The Agricultural Wages Board was a British body with offices at Pall Mall, London, set up in 1917 to settle the wages of agricultural labourers in England and Wales under the Corn Production Act, which fixed a minimum wage of 25 shillings a week. As appointed by the Board of Agriculture and the Ministry of Labour, the Agricultural Wages Board consisted of equal numbers of employers and employees, with a certain leaven of disinterested persons. Of the 39 members, seven were nominated by the Board of Agriculture. Its duties were to fix wages and hours; to make, if necessary, rates of wages for piecework; and to grant permits for injured and infirm persons to be employed at lower wages. This being done it had to see that the proper wages were being paid.
The Agricultural Wages Board worked through district committees, formed from the same three classes. The country was divided into 39 areas, and each recommended the minimum rate of wages applicable to its area. The first chairman of the Agricultural Wages Board was Sir Ailwyn Fellowes. Research Agricultural Wages Board
The Health and Safety Commission is a commission appointed by the Secretary of State for Employment to look after the health, safety, and welfare of people at work; to protect the public from risks arising from work activities; and to control the use and storage of explosives and other dangerous substances. It is composed of representatives from trade unions, employers, and local authorities with a full-time chairman. The Health and Safety Executive is a statutory body that advises the Commission and carries out its policies through 20 area offices. It includes HMFactory Inspectorate and a Medical Division, which itself includes the Employment Medical Advisory Service. Research Health and Safety Commission
In the 18th century a mug-house was an ale-house where a hundred persons or so assembled in a large tap-room to drink, sing, and socialise. One of the number was made chairman. Ale was served to the guests in their own mugs, and the place where the mug was to stand was chalked on the table. Research Mug-House
Allen Granbery Thurman was an American politician and judge. He was born in 1813 at Lynchburg, Virginia and died in 1895. In 1837 he was called to the Ohio judicial bench and served in congress as a Democrat for one term from 1845 to 1847, and in the Senate from 1869 to 1881 where he was chairman of the judiciary committee. The Thurman Act, regulating bond-aided railways was due to him. Research Allen Thurman
Augustus Schell was an American politician. He was born in 1813 and died in 1884. He was chairman of the New York Democratic Committee from 1853 to 1856, and of the National Committee in 1860 and 1873. After the overthrow of the Tweed ring he was active in reorganizing Tammany. Research Augustus Schell
Benjamin Franklin Wade was an American statesman. He was born in 1800 and died in 1878. He was a lawyer and Whig politician in Ohio; he had been in the State Senate and served as State Judge before his entrance into the US Senate. His term in that body covers the long period of 1851 to 1869. He rapidly became known as one of the most outspoken anti-slavery and later Republican leaders. He strongly opposed the Kansas-Nebraska measure, and during the Rebellion he was chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War. SenatorWade opposed President Lincoln to some degree on the Reconstruction problem, and was naturally in the opposition to President Johnson. He was chairman of the Committee on Territories, and was chosen President pro tern. of the Senate in 1867. President Grant appointed him to the San Domingocommission in 1871. Wade was a leading candidate for the vice-presidency in 1868, and chairman of the Ohio delegation in the convention that nominated Hayes. Research Benjamin Wade
Charles John Ellicott was an English divine. He was born in 1819 and died in 1905. Educated at Cambridge, after being professor of divinity in King's College, London, Hulsean lecturer and Hulsean professor of divinity at Cambridge, and dean of Exeter, he was appointed bishop of Gloucester and Bristol in 1863. He was for eleven years chairman of the scholars engaged on the revision of the New Testament translation, and has published commentaries on the Old and the New Testament, as well as sermons, addresses, lectures, etc. Research Charles Ellicott
Charles J Folger was an American jurist and politician. He was born in 1818 and died in 1884. He was chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the New York Senate from 1861 to 1869, and was appointed by President Grant assistant treasurer in New York City from 1869 to 1870. He was made Associate Judge of the State Court of Appeals in 1871, Chief Justice in 1880, and Secretary of the Treasury in Arthur's Cabinet from 1881 to 1884. In 1882, as Republican candidate for Governor of New York, he received a remarkable defeat at the hands of Cleveland. Research Charles Folger
Charles Sumner was an American statesman and anti-slavery campaigner. He was born in 1811 at Boston and died in 1874. Educated at Harvard, he was called to the Bar in 1834 and elected to the Senate in 1851. On returning from an extended Buropean tour, from 1837 to 1840, he became profoundly interested in the anti-slavery question, and devoted the next few years of his life to the abolition of slavery and was an impressive speaker on the subject.
In 1846, Charles Sumner, who had been a moderate Whig, helped organize the Free-Soil party in 1848, and was defeated for Congress the same year. In 1851, after a prolonged struggle of three months in the Massachusetts Legislature, he was elected US Senator by a coalition of Democrats and Free-Soilers. He speedily became the chief advocate in the Senate of the anti-slavery sentiment. His speech, 'Freedom National, Slavery Sectional', gave the signal of his course. That on the 'Crime against Kansas', in May, 1856, provoked a personal assault from a Southern Representative, Preston Brooks. Sumner was severely injured, and did not resume his seat until 1859.
He was meanwhile re-elected Senator as a Republican, and re-elected twice, serving until his death. In 1861 he became chairman of the Committee of Foreign Affairs and was one of the chief friends and advisers of President Abraham Lincoln. He opposed Johnson, but supported the Alaska purchase. In 1871 he strongly opposed the San Domingo Treaty, broke with President Grant and the Republican Senators, and was removed from his chairmanship. He supported Horace Greeley in 1872, and gave his closing efforts to the furtherance of the civil rights of coloured citizens. Research Charles Sumner
Daniel Manning was an American politician. He was born in 1831 at New York and died in 1887. He was chairman of New York's Democratic State Committee from 1881 to 1884, was appointed Secretary of the Treasury by President Cleveland in 1885, and served as such until 1887. Research Daniel Manning
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Agricultural Wages Board
