The first Ballast Office trade dispute

The old 1781 Wicklow Head high light

Two identically-designed lighthouses (one slightly smaller than the other) were built on Wicklow Head to the plans of architect John Trail. In 1777, four years prior to the establishment of the lights, they advertised for a Superintendent of Lights at the station, whose responsibility it would be to source, interview, house, feed and pay the keepers. 

 

Obviously, the Commissioners for Barracks, for whom it was far more fun to build forts, couldn't be arsed to vet suitable lightkeepers themselves and made it a condition of the tender. When the Ballast Board took over the job in 1810, they appointed keepers themselves but, it seems, these Superintendents stayed in place until either they, or the keepers they had hired, died or retired.

Views from the top oval windows. The lighthouse is the 'new' upper light but it stood almost exactly where the old lower light stood

Of course, the Ballast Board discovered that, at many of the 14 lighthouses they had inherited from the Revenue Commissioners - South Rock, Old Head, Wicklow (2), Howth, Copeland, Hook, Cranfield, Loophead, Aranmore, Clare Island, Balbriggan, Duncannon Fort, and Charlesfort - the lights were poorly kept, due to the pittance that the keepers were paid. Somebody had been making a lot of money on the side and suspicion fell on the Revenue Commissioners' Inspector, Thomas Rogers and the superintendents. The keepers were also accused of using the lighthouses for other illicit purposes such as prostitution, distilling and potion-making in an attempt to earn a living wage, though why people would want to travel many miles out of their way to avail of these services is not certain.

As can be seen by the advert above, only one lightkeeper was to be taken on per lighthouse. One wonders how they fared during the long hours of winter darkness

With new technology coming onboard, the Ballast Board saw this as the perfect opportunity to weed out any bad apples in the service. Rogers was summarily dismissed, much to his outrage, and a Lighthouse trainer was appointed who had to sign off all the current keepers on the new procedures. Those who were considered unfit to operate the new oil lamps after years of lighting tallow candles were to be let go.

We do not know if Leonard Manley and George Wilkinson were the first keepers on Wicklow Head but they were certainly the first trade union activists in the Ballast Board. In 1818, the Lighthouse trainer, Michael Wishart, deemed them unfit to keep pace with the march of progress. Not only that but they were to leave their dwellings and four acres of land. The Superintendent of Wicklow Lighthouses, C. Dudgeon was also in high dudgeon of his own superfluity, being informed he would be paid to the end of December 1818 and no further. All three men protested the decision on the grounds of 'long and faithful service.'

It is actually quite a measure of the Ballast Office's humanity that they acceded, awarding the two keepers a pension of £15 per annum and Mr. Dudgeon a lump sum of £50.