From Crow-Scaring to Westminster: An Autobiography. Edwards George
I will stand by my principles, come what may.
I finished my season's work fairly early, and I think I earned more money than I had ever done before. Having finished my season's work, I returned to my farm work as before.
In October the election started in all earnestness. For three weeks I addressed six meetings a week. This I might say was all voluntary work, as I kept at my daily employment all the time, being determined not to absent myself from work one hour.
Mr. Herbert Cozens-Hardy, who afterwards became Lord Cozens-Hardy, Master of the Rolls, and whose son and heir was in after years by a strange coincidence to be my opponent in my first bid for parliamentary honours, was chosen Liberal candidate for North Norfolk. Mr. Joseph Arch was selected Liberal and Labour candidate for North-West Norfolk, Mr. Robert Gurdon was chosen Liberal candidate for Mid-Norfolk, Sir William Brampton Gurdon for South-West Norfolk, and a Mr. Falk for East Norfolk. After a most hotly contested election, Mr. Cozens-Hardy beat his opponent, Sir Samuel Hoare, by over 1,700 majority. Mr. Arch and Mr. Robert Gurdon were also elected by good majorities, whilst Sir Brampton Gurdon and Mr. Falk were defeated.
The election being over, things quieted down and, so far as I was concerned, nothing untoward happened. My employer and myself appeared to be on very good terms. Early in the new year, 1886, when I asked him for my orders as usual, he informed me that he should not make any bricks that year, as there were a good many standing on the ground and there was not much sale for them. As a matter of fact there were not many bricks on the ground, not so many by 20,000 as there were the year before when he gave me the order to make 100,000 and, further, when there was a prospect of a greater sale than in the previous year. A few weeks later I received notice to leave the farm work, and on April 6th I was served with another six months' notice to leave my cottage. Thus the fear I had expressed to Mr. Buxton nine months before became true, and proved that he only withdrew the previous notice to save himself from the law against intimidation.
I obtained work for the season's brickmaking with Mr. Emery at Stibbard. Strange to relate, before my notice expired to leave the cottage, my landlord and late employer died. He had not been dead more than a month before his brother, Mr. Herbert Cook, who was heir to the estate, called at my house in my absence and informed my wife that he should carry out his brother's notice. Now came the difficulty of getting another house, and it looked for some time as if I should go homeless. I first hired a cottage at Colby on the Gunton estate, but before I could move into it it was let with the farm, and of course, being an agitator, I could not have it. Thus within a few weeks of October 11th I had no prospect of a home. It was then that a friend came along in the person of Mr. Horace Car, who lived at Wickmere. He had hired a little farm in another village and did not want his cottage at Wickmere and sub-let it to me.
The election of 1885 was doomed not to stand long. Mr. Gladstone introduced his Irish Home Rule Bill, which caused a terrible split in the ranks of the Liberal Party, and in July 1886 the Government was defeated and a General Election took place. Mr. Cozens-Hardy again came forward. This time his opponent was Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes, now Lord Ailwyn of Honingham, a gentleman whom I hold in the highest esteem and who has done me the honour of writing a foreword to this book. Mr. Arch was this time fought by Lord Henry Bentinck, who defeated him by twenty votes. At this election I was brought a great deal into Mr. Arch's company whilst working in his division. I attended several of his meetings and spoke for him. I remember being with him at one meeting during the election when we spoke from a wagon standing close to a pond. During the proceedings a young farmer rode into the company and endeavoured to strike at Arch with his whip-stalk. No sooner did he do this than he was unhorsed and ducked in the pond, greatly to his discomfort. This, I should think, he never forgot.
Mr. Arch and I were destined in after years to work together in one common cause, although, unfortunately, we were to belong to two different Unions. Most of the meetings I attended in this election were in my division and, smarting under the gross injustice that had been meted out to me, I spoke out very strongly. My victimization had created a bitter feeling in the division, and some very exciting scenes occurred during the election. At one of these meetings, after being interrupted by one or two of the most ignorant Tory farmers, I prophesied that after the election the Tory political victimisers would be politically dead and on their political tombstone would be written the following epitaph: —
Here lay the Party that never did any good
and, if they had lived, they never would.
This naturally caused a great deal of laughter, but my enthusiasm for the cause I then believed to be right had somewhat blinded me to the fact that the wheels of human progress move very slowly and that my whole life would have to be spent before Democracy would come into its own. Let me remark that fate sometimes seems to be cruel. It was the son of the very man on whose behalf I suffered so much and for whom I worked so hard to secure his return at least in three elections who fought me in after years in South Norfolk when I stood for Parliament the first time! I thought at the time it was rather an ungracious act.
Well, this election went badly for the Liberals in the country and the Tories were returned to power with a majority of 100.
Some hard times were in store for me. At the end of the season my work at Stibbard also ended. I moved to Wickmere, but no one in the district would employ me, although I was an efficient workman. I was a horrible Radical, setting class against class! Strange to relate, in those days the Liberals were looked upon as being out for destruction. To be a Liberal was looked upon as belonging to a most discreditable party. They were classed as infidels, wanting to pull down Church and State, and disloyal to Queen and Country.
To-day the same things are said about the Labour Party. We of the Party are called all kinds of names. But those who make the statements know they are untrue.
I tried everywhere to get employment, but none could I find.
At last Mr. Ketton of Felbrigg Hall offered to find me work on his home farm, but he had no cottage to offer me. Felbrigg was six miles from Wickmere. I accepted the employment and for eighteen months or more I walked night and morning this six miles, a journey of twelve miles every day! Whilst living here my wife's mother died. I had kept her for sixteen years, her only income being parish relief. In 1878 Mr. Ketton found me a cottage at Aylmerton and I settled down comfortably once again as a farm labourer.
At this time agriculture was sorely depressed. The labourer's wage was rapidly being reduced and reached the miserably low figure of 10s. per week, and in some districts 9s. per week. The labourers had left their Unions and were in a most helpless position. This was brought about by many causes, one being the great falling out amongst the leaders. Arch had the misfortune to fall out with all his best supporters. Mr. Henry Taylor resigned his position as General Secretary. Mr. Howard Evans and Mr. George Mitchell had left him. Mr. George Rix of Swanton Morley had resigned, and he took with him a large district and formed a Union which he called the Federal Union. In fact, in every county, with the exception of Norfolk, the Unions became defunct. The Kent and Sussex Union went smash, the Lincolnshire and Amalgamated Labour League became defunct, and all that remained of Arch's Union were a few members belonging to the sick benefit department, the funds of which were being fast depleted.
Under these circumstances the political power placed in the hands of the labourers but further enslaved them and made them easy victims for the Tory party. Happily for me I had at last got under a Liberal employer, who not only was favourable to the men, but showed his sympathy with them by paying them 1s. per week above the rate paid by other employers, and I was able to breathe freely without any fear of victimization. My employer also assisted me by lending me books and papers on political problems. He also put every kind of work on the farm in my way to enable me to earn extra money. I at once settled down to study even more closely than I had done before. Thirsting for knowledge, religious, social and political, I set about adding to my library. I became a close student of theology and took great interest in many of the theological subjects which were disturbing the Christian world at that period, such as the doctrine of eternal punishment, and I soon became what was known then as a Liberal in theology. When I purchased a new book, I never read any other until I had read it through and thought the matter out for myself.