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INSTITUTE OF LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT

SUPERSERIES

Managing
Lawfully –
People and
Employment
FOURTH EDITION

Published for the

Institute of Leadership & Management by
OXFORD AMSTERDAM BOSTON LONDON NEW YORK PARIS
SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SINGAPORE SYDNEY TOKYO
Pergamon Flexible Learning
An imprint of Elsevier Science
Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP
200 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803

First published 1986

Second edition 1991
Third edition 1997
Fourth edition 2003

Copyright © 1986, 1991, 1997, 2003, ILM

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including

photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether
or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without
the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the
provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms
of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London,
England W1T 4LP. Applications for the copyright holder’s written
permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed
to the publisher

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0 7506 5853 3

For information on Pergamon Flexible Learning

visit our website at www.bh.com/pergamonfl

Institute of Leadership & Management

registered office
1 Giltspur Street
London
EC1A 9DD
Telephone 020 7294 3053
www.i-l-m.com
ILM is a subsidiary of the City & Guilds Group

The views expressed in this work are those of the authors and do
not necessarily reflect those of the Institute of Leadership &
Management or of the publisher

Authors: Angus Thomas, Colin Everson and Dela Jenkins

Editor: Dela Jenkins
Editorial management: Genesys, www.genesys-consultants.com
Based on previous material by: Joe Johnson
Composition by Genesis Typesetting, Rochester, Kent
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books, Bodmin
 Contents

Workbook introduction v
1 ILM Super Series study links v
2 Links to ILM Qualifications v
3 Links to S/NVQs in Management vi
4 Workbook objectives vi
5 Activity planner viii

Session A Employment policies 1

1 Introduction 1
2 Communicating employment policies 2
3 The contract of employment 5
4 Employment Tribunals 6
5 Grievance and disciplinary procedures 6
6 Dealings with recognized trades unions 10
7 Employment records 11
8 Summary 14

Session B Managing positively 15

1 Introduction 15
2 Achieving harmony at work 16
3 Selection and training 18
4 Appraising performance 18
5 Communicating with the team 19
6 Earning respect from the team 20
7 Motivating and monitoring 22
8 Recognizing and resolving conflict situations 26
9 Resolving conflict 31
10 Grievance procedures 32
11 Summary 36

iii
Contents

Session C Discipline 37
1 Introduction 37
2 The purpose of discipline 37
3 Rules 39
4 Dealing with offences 41
5 Following the procedures 46
6 Finding out the facts 53
7 The counselling session 59
8 Taking action 64
9 Summary 77

Performance checks 79
1 Quick quiz 79
2 Workbook assessment 82
3 Work-based assignment 84

Reflect and review 87

1 Reflect and review 87
2 Action plan 89
3 Extensions 91
4 Answers to self-assessment questions 92
5 Answers to activities 94
6 Answers to the quick quiz 96
7 Certificate 98

iv
 Workbook
introduction

1 ILM Super Series study links

This workbook addresses the issues of Managing Lawfully – People and

Employment. Should you wish to extend your study to other Super Series
workbooks covering related or different subject areas, you will find a
comprehensive list at the back of this book.

2 Links to ILM qualifications

This workbook relates to the following learning outcomes in segments from

the ILM Level 3 Introductory Certificate in First Line Management and the
Level 3 Certificate in First Line Management.

C8.7 Maintaining Discipline

1 Understand the organization’s employment policies and proced-
ures, and the need to follow them implicitly
2 Maintain adequate records to support and enable the dis-
ciplinary process
3 Monitor individuals’ compliance with organizational policies
4 Identify areas of concern
5 Recognize different attitudes and behaviours and their impact
on the team
6 Support individuals to meet performance.

v
Workbook introduction

C8.8 Resolving Conflict

1 Recognize a range of conflict situations
2 Understand the ways in which conflict may develop and can be
resolved
3 Evaluate the effects of conflict on performance and the
individual
4 Observe and react to a variety of situations to minimize and
resolve conflict
5 Work towards the creation of a positive and harmonious work
environment.

3 Links to S/NVQs in Management

This workbook relates to the following element of the Management

Standards which is used in S/NVQs in Management, as well as a range of other
S/NVQs.

C15.2 Contribute to implementing disciplinary and grievance procedures.

It will also help you to develop the following personal competences:

䊏 acting assertively
䊏 behaving ethically.

4 Workbook objectives

Work is a vital part of life for the majority of people and occupies a large
proportion of their adult lives. It is essential that people are managed fairly
and that the policies and procedures that order their working lives are applied
consistently for both individuals and identifiable groups of employees.

First line managers are the main interface for most employees between
themselves and their employer’s policies and procedures. First line managers
have a significant influence on achieving harmonious relationships in every
workplace.

vi
 Workbook introduction

For most people, most of the time, no major problems arise, and the formal
aspects of management procedures are not the subject of debate. As a first
line manager you can contribute to this favourable climate by knowing and
implementing your organization’s procedures implicitly.

You also need to have an appreciation of the underlying laws that have been
developed over many years to provide the minimum standards that every
employee, in any working situation, can expect to be applied. The law
increasingly influences the way in which employers must frame their
policies.

Trades unions came into being in an era when many employers exercised
absolute powers over their staff and frequently abused those powers. The
unions helped to establish reasonable minimum working conditions for
employees. The unions’ role has changed over the years, but they still
represent the interests of millions of employees in a wide variety of
occupations. Dealings with them are an everyday aspect of some first line
managers’ working lives.

In this workbook, we will look at some aspects of the management policies,

procedures and approaches that help to create good working relationships.
These are effective for 95% of the time with 95% of employees – and even
more in well run organizations.

However, for those employers and employees who cannot, or will not, work
within such policies, the law provides a framework that both parties must
work within. First line managers need to be aware of that framework and use
their skills, training and experience to ensure that the procedures are applied
fairly and consistently.

4.1 Objectives
When you have worked through this workbook you will be better equipped
to:

䊏 comprehend and implement your organization’s employment policies and

procedures as a major step towards managing your team fairly and
consistently within the law;
䊏 manage your team to achieve positive relationships both with you and within
the team, recognizing and defusing conflict in the first instance wherever
practicable;
䊏 deal with disciplinary matters in a fair and consistent way within the law.

vii
Workbook introduction

5 Activity planner

The following activities require some planning, so you may want to look at
these now.

䊏 Activity 1 asks you to obtain a copy of your organization’s employee or

organization handbook.
䊏 In Activity 20 you are asked to explain:
䊏 how well you ensure that your team members are kept informed of the
organization’s disciplinary procedures;
䊏 the actions you intend to take to make them better informed;
䊏 how confident you are that the contributions you make to implementing
disciplinary and grievance procedures are consistent with your organiza-
tion’s values and policies;
䊏 if you are less than totally confident about the quality of your contributions,
what actions you will take to improve them.
䊏 Activity 29 asks some searching questions about whether you and your
colleagues are consistent in treating individuals with respect, and in keeping
disciplinary matters confidential.
䊏 In Activity 37 a number of questions are asked regarding your disciplinary
records.

Some or all of these Activities may provide the basis of evidence for your
S/NVQ portfolio. All portfolio Activities and the Work-based assignment are
signposted with this icon.

The icon states the elements to which the portfolio activities and Work-based
assignment relate.

If this Work-based assignment is being considered as part of the assessment

for the ILM Level 3 Certificate in First Line Management, this must be agreed
in advance with your ILM Centre and external verifier. This is to ensure that
the requirements of the qualification are met appropriately and that suitable
assessment criteria are provided to you by your ILM Centre.

viii
 Session A
Employment policies

1 Introduction
All organizations must manage their affairs in every respect within the law of
the land. In the employment field, there are many statute laws which apply,
dealing with matters such as:

䊏 contracts of employment;
䊏 terms and conditions of employment;
䊏 equal opportunities;
䊏 data protection;
䊏 dealings with trades unions;
䊏 health, safety and welfare at work.

Full coverage of health The best way for an organization to ensure that it manages within the law is
and safety law is given for it to develop employment policies that accord with both the letter and the
in Managing Lawfully –
spirit of existing laws and changes that are known to be forthcoming.
Health, Safety and
Environment in this
series Provided that they do so, and provided that they revise their policies from
time to time as the law and regulations change, managers (including you) can
be confident that they are managing lawfully by implementing the policies
implicitly.

In this session, we’ll examine the policies that organizations need to

implement, and the records that they need to keep in order to manage within
the law.

1
Session A

2 Communicating employment
policies

Whether or not an organization writes down its employment policies, it must

obey the law consistently and fairly throughout its operations. An important
aspect of doing so is communicating those policies to all its employees.

Three effective ways of doing this are through:

䊏 providing an Employee Handbook;

䊏 induction training;
䊏 giving regular briefings to communicate changes in policy.

2.1 The organisation handbook

3 mins
Activity 1

Many references will be made to Employee Handbooks or manuals in this

session. Please obtain a copy of your own organization’s document to
compare this text with. If your organization doesn’t have one, then talk to
your manager about possible actions once you have completed the session.

Many organizations communicate their employment policies by recording

them in a handbook, which is issued to all employees when they first join. This
is a crucial aspect of ensuring that everyone gets the same message.

But it isn’t sufficient simply to issue an Employee Handbook. That is not

considered to be communicating with employees adequately within the law.

2
 Session A

3 mins
Activity 2

List three or more factors which may prevent employees from understanding
the Employee Handbook issued to them on joining. For example, literacy –
not every employee may be able to read, but everyone still needs to
understand the organization’s policies.

The factors you may have listed include:

䊏 language – some employees may not have English as their first language;
䊏 organizational jargon that is unfamiliar to a newcomer;
䊏 references to the organizational structure and specialist departments, which
they are unfamiliar with;
䊏 legalistic phrases such as ‘gross misconduct’, which may be new to them.
You may well have listed others, thinking back to your own early days with a
new employer.

The handbook’s content will vary according to the size of the organization
and the facilities it is able to provide. But some items should appear in every
handbook, especially those concerning health and safety, disciplinary proced-
ures and grievance procedures.

5 mins
Activity 3

What employment procedures do you believe should be covered in an

Employee Handbook? Make at least five suggestions.

3
Session A

You may have suggested the following topics: hours of work; reporting
absence for sickness or some other reason; holiday entitlement and
booking procedure; maternity leave; pension schemes; health and safety;
smoking; emergencies; personal hygiene; sports and social facilities; payment
procedures; recognized trades unions; disciplinary and grievance pro-
cedures; definition of ‘gross misconduct’; training and opportunities for
development.

A sensible time to issue the Employee Handbook is immediately after

induction has taken place.

2.2 Induction training

The importance of induction training as the first step in communicating
employment policies cannot be overstated.

Ideally, induction should be delivered before employees begin work,

otherwise they may be put at risk through ignorance of safety and emergency
procedures. Also, it will be open to individuals to claim that ‘nobody told me
I wasn’t supposed to do that’, no matter how obviously wrong their conduct
may seem to you.

Though ‘ignorance of the law is no defence’, many employment rules go

beyond what the law requires, so ignorance of rules about use of property for
personal purposes, or how to report absence, would only put an employee in
breach of rules if they had been given reasonable instruction in them.

At induction, the main aspects of the organization’s employment policies

should be explained by competent managers. The new employees should be
given a chance to ask questions and clarify anything which they do not
understand. This may be especially important with young employees new to
the world of work: they may find it a more disciplined environment than they
have been used to.

2.3 Regular briefings

Holding regular meetings with your whole team has many advantages. It
encourages team spirit, it makes everyone feel involved, no-one has an excuse
that they haven’t been informed of rules and regulations, and it enables you to
obtain feedback about how the team members feel about the organization
and the organizational policies that affect them.

4
 Session A

3 The contract of employment

EXTENSION 1 and 2 The contract of employment is a legal document which sets out the
You can get useful
information on contracts
agreement between an employer and an employee. In it, the employee agrees
of employment from the to do specified work in return for which the employer provides the necessary
Advisory, Conciliation facilities to do the job and pays agreed remuneration.
and Arbitration Service
(ACAS).

3.1 Written terms and conditions of

employment
It is a legal right for all employees working for organizations employing 20 staff
or more to be issued with a written statement of terms and conditions of
employment. This statement will specify in detail, for the individual employee,
the topics covered generally in the Employee Handbook. It should include
grievance and disciplinary procedures.

3.2 How can the contract be ended?

The contract can be broken by either party, for example:

䊏 If employees fail to return from holiday, and announce that they intend to
remain abroad for the next five years, that would effectively break the
contract. So would doing work for a competing company, or committing one
of the offences defined as ‘gross misconduct’, such as fighting or deliberately
damaging property.
䊏 If the employer fails to pay wages as agreed, or requires an employee to do
work which training has not been provided for, or which is unsafe or illegal,
then the employer will have broken the contract.

The simplest way for the contract to be ended is for the employee to resign,
giving the notice required under the contract.

5
Session A

3.3 What remedies are available for

breaches of contract?
If an employee breaks the contract, the remedies available to the employer will
depend on the disciplinary procedures agreed. If the breach is sufficiently
serious, dismissal is always available as the final sanction.

For the employee, there may be a remedy through the agreed grievance
procedure. If the employee has been dismissed, or has resigned because they
believe it is impossible to continue working for the employer, they can apply
to an Employment Tribunal (formerly known as an Industrial Tribunal) for a
remedy for unfair dismissal. The Tribunal may make an award in the employee’s
favour if they can convince its members that their case is a just one.

4 Employment Tribunals

Employment Tribunals are legal bodies appointed to adjudicate on legal

disputes involving unfair dismissal, victimization, and discrimination on
grounds of race, sex or disability. They consist of a ‘chair’, who is legally
qualified, sitting with two other people: one with commercial experience and
the other with a practical trade union background.

5 Grievance and disciplinary

procedures

This session gives you a brief introduction to formal grievance and disciplinary
procedures. You will learn more about them, and about the informal steps you
can take in a disciplinary situation, in the rest of this workbook.

6
 Session A

5.1 Formal grievance procedures

Formal grievance procedures are an important part of good practice within an
organization’s employment policies. They offer employees who feel that they
are being unfairly treated the chance to raise the matter with their own
management.

A credible grievance procedure has a number of stages, allowing the

employee to raise their concern:

䊏 initially with their immediate supervisor, team leader or manager;

䊏 if that does not resolve the problem, then with the next manager in the
hierarchy;
䊏 and ultimately with a designated senior manager, possibly in the Personnel or
Human Resources department.

Informal grievance procedures are a very important aspect of positive

employment relations and, as such, will be dealt with more fully in Session B.
Fairly implemented, they can prevent minor issues from growing into major
ones that may become subject to the formal disciplinary procedure.

5.2 Formal disciplinary procedures

A common misconception is that discipline is about ‘punishing’ an individual
for doing wrong. In fact, the aim of an effective disciplinary procedure is to
help employees return to acceptable standards in whatever area necessary.

EXTENSION 3 The Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (ACAS) publishes a Code
ACAS is an independent
body that can conciliate
of Practice on disciplinary procedures. Employers who follow this Code, both
in employment matters. to the letter and in spirit, are likely to achieve more harmonious relationships
It produces a number of with their employees and be able to show that they are managing within
booklets to help the law.
managers work
effectively within the law.
It is vital that you understand your organization’s grievance and disciplinary
procedures, as they may well affect you directly in your day-to-day activities.

5.3 Stages in the disciplinary procedure

The ACAS Code describes four stages in the disciplinary procedure.

1 For a minor offence, a verbal warning or admonishment should suffice. In

practice, it is prudent to record that such a warning has been issued.

7
Session A

2 For repeated minor offences, or a single more serious offence, a first

written warning may be issued, setting a timetable for improvement
(indicating any help which may be given to the individual by way of training or
support).

3 For repeated offences, or a serious first offence just falling short of dismissal,
a final written warning may be given, again setting a timetable for
improvement and stating that further offences of this kind or related offences
may result in dismissal or other penalty such as suspension without pay (if
allowed for in the contract of employment).

4 Dismissal is the final stage, when all previous stages have been exhausted
and further offences have been committed within any final improvement
period that has been set.

Summary dismissal, which is dismissal without notice, may be used only in

a case of bad conduct that is so serious (gross misconduct) that it requires the
employee to be removed immediately from the organization.

2 mins
Activity 4

Who in your organization has the authority to dismiss an employee and what
authority do you have to impose disciplinary sanctions (for example, a
recorded verbal warning or first written warning)?

Your answer will vary according to the policies and procedures of your own
organization.

Normally, the authority of a team leader or first line manager will be limited
to issuing a verbal warning or admonition. This provides a check on
employers, because it protects employees from being sacked or disciplined
severely by an immediate superior who may bear a personal grudge against
them. The same principle applies at every level. For example, a first line
manager should not normally be dismissed by the manager to whom he or
she reports without reference to a higher level of management.

8
 Session A

5.4 Appeals procedure

To be perceived as fair within the law, an employee should have a right to
appeal within a specified period (normally two days) to a senior manager.

This provides a further check on managers by offering employees an opportun-

ity to seek an independent review of a decision that may affect their future
career with the company. Employment Tribunals will take the existence of an
appeals procedure into account when considering cases of unfair dismissal.

5.5 Applying disciplinary policies and

procedures fairly and consistently
Employment Tribunals look to see that procedures, however reasonable they
may be in theory, are applied fairly and consistently in practice. If they are not,
then they will not be accepted as meeting the requirements of the law.

5 mins
Activity 5

An organization recently dismissed a long serving employee, Sarah Cole, for

persistent lateness, after a final written warning had not brought about any
improvement. She applied to an Employment Tribunal, claiming unfair
dismissal, bringing two employees as witnesses, both of whom had two final
written warnings on file but had not been dismissed.

How do you think the Tribunal would have found, and why?

Almost certainly, the Tribunal would have found in Sarah’s favour. This is
because the procedures, though reasonable in themselves, had not been
applied consistently. Sarah had been dismissed but her two colleagues had
not, even though they had also received two written warnings. The records
proved that the organization had not applied its own rules consistently.

9
Session A

6 Dealing with recognized trades

unions

Under defined Where a trade union has legal recognition, or has been granted representa-
conditions, a trade tion rights by your organization, it will have the right to take up grievance and
union may apply to the
Central Arbitration
disciplinary matters on behalf of its members, initially through the local shop
Committee for legal steward.
recognition. Many
employers grant
If you work within a unionized workplace, or are a member of a union
recognition voluntarily.
In a dispute ACAS can yourself, you will know that unions can help to provide an orderly working
help the parties to environment. Shop stewards, safety representatives and union officials are
reach a mutually usually well trained in the organization’s policies and procedures and the laws
acceptable agreement.
that underpin them. They can help you in your efforts to manage employees
fairly and consistently.

6.1 Members of trades unions without

legal recognition or representation
rights
You may work with people who are members of a trade union that is not
recognized by your employer and that does not have representation rights for
employees who belong to it.

They may belong to an unrecognized union because of the benefits it offers,

or they may have stayed in a union which was recognized by a former
employer.

A union that is not ‘recognized’, in the legal sense, does not have a legal right
to take up issues on behalf of the employee. This is true even if a number of
employees belong to it, unless it has been granted representation rights
specifically to act in individual cases of grievance or discipline.

You need to be sure what situation members of your team are in concerning
trade union rights.

10
 Session A

7 Employment records

A prudent employer will keep accurate and up-to-date records of individual

employees, starting from the very beginning of employment.

The records should always include an acknowledgement from the employees

that they have received a copy of the Employee Handbook and have had its
contents explained to them.

For any disciplinary process to withstand scrutiny by an Employment Tribunal,

there must be accurate records of disciplinary actions involving every
individual.

5 mins
Activity 6

State, in your own words, why it is important for an employer to keep up-to-
date written records of each employee’s progress and conduct throughout his
or her period of employment. Draw on your own experience, wherever
possible, as an employee and a manager.

You may have included issues such as the following: memories are imperfect
over a period of time; employees may deny being told something (such as a
disciplinary warning) if there is no written proof; an employer may claim that
an employee was told something which they deny.

In practice, for most people, there will be nothing to record in a well run
organization; but for those employees who cannot, or will not, comply with
the organization’s rules, there must be a written record of actions taken.

11
Session A

Similarly, there must be a record available of any grievances raised by an

employee and of the action taken to try to resolve it.

The records need to comply with the requirements of the Data Protection
Act.

7.1 Exit interviews

It is good practice, with their consent, to conduct an exit interview with all
employees who leave of their own volition. Exit interviews can provide
valuable information about the attitudes of employees since they now have
nothing to lose by being frank. A record of the interview can also be valuable
if they change their minds later on as to why they left the organization. This
is particularly important if they go on to pursue a claim to an Employment
Tribunal for unfair dismissal.

20 mins
Self-assessment 1

1 Fill in the three blanks in the following sentence.

The law impinges on many aspects of employing people, including:

2 Suggest three ways in which an employer can ensure that its employment
policies are communicated effectively to all employees.

12
 Session A

3 , ,
and are three of the main grounds on which
an employee can make an application to an Employment Tribunal.

4 How can well established grievance procedures help an organization manage

legally?

5 The main stages in a formal disciplinary procedure as recommended by ACAS

are:

6 A major principle of sound disciplinary procedures is that

is allowed to dismiss their subordinate without reference
to a higher level of management.

7 No matter how good a disciplinary procedure is, it will not be effective legally
unless it is applied and .

8 Written records of disciplinary procedures used in relation to an individual

employee are essential to prove to an that an
organization has acted fairly.

9 Appeal procedures are an essential part of

procedures if they are to be seen as fair by an .

10 Membership of an employment tribunal comprises a

who is legally qualified; a second member with
and a third who has a background.

Answers to questions can be found on pages 92–93.

13
 Session A

8 Summary
䊏 For an organization to comply with the letter and spirit of the many laws touching on employing people,
it is essential that it has:

䊏 policies and procedures founded on best practices such as ACAS codes of practice;
䊏 means of communicating them intelligibly to all employees, such as an Employee Handbook;
䊏 induction training;
䊏 employee briefing systems to keep everyone up to date with changes which will affect them;
䊏 records of all actions taken under disciplinary procedures;
䊏 evidence that it applies its policies fairly and consistently.

䊏 The four stages in the formal disciplinary procedure are:

1 verbal warning;
2 first written warning;
3 second written warning;
4 dismissal.

14
 Session B
Managing positively

1 Introduction

In this session, we’ll look at the positive aspects of leading teams to achieve
a harmonious working environment. Such an environment does not come
about by happy accident. It owes much to the skill and attitude of the team
leader, who can make a real difference to the spirit with which a team
performs and so help them to achieve the organization’s standards for such
key performance indicators as quality, delivery, safety, absence and staff
turnover.

Team leaders work in the front line of employment relations. Signs of

unhappiness, disaffection, disagreements between individuals, lack of compre-
hension of organizational policies and a reluctance to observe the rules and
procedures that flow from them should be apparent to the team leader long
before they come to the notice of senior management. Many or most
problems should be resolvable at this first level, before they have had a chance
to ferment into a more stubborn issue over which people may take up
entrenched positions.
An Employment
Tribunal is a body The title of this workbook, Managing Lawfully – People and Employment,
appointed to reflects the fact that the law is now present in the background for virtually
adjudicate on legal every aspect of employment, from recruitment to resignation or retirement.
disputes involving
Employment Tribunals, to whom aggrieved employees may eventually take
unfair dismissal,
victimization or their cases, can and do make awards running into many thousands of pounds
discrimination in where employers are held to have acted unfairly.
relation to race, sex,
or disability.
However, in organizations where the positive approaches described and
advocated in this session are applied by team leaders, it is much less likely that
managers need be concerned about the threat of employment tribunal cases,
or other aspects of poor working relationships such as low morale, poor
productivity, indifferent service and quality standards or, ultimately, the
withdrawal of labour in unofficial or official disputes.

15
Session B

2 Achieving harmony at work

The dictionary defines harmony as:

’agreement, or concord. In music, a combination of notes which

form chords of melodious sound.’

The team leader is the person who should strive to achieve this desirable
condition within the team, just as the conductor of a brass band or an
orchestra ensures that the sounds produced by individual players combine to
produce the desired effect. Team leaders’ lives are certainly much happier
when an atmosphere of agreement and concord prevails.

For a conductor, there is a written score to refer to, which sets out in black
and white the composer’s intentions. All the players have a copy of it, can read
it and are broadly committed to what the composer wishes them to do.
Professional musicians have reached a defined standard of competence. This
means that the conductor can be confident that all can use their instruments
as required by the composer. In a military band, there is also a framework of
military discipline and imposed respect for senior rank.

5 mins
Activity 7

List three factors from your own experience of work which can make a team
leader’s task more difficult than that of a military band leader or orchestra
conductor.

16
 Session B

The factors which you have identified probably include:

䊏 people who aren’t competent to do the job required of them;

䊏 individuals who are uncommitted to the company’s objectives, or who don’t
understand them;
䊏 rivalries between individuals who have differing ideas about how best to do
the work;
䊏 people who would simply prefer doing a different job;
䊏 individuals who don’t understand what is required of them;
䊏 lack of respect for the team leader by one or more of the team;
䊏 resentment by some members who believe others aren’t doing their share of
the work.

If a brass band suffered from some or all of these adverse factors, how
harmonious do you think its overall sound would be? Discord would prevail
and the composer, if listening, would hardly recognize the work.

3 mins
Activity 8

Complete the following sentences using the words provided.

SELECTION EARN TRAINING EXPLAINED FAVOURS

1 If someone isn’t competent to do the job, this is probably because of

poor and .

2 An uncommitted employee often has not had the organization’s policies

to them intelligibly.

3 Rivalries between individuals may arise when a team leader apparently

some team members by comparison with others.

4 A team leader must the respect of all team members.

EXTENSION 4 The answers can be found on page 94.

Visit the Department of
Trade and Industry
As a team leader, you have the responsibility to ensure that none of these
website for useful
information on barriers to harmonious working exists. You may need to act directly, or by
employment relations. influencing your manager or other specialist managers to act.

17
Session B

3 Selection and training

An employee unable to do the job properly will almost certainly be unhappy,

and may show signs of work-related stress. Once you recognize the problems,
you should arrange whatever training and coaching is necessary to bring them
up to the standard required.

The importance of induction training was stressed in Session A. Team leaders

have a vital role to play in making sure new employees go through the
induction process. Even if this involves some temporary inconvenience, it will
help you greatly in the longer term, when employees cannot say ‘Nobody told
me about . . .’

If you are constantly finding team members incapable of doing the job, then you
need to do something to influence the way in which they are selected.
Otherwise team morale will inevitably suffer and your problems will multiply.

4 Appraising performance

Some organizations carry their staff appraisal systems through to every

employee. Where this happens, it gives you the opportunity for a detailed
review of an individual employee’s performance. You can also find out more
about what the employee thinks of your performance as a team leader.

Appraisals can be an uncomfortable experience for both parties to the

interview. But, provided you are trained to carry them out and everyone
knows clearly that their purpose is to help improve performance and working
relationships, they should be very helpful to the quest for harmonious
working.

If your organization does not have such a comprehensive appraisal system,

you can still try to find a little extra time to help employees with particular
problems or to support those who wish to realize their full potential within
the organization.

18
 Session B

5 Communicating with the team

You have the responsibility for implementing the organization’s policies with
your team – just as a conductor has to make the right sounds appear from the
notes written in the music.

If team members don’t understand fully what is required of them, it’s your job,
in the first instance, to explain what they need to do – and why.

Ultimately, there is a job to be done and there is no point everyone working

happily together if they are not delivering what is required. If the organization
is being put at risk of failure there will be a corresponding threat to the team’s
success.

5.1 Formal briefing systems

Some organizations use formal briefing groups, or ‘tool box talks’, to help put
the message across. You should take full advantage of such formal structures,
but never treat them as a substitute for regular, day-to-day communications
on key issues with all members of your team. These issues include: quality,
performance targets, safety, hygiene and housekeeping.

5.2 Listening to feedback

Communication with your team needs to be a two-way process. A potent
threat to harmonious working is the feeling on behalf of an individual, or
section within a team, that ‘nobody listens to their concerns’, perhaps about
safety or perceived unfairness in the way that working rotas are arranged, or
holiday dates allocated.

You need to listen to your team’s problems and deal immediately with the
points you believe have merit. You can either do this directly, where you have
sufficient authority to do so, or through colleagues or senior managers where
you need help.

19
Session B

5.3 ‘Opportunist’ team briefings

Where a formal briefing system isn’t in place, you may be able to find
‘opportunist’ occasions to talk to your team as a group. This could be at the
beginning of a shift, at the end of the working week, during maintenance breaks
or when the computer system has crashed. However you do it – and one of
the reasons you were appointed will have been your ability to use initiative –
talking to your team together will help get them all working together.

Also it will help you to sense any rivalries or unhappiness that could sow the
seeds of discord if you don’t deal with them promptly.

6 Earning respect from the team

In all organizations, real respect has to be earned. Even in the military sphere,
it doesn’t really come from having a sergeant’s stripes or a lieutenant’s
‘pips’.

20
 Session B

5 mins
Activity 9

Take the following list of factors and rate them in order of importance for earning respect from your
team (from 1 = most important to 10 = least important).

Factor Your rating

Knowing the job

Listening to what team members think

Setting an example, for example, in timekeeping and attendance

Being available to talk to individuals

Sticking to what you say

Tackling individuals’ poor performance

Encouraging people who show promise

Helping people who have particular temporary problems and needs

Walking the job at least once each day or shift

Treating everyone with respect and courtesy

This Activity is designed to make you think hard, and there is no single ‘right’
answer.

In practice, all ten factors are important in a team leader’s endeavours to gain
respect. Every factor listed begins with a verb, a ‘doing word’, implying the
need for action by the leader.

The emphasis will change from time to time, but any team leader will need to
act positively in every way to earn the respect they need.

21
Session B

5 mins
Activity 10

Take the ten factors listed in Activity 9 and test your own leadership style
candidly against them.
䊏 Identify any areas to which you believe that you need to give more attention.
䊏 Plan any actions that you need to take to address those areas, either on your
own or with assistance from your own manager or others within your
organization.
If it helps, imagine you work for a manager who does the opposite of the ten
positive actions in the way that he or she manages you.

Areas needing attention

Action you need to take

7 Motivating and monitoring

There are many approaches to the motivation of individuals and teams at

work. Your organization may use several of them, and you may have
experience of others elsewhere.

The aims of all the well-founded approaches are to:

䊏 recognize and seek out the contributions of individuals;
䊏 encourage all team members to accept ownership of the organization’s goals;
䊏 ensure that the task, whatever it may be, is completed consistently to the
defined standards and on time.

22
 Session B

7.1 Monitoring effectiveness

All motivational approaches need to be monitored for their effectiveness in a
particular situation. Probably the simplest and most telling way to do so is to
measure the outcomes from the approach being used. This is illustrated
by the following case study, involving a team working in a busy despatch
department.

7.2 Case study

Six months ago the despatch department of an office stationery
supplier was re-organized because performance levels were unsat-
isfactory. The team leader’s role was re-designated as ‘facilitator’. The
11 members of the team (including the facilitator) were designated as
an ‘autonomous working group’. They now took joint responsibility for
meeting all targets. The comparative measures for before and after the
change are as follows:

Factor Performance factors

Before After
Change Change

% of items delivered on time 88.9 87.6

% of items returned damaged 3.6 3.8

(inadequate packaging)

Customer complaints per week 17 16

(average)

Number of accidents reported per 0.5 0.75

week (average for 6 month period)

Sickness absence per employee 0.63 0.94

(days per month)

Overtime payment rate hours 2.9 3.9

worked (average per week)

Number of employees who left (total 3 5

for six months)

Number of disciplinary proceedings 7 1

begun

Equipment availability (%) 87.4 95.9

23
Session B

The organization’s main stated aims when the new system came in
were:

1 to deliver to our customers on the next day in 96% of cases with

less than 1% of damage due to inadequate packaging;

2 to stabilize levels of sickness absence, overtime working and staff

turnover;

3 to re-establish disciplinary standards and reduce accident levels

due to indiscipline.

15 mins
Activity 11

Study the data and then state how closely you believe each of the three stated
objectives have been met by the new working system introduced to re-
motivate the department.

Provide a short written summary giving your overall assessment of the

situation now (better? worse? little or no change?) and the reasons you infer
may be contributing to it.

As with most real-life situations in management, there is no ‘right’ answer to

the questions you were asked. What is plain from the data presented is that
the organization has failed in most areas, sometimes significantly, to meet its
stated objectives. You will have noted that:

䊏 sickness absence, accident rates and overtime working have all increased
sharply;

24
 Session B

䊏 the number of disciplinary actions initiated has dropped sharply, which may
show that no-one is now prepared to take responsibility, given the poor
performance levels;
䊏 staff turnover has increased, itself usually a symptom of poor morale, possibly
good employees are leaving because of the undisciplined atmosphere;
䊏 the former team leader’s job title has changed, but was any training, coaching
or management support offered to help with the transition?

If the ‘proof of the pudding is in the eating’, then it is apparent that the switch
to a self-regulating group has not worked as intended by any objective
measure.

The remaining team members may be very happy and taking home more
overtime pay, but, happy or not, they are failing to deliver the service levels
required, and that could imperil their jobs and the company’s future in the
competitive market for office supplies, where service is everything.

One of the few things to have improved is the availability percentage for
equipment; so the team is being given the tools, but failing to do the job.

7.3 Using objective measures

Not everything is measurable, but it makes sense to use objective measures
wherever reasonably practicable to assess the success, or otherwise, of
motivational techniques.

Once you have assessed the outcomes from the technique, as shown in the
case study, you can then look at the process by which it was implemented to
see where it is succeeding (or failing) to deliver.

Sticking with our case study, it seems apparent that insufficient preparation,
training and support management was received from more senior managers
to implement a system that has been used successfully in many workplaces.

Probably also, the long-term benefits to the team and its facilitator were
explained insufficiently clearly. The one thing senior management had
delivered on was improving the efficiency of the equipment provided.

The ‘before change’ data show clearly that there had been problems with
service performance and damage, plus a high number of formal disciplinary
actions (considering there are only ten employees, excluding the team
leader).

Some of this implies negative attitudes and a lack of commitment to the

organization and its objectives. There is no doubt that the problems needed

25
Session B

to be faced, using a combination of the approaches already described in this

session and stressing why there is need for change and improvement.

Until people accept that there is a problem, they are very unlikely to give their
support to any system or technique intended to solve or lessen it.

8 Recognising and resolving conflict

situations

8.1 Eliminating the negative

An old pop song counsels listeners to ‘accentuate the positive . . . that’s what
gets results’.

Up to this point this session has concentrated on the positive aspects of

managing. However, the real world of work is not Utopian, and negative
factors arise even in the best run organizations.

The same old song advises also that you should ‘eliminate the negative’ so we
will now tackle some of the thornier problems.

8.2 The potential for conflict

The reasons for potential conflict can be many and various, and they aren’t
always rational.

Problems away from work

Team members may simply not get on, for reasons that have nothing to do
with work. For example:

䊏 they may support different football teams;

䊏 they may have a dispute outside work that you know nothing about.

Losing sympathy with the organization

Individuals may become out of sympathy with the organization. Imagine
someone who has:

26
 Session B

䊏 stopped smoking, but still works for a cigarette company;

䊏 lost a friend or relative in a road accident, but works for a car distributor;
䊏 become a strict vegetarian, but works for a shop selling some animal
products.

Bullying and harassment

EXTENSION 5
You can find out more What begins as a bit of harmless teasing can escalate into bullying, with
about how to handle serious implications if it is not tackled early.
bullying from ACAS.

Likewise, sexual, racial or religious harassment may begin as what the

instigator regards as ‘harmless fun’ the victim may be thought of as ‘thin
skinned’ or ‘lacking a sense of humour’.

Custom and practice

Years ago, people often underwent initiation rites when completing an
apprenticeship. Nowadays, many of these would be frowned upon and, if
imposed against the victim’s will, could lead to an Employment Tribunal.

Such initiation rites may be long-established custom and practice in a place of

work, and can be a potential source of conflict.

Other possible examples include workplaces where it has been the practice
for years to watch adult films in the relaxation area. A new employee may find
this objectionable or even threatening.

Similarly, established employees may have broken many safety rules in order
to finish early on Friday afternoons. Perhaps the previous team leader turned
a blind eye, so when you tackle the issue, conflict could ensue.

Such sub-cultures can, if unchecked, eventually completely usurp your

authority as a manager.

8.3 The team leader as ‘intelligence

officer’
Any of these situations – and you may think of many others – could cause
conflict. It could arise either within your team, or between a member of the
team and yourself as the representative of management policies and
objectives.

If you are ‘walking the job’ regularly and talking to everyone in your team daily,
or more often, you will soon start to feel the bad vibrations that emanate
from various situations.

27
Session B

5 mins
Activity 12

Look at the following signals given by members of a team, and write down
what action you would take as their team leader. Then add up to three further
signals from your own experience and say what you actually did.

Signal 1:
Hassan and Victor always make a point of sitting a long way apart in the tea
room. They have been seen to ‘jostle’ each other when clocking in.

Action:

Signal 2:
Four new employees have all left one section within a few days of starting
work. According to the section ‘old hands’ they didn’t seem to fit in.

Action:

Signal 3:
Graffiti derogatory to an ethnic group has begun to appear in the washroom.
No-one will admit responsibility.

Action:

28
 Session B

Signal 4:
A new employee has asked for a ‘sub’ against her wages and is very vague
about why she needs it.

Action:

Signal 5:

Action:

Signal 6:

Action:

Signal 7:

Action:

29
Session B

You may have made suggestions along the following lines.

1 Talk to Hassan and Victor individually. Get them to open up by using open
questions beginning with ‘How’, ‘What’, ‘Where’, ‘When’, ‘Why’ and ‘Who’.
For example, you could say ‘How do you think Victor is settling in to the
team?’ ‘What does Hassan think of the new quality procedures?’ Once you
have a reasonable idea of what the bad feeling is about, you can try to resolve
the cause. If it is a work-related problem (such as working rotas), you may be
able to resolve it yourself. If not, you can try to help them see that prejudices
or disputes outside work cannot be allowed to affect your team’s morale and
performance.

2 Question the ‘old hands’ as to why and how the four newcomers didn’t fit in.
Look for any evidence of a sub culture – card schools, working practices
outside the rules, prejudices to do with working with particular groups. If they
are freezing the newcomers out, you will need to take positive steps to
restore standards throughout your team.

3 Gather any evidence available from the cleaning staff and other departments.
Talk to your team members individually and as a group, making it plain that
this is unacceptable behaviour – whoever is doing it – and that it could
represent serious misconduct. Try to discover what is at the root of it (it may
be nothing directly to do with race), and if necessary encourage members to
discuss the underlying issues with you, explaining that only then can you try
to resolve them.

4 Ask the employee tactfully why she needs the sub, explaining that if it is for
purely personal reasons it can be dealt with under the organization’s normal
rules. However, if someone is demanding money from her, as a sort of
commission or entry fee, that could be gross misconduct and might land the
person in serious trouble if they persist in the demand. If the problem persists
you could encourage her to use the confidential grievance procedure, and you
may eventually need assistance from your manager.

The last three signals, which you have described from your own experience,
should have illustrated the benefits of constantly monitoring what goes on in
your team, and taking immediate action to deal with any problems that
arise.

30
 Session B

9 Resolving conflict

In some cases, you may need help to resolve conflict situations. However, if
you attune yourself to recognizing the signals of conflict and becoming a figure
of trust for your team members, many of the situations may resolve
themselves before you need additional help.

9.1 Somebody must pay . . . or must they?

It is often said that we now live in a blame culture, with lawyers eager to find
any offences which may result in substantial compensation for the victim and
sizeable fees for them.

Whether or not that is true for society at large, you should not encourage
such a culture to develop within your team.

Just as the best and chief reason for investigating accidents is to prevent them
happening again, so the chief reason for resolving conflict should be to achieve
more harmonious working relationships and a generally more pleasant,
positive atmosphere in which to work. Fear of being blamed or disciplined
unjustly will make it much harder to reach the root of any problem, which is
no good to anyone.

You need to be seen as:

䊏 a leader who can be trusted to act, first and foremost, in the interests of
fairness and improved working relationships for the future;
䊏 someone committed to resolving the problem, wherever possible, to the
satisfaction of all parties without seeking to apportion blame as though in a
court of law.

9.2 The ideal ‘win–win’ situation . . .

Most of the time, your aim should be to achieve a settlement that allows all
parties to believe that they have achieved something from the negotiation.
For example, it might be possible to encourage some give and take over

31
Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 143 TuTTLE — Ephraim 201,
Moses 89, Ebenezer 44. Talmadge — Josiah 34. Thomas — Enoch
74, Lovewell 33. Thomson — Samuel 120. Twist (Twiss) — Joseph
13. Tyler — Thomas 75, Isaac Senr 141, Isaac Jr 24, Nathan 33,
Enos 47. Upson — Josiah 8, Daniel 10. Wheeler — William Senr 56,
William Jr 30. Webb — Jonathan 25. WiLKERSON — Allen 15.
Williams — Jeams 40, Aaron 33. Yale — Job 58. "The sum Total of
ye List of N Cheshier "Ye year 1762 is £16258:15 :s:o3:D "Which at i
and a happenny on the Pound "Amounts to £ioi ::i2:s:o3:D. "for
which ye Collector of Ye Ministers Rate "Stands Justly Charged —
"Reuben Atwater Collector." "Ot a meeting of ye Sociaty of New
Cheshire held on Dec. 6th, A. D., 1763, voted that such persons In
or neare ye Center of said Sociaty shall have Liberty to Buld a scool
house, on ye green, near ye meeting house and shall have ye ould
scool house to us whatt they see cause to buld ye new one with."i It
was next agreed, in 1765, "to cover the fore side of the meeting
house roof with ceder shingles and New Roof boards," and "they
made choyce of Samuel Beach for society's clerk." He was the son-
in- law of Rev. Mr. Hall, had graduated at Yale ColiTlie "green" here
alluded to is the triangular piece of ground where the Town hall now
stands, and the new "scool house" was erected close to the road
nearly opposite the present residence of Henry Beadle. It, or its
successor, stood there within the memory of many perons now
living. The late Mr. Bronson Alcott taught school in this building, or
its successor. Digitized by Microsoft®
 144 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. lege a few years before, and
was a man of much ability. At this time the increasing infirmities of
the venerable pastor occasioned the settlement as a colleague with
him, of the Rev. John Foote of Branford. He was a recent graduate
of Yale, and being acceptable to all concerned, the following year he
married Mr. Hall's youngest daughter, Abigail, and continued
thereafter as the associate of his father-in-law, until, in due course
of time, he became full pastor of the New Cheshier church. It was
about this time that the Town Meetings which were being held in
Wallingford, were attended by all the prominent men of the New
Cheshier parish, and there is no doubt they made their voices heard,
and their influence felt on the important questions that agitated the
people, not only of Wallingford, but throughout the Colony of
Connecticut. The "Sons of Liberty" had been for some time actively
engaged riding through the country and rousing the inhabitants of
every town to the necessity of holding meetings and protesting
against the arbitrary orders of the English King and his Council. At
the town meeting held in Wallingford on Monday, January 13th,
1766, the following vote in the handwriting of Mr. Samuel Beach is
spread upon the minutes, headed "YE STAMP ACT." "WHEREAS it
appears from Antient Records and other Memorials of Incontestible
Validity, that our Ancestors with a Great sum Purchased said
Township; at their only Expense Planted: with great Peril possessed :
and Defended the same :we were born Free ihaving never been in
Bondage to any :an Inheritance of Inestimable Value. Voted and
Agreed that if any of said Inhabitants shall Introduce, Use or
Improve :any Stampt Vellum : Parchment or paper, for which tax or
Tribute is or may be Demandable : such Person or Persons shall
Incurr the Penaltie of 20 shillings to be recovered by the Selectmen
of said Town for the Time being for the use of the Poor of said Town.
Digitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 145 This order to continue in force
until the next meeting of said inhabitants in Town Meeting." At the
same meeting votes were passed declaring that "the Disputes and
Debates that frequently arise in ye Town meetings" regarding the
action of the surveyors of the highways, "the Badness of the public
roads," "encroachments on highways," etc., and instructing the
selectmen to fix the limits of each surveyor, and annually prepare a
list of suitable persons to serve as such, and appoint a committee to
remove obstructions. The next town meeting held on the 30th of
January, 1766, declared that the "Method of Voting for a Town Clerk
shall be by papers, with his name fairly written." A month later
"voted that Each Society make a nomination of thare Town officers
to be Presented to the Town in there Annual Town Meeting in
Deccmhcr" ; and that "the oaths be administered as by Law
appointed." Two months after this it was "Voted to expose the Poor
at Public Vendue :to who will do it cheapest by the Week Month or
year." It does not appear that at any of these frequent town
meetings the Stamp Act resolutions were repealed, and we may infer
that the disturbances at New Haven and elsewhere in the colonies
were fully endorsed by the Wallingford people; until the obnoxious
papers were finally sent back to England, and their sale in the
colonies no longer authorized. The following three or four years
furnish us with abundant evidence that the inhabitants of New
Cheshier Parish attended all the Wallingford Town meetings, and
continued to manifest a decided opposition to every obnoxious
measure of the English Government. In common with other
Connecticut towns, Wallingford opposecl, through Captain Macock
Ward, its only representative in the Assembly, the enactment at the
January, 1767, Assembly, quartering upon the Connecticut Colony of
two officers and one hundred and thirty-four of "his majesty's
recruits from Germany." The rates fixed by the English authorities for
the subsistence of these men being very low, the Assembly enacted
that Digitized by Microsoft®
 146 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. all persons on whom soldiers
were billeted should receive out of the Treasury of the colony (in
addition to the sum allowed by his majesty for their subsistence)
enough "lawful money" to make the sum equal to five shillings (or
83 cents) per week for each soldier. The Assembly cautiously worded
their act so that it should prohibit the Hessians from carrying arms
except on lawful duty ; and stated that if these men might be
quartered in New Haven, Wallingford and Branford without detriment
to his Majesty's service ; "His Honour the Govr. should give needful
and specific orders to the authority of the towns according to law."
Wallingford and its parish of New Cheshier escaped this infliction, as
appears by an account audited at the May session of the Assembly
of 1767, directing the Treasurer to pay the towns of New Haven and
Branford £100.07.04 "for billeting his Majesty's forces quartered
there." Among other specifications in the Act of the Assembly each
of these foreign soldiers was to have either "five pints of small beer
or cider" or, in lieu thereof, "half a pint of rum mixed with a quart of
water," as his per diem allowance, with his other rations. The
inhabitants of New Cheshier were now probably so imbued with the
spirit of "Liberty" that they determined to try again for "town
privileges," that they might impose upon themselves whatever taxes
an independent existence might require. Accordingly they presented
to the December town meeting at Wallingford, the "memorial" which
is given in the following ixcord : "At an adjourned Town meeting in
Wallingford January 2cl 1770 meet according to adjournment.
"Whereas the Inhabitants of the Parrish of New Cheshire in said
Town by their Agents Presented a memorial to said Town in the
words following viz: (said Memorial was presented at the annual
meeting in December 1769) "To the Inhabitants of the Town of
Wallingford in Town meeting assembled December 19th Ano Domini
1769. Gentlemen : Digitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. I47 The memorial of the
Inhabitants of the Parish of New Cheshire in said town by their
Agents Nathaniel Moss, Reubin Atwater and Eliakim Hitchcock
Humbly sheweth that we your Memorialists Having had the favour of
said town in the year Ano 1722 to be made a Distinct Ecclesiastical
Society, not Because we was then sufficiently Abel to support the
Burthen of it, But Because of our Distance and Badness of Travil in
coming to Town, in consequence of which Doings the General
Assembly in May Ano 1723 made a grant of Parish Priviledges to
your Memorialists, since which time your Memorialists have under
the Favour of Providence Increased in number and also in their List
to exceed many of the Towns in this Colony, which hath greatly
increased the burden of Travel in coming to town on all Neadfull
occasions & more Especially as our Settlements are Increasing
Greatly over the West Rocks where we expect a Parish will be made
hereafter Whose travel many of you gentlemen Know to be very Bad
as well as the Distance of about twelve miles, those that are at
Extream Parts, (at Least) under which Circumstances you Gentlemen
will Easealy see a great many of the Inhabitants must be unable to
attend on their Duty at Town, and more Especially in the Inclement
Seasons of tthe Year, all which Increasing Burthens said Inhabitants
have endured for the space of Forty-six years at Least since made a
society : and some Long before that Time, all which matters
Gentlemen wee hope you will take into your wise and candid
consideration and vote your free consent said society of New
Cheshire should be made into a Distinct Town — with such Privileges
as the General Assembly shall see cause to Invest them with : :all
which Favours we with the more Confidence have the Boldness to
Request Because we apprehend you will consider that in Lesning the
Body which by Reason of its Leargeness is become unweildy in many
Respects will naturally Lessen the Burden of the whole :all which
matters Gentlemen with what else may Easily accrue to your minds
in the Premises aforesaid we hope you will take into your Frindly and
wise Consideration and Digitized by Microsoft®
 148 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. Grant such Relieflf as Your
Wisdom shall think Meet and best, and your Memorialist Shall as in
Duty Bound etc. Dated New Cheshire December 19 ano 1769 —
Nathaniel Moss, Reuben Atwater Eliakim Hitchcock^ agents for said
Society "The Question was put Whether you will do any Thing upon
the memorial. — Voted in the Negative * * * a true record Test
Caleb Hall Clerk—" At a special Town Meeting in Wallingford May
14th, A. D., 1770. "On the memorial of the Inhabitants of the Parrish
of New Cheshire in the town of Wallingford — to the Honorable
General Assembly holden at Hartford May 1770, Praying that said
Parrish be made into a Distinct Town of themselves and be called by
the name of the Town of Cheshire as by their memorial Dated April
22d, 1770, and said Town being summons to appear before sd
Assembly to shew Reasons if any they have why sd memorial should
not be granted, etc. "The Question was put whether the Town will
do anything respecting said Memorial. "Voted they would appoint an
Agent for said Town on said memorial & accordingly chose Macock
Ward Esq. to be their agent."i At the session of the Assembly
Captain Macock Ward succeeded in defeating the prayer of the New
Cheshier memorialists for "town privileges." There is no report of the
final action, because at that session the Assembly enacted that all
such pettions should be referred, and, when final action was to be
taken it was to be done by a yea or nay vote on the committee's
report. lOn the Wallingford records there is a vote Dec. 5th, 1738.
"The town gave liberty to Mecok Ward to sett a clok in ye steeple
:and if any damadge to ye belfre:hee will pay it and taik away ye
clok." Digitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 149 The memorial may have been
adversely acted upon by the committee to whom it was referred.
The next year a Memorial from "Waterbury South Farms" (Prospect)
to be made a parish was "agreed" to be opposed in town meeting
and Colonel Benjamin Hall and Captain Cornelius Brooks were
appointed a committee. The town denied the petition and the people
on the "West Rocks" continued to attend church in New Cheshier,
which parish now appointed Thomas Atwater "to colect the Church
of England Ministers rate." ! The meeting house being in need of
repairs, it was "agreed" to put in new underpinning, "repair the
Turritt sufficient to hold a bel," and it was voted to get a bell of 450
lbs. weight at the discretion of the Committee and they also "agreed
that they which tune the Psalme Be seated in the front seat in the
galrey," etc. They may have bought the bell but did not set it Up
until 1776, when "Liberty Bells" were in demand all over the Colony.
By a later vote in 1778 it was "agreed to ring but one bell at noon on
ye Sabath." It should be noted here, that year after year, from 1723
up to the hard times that were now beginning, the inhabitants of
New Cheshier parish had not once failed to annually provide for their
schools, which were in part sustained by the money received by the
town of Wallingford as its share of the Ohio and Western lands sold
by the Colony of Connecticut. The portion of this money allotted to
the parish of New Cheshier, was most all held in bonds of the
Western Reserve Corporation, but some of it was placed in Bank by
the school committee who were annually appointed.i This money
was usually loaned out to those who would borrow it, and for many
years Mr. Samuel Beach was chosen to attend to that business. In
the spring of 1771 there had been many freshets and disastrous
floods ; some bridges had been carried away upon the river and
much damage done, not only in Wallingford, but along Mill and Tenn
Mile Rivers. "The so-called Johnsons, Royces, and Hough's bridges
the town voated to repair or reiln 1730 there were three school
committeemen. In 1770 the number had increased to thirteen.
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 150 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. place them." When the spring
of the following year opened, Johnson's bridge "had been repaired
by particular gentlemen," and as additional damage .had been done
to highways, the town "voated severally they would not rebuild
Royses Bridge, but as to the Hough bridge and highway left it
discretionary with ye selectmen." The New Cheshier people at the
North Farms and on Cheshire street were probably pretty mad, until
December, when the town "voated discretion to the selectmen"
concerning "Johnsons Bridge & Royses bridge" and it was
understood that some help would be extended to our "neighbours of
ye New Cheshier Parish." It does not appear that the parish received
much assistance ; on the contrary the men were called upon to "turn
out" and assist in the work necessary to be done all over town,
before the winter storms should cause greater damage. Meantime
other troubles were being prepared to worry the hard-working
people of the parish. A nephew of Rev. Mr. Hall (who was living in
Wallingford), sent over the following proclamation accompanied by a
tax list, the collection of which at this time must have been
considered particularly unwelcome. EXECUTION FOR THE RATE. TO
Amasa Hitchcock of Wallingford in the County of New Haven
Collector of the Town rate for the Parish of New Cheshire in said
Town of Wallingford for the year 1774. Greeting — IN HIS MAJESTYS
name you are hereby required forthwith to Levy and collect of the
Persons named in the List herewith committed unto you Each one
his several proportion is therein set down of the sum Total of such
list being a Tax or sessment of one penny lawful money upon the
pound Granted and agreed upon by the Inhabitants of the said town
Regularly assembled in December 1773 for Defraying of the
necessary charges arising within the same for the Ensewing year,
and to Deliver the sum or sums you shall so Levy and Collect to the
Treasury of said Town or to the selectmen of said town for the time
being and Digitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. I5I if any person or persons shall
neglect or refuse to make payment of the sum or sums whereof he
or they respectively is set down in said List to distrain the goods or
chatties of such person or persons and the same Dispose as the Law
Directs Returning the overplus if any be unto the owner or owners
and for want of Goods or Chatties whereon to make Distress you are
to take the body or Bodys of the Person or Persons so refusing and
him or them commit to the Keeper of the Gaol in New Haven in said
County within the Prison there to remain until he or they pay and
satisfy the several Sum or sums assessed upon him or them
aforesaid and also satisfy your own fees unless the same or any part
thereof upon application made to the County Court be abated.
"Dated in Wallingford Feby 8th 1774 "Caleb Hall Just Peace." This
"Execution for the Rate" was probably the last document isssued in
Wallingford "In his Majesty's Name." There is no record that any
delinquent taxpayer was sent to jail by the Collector. This document
is interesting reading at this time. It came to New Cheshier a month
or two after orders had been issued for ascertaining the number of
people living in the Colony of Connecticut. The Wallingford record
reads "The following is an account of the Number of the Inhabetants
of the town of Wallingford on the 1st day of January 1774 :the
Orders for Numbering the People came from the King and Council."
"the sum of ye old society 2130 "the sum of New Cheshier Parish
1933 "the sum of Merriden Parrish 0852 4915 "the sum Total of all
ye whites 4777 the sum Total of all ye Blacks 138 4915 Digitized by
Microsoft®
 152 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. The names of those persons
who were taxed on the list for 1774 forwarded to Amasa Hitchcock
with the "Execution" order, are here given, omitting the names of
those New Cheshier inhabitants who will be found already recorded
in the tax list "For ye Ministers Rate" of 1762. The two lists will give
the names, no doubt, of the persons living in the parish just before
the Revolutionary war began, and six years before the town of
Cheshire was incorporated. The figures denote in pounds the sum on
which the tax is laid. Atwater — Amos 37, Timothy 19. Andrews —
Thomas 30, Asahel 32, Bela 54. Blackslee — Moses iii, Abner 36.
Beebe — Ephraim 32. BuNNEL — Stephen 19, Benjamin 2, Israel 58,
Abner Jr. 20. Bryan — John 38. Brooks — Stephen 21, Henry Jr. 38,
Tanner 3. Badger — David 46. Beacher — Joseph 2, Isaac Jr. 29.
Bristol — Simeon 11. Clark — Abel 22, Dimon 20, Silvanus 18,
Samuel 25. Cooke — Ezekiel 4, Benjamin 18. CowLE (Cowell) —
Josiah 2. Calog — See Kellogg. DuTTON — Daniel 74. DoGESTER
(Dorchester) — Reuben 21. Dodge — Ezrah 33. Doolittle — Barnabas
20, Joseph 38, Ruth (widow) 36, Ambrose, Jr., 28, Charles 31. Fox —
Ebenezer 24. Gailord — Thomas 62, Nathan, Jr., 20. Griswold —
^Jonathan 28. HoTCHKiss — Jonathan 18, David 4, Jonah 65,
Ephraim 21, Benoni 30, Daniel in, Josiah, Jr., 39, David 44,
Benjamin, Jr., 69. Hills — Asa 30, Jonas 34, Jonah Jr., 22, Esther
(widow) 12. Digitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 1 53 Hitchcock— Lemuel i8, David
37, Abner 28, Titus 51, Amasa 36, Amos 24, Bela, St., 144, Bela, Jr.,
29, Mary (widow) 8, Thomas 21, Asahel 31. Hall — Jonathan 38,
EHas 60, William 31, Jared 59, Jonah 27, Benjamin, 3rd, 108.
HuTSON — Anne (widow) 6. Hulls — Amos 70, Jesse 63, Abijah 43,
Miles, Jr., 61. Ives — ^John 21, Phinehas, Jr., 97, Phinehas, Sr., 24,
Titus 72, Nathaniel, Sr., 81, Nathaniel, Jr., 22, Isaac 14, Joel 18.
Johnson — Seth 25, John 18. Jones — ^William 19, Elisha 18. JOLY
— John 19. Kellogg — Benjamin 3. Lewis — ^Abner 19, Amasa 27,
John 29, Caleb, Jr., 21, Ebenezer 18. Lines — Erastus 23. Law —
William 54. Moss — Abigail (widow) 17, Thomas 43, Theophilus 45,
Isaiah 40, Nathaniel 140. Martin — Samuel 12, Isaac 18. Munson —
Samuel 23, Peter 50. Merriman — Lent 46, Hannah (widow) 55,
Daniel 39. Miles — Daniel 18. Matthews — Abel, Jr., 18, Reuben 43,
Elizabeth 4, John 18, Eliada 21. Mirriam — Samuel, Jr., 52, Munson
100. Morris — Thomas 59, William 24. Miller — John 22. Morgain —
Abraham 29. Newton — Jared 44. Parker — William 26, Job 18,
Samuel 20, Amasa 21, Joseph, Jr., 34, Jesse 24, Amos 56, Eldad 71.
Perkins — John 37, Moses 25. Potter — John 15. Plumb — Benony
63. Prindle — Jonathan 18. Digitized by Microsoft®
 154 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. RoYCE (Rice) — Elisha 8r,
Robert 142, Levi 60, Jehiel 21, Samuel, Jr., 137. Russell — Nicholas
50. Rhoback — Jacob 30. Sanford — John, Sr., 46, John, Jr., 12,
Gideon 54. Sanderson — William 39. Street — Samuel 18. Stone —
David 18. Smith — Ephraim, Jr., 53. Tuttle — Thankful (widow) 26,
Lucius 48, Ichabod 21. TuRREL (Terrill) — Ephraim 72, Enoch 29,
Ephraim, 2d, 30. Thompson — Joseph 18. Tyler — Joseph 37, Lydia
(widow) 7. Todd — Hezekiah 5. Treat — Samuel 22, John 11. Upson
— John 2, Amos 6, Timothy 3. Willmut (Wilmot) — Elijah 47, Asa
134. Ward — Timothy 19. Woolcutt (Wolcot) — Abel 74. Weed
(Webb)— Gideon 18. Yale — Enos 18, Benjamin 132. List of 1762 —
270 men Added by this list of 1774 — 169 439 No taxpayers in 1774
Digitized by Microsoft®
 CHAPTER SIX. OPPOSITION TO ENGLISH TAXATION SLAVE
OWNERS CHESHIRE'S PART IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. In 1773
the Boston people had a "tea party" which brought upon the
Massachusetts colony the infamous "Port Bill," a measure that
caused indignation meetings to be held in nearly every Connecticut
town. At Wallingford a town meeting was held in 1774, at which it
was voted, "In consideration of the sufferings of the people of
Boston in the Common Cause of Liberty, that committees be
appointed to collect subscriptions for their relief, etc." Eleven
persons were appointed from Wallingford; six from the parish of
New Cheshier, four from the parish of Meriden, and one for the
Wallingford part of the Northford parish. These committeemen were
instructed to send "their collections to the selectmen of the town of
Boston to be disposed of at the discretion of said selectmen, for the
benefit of the indigent sufferers by the Port Bill." The Connecticut
assembly voted favorably upon an invitation of the Colony of
Massachusetts inviting delegates from all the Colonies to assemble
at Philadelphia, on the 5th of September to deliberate upon plans for
"mutual assistance," and "if need be resistance" to the increasing
demands made upon them by the English King and his ministers.
This convention met on the day appointed. Twelve colonies were
represented. It remained in session nearly two months, during which
time they perfected a plan for Colonial Union, and adjourned on the
26th of October, 1774, to meet again on the loth of the following
May, "unless the desired redress of Grievances should be obtained."
The Assembly of Connecticut met in October at New Haven, and
decided to submit the Articles of Association to the sev(155)
Digitized by Microsoft®
 156 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. eral towns, and in addition to
passing an elaborate act for organizing troops for the defense of the
Colony; they further ordered : "Each military company in the colony
shall be called out twelve half days and exercised in the use of their
arms, between this time and the first of May. If any non-
commissioned officer or private shall neglect to attend such
exercises, he shall forfeit and pay for each half day, two shillings
lawful money, to be divided equally among those on duty ; and a
premium of six shillings shall be allowed each soldier who shall
attend on said twelve half days." It should be mentioned here, that
for more than five years previous to this enactment, the patriotic
men, women and children of the Parish of New Cheshier, had, in
common with the people in other towns, expressed in various ways
their determined opposition to many of the laws the "King in
Council" had promulgated. When the tea was taxed, the women
drank no tea. When the law came that imposed a duty upon English
cloth, the men sheared their own sheep, and the women spun the
wool into yarn. When imported Irish linens were taxed, the farmers
planted the seed and hetcheled their own flax, which the women
and girls wove into garments. When candles became a royal
monopoly and were not permitted to be sold without making a
payment to the King's attorney or agent, the women got on very
well by dipping rushes frequently in hot grease, cooled them off, and
thus accumulated enough candle light to find their way about after
dark. For every article on which the King or his officials — (who paid
for the privilege) — claimed a tax, the people of New Cheshier
parish either manufactured it themselves, or invented a substitute.
In this way most of the "Orders in Council" were nullified ; and
because the "Sons and Daughters of Liberty" were so active in the
colonies, troops were sent over to enforce enactments which the
order loving people found many ways of evading short of open
rebellion. Our New Cheshier ancestors being "properly warned,"
went over to town to attend "A Legal town Meeting of the
InhabiDigitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 157 tants of Wallingford,
convened on the 29th Day of November Anno Domini 1774" —
(omitting tlie number of years his most Gracious Majesty had been
on the throne). "The Articles of Association of the American Colonial
Congress, being read, together with the Resolutions of the
Representatives of this Colony thereon * * * Voted to adopt the
same, there being but three dissentients in a full meeting. "In
compliance with the Eleventh Article of the Agreement of said
Congress, the following persons were chosen as a committee for the
purposes therein mentioned. "For the parish of New Cheshier
Captain Ephraim Cook, Captain Jesse Moss, Ensign John Beach, Mr.
Timothy Hall, Mr. Eliakim Hitchcock and Mr. David Brooks." For
Wallingford, nine persons were appointed and two more for the
Episcopal church. For Meriden four persons, and one for the
Northford part of Wallingford. Oliver Stanley, of Wallingford, and
Deacon Samuel Beach of New Cheshier were voted the Committee
on Correspondence. Then it was "Voted not to countenance
extravagance or entertainments." After a vote of thanks to the Rev.
Jas. Dana for his "patriotic speech" the meeting adjourned.
Important town meetings and generally all regular meetings were
usually opened with prayer by one of the deacons or the minister. At
this meeting the Rev. James Dana was probably called upon to
invoke the divine blessing upon the deliberations of the
townspeople. The articles agreed upon in the Congress, pledged the
"Delegates and the People of the several colonies they represented"
to a policy of aggression which it was believed would bring about a
redress of grievances. No article manufactured in England or the
product of any of its islands was to be "imported, bought, sold or
consumed" in the colonies. No rum, molasses, syrups, or wines were
to be purchased by the people when brought into the colonies by
English traders. No tea, coffee, pimento and other spices, sent by
the English East India Company were to be used Digitized by
Microsoft®
 158 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. by the people. Slaves were no
longer to be imported and the trade was to be discontinued. The
Eleventh Article recommended that every county, city, and town,
should appoint a "Committee whose business it shall be attentively
to observe the conduct of all persons touching this Association," and
if they find any one violating its Articles, they were to make it known
publicly, and thenceforth the people were to "break off all dealings
with him or her, as foes to the rights of the colony." In other words
they were to be a sort of Vigilance Committee, while the
Correspondence Committee should keep the town posted upon what
was being done elsewhere. In the Connecticut Colony, the slave
trade was never a very active one. The colony laws permitted the
buying and selling of negroes, Indians and vicious white men and
women. They also regulated their conduct, and punished slave
owners who maltreated their servants. Very few persons were rich
enough to own more than one or two negroes, and the birth records
of New Chesier do not show more than twenty or twenty-five slaves
in the parish. Rev. Mr. Hall had several: Elnathan Beach had owned
three or four; Captain Cook had some, and so had the late Col. Ben
Hall. Occasionally a notice would be put vip on the sign-post in
Wallingford that some "likely negros" would be sold at "public
vendue," but this was an exceptional occurrence. As a rule, when
the owner died, his negroes were given a chance to select their new
master or mistress from among the heirs to the estate, and after
they had done so, the slave was duly "prized" and "set off" to the
person chosen for his, or her owner. If there was any punishment to
be inflicted upon a negro, it was done by the authorities, or abated if
the circumstances warranted such a course. Soon after Rev. John
Foote got married he went to Branford, and bought a little negro boy
"to wait on his wife." The original "bill of sale" is still in the
possession of one of Parson Foote's descendants. It reads as follows
: I Enoch Staples of Branford in the county of New Haven for the
consideration of thirty Pounds Lawfull Money Received to Digitized
by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. I59 my full satisfaction of the
Revd Mr John Foot of the Parish of New Cheshire in ye town of
Wallingford in said county do in open market sell, make over &
deliver unto the sd John Foot & his heirs & assignes a Negro Boy
Slave aged about Eight years named Prince — & I the said Enoch
Staples do by these presents bind myself & my heirs to warrand and
defend the said Negro Slave for the term of his natural life to him
the said John Foot & his heirs & assignes against all lawfull claims &
demands whatsoever— In witness whare of I have hereunto Set my
hand & Seal the 8th day of June anno Domini 1769. Signed Sealed &
delivered^ in Presence of Sam' Barker Mercy Barker ^ Enoch Staples
S. At a sale of negroes about this time in New Haven, a negro man
named "Lot" was sold for £135; a negro wench named "Hannah"
brought £100; boy named "Saul" £65, and another boy named
"Pharoh" brought £45. This black family was sold at low prices
according to the latest quotations in the slave market, which in
Connecticut seldom held open sales of the human chattels that were
imported "direct from Africa." Before the convention which was to
meet again on the loth of May, 1775, at Philadelphia, could be called
together, certain acts of aggression on the part of the English
officials at Boston had precipitated affairs and the whole country was
in a ferment. The Assembly of Connecticut was promptly called
together, and for the first time the town of Wallingford was
represented by two men from the Parish of New Cheshier. They were
"Mister" .Samuel Beach and Captain Thaddeus Cook. The former
magistrate, Colonel Ben Hall, had died in June, 1773, and Mr. Beach
was appointed a magistrate the year following. The first session of
this Assembly was held in Hartford early in May, and their
enactments were worded in language that could be understood by
the English government as meaning not only active reDigitized by
Microsoft®
 l6o HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. sistance to the orders that had
been issued by the "King in Council," but for entire separation from
the government of Great Britain. It reiterated its official embargo on
the sale of all English goods and products, and enjoined the greatest
activity upon the part of the committees in the several towns for the
exposure of every disaffected person, or the boycotting of all men
and women who should refuse to aid the authorities in resisting the
obnoxious measures of the English government. It promulgated
articles of war, and voted to raise six regiments of colony troops,
besides giving minute directions for the purchase of all sorts of
necessary articles for the clothing, housing and subsistence of the
troops, both at their homes and in the field. i It ordered the issuance
of bills of credit, and proper punishment for all who should refuse to
accept it in payment for army supplies. In short, the Connecticut
Assembly enacted every law it thought necessary to place the colony
on the defensive. It appointed Delegates to the Philadelphia
Convention, to the New York and New Jersey Colony conventions,
and then it adjourned to meet again whenever the Governor or the
Deputy-Governor should call it together. The New Cheshier
Representatives for Wallingford came home and reported. A town
meeting was held and committees of inspection appointed, Samuel
Beach being authorized for the Parish of New Cheshier. His duty was
to visit every inhabitant and make a note of everything that might be
available as war material. He took an account of all the surplus cloth
available for tents or clothing. The yarn the housewives had in stock
; the extra stockings they had already knitted ; the sheets and
pillow-cases they could do without ; the old or new rags that could
be turned into paper ; the kettles that might be spared, or
temporarily used. All the extra knives and forks were taken account
of ; and a full list made of every female, old or young, who could
spin the wool into the yarn needed, or who could weave the cloth, of
which large quantities would be required. iKach soldier was to be
provided witli Beer, or a "jill of rum" each "fatigue day" and when
they were not on active duty Rum and Beer was given out at the
discretion of the officers "as they shall see cause." Digitized by
Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. l6l The committees of inspection
took an account of all the surplus hay, straw and grain the farmers
had in their barns or stacked in the fields. The horses, cattle, hogs,
sheep and chickens were listed ; and in some instances bargained
for on the spot, to be delivered when paid for by the authorities. To
these preliminaries we may be sure there were a few people who
objected to giving in any account of their possessions, but they were
speedily called to order by the "Vigilance" Committee appointed at
the town meeting six months previous, and which was still attending
to the duties imposed upon it. As a rule, the Church of England
people, being accustomed to pray "for the King" did not take kindly
to preparations for resisting his authority, and in not a few instances
they were severely handled by the patriotic young men of the parish.
The inspection committees no doubt paid little attention to these
objectors and performed their work thoroughly, probably acting with
discretion, quietly getting the desired information. When they made
their reports to the selectmen, those town officials took care that the
knowledge they had obtained of the resources of the town and its
parishes should not be made public. What a light it would throw
upon the circumstances of the people living at that time in the parish
of New Cheshier, if we now had one of those reports of the
inspection committee! The Philadelphia convention of all the
Colonies, came together in May, 1775, and at this session the
"CONTINENTAL CONGRESS" became the supreme power for
directing the affairs of the colonies. While the plan of union was not
altogether satisfactory, it was sufficient to unite the people, and
every patriotic person at once became vigilant in the cause of
Liberty. Three or four times during the year the Connecticut
Assembly was called together. It enacted almost every law required
for the public defence, and some laws that might well have been left
off of the statute books. Tlie Governor and Committee of Safety
were empowered to act in the interim and the assembly finally
closed its sessions in December. In the meantime the Massachusetts
Colony, with its Committee of Safety, had organized a series of
operations against the enemy. Digitized by Microsoft®
 l62 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. and military officers in the
service of the various colonies marched into that state at the head of
their respective troops. These forces were sufficiently numerous,
twenty thousand in all, and fairly well equipped, but lacking a
supreme commander, they fought the battle of Bunker Hill under
circumstances which could not fail to lead to disaster. Then
Washington was appointed by Congress as commanderin-chief of all
the armies, and proceeded to Boston where he soon brought the
undisciplined troops into order, and efficiency, to be afterwards
adopted by Congress as "a Continental Army." "While this was going
on, the Congress at Philadelphia prepared their celebrated
"Declaration of Independence," to which is attached the signature of
Lyman Hall of Georgia, who was born in Wallingford, a nephew of
I^ev. Samuel Hall of New Cheshier parish. A short time before this
document was promulgated Congress had ordered the arrest "as a
virulent enemy of this country," of Governor William Franklin of New
Jersey (son of Benjamin Franklin, then the agent of the American
Colonies in Great Britain). Governor Franklin was sent under guard
to Governor Trumbull at Lebanon, where his parole was taken, and
then he was brought to Wallingford. He remained a prisoner under
surveillance here for some time, and was then allowed to reside in
Middletown. At this latter town he became very disagreeable ; wrote
disrespectful letters to the governor, was locked up without pens, ink
and paper and finally sent to Litchfield jail. On the 5th of July the
"Declaration" was read to the army at New York. That night, an
equestrian statue of King George, located at the Bowling Green, was
upset, and its nose chopped off by some of the "Sons of Liberty."
Having found out that the image of the King was made of lead, the
next night it disappeared entirely, to re-appear within two weeks in
several bulky pieces at the residence of General Oliver Wolcott in
Litchfield, ■Conn. The General, afterwards Governor, concealed the
statue in his orchard, and with an axe he secretly chopped it up ;
conveyed the lumps into his kitchen, where his sons, and some other
Tellable patriots moulded the melted lead into bullets. There is a
record in the Governor's handwriting of the number of cartDigitized
by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 163 ridges made by the patriotic
young women of Litchfield, whose names are mentioned, and whose
labor was cheerfully given, during many weeks ; aflfording them and
their lovers all the fun and frolicking of a corn husking. The
cartridges were made up in packages of a dozen each, and
altogether 42,088 bullets were returned in salutes to his majesty's
soldiers, frequently accompanied by remarks informing the enemy
what a good king he was to furnish his colonies with so much
ammunition I We believe the young people of New Cheshier parish
enjoyed themselves equally well in patriotic diversions. There were
spinning bees, and knitting contests ; and there is no doubt a variety
of sports were indulged in which resulted in sending needed sup
plies to the army, and there is every evidence to show that not until
this year was the "turret" of the parish church sufficiently
strengthened to bear the strain of the 450 pound bell which was
"voted" and perhaps purchased two years before. On the 2 1st of
January, 1777, a town meeting was held at which it was voted to
supply "Tents" and other "Utensills for the army," and the selectmen
were instructed to obtain whatever might be desirable for the use of
the soldiers that had gone into the army. At this meeting it was also
"Voted — that all Regular Prisoners that shall be stationed in Town :
:that the Famelys where they are kept :shall not allow them to goe
about or abroad without License from the Heads of said Familys." To
this vote is added "A true Record. Test. Caleb Hall Town Clerk."
There was a special meeting held on the 31st day of March, A. D.,
1777, of the town of Wallingford, which the record says: "was
regularly convened in the Parish of New Cheshier." So far as we
know, this was the first time in the history of the village that the
Wallingford and Meriden people had been obliged to come over here
to attend a town meeting ; or be "fyned" the usual sum for non-
attendance. It was voted that the town would give a bounty to the
soldiers already in the army, and they "Voted that Each Souldier that
Engage in the continental service for the Quota of Walingford Shall
be paid by the Town the Sum of five pounds Lawful money Digitized
by Microsoft®
 164 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. by the Year for three years
unless Sooner Discharged : :to be paid the Beginning of each year."
A committee was appointed to take care of the "soldiers famileys,"
and a pest-house was provided for the victims of smallpox then
prevalent both in the army and at home. Taxes were laid to meet the
necessary expense of these town votes. At another meeting held in
Wallingford soon after this one, it was "Voted That the Families of all
those who are Convicted of Toreism or Inimical to the States of
America and the Heads of all the Familys that have absconded to
Lord How, they and their Family shall be removed to Lord How. "It
was also "Voted that the selectmen of the Town Secure the Estates
of all those persons that are Inimical to the states." In Wallingford
and in the Parish of New Cheshier there were some of these people.
Abiathar Camp, the Church of England preacher, was warned out of
town by vote, and the selectmen were instructed to see that "Camp
Abiathar Imediately depart said town." Zachariah Ives (father of Rev.
Reuben Ives), was under surveillance and there is exhibited a pass
permitting him to go to Branford but to "return within eight days
under penalty." James Benham said he was induced by designing
men to enter the British service. He was pardoned on condition of
taking the Oath of Fidelity, and was discharged after paying the
costs of capturing and imprisoning him. Then the Oath of Fidelity
was administered to all the male inhabitants of the town and its
parishes, and those who evaded taking it were made very
uncomfortable. On the 1st of October, 1777, the town "voted to
comply with the order of the Governor and council providing
cloathing, stockings, slioes, etc.," for the quota of soldiers in the
Continental Army belonging to the town and a committee was
appointed for the purpose. Jeremiah Atwater declined to serve.
Some of the items in the town accounts show that small sums of
money were paid to sundry widow women who knitted stockings for
the soldiers and other sums are mentioned for woolen yarn
purchased for the "use of the town, to be improved for the soldiers."
Leather was bought for a similar purpose. Digitized by Microsoft®
 HISTORY OF CHESHIRE. 165 At the inception of this war
the assembly enacted the "Lawful money" should be gold reckoned
at six shillings eight pence per ounce of silver. When they contracted
for war materials the following prices prevailed : Gun barrels, for the
troops, each £1.04.00 Gun locks, for the troops, each £1.00.00 Gun
stocks, for the troops, each £0.06.06 Bayonets, for the troops, each
£0.06.00 Cartrich boxes, for the troops, each £0.01.00 Ramrods, for
the troops, each £0.01.00 Leathern belts and hangers, for the
troops, each £0.01.06 Total £3.00.00 Or about $10.00 of present
money for an outfit. Minute directions were given as to the
construction of those articles. The length of gun barrels, the bore,
the locks, stocks, ramrods, etc., were to be made as ordered in the
schedules given out. The same articles when sold by the makers "to
particular persons" (that is at retail), cost about one-third more.
Afterwards a contract was entered into for "gun locks in quanities of
fifty at ten shillings each, (each gun lock to have the name of the
maker stamped upon it), and perhaps the prices were also reduced
upon gun barrels, stocks, etc. A considerable bounty was offered by
the Assembly to all who manufactured "good" gun barrels, gun
locks, bayonets, cannon, and other war materials, the state
establishing its own powder mills and offering a bounty for sulphur
and saltpeter. Noncommissioned officers' swords were sold for 85
cents, while a bayonet cost $1.00 in our money. A drum with sticks
and belt sold for $4.35. A fife for the army cost 45 cents ; axes for
the army cost 80 cents ; a large copper kettle $6.00 ; brass kettles
$3.50 ; large iron kettles $3.00 ; small iron kettles $2.00 ; fry pans
40 cents ; knives 20 cents each ; skillets 60 cents. A "knappsech" for
the army cost 80 cents; an army blanket was $1.50; a large
homespun blanket cost $2.50; a yard of "blanketing cloath" was
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