Since the industrial revolution, which started in Britain and spread around the world, working class people have struggled to improve working conditions and pay. Before the industrial revolution Welsh people generally worked on farms. But urbanisation meant that industrial towns like Llanelli popped up all over Wales, and more people chose to work in factories,
Recent inflation means everyone in Wales has become poorer. I thought we could remind ourselves of the effort our Welsh kin from the past went through to improve pay and working conditions.
The industrial revolution is the start of modern capitalism in Wales. This is where Welsh trade is controlled by private enterprise for profit. During the industrial revolution it is well known that factory owners got wealthy, while the workers suffered with long hours in unhealthy and unsafe working conditions.
In December, 1816, a paper was found at Tredegar ironworks with the following message:
“Take Notice
The Poor Workmen of Tredega to prapare yourself with Musquets, Pistols, Pikes, Spears and all kinds of weapons to join the Nattion and put down like torrent all Kings, Regents, Tyrants, of all description and banish out of the Country, every Traitor to this Common Cause and to Bewry famine and distress in the same grave.“
Workers felt like they were being treated unfairly and this was a call to action. Coal miners and Ironworkers got together to attack the property of the steel barons and the owners of the coal mines. These people became known as the Scotch Cattle. They would go to the homes of the owners of the coal mines and iron works and force their way into the property to destroy the furniture and smash the windows while leaving the food untouched. They blackened their faces and went disguised, they also held their meeting in secret.
The Scotch Cattle also targeted workers who refused to strike. They would leave a bulls head drawn on the door in red paint. This was the Tarw Scotch: the Scotch Bull. The Scotch Cattle operated for twenty-five years
The group were distrustful of English and Irish migrants who moved into the area for work as it made local workers an increasingly disposable commodity. One of the tools workers had to protect their interest was striking. This became less effective with the influx of foreign workers as they could be sacked and replaced easier.
Newspapers at the time reported the Scotch Cattle as an ‘uncontrollable mob’, but the focus on the group was targeting possession rather than people. When engaging in criminal damage on property they would use members from neighbouring towns so there was less chance of being recognised and caught.
Although the group murdered the wife of a strikebreaker in 1834, in Bedwellty. A 32 year collier named Edward Morgan, and member of the group would be convicted of the murder, and sentenced to death a year later in Monmouth Prison.
Although they did not operate in Llanelli, they applied their effort in the South Wales Valleys. The group carried on their operations until the 1840’s. But the Chartist Movement and the Trade Union Movement became an alternative form of protest for working class people.
Let the Scotch Cattle be a reminder to modern day workers of the struggle for workers rights and pay.
