King who reached out to working man
GEORGE V came to the throne on May 6, 1910, but the early months of his reign were plagued by industrial unrest. There was a national dock strike, a national transport workers’ strike and a national railway strike. Trade union membership had risen dramatically over the previous decade, and the Miners’ Federation became the most powerful trade union.
All that, it was reported, caused the King “the greatest anxiety” and he was deeply concerned about the effect of further strikes on the Crown.
In March 1912 an intended tour of parts of Europe was hastily postponed on the advice of the Prime Minister “because of the unsettled and industrial aspect at home”.
Staying with the King and Queen at Balmoral, the Archbishop of York, Cosmo Gordon Lang, suggested that it was important for the King to undertake a significant public relations exercise to underpin his position on the throne. Lang argued that it was not enough for the masses to assemble on the streets on ceremonial occasions to see him. On the contrary, he ought to mingle among them, without any ceremony.
Seizing upon the idea, a hastily arranged four-day Royal Tour of the North was planned, the King and Queen intending to visit collieries, factories, engineering works and steel foundries to see men and women in the workplace. Informality was to be the watch word. It was not to be a state visit in any way. This was a first for the monarchy as hitherto no king had ever visited northern industrial sites. George V intended to show that he sympathised with the working classes – most of all the miner.
During the visit, the Royal couple were to stay at Wentworth Woodhouse, near Rotherham, owned by the coal-rich Fitzwilliam family who over the years, it was argued, had shown some sympathy concerning the welfare of the miners.
Arriving at Doncaster railway station on July 8, 1912, the King and Queen’s “informal” visit was divided into three days. Their first day (Tuesday) was devoted to the coal mining industry in the area around Rotherham, the second to the engineering trades of which Wakefield was the centre, and the third was spent in the textile districts around Halifax and Huddersfield.
Concentrating here on the King and Queen’s time spent in West Yorkshire, the visit to Wakefield was anticipated by everyone with feverish excitement. But in response to the wishes of the King, that public money should not be spent on elaborate decorations, the city did not present such a decorated appearance as it would have wished. However, children were given a day off from classes.
After a visit to Ryland’s Barnsley glassworks, on Wednesday morning, the Royal entourage arrived in Wakefield at about 11.40am where they were welcomed by the mayor, Coun Henry White.
The Wakefield visit included tours of George Cradock’s wire rope factory, E. Green and Sons, the Seamless Boat Works and the Belle Isle Malt Kilns.
The malting trade was one of Wakefield’s oldest and largest industries and over 100 maltsters, attired in their working clothes and holding their malting implements, greeted the Royal couple. Here, the King accepted a sample of Wakefield malt from the hands of Miss Isabel Sutcliffe, the 11-yearold niece of C. E. Sutcliffe, who was the owner of the business.
The King and Queen were timed to arrive at Cradock’s at noon, though for two hours beforehand there was great animation in the company’s spacious yard where the firm had made arrangements for a large gathering of guests, workers, their wives and others.
In the works itself, everything was ready for the illustrious visitors. As soon as they entered the steelworks department, the workmen tapped the Siemens Martin furnace and there was immediately a fine display of pyrotechnics as the liquid metal gushed forth into the mould below.
After leaving Cradock’s, where they stayed for about halfan-hour, the King and Queen journeyed to the works of E. Green and Sons and the Seamless Boat Works. The inspection over at 1.15pm, the Royal couple took lunch at Nostel Priory.
It was again a busy day for the King and Queen on Thursday as they progressed through the West Yorkshire manufacturing districts. At Halifax, they visited the largest carpet works in the world. At Slaithwaite, they paid a visit to a cottage occupied by two men; this was followed by a visit to a worsted mill at Lindley. At night there was an impressive military tattoo in Wentworth Park, and this formed a brilliant finale to the week’s visit.
Writing afterwards, the Archbishop of York noted the Royal Tour of the North did much to create and sustain the working man and working woman’s sense that the King belonged to them and they to him in a personal way.
Catherine Bailey’s book Black Diamonds gives an account of the political climate in Britain during the early 20th century as well as a detailed history of the Fitzwilliam family.