This walking-stick was given by Cardinal Edward Manning (1808-92) to London dock-worker Daniel O’Sullivan in recognition of services rendered during the Great Dockers’ strike which began on 14th August 1889 in support of a claim for 6d an hour (equivalent to around £4 an hour) and an overtime rate of 8d an hour.
Millwall Docks General Manager Colonel George Birt told a House of Lords Commission about the condition of dockers: “The poor fellows are miserably clad, scarcely with a boot on their foot, in a most miserable state … These are men who come to work in our docks who come on without having a bit of food in their stomachs, perhaps since the previous day; they have worked for an hour and have earned 5d.; their hunger will not allow them to continue: they take the 5d. in order that they may get food, perhaps the first food they have had for twenty-four hours.”
Within two weeks, more than 100,000 workers were on strike. On 5th September 1889, the Lord Mayor of London formed the Mansion House Committee to bring workers and employers together and reach a settlement. Cardinal Manning sympathised with the strikers, a large number of whom were Irish Catholics. He was appointed to the committee, which persuaded the employers to meet most of the dockers’ demands. It was agreed that they should go back to work on 16th September after much hardship for their families.
Cardinal Manning is considered to have been a key contributor to the papal encyclical Rerum Novarum issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15th May 1891 which marks the beginning of modern Catholic Social Teaching.
Daniel O’Sullivan was born in Limerick in 1818 and migrated to London during the Irish Potato famine. This walking-stick was presented to Archbishop’s House Westminster by his descendants on 7th November 2024.
