Bricklayers and labourers building the new Isle of Wight County Asylum at Whitecroft went on strike to demand higher pay on 28th August 1894.
The bricklayers were asking for 8d an hour (£3.20 in today’s values) and the labourers wanted 5d (£2 an hour in today’s values).
The contractors – Garlick & Norton – would offer no more than 7d to the bricklayers and 4-and-a-half old pence to the labourers. They claimed that their workers were being paid higher rates of wages than had ever existed on the Island before.
Garlick & Norton – who insisted their workmen were treating them badly – were in difficulty with the Isle of Wight Council, who had stated they were not satisfied with the progress of the contract.
The workmen stood firm, downed tools and marched to Newport singing songs along the way. At the County Town, the men met with a dozen bricklayers who had also come out on strike in Parkhurst, where they had been employed to build the new barracks.
Around 50 labourers – who were also working at the barracks – had also been set to come out on strike, but had apparently had a change of heart at the last moment.
The strike was unsuccessful with the men withdrawing their labour for 2 days before returning to work without their demands being met.
Whitecroft asylum opened 2 years later in 1896 and closed in 1992.
Portsmouth Evening News 28th August 1894
Never been so needed. Should have increased in size as all those now claiming benefits for mental health would magically decrease in numbers should they be incarcerated in an asylum for minimum of six months for tests and a true assessment
Would pay for itself in a year weeding out the genuine from the scrounging masses
This is why the working class is evil! They were fine with 5d, they got greedy!
You must be on wacko benefit then ..