Calton Weavers Strike
Encyclopedia
The Calton Weavers Strike of 1787 was the earliest major industrial dispute in Scottish history, when troops fired on demonstrators, killing six. The Calton weavers
became Scotland's first working-class martyrs.
Ultimately the strike contributed to a workers movement which achieved fundamental changes in the relationship between workforce and employers.
The Calton Weavers massacre of 1787 is commemorated in a panel by Scottish artist Ken Currie
in the People's Palace
, Glasgow, commissioned on the 200th anniversary of the event.
Calton
at the time of the strike was a handweaving community just outside Glasgow
in Scotland
. At the peak of Calton's prosperity, wages had risen to nearly £100 a year and weavers had risen to high places in society. However, mechanization and growth in the labor force had since then severely depressed wages.
In the summer of 1787, the journeymen weavers of Calton marched in organized processions through the streets of Glasgow to protest a 25 percent wage cut and lockout.
The dispute grew bitter, with the strikers cutting the webs from the looms of weavers who continued to work, and making bonfires in the street from the contents of warehouses. On the 3rd of September the city magistrates, with a force of officers, went to the Calton but were driven back by the mob. A detachment of the 39th Regiment marched under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kellet, and a pitched battle occurred at Parkhouse, in Duke Street. A volley of musket fire killed three of the weavers.
Three other weavers were mortally wounded.
Further disturbances later in the day were quickly suppressed by the troops. On the following day more looms were wrecked, but the riots quickly subsided.
In 1788 James Granger was tried in Edinburgh as the ringleader of the strike. He was aged 38, married and had six children. He was found guilty of "forming illegal combinations" and was sentenced to be publicly whipped through the streets of the city at the hands of the Common Executioner, and then to banish himself from Scotland for seven years. James Granger later returned and took part in the 1811-1812 strike. He lived to the age of 75.
Calton weavers
The Calton weavers were a community of handweavers established in the community of Calton, then in Lanarkshire just outside Glasgow, Scotland in the 18th century. In 1787 the weavers went on strike...
became Scotland's first working-class martyrs.
Ultimately the strike contributed to a workers movement which achieved fundamental changes in the relationship between workforce and employers.
The Calton Weavers massacre of 1787 is commemorated in a panel by Scottish artist Ken Currie
Ken Currie
Ken Currie is a Scottish painter, one of the most influential living artists in Scotland. His paintings are displayed in public and museum collections worldwide....
in the People's Palace
People's Palace
The People's Palace and Winter Gardens in Glasgow, Scotland is a museum and glasshouse situated in Glasgow Green, and was opened on 22 January, 1898 by the Earl of Rosebery....
, Glasgow, commissioned on the 200th anniversary of the event.
Calton
Calton, Glasgow
Calton is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. The name Calton is derived from the Gaelic "coillduin", which means "wood on the hill". It is situated north of the River Clyde, and just to the east of the city centre...
at the time of the strike was a handweaving community just outside Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. At the peak of Calton's prosperity, wages had risen to nearly £100 a year and weavers had risen to high places in society. However, mechanization and growth in the labor force had since then severely depressed wages.
In the summer of 1787, the journeymen weavers of Calton marched in organized processions through the streets of Glasgow to protest a 25 percent wage cut and lockout.
The dispute grew bitter, with the strikers cutting the webs from the looms of weavers who continued to work, and making bonfires in the street from the contents of warehouses. On the 3rd of September the city magistrates, with a force of officers, went to the Calton but were driven back by the mob. A detachment of the 39th Regiment marched under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Kellet, and a pitched battle occurred at Parkhouse, in Duke Street. A volley of musket fire killed three of the weavers.
Three other weavers were mortally wounded.
Further disturbances later in the day were quickly suppressed by the troops. On the following day more looms were wrecked, but the riots quickly subsided.
In 1788 James Granger was tried in Edinburgh as the ringleader of the strike. He was aged 38, married and had six children. He was found guilty of "forming illegal combinations" and was sentenced to be publicly whipped through the streets of the city at the hands of the Common Executioner, and then to banish himself from Scotland for seven years. James Granger later returned and took part in the 1811-1812 strike. He lived to the age of 75.