- watchmaking
- Spon Street
- Lady Godiva
- Godiva clock
- Princess Charlotte
- [Parliamentary report]
- workshop rules
Parliamentary report into the watchmaking industry 1817-18
In 1817, testimony was taken from a number of London and Coventry watchmakers about the condition of the industry that, by all accounts, was in a terrible state. In the resulting 95-page Report from the Committee on the Petitions of Watchmakers of Coventry, a few witnesses ascribed conditions to the presence of Jews, but all claimed that the parlous state of affairs was due to the Coventry apprentice system, which was manipulated to keep costs down.
It appears that, in Coventry, there were too many apprentices, who were not taught well enough - so that, at the end of their apprenticeships, they could not make a living on their own - yet were not employed by their masters. 'One factory of 40 years' standing' -- i.e. Rotherham's -- was a particular offender, having undertaken 30-40 apprenticeships; this large number of boys finished a great many watches at low prices. Here was the extreme of the British industrial model of cheap labour and the division of tasks that reduced skills to the small amount needed to perform one of the 102 activities that made up watchmaking. Except for a few finishers, there were no qualified journeymen -- only apprentices who were often put out to pasture after seven years. And if that were not enough, factory life was also alleged to corrupt morals compared to working from home.
Samuel Smith, an immigrant to the United States from Coventry, testified by letter of his travels around Britain selling watches, and stated that nearly all the watchmakers in his home town were in the workhouse. In Coventry, if you worked in a watchmaking factory, you would earn 21 shillings a week, compared with 25-30 shillings for piecework at home. Coventry watchmakers were also accused of putting the names of London watchmakers on their own products.
The report resulted in the passing of legislation, in 1819, that required the names of the actual manufacturers of watches to be on their wares; forgery would be punished. In addition, apprentices had to live in the homes of their masters, which would force the latter to restrict the number they took on.
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