Note 525 — Chapter VII

In this connection may be mentioned the extensive agitation promoted by Samuel Plimsoll for further legislation to prevent the loss of life at sea. At the 1873 Trades Union Congress Plimsoll distributed copies of his book, Our Merchant Seamen, and enlisted, during the next three years, practically the whole political force of the Trade Union Movement in support of his Merchant Shipping Acts Amendment Bill. The “Plimsoll and Seamen’s Fund Committee,” of which George Howell became secretary, received large financial help from the Unions, the South Yorkshire Miners’ Association voting, in 1873, a levy of a shilling per member, and contributing over £1000. The Parliamentary Committee gave Plimsoll’s Bill a place in their programme for the General Election of 1874, and this Trade Union support contributed largely to Plimsoll’s success in passing a temporary Act in 1875, and permanent legislation in 1876, against the combined efforts of a strong Conservative Government and the shipowners on both sides of the House. (See Labour Legislation, Labour Movements, and Labour Leaders, by G. Howell, 1902.)