Strikers and ‘Knobsticks’: Intimidation and Violence During the Preston Strike and Lock-Out of 1853–1854

The Preston strike and lock-out of 1853–1854 has been understood as representative of an important shift in the conduct of unions during industrial disputes in the second half of the nineteenth century. Unlike the radical-led and often violent clashes of the 1840s and earlier, the decades from 1850, it has been argued, saw collective action move towards organised, peaceful negotiation. In this, the apparent peacefulness of the Preston dispute, which was noted by many contemporary commentators and has since been reiterated by historians, situates it neatly within the appearance of social harmony during the ‘Age of Equipoise’. Yet, as this article will argue, the experience for many operatives involved in the dispute was quite different. Those who did not support the cause were ostracised as ‘knobsticks’, a deeply stigmatising epithet, and frequently subjected to verbal abuse. Indeed, the article shows that intimidation, threats of physical violence and, occasionally, actual violence were important, though informal, dimensions of the conflict, vital to the maintenance of discipline and conformity among the rank and file. Physical violence, certainly, was uncommon, but it existed within a wider climate of intolerance towards ‘knobsticks’; class traitors who threatened the success of the movement.