Page 15 - RVM-HB-KTHFB
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Keep The Home Fires Burning
to do “strike” was the chorus,’ what if the military came’ they would, “stick to their guns”.
They would “Down tools” in as much as they would do their own work rather than the
bosses when in the factory , possibly this meant a go slow. Mr James said they had got
the “Boss’s on toast”, the delegation would go to London for arbitration and would come
back with no less than 4 ½ d an hour. Sir George Askwith awarded them what they wanted
and needed. However there were still some employers in Redditch that refused to pay the
correct wages.
Underpayment of female workers continued and a case was brought before a Munitions
tribunal July 1918. When Mary Shakels and Mabel walker claimed they had been
wrongfully dismissed from Shrimpton and Fletcher surgical Needle makers. The girls were
represented by Mr R James secretary of the local branch of the Federation of Women
Workers, their assessor was Mrs Hunter (Cradley Heath) from the same union. It appears
that the girls had complained to Mr James that they were not being paid government rates
for the Job’s they were doing, Mr James visited the factory and shortly after the girls were
dismissed. The management claiming they were sacked for bad workmanship. The
tribunal found in favour of the girls, that it had been wrongful dismissal.
It was estimated that union membership in Redditch had grown to over four thousand
members a large number were women.
Health Of The Working Mother And Her Baby,
Many women were working mothers, In his 1915, Annual Health of Redditch report Dr
Stevenson states that One of the courses of infant mortality given was that women were
working nearly up to the time of the birth of their child. The deaths were 135 in every
1,000 children. Dr Stevenson said that the cause of a third deaths were premature birth.
The heath Missionary Mrs Bedford carpenter, reported that
“The High Figure in some measure s due to the unusual number of premature births, were
nearly every mother works in a factory or at home for a lively hood, the high mortality
caused by premature birth is inevitable. The distance too from some homes to the
factories is very long and the hours start early. All these have an effect on the pregnant
women".
The big killer of infants in the past was summer diarrhoea this was caused in the main by
bottle feeding using an Indian rubber tube; if this tube or the bottle was not cleaned
properly the baby could pick up dirt and germs causing diarrhoea and dehydration. In
1915 it accounted for five deaths, the doctor wrote in his report.
“This is a small number, but owing to female labour in factories, a large proportion of our
babies must be bottle feed, and in this town, I fear we can never expect to wholly
eliminate this cause of death from our yearly record”.
The other childhood diseases were diphtheria measles, whooping cough and chicken pox.
They could and did kill the children. These illness spread through districts quickly,
diphtheria epidemics closed schools and filling the isolation or fever hospital at Hilltop
Bromsgrove.
If the expectant mother was able to attend; there was a weekly clinic every Thursday at
the Redditch mother’s room for consultations with Health Missionary Mrs Bedford
Carpenter or Dr Stevenson.
Source: Sue Tatlow Page: 15
to do “strike” was the chorus,’ what if the military came’ they would, “stick to their guns”.
They would “Down tools” in as much as they would do their own work rather than the
bosses when in the factory , possibly this meant a go slow. Mr James said they had got
the “Boss’s on toast”, the delegation would go to London for arbitration and would come
back with no less than 4 ½ d an hour. Sir George Askwith awarded them what they wanted
and needed. However there were still some employers in Redditch that refused to pay the
correct wages.
Underpayment of female workers continued and a case was brought before a Munitions
tribunal July 1918. When Mary Shakels and Mabel walker claimed they had been
wrongfully dismissed from Shrimpton and Fletcher surgical Needle makers. The girls were
represented by Mr R James secretary of the local branch of the Federation of Women
Workers, their assessor was Mrs Hunter (Cradley Heath) from the same union. It appears
that the girls had complained to Mr James that they were not being paid government rates
for the Job’s they were doing, Mr James visited the factory and shortly after the girls were
dismissed. The management claiming they were sacked for bad workmanship. The
tribunal found in favour of the girls, that it had been wrongful dismissal.
It was estimated that union membership in Redditch had grown to over four thousand
members a large number were women.
Health Of The Working Mother And Her Baby,
Many women were working mothers, In his 1915, Annual Health of Redditch report Dr
Stevenson states that One of the courses of infant mortality given was that women were
working nearly up to the time of the birth of their child. The deaths were 135 in every
1,000 children. Dr Stevenson said that the cause of a third deaths were premature birth.
The heath Missionary Mrs Bedford carpenter, reported that
“The High Figure in some measure s due to the unusual number of premature births, were
nearly every mother works in a factory or at home for a lively hood, the high mortality
caused by premature birth is inevitable. The distance too from some homes to the
factories is very long and the hours start early. All these have an effect on the pregnant
women".
The big killer of infants in the past was summer diarrhoea this was caused in the main by
bottle feeding using an Indian rubber tube; if this tube or the bottle was not cleaned
properly the baby could pick up dirt and germs causing diarrhoea and dehydration. In
1915 it accounted for five deaths, the doctor wrote in his report.
“This is a small number, but owing to female labour in factories, a large proportion of our
babies must be bottle feed, and in this town, I fear we can never expect to wholly
eliminate this cause of death from our yearly record”.
The other childhood diseases were diphtheria measles, whooping cough and chicken pox.
They could and did kill the children. These illness spread through districts quickly,
diphtheria epidemics closed schools and filling the isolation or fever hospital at Hilltop
Bromsgrove.
If the expectant mother was able to attend; there was a weekly clinic every Thursday at
the Redditch mother’s room for consultations with Health Missionary Mrs Bedford
Carpenter or Dr Stevenson.
Source: Sue Tatlow Page: 15
