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Thursday 10 April 2014

Livesey's memorial - in £sd

The article below comes from South Met. Gas Co's house magazine Co-partnership Journal in 1908. Anyone who has read their way through the postings on the South Met. Co-partnership scheme (basically my M.Phil thesis) will understand what this is about. But - briefly - in 1889 South Met. under George Livesey had set up a  bonus scheme for their workforce whereby a bonus was paid relative to the then price of gas sold by South Met. This is all tied up with the 1889 gas workers strike and George Livesey's aspirations for society - but never mind that at the moment)

Livesey had died in 1908 and the following article is part of a series of memorial articles to him. 

(having said all that - this has been hellish to scan and type accurately and I hope it is ok.  It was not helped by Microscoft arrogantly crashing my machine half way through on the pretext of 'updates')

- and - note for foreigners and people under 50 - figures  s ..d.  refers to shillings and pence - thus 2s.3d. is two shillings and threepence - (or, as we would have said then 'two and three') just over 10 pence/



THE ENDURING MEMORIAL.

It has been thought good to publish in this issue of our Journal the figures showing the progress of our Co-Partnership up to June 30th last. The table .below gives at a glance some of the first-fruits of our late Chairman's labours in this direction, and we know that these evidences of success cheered him in the last years of his life. Our hope for the future of both capitalist and worker rests on our faith in the principles of which these figures show a portion of the result-the other portion (peace, harmony, and goodwill) cannot be shown in figures:-

Year
Price of gas
Bonus %
Total Bonus
£100 stock
1889
Nest egg
£6,863
1890
2s.3d.
5
6,037
189l
8,653
1892
2s 3d-2s6d.
3
7,524
1893
2s.6d – 2s 5d.
4
1894
2s 5d.  2s 2d.
6
11,276
102
1895
2s. 4d.
12,506
110
1896
2s. 3d.
7 1/2
16,217
125
1897
17,332
135
1898
2
2
17,612
137 1/2
1899
2s 2d
81/4
20,664
135
1900
2s. 1d
9
23.734
122
1901
2s. 8d
3 ¾
10,221
1902
2s  8d
7 1/2
25,222
123
1903
27,813
121 1/2
1904
2s.8d. -2s.1d
8 ¼
33,212
123
1905
2s.
9 3/4
42,648
131
1906
43,961
1907
45,591
120
1908
2s 3d.
71/2
36,426
120


Total paid in Bonuses                                                                                 £419,309.

On June 30th last 5,146 Employees held Ordinary Stock of the nominal value of £210,595, but really worth, at market price £           252,714
They had deposited in Company's hands                                          £ 95,873

A total of                                                                                            £ 348.587

By adding Building Society Investment.                                             £38,000
We get the grand total of                                                                     £ 381,587

A man earning 30s. a week (most of us earn more),  if he had been employed with us throughout the whole period of our Co-Partnership, sharing in all the bonuses and leaving his portion at interest, would now have in the Company £153 17s.10d.

We print these figures, not because we believe that Co-Partner- ship is a matter of pounds sterling, but because the figures mean to those who know our Co-Partners thrift, self-control; increased self- respect, greater interest in work; lessened dread of the future, and a better realisation of the great truth that' we are members one of another.

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