Hear Hear.) he sincerely hoped that they would not only support the resolution but they would also commence co-operative industrial societies amongst themselves throughout the whole of Cleveland, and if they kept themselves banded together, before many years passed over the Government would be only too glad to give them the franchise.

Mr. Wm. HAMBLEY, of Skinningrove, seconded the resolution. He said that when he looked round that assemblage , and considered how few amongst them had the vote or a voice in sending a representative to Parliament, he could not help thinking what an important duty was incumbent on each one of them not to rest satisfied until they had an assimilation of the borough and county franchise. (Applause). He considered it a great injustice that intelligent and thinking men in the country should not be allowed to be equal with those in the borough. (Hear hear and applause).

Mr. LLOYD JONES then rose to support the resolution, which was the signal for an outburst of

The article as it appears in the Daily Gazette 1874

enthusiastic applause. He said he was there that day at the request of their Committee to say a few words to them on the assimilation of the Borough and Country franchise. What was really meant by that phrase was that people living outside the boundary of parliamentary boroughs should enjoy their rights of citizenship just the same as if they lived within those boundaries ; in other words, that when one man possessed the privileges of citizenship under the law, the law should be equal and confer the same privileges on other men of a like description. He remembered when parliamentary reform first began to be seriously talked about or rather when the masses of the people first moved for the purpose of improving the representation of the country. Many of them, no doubt, thought that things used to be pretty much the way they are now. He could tell them, however, that within his memory, and when he first began to listen to the voices of those who were called agitators, that nearly all the great communities of the country were entirely without representation. Members of Parliament were returned for small places where there scarcely any inhabitants whatever, as for instance, Old Serum, where there was not one single inhabitant, and where, when election time came round, a tent had to be erected in which a few of the Burgesses of Salisbury assembled for the purpose of returning two members to parliament. (Laughter). Another similar case was a borough in Surrey called Detton. The proprietor was a baronet named Sir Mark Wood and he and his son and butler were the only voters and they returned two members to parliament. (Renewed laughter). Once one of the members died, when the son was travelling on the continent, and Sir mark having quarrelled with his butler, and wishing to have his son returned had an insurmountable difficulty to contend with, for whom when Sir Mark proposed his son, the butler refused to second him and before the son could obtain the seat, the thing had to be made all right as far as the butler was concerned. (Loud laughter) Now, at that time, the great town of Manchester, with its hundreds and thousands of inhabitants, returned no member to parliament. The great town of Birmingham, filled with an active, industrious and intelligent population, had no representation in parliament ; and when he spoke of those two great towns, he simply spoke of them as a sample of a large number of places which had no representation whatever. When the public became alive in this state of things, and insisted in its being altered, there were hundreds of gentlemen in the British parliament, and hundreds and thousands outside who declared that things were just as well as they could possibly be, and that if they interfered with what was called the British Constitution the sky sky would fall, and nothing but ruin would come upon the country. But an alternative came, representation was given where the population of the country was greatest, and where the wealth and intelligence of the country was centred : and was there anyone who knew what the country was at the time he had been referring to, and what it was now, who would not say that that change had been a beneficial change for the country? (Cheers) No one can deny it and be held that the Legislature would be justified by all that had been done in the past in enlarging the liberties of the people. Why should they at Saltburn be forced at a disadvantage with the same class of men who live in a borough? What had they done that they should be excluded from the benefits of the laws and the privileges enjoyed by their brethren in large towns? He considered it was the duty of every man who could drew upon any distinction between what was politically right and what was politically wrong, to endeavour to get justice extended to the masses of people. (Applause) Every man, of whatever class or condition, had an interest in the welfare of his country, and, though a working man's stake was not so large as the stakes of those who owned ironstone mines, coal mines, factories, landed estates etc., a man's patriotism should not be measured by the extent of his possessions. (Hear hear – applause).

They all desired to see the country prosper ; but it was only when they conferred power over the whole nation, when it ceased to be a class power and became a national power, that it would enjoy its greatest prosperity, and the future fates of those they would leave behind them, depended on the action they took. The history of England told them that the lands of England were originally held by men who were bound to furnish the means of defence for the country, and aggression against foreign nations, that the men who held the land found soldiers and sailors to repel an invasion or to enforce a foe abroad into submission or peace. England's history told them that, from the time of William the Conqueror, up to the time of Charles the First - and that included the period of our whole historical renown – we conquered France twice, we captured and destroyed the Spanish Armada, we did all that a nation could be called upon to do, as a fighting nation, and we do not incur one shilling of debt in doing it, and the nation was left without any debt. The Long Parliament, however, put aside the dues that lay upon the land and threw the whole of the burden upon revenue returns of the country. And what was the result? In a period less than that he had been speaking of, from the time of the restoration of Charles the Second to the end of 1815, they had run into a debt of £800,000,000, which, even their great grand children's, grand children would not see paid. Now was it right that they should shift the burden from their own shoulders on to the shoulders of the people, when

House of Commons

they held the land as an equivalent for defending the nation? Coming down to present time, he might say that there were things existing which could not exist if people possessed the power they ought to possess. (Hear hear). They might take, for instance, the case which had been championed by their friend, Mr Plimsoll – the case of the Merchant seamen, and what did they see? They saw a number of men engaged in doing the greatest work men were ever called upon to do. (Loud applause) Taking stone from the bowls of the earth in order that it might be converted into articles of machinery of almost every description was a great work, but the sailing across dangerous seas to foreign countries with our products and bringing back in exchange the things they required in their homes for the daily comfort of their families, was work which no man should be called upon to do without having all the protection which human consideration and laws can give him (loud cheers) What had been discovered? What had Mr Plimsoll proved to the country? They were not assertions ; for however unwillingly the late commission had made its admissions, it was now clear that numbers of ships were lost through a love of greed and pure love of gain. (Shame) Many of our brave men's lives might be saved if men

were disposed to do their duty towards each other. A scoundrel of an owner often got his ship insured and sent her to sea with no other object than to lose her ; the vessel went down and her load was recorded as one of the casualties of the deep about which there was no use saying another word. But Mr. Plimsoll had proved that there was use in saying another word, and he was glad to see that they and other working men in England had come forward in that work of mercy, and had shown that they were determined to that profit should not be made of the lives of their fellow creatures. (Loud Cheers). The speaker then referred to the number of deaths from starvation which had occurred in the metropolis, no less than 106 taking place last year, and to the fact that they were paying £8,000,000 for the support on one million of people who could not support themselves. He also spoke of the emigration of agricultural labourers, which, he said had almost amounted to a general exodus, and these and other matters he might name showed the want of better Government, for a rich country like theirs ought to govern her people in comfort. (Applause) To bring about that end a better representation was needed, and he hoped the day was not now far off when they would obtain their just rights by the assimilation of the Borough and Country Franchise (Loud Applause).

Mr JOHN EMMERSON, of Saltburn, proposed the next resolution as follows - “That this meeting hears with regret that the criminal clauses of the Masters and Servants act and the laws known as the Criminal Law Amendment Act still disgrace the statute book. It is obliged therefore, to repeat its expression of indignation because of this piece of class legislation, and hopes that the present Government inquiry will result in a thorough renovation of these Acts to a repeal of the disgraceful clauses..” - In bringing that subject before them he said there could be no doubt that those obnoxious clauses ought to be at once repealed. He saw that Mr MacDonald, in a speech at the Durham Miners' Demonstration, urged them to send in a petition on the subject which would the table of the House of Commons to groan under its weight, and he hoped that suggestion would not be lost sight of. (Cheers)

Mr MICHAEL WESTACOTT of  Eston , in seconding the resolution, said that he the 'Masters and Servants' Act was unquestionably one law for the Masters and one law for the servants. The 9^th clause provides that where a workman broke a contract, he could sent to prison for three months, and where a Master broke it there was no such punishment as imprisonment. The 14^th clause of the same Act he regarded as a helpmate for the other, and he thought it was their duty to agitate until the above clauses were repealed.

The CHAIRMAN then called on Mr Plimsoll, MP to support the resolution. He had travelled 700 miles to be with them that day, and he hoped they would award him a hearty reception. (Loud Applause).

Mr PLIMSOLL, who was received with cheers, said : "Mr Chairman, ladies and Gentlemen, with a large number of politicians, 'rest and be thankful' seems a favourite motto. Be thankful as much as you like but I think there is too much work that wants doing, for this time of rest to be said to have arrived. Many things inflict society at present, and I will just enumerate a few of them and it will require hard work to put them right.. We have petty offenders against the laws who must always be the vast majority of those who are subject to the penalties of those laws, but up before those who's interests are diametrically the opposed to themselves. We have an unpaid magistracy, unpaid and untrained and not merely unpaid but inefficient. I would like to see a time when game preservers would no longer sit in judgement over poachers, manufacturers over artisans, or ship-owners over sailors. (hear hear).

Let us have magistrates who understand their business, and will hold the scales of justice with an even and steady hand. Another matter which may well engage our attention is the prosecution of offences against the person or property. These are at present left in private hands, but I trust we shall soon have public prosecutors, so as to do away with the scandal of having the criminal law put in operation by private and irresponsible persons for the purpose of extorting money by force from others. Then, gentlemen, there is the Criminal Law Amendment Act , and the group of measures generally understood when that term is used, the law of conspiracy, and the masters and servants act. These three all person acknowledge, require considerable amendment, and I am in great hope that the next session of parliament will not pass without some satisfactory measures on these subjects being passed. The law of Masters and Servants or a similar law operates particularly hard in the case of sailors. We have these men continually sent to prison, simply because they refuse to go to sea because the ship is too deeply loaded, and they have not a chance for their lives, and if they refuse , they are brought up before some ship-owning magistrates and their only choice is – go to sea or go to prison. Such cases are happening continually. Last year 600 men were sent to gaol, and maintained there at your expense and mine, simply because they had a proper objection to being drowned by the dozen and the score. There are many other matters which require attention, but which the present system of selecting representatives in Parliament, they have not that chance of being attended to which they would have if the whole machinery of Government was improved. I want to see such a re-distribution of electoral power, as will ensure that the people be represented as that capitalists.. At present the House of Commons consists far too largely of men whose only interest is keeping what they have, and adding more to it. They do as might be expected. They pass laws in their own interest. When the landlords were predominant, they not only shifted the burdens on the land upon the country, but in order to make the land yield more profit, they taxed all corn brought from abroad into the country, with the view of raising the price of corn grown at home. I am thankful to say that their power seems to have passed away, and we seem likely to have better times in the future. I would rather that the object of the meeting not been so much the assimilation of the Borough and the County franchise as that we had taken the whole subject fairly in hand, and advocated that the distinction between Borough and the county voters is artificial and mischievous, and that that I can see no reason for keeping it up. I think it would be greatly to the advantage of the English nation, that instead of of boroughs and counties we had electoral districts, so that there would be no distinction between dwellers in towns and counties, so that we might exercise our rights and privileges as Englishmen. Mr Disraeli in one of his great speeches in 1867, said “If you are going to invest in men with

Benjamin Disraeli

the exercise of great public rights let that trust be accompanied with the performance of public duties.” Who is there in the country that does not perform public duties? And he goes on to say that regularity of life and a general trustworthiness of conduct ought to be qualifications for the franchise, and on that ground I unhesitatingly claim, the franchise for all the country - (Applause). For I know that the inhabitants of England set an example to all on earth, both as to the regularity of their lives, and also as to the general trustworthiness of their conduct. They not only deserve well of the country for the right to discharge of their duty, but deserve the admiration of the country for having a general consideration for the welfare of others. And gentlemen , it was your hearty and warm appreciation of the efforts I had been putting forth for sailors that made me come here, because you have not only done your duty to yourselves and your wives and families, but have had thought and a shilling to spare for those less able to protect themselves. (Loud applause) I want to deal with one of the objections to the present state of the franchise. If a man lives in a borough he is a good voter, but if he improves his circumstances and out of regard for a delicate wife or family he removes to the country, though he is only proving that he is the more careful father of a family, he loses his vote. Again, if a non voter, any one of you, has not a vote, but goes into a town, he immediately gets one. There can be no sense in that sort of thing, because it is clear that the vote is rather the possession of the bricks and mortar than the man. I regard your claims as unanswerable and I think it augers well for the future state of England, when her sons are anxious to obtain(?) The franchise. Nor is this all. If the franchise was conferred on every grown man in the country, which I think would not be the extent of the reform now needed, because unless we have a very considerable re-distribution of seats and electoral power, we should have the intelligence and industry of the country swamped, in many cases by minorities. At the present moment there are 77 constituencies, each with less than 10,000 people that return 77 members. The whole of the voters for the 77 constituencies are 65,000, so that each member represents a a constituency of of 852 voters alone. There are 82 constituencies not with less than 10,000 people each, who only return the same number of representatives. Of these 82 each represents, therefore not 852 but 12,411 voters, and 82 constituencies the more increase of the electors during the last two years has been greater than the whole number or the electors in the 77 constituencies I have referred to. Take another illustration : Birmingham with 343,000 people, only sends three members to Parliament, while Buckingham, with 175,000, sends 8. If Birmingham were represented in the same degree it would have 16 members of Parliament instead of three. Manchester, with a population of 379,000 voters, sends only 3 members, and by an ingenious device of Mr Disraeli, one votes against the other, so that they may be said to only send one. Berkshire, with 196,000 people and 15,000 electors sends 8 members, while Manchester sends 3. The proportion for Manchester, if measured by Berkshire, would be thirty. The five counties, Wilts, Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall with less than 2,000,00, send 66 members to Parliament ; while London with more than 3,000,000, only sends 22 or one third, while in population it ought to send 120. These facts gentlemen, will show that great changes are needed, over and above the mere giving the vote to those who live in the country. We must have something approximate to electoral districts before we can be said to have attained to full representation of the country. Theses are not merely the arguments of the platform agitator, because the Times says the anomalies in the distribution of electoral power are gross and untenable. But you must not suppose that because the case is so strong, and the thing seems so reasonable that we shall get it without a struggle. Instance, the state of things described by Mr Jones, as proceeding the passing of the Reform Act of 1832. That change was not brought about without a great struggle. If there were those who were ready to defend, and did defend the then existing state of things with very great force, they must not suppose that men would be wanting to oppose the reform which we contend is so much needed. I happened to be at that place Mr Jones was describing, Old Sarum, on

Old Sarum

Tuesday, and it is just at the top of a hill like Roseberry Topping. As Mr Jones said, for many many years after there had ceased to be a single house the owners of the acres met under a tree to decide which two electors should be the members of Parliament . The only inhabitants that I could see were partridges and rabbits (laughter) - so that they went to represent them in place of men. We must not only have these things I have spoken of secured and freed, but have also a fair and full expression of the national will. And I hold it to be necessary that all classes should not only vote for representatives, but that they should send them from their own ranks. - (Applause) and that there should be members of the House of Commons drawn from every class of society. (Applause) If this is to be, we must have, I don;t say payment of members, gentlemen but something like what we have for cabinet ministers. If a man has been a cabinet minister, and held office for five years and retires, he is at liberty to say he cannot afford to live without a salary. It is not given to all as a rule, but it is to enable men of genuine, who have given their services to the State, to be maintained, and if it is not beneath the dignity of a Cabinet minister to accept a pension from the state, I can't see how it would degrade a member of Parliament, if he was a working man. I think that something like that, partially limited to working men, would be a deal better than making it common to all. I think it would be a pity to run any risk of destroying the force of attraction which is supposed to attach to the office, seeing that it draws to the services of the state, men whose services we could badly do without, and which attraction proves an inducement to men of high culture in the house, to have working men representatives and I don;t see how this is to be accomplished, unless they are paid. We must also have the cost of elections to municipalities. I think if we arrive at this we shall have a fair chance of having such an infusion of fresh blood into the house as to enable us to secure fresh ability, and we shall have good legislation becoming much easier, and if anybody in the future should find a great and intolerable injustice. Three weeks ago I was looking out at sea from the watering place of Clifton near Bristol, on the

Severn, and I saw a large vessel that was going to sea. She was nearly overhead in the water, and had a bad list, and was helplessly drifting about. Three days after that I read that a large vessel had been lost off  Bude, and twenty men drowned. I don;t know that it was the same ship that I saw, but I am having an inquiry made into it. I do say this, and I challenge any man out of bedlam to contradict it, that we have every week and every month dozens and scores of hard-working men, men with wives and children, whose lives are as precious to them as your are, that you sent down to death for nothing on earth except to enable some greedy scoundrel that cares nothing for his fellow men, to add to his wealth ; and, please God, we will stop it. (Loud applause) These things cannot be put right without effort. - A great deal has been done since the time Mr Jones referred to. We have had men who lived before us that laboured hard for us, and who were put in prison and tried for the lives. Shall we do nothing for those who come after us? Seeing we enjoy so much of what has been obtained for us by those who preceded us – let us do our part and leave the world better than we found it. Your children will be better off, politically, than you are, or worse ; for the retrograde. But we shall find and of this we are well satisfied, that unless we are watchful and vigilant to our children, we shall find a new race of oppressors rise up in the pampered purse-proud capitalists, and in those who get their living by employing others. I know there are many noble men amongst capitalists. I do not wish to say anything against them but I do say that a great many who have not brains, and who think they discharge and by lavish outlay upon themselves. They that desires, instead of trying to make the world a better than it was before and those who are eager to stand in great places are not only willing to inconvenience the working classes,but in order to get rich they are willing, as in the case I have given, to expose them not only to risk, but to absolute death, so long as their own comfort and wealth is augmented. Gentlemen, I call upon you to choose the good part, lively and loving Englishmen. Don;t be content simply to enjoy the privileges which others have wrought for, but let us keep and preserve what our forefathers have handed to us and extend the stock to those who come after us, so that this glorious old England of ours, in spite of oppression and wrong, shall be better year by year, as time goes on and not work merely for yourselves, but also for your children, advancing the cause of freedom, rights and liberties everywhere, amongst all mankind. Mr Plimsoll then resumed his seat amid loud applause.

Mr JOSEPH TOYNE of Skelton was called upon to propose a third resolution, which was as follows -

“That it is the opinion of this meeting that the condition of our Merchant seamen has been too long neglected, considering the many evils by which it was characterised, and requests that the Government of the country will, in the coming session of Parliament. Propose a measure that will give all possible protection to the lives of and interests of our sailors.” 

In moving that resolution, he said that while they they were engaged in their occupation as miners they were exposed to accidents which often occur instantaneous and they should appreciate the lot of our sailors who were continually exposed to the perils of the deep (Applause). He thought the thanks of the meeting were due to Mr Plimsoll for trying to better the conditions of our seamen, and he believed that no levy was more cheerfully paid than that which was made on the Cleveland and North Yorkshire miners towards the good work that Mr Plimsoll was heart and soul engaged in. (Applause)

Mr HAMMLEY Seconded and the resolution was unanimously carried .

MR THOMAS FLOOAT (?), of Guisborough proposed and Mr EMMANUEL RUSSELL of Brotton seconded a vote of thanks to Mr Plimsoll MP and Mr Jones for their eloquent addresses. This was accompanied by three hearty cheers. Mr Plimsoll and Mr Jones replied in suitable terms.

A vote of thanks to the gentleman who had lent the field and the wagons , to the Chairman for presiding , to Mr Stephen Emmerson, and to the representatives of the press brought the proceedings to a termination.

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George Markham Tweddell and the Markham Family

George Markham Tweddell and the Markham Family

The Markham Coat of Arms

This post is an attempt to bring together what we know of George Markham Tweddell's (GMT) relation Paul Markham Tweddell, who until is death in 2010, spent many years researching his ancestors, and in association with me, making much of that research available on the internet. His full genealogical book, unfinished at his demise, is currently being prepared for publication by Paul's wife, Sandra but may take a while as a lot of Paul's later research still needs to be integrated into the text. Paul's book covers the full Tweddell family history.
to his father's family - the Markhams. I pull together material from



From Paul Tweddell's website http://www.tweddellhistory.co.uk/

"George Tweddell (the name by which he was baptised) was born on 20th March 1823 and claimed he was the son of a Royal Navy Lieutenant, George Markham, who had been born in 1797 in the Rectory, Stokesley. His father, another George Markham (1763-1822), was the Rector of Stokesley, whilst also holding the post of Dean of York, and his grandfather was Archbishop Markham (1719-1807), famed for saving the walls of York from demolition in the first decade of the nineteenth century with the help of the author Walter Scott."

The Plantagenets and Cromwell
On one of our walks through Stokesley, taking me along his 'Tweddell Trail', Paul mentioned that through the

Sir Clements Markham's family history of 1913

Markham line, GMT was related both to Kings (the Plantagenet line) AND Oliver Cromwell! (GMT mentions the relation to Oliver Cromwell in Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham  and in the page pictured here from Sir Clement's Markham's Family History of 1913, (link to this book on line below) it says "Sir John Markham was descended through John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster (third son of King Edward 111)". Yet, although GMT was estranged from his father's family, brought up by his mother and living in relative poverty most of his life with no University education, he emerged as an impressive and energetic figure showing no lack of learning, wisdom and enterprise and leaving a large body of work - books, tractates, newspapers and poetry behind him. Long before modern communication systems and the internet, his regional, national and international network - often through the masonic craft, is still being unraveled and marveled at! Looking through Sir Clements book, it's noticeable that quite a few of the Markhams were also bards and it seems to me that GMT's 'lyre' as he would refer to his muse, fits neatly in with this.



GMT dedicated his inherited genes in the People's cause, firmly behind the Chartist movement, anti-slavery,  Cleveland News and Stokesley Reporter, established when he was only 19 and written about on this blog. Samuel Johnson wrote in 1775 "I never think I have hit hard unless it rebounds", Paul and I picked up a pamphlet in the Yorkshire store in Stokesley called the The Stokesley Trail in 2008 and found an entry about GMT on page 29 which amused us a little - in regard to Rose Cottage (the Town House with its 'fine sepertine bow), it reads -
anti Corn laws and much more and writing a People's history of Cleveland. His wide body of poetry reveals a man who cared about people and sound values regardless of their social or financial position and envisioned a better world through wider education, culture and progressive political change. Not everyone liked him - you have to look at reaction to his radical paper the
 "George Tweddell lived here in the 1800's, a man of many interests, poet, historian, stirrer-up of controversy, publisher etc." (My italics). GMT died in 1903 and his reputation still 'rebounds' today! Paul thought 'stirrer up of controversy' a telling expression and among other things, might be accounted for by his support of the People's Charter and other political concerns.

Lieutenant, George Markham?
Paul Tweddell tells us -
"Lt Markham had lived an adventurous life in the Royal Navy, had been mentioned in dispatches during the late Napoleonic campaign on the Mediterranean coast of France and was wounded in the Siege of Algiers in 1816. Obviously, one must imagine that his dalliance with Elizabeth Tweddell (1800-1841) while on leave in Stokesley during summer 1822 resulted in George Tweddell's birth the next year and must have been a typical event in the pre-Victorian period. So too was the way the child was welcomed by this mother's yeoman family without social problems; George would be perceived as an extra worker in the family's various enterprises and brought the added advantages of 'noble blood' to add it to the Tweddell line. Members of the following generations used to say George had 'aristocratic hands', by which they meant broad, long and powerful hands and fingers with slim wrists. But these same people found it difficult to accept the circumstances of George's birth, living as they did a generation later during Victorian and Edwardian times when the hypocrisy prevalent during the period (what they called 'respectability') had taken its grip on changed social norms. The family made up a story to rationalise George's illegitimacy presumably so they could continue to discuss George's literary exploits and the glorious history of their Markham ancestors (which stretched back through John of Gaunt to the pre-Norman thane, Claron of West Markham) whilst preserving their own 'decorum'."

"Lieutenant George is the subject of a brief chapter (§19) in Sir Clements Markham's family history of 1913, Markham Memorials, stating that, during the time of his relation with Elizabeth Tweddell (the author makes no mention of it, unsurprisingly), he was suffering from a head injury the result of a fight following a dispute during a gambling game at sea. Perhaps Elizabeth found him an attractive partner - prestigious and courageous but also in need of her feminine reassurance. Although he returned to sea, Lt Markham never recovered from the injury and died in 1834 tended by his second sister, Henrietta Montgomery, at her home, Nunton House near Salisbury where her husband was vicar. Documentary evidence of Lt George's death was available in George Tweddell's time in Foster's Pedigrees of the County Families of Yorkshire (1874), but one must assume he could not have found it, as he leaves a gap for his father's date of death in his notes, presumably hoping to fill it in when he found it." 
For further research see -
Sir Clements Markham's family history of 1913 - preview here -
http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=B9s1AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false

GMT Makes Contact with Frederica Havisides née Markham.
Paul Tweddell tells us that "Whilst still in Bury (as Master of the Bury Ragged or Industrial School) c 1855 - 60), George made contact with a member of his father's family, Frederica Haviside (1798-1863), a younger sister of his father, who lived in the (then rural) Rectory Manor, Walthamstow. In 1859 Frederica sent him two paintings of her house with a dedication recording her gift to him, framed in gilt. By the time Frederica, now widowed, wrote her last will George and Elizabeth were living in Middlesbrough, and when she died in 1863 her will showed she had bequeathed an annuity of £100 per annum (perhaps in today's money something like £5 or 6000 (roughly £100 a week) for the term of their lives. On the early installments of the bequest the couple set up a business 'Tweddell and Sons' as newsagent and printers at 87 Linthorpe Road, Middlesbrough. In gratitude George penned a sonnet to celebrate Frederica's life. Frederica kept up a correspondence with her nephew before her death."

George Tweddell becomes George Markham Tweddell

Rectory Manor, Walthamstow 1860
From Paul Tweddell's book on the Tweddell's

In another bio Paul Tweddell tells us -  "Shortly after arriving in Bury, Tweddell took the opportunity to add Markham as his middle name; the first recorded mention being written in his hand: ‘Bury, December 15th, 1855’,[xix] (and from then on often appears abbreviated to ‘GMT’). Despite publicising the change in the national Freemason newspaper and what it signified, the Markham family seems to have accepted it. The reason why was to appear shortly after his return northward .

By 1861, as soon as he could set up a new printing and publishing company, the family moved into premises in Commercial Street in the nearby, rapidly expanding town of Middlesbrough. Fortuitously then, in 1863, a younger sister of GMT’s father, Frederica Haviside (née Markham), died leaving him a generous annuity, which gave him the opportunity to move the business into a better location at 87 Linthorpe Road. Between 1864 and 1876 the company of Tweddell & Sons reached its apogee and expanded with a branch opened in Stokesley before 1870. He put his second son and apprentice, Horatio John Tweddell (1848-1918), in charge of the long-established printing press his father had bought. This was situated on the north side of the High Street in Stokesley but is now demolished."

In his Tractates, GMT published a grateful obituary to Frederica Haviside (née Markham) as ‘Cleveland Sonnet No. X’ (p. 37).

Cleveland Sonnet

No. X [To my Father’s Sister]

Addressed to my Father’s sister Frederica,

daughter of the late Dean Markham

Lady! thy name is doubly dear to me,

And shall be, whilst this o’ercharged heart can feel;

For, like an angel, in my poverty

Thou hast appear’d, my rankling wounds to heal.

Then can I less than bow before my God, 5

And in lowly reverence I kneel,

Beseech each blessing promised in His Word—

Peace here on earth, and then eternal weal

In Heaven on high, where golden harps e’er peal

Th’ Almighty’s praise from every holy chord,— 10

“Glory to God, the holy God, our Lord,

The God through all the universe adored!”

Oh! can I less than offer up for thee

A fervent prayer that such thy lot may be?

George Markham Tweddell

From North of England Tractates No. 7
Cleveland Sonnets (1870)

"Sonnet 10 was addressed to my Father's sister, Frederica, daughter of the late Dean Markham. She was born at Stokesley Rectory, and ever cherished a strong love for Cleveland. An angel on her sojourn here, she is now one in heaven.George Markham Tweddell Stokesley April 23rd 1870"

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Elizabeth Frances Markham (Donkin)

Another of GMT's aunties on the Markham side was Elizabeth Frances Markham (later Elizabeth Donkin) "was born on 28  August 1790 to a clerical family. Her grandfather had been the Archbishop of York (The Rt. Rev. Dr. William Markham) and her father (Richard) was the Dean of York. 1815 was the year of the Battle of Waterloo, and it was in this year - on May Day - that she married Rufane Donkin at Stokesley in Yorkshire."

We can only speculate whether Elizabeth would have befriended GMT as Frederica did, as Elizabeth was tragically snatched from life at only 28, some five years before GMT was born. Her story is tragic but interesting and here memory lives on in a surprising way as we shall read - 

" Rufane Donkin was a Lt.-General, and he was soon called to go to India; his new bride accompanied him. By 1817 she was expecting their first child and gave birth to a son George David - on 24th December of that year. In the heat of India, she never fully recovered, and died of a fever in Meerut on 21st of August 1818. Rufane was devastated, conditions of the time necessitated a quick burial of his young wife, and he immediately left India to return to England, taking his baby son and Elizabeth's embalmed heart with him. At that time British interests in South Africa were in the Cape Colony, which was administered by a Governor - Lord Charles Somerset. Somerset was called to England for discussions - a long operation in the days of sailing ships - and Rufane was intercepted on his journey and asked to take the position of Acting- Governor until Somerset returned.
-

Whilst in the Cape he journeyed to Algoa Bay to supervise the landing of the organised British immigrants

(whom we refer to as "The Settlers" today). He immediately saw that a sea-port would be necessary if the new settlements in the Eastern Cape were to be viable. On 6 June 1820 he named the site of the landings, and the temporary "tent city", Port Elizabeth; and arranged land for those who could invest.

In August 1820 he selected the site of today's Donkin Reserve, as the position to build a memorial to his late wife. In the early 1800s pyramids were a not an uncommon memorial in both India and England, and the one he commissioned was based on that of an ancient Roman, Caius Cestius."
Read more From http://www.momentos.co.za/donstory.htm

Interestingly Fearon Fallows "was sent to Cape Town by the Royal Astronomical Society to start the Cape Observatory. This was to be the first Astronomical Observatory in the Southern Hemisphere (As well as the first Scientific establishment in the Southern Hemisphere). He was chosen for the post at the Cape because of his skills in mathematics and astronomy.  In Cape Town he was well received by the Acting Governor, Sir Rufane Donkin, and the Colonial Secretary,Colonel Bird. Fallows had to set up a temporary observatory to provide time signals and to set make a catalogue of Southern stars. Sir Rufane Donkin had some wooden houses for British settlers in Port Elizabeth. He kindly provided Fallows with a wooden house, which was to serve as a temporary observatory. Fallows was a Freemason at the Good Hope Lodge." Abridged from http://assa.saao.ac.za/html/his-astr-fallows_f.html

I've no idea if Rufane Donkin was a Freemason too but the idea of the pyramid may have been apt memorial to Elizabeth but coupled with his help to Fallows to set up an observatory seems to have similarities to the thesis around Captain Cook's monument, also on this site and sparked by researching GMT's masonic poetry and symbolism - here http://georgemarkhamtweddell.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/captain-cooks-monument-easby-moor.html

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William Markham - Archbishop of York 1719-1807

William Markham was GMT's great grandfather, famed for saving the walls of York from demolition in the first decade of the nineteenth century with the help of the author Walter Scott.

I won't comment greatly on William Markham as I would need to study him more closely, but i think this would be essential in any full study of the Archbishop's great grandson - George Markham Tweddell for the parallels and differences. The Archbishop was the son of major William Markham -

"Son of Major William and Elizabeth. He was born at Kinsale in co.Cork on 9 April 1719 and attended Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. After ordination he took up teaching and became Head Master of his old school in 1753. Later he held the post of chaplain to George II, and served as prebendary of Durham Cathedral, Dean of Rochester, Dean of Christ Church, Bishop of Chester and lastly Archbishop of York and Lord High Almoner. On 16 June 1759 in London he married Sarah, daughter of John Goddard a merchant at Rotterdam. Sarah was born in Holland 14 February 1739 and died 26 January 1814." http://www.westminster-abbey.org/our-history/people/markham-family

In relation to Archbishop Markham, I refer you to Sir Robert Clement's "A Memoir of Archbishop William Markham" which can be read on line or downloaded as a PDF on Open Library here http://archive.org/details/memoirofarchbish00markiala

It explains the family's loss of inheritance and the struggle to recover from it that affected the early life of the Archbishop. He and his father were Whigs and supporters of the 'Glorious Revolution' and although the principles of that were strong in the family, Archbishop Markham, the book explains, was a critic of Richard Price and the American Revolution on the grounds that the Glorious revolution was founded on the supremacy of law, while the American Revolution as deemed to be lawless. A full account of this and the reasons given are in the above book p 46-49.

I feel sure that Richard Price would have been someone GMT would have supported with his connections with the Unitarian Church and ideas on egalitarianism and although i haven't found anything yet, there may well be some reference to Price in Tweddell's work somewhere -

"Richard Price (23 February 1723 – 19 April 1791) was a Welsh moral philosopher and preacher in the

tradition of English Dissenters, and a political pamphleteer, active in radical, republican, and liberal causes such as the American Revolution. He fostered connections between a large number of people, including writers of theConstitution of the United States. He spent most of his adult life as minister of Newington Green Unitarian Church, where possibly the congregant he most influenced was early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft, who extended his ideas on the egalitarianism inherent in the spirit of the French Revolution to encompass women's rights as well. In addition to his work as a moral and political philosopher, he also wrote on issues of statistics and finance, and was inducted into the Royal Society for these contributions."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Price

Archbishop Markham was a poet, often writing in Latin (including a Latin version of Shakespeare's Seven Ages of Man) and a close friend and supporter of  Edmund Burke (as described in the book). Burke was a supporter of the American revolutionaries but not the French which led him to move to the right of the Whig party.

http://archive.org/details/memoirofarchbish00markiala

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George Markham Dean of York - Rector of Stokesley 1763 - 1822

George Markham was GMT's grandfather, living at the Rectory in Stokesley until not long before GMT'sAlice Barrigan in her essay

George Markham - Dean of York

birth when he died in 1822. George was, according to local historian -
Radicalism in Stokesley in the 1820s - herehttp://northyorkshirehistory.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/radicalism-in-stokesley-in-1820s.html

Robert Armstrong - owner of a Zetetic bookshop in Stokesley, publishing the likes of Thomas Paine and involved in a Stokesley 'paper war', similar to the one GMT would be involved with 20 years later in regard to his own radical newspaper - is shown by Alice to have admired the Dean of York - George Markham as follows -
"The position of the Stokesley Deists was rather more nuanced and the rift between Church and chapel was growing. According to Robert Armstrong's third letter of 3 November 1822, he himself

"frequently derived both pleasure and improvement from the Sermons of our late Rector, the deservedly lamented Dean of York ; because I considered his Sermons true Deistical and moral compositions".
"I do sometimes go to Church","

GMT had planned to write about Robert Armstrong in his proposed 2nd volume of Bards and Authors of Cleveland and South Durham. No manuscripts of the 2nd edition have so far turned up and are presumed lost in the Stokesley floods of 1930 when many of his remaining papers were lost int he flood. Up until recently, any Deistical  tendencies in GMT are presumed to have come from the Tweddell side of the family and or the influence of his school master - William Sanderson but it looks like George Markham had such an influence on both Robert Armstrong and the community in Stokesley. Another thread for research!

Below is from Sir Robert Clement's Markham's family history of 1913 (Click link to view this book)

Tweddell And Sons

After a period in Bury as head of Ragged school and a period in Middlesbrough as a printer / publisher, Tweddell set up a print shop in Stokesley in the early 1860's with his son and compositor Horatio Tweddell. Below is a photo of the print shop in Stokesley (now replaced by flats) and some of  Horatio's print works sent to me by Paul Tweddell. Tweddell and Sons is the small building next to the Hovis sign.

Below Horatio Tweddell (GMT's son)

Another of Tweddell's commercial enterprises with Horatio. The shop was in Commercial Row (now Bridge Street Stokesley - next to what is now Fatso's but in the 1860's.