1926-2026 Anniversary of the Miners' Lockout and General Strike - public meeting in Hebden Bridge on 4 May 2026

 

NO GENTLEMEN HERE - HALIFAX 1842 - fund appeal for new film

 

NO GENTLEMEN HERE – HALIFAX 1842

 

HALIFAX BORN SONGWRITER AND HISTORIAN CATHERINE HOWE BACKS THE FUND APPEAL FOR A FILM TO REVEAL THE FORGOTTEN EVENTS OF HALIFAX 1842. 

 

Ivor Novello Award Winner Catherine Howe, known for her 1971 album What A Beautiful Place and 1975 song Harry supports plans to make a 10-minute film revealing, through original source material, the events which took place in Halifax over two days in August 1842. 

 

Filming follows her book HALIFAX 1842: A Year of Crisis published in 2014 in which she describes a military attack upon workers in Halifax, West Yorkshire during Britain’s first national labour strike.   

 

Howe, who made a number of film and TV appearances in the 60s and 70s, will be donating her time to scripting the film which is to be co-produced by Dave Hackney of the film company Digital Cortex and journalist Mark Metcalf with backing from Calderdale Trades Union Council. 

 

£5,000 is required for this work which it is hoped will increase awareness of a period in British history that is highly significant and which has long deserved to be remembered and commemorated. 

 

Catherine and Mark are happy to speak at meetings about the project to raise awareness of the role northern county industrial operatives played in the political reform of Britain.   Already Calderdale Trades Union Council has organised the unveiling of a plaque at the Calderdale Industrial Museum to remember those who participated in these momentous events, as well as a half-hour filmed documentary ‘Bread Not Bayonets’ which associates events in Halifax 1842 with those at Peterloo Manchester in 1819.

 

‘Bread Not Bayonets’, directed and edited by Francesca Platt and produced by Mark Metcalf, has been viewed by more than one thousand people.  You can see it at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0UxMadnIEA

 

Mark has since made films with Dave Hackney at https://www.youtube.com/@markmetcalf07

 

If you would like to help, funds however small can be donated via Calderdale TUC, Unity Trust Bank, Sort Code 60 83 01 Account number 20305688 Please reference donations as HX1842

 

Please also feel free to contact: 

Calderdale TUC. http://www.calderdaletuc.org.uk @calderdaletuc  info@calderdaletuc.org.uk  

Mark Metcalf: 07392 852561 

Catherine Howe: catherinehowe.contact@gmail.com

6 APRIL 1989 - the end of the NATIONAL DOCK LABOUR SCHEME is announced

Taken from my booklet GREAT YARMOUTH DOCKERS  

https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/great-yarmouth-dockers.pdf

Chapter 6 National Dock Labour Scheme (NDLS) begins

In 1947, the Labour Government introduced the "Dock Workers’ (Regulation of Employment) Scheme". The scheme, financed by  a levy on the employers, was administered by the National Dock Labour Board, and local boards, made up of equal numbers of "persons representing dock workers in the port and of persons representing the employers of such dockworkers".  The system was to be jointly administered by the union and bosses and this gave the former some control over hiring and firing. It was a giant leap up from starving men fighting each other for a few hours badly paid, dangerous work.

Each local board was responsible for keeping a register of employers and workers, paying wages and attendance money, controlling the hiring of labour, and responsibility for discipline.

The scheme registered all portworkers and guaranteed dockers, provided they turned up twice a day to have their books stamped to prove their availability,  a basic minimum fallback wage, whether there was work for them or not.

Under the scheme, dock work was considered a "job for life", with any registered docker laid off by any of the 150 firms associated with the scheme either being guaranteed employment elsewhere or, by 1989, a £25,000 pay off.

The introduction of the NDLS did not though bring to an end industrial disputes on the docks. With the TGWU refusing to make any of them official, dockers were often forced to rely on their own industrial muscle. In 1955, 16,000 dockers in Manchester, Liverpool and Hull left the TGWU and joined a small London-based union, the National Association of Stevedores and Dockers. A long recognition strike was defeated.

 Dockers’ militancy did though not drop and it proved highly effective in the 60s and 70s. Dockers still had the power to shut down the country.

 But in the 1960s a technological revolution changed things dramatically. Containerisation, where cargoes were packed into giant containers in factories or special depots, meant dockers, who had previously humped cargoes on their backs, could now roll the giant containers on and off specially designed ships. Unloading a ship could take one tenth of the time compared to old style practices. Containerisation presented the employers with a strong incentive to reorganise the ports.

In 1964 the Labour government appointed a Royal Commission under Lord Devlin to investigate strikes on the docks, and then implemented the Commission report to 'decasualise' the docks.

Dockers were to be taken into permanent employment with a particular employer, instead of being hired out for some many half-days by the Dock Labour Board. They therefore lost a big part of the control the union had over hiring and firing through the Dock Labour Board, which would only be the fallback employer for a pool of unattached dockers who did not have a regular employer.

It meant the dock labour force could be more easily cut down over the years as modernisation took place.

Looking back, it could be argued that the dockers' answer should have been obvious: increase workers' control and modernise on that basis, using the advantages of modernisation to benefit the workers. A large minority of dockers wanted the nationalisation of the ports and most wanted to expand workers' control rather than give full control back to the bosses.

 

1970 National Dock Strike

On 16 July 1970 all of the Yarmouth NDLS registered dockers joined the national dock strike, which had been called following a TGWU national delegate conference the previous day.  As tankers were not worked by dock labour staff at Yarmouth they were not affected.

Average earnings

Yarmouth dockers, including overtime, in the first three months of 1970, earned on average £38 17 shillings and 7d a week. The national average was around £3 a week less and the highest earnings were at Ipswich where the average weekly pay was £45 5 and 10d.

The national strike, the first in the industry for nearly half a century, lasted nearly 3 weeks, led to the declaration of a State of Emergency and was only concluded after a government-sponsored inquiry.

From the outside it appeared that it had been provoked by the national employers’ association and the TGWU over basic weekly pay bargaining. Behind the scenes, however, the dispute was also about the relationship between the membership and the officialdom of the union, which had been antagonistic for many years, plus the revolutionary changes taking place in the handing of cargo.

Dockers took strike action for a pay rise of £11 a week. Around 47,000 dockers nationally were involved. The strike hurt imports and exports and the British Army were placed on standby to handle food supplies but most dockers were content to handle perishable goods and the strike was largely peaceful.

Lord Pearson was charged with ordering a court of inquiry and awarded an average 7% pay rise, which was at first rejected by the dockers but ultimately accepted.

The Yarmouth Mercury of Friday, July 24, 1970 reported that a long stoppage could cause ‘real trouble’ and that since the strike then ‘except for a few tankers, and some vessels bound for Norwich with grain cargoes, no ships have entered the harbour.’ The strike had resulted in the Port and Haven Commission, whose income came from tolls and charges, losing about £1800.

No shipments of vegetables or general cargo had been landed at the Norfolk Line’s roll on roll off.

The paper reported that Yarmouth dockers had agreed that ‘if supplies of food needed replenishing arrangements would be made for this. They will also work supply ships in the event of an emergency involving danger to life and limb.’

The following Friday the Yarmouth Mercury reported that news had come through that the dockers’ national delegate conference had accepted the proposals of the Pearson report. The paper believed that the changes would not be of great benefit to Yarmouth dockers except for the fact that overtime rates would be increased.

The paper also reported that in the previous week ‘six ships from various continental ports with wheat for Norwich had been discharged by the port of Norwich non-union dockers.’

 

Chapter 8 1972 National Dock Strike

On 28 July 1972 an official national dock strike began to safeguard jobs. No cargo was to be handled by the country’s 42,000 NDLS registered dockers. Roll-on roll-off ferries were still though set to pass through railway ports like Dover and Folkestone.

Dockers were striking at plans for compulsory redundancies as well as threats to their jobs from container firms using cheaper, casual labour.

TGWU National Docks Delegates voted 38 to 28 in favour of action and by doing so rejected a special joint committee report that had been established by the industry and headed by Lord Adlington, chairman of the Port of London authority, and Jack Jones, TGWU general secretary. Committee members had approved a payment scheme to pay off 2,500 unfit dockers or over 55-year-old dockers. Dockers’ delegates from the larger ports were particularly opposed to the proposals. Despite the existence of NDLS, between 1966 and 1972, 20,000 dockers’ jobs had been lost.

Earlier in 1972 a one-day unofficial strike, organised by the unofficial National Port Shop Stewards Committee, was supported by 25,000 dockers and on 7 March 14,000 London dockers walked out. The Industrial Relations Act had been passed by the Heath government with the intention of controlling wages. A key part of this was the National Industrial Relations Act (NIRC) which had the power to fine workers and unions. The strike action by its members’ saw the TGWU fined.

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) policy was for non-registration with the NIRC but the TUC, fearing for its own funds, abandoned the TGWU whose members expected the union leadership to launch a national strike. There were strikes against fines by Southampton, Preston and Merseyside dockers.

Action in Hull led to a court case against Walter Cunningham, chair of Hull stewards, who refused to attend and pay a fine, risking jail.

The national unofficial campaign then saw London dock stewards’ picket both Dagenham and UK Cold Storage but with most drivers refusing to honour the picket line the stewards moved to picketing depots directly. This was much more successful with lorries turned away at places such as Chobham Farm in Stratford.

There then followed a series of court cases that on 4 July 1972 saw Midland Cold Storage apply to the NIRC for an order to stop picketing. Seven summoned dockers did not appear at court and they then defied a court order to stop picketing or encouraging others to do so. On Friday 21 July arrest warrants were issued for five dockers for contempt of court.

Four of the five were arrested the following day and sent to Pentonville Prison. Vic Turner, the fifth, was on the picket line the following day. Picketing was shifted to the prison and widespread dock strikes broke out with an estimated 40,000 dockers out.

Delegates were sent to Fleet Street, the then home of the national press and the papers were brought to halt. A prison demonstration attracted 30,000 people.

Faced with this potentially revolutionary situation the TUC, which was previously opposed to solidarity action, was forced to call a one-day national stoppage the following Monday. (31 July) This would have been only the second ever general strike called by the TUC, the first having taken place in 1926.

Fearing a general strike, the government too was forced to concede. On 26 July 1972 a Law Lords ruling saw the case against the five dockers collapse. Amidst jubilant scenes the Pentonville 5 were released the following day. 24 hours later the official national dock strike began. On 4 August the government was forced to call a state of emergency.

 

 

All Great Yarmouth dockers who were not on holiday or sick supported the jailed London dockers by taking strike action at the start of the week beginning Monday 24 July. 30 Lowestoft dockers also joined the national strike.

Mr Len Chapman, the TGWU district official said that in both ports the union “had built up a reasonable relationship with the port employers and I regret that the Industrial Relations Act has brought about the one thing we have managed to avoid for years.”

The official National Strike, which did not affect ships supplying gas rigs and oil tankers bringing fuel to power stations, was supported by all 130 Yarmouth and Lowestoft dockers and close to 30 of the former managed to persuade seven Norwich stevedores to join the strike. The strike caused fruit to be in very short supply locally and this led to prices doubling.

 

On Thursday 17 August, Yarmouth dockers voted in line with the decision of the TGWU delegate conference the same day, to return to normal working from midnight on Sunday. However, M John Smith, branch secretary, told the Yarmouth Messenger that “in the event of any unofficial strike action in other ports, Yarmouth men would not handle any diverted cargo.” Smith told reporters his branch felt a great deal had been achieved and he calculated that the backlog of ships could be cleared in about for days if employers agreed to overtime working.

Shop stewards from eight ports had decided to maintain an unofficial stoppage which ultimately collapsed leaving the dockers to accept an amended Jones-Adlington agreement. This included ending the temporary unofficial register that allowed unregistered dockers to work on the docks.

The successful strike in 1972 did not though prevent the long-term decline of the dock industry and the number of jobs in it, especially NDLS jobs. By 1989 just under 9,000 dockers were covered under the NDLS and having successful taken on and defeated, amongst others, the steel workers, miners and printers then Margaret Thatcher, enjoying her third term in office was happy enough to destroy another group of organised workers in the dockers.

It is a story covered in a 2016 blog article by Iain Dale, a radio presenter these days with LBC.

From 1987 onwards, Dale worked for the National Association of Port Employers (NAPE) and, with Nicholas Finney, his boss, whom Dale describes as the ‘mastermind behind the lobbying campaign to get rid of this iniquitous piece of employment legislation’, by which he means the NDLS.

He goes on to state “it remains the greatest achievement of my life” and claims it “led to previously moribund ports having the ability to thrive.”

On 6 April 1989, the Employment Secretary, Norman Fowler, told MPs the scheme had become 'a total anachronism' that stood in the way of a modern and efficient ports industry. The 60 British ports who were in the NDLS argued constantly that the ports were at an economic disadvantage and that unregistered ports and European docks were taking their business.

In announcing plans to bring forward legislation to scrap the NDLS, Fowler offered assurances that any docker laid off as a result of the scheme being abolished would be compensated up to the value of £35,000. Fowler stated that port employers would not return to using mass casual labour. This proved not to be the case.

 

Strike action was held up for three months due to legal wrangles as NAPE used the courts to try and block any fightback. The port employers’ actions led to unofficial action in May 1989 at Tilbury, Liverpool, Lowestoft and Bristol. Other ports however remained at work and TGWU officials eventually persuaded strikers to return to work until all the legal restrictions that were obstructing the right to strike had been defeated in court. By the time strike action did take place the NDLS had been abolished.

A second national ballot produced a majority of 6,200 against 2,100 in favour of strike action and on 11 July 1989 many ports stood still as dockers mounted pickets at the gates. However, during the first couple of weeks of action a number of small ports began to return to work and at others a number of dockers took voluntary redundancy of up to £35,000.

Nevertheless, many dockers remained on strike but, hampered by the anti-union laws, when they were then unable to picket out ports that had previously been covered under the NDLS such as Felixstowe and Dover the strike ultimately collapsed with a number of key militants, especially at Tilbury, finding themselves victimised and out of work.

From then on – as covered in the reminiscences section that follows – all those who had previously been covered by the NDLS found their hard-won wages and conditions being quickly and permanently destroyed.

Six years after the NDLS was scrapped, 500 Liverpool dockers, the most militant in the UK, were to be locked out of their workplace and after a heroic two-year struggle (1995-97) in which they looked mainly overseas for support they were defeated.

God and games formed Manchester City FC

 

God and games

Like Everton, Manchester City owes its origins to a Church, in this case St Mark’s Church of West Gorton, an increasingly densely populated suburb that had been constructed on rural land from 1800 onwards. From the moment it was consecrated in 1865 Church organisers set out to develop a community spirit amongst local residents, many of whom were recent work seeking immigrants from rural England, Scotland, Ireland and the Continent, especially Italy and Germany.

With little to do or places to meet after finishing work local youth were drawn to the thrill of bare knuckle fighting and Scuttling involving mass battles with rival gangs from Bradford or Miles Platting in which belts, slings, sticks and stones would be employed as weapons. Both sides would scatter if the police came on the scene only to reemerge at a later date.

With West Gorton also beset with problems caused by alcohol the Church sought to develop alternative activities and Rector Arthur Connell encouraged his parishioners to establish community activities. This led to the construction of a new school, a gymnasium plus a library.

By the late 1860s there was formed locally a cricket club, but as this was never going to attract lads involved in Scuttling, who wanted quick thrills, then in 1880, a year after a Working Men’s Club was opened by Anna Connell, there was the setting up of the St Mark’s (association) Football team. Captained by William Sumner, this played its first game on 13 November 1880 – the same date as Sunderland AFC played their inaugural game on Wearside – against the Baptist Church from Macclesfield, who won 2-1. Whilst the majority of the home side had been born in Manchester their parents were imports. Seven days later Newton Heath played their inaugural match.

As to exactly who formed the football club then historian Gary James believes that ‘as with so many football clubs it seems unlikely that the specific person who introduced football to St Mark’s will ever be properly identified’ but rather ‘that the Club was borne out of actions by a variety of individuals during these formative years. ‘

By 1883 the football club had dropped references to the church from its name and later that year it merged with Belle Vue Rangers to become known as Gorton AFC and in 1887 the club name was again changed, this time to Ardwick Association F.C and turned professional by beginning to pay players their expenses.

With the world’s first industrial city continuing to expand the official opening of the Manchester Ship Canal by Queen Victoria in May 1894 seems to have provided, at least, some of the inspiration for Ardwick committee to switch names to the much more grandiose title of Manchester City Football Club around the same time. By becoming a Limited Company the new club raised considerable funds through issuing shares.

WE CAME BY SEA public event

 

Invitation to Farage at Stadium of Light - a supporter responds

Invitation to Farage at Stadium of Light.

I'll be writing my own letter and will support any campaign highlighting Farage's politics. I joined NUM pickets at Monkwearmouth Colliery, on which the Stadium of Light stands. in 1984 as they battled to keep their jobs and communities together. The pits were deliberately closed by the woman he worships in Margaret Thatcher who was determined to break the union in order to move forward and destroy the social gains that had to be granted after the defeat of fascism in WWII. Sunderland has suffered badly ever since.

A friend of mine has written the following letter.

Sent: 28 March 2026 10:47

To: 'david.bruce@safc.com' <david.bruce@safc.com>; 'kyril.louis-dreyfus@safc.com' <kyril.louis-dreyfus@safc.com>

Cc: 'Chris Waters' <Chris.Waters@safc.com>

Subject: Political Invitations

Importance: High

Dear Kyril and David,

I am a longstanding supporter and season card holder, my first season ticket was in the Boys Enclosure 1964/5 costing £2,and I have been a season ticket holder for 42 of my 74 years despite living out of the area since 1972.

I write to express my concern and distress on learning that a public and well publicised invitation has been made to the leader of Reform Uk Ltd., Nigel Farage, to attend a future home match. It is wrong and divisive for the club to associate itself with any one political party especially in the weeks before local elections. The club is followed by people of many political persuasions and an invitation to a politician of any perspective is unlikely to ever be appropriate or commercially prudent.

Whether issued by an individual or formally by the club the behaviour of Nigel Farage at Ipswich and his subsequent exploitation of that situation indicate an invitation to our club will be similarly politically exploited. The invitation itself is already attracting negative publicity to the club.

It is especially inappropriate after a week in which one of our players suffered racist abuse while representing the club at Newcastle in a local derby, to invite a man whose political reputation is built upon creating difference and division especially toward migrants and people of colour.

Some thirty years ago I was among a group of people who formed Sunderland Fans Against Racism in reaction to a particular time when the club had no players or staff of colour. The club has made massive changes in this respect since then, despite a worrying political climate, and for which the club deserves praise. An invitation to Nigel Farage is counter to any progress made in this direction. It will be seen as an alignment with a controversial politician by many both in the area and nationally and cannot be in the best interests of the club and its supporters. As a supporter myself I do not look forward to the resulting arguments with, and abuse from, other supporters resulting from this association should this invitation go ahead.

The issuing of an invitation to a football match played largely by migrants to a politician whose reputation is based upon opposition to migration is at the least incongruous. This invitation will send a message to all migrants and people of colour everywhere what this club stands for and whom it promotes.

Please urgently withdraw this invitation and please do so publicly,

CALDERDALE DURING THE 1926 MINERS’ LOCKOUT AND GENERAL STRIKE

 

CALDERDALE DURING THE 1926 MINERS’ LOCKOUT AND GENERAL STRIKE

Mark Metcalf

Pre the strike

 In the Halifax Guardian Weekly dated 27 February 1926 there is a brief report on the activities of Halifax Trades and Industrial Council (HTIC) in 1925. Total income in 1925 was £102 6s 11d. It was reported that 1925 was the fifth year of the HTIC. The report makes reference to the successful strike by textile workers in 1925. ‘The year had been strenuous...the unemployment problem, owing to depression in trade, had had serious consideration...The textile dispute had their entire support, and they immediately formed a Council of Action, which, without doubt, did much useful work in assisting both by active propaganda and public meetings, towards the deserving victory of the workers.’

For more on the 1925 textile dispute in West Yorkshire see:- https://leedssocialistparty.wordpress.com/2015/07/30/prelude-to-the general-strike-the-wool-worsted-strike-90-years-on/

 The 1925 Textile Strike lasted just over three weeks and involved between 135,000 and 170,000 woollen and worsted workers across West Yorkshire. It was resolved only after Government intervention and it was widely viewed as a victory for the workers, who had been facing a reduction in wages.

Combined with a temporary solution to the coal crisis in 1925, the victory by the textile workers buoyed up the whole of the trade union movement.

The Trades Club, Halifax, had in March 1926 a total of 18,698 members, (I do not know if this is individual members or perhaps a figure relating to the number of members in branches that were affiliated to the Trades Club) a drop of 169 on the year. Income was just over £7,525 and of which £5,187 came from the sale of refreshments, largely alcohol. There was a loss of just under £2634 (£2,633 19s 1 d) with £388 14s 3d paid off the mortgage for the premises. These figures and the successful strike of the textile workers show that the trade union movement in the early part of 1926 clearly had some numbers and strength across Halifax and Calderdale.

For those unfamiliar with the 1926 General Strike then there is lots of information around including the following article on the BBC website:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13828537

A much better article is at:- https://spartacus-educational.com/TUgeneral.htm

Also read work by Mark Metcalf at:- https://markwrite.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/lock_out_gs_booklet.pdf ‘NOT A MINUTE ON THE DAY, NOT A PENNY OFF THE PAY’ – THE 1926 MINERS’ LOCKOUT AND THE GENERAL STRIKE

First week of GENERAL STRIKE 1926

In 1842 it was the miners of Halifax who made the first call for a national union of mineworkers. Only weeks later the first ever General Strike came calling in Halifax (watch ‘BREAD NOT BAYONETS – HALIFAX 1842 on the dramatic events in which the authorities slaughtered local people https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0UxMadnIEA  but the miners themselves did not take part and over the following decades local mines were worked out and closed.

By 1926 there were no mines in Calderdale. Yet when the General Strike on 3 May 1926 started there was immediate solidarity action by local workers and there were no trains running with only a dozen staff turning up for work.

“The Halifax railway stations have been closed since Monday.’ ‘All others, including the railway clerks, are on strike...Even the clock at Halifax station had stopped!” reported the paper on May 8, 1926. ‘Strong pickets were on duty, but everything was quiet.’ 8/05/1926

It was reported that the engineering industry was little affected. The Halifax branch of the Typographical Association decided by a 2-1 vote not to resume work. This affected the operative staffs in the composing and machine departments of the “Courier and Guardian” office. The stereotyping department was already out. The paper also reported on the 8th of May that: ‘The response to the calls by the different unions to cease work has been general in this district; those so far affected, in addition to transport workers, including printers, wire workers, joiners, plumbers and members of the Workers’ Union, embracing many occupations.’

On Sunday 9 May 1926 ten thousand attended the mass meeting on Savile Park and ‘two platforms were provided and many speeches were delivered in support of the claims of the miners and workers generally’ as reported in the Halifax Courier and Guardian for Saturday May 15, 1926. The numbers present were the largest in many years.

The local Master Printers Association also backed the strike and stayed out throughout it.

At the firm of J. Blakeborough and sons, Brighouse, the response to the strike appears to have been  mixed, with some staying at work. A leaflet was handed out at the Halifax Unemployment Exchange and elsewhere appealing to all unemployed workers ‘not accept any instructions to sign on for any work now stopped by order of the Trade Union Congress Council.’

This would appear to show that when asked to support the General Strike the large majority did so in Calderdale.

More out on strike in second week

When the strike was called off the Courier welcomed the development and in a lengthy piece on 15 May reported: ’during the early part of the week more operatives were brought out on strike, but the majority returned to work when the general strike was called off.’

On the rail it was reported that ‘trouble arose with respect to the terms of re-engagement’ and there appears to have been some continuing actions by permanent way staff.

Organised opposition to strike

By the end of the strike the authorities had increased the number of Civil Constabulary Reserves to around 230 and several police pensioners were on duty in Halifax. Over 1,000 had volunteered to help the authorities in maintaining food supplies and a similar number (not sure if there is duplication here) had registered as special constables. The paper further reported that the appeal by trade union leaders for the preservation of order had with the exception of one incident at Wheatley on Thursday been observed. A strike breaking volunteer tramway driver Henry Metcalfe had alleged that he had been assaulted by 3 striking tramway workers. Herbert Ackroyd, Joseph Bottomley and Arnold Hall and, despite their solicitor contending that the trio had done far less than had been alleged they were all sent to prison for a month with hard labour and dismissed by their employers. (Yorkshire Evening Post 14 May 1926)

The calling off of the 1926 General Strike by the Trades Union Congress left the locked out miners to fight on alone until eventually poverty forced them to concede defeat later in the year.

Trade unionists in Calderdale continued to show solidarity with the miners and 700 people turned out for the late May Day march in 1926 and which ended with a rally at Victoria Hall with the main speakers being Darlington Labour MP Mr A L Shepherd and Miss F Hancock of Gloucester.

A meeting on Savile Park in June to support the Miners’ was badly attended due to prolonged, heavy rain. ‘A collection was taken on behalf of the miners’ wives and children.’

In conclusion the 1926 General Strike was well supported in Halifax and the Calder Valley. There were few incidents of disorder. The numbers on strike increased at the start of week two. At the same time the state was increasing its own organising abilities and clearly intended to frustrate ongoing activities. In addition the decision by the Trades Union Congress to call off solidarity action in support of the locked out miners was not defied by trade unionists themselves due to the absence of rank and file groups across the trade union movement and workplaces. It was to result in a catastrophic defeat.

 

Brief notes on sources of materials used for this article - there was a daily local paper at this time but, in fact, there was better information in the weekly paper that was published each Saturday and which was called the Halifax Courier and Guardian Weekly. The information is patchy and so this report cannot be taken as definitive.