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Benjamin (Ben) Cooper

Ben Cooper (1853 – 1920) was the secretary of the Cigar Makers Mutual Association (London) between 1884 - 1920), and a member of London County Council (1892-1907)

Early Life

Ben Cooper was born in St Augustine, Norwich on 6 July 1853. His father, Robert Cooper was a Norwich man trading as a grocer.

Cooper became an apprentice cigar maker in Norwich in 1867 and actively worked as a cigar maker until at least 1897 both in Norwich and London. He moved to London early in 1872, marrying Emma Frary at St Saviour, Southwark on 16 December 1872. Both Emma and Cooper were natives of Norwich and most likely moved to London together. They lived in the East End of London for the remainder of their lives.

Secretary of Cigar Makers Mutual Association

Cooper was a dedicated and popular member of the Cigar Makers Mutual Association (more commonly known as the Cigar Makers Union (CMU) and was Secretary from 1884 until his death. The CMU was a union of skilled workers with a significant membership being Jewish.

1904 Cigar Makers Strike and Lock Out.

On 9th September 1904, at the Imperial Tobacco Company’s St Luke’s factory “a cigar was returned to one of the girls to be remade. ..... The girl refused to remake it, although the foreman and mangers state that she herself admitted it was a badly made cigar. The girl was then discharged and the general manger said that if there was any more girls who would not receive back indifferent or badly made cigars they were to make up their cards to be paid off.” This broke with common practice at the factory where cigars were not handed back as makers were on piece work but that the employer could dismiss the maker if the work was not satisfactory. The female cigar makers employed by Messrs. Player of Nottingham, handed in notices to cease work at the end of the week and the men followed them shortly. Non-union members continued to work. Although she worked for Players, the CMU targeted Imperial Tobacco Company (ITC) not Players. By 15th September, there were 450 women and 250 men on strike with 60 or 70 non-union women remaining at work.

The CMU made an initial payment on 16th September to 700 men and women who were locked out at ITC, York Road. The distribution took place at the Union’s headquarters at Gravel Lane in Houndsditch. The men received 15s and the women received 8s. There was support for the action across the country. The CMU of Nottingham and Leicester sent £200 to the strike fund with a promise of a further £200 a fortnight later.

A supporters meeting took place at Mile End Waste ground on 18th September “to protest against the tyranny exercised by the Tobacco Trust in locking out 700 men and woman for standing up for the principle and the right of combination.” On the platform was the girl at the centre of the dispute. Cooper said: “the dispute was not over one cigar as had been stated. For the last 30 or 40 years the practice of taking back cigars to be remade had not been in operation, and the public had suffered no detriment. If they began to take back cigars the foreman of the room, who was the sole judge, might refuse a whole batch of cigars and the workers would not be paid at all. This refusal to take back cigars was the only way to protect their wages.”

It Cooper traveled to the United States to gain support from American cigar makers and remained in New York for most of the period of the strike. As the strike continued the Union convened a demonstration of about 1,000 with trade union banners from several unions and across the country in Trafalgar Square in late October. Speaking took place on three sides of Nelson’s Column. One of the meetings was given over to women speakers including Margaret Bondfield of the Shop Assistants’ Union. Other London notables were William Steadman and Ben Tillett.

The 10 week strike and lockout came to an end on 18 November. An arbitration had taken place under the direction of Sir William Markby appointed by the Board of Trade. He said accepted that cigar makers were entitled not to have cigars returned but in turn gave employers the right to dismiss an employee.

London Trades Council

Cooper was a leading and long standing member of the London Trades Council (LTC) from 180s until his death. He initially became a delegate first attending on 24 January 1884 at the Rose Tavern, at the Old Bailey, the usual meeting place of the LTC delegates meetings at the time. In November 1885 he had become a member of the Executive. Although, he represented a small trade union, his personal influence far exceeded that of his union.

Cooper had become chair of the LTC by 1898. In that year, the annual meeting was held at the Club Union Hall, Clerkenwell on 14 April 1898. Although, it was a large gathering, Cooper reported a reduction of membership to 536 owing to the withdrawal of the Boot and Shoe Operatives. On the other hand, new organisations joining the Council in that year included the Cigarette Makers. Total subscribed members was 51,778. At the end of the meeting officers were elected – Ben Cooper (Chairman), James Macdonald (Secretary) and William Steadman, MP (Treasurer).

Through his involvement in the LTC, Cooper was active in several other strikes in London.

The Match Women’s Strike: The Match Girls’ Strike of July 1888, brought together trade unionists across the city as well as the country. It was reported that the London Trades Council “had taken up the cause of the match girls”. Cooper was part of the deputation of the London Trades Council wrote to Bryant and May, stating that it had been suggested that the London Trades Council, “as experienced and unprejudiced workmen, should offer their services in trying to bring about an amicable settlement.”

The 1889 Dock Strike: The Dockers leader, Ben Tillett enlisted the support of the London Trades Council whose inclination was to support craft unionism and rather left the struggles of the New Unionism to fend for themselves. The LTC clearly found the new low skilled unions a threat. Tillett came to the LTC Executive twice to enlist support. On the first occasion, he was instructed to go away and gather more information. On the other hand, at the Council meeting, Cooper lent his support to the dockers and took up his offer to go down to the docks to see for himself the plight of the strikers. Dockers in London during their dispute in 1889. Tillett said neither Will Steadman nor Cooper saw much hope in a successful resolution of the strike. Tillett went on to write that “George Shipton lent me Ben Cooper and Will Steadman for a fortnight.” He tells how Cooper and Steadman (barge builders union) “with the complacency and respectability of the regular man’s outlook daily faced the sullen, hungry, desperate dockers from 5 am to 11 am. But Ben fired them up.” This was the only assistance that LTC gave to the dispute. In 1890, Cooper was a speaker at a demonstration on 17 August to “commemorate the Great Dockers Strike of 1889.

Jewish members of the CMU

Cooper declared himself as an Internationalist in 1901 whilst debating the question of Jewish separation in the workplace and trade union activity. In a trade union conference in Leeds in July, he was part of a debate suggesting a Jewish Trades Council separate from the “Gentile Trades Council”. It was reported that Cooper was undecided on the matter. On the one hand, he could see why there should be opposition to the proposal as it could “split up the Trade Union Movement.” He went on to say that he “would be glad for every Hebrew to join the Gentile Union of his trade. But he knew that this could not always be done, because customs, habits, modes of work, and unfortunately often language, sometimes stood in the way. ... He could not help seeing, that there were certain questions which peculiarly affected Jews with which a Jewish Trades Council might deal, that could not be dealt with so well by Gentiles. He further knew that many of the Jewish Trade Unions would be glad to have meetings and lectures and make their trade union educational. This would have to be done mainly in Yiddish and a Jewish Trades Council, by federating the different unions together could arrange a regular system in this way.”

London County Council (1892 - 1907)

Cooper was a member of the London County Council (LCC) from 1892 until 1907 serving as a Labour Progressive member. In 1892, LTC urged “support for working-class candidates. Cooper was first elected as a Labour Progressive for Tower Hamlets (Bromley & Bow). The LTC produced thousands of manifestos which were circulated by the Council urging support for working class candidates. The Progressive Party was formed in 1888 by Liberals, Trade Unionists, Fabians and Socialists. It contested the first LCC election’s in 1889 and secured around 70 of the 118 seats. During that period the Progressives held an overall majority on the Council. Cooper also served as an alderman from 1907 – 1910. In 1898, the Labour Group consisted of John Burn, William Steadman, Will Crooks, George Dew, Charles Freak, Harry Gosling, Harry Taylor and Cooper.

The growth and consolidation of the Progressive Party in East and South London is undoubtedly linked to the rise of the “New Unionism” movement, which evolved from the London Dock strike of August 1889. However, according to Harry Gosling first real attempt to get Labour men elected to the London County Council was in 1895.

In May 1907, Cooper fought a parliamentary by-election in Stepney as a Lib-Lab candidate and lost to the Conservative, Frederick Leverton Harris  in a 2 way fight.

Parks & Open Spaces

Much of Cooper’s activity as a councillor was to advocate and provide open spaces for the workers of the East End of London. For a period, he was the councillor responsible for Parks and Open Spaces. In 1900, Cooper opened a new recreation ground in Grace Street in Bromley-by-Bow. It was and still is a small piece of land of 1½ acres and was secured by the Parks Committee to “proved an open space for the East End of London and after some negotiation the sum of £6,000 was paid for it .... the clearance of the ground has been laid partly as a garden and a gymnasium for children.... [as well as] ... a bandstand”. Cooper “dedicated the place to the public use for ever, observing that 50 years ago Bromley was only a small village but now had a densely populated district of 70,000 persons, who until that day had not possessed a single open space.”

In 1902, another open space was opened in Albert Square, Commercial Road in Limehouse. Albert Square was built in the early 1840s. In June 1899 there was a proposal to build houses on the central garden in the square but the LCC compulsorily purchased the land with the intention of opening Albert Square Garden. The Parks and Open Spaces Committee bought the land from the owner. “Mr Ben Cooper, in declaring the square open, he said he hoped the time was not far distant when the borough councils and the London County Council combined would bring pressure upon Parliament to give the latter authority power to acquire compulsorily the open squares of the metropolis”.

Old Age Pensions

Much of Cooper’s work at the turn of the 20th century was devoted to the introduction of the old age pension. In a conference held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street convened by the TUC and the Co-operative Union Congress, a debate took place on the issue of how funds would be raised for pensions, either through national funds or with the addition of local funds. Cooper’s view was that “if old age pensions were provided from local rates it would liberate the wealthier classes from a large amount of the responsibility which they ought to have”. The debate continued and the clause containing ‘and local’ was withdrawn.

Death

Cooper died in January 1920. A short notice appeared in the Times where he was described as “one of the oldest and most trusted leaders of the trade union movement. It was mainly by his untiring devotion to the interests of his fellow workers in the tobacco industry that the union grew to its present strength. ...... Mr Cooper’s personal popularity and his breadth of vision secured him a position on the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress.”