1-150-492 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The Road to Sheffield', 1867. Mr Punch as a policeman stands outside a tailor's shop and calls the man armed with the 'Union' club to order as he attempts to intimidate a non-union worker. The trade union movement was still very young. Unions were still relatively small and their reputation was not altogether unblemished. The 1860s had seen a number of outrages and, in Sheffield, a system of intimidation of workers in order to force them into membership had finally resulted in one non-unionist's home being blown up. This cartoon refers to the start of an enquiry by examiners appointed by the Trades Union Commission into the Sheffield case. The evidence tended to show a planned system of intimidation under the leadership of a man named Broadhead of the Saw-Grinders' Society. The threat of violence had spread to a number of trades, including tailoring. From Punch, or the London Charivari, July 6, 1867.