What were chainmakers paid?
The Chainmaking Trade Board set minimum wage rates for two different types of chainmaking - one rate for hand hammered chain (mainly worked by women) and another for dollied and tommied chain (mainly worked by men).
Workers could be paid using two different minimum wage scales - piece rates (i.e. a set amount for each hundredweight of chains produced) or time rates (i.e. a set amount per hour). Quick, skilled workers could earn more on piece rates than on time rates.
Minimum time rates:
Hand hammered chain:
From 22 Aug 1910:
2 陆 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
3 鈪� pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 19 Jan 1914:
2 戮 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
3 2/3 pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 1 Mar 1918:
4 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
5 鈪� pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 3 Nov 1919 and 1 Apr 1920:
7 陆 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
10 pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 1 Oct 1920:
8 5/8 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
11 陆 pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 11 Jan 1922:
7 戮 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
10 pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 20 Nov 1922:
6 5/8 pence an hour (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
8 陆 pence an hour (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
Dollied and tommied chain:
From Oct 1910:
Range from 5 pence to 7 pence an hour, depending on type of chain (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
Range from 6 2/3 pence to 9 鈪� pence an hour, depending on type of chain (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 1 Mar 1918:
Range from 6 陆 pence to 10 pence an hour, depending on type of chain (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
Range from 8 2/3 pence to 1 shilling & 1录 pence an hour, depending on type of chain (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
From 3 Nov 1919, 1 Apr 1920, 1 Oct 1920 and 4 Apr 1921:
Range from 1 shilling & 5 pence to 1 shilling & 11 陆 pence an hour, depending on type of chain (if employer provides workshop, tools and fuel)
Range from 1 shilling & 10 2/3 pence to 2 shillings & 7 鈪� pence an hour, depending on type of chain (if worker provides workshop, tools or fuel)
Weekly and yearly averages:
"As it was agreed by the representative members of the Board that the standard working week should be considered to be 54 hours for women, and 48 hours for men, full week鈥檚 labour, as fixed by the first Chain Trade Board, works out at 11s. 3d. for women, and at from 20s. to 28s. for men."
From R.H. Tawney, 'Studies in the minimum wage. No.1. The establishment of minimum rates in the chain-making industry under the Trade Boards Act of 1909', . The weekly rate was calculated for women who earned 2 陆 pence an hour and for men who earned 5-7 pence an hour.
If, in 1910, a chainmaker had worked the standard working week every week of the year, a woman would have earned 拢29 & 5 shillings a year, and a man would have earned between 拢52 - 拢72 & 16 shillings a year.
In 1918 this would have increased to 拢46 & 16 shillings for a woman (18 shillings a week) and between 拢67 & 12 shillings - 拢104 for a man (拢1 & 6 shillings - 拢2 a week).
Minimum piece-rates:
Trade Board notices provided information about the piece rates paid for different types of chain. The following items have been digitised: