A 4-PAGE AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED by HENRY GREY REGARDING THE 1871 NEWCASTLE LABOR STRIKE FOR NINE HOUR DAYS.

Northumberland, August 5, 1871.. 1871.. Good. - Octavo, 7-1/8 inches high by 4-3/8 inches wide. Over 300 words penned on all four sides of a folded sheet of creamy white paper with the address embossed in blind at the top of the cover sheet. Replying to a request for his assistance in working out a solution to the strike by engineers in Newcastle seeking that limits be placed on the hours they are required to work each day: "I also yesterday received a letter on the same subject from Mr [Lowthian ?] Bell - In answer to his letter I told Mr. Bell that I would be very glad to do anything in my power to assist in bringing the unfortunate strike at Newcastle to a close, but that I fear that nothing that I would do would be likely to promote that object, & might even tend rather to increase than to diminish the existing irritation between the employers & the employed...." Earl Grey asks if the recipient might have some "arrangement to propose for the settlement...." which might help him decide if he should get involved in the negotiations. He mentions, in closing, that he will be traveling over the next several days, culminating with his being "compelled to go to London to vote against the ballot bill". Signed "Grey". Folded twice horizontally, the letter was once mounted or tipped-in to a book with remnants of paper adhering to the top edge of the last page, not affecting the text. There is also a tiny piece of dark paper near the lower center of the last page which does not touch on the text. <p>The "Nine Hours Strike" began in August of 1871 when engineers in Newcastle upon Tyne and adjoining areas requested that working hours be limited to nine hours a day. The bitter strike was prolonged when employers refused to talk and brought in foreign workers in an attempt to break the strike. Though there were a few incidents of violence, many of the foreign workers soon realized that they were being used to support a system of industrial slavery and would lose their jobs anyway once the strike was resolved. The strike went on for 14 weeks before employers finally compromised and granted the strikers' request.<p>The Ballot Bill to which Earl Grey refers proposed that parliamentary and local elections in the UK take place by secret ballot. The Bill was passed in 1872.<p>Also known as Viscount Howick, the English statesman Henry George Grey, 3rd Earl Grey (1802-1894) entered parliament in 1826. His father became Prime Minister when the Whigs came to power in 1830 and Earl Grey (then Viscount Howick) was made Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. Aligned with colonial reformers, he resigned in 1834 when the emancipation of slaves was made to take place gradually instead of immediately. He became Secretary of War when he entered Lord Melbourne's cabinet in 1835 and made significant administrative reforms. He again resigned in dissatisfaction in 1839 and gained a reputation for crotchetiness. He supported free trade and as colonial secretary, a post to which he was appointed in 1846, was the first minister to proclaim that the colonies should be governed for their own benefit and not for that of Great Britain & Ireland. As much as possible, he accorded them self-governance. He was, however, soon embroiled in the turmoil and discontent brewing in Ceylon, the West Indies, and New Zealand. He authored several works on political subjects and policy including an 1888 work on the state of Ireland and one on the United States tariff.