General Secretary of the

Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners 1888 - 1919

Francis Chandler, born at Harrow, Middlesex, in 1849, was at 14 years of age apprenticed as a joiner at a shop in Notting Hill, London . He early realised the value of combination, and on May 17th, 1869, a few months before he reached his twentieth year, joined the Ealing Branch of the A.S.C. & J. Later, Francis transferred to Hammersmith Branch, of which in 1872 he was elected secretary, holding the office for 16 years until he was called to be the head of the society. From the first, Francis was an indefatigable worker for the organisation and played an important part in trade-unionising the London Building Industry. He represented Ealing Branch at the ” Brown Bear” meetings held in London to consider and combat demands made by the building trade employers, and had as a colleague the late Henry Broadhurst, representing the Stone Masons’ Society. In 1876 Francis succeeded Charles Matkin (brother of the late G.S. of the General Union of Carpenters and Joiners) as secretary of the London United Trades Committee, of which William Matkin was also a member at that time. During his term as secretary of the L.U.T.C., a movement was carried through to secure due notice of discharge, i.e., “grinding time,” to allow operatives time in which to gather up and put in order their tools. At that period the A.S.C. & J. had no rule against piecework, although the system was growing in disfavour with most trade-unionists. The L.U.T.C. began an agitation about piecework and succeeded in passing a district rule for its abolition. This did not meet with the approval or support of the Executive Council who, although against the system, argued that the A.S.C. & J. was not strong enough in the London district to enforce the rule and that its effect would be the victimisation of the members. We have related the story of the Manchester strike of 1877, and London played a worthy part in helping to finance this twelve months’ struggle. Upon Francis devolved the onerous work of arranging meetings for the Manchester delegates to address, and of organising shop and job collections throughout the London district. As a result between £50 and £60 a week was sent from London to Manchester each week while the strike lasted. The work described was all done by Francis during his spare time and in addition to his daily work as a joiner, and it told so seriously upon his health that when the time came for re-election of the L.U.T.C. he felt constrained to decline nomination. During 1876 Francis was elected to the General Council, attending his first meeting in Manchester while the strike was in progress, and serving on the Council continuously until his election to the General Secretaryship in 1888.

For many years, since his first election in 1895, Francis served on the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress, and was sent as a fraternal delegate in 1901 to the Annual Convention of the American Federation of Labour, held at Scranton , U.S.A. In 1894 he was elected to the Manchester Board of Guardians, and did useful work in the capacity of Poor Law Guardian for many years. The year following he was made a Justice of the Peace for the City of Manchester . Francis was the second of the General Secretaries to have the honour of being appointed a member of a Royal Commission. He will go down to posterity as one who signed the famous Minority Report of that Commission which elaborated far-reaching and drastic proposals for the remodelling of the antiquated Poor Law system. Francis relinquished the reins of office in June, 1919, at 70 years of age, having been a member of the society for 50 years-47 years of this term he had served the society uninterruptedly in an official capacity, and 30 years of it he had, as General Secretary, played a worthy part in shaping its destinies. He died on October 6th, 1937, having completed 70 years’ membership of the society.