Back in 2013 we visited the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley and stopped to look at the Workers’ Institute building. Knowing nothing of its history, I went into the front office and started talking to one of the volunteers, comparing the facilities of a modern office to those from the pre-war years. Looking back it seems remarkable that we never once talked about how the building came to exist!
I was about to leave and noticed a picture of a lady. “Who’s that?” I asked, at which point a whole new conversation started. The lady in the picture was Mary MacArthur, and I listened with interest to the story of the Women Chainmakers’ strike in 1910.
As somebody who had spent most of the last 50-ish years living in the area, I wondered how could I not know about such an important piece of social history, both at a local and national level? And shortly after that I started to think about how it would be good to bring their story alive somehow.
The breakthrough came a few years later; partly because I became involved with In Sound Company community choir, which offered the perfect way to present the story in song, and partly because the COVID lockdowns gave me time to start researching and planning it.
And so “The Chainmaking Women of the Black Country” was born. With the help of Jude Moreland and Billy Spakemon, the arrangement was fine-tuned and the lyrics of the second verse were changed to use Black Country dialect.
The very first performance was actually during a concert in Nottingham, as guests of another choir. Aware that the audience wouldn’t even know much about the Black Country, let alone the Women Chainmakers, I created a video to play alongside the song to give them more information. This combination proved to be extremely successful.
Fast forward to 2025, and the arrangement is expanded, the video updated and extended, and the choir has performed it locally. The performance was well-received, with the audience appreciating the blend of historical context and live music. The choir's harmonies, combined with the powerful lyrics and music, created a unique experience that brought the story of the Women Chainmakers to life.
The latest version is a mix of the accompaniment created in my studio together with the vocals of the choir singing it live. I hope you like listening to it as much as I enjoyed creating it!
Richard
The Black Country is an area within the West Midlands County of the UK. The origins of the name and the precise geography are unclear but possibly relate to a coal seam under the region. In modern times, it is generally considered to approximate to the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall, and the City of Wolverhampton, although it continues to be disputed.
It is considered to be one of the birthplaces of the Industrial Revolution. The raw materials necessary for production were in abundance here, particularly coal and iron ore, and also clay, limestone, and sand. The area became one of the most heavily industrialised parts of the UK, with new businesses including coke works, ironworks, glassworks, brickworks, steelworks, and more.
A commonly-used description of the Black Country is “black by day, red by night” – ‘black’ due to the high volume of soot and pollution across the whole area, and ‘red’ due to the fires burning in the enormous number of forges and furnaces that lit up the night sky.
You can read more information about the Black Country at Wikipedia
During the Industrial Revolution many new businesses emerged. One of those was manufacturing iron chain in many sizes; possibly the most famous was the anchor and chain for RMS Titanic. The majority of the production was in and around the town of Cradley Heath, now part of the metropolitan borough of Sandwell in the West Midlands.
Factories were established to make the larger sizes of chain and which mostly employed men. The smaller, lighter sizes were produced by women and children, mostly in dreadful conditions in small outbuildings behind their homes. Hot, dirty, and dangerous work that affected their health.
Typically the women worked 11 or more hours per day, for which they were paid up to one shilling (5 pence in modern British money.) They were also expected to run their households, including cleaning, shopping, cooking, washing, ironing, etc.
After the government established the Trade Boards in 1909 they were tasked with reviewing working conditions in the ‘sweated industries’, a collective term for various businesses like chainmaking. The following year, the Chain Trade Board published its recommendations, which would double the women’s pay. However, the business owners rejected the proposal.
Mary MacArthur, herself a member of the Chain Trade Board representing the workers, also founder of the National Federation of Women Workers, became frustrated by the employers' stubbornness. She proposed that the women should go on strike to secure a better deal. With her support, the women embraced the approach, slowly at first, but increasing until about 850 women had ceased work.
The strike continued for 10 weeks. The women drew up a ‘white list’ which all of the employers were required to sign, committing them to the new pay rates. As a testament to the power of collective action, all of the women remained on strike until every employer had signed the list.
See the Additional references section for more information about the Women Chainmakers, their lives, Mary MacArthur, and the strike.
This is our country, black from the soot
That covers the buildings from high up above.
Cradle of industry, shaped by our hands,
Forging an existence in the promised land.
Chorus:
We rise at dawn ev'ry day,
Eleven hours for the pittance they pay.
Toiling in sweated industry,
The Chainmaking Women of the Black Country.
Conditions bin wretched, ‘otter than ‘ell,
'ommerin' iron into chains foggers sell.
Young ‘uns and babbies as reisty as coal,
And few on we ‘ull see the day when we bin owd.
Chorus:
We rise at dawn ev'ry day,
Eleven hours for the pittance they pay.
Raising our families in poverty,
The Chainmaking Women of the Black Country.
The trade board showed us how we had a choice,
And with Mary we had found a pow'rful voice.
Marches, meetings, banners raised,
Together we stand, ev’ry woman out loud.
The strike never faltered, ten weeks our crusade,
Until all the bosses had signed the mandate.
Triumphant in victory,
This bundle of sticks that turned into a tree.
We still remember the time,
How the women fought and held to the line.
Forever recorded in history,
The ground-breaking women of the black Black Country.
Chorus:
We rise at dawn ev'ry day,
Eleven hours for the pittance they pay.
This is our story, our destiny,
The Chainmaking Women of the Black Country
The Chainmaking Women of the Black Country
Concept, Music, Lyrics
Richard Newhall
Arrangement
Richard Newhall, Judith Moreland
Dialect Consultant
Billy Spakemon
Performed by
In Sound Company community choir
Musical Director
Judith Moreland
Bass Guitar
Jim Sutton
Mastering
Patrick Lester-Rourke at Forge Mastering Studios
Produced by
Richard Newhall
Richard has enjoyed the pleasure of making music for as long as he can remember. A multi-instrumentalist and composer, he was a member of several amateur groups, but the demands of a successful career in IT made it increasingly difficult to participate.
During the 1990s he developed a keen interest in music technology and since then has invested time and energy into developing his skills to produce both his own and other people's work.
He is now a leading member of In Sound Company and Gig Caritas, and uses his time to catch up on those 'lost years'. This is the third of his songs to be performed in concert by ISC, including one which was recorded as part of their tenth anniversary celebrations.
Born and raised in London, Judith (Jude) trained at the Royal Academy of Music and Goldsmiths College. She taught music in London schools for a number of years before moving to the West Midlands. Here she taught piano and voice and was an accompanist, voice teacher and choral coach for Dudley Performing Arts and subsequently Head of Vocal Studies. She was Sing Up leader for Dudley, delivering massed singing projects and staff in-service training across the borough. Before retiring from teaching in 2018, Jude spent four years back in the classroom as a specialist primary school music teacher.
Jude has been a keen choral singer since her student days. She has performed as a soloist in a variety of choral and music theatre works and as a covers band vocalist in London and the Midlands. She currently sings with the Birmingham Bach choir and is the musical director of In Sound Company Community choir in Stourbridge
In Sound Company is a community choir based in Stourbridge in the West Midlands. Formed in 2012 with only 19 singers, the choir has since increased to around 80 members, singing a wide range of musical styles under the direction of their conductor Jude Moreland.
Since its first performance as part of the celebrations for the 2012 Olympic Torch Relay in Birmingham, In Sound Company has put on regular concerts, often raising money for local charities, and has taken part in singing workshops, festivals and tours. The choir also enjoys performing in partnership with local charity fund-raising arts organisation Gig Caritas.
In Sound Company rehearses on Monday evenings during term-time and is always happy to welcome new members. No auditions are required to join the choir.
If you are interested in joining, please contact us here.