Edward Lee

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Locked Out Workers outside ITGWU (Irish Life 1913). Reproduced courtesy of the National Library of Ireland. Edward Lee. Jim Larkin. Tom Kettle. William Martin Murphy. James Connolly. Edward Lee Letter Irish Independent 23 September 1913. 38 Edward Edward Lee Lee
dismissed. The employers held out, locking out the employees until such time as they agreed to sign a pledge not to join the ITGWU. On Sunday 31 August, crowds turned out on Sackville Street (now O’Connell Street) to hear Jim Larkin speak. As the police moved in to arrest Larkin, there was a baton charge. There were many injuries and public opinion was shocked at the scenes in Dublin. James Connolly, socialist and founder of the Irish Citizen Army, also became involved, closing the port of Dublin. Meanwhile, the families of the locked out men suffered extreme deprivation. Edward Lee was deeply concerned with the deteriorating situation and with the terrible consequences for the families of the locked out men. He was also concerned about the effects of the strike on commerce in general and, as a pragmatic businessman, on his own business too. There is no record of his personal thoughts about Jim Larkin or James Connolly. But he disagreed with the tactics of William Martin Murphy. Edward Lee was not the only moderate employer in disagreement with Murphy. Alexander Hull, a builder and James Shanks, who had been involved in the Lord Mayor’s conciliation attempt, were also unhappy with the employers’ strategy. However, Edward Lee was the only one apart from James Shanks, who publically broke ranks with Murphy and the other employers. 22 In a letter to the newspapers, 23rd Sept 1913, Edward Lee addressed both employers and workers, trying to find a compromise between them. It was, to his way of thinking, ‘an ideal realisable’. A plea to both sides, his letter continued, ‘The workers must give up the baneful doctrine of ‘tainted goods’ and the consequent ‘sympathetic strike’. ‘The employers should withdraw the pledge requiring their employees to cease to belong to the Transport Workers’ Union. To my way of thinking such a pledge is an unfair interference with the personal liberty of the worker, though I am sure the employers did not intend it as such’. This letter once again clearly shows his respect for working people, whilst diplomatically chiding the other employers. ‘Employers ought rather to seek to elevate those whom they employ than to inflict an indignity on them’. 23 But Edward Lee was also careful to appear to be on side with his co-employers at this point and he avoided lecturing them by a skilful use of language: words like ‘should’ and ‘ought’ being used as a moral imperative to persuade the employers towards a change of heart. 22 Yeates. Lockout Dublin 1913 23 Irish Independent/ Freeman’s Journal. 23/9/1913 Model Employer and Man of Moral Courage 39
Page 1 and 2: Edward Lee Model Employer and Man o
Page 7 and 8: Contents Foreword by Pádraig Yeate
Page 9 and 10: accommodation for his own employees
Page 11 and 12: are gradually piecing the family st
Page 13 and 14: ook by far on the 1913 Dublin Locko
Page 15 and 16: Jane, who would become Countess of
Page 17 and 18: Tyrrellspass Green 1900s. Photo was
Page 19 and 20: Edward Lee and Co Ltd Dún Laoghair
Page 21 and 22: Social Conscience Edward Lee was an
Page 23 and 24: at Dargan Street in Little Bray and
Page 25 and 26: The Grange By the early 1900s, the
Page 27 and 28: Silver Wedding Illuminated scroll 1
Page 29 and 30: America and Canada 17 which he publ
Page 31 and 32: paragraph in the next day’s issue
Page 33 and 34: his nephew Robert H. Gilbert 19 to
Page 35 and 36: Cluster of skyscrapers, New York. C
Page 37: certainly, as such, has no rival in
Page 41 and 42: under the chairmanship of Tom Kettl
Page 43 and 44: influence those of the metropolis
Page 45 and 46: the controversy. Ironically perhaps
Page 47 and 48: ‘Bellevue’, Cross Avenue, Black
Page 49 and 50: laid his broken body in its last re
Page 51 and 52: Unknown newspaper cutting from 1915
Page 53 and 54: kind to them, Edward and Annie must
Page 55 and 56: sister. It is possible that they me
Page 57 and 58: profit for the capitalists, as some
Page 59 and 60: that any firm advertising in certai
Page 61 and 62: Annie Lee and Tennyson Lee 1930s. E
Page 63 and 64: Deansgrange Cemetery, alongside his
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Model Employer and Man of Moral Cou
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Edward Lee

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