We chat to author Annie Murray about her new book, plus money-off voucher.
Every month the “Friend” teams up with publisher Pan Macmillan to bring you a great-value book offer. This issue, we chat to author Annie Murray.
Q
Could you tell us a bit about the plot?
A
The story revolves round women working in a back-yard forge, making chain. The main character, Lucy Butler, starts work in the forge at a young age as many girls did – at ten or eleven.
A new arrival in the yard, a young mother called Rose Shaw, stirs things up when she won’t accept the poverty and oppression by middlemen working for the factories.
Lucy, Rose and the others find themselves involved in the strike by women in the hand hammered chain trade in 1910, which achieved Britain’s first minimum wage.
The figurehead of the strike was a wonderful woman called Mary Macarthur, a Scot, suffragist and worker for social justice.
It is a great story of women’s lives and of them struggling and working together – and actually succeeding!
Q
What interesting things did your research uncover?
A
Cradley Heath in the Black Country supplied much of the world’s chain. Bigger chains – for ships, for example – were made in factories, mainly by men.
Most women with children and young girls did piece work in back-yard forges.
The work was arduous – hammering iron links by hand – very hot, the air full of toxic fumes, the hours incredibly long and wages appalling.
Often, working about 13 hours a day, women only earned about five shillings by the end of the week. It wasn’t called one of the “sweated trades” for nothing!
Q
Is the unionisation of the industry something that really happened?
A
Yes, it did. There were already unions in factories but they were male led and did nothing for the outworkers who were mainly women, poor, disempowered and isolated. Mary Macarthur set up the first women’s union, the National Federation of Women Workers, in 1906. She concentrated especially on “sweated trades” mostly carried out by women, like lacemaking, chainmaking and tailoring.
Q
Lucy has to leave school to work – life was hard for young folk back then. Do you think harder lives forged more determined characters?
A
I imagine it must have. You do what you have to in the circumstances, and these were tough circumstances. They certainly have my admiration.
Q
You must feel steeped in the Black Country’s history after all your research for this and previous novels. What impact do you think its history of industry left?
A
It’s hard to be steeped in the history of the whole area, because it’s big! Each area had its manufacturing speciality, like leather in Walsall and chainmaking around Cradley Heath.
A hundred years ago, because it was so rich in coal and iron ore, it was full of mines, smoke stacks and industry.
It seems to have bred people who were hardworking, skilled and strong. On the negative side, there was industrial waste, hardship and low life expectancy.
Now, of course, a lot of the industry has gone. The area is gradually being “greened” and a lot of trees are being planted.
It’s not an area that gets much attention but its industrial history is fascinating. They make a fabulous bread pudding as well!