In the shopping season, a story with echoes of our time?
In the middle of the 19th century, Stokesley had up to half a dozen drapers' shops. The 1854 Directory listed four; the 1867 Directory listed six.
On 10 May 1856, a letter appeared in the York Herald under the heading "Early Closing at Stokesley":
To the Editors of the York Herald
Gentlemen,
I am glad to observe that the Helmsley shopkeepers have adopted the early closing movement, and are requesting their town's people to make their purchases at an early hour. The drapers' assistants, &c., have just cause of complaint on account of the late hours they are detained in most of the establishments at Stokesley. I should, therefore, be glad to see the tradesmen of our pretty little town adopting the same principle, as, by so doing, they would allow the young men in their employment an acceptable hour, for recreation and mental improvement, after the hour of closing, viz, eight o'clock; but, as it is, I regret to see, it is generally near nine o'clock before the principal shops here are closed.
I trust the young ladies especially will kindly take the hint, and contrive to make their purchases before seven o'clock; and, if they do so, no doubt their praiseworthy conduct will be copied by their seniors, and be duly appreciated by the young gentlemen who attend to their wishes, behind the counter, from "morning dawn to dewy eve."
I am, Gentlemen, yours respectfully,
A Friend of Young Men
Stokesley, May 6th, 1856
It was a tactful appeal in a campaign that had already been running for nearly 20 years.
In the 1830s, shopkeepers in some towns and cities had agreed between them to close up an hour early in the winter months. Drapers' assistants in Leeds "respectfully invited" their employers to look at the drapers in York, Sheffield and Halifax, where the shops had begun to close at 7 o'clock.
In 1842, the Bradford Observer hailed the decision of the grocers to close at 8 o'clock – the extra hour for themselves gave the young men a chance of "improvement both of mind and body". On 28 October 1843, "A Linen Draper" wrote to the Leeds Intelligencer pointing out that it had been possible even in the busiest time of the summer to close at 8 o'clock, so why not close at 7 o'clock for November to February? Saturday closing could be brought forward too, to 10 o'clock. He thought it was only long-established custom that held back the change because, in those four months, business was very nearly always over before 7 pm. He thought both employer and employed would benefit by earlier closing.
In the late 1840s, Early Closing Associations began to be formed. The Manchester and Salford Association copied the London association's rules. Their motives were high-minded: reducing the hours of business "with a view to the physical, moral, and intellectual improvement of those engaged therein."
Their aims were
(1) to appeal to the public not to shop in the evenings, by a PR campaign of meetings, sermons, lectures, pamphlets and through the press
(2) to get employers to realise the advantages to be gained from earlier closing
(3) to make sure that shop assistants understood the importance of using the extra time to improve their minds by attending literary institutions, lectures and libraries – and the advantages they would gain by working hard, behaving correctly and learning
(4) by only using peaceful, persuasive means with employers, however hostile to the movement the employers might be
There were to be committees for each branch of the retail trade. Each committee would send members to a general committee. Employees were to be Ordinary Members of the Association and they would pay four shillings a year membership. Employers and others could choose to pay the minimum of a guinea (one pound and one shilling) a year or make a donation of five guineas.
Like a trade union, but without any teeth …
In October 1851, the London Weekly Chronicle reported the Association's claim that most employers wanted to close their shops earlier, but that they were frustrated in some districts by a few tradesmen who wouldn't join in. The Association appealed to the public to stop shopping in the evenings. The article gave the example of some of the insurance companies, which were copying the large East India firms and the Stock Exchange by closing at 2 o'clock on Saturdays. A piece in the City column of The Times had reported that this had given satisfaction all round – and that condensing work into the reduced opening hours had been found to produce more economical and efficient results. (Echoes of the debate today on "presentism" in the office and on productivity in the UK?)
In the winter of 1871, the argument had moved on to half-day closing. Some towns had already adopted the practice of having a half-day holiday one afternoon of the week. Battle was raging in Whitby – should the town do the same? As it was, the assistants only had Sunday off and so they used it for recreation and having fun instead of going to church.
A draper signing himself "W" wrote to the Whitby Gazette on 25 November. In a long letter, he laid into the "mania" for early closing. He said the Early Closing "movement" was the "work of draper lads, upstart journeymen, and small tradesmen" and he declared himself disgusted with it. "Laziness" was all that lay behind it. The youths wanted more time to be idle, to play cards and to go to the pub. His description of their working day brought a flood of indignant letters to the Gazette, insisting that most drapers' assistants had to be at their posts at 8 o'clock in the morning and they didn't leave until 7 o'clock at night. If they lived on the premises, their three meals a day were squeezed into those hours and would take up only 45 minutes or an hour.
Meanwhile during the 19th century there was also the battle of Sunday Observance. On the one side were those desperately keen to preserve Sunday for worship and rest. On the other side were all the people whose only day off was Sunday. Charles Dickens fought this battle fiercely, seeing nothing but cant and hypocrisy in well-to-do men with comfortable homes and private clubs attempting to pass laws that would take from the people their only day of recreation.
And then, towards the end of the century, the question of the health of young men and women kept on their feet in shops and warehouses for long hours became a major matter of interest. Death and Disease behind the Counter was written by the barrister Thomas Sutherst in 1884 and later The Lancet took up the cause.
At last, towards the end of the century, the Shop Acts began to be passed. It had been a long campaign.
