principal concerts, and taking part in chamber music, for which he was peculiarly fitted. Stemdale Bennett's sonata-duo (1852), Molique's concerto (1853), and Sullivan's concerto (1866) and Duo (1868) were all written for him and first performed by him. At the Monday Popular Concerts Piatti played from their establishment in 1859 till 1896. He lived at 15 Northwick Terrace, St. John's Wood, latterly spending the summer at an estate he had bought at Cadenabbia, Lake Como. He rarely played outside London; he appeared at Bergamo in 1875 and again in 1893, on the latter occasion receiving the order of the Crown of Italy from King Humbert. On 22 March 1894, to celebrate the jubilee of his and Joachim's first appearances in London, a testimonial to both was publicly presented to them at the Grafton Galleries.
In 1898 Piatti retired. His last few months were spent with his only surviving daughter, Countess Lochis, at Crocetta near Bergamo, where he died on 22 July 1901. He was buried in the castle chapel; four professors played his favourite movement, the variations on 'Der Tod und das Madchen' in Schubert's D minor quartett, and agreed to play it annually at the graveside. Piatti married in 1856 Mary Ann Lucey Welsh, daughter of a singing master; but they separated. She died in Sept. 1901.
Piatti's compositions included six sonatas, three concertos, twelve caprices, and some slighter pieces for the violoncello, as well as some songs with violoncello obbligato, one of which, 'Awake, awake,' had a lasting success. He re-edited works by Boccherini, Locatelli, Veracini, Marcello, and Porpora, and Kummer's method. He arranged for the violoncello Ariosti's sonatas, melodies by Schubert and Mendelssohn, and variations from Christopher Sympson's 'Division-Violist' (1659).
A portrait by Frank Holl was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1879.
[Morton Latham, Alfredo Piatti (with portraits); Grove's Dict. of Music; Musical Times (with portrait), Aug. 1901.]
PICKARD, BENJAMIN (1842–1904), trade union leader, born on 26 Feb. 1842 at Kippax, near Pontefract, in Yorkshire, was son of Thomas Pickard, a working miner, by his wife Elizabeth Firth, He was educated at the colliery school. At twelve he commenced to work in the mine with his father, and in due course went through the various grades of labour there. He early joined the miners' union, becoming lodge secretary in 1858, and in 1873, when the membership and work of the West Yorkshire Miners' Association greatly increased, he was elected its assistant secretary, succeeding to the secretaryship in 1876. He had also joined the Wesleyan body and became one of its local preachers. He foresaw that the next step in trade
unionism was the amalgamation of local societies, and in 1881 he brought about the union of the south and west Yorkshire associations, under the title of the Yorkshire Miners' Association, and became its secretary; and when the Miners' Federation of Great Britain was formed in 1888 he was elected president. His policy was to protect members by restricting output and so check excessive driving. In 1885 the employers resolved to reduce wages. Pickard advised acceptance, but the men declined to follow his lead and a strike ensued which was unsuccessful, but events then gave Pickard his grip upon the miners which he never lost. Prosperous times followed, but he again found himself involved in the dispute of 1893, when the miners again resisted a reduction of 25 per cent, and refused arbitration on the ground that they were entitled to a living wage. It was another form of the opposition to a sliding scale for wages which the Miners' Federation had been formed to carry on. In this great dispute, which lasted sixteen weeks, Pickard played the leading part, and in the end received a testimonial of 750l. from the men. The result of this strike was the establishment of conciliation boards to settle all wages disputes. Things went smoothly until 1902 when reductions were again threatened, unrest was widespread, and the Denaby Main strike ensued. During the board of trade inquiry which followed this strike and at which he gave evidence, Pickard died in London on 3 Feb. 1904; he was buried in the Barnsley cemetery.
A liberal in politics, Pickard sat in parliament for the Normanton division of Yorkshire from 1885 till his death. In parliament he was the leader of the eight hours I for miners agitation, and his interest in arbitration sent him in 1887 on a peace deputation to the president of the United States (Grover Cleveland). In 1897 he received a cheque for 500l. from liberal members of the House of Commons as a mark of respect. Before entering parliament he was a member of the Wakefield school board, and in 1889 was elected an alderman of the West Riding county council.
He married in. 1864 the daughter of John Freeman of Kippax; she died in 1901.
