Robert Applegarth
Robert Applegarth (26 January 1834 – 13 July 1924) was a prominent
Biography
Robert Applegarth was born in Hull in England. His father was the captain of a whaling brig. He spent a brief period in a dame school but had no other formal education and began work in a shoemaker's shop aged ten. He learned the skills of carpentry, before moving to Sheffield where he met and married Mary Longmore, a farmer's daughter.
Applegarth moved to New York City in December 1854, seeking well paid employment, with only a half crown in his possession. He lived with another immigrant from Sheffield for a time, and held a variety of jobs including a master at a railroad station. He admired the democracy of the United States, but was appalled by slavery, and visited Mississippi to witness it for himself, where he met Frederick Douglass. By 1857, Applegarth was confident that he could support his wife in America so sent for her from Sheffield, but she was too ill to travel and so he returned to Sheffield. During the American Civil War, Applegarth strongly supported the Union.
Once back in the United Kingdom he joined the Sheffield Carpenters Union, and rose to become their secretary. In 1861 the Sheffield Carpenters Union merged with the
Applegarth also became an executive member of the
Under Applegarth's leadership, the ASCJ's membership increased from 1000 in 1862 to over 10,000 in 1870,[2] and accumulated funds of over £17,000. During the Royal Commission on Trade Unions (1867), Applegarth vigorously advocated the benefits of New Model Unionism to the committee, answering a total of 633 questions, and was generally regarded as the most impressive pro-trade union witness. Applegarth campaigned for the pro-trade unionist minority report of the commission to be accepted by Gladstone's Liberal government, leading to the Trade Union Act of 1871. In May of the same year he was offered a position on the Royal Commission on Contagious Diseases, which he took despite the protests of the ASCJ, leading him to resign from his position as general secretary. At around this time he joined the Working Men's Committee for Promoting the Separation of Church and State along with Potter and George Howell.
After his work for the Royal Commission, Applegarth became a commercial traveller for a
Applegarth spent his retirement in Brighton, where he was offered the title of Companion of Honour by Lloyd George in 1917. He turned the offer down, saying he preferred to remain "plain Robert Applegarth". When he died in 1924 he was cremated at West Norwood Cemetery and given a secular ceremony, according to his instructions.
References
- ^ Raymond Postgate, "Robert Applegarth" in Great Democrats, edited by Alfred Barratt Brown. Nicholson and Watson, 1934 (p. 24)
- ^ Briggs, Asa: "Victorian People", pg. 185, Pelican 1955
Further reading
- Briggs, Asa. “Robert Applegarth and the Trade Unions”, in Asa Briggs, Victorian People (1955) pp. 168–196. online
- May, Trevor An Economic and Social History of Great Britain 1760-1990 2nd edition, 1996
- Pelling, Henry A History of British Trade Unionism, 1971