George Odger (1820–1877): A Founder of the British Labour Movement

GEORGE ODGER (1820-1877) A FOUNDER OF THE BRITISH LABOUR MOVEMENT w. H. G. ARMYTAGE By far the ablest mid-century Labour politician." So one of the latest historians of the nineteenth century sums up the personality and activities of George Odger.1 The Webbs held a similar view. "An orator of remarkable power, he swayed popular meetings at his will, and was the idol of Metropolitan Radicalism. But he was no mere demagogue. Beneath his brilliant rhetoric and emotional fervour there lay a large measure of political shrewdness...."2 Even Odger's more acute contemporaries, who were not blinded by the storm of prejudice that any radical was bound to arouse, recognized his intrinsic worth. Matthew Arnold, for instance, who found little to praise in the England of his day could write of George Odger without malice that he "represents the beautiful and virtuous mean of our present working class," and he contrasts him with the noisy Bradlaugh, a typical member of what he called "the populace."8 A recent perusal of the letters of George Odger that are at present in the Bishopsgate Institute, London, coupled with certain contemporary developments both in England and in Europe, suggests that a rather more modern survey of his outlook and achievements than is presented by the Dictionary of National Biography would not be inopportune. For the effects of his work lie all around us, and, indeed, one hare which he started has developed into a rather formidable dragon threatening international associations . Perhaps it may help to clarify our outlook if we look at the career of George Odger in perspective. Like many thrustful Britons, he was born in the West country, the son of a Cornish miner.4 He was brought up to u5e the awl, as a shoemaker and cordwainer, and, like most adventurous youths, travelled about England for a while till, by 1849, we find him, at the age of 29, beginning to settle down. When the inevitable technological change overtook the industry, causing men to murmur at the innovation, he repudiated those guilty of the cowardly practice of "rattening," that is, of compelling a man to join a union by hiding or stealing his tools. He became a member of a trade society of shoemakers ; they took a strange and charming way to describe their society, 1R. C. K . Ensor, England: 1870-1914 (Oxford, 1936), 132, n. 5. 28. and B. Webb, A History of Trade Unionism, 1660-1920 (London, 1920), 237-8. 8 Matthew Arnold, Culture and Anarchy, ed. J. Dover Wilson (Cambridge, 1935), 90. 4 Boase, Collecteana Comubiensa (1890), 633, gives 1813 as the date of his birth. The Beehive, in a short note written while Odger was alive, gives 1820, as does the D.N.B. But we have it from one who knew him that "he always looked older than he really was." (W. J. Davis, Recollections, 64. ) A portrait of Odger at this time shows him as bald, stoutish, clean-shaven, with side whiskers, the inevitable Victorian pendants to gentility. 68 GEORGE ODGER 69 "enrolled under the banner of St. Crispin." Like many other West countrymen in the last century, Odger was drawn to London, following the path of Southwood Smith, William Lovett, and George Howell, who had all found their metier in metropolitan radicalism. It was with the last of these men that his life was to be closely affiliated. For he succeeded George Howell as secretary of the newly formed London Trades Council/ and remained in that office for ten years ( 1862-72). During this time he made history. More than anyone else, he helped the associations of artisans to take their place as recognized pressure groups within the legal structure of the state. Two instances of the pressure he himself applied illustrate this theme. The first concerns the visit of Garibaldi to England. It was made the occasion of such popular enthusiasm that the government spirited Garibaldi away, and provoked a storm of protest by so doing. Indeed, at the London protest meeting at Primrose Hill, police were called out to disperse the gathering.6 This event, occurring on the tercentenary of Shakespeare's birthday , led to a general demand...