JULIA VARLEY - Unite the Union Varley11-22098.pdf · TOM JONES –a fighter for freedom and working...

UNITE EDUCATION

JULIA VARLEY –Trade union organiser and fighterfor women's rights

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CONTENTs

Introduction 3

Foreword 4

Chapter one: Formative years 5

Chapter two: Becoming a young trade unionist 9

Chapter three: A voice for women 15

Chapter four: Birmingham and the Black Country 19

Chapter five: Becoming an official with the Workers’ Union 23

Chapter six: Elected to the TUC general council 31

Chapter seven: New role as Chief Women’s Officer as WU amalgamates with the Transport and General Workers’ Union 33

Chapter eight: Honours and retirement 37

Chapter nine: Remembered 39

JULIA VARLEY– Trade union organiser and fighter for women's rights


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JULIA VARLEY– an outstanding woman of her time

Welcome to number two (*) in aseries of short books on great menand women who feature prominentlyin the history of UNITE and itspredecessor unions. Our hope is thatpublishing these histories will providenot only fascinating reading butinspire the current and futuregenerations of trade unionists to takeup the struggle on behalf of workingpeople. There is certainly a lot tofight for. We are facing a difficultfuture in which the division betweenrich and poor is growing ever wider.The constant attacks on tradeunionists, both in Britain, Ireland andabroad are expected to intensify.Education has therefore to be viewedin the context of equipping membersto understand and fight back.

Additionally as part of UNITE theunion’s three pillars strategy oforganising, international solidarityand politics the educationdepartment is enthusing ourmembers to write their own storiesand explore their own family andlocal histories. To that end we haveestablished on our website REBELROAD – an inventory of trade unionand labour movement heroes whoare publicly recognised in the form ofa plaque, mural or statue or even apub named after them. Please havea look at it and consider contributing.http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/rebelroad/

It is in this context that we areproducing these booklets and it’s adelight to feature a woman who ishonoured with a plaque on herformer home in Bournville,Birmingham.

Julia Varley was a working classwoman who fought all her life forequal and civil rights, decent payand working conditions. From anearly age she recognised the powerof collectivism and over the rest ofher life she recruited manythousands of people to join her inthe struggle for VOTES FORWOMEN and TRADE UNIONBARGAINING RIGHTS and withoutwhich all workers are at the mercy ofthe employing class.

Her unique ability – often bycombining strike action with politicalagitation – to organise the low paid,especially women, was possiblywithout parallel in the seconddecade of the twentieth century.Julia’s upbringing meant she viewedlife through the eyes of the peopleshe worked alongside and it was thisthat led many of them to trust,respect and be led by her.

I’d like to thank Mark Metcalf forputting together this booklet and lookforward to the many others I knowhe is working on.

TOM JONES – a fighter for freedom and working people: Spanish Civil Warvolunteer and Welsh TGWU general secretary was published in October2014 and can be viewed at:http://tinyurl.com/k9q8e3m

INTRODUCTIONby Jim Mowatt, Unite Director of Education


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FOREWORDby Maggie Ryan

It’s a great privilege to write the foreword to a book in recognition of thelate trade unionist Julia Varley, a woman whose dedication and tirelessefforts to organise the working classes at the turn of the last centuryhave recently been recognised and honoured by the Birmingham CivicSociety, who has dedicated a Blue Plaque in her name. It’s important forus to record the stories of the past so that our history is told and lessonslearnt, especially working class history which is so often glossed over,dismissed out of hand or not recorded at all and therefore lost forever.

The story of Julia’s life is a testament to a great woman whocampaigned tirelessly for decent wages and conditions for workingpeople and more importantly organised them into trade unions and indoing so left a lasting legacy for workers of the future to follow. Readingthe following pages you will get a feel for what it was like to be a worker;especially a working woman struggling on poverty wages and theextremely harsh conditions that existed back then. From a personalpoint of view Julia and women like her are an inspiration and set astandard for women like me to aspire to, because progress can never beachieved without fighting for it and we have to be ever vigilant as thesegains are often under attack and in danger of being eroded especially intimes of austerity.

I’m proud that my union Unite is producing this series of booklets andrecognising the work of those that have travelled this path before us andin doing so have enriched the lives of the many workers in the past andpresent who without trade unions would have endured a life of greaterhardship. It is this legacy that is so important for this generation andthose to come.

Maggie RyanWest Midlands Women’s Executive Council RepresentativeUnite the union


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Formative years Julia Varley was born at 4 Monk Street, Horton, Bradford on 16 March1871 to 22-year old Richard Varley, an engine feeder at a worsted mill,and 21-year old Martha Ann (formerly Alderson).

Monk Street was a typical street of back-to-back houses in a Victorian townbuilt on textile manufacturing, particularly wool and more specifically worstedcloth which has a coarse feature. Bradford boomed during the IndustrialRevolution, becoming a municipal borough in 1847 and a city in 1897.

The Varley family lived within walking distance of numerous mills, whosechimneys were the most recognisable feature of the Victorian textileskyline. In the year of Julia’s birth there were over 200 mills in a townwith a population of 145,830. Amongst those aged 20 and over therewere 37,864 males engaged in the worsted industry and 43,447 womenworking in the textile industry. Unsurprisingly, the mill dominatedpeople’s lives and attitudes.

Grandfather’s influence

Julia’s great grandfather was Joseph B Alderson; when he died in 1886aged 90 his obituary in the Bradford Daily Telegraph was titled ‘Burial of“Old Chartist Guard.” According to the article he was the ‘only knownsurvivor of the Peterloo massacre,’ of 16 August 1819 at St Peter’s Field,Manchester when cavalry charged a crowd of between 60 and 80thousand that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentaryrepresentation. The result was an estimated 15 dead and 500 injuredsome seriously. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in an ironiccomparison to the Battle of Waterloo four years earlier.

The immediate impact of Peterloo was a crackdown on reform but in themid-1830s the Chartist working-class movement began to agitate forbasic reforms that were outlined in what became known as the People’sCharter of 1838 – a vote for every man over 21, secret ballots, equalsized constituencies., no property qualifications to become an MP,payments for MPs and annual Parliamentary elections.

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Julia Varley’s grandfather wasa passionate Chartist, an

organisation which soughtelectoral reform in the

mid-1830s.


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The Bradford Daily Telegraph claimed that Julia Varley’s grandfather hadtaken part in riots in support of the Chartists demands. These includedthe release of its leaders such as John Frost, who was imprisoned andlater transported after he led a large body of men in an attempt torelease Chartists held prisoner in Newport in 1839.

Her grandfather clearly influenced Julia’s political views; she often tolda story about him asking her, as a child, what the word ‘democracy’meant. Explaining she was too young to properly understand itsmeaning he said ‘when you grow up remember this, you must work forthe people, think for the people, and live for the people until they cando it for themselves.’

Starting work

Julia Varley was only 12 years old when she began working part-time asa sweeper in a mill. She had received school education under theElementary Education Acts of 1870 and 1880, which made schoolattendance compulsory until 10 years of age but which also allowedchildren in certain circumstances to be exempted in order to combinepart-time education with part-time work. Economic necessity forced

many children tolabour part-time.

In a 1935 interviewwith the BradfordTelegraph and Argusshe told of beingforced – as was thetradition – to workher first-week fornothing and thenearning 1s 3d (6.5pence) a week.

At aged 14 shestarted work full-timeat 7 shillings and 6d

per week (37.5 pence). Many of her fellow workers were young and theywere forced to hurry along dark roads to ensure they reached the millbefore the gate was closed at 6am. Breakfast at 8.30am was takensitting amongst the machinery.



Despite the hardships there was a feeling of satisfaction amongst theyoungsters for being important breadwinners in an era when more than25% of the population was living at or below subsistence level. Manypeople emigrated to North America and Australia to escape poverty,whilst Britain continued to be ruled by an elite. Julia later recalled that agirl next to her was taken away and died during childbirth.

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Becoming a youngtrade unionist Julia was in her early teenage years when she joined the General Unionof Textile Workers (GUTW), which was formed in 1881 and sought tounionise textile workers from all trades. Bradford’s Chartist history didnot mean it had well organised unions and there was a distinct lack ofenthusiasm for combination amongst unskilled workers. Julia was to findherself constantly frustrated in her efforts to persuade her fellow workersto join a union. That didn’t stop her taking on a role of full-time organiser.

According to Ben Turner, who became GUTW President from 1902 to1922, Julia Varley had to overcome her initial fears of speechmaking andparticipated in a period “when it was a moral crime for women to be inunions”. Turner and Varley would both serve on the TUC GeneralCouncil in the 1920s.

The Manningham Mills strike

When Julia Varley was aged 19 a major strike broke out in Bradford. InDecember 1890 the owner of Manningham Mills, Samuel Cunliffe Lister,announced he was intending cutting the pay of weavers, pickers,spoolers and winders. Out of a total workforce approaching 5,000 over20% were to receive less pay. Workers were informed they had untilTuesday 16 December to agree or face being locked-out.

Like much of British capitalism, Bradford’s textile industry was facingdecline and greater international competition. Lister wanted workers tosuffer the consequences even though in the previous year he had made£138,000 profits and the proposed wage cuts would save just £7,000 or5% of his profits. By 22 December the Bradford Daily Telegraph waspredicting that the strike ‘threatens to be one of long duration.’

Although the workers, who were mainly women, were ill-prepared foraction – and had no formal union branch structure – they quickly

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organised collection delegations to other mills in Bradford, beforespreading their message to other nearby towns such as Halifax andLeeds, where gas workers donated generously at Christmas time. Anumber of tradesmen assisted with funds and donations of groceries.Bradford Co-operative Society placed collecting boxes at each of its 30stores in the town.

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Julia Varley defended mill girlsby declaring she was proud tobe one of them.


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The strike also spread to workers at Manningham Mills not (yet)threatened with a pay cut and at the same time strikers denied newspaperreports that they had been persuaded to act by paid, outside agitators.

The Guardians of the Poor Law denied strikers poor relief and picketsfaced unnecessary brutality when police assisted scabs to break thestrike. The local papers reported claims by strike supporters that theywere being harassed and arrested by the police. When Bradford TradesCouncil requested the use of Dockers’ Square in the centre of Bradfordon 12 April 1891 they were refused. They returned on 19 April 1891 with90,000 people in attendance for an event that passed off peacefully.

By now however the strike was in its final few days. Funds had dried upand when the spinners, the last to join the strike, voted to return on 22April it paved the way for the rest to acknowledge defeat.

Ben Tillett

One of the Manningham Mills strike’s mostprominent supporters was Ben Tillett, who hadrisen to prominence during the London Dock Strikeof 1889. This resulted in a great wages victory forover 100,000 strikers from casual, unskilled andpoorly paid jobs and in doing so established strongtrade unions among London dockers. Thesuccessful strike marked a sea-change in thedevelopment of trade unions in Victorian Englandaway from the largely craft-based unions in thepast. Julia Varley heard Tillett speak in Bradfordand was impressed by what he had to say. The 21-year old had also witnessed how womenworkers could be just as militant as men, how maleand female workers could unite on common issuesand how important organisation at work was in thefight for pay and improved conditions. Despite thedefeat many workers joined trade unions inYorkshire over the next few years and for a timethe county wasthe stronghold oftrade unionism inBritain.

At an early age Julia Varley wasimpressed when she heard BenTillett speak in Bradford.


Formation of the Labour Party

An important consequence of the strike was the formation of theBradford Labour Union in an attempt to seek political independence fromthe Liberal Party. When this was replicated in Colne Valley, Slaithwaiteand Salford the way was open for the development of an independentlabour organisation, especially when during the 1892 General Election,three working men – Keir Hardie, John Burns (who had been one of theleaders of the London Dock Strike) and Havelock Wilson – had beenelected without Liberal support.

On 14-16 January 1893 a conference was held in Bradford, whichfounded the Independent Labour Party and which Julia Varleysubsequently joined. This organisation played a central role in the laterfounding of the Labour Party in 1906.

In 1893 Julia Varley defended mill girls by declaring she was ‘one ofthem’ in an article for a local paper written as a reaction to a previouslynegative article on the workers. She denounced what she saw as thestereotyping of the mill girls as ‘loud……corrupt, ill-bred…diseasedridden workers.’ Describing the conditions under which the mill girlstoiled she commented that “when a girl is …..compelled bycircumstances to pass her life amid ugly machinery, one can surelyexcuse her high spirits when out of the mill.”

In her article ‘Women as Inspectors’ dated 12September 1896 she provided a manifesto for whatneeded to be done to raise working conditions andthus “lead to a higher standard of morality, andconsequently take away the stigma that is oftenattached to mill girls as a class.”

Her views were to be echoed by another workingclass woman living in Crewe at the time. In 1894,Ada Nield Chewwrote a series ofremarkableletters to a localpaper in whichshe exposed theconditions in the clothing factory where she worked and attacked thosewho were contemptuous of the female workers who worked there. Chew

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Ada Nield Chew was aremarkable woman who workedalongside Julia Varley in theWomen’s Trade Union League.


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From an early age Julia Varley wasdetermined to assert the rights of

women as workers.


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lost her job as a result, but went on to become a suffragist, trade unionistand a formidable speaker.

Varley and Chew both worked for the WTUL in the early years of the20th century and both women clearly saw writing as a valid way ofaffecting their lives and those of other working class people. Sadly, JuliaVarley did not go on to become a prominent writer although she did writea number of poems – often dedicated to God – as well as contributingregular articles to the Workers’ Union paper, The Record from 1913.

In 1896 Julia’s mother, who was just 46, died of gangrene. A lack offunds meant the family could only afford to pay for one visit from thedoctor and Martha Varley would have died an agonising death. Julia wasleft with arranging the housekeeping and care for her six brothers andsisters. It was a role she fulfilled until she moved to Birmingham in 1909when the youngest child, Walter, was 22.

On 23 January 1900, Julia Varley became the first women member onBradford and District Trades and Labour Council executive committee.Later that year she attended her first Trades Union Congress. The localtrades’ council was keen to improve organisation amongst all trades andwas very aware of how few women were trade union members and howmany trade unions were keen to maintain this situation by believing thata women’s duty was as a wife and mother. Varley and through her, theGUTW, sought to overcome both problems, the results of these effortsbeing mixed.

Julia Varleywrote a numberof poems duringher life.


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A voice for women Meantime, the Women’sTrade Union League wascreating single sexunions and thisorganisation regularlysent representatives tospeak at Bradford TradesCouncil (TC) on matterssuch as the Factory Acts.The issue of women’ssuffrage also began to bea common theme inlabour movement affairsat this time. In August1902, Varley spoke forthe executive committeein support of the demandthat women should havethe vote on the samebasis as men. Two yearslater she attended theLabour RepresentationConference in thecompany of IsabellaFord, who spoke onwomen’s suffrage. Bynow, Varley was aprominent speaker atlocal and regional tradeunion and labourmovement gatherings.

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Julia Varley was twicesent to prison in afight to win the votefor women.


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From 1901 to 1907Varley was anelected Guardian onthe Board of theBradford Poor LawUnion. Thesebodies, on whichfew women served,existed in Englandand Wales from1834 to 1930 andprovided a systemof poor relief andwere also used forthe delivery ofsanitation outsideurban areas from1875. No personsreceiving poor reliefwere entitled to votein elections. Julia –an unpaid official –sat on a committeewhich heard allapplications forrelief as well asconsidering suchissues as theenlargement ofnursing homes,additional hospitalfacilities and moreworkhouses.

She often helpedcombine the work ofthe Poor Law Unionand Trades Council

to improve the lives of Bradford residents. She was to leave behind her asolid set of achievements – including a home for children previouslyliving in the workhouse with adult paupers – and the work had aided herown organisational, research and negotiating skills.


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She followed this work up by going ‘tramping.’ Assuming the identity ofMaggie Anne Thompson, who was searching for her Liverpooldockworker husband Jim, she tramped from Yorkshire to Lancashirebefore continuing to London, where she stayed in six of the commonestlodge-houses at 9d (4 pence) a night. Her father, a Tory, was not pleasedat his daughter’s unique investigation.

Imprisonment in the fight for the vote

Not long afterwards, Julia Varley found herself in prison. She had joinedthe Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), a militant faction of theSuffrage Movement and in February 1907 was involved in a raid on thefloor of the House of Commons. Refusing to pay a fine for disturbanceand obstruction, she was sentenced to 14 days in prison, seven daysmore than her sister Pattie who had also participated in the action. Juliawrote to the Bradford Daily Argus to state, “we have got the fire of theold chartists in our veins, and prison won’t put it out.” She felt Hollowayprison was 50% better than the tramp wards.

She and other women released with her were honoured by the WSPU inthe form of a public breakfast on 27 February 1907. She later served asecond sentence and was released on April 20 1907. Although sheremained proud of her efforts, Julia Varley did not remain active within theorganisation. It could well have been that she could not have afforded todo so as she needed to work. This was not the case with many of themiddle class women who were in the majority within the WSPU.



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Julia Varley moved toBirmingham in 1910 to help

organise women workers in theBournville area of the city.


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Birmingham and theBlack Country In early 1909, Julia assisted Glasgow-born Mary Macarthur, the daughter ofan owner of a drapery establishment who after moving to London becamesecretary of the Women’s Trade Union League in 1903, on a speaking touracross Scotland. This work put Julia in contact with Ada Nield Chew andMargaret Bondfield, a radical textile worker who subsequently went on tobecome the first women cabinet minister in the UK.

Later that year, she was invited to Birmingham by George Cadbury andGeorge Shann to assist them with their regional organising work.Cadbury was a Quaker who took over the family business with hisbrother Richard in 1861. In 1879 they opened a new factory four milessouth of Birmingham and as the business expanded they built a factorytown, which they named Bournville after thenearby river and French for ‘town.’ The houseswere never privately owned but the rents wereaffordable and families had houses with yards,gardens and fresh air. Canteens and sportsgrounds were built for workers and their familiesand pay rates were above average for the area.In 1901, George Cadbury, disgusted by Britain’simperialist overseas policy generally and the BoerWar in particular, bought the Daily News. He usedthe paper to campaign for old age pensions,against the war and sweatshop labour. Cadburyopened a works committee for each gender andencouraged workers to make proposals forimproving his firm.

Shann was secretary toEdward Cadbury, theeldest son of George.

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Julia Varley worked closelywith Margaret Bondfield overmany years.


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Edward retained his father’s interest in workers’ welfare and women’srights until his death in 1948. Shann was a prolific writer and his worksinclude ‘Sweating’ and ‘Women’s Work and Wages: A Phase of Life inan Industrial City’. Both were written in 1907 and were collaborativepieces with Edward as well as with Cecile Matheson in the latter book.The books – and Shann’s other works – were aimed at improvingconditions for all working people, but particularly women who continuedto be paid less than their males colleagues even when working insimilar jobs.

Julia’s arrival was announced in the Bournville Works (monthly)Magazine which, on her death, recalled ‘she came here in 1909 andchose “a little house in Hay Green Lane, from which she radiated help,advice, encouragement to hundreds who needed it.” Her house numberwas 4 and in 2013 the Birmingham Civic Society mounted a plaque on itto honour her.

The Cadbury family may have hoped that their decision to pay decentwages and have good working conditions at their establishments wouldbe replicated locally, but the fate of thousands of skilled workers inBirmingham and the Black Country (so-called because of smokegenerated by thousands of ironworking foundries and forges) regionswere typical of those right across Britain where workers were forced toendure low wages, long working hours and disabling work environments.Women workers were especially poorly paid and rarely earned over 10shillings (50 pence) a week. Varley’s own experiences, as a youngsterand her subsequent ability to organise workers, especially women, werethe reason why she was appointed to her new post. Macarthur hadmade a start the previous year in organising women and a local branchof the NFWW had been formed.

On moving south, Varley assumed the position of secretary of theBirmingham Women Worker’s Organisation Committee (WOC), whichaimed to assist women workers to organise themselves rather than beorganised by middle class people. The Bournville women workers,who – under the name of the Girl’s Social Service League – werealready organised because of the support of the WTUL, NFWW andEdward Cadbury, paid for the work of Julia Varley. The WOC wasgiven £10 a month in 1910 from the League, who also placed three oftheir members on the committee in order to assist Valley with herefforts. Everyone agreed that low wages were the result of women’slack of organisation.


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As 1909 came to an end Julia Varley was elected as a representative ofthe National Federation of Women Workers (NFWW) onto theBirmingham Trades Council executive and she stayed on this body inlater years as a Workers’ Union representative. She was the first womanto win election from amongst union representatives that includedtypographers, railway workers, gas workers, toolmakers, painters, shopassistants and clerks. She gained 72 votes when the highest vote was96. Her popularity was to grow over the following years and the votes forher grew accordingly.

She threw herself into supporting key strikes in the Birmingham area.The Modern Records Centre at Warwick University – which holds thearchive records of the Transport and General Workers Union,including that of the Workers’ Union – has a special section on itswebsite on the chain makers strike in 1910 at Cradley Heath at:-www.warwick.ac.uk and there is also information atwww.cradleylinks.co.uk/1910strike.htm. Although chain makers werehighly skilled they were badly paid and writer Robert H Sheard usedhis ‘The White Slaves of England’ of 1898 to provide a graphicdescription of their lives. Julia had already begun trying to organisewomen chain workers with the NFWW when the strike began underthe leadership of Mary Macarthur.

It resulted from women workers having been tricked out of a 100% payrise. This was awarded after the Chain Trade Board – established by theTrade Boards Act 1909 – agreed that a minimum wage of 2 1/2d (1pence) an hour would replace the old piecework system that often sawwomen earning as little as a 5 shillings (25p) a week for a 14-hour, 7-daya week workload. After downing tools in protest the women – whoconstituted around 70% of chain makers locally amongst a totalworkforce of around 3,500 – found themselves locked out

Money was collected locally and after the women’s actions werecovered on Pathe News – producing widespread public sympathy forthe workers – the strike was supported by donations from right acrossthe world. The £4,000 collected enabled the struggle to continue for 10weeks at the end of which a famous victory was achieved when theemployers agreed to pay the minimum rate. A mammoth tea party (withbread supplied by well-wishers) was held in celebration. A delightedVarley warned workers they needed to continue to join unions and getorganised in order to ensure the gains they had achieved were not lostin the future.



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Also in 1910 Birmingham Trades Council worked with the National Unionof Operative Bakers in another successful strike to limit the numbers ofhours worked from the current 70 to 100 hours a week for which bakerswere being paid 22 to 26 shillings a week. When a public enquiry wasorganised it collected robust evidence of the plight of workers and with itwas raised the demand that the industry be placed under the SweatedIndustries Act. Julia proposed that trade unionists deal only with firmswhose employment conditions were rated good enough to be registeredon a fair shop list. It was an inspired move and her year-long workalongside Bakers’ Secretary Billy Banfield, working baker GeorgeHaynes and Trades Council secretary J E Berry resulted in the uniongaining a minimum wage of 26 shillings a week for a 54-hour workingweek. The bakers and confectionary workers celebrated their silverjubilee in 1935 by presenting her with a handbag to mark theirappreciation of her efforts in 1910.

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Becoming an officialwith the Workers’Union In 1911, Julia assisted the Workers’ Union (WU) with a dispute atBilston. As the name indicates the Workers’ Union was a general union.It was formed on May Day 1898 and had ambitious aims: the recruitmentof all unorganised workers, skilled or unskilled, regardless of occupation.It was committed to a militant policy and initially scorned normal friendlybenefits and offered only those considered essential for a fightingorganisation. Its final aim was nothing less than a socialist society.

The best known of those who inspired its inauguration was Tom Mann,one of the great leaders during the successful London Dock Strike of1889 that raised wages and won union recognition. In the initial years,Mann worked vigorously as an unpaid organiser and held the title of Vice-President. However, in 1901 Mann emigrated toAustralia where he hoped to help inspire a more “drasticmodification of capitalism”. He stayed for nine years.

After growing very quickly in the 12 months following itsformation in 1898 membership figures had collapsedby as much as 75% as industrial activity slackenedover the next five to six years. A growth in trade hadrevived fortunes and although these were brieflychecked during the depression of 1908-09 the start of anew decadewas to bringwith it arevival infortunes fora union ledby active ILP

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Tom Mann, one of the great leaders ofthe London Dock Strike of 1889, helpedfound the Workers’ Union. In 1912, JuliaVarley was appointed as an official of theunion, making her one of the first womenofficials of a mixed sex union in Britain.



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member RobertMorley of Halifax andCharles Duncan, askilled engineeringworker fromMiddlesbrough.

The Black Country tothe northwest ofBirmingham wasknown as a graveyardof trade unionism, aplace where despitetrade unionists bestefforts the rewards interms of numbers,never mindorganisation, weremeagre. In 1910 the

WU moved Bristol organiser Arthur Ellery intothe area and he succeeded in early 1911 inopening a branch in Bilston. Two months laterthe WU steward at a small firm of nut and boltmakers was summarily dismissed and all other

members – mostly women – were told to leave the union or face losing theirjobs. A lengthy and bitter lockout ensued. The police were called in andintimidated the WU members and many were arrested in a group as‘disorderly persons’. Fifteen refused to pay their subsequent fines and wereimprisoned as a result. The strike lasted nine months but after other workersreplaced the union members it collapsed in defeat. Varley later said of thedispute: “We were beaten from the first hour, but we refused to admit it andfor nine months sixty girls gave the local police the time of their lives…….when we closed the struggle we finished with wonderful loyalty and love’.

Despite the negative outcome to the Bilston struggle it succeeded in rousinglocal workers and there followed a successful strike over piece-rates inOctober 1911 that was led by 600 craftsmen at the Birmingham Small Armsfactory and joined by 2-3,000 lower skilled, poorly organised, workers.

The strikes stimulated membership locally and regionally and theadditional funds allowed the WU to increase its organising staff. Amongstthose they recruited in early 1912 was Julia Varley. She was one of the

Julia Varley played an important rolein a wave of successful strikes that

swept across the Black Countrythroughout 1912 and 1913.


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first women officers of a mixed sex union in Britain, a considerableachievement that changed for the better the face of trade unionism in thecountry forever. In the WU newspaper, the Record, launched inNovember 1913, it was stated that Julia ‘believed that where womenwork with men they should be organised in the same union and shefinds the Workers Union more fully in accord with those ideas’.

The newspaper outlined why she had been appointed:

These are the days when Trade Unionism is the fashion, and when evenhigh-born ladies descend to patronise the organisation of women, andwhen middle class theorists undertake to assist in the work. Wewelcome their efforts, but wish that more working women had theexperience of (the likes of Julia Varley) mill work at thirteen and, owing tothe early death of her mother, the responsibility of working classhousekeeping and the care of six younger brothers and sisters – anexperience of greater value than all the theories.

Working class appeal

There seems little doubt that Julia was drawn to the WU because of itsstrong working class origins. She joined the WU just before the BlackCountry exploded in strike action when a series of largely unconnectedstrikes in Smethwick and the Black Country followed a successful seriesof strikes at major engineering firms in Birmingham, Smethwick andWest Bromwich that won 23 shillings a week minimum wage. It beganwhen workers at W&T Avery downed tools after the secretary of thenearby Winson Green branch in Birmingham was victimised. Most ofthose on strike were not in a union but were happy to be represented bythe WU and the result was recognition with the company and anagreement to pay 23 shillings a week.

The result awoke workers elsewhere and there were disputes breakingout everywhere as 1913 dawned. Further successes at the WestBromwich firm of United Hinges and at Tangyes ensured that labourerseverywhere were keen to get organised. A stoppage at the Smethwickworks of the Birmingham Carriage Company started in late April 1913and when workers were locked out a strike fund was launched for amainly non-union workforce. In May the strikers marched to theiremployers works at Oldbury and Wednesbury and also its headquartersat Saltley. Within four days, the numbers on strike had risen to 10,000.Meantime a dispute at John Russell tube works, Wednesbury saw the



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strikers employ similar tactics of appealing for solidarity action. Thetopography allowed strikers to march from town to town and theresponse was electric as other workers joined in the struggle.

Throughout June those on strike totalled between 30 and 40 thousandand although many employers were willing to concede to the demandsof their employees this was not always the case. The disputes were tobe brought to a conclusion – largely satisfactorily for every group ofworkers – when the Labour Department of the Board of Trade appearedset to intervene and this forced the Midlands Employers’ Federation toreach agreements with those still on strike. The Workers’ Union successproduced a quadrupling of its membership figures across Birminghamand the Black Country. It was to mark the peak of the organisation,which was now 15 years old.

The role of Julia Varley in the Black Country Strike was commented onby J M Leask and P Bellars in their article in the Birmingham Mail of 3June 1931 and titled ‘Nor shall the sword sleep’: ‘Julia was outstandingin her gift of meeting the strikers’ wives and women associated with thestrike, explaining to them the importance of the fight their men weremaking, and turning them into active supporters’.

Cornwall clayworkers strike

As 1913 came to an end Julia Varley was asked to support the efforts ofthe union in Cornwall, an area notorious for being hostile to unions.Amongst the 5,000 clay workers in mid-Cornwall only a tiny numberwere in unions. So when a strike started at the small Carne Stents pitthere was no guarantee of a successful outcome when the WU, withonly a tiny presence amongst clayworkers, agreed to back those whohad taken action. The strikers were intent on winning a pay rise of 5shillings (25 pence) a week in order to increase their pay to 25 shillings(£1.25). They immediately sent flying pickets to other clay pits wheretheir appeals for support meant that the number of strikers was aroundone thousand by the end of the first week.

Julia Varley was sent down to the region to support the local organiser, C R Vincent, with the specific instruction of organising the families of thestrikers, numbers of which grew within the month to 5,000. The WU wasable to pay 10 shillings a week (50 pence) strike pay and local tradesmandistributed food vouchers. However, appeals to other trade unionists werepoorly supported due to the reputation of Cornish miners as strike-breakers.


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The employers hitback by drafting in acontingent of 100South Wales policeofficers with areputation of breakingpicket lines after theirinvolvement at theTonypandy riots in1911. Strikers wereinformed that ‘unlawfulassemblies’ (the termused in English law foran assembly of threeor more persons withintent to commit a

crime by force) were to bemuch more rigorouslyenforced.

When pickets formed up 300strong on 1 September 1913they were met by a detachmentof Glamorgan police who, after

calling on the women present, including Julia Varley to stand aside, batoncharged the crowd hitting anyone who got in their way. With one officermanhandling Julia there was an attempt to rescue her by members of thecrowd; the rescuers were brutally assaulted. When the reporter from theIllustrated Weekly News filed an eyewitness account of the event theactions of the police were widely denounced and local people announcedthey intended boycotting the police who found they were refused service inlocal shops and evicted from their accommodation. There were calls for anofficial inquiry, which was rejected, and the TUC sent its deepest regret tothose who had been attacked.

Julia Varley played a heroic roleduring the ultimately successful

strike amongst Gornish clayworkersthroughout 1913.


Julia later wrote that:‘Women wereknocked down andkicked, and onewoman who went tothe assistance of acripple who wasbleeding from a cut,received a blowintended for him, andhad several ribsbroken’.

The strike itself wasto collapse in mid-October butdemonstrated toworkers the need fororganisation and solidarity. In January 1914the largest clay company in mid Cornwallagreed to recognise the union andestablished rates of pay roughly equalto what the strikershad called for in theprevious year. Otherclay firms had littleoption but to followsuit.

The successestablished unions inmid-Cornwall. Today,Unite representsworkers in the clayindustry that areemployed atIMERYS, a worldleader in miningnatural resources and whichemploys around1,000 in Britain.

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Julia Varley was heavily involved inthe Bliss Tweed Mill strike of 1913.

Millions of women took the place of men at workduring the First World War. The Workers’ Union and

Julia Varley sought to organise the new workers.


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For more details on the 1913 strike in Cornwall see ‘The 1913 ChinaClay Strike’ by Nigel Costley [south west TUC regional secretary] £4.95from http://www.tolpuddlemartyrs.org.uk/shop.php?product-17673]Varley was also heavily involved in the six-month strike in the smallmarket town of Chipping Norton where in November 1913 the WUsuccessfully recruited around two-thirds of the workers in the localtextile company, Bliss Tweed Mill. When three union activists weredismissed, 237 woollen textile workers, including 125 women, walkedout in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to secure theirreinstatement.

Varley later said about the years between 1909 to 1914: “I was never outof a strike: mostly around Birmingham in the Black Country…..they call itthe Black Country and men, women and children lived and worked underconditions when hell itself would be attractive.”

For Duncan the successes – which had resulted in the WU membershiprising from 5 to 65 thousand (10 thousand women) in four years – in thisperiod had “only touched the fringe of the possibilities latent in thepresent industrial situation….let us stick to the task…..and we can builda monument by our industry that the world will admire.’

The First World War, though, was just around the corner and hostilitiesbroke out on 28 July 1914. The WU and Julia Varley did not oppose thewar. In this she found herself on the opposite side to IndependentLabour Party (ILP) member James Maxton – one of the leaders of RedClydeside, an era of political radicalism in Glasgow lasting from the1910s to 1930s – and the revolutionary socialist John Maclean. Bothmen were sent to jail for anti-war propagandising. A number ofprominent women’s rights activists including Helena Swanwick andMargaret Ashton were also opposed to World War I.

On December 16 1914 Julia Varley spoke alongside the wife of WinstonChurchill at a public meeting organised by Birmingham ParliamentaryRecruiting Committee and at which members of the audience wereurged to enrol in the armed forces. This was one of the few times inwhich Varley was involved in recruiting people to the war that was tolast until November 1918 and result in more than nine millioncombatants being killed.

Julia Varley became involved with a Birmingham Trades Council CentralCitizen’s Committee set up to deal with the dislocation of civilian life and


30

co-ordinate relief work in the city. Her main task though was to act as anational women’s organiser for the WU and she travelled extensivelythroughout the United Kingdom and Ireland to address meetings. With men enrolling to fight, their places at work were taken by womenand the WU recruited four new women organisers in 1915 and by theend of the war a total of 20 female officers were employed. The unionstepped up its efforts to increase its female membership and had anumber of successes resulting in employers increasingly consulting withthe union. By the end of the war, the WU had 80,000 women members,approximately 8% of the overall women’s trade union membership in1918. Women learned the value of their own labour during the war andrecognised they needed to be organised if they were to be properly paid.

One of Varley’s most notable successes in the War was with a group ofChinese men. They had survived the torpedoing of their ship beforebeing put to work in Birmingham’s munitions factories. She produced aleaflet in their language and after addressing them they all joined theWU. She later remarked ‘I was one of the only women in the world toorganise the Chinese’.

As the war came to an end, Julia was sent to France in 1918 by theMinistry of Labour to investigate allegations of improper conduct againstmembers of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps. She was joined by,amongst others, Mary Carlin; the enquiry concluded there had been noimproper conduct. Carlin and Varley would later work together in theTGWU and the Trades Union Congress.

Julia left Birmingham Trades Council soon after the war ended toconcentrate on her work with the WU and then, when she was electedas a representative of women workers on the General Council in 1921,the Trades Union Congress (TUC). She was to be re-elected to the TUCpost until 1924 and after being re-elected in 1926 she servedcontinuously until her retirement in 1935. During this period, Julia Varleyhad a 100% attendance record at TUC General Council meetings.


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Elected to TUCgeneral council She was one of two women elected in 1921 to the TUC general council.The other was Margaret Bondfield, who was the first woman to gain asignificant presence with the TUC when she was elected to serve on itsParliamentary Committee in 1917. The Council, which was formed in1921, was responsible for ‘keeping watch on all industrial movements’.

The TUC was keen to improve women’s representation and at the 1921Congress it was agreed that the work previously carried out by theWTUL would be taken over by the TUC and a Women’s Departmentwould be established. The WTUL’s work as a separate organisation forwomen had come to an end.

Julia Varley found herself surrounded by some good female colleagues atthe TUC, including Mary Quaile, who was the women’s organiser for theTransport and General Workers Union from 1919-1933, Anne Loughlin, aTGWU national organiser, Mary Carlin as well as Florence Hancock.

The 1920s was a difficult time for trade unions. Levels of unemploymentrose to over 10% and stayed high until the outbreak of the Second WorldWar in 1939. Many former servicemen found it difficult to find work andthere was pressure on women to quit their jobs and return home.

Trade unions were successful in resisting wage cuts and even achievedsome reductions in the working week in some industries but this failedto prevent a very large loss in membership totals. The WU was one ofthe hardest hit and between 1920 and 1923 its membership felldramatically from close to half a million to just 140,000. The assets ofthe union also collapsed. By 1929 the WU had 120,000 members andit’s future looked bleak.

General workers were often relatively new recruits to trade unionism andso in addition to being particularly vulnerable to unemployment they

CHAPTER



proved difficult to organise. The WU had managed to establish a strongpresence in agriculture and it was the union’s second largest section in1920. Like the National Union of Agricultural Workers the WU’sagricultural section collapsed in the 1920s. The engineering trades wereravaged in this period and the WU lost considerable numbers as aresult. (the metal and engineering branches in Birmingham and theBlack Country and Coventry totalled 50,000 members in 1920 and 4,000in 1929) The union also committed a financial mistake by introducingbenefits to its unemployed members far greater than other unions andwhich it could not possibly afford. At one point the out-of-work fund paidout a sum equal to a third of the union’s total assets in one quarter.

The 1920s also saw the TUC call its only General Strike when thedecision was taken in 1926 to back the miners’ in their fight with theiremployers over pay. As a member of the TUC general council, JuliaVarley supported the decision to ask other workers to take solidarityaction but soon after she lost her seat. The defeat of the strike was tohave serious consequences for the whole trade union movement as theemployers moved to take advantage of the bitter demoralisationamongst workers that followed the TUC’s decision to call off theirsupport after just nine days.

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New role as ChiefWomen’s Officer asWU amalgamates withTransport and GeneralWorkers Union In 1929, the WU had only 95,000 members and had clearly ceased to bea viable organisation. Two years previously, John Beard, WU Presidenthad approached Ernest Bevin, the TGWU general secretary, forexploratory talks on amalgamation. Bevin made clear he could notcommit any new union to paying the benefits that the WU weredisastrously committed to and the WU agreed. When the decision toamalgamate was put to the WU membership around 55% voted with59,801 in favour and just 9,632 against.

On Saturday August 3 1929 both unions formally ceased to exist and onthe following Monday the new TGWU came into being. Theamalgamation allowed the TGWU to acquire a standing in a range ofindustries where it had been previously lacking including amongstengineering, chemical and municipal employees. It was thus a goodmove by both parties and for the workers who were members.

As a result of the amalgamation, Julia Varley took on the position of ChiefWomen’s Officer of the TGWU. Considering her age and the fact that sofew officials from the WU were appointed to positions within the new unionit was a sign of her standing in the trade union movement generally.

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The Workers’ Union amalgamated with the Transport andGeneral Workers Union in 1929. Julia Varley took on the role

of Chief Women’s Officer under the leadership of ErnestBevin, seen here speaking to a group of dockers.


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In 1927 she was the TUC delegate to the International Federation ofTrade Unions (IFTU) Conference in Paris and she also served on theNational Advisory Council for Juvenile Employment in England andWales a year later. She also attended International Labour Organization(ILO) conferences in Geneva, Rome and Vienna whilst retaininginterests in the organisation of domestic workers throughout the 1920s.She also devoted time to the Society for the Overseas Settlement ofBritish Women in the 20s and 30s and she travelled to Canada in 1925to discuss with the authorities there how to assist those who wereconsidering emigration. Money was raised to give newcomers farmlandto help them build a new life.

In 1922, Varley became a member of the Council of Industrial WelfareSociety and she served on its Executive committee for 15 years from1923 to 1928. The society’s president was the Duke of York, who laterbecame King George VI. Her decision to work with the society was notuniversally popular with her union colleagues but she justified this on thebasis of her joint work with some employers during the World War when“we saw each other’s point of view…….all my life I have protestedagainst workers having to eat their meals in dusty, badly ventilatedworkshops and factories……..good management demands theseimprovements …..the remedy lies in the better understanding of thedifference between true welfare and industrial organisation”.

She praised the Duke of York for having assisted with significantimprovements in working conditions and the pair became good friends.

She was to become a regular at future Royal Weddings, funerals andgala occasions. Correspondence that is stored at Hull History Centreincludes a number of letters to the Duke of York and other members ofhis family. When she was in hospital during the Second World War with abroken leg she received a telegram from the King offering hiscondolences.



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Julia Varley worked to bringwomen and men together in

the same union.


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Honours andretirement In May 1931 Julia Varley received details that the Prime Minister hadsubmitted her name to the King with a recommendation she beapproved as an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. She washappy to accept the nomination.

Julia Varley retired from the TUC in 1935 and the TGWU the followingyear. She was then 64 years old and her eyesight was deterioratingeven after her first eye operation in 1928. She was presented with theTUC Gold Badge in recognition of her considerable efforts andachievements and there were numerous celebratory gatherings in whichshe was widely praised. Ernest Bevin commented on her trade unionwork as follows: “Your efforts in the early days particularly and thepioneer work which you carried out is not forgotten. I am happy to thinkthat it is to be entered on the records of the Union so that it will live.”

The regional secretary for region 5 – Birmingham and the BlackCountry – said in a letter dated 5 May 1936: ‘I want to join my colleaguesin saying that if there is one person in the country who has done theirlittle bit to improve the lot of workers, both men and women, then yourname stands out pre-eminently.

“I have known you ever since you came to Birmingham, and havewatched with keen interest your unstinted efforts to improve the lot ofworkers whenever possible. I am not unmindful, also, of the valuableservices you have rendered on Commissions and Enquiries, and againyou have shown great sacrifice in this connection. This all goes to provethe genuine feeling you have for the class you love so well…’

As she moved into retirement she said: “When they take me home forthe last time I shall have no regrets. My life has been a wonderful thing.I have had fine colleagues from my earliest years – you can do nothingwithout colleagues.

CHAPTER



38

“I have worked and lived for the bottom dog and I think he or she hasbenefited a tiny bit from what I have done. I don’t regret a single thingthat has happened. Above all, God has enabled me to live to see thefruits of my labour – a joy denied to most reformists.”

Julia Varley’s declining health made it difficult for her to remain an activesupporter of trade union affairs. She eventually went blind, could hardlyhear and also suffered badly from rheumatism. Nevertheless shecontinued to regularly attend the TUC Women Worker’s Conference andstudents of labour affairs were always guaranteed a warm welcome ather little house in Bournville, where she was later able to attend Churchmore regularly than in the past. Varley had written a number of shortpoems in praise of God in the late 19th century but religion appears tohave played little part in her subsequent activities until after herretirement.

When she was finally unable to care for herself, Julia Varley returned toBradford to live with her sisters Martha and Jessie and she died there at32 Hampden Street, Horton Lane on 24 November 1952. She was aged81 and she left £1419 – equivalent to around £30,000 today.

Following a burial service at the local All Saints Church she was buried inUndercliffe cemetery and on 14 December a celebratory, joyousmemorial service was organised by her friends at St Francis Church,Bournville. Close friend and community activist Margaret Horwill outlinedJulia Varley’s work in national and international fields. It was said of herthat, “she dined with bishops but always remained one of the people.”


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Remembered On 24 May 2013, Birmingham Civic Society honoured Julia Varley with aceremony at the Minworth Greaves building in Selly Manor, Birmingham.Students from Kings Norton Girls School and Waverley School inBirmingham – who are at the time were doing projects on the history ofthe suffragette movement – unveiled a blue plaque, that wassubsequently erected on her former home in Hay Green Lane, Bournville.

Rita McLean, chairwoman of the society’s heritage committee, said:“Julia Varley’s energy and passion for the causes she believed in arevisible in the range of roles she undertook.

“She devoted more than 50 years to achieve a living wage and improvethe working conditions for a mass of women and men employed in low-paid conditions.”

www.birmingham-civicsociety.org.uk

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Hay Green Lanephoto of plaque onher former home –copyright JamieJustham


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Pupils for Kings Norton Girls Schooland Waverley School help unveil ablue plaque to honour Julia Varley.

This is the second booklet written and compiled by Mark Metcalf. The firston Tom Jones can be viewed at: http://tinyurl.com/k9q8e3m

Look out for the following in 2015 on The Great Dock Strike of 1889, TonyHall and Charlie Chutterbuck.

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Bibliography

Julia Varley papers at Hull History Centre

The Workers’ Union – Richard HymanClarendon Press 1971

Julia Varley by Jessica BronwynThurlow, dissertation for Master ofPhilosophy in History at SussexUniversity

Cradley Heath chain makers strike -www.cradleylinks.co.uk/1910strike.htm

Cradley Heath women chain-makersstrike of 1910 – Margaret Bradley

The 1913 China Clay Strike - the story ofCornwall’s most turbulent industrialdispute Nigel Costley

The Making of the English Working ClassE.P Thompson

The T&G Story – a history of theTransport and General Workers Union1922 - 2007Andrew Murray

Ada Nield Chew – the life and writings ofa working woman Presented by Doris Nield Chew

Manningham Mills – a strike thatchanged Britain’s unions by MannyDominguez

Banner Bright – an illustrated history oftrade union bannersJohn Gorman

Special thanks to Jim Fox, RobertBoyling, Christine Cushing and RitaMcLean and the Birmingham CivicSociety, Jamie Justham, Celia Stubbs,Nigel Costley, staff at the Hull HistoryCentre, Lesley Kipling, Jim Mowatt,Maggie Ryan, Lesley Stevenson, SusanCope, Natalia Stepnowska, Roger Bates,Mark Harvey and the West MidlandsUnite Regional and Women'sCommittee's.

A good read for UNITE members – bookof the month

http://www.unitetheunion.org/growing-our-union/education/bookofthemonth/

Tutors on Unite education courses oftenget asked what books they wouldrecommend reading. As a result wehave set up a book of the month servicefor Unite members. The subjects chosenare very varied and include politics,sport, fiction, economics, social andlabour history. There is a review of eachbook and how to obtain copies, some ofwhich are free. There are also reviewsof books written by Unite memberspresent and past.

Unite members who would like to see aparticular book reviewed – or would liketo do a review – should get in touch. Ifyou are a Unite member who has had abook published please also get incontact.

More details from Mark Metcalf on07952 801783 [email protected]

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Published 2015

Unite the unionUnite House, 128 Theobalds Road

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