Samuel Plimsoll, the ‘Sailors’ Friend’

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Missed in History Class

Episode Title: Samuel Plimsoll, the ‘Sailors’ Friend’
Hosts: Holly Fry & Tracy V. Wilson
Date: August 5, 2026

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Holly and Tracy explore the remarkable life and legacy of Samuel Plimsoll, a 19th-century English social reformer celebrated for his relentless advocacy for seafarers’ safety and labor rights. The hosts trace Plimsoll’s journey from childhood hardship to national hero, focusing on his crusade to protect sailors from unsafe working conditions and the unscrupulous shipping industry. The episode paints Plimsoll as a passionate, principled figure whose compassion drove significant legislative reforms, most notably the introduction of the Plimsoll Line on ships.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

Early Life, Social Awareness, and Compassion

• Childhood Background
  • Born February 10, 1824, in Bristol, England, one of 13 children (several died in childhood); moved often due to family circumstances ([04:20]).
  • "He was Thomas and Priscilla's seventh child and was described in one writing about him as, 'an old head on young shoulders.'" – Tracy ([04:20])
• Early Activism
  • As a teenager, wrote a pamphlet proposing care for orphans outside the workhouse, likely influenced by Oliver Twist ([05:07]).
• Early Hardship
  • After his father’s death, 16-year-old Samuel became head of the family, hustling for odd jobs and clerking to support his mother and siblings ([06:00]).
• Lifelong Empathy
  • Experiences with poverty and living in a charity house shaped his later compassion:

    "He wrote about the way people with very little formed community and took care of one another with shared resources and with kindness." – Tracy ([09:54])

Inventions & Business Challenges

• Inventive Spirit
  • Showcased practical inventions, like an umbrella designed to attach to a walking stick, at the 1851 Great Exposition ([07:06]).
  • "Samuel specialized in simple, logical solutions that someone else should have thought of before." – Biographer Nicolette Jones ([07:06])
• Coal Industry Ventures and Setbacks
  • Saw success through business connections, but a risky railway investment led to bankruptcy, forcing him into poverty before rebuilding his fortunes ([08:56]-[11:02]).
• Patents
  • Invented a coal drop to efficiently empty wagons, reducing breakage ([11:02]).

Acts of Public Service & Personal Character

• Disaster Relief & Advocacy
  • Responded to mining disasters by raising substantial funds for victims’ families and recommending safety improvements ([08:09], [17:00]).
  • Secured donations from figures like Queen Victoria ([18:04]).
• Moral Conviction
  • Known for sticking to principle, sometimes to his detriment:

    "In 1856, when Plimsoll was 32, he got into a bit of legal trouble when he was arrested for assault..." – Holly ([14:43])

  • The incident involved a dispute with a tollkeeper, highlighting his stubborn sense of justice ([14:43]-[16:47]).

Turning Point: Maritime Reform

• Personal Experience at Sea
  • A harrowing 1864 overnight voyage and witnessing shipwrecks catalyzed his maritime activism ([19:03]):

    "What was the difference between me and these poor drowned sailors?... my wife and I have regarded everything we possess as held in trust for the sailor..." – Samuel Plimsoll in a later speech ([19:03])

• Research & Confronting Corruption
  • Discovered dangerous industry practices: overloading, poor maintenance, insurance fraud, and minimal safety equipment ([20:36]).
• Legal and Social Obstacles
  • Called out that existing legal constraints (libel laws) prevented real accountability ([21:37]):

    "But the law of libel, though very loose in some respects, is very tight in others, and general statements somehow made no more impression on the public mind than the blow of a baby's hand on a feather pillow." – Quoted by Tracy ([21:37])

Political Career & Advocacy

• Parliamentary Work
  • After an initial loss, won Parliament seat for Derby in 1867 ([23:33]).
  • Championed bills for sailor safety, including marking sides of ships for maximum loading—the “Plimsoll Line”—though initially unsuccessful ([23:33], [24:36]).
• Scathing Criticism and “Coffin Ships”
  • 1873: Published Our Seamen: An Appeal, exposing the industry’s preventable deaths ([24:36]).

    "Everybody knows that there is a great loss of life on our coasts annually and nearly everybody deplores it..." – Plimsoll ([25:09]) "...a great number of ships are regularly sent to sea in such rotten and otherwise ill provided state..." – Plimsoll ([25:09])

Backlash, Libel Suits, and Breakthrough

• Legal Pushback and Support
  • Faced multiple libel suits from shipowners; high-profile cases failed, and public/sailor support soared ([28:55]).
  • Benjamin Disraeli dubbed his supporters “Plimsolites” ([30:05]).
• Plimsoll Line and Legislative Success
  • 1876 Merchant Shipping Act mandated the Plimsoll Line and gave authorities power to inspect ships ([31:13]).
  • Demonstrable improvement in maritime safety ([31:13]):

    "In the year 1871, the likelihood of loss of life at sea was 1 in 75. In 1890, it was one in 111." – Holly ([31:13])

Later Life, Legacy, and International Impact

• Personal Trials
  • Experienced tragedy with his first wife's (Eliza) illness and death, later remarried Harriet Wade (27 years his junior), continuing his activism ([32:02]-[33:52]).
• Continued Advocacy
  • Became honorary president of the National Amalgamated Sailors and Firemen's Union and pushed for reforms in humane animal transport ([33:52]-[34:37]).
• Attempt to Bridge Nations
  • In 1896, toured the U.S. advocating for less biased history education about Britain, charming skeptics and successfully lobbying for removal of anti-British textbooks ([34:37]-[35:55]).

    "A great big heart has Mr. Plimsoll—a heart that beats for all humanity. You know this as soon as you have seen the kindly, benevolent way in which he beams through his glasses at all the world." – Atchison Daily Globe ([35:55])

• Death and Commemoration
  • Passed away June 3, 1898, at age 74, mourned by the maritime community ([36:48]-[37:18]).

    "By Samuel Plimsoll's death we lose a bold champion of individual rights and a true and honest man who, without special gifts or genius, achieved a remarkable success by sincerity and courage." – Birmingham Gazette ([37:18])

  • The Plimsoll Line became internationally regulated by 1930 ([37:45]).

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Samuel Plimsoll’s Motivating Epiphany:

  "I mingled my tears with hers because I was thinking of those other women who had also spent a sleepless night and who would never see their husbands again. ...I resolved deep down in my heart to devote myself to this work." ([19:03] – Plimsoll, as quoted by Tracy)

• On the Impact of General Statements vs. Action:

  "General statements alone were safe, and if you are to do any good in a case where vested interests are so directly involved, you must come to very close quarters indeed." ([21:37] – Tracy quoting Alexander H. Japp)

• Plimsoll’s Call to Action from Our Seamen:

  "Everybody knows that there is a great loss of life on our coasts annually and nearly everybody deplores it ...no long time would elapse before means would be taken to secure this end." ([25:09] – Holly quoting Plimsoll)

• On Reputation and Legacy:

  "By Samuel Plimsoll's death, we lose a bold champion of individual rights and a true and honest man who, without special gifts or genius, achieved a remarkable success by sincerity and courage." ([37:18] – Holly quoting the Birmingham Gazette)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Samuel Plimsoll’s Early Life & Family Background – [04:20]
• First Acts of Activism (Teen Pamphlet) – [05:07]
• Coal Business & Inventions – [07:06], [08:56]
• Disaster Relief (Mining Accidents and Fundraising) – [08:09], [17:00], [18:04]
• Turning Point: Shipwrecks and Maritime Reform – [19:03]
• Undercover Research into Shipping Industry – [20:36]
• Legal Barriers to Reform (Libel Laws) – [21:37]
• Entry into Parliament & Early Efforts – [23:33]
• Publication of Our Seamen, Popularizing “Coffin Ships” – [24:36]-[25:09]
• Libel Suits and Legislative Battle – [28:55]
• Passage and Impact of the Merchant Shipping Act / Plimsoll Line – [31:13]
• Later Life, Activism Abroad, and Death – [32:02]-[37:18]
• International Regulation of Load Lines – [37:45]

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Tone & Language

• Conversational, warm, and witty—Holly and Tracy balance empathy for tragedy with admiration for Plimsoll’s tireless advocacy.
• Direct quotes from Plimsoll, contemporary biographies, and newspapers convey the gravity of his work and its impact.
• Occasional lighthearted asides (such as the Waterloo Bridge tollkeeper story) provide humor and humanity.

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Conclusion

This episode offers an engaging, thorough recounting of Samuel Plimsoll’s life, emphasizing his steadfast pursuit of justice for sailors and the broader working class. Through practical reforms, personal sacrifice, and unwavering moral conviction, Plimsoll proved that persistent, sincere advocacy can leave a lasting mark—ensuring safer seas for generations to come.

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For further reference, check the show notes and source materials at missedinhistory.com.

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

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[Holly Fry]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartradio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Holly Fry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And I'm Tracy V. Wilson.

[Holly Fry]

I mentioned this in our Sneakers episode, so it's not gonna be any surprise that we're doing this. We also, it came up in another one that was definitely gonna happen. Today is Samuel Plimsoll day at last. And when I looked up Samuel Plimsoll while I was working on the sneaker episode, because it referenced a part of his life's work that we will talk about today, I found out that he seemed to be a pretty great guy. He was an advocate for better working conditions for sailors and an advocate for better conditions for a lot of things. A lot of write ups and newspaper mentions about him from his own time. Call him an agitator because of this, because he was not shy about telling people they were really doing it wrong when it came to taking care of others. So it's just a perfect topic for stuff you missed in history class. Listen, there's always a possibility when you're working on one of these that the person that you're talking about had some sort of secret ugliness in the dark corners of his life. But if he did, I sure did not find it. Which was a huge relief. Cause often secret racism. I did not encounter any such stories about Samuel Plimsoll.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It so often shows up so late in the process.

[Holly Fry]

Yes.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That it's like, well, now I have to take a totally different direction with this episode.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah. Or we have to have this big caveat about. Yeah. Seemed like.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Seemed like it was great.

[Holly Fry]

Honestly wanted to make the world a better place.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And then it took a turn. So. Samuel Plimsoll was born on February 10, 1824, in Bristol, England, which is in the southwest part of the country, about 100 miles west of London. The River Avon runs through the center of Bristol and out the nearby Bristol Channel that connects to the Atlantic Ocean. His father, Thomas Plimsoll, was an excise man, and his mother was Priscilla Willing Plimsoll, and her father had been a shipwright. The family was large. Samuel had 12 siblings, although several of them died in childhood. He was Thomas and Priscilla's seventh child and was described in one writing about him as, quote, an old head on young shoulders.

[Holly Fry]

When Samuel was three, the family moved to the town of Penrith in Cumberland. They moved again when he was 14 to Sheff Field. Samuel's activist proclivities evidenced themselves very early on in his life. When he was a young teenager, he wrote a pamphlet for social reform while still in school titled A Plan to have Fatherless and Motherless Children Cared For Instead of being Consigned to the Workhouse. Basically, he didn't want kids to have to go through drudgery just because they had already had a family tragedy. And this little pamphlet might have been inspired in part by the serialization of Oliver Twist, which was published monthly in the magazine Bentley's miscellany starting in 1837. There's been a lot of speculation that he read that and was very moved to try to make an effort to create better conditions for orphans.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

When Thomas died, the family fell into poverty. And that, of course, had a significant impact on Samuel, who was 16 at the time of his father's death. Although he was still just a kid, he was the oldest son at home, and that meant he was responsible for the family's welfare and he had to take care of his mother and his five younger siblings. Initially, he was kind of hustling to make ends meet by managing a widow's pension that his mother received, and that included saving a little bit on the side so that he could buy hair pelts and send them to his older brother in London to resell for a price profit. Then Samuel left school to start working as a lawyer's clerk. He moved on to a clerking position at the Pond Street Brewery a couple of years later. He also wrote speeches for Thomas Burks, who was a partner in the brewery and also the mayor of Sheffield. But although he was not attending regular school, he knew he had to get a complete education, and he started going to night classes at the People's College of Sheffield after it opened in 1842.

[Holly Fry]

What would a mid 19th century English episode be without the inclusion of the London Great Exposition of 1851? I feel like it's a recurrent character on stuff you missed in history class, and that's fine by me. Plimsoll worked to ensure that Sheffield was well represented there at that Expo. He also got to show off several of his own inventions there. Biographer Nicolette Jones, writing in 2006, put Samuel Plimsoll's inventive tendencies this way. Quote, Samuel specialized in simple, logical solutions that someone else should have thought of before. One that was on display at the Expo was an umbrella that had no handle. It was designed to attach to a walking stick.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That somehow reminds me of the tents that are made by things that connect to people's hiking poles. Yeah. Just cutting down on the amount of stuff that you gotta carry around. That seemed to be a lot of

[Holly Fry]

his inventions were very like, why don't we just simplify this a little bit? Yeah, great.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

On December 20, 1851, the Warrenvale Colliery at Swinton, Yorkshire, had an explosion. That was at 6:55am 51 people died, and roughly half of them were teenagers, really, on the younger side of their teen years. While an investigation looked into the cause of this blast, Plimsoll saw a more immediate need, which was help for the survivors and the families who were dealing with this loss. Just as the pamphlet he wrote as a teenager had shown, he thought there were better ways to help orphaned children than to put them in a workhouse. And he started a fund to ensure that these children and widows who were left behind would have their needs met. As they grieved and as they tried to rebuild their lives.

[Holly Fry]

Over the course of the next decade, Plimsoll carefully built up his finances. But he also used his energies to help people in his community. In fact, he later said, quote, I was desirous of wealth as a condition of devoting myself to public service. Through the connections that he made through working with Thomas Burks, he was able to become a coal merchant, working with railway companies to secure transport deals. And he moved to London in 1853 to support this new career. This was a departure from the way that coal had been transported for centuries, which was, of course, largely by sea and then sometimes by horse cart. He left his job at the brewery and he invested in the Great Northern Railway as part of this business move. And that was a bad idea. He trusted the wrong people. And this investment led to bankruptcy because he kind of got cheated out of that investment. But he did still believe in the idea of rail transport.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

So for coal, because of his financial problems, he had to live in a charity house in London. He'd later describe feeling ashamed of being in such a position, but that the months that he lived alongside the city's poorest residents gave him a valuable education about compassion and care. He wrote about the way people with very little formed community and took care of one another with shared resources and with kindness. This experience gave him an even deeper resolve to help people who were in need, and that became the guiding principle of his life. He started working as a coal merchant again, building up a clientele by asking satisfied customers to tell their friends about him. As he built up his financial reserves. He also purchased some property along the planned route of a new underground railway. He knew that the railway company would have to purchase these properties. Even though it seemed like a safe bet, this was still risky because he had to borrow money for a lot of these purchases. But this time, the investment paid off and Plimsoll made a lot of money.

[Holly Fry]

He also patented an invention for the coal industry as he was getting back on his feet financially. It was a coal drop that enabled workers to empty out wagons without damaging the coal. Prior to this, a lot of this would end up broken, and that meant losses for the company, and it also meant more work for the laborer. Plimsoll's invention improved his own coal business. It helped him continue to grow his fortune, and it also became fairly standard in the industry.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Coming up, we'll talk about Samuel Plimsoll's one arrest. But first, we will pause for a sponsor break.

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Samuel Plimsoll very clearly had a well developed sense of right and wrong from a young age. But that did cause problems on occasion. In 1856, when Plimsoll was 32, he got into a bit of legal trouble when he was arrested for Assau. This had occurred late in the evening on Waterloo Bridge where Samuel and a friend were crossing. It was something that they had to pay a toll of a half penny to cross. Plimsoll's friend had paid a penny covering them both. But while the friend walked through the turnstile, Plimsoul walked around it and proceeded on the carriageway instead of the footpath. It was kind of like they were walking side by side and he didn't want to stop their conversation to get in single file line. He just kept going. It's a little bit unclear because it seems like because it was late and the bridge was quiet, he just wanted to, like I said, maintain his side by side walking with his friend rather than having to shift their arrangement. But the toll keeper did not enjoy this. He yelled at Plimsoll and said he had to come back and walk through the turnstile. Plimsoul refused to do it, insisting that the toll had been paid. He was entitled to cross that bridge however he pleased. It is unclear what the nature of the assault was as this conflict escalated. But after he was released on bail, Samuel Plimsoll returned to the bridge, paid a half penny and asked the toll keeper to show him the legal documentation that said that he could not cross the bridge on the carriageway. He knew that no such law could be produced. Uh, and so it was kind of just his way to make his point and be a little bit spiteful. Three days later, though, Plimsoul was before a judge arguing that he had paid for access to the bridge and that the toll keeper had been insolent. This case did not go Plim soul's way. He was fined three pounds. But I really like that story.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I like it too. Uh, it's so funny to me, like, the toll keeper's insolence was not a legal matter, really.

[Holly Fry]

He was a jerk. So I wasn't gonna go back. I paid my thing. I didn't do anything wrong. There's no law. There's not even a sign that says, I have to do it this way. Yeah, why do I have to pay three pounds?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

A horrible tragedy played out in Womwell, South Yorkshire. On February 19, 1857, a colliery that sat between Womwell and the nearby village of Ellisgarh had a catastrophic explosion. There were two hundred and twenty people in the mine when this explosion happened, and one hundred and eighty nine of them were killed, as well as all of the horses. Some of the workers who died were experienced miners in their 50s, but some of them were children as young as 10 years old. According to the Northern Mine Research Society, 90 women were widowed that day and 220 children were orphaned. Once again, Plimsoll led the relief effort and raised more than 10,000 pounds to help the families and to keep people out of workhouses. In addition to raising money, he also did his own analysis of the conditions in the mines and made recommendations regarding a number of early warning safety measures that could be adopted. It's not clear if any of these were ever used.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, his fundraising got really, really famous. Like, there are a lot of very famous people that are noted as having donated to this fund, in particular, including Queen Victoria. Later, in 1857, Plimsoll married Eliza Ann Realton on October 1. And this was a match that appeared to be very good, both emotionally, they were very close and a great match for each other, but also situationally, because Eliza was Samuel's best friend, his partner in his decisions and a tireless supporter of his work and because her stepfather was a partner in a coal mining company. He made a lot of good business connections with this marriage. Eliza and Samuel wanted children, but they had difficulty. After seven years of marriage, they finally had a baby girl, but she died soon after she was born. Later they adopted Samuel's great niece, Nellie, after her father died, and by all accounts, they doted on her.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1864, Plimsoll had an experience while he was a passenger on a steamer that really shifted the trajectory of his life. It gave him a passion for labor activism. He was on this steamer overnight in an intense storm. The next day, as they traveled north along the coast of Yorkshire from Flamebrough Head to the River Tees, he saw four shipwrecks. He noticed that while these ships had been lost in the storm the night before, a lot of them looked old and rotted out. And he realized that a lot of lost their lives simply because they had been sent out on poorly maintained vessels. When he arrived home late at the dock, his wife was there and obviously very worried, and she greeted him tearfully and was just grateful that he had made it home. He later recounted that moment in a speech saying, quote, I mingled my tears with hers because I was thinking of those other women who had also spent a sleepless night and who would never see their husbands again. I was thinking of good and brave men who would never return home. And I resolved deep down in my heart to devote myself to this work. What was the difference between me and these poor drowned sailors? He also stated that since that moment, quote, my wife and I have regarded everything we possess as held in trust for the sailor. If it is necessary, we will spend it for them as freely as our sailors would shed their blood for their country if we got into trouble.

[Holly Fry]

Witnessing so much needless devastation really got Samuel Plimsoll fired up, and he started his own investigation into maritime business. He met with a lot of ship owners, and while there were definitely many of them who were conscientious and were happy to meet and speak with him about their work, there were also a lot of them who were really shady, and they were happy to cut corners in every single if it meant that they could make more money, it actually benefited these unscrupulous operators to let their ships go without maintenance and to overload their cargo holds to a dangerous degree. They would take out insurance policies on their ships, run them really hard without spending any money on upkeep, and then collect their insurance payouts when the ships inevitably fell apart. Additionally, most merchant ships only carried two lifebuoys on board, two because they were expensive, and some captains apparently said that having more of them would make their ships look weak.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Now, it was not like Samuel Plimsoll was the first person ever to discover this problem. Just the poorer conditions of the ships and the overweight loads should have gained condemnation. But then you add in the insurance scam aspect of all of it, that makes it seem unconscionable. People should have seen this previously, and people did know all about it. But there was a tricky aspect to talking about and calling out these problems. The book Good Men and Biographies of Workers in the Fields of Beneficence and Benevolence, written by Alexander H. Jap in 1890, explains the legal issue that held people back with this quote. The tricks of the trade of ship owning were very well known before Mr. Plimsoll emerged prominently into public view. The Lifeboat Journal had frequently dwelt on them and exposed them, and even the reports of the Board of Trade had acknowledged the existence of the evil. Newspapers of a more independent turn had often made their readers shudder by suggestions of horrors that could not be detailed. But the law of libel, though very loose in some respects, is very tight in others, and general statements somehow made no more impression on the public mind than the blow of a baby's hand on a feather pillow. It seems to yield easily to the impact, but no lasting impression is produced. General statements alone were safe, and if you are to do any good in a case where vested interests are so directly involved, you must come to very close quarters indeed. So unless papers and reports named names and gave specific details, nothing was really going to have enough impact. But because of libel laws, if a newspaper or magazine actually did that, it would almost certainly be put out of business.

[Holly Fry]

Plimsoll, armed with the information that he had gathered, dedicated his life to making a change. And that meant running for a seat in Parliament. In 1865, he ran to be the representative of the constituency of Darby, but he did not win. He didn't give up, though. He ran again in 1867, and that time he won and became a member of the House of Commons in 186068 at the age of 44. His early efforts in the chamber were in defense of trade unions, although his speech skills were considered quite poor at that point, and he didn't have a huge impact with them. He started really advocating for legislation that would benefit sailors in 1870. One of his proposals was marking the side of a ship to denote the maximum load level. This wasn't a new idea, but it had never been really pushed very hard, and Plimsoll decided he would do it. He put forth a bill for a safe load line and regular ship inspections in 1871, but it failed.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In 1873, Plimsoll published a scathing criticism of the state of the maritime business, noting that a lot of sailors were working on ships that were barely seaworthy and precariously dangerous. Plimsoll pointed out in this writing that often these ships had huge insurance policies, so the owners knew that if they fell apart at sea they would be well compensated, but they didn't have any financial protections in place for the sailors or their families. He referred to these boats as coffin ships.

[Holly Fry]

That book, which has the somewhat less than ideal title of Our seamen in appeal, opens with, quote, Everybody knows that there is a great loss of life on our coasts annually and nearly everybody deplores it. I am sure that if the English public equally knew how much of this loss is preventable and the means of preventing it, no long time would elapse before means would be taken to secure this end. It is with the view of giving this information so as to enable each person who reads these pages to pronounce with decision upon this question that this pamphlet is submitted to the public. He goes on later to state, quote, a great number of ships are regularly sent to sea in such rotten and otherwise ill provided state that they can only reach their destination through fine weather and a large number are so overloaded that it is nearly impossible for them to also reach their destination if the voyage is at all rough.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This whole writing is supported by receipts. Plimsoll reprints government reports in his book, calling attention to details that make it clear that these problems were known early on. He wrote, quote, the next statement is made by no less an authority than the government itself. For the page you see before you is part of the annual report of the Board of Trade and I beg your attention to the words which I have underlined. The section with the underlined text in the report read, quote, In 1868 there were 131 wrecks and casualties, two smacks and other fishing vessels. Excluding these 131 fishing vessels, it will be seen that the number of vessels employed in the regular carrying trade that have suffered from wreck or casualty during the year is 2000. If this number is again subdivided, it will be found that about half of it is represented by the unseaworthy, overladen or ill found vessels of the collier class chiefly employed in the coasting trade for the six years ending 1868, the number is more than half.

[Holly Fry]

So for clarity, half of the shipwrecks that happened that were recorded by the government were because the boats were not up to the task. And if you're hearing all of this and you think, wow, it sure is odd that everybody knew that the shipping industry had problems, but no one was doing anything about it before this. So did a lot of Plimsoll's contemporaries. In the book about benevolent men by Japp that we mentioned earlier, which was written while Plimsoul was still alive, the author also mentions the various reports that had been made about shipping's dangers to workers and then stated, quote, it seems odd that a government which could year after year, make such records as that did not bestir itself to end the evil or to lessen it materially. Very odd that agitation for change should be left to a private member of Parliament who had to undergo no end of toil, anxiety, loss, and even of opposition, and worse still, positive abuse from many quarters. Mr. Plimsoll was assailed on all sides by ship owners and their friends or agents.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Plimsoll became a hero to sailors everywhere almost instantly. While his detractors in Parliament pointed out that he had no experience as a sailor or a ship owner himself, actual sailors and ship owners who ran above board operations were glad to have somebody in the government advocating for better practices. The same year his book was published, the Walter Hood Co. Shipyard named one of their new merchant sailing ships the Samuel Plimsoll.

[Holly Fry]

All of this led to legal trouble for Plimsoll because a lot of people were really angry that he was calling out their shifty business practices. We're going to get into all of that after we hear from the sponsors that keep stuff you missed in history class going. As the issue of shipping reform got a lot more attention through Plimsoll's work, he was sued for libel by a dozen different ship owners. But the most high profile of them went nowhere. There were a couple that really tried to press it, and after they failed, the rest of those suits were withdrawn. At the same time, as more people heard about this work and the conflicts it was causing, Plimsoll also gained a lot of support. This surge in popularity led to a request for another bill to be presented, and Plimsoll worked alongside several of his colleagues in preparing it. Some portions of that bill passed, but it only gave municipal authorities the right to inspect ships if they already looked run down.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

However, the ongoing interest in the issues that Plimsoll had laid Bare in his writing led to the establishment of a Royal Commission to investigate his claims. When a subsequent bill about reforms in 1875 didn't even make it to a vote, Plimsoll started pointing a finger at government officials and politicians who were financially tied to the shipping industry. He had to formally apologize for doing so, but he continued to vocally criticize the lack of legislation just now, without naming any of his specific colleagues in the process. There's an interesting turn that happened over the course of several years with regards to Plimsoll's representation in the press. In his early days as a Member of Parliament, he was often lampooned in political cartoons for these sort of mumbling, rambling speeches. But as he gained momentum and his maritime reform efforts, the press started depicting him in a more positive light and poking fun at the MPs who opposed him. Benjamin Disraeli started calling Samuel's supporters the Plimsolites.

[Holly Fry]

In 1876, the new merchant Shipping act was finally passed, in large part because Samuel Plimsoll had been such a tireless advocate for reform. And that act stated that any vessel could be inspected by the Board of Trade and that ships had to display a maximum loading line, which came to be known as the Plimsoll Line. For the first several years, the addition of this line was not enforced. This was purposefully. It gave ship owners time to add it to the hulls of their vessels, but then, starting in 1890, it was mandatory. In the year 1871, the likelihood of loss of life at sea was 1 in 75. In 1890, it was won in 111. So Plimsoll's work immediately had an impact.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In the years after the passage of this act, Samuel Plimsoll's life had its ups and downs. He lost his election and retired from politics in 1880. And at that point, Eliza's health was precarious. They spent a lot of time traveling, looking for the perfect climate to try to help her recover. There were a lot of scares along the way. She would become very sick. They would have to get a doctor to come from England to where she was. At one point they were in Madeira and she suffered what's referred to as an attack of paralysis, which might have been a stroke, but she recovered. They moved on to South Africa, where she seemed to do quite well. In the summer of 1881, they traveled through Europe and India and they parted ways while Samuel returned to England for business, and Eliza and Nellie went on to Brisbane, Australia, to visit relatives. But Eliza fell ill there and could not make the trip back. After 10 days with pneumonia, she died. Samuel learned of her passing after an associate received a telegram with the news. Initially, she was buried in Australia, but after three days, Samuel had her body disinterred so that it could be buried at home in England.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, that telegram had specifically been sent to one of his associates because nobody wanted him to get that news that way. They wanted somebody that he trusted to be able to tell him in person because they didn't want him to be alone when he found out. Several Years later, in 1885, Plimsoll married a second time to Harriet Frankish Wade. She was 27 years younger than him. But Harriet, like Eliza, was very much on the same page as Samuel and joined him in his activism. The two of them had several children together, and they named their second child, a daughter, after Eliza.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Samuel Plimsoll became the honorary president of the National Amalgamated Sailors and firemen's union in 1887. While he wasn't a politician anymore and was mostly retired, he still spoke out in support of the rights of these and other workers. He also felt that there was still plenty of room for reform in the maritime business, and his next focus was cattle ships. He wrote at length about the need to make the transport of live animals more humane, with an eye toward ending that writing quote, the state of things I shall herein try to make plain is only of recent growth, but it involves such cruelty to animals and so much loss of life to seamen that I should have given it precedence.

[Holly Fry]

In 1896, Blimsol took on a very unusual project. He wanted to try to mend some of the animosity between the US And Britain by editing US History textbooks. This sounds sort of cockamamie. It did sound that way to people in the United States initially, but once he arrived in North America, he won over quite a few people. He wasn't making a case that Britain was a victim. It was more like he thought that if everyone could accept that the outcome of the Revolutionary War was settled, like, you're not fighting with us anymore. We all know that you won your independence. We acknowledge that maybe the two countries could get along again and we could probably do a lot of good as allies. He didn't try to whitewash or erase anything, but he did think that there was room for improvement in the way that history was taught. He basically wanted to add more nuance and make it less like, these people evil, these people good. He's like, everybody has fault, everybody has benefit. He wanted to erase this sense that England could not be trusted that he felt was being taught to kids. He gave lectures in cities throughout the U.S. he was always urging educators to reevaluate their textbooks for any kind of bias.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In a write up in the Atchison Daily Globe of Atchison, Kansas, the opening about Plimsoll's US tour has kind of a get a load of this guy tone to it, but then shares that Samuel Plimsoll is a genuine and kind man. Quote, if all Englishmen were like Samuel Plimsoll, he would not have the slightest difficulty in achieving his object. And if all Americans were as good as he, this would be a great and glorious nation. A great big heart has Mr. Plimsoll a heart that beats for all humanity. You know this as soon as you have seen the kindly, benevolent way in which he beams through his glasses at all the world. And he was quite liked almost everywhere he went in the US he did manage to get the US Commission for Education to pull anti British books from public schools.

[Holly Fry]

After the US tour, Plimsoll returned to England. He continued to crusade for reform there on a variety of issues, but at this point in his life he had slowed considerably. He had a number of health complaints that he had been nursing along through the years, including diabetes and kidney disease, and they were really starting to get the better of him. He continued to decline until his death on June 3, 1898, the age of 74. His adopted daughter Nellie was with him.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Every ship in Folkestone harbor flew their flags at half mast when the news broke and his coffin was carried from the hearse to his grave by local sailors. Birmingham Gazette wrote of his passing. Quote, By Samuel Plimsoll's death, we lose a bold champion of individual rights and a true and honest man who, without special gifts or genius, achieved a remarkable success by sincerity and courage.

[Holly Fry]

And by 1930, after a lot of debate and a little bit of controversy, load lines on ships were regulated at an international level. That's Samuel Plimsoll. Dun dun dun.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Do you also have some listener mail?

[Holly Fry]

I do, and this one made me laugh, which I always love. This is from our listener Chelsea, who writes, hi Holly and Tracy. And during the listener mail portion of your recent episode, Charles Goodyear and Vulcanized Rubber. I had to chuckle when Holly wrapped up with. Anyway, that's the long answer. I think I was chuckling too at the time. That was just for reference for anyone in answer to the email about the Uffizi where we were talking about what qualifies as history and how do we define what we do and do not talk about in terms of how old it has to be? Chelsea continues. It immediately reminded me of the social media trend about asking a friend how they're doing and saying, you always want the long, long version. When it comes to you two fantastic humans, your listeners always want the long answer. While I love your beautifully researched History episodes, I genuinely enjoy hearing your personal thoughts and banter just as much. It's exactly why I look forward to behind the Scenes every Friday. Thank you for being a bright spot in my week and my favorite podcast for 10 years running. I know I'm definitely not alone in feeling that way. Chelsea. Chelsea, this is the sweetest email. Also, I don't know that everybody agrees with you. I'm verbose. You can cut some of my stuff sometimes, but I do like to chitter chatter. I can't. It's I have been this way since I was a child. If you looked at my reports from I remember my first I saw not that long ago one of my report cards from first grade that was like Holly is a joy to have in class, but she talks too much. Like and here we are 50 years later, Holly still talks too much. Talk about art history. Art history. Thanks. Thanks. We love it. But that's a very sweet email, so thank you. Yeah, I'm keenly aware that sometimes I talk people's ears off. It's compulsion. I don't have a lot of control. In any case, thank you. Thank you Chelsea. That made my week. If you would like to write to us, maybe tell me I talk too much and shut up. You could do that. I guess you could do that@history podcastheartradio.com youm can also find the show notes for all of our [e-mail] which is which will include the sources that we use to put them together. And if you haven't subscribed to the show and you want to that is easy peasy rice and cheesy. You can do it on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. This is an I heart podcast guaranteed human.