The Life and Times of James Connolly

Connolly found himself unwanted by the Council and without recourse to the private
contractors. As a casual employee he had no means of reply. He therefore attempted to
make himself independent in order to pursue unhindered his main, his socialist work,
and in February found a small shop, now demolished, at 73 Buccleuch Street where he
set up as a cobbler. Unfortunately his skill was not equal to the venture. At one of his
meetings two schoolgirls had asked to join the S.S.F. “Does your father approve?” asked
Connolly. Strangely enough the father, a professor of languages, did so. It was he who
addressed most of Connolly’s election envelopes. One of the girls, who became the
suffragette, Anna Munro, recalled that she collected all the family footwear and took it
to Connolly’s shop for repair. Not a pair could be worn again!
It was also unfortunate that this attempt coincided with the winter of 1895, with its
interminable frost and snow, hyperborean temperatures and blistering winds, which froze
the Thames beneath magnificent aurorae. Buccleuch Street is a fair step from the
Cowgate on a summer’s day on the way to the Meadows; climbing over heaped snow in
a biting wind it seemed the pole of inaccessibility. The cobbler’s shop did not prosper
for yet another reason. Connolly was more interested in politics than business. It occurred
to him to announce the availability of tickets for meetings at his shop long before he
thought of mentioning that he mended boots. When he did think of advertising, however,
he brought all his wit and originality into play. The I.L.P. seemed full of cobblers. Most
people possessed some of the implements of the trade, or they were cheaply acquired. It
became the victimised man’s retreat. The Labour Chronicle advertised several small
shops, but Connolly’s advertisement stood out over all. It read:
“Socialists support one another. Connolly, 73, Buccleuch St. repairs the worn-out
understandings of the brethren at standard rates. Ladies boots 1/6, gents 2 /6.”
The “Rascal” continued to write in the Chronicle till February and preparations were
made for the Poor Law elections in April. Parish Councils were to be set up covering
larger areas than then existed, and the Poor Law was to come under its first democratic
administration in 300 years. The S.S.F. once more offered James Connolly for St. Giles’s
ward and hoped for better success, since this time there was no Liberal vote to split.
Connolly intended to stigmatise “the folly of handing over the care of the poor to those
who have made them poor”. On March 8, the eight I.L.P. candidates and Connolly
attended a social evening to launch the campaign. Owing to the cold weather open-air
meetings were virtually impossible: chalk was of little use; and the poll was exceptionally
small. But Connolly’s opponents were taking no chances. His opponent was no less than
Monsignor Grady of St. Patrick’s Rectory, who “knew the St. Giles poor and wanted to
help them”. He asked the electors not to support him merely because he was a priest.
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