Drawing the Plimsoll line at safety

Mar 11 2008 by Peter Elson, Liverpool Daily Post

But during that week there were huge nationwide pro-Plimsoll demonstrations, including in Liverpool, at St George’s Hall. “Plimsoll apologised to the House, but not to Bates, who was still trying to oust him from Parliament a decade later,” said Nicolette.

“Typically, when faced with a whistle-blower, the opposition questioned their mental stability and Plimsoll was referred to as ‘the sincere but hysterical member for Derby’.

“Later, Bates was accused of electoral corruption and his relatives told me he hired gangs of thugs to beat up Plimsoll on the steps of Plymouth Town Hall.”

But there were Liverpool heroes, too, who demonstrated on Plimsoll’s side in favour of his ideas and against Disraeli.

“Disraeli underestimated the public enthusiasm for Plimsoll who had toured the country for years,” says Nicolette.

Plimsoll mobilised formidable support from the likes of William Gladstone (Liberal leader from a famous Liverpool family) and Florence Nightingale.

The national outcry was so extreme, that Disraeli feared for his own political future. Letters exist in which he admitted he might be finished by the furore.

Cartoons in Britain and the US depicted Disraeli doing penance, brought to his knees by public opinion.

He had to rush through a stop-gap Merchant Shipping Bill which fulfilled some of the requirements.

“Afterwards, he claimed the public had helped him to achieve something he couldn’t have done, proving that spin doctoring is nothing new,” says Nicolette.

“Arguments against legislation seem familiar to today, about foreign competition and the amount of red tape.

“It’s the same as in any profit-issue situation where people are being exploited, such as sweat shops or cockle-pickers.”

* NICOLETTE JONES will give a free illustrated talk on The Plimsoll Sensation at Merseyside Maritime Museum, Liverpool, at 7pm, on Thurs, Mar 13.

Her biography, The Plimsoll Sensation: The Great Campaign to Save Lives at Sea, Abacus, £9.99

peter.elson@dailypost.co.uk

The support of a good woman

ONE of the truly great Victorian social reformers, Samuel Plimsoll (1824-1898), left, made a fortune in the coal trade and became interested in maritime matters.

Tribute must be given to his incredibly supportive wife Eliza, a woman of great character, who suggested he contact shipowner James Hall about the cargo ship-loading line idea. Eliza also suggested they should sell their stately home to finance fighting the libel cases brought against him in Liverpool by shipowners.

“She was the catalyst and the sailors recognised this and made a presentation to her in Liverpool at the North Western Hotel,” says Nicolette Jones, author of award-winning book The Plimsoll Sensation.

He was Liberal MP for Derby from 1868-1880, which being so land-locked caused great hilarity when juxtaposed with his maritime campaigns.

“But Plimsoll regarded his Derby constituency’s distance from the sea as signifying he wasn’t campaigning because of his vested interests.

“He was down to earth and could crack a joke, he wasn’t pompous and actually quite reasonable, even in spite of his rhetorical flourishes.”

Pump it up

LIVERPOOL is the home of plimsoll shoes, invented for use on beaches for millions of workers enjoying the new bank holidays.

By delightful irony, Samuel Plimsoll voted in Parliament for Bank Holidays. The shoes, appearing in 1876, were named in tribute to him. With canvas uppers and rubber below, they could only be safely immersed up to a certain point.

Philip Lace, a sales-rep for the Liverpool Rubber Company, thought this resembled the Plimsoll Line on a ship, so hence the name.