One hundred years ago, in May 1926, Britain was in the throes of its first, and only, general strike. In an attempt to maintain profits and cut costs, coal mine owners proposed reducing miners’ wages and increasing working hours. Unsurprisingly, this didn’t go down well with the miners and their unions and following the breakdown in negotiations, at just before midnight on Monday 3 May, the General Strike began. Miners, printers, dockers, ironworkers, and steelworkers all came out – as did transport workers, including on the railways.
The Strike lasted until 12 May. Whilst dramatic, if never really revolutionary (as some at the time claimed), it didn’t succeed in protecting miners’ wages and conditions. Though many miners continued on strike, most were eventually forced back to work – at reduced wages and with longer hours. Clearly this is a very broad summary of a period that has been well explored, at the time and by historians since. Some excellent resources have been put together by Railway Work, Life & Death project partner, the Modern Records Centre, and are available here. The TUC has also put together a helpful mini-site looking at the Strike and its legacies – available here.
All of this shows that the situation and events of the General Strike were far more complex that we’re able to cover here. One aspect did come to mind, however, as particularly of interest to the Railway Work, Life & Death project – the impact on railway safety.
Passenger safety
With many railway staff on strike, keeping the network moving to some extent was the initial aim. Railway workers not on strike were drafted into ‘front-line’ roles, such as driving and firing engines and signalling. Gaps were also filled by volunteers. There were suspicions – with some basis in fact – that this led to unsafe practices and even to accidents.
Initially in thinking about this blog, we’d presumed we’d cover the two most infamous incidents – ironically both occurring on 10 May 1926. However, given this pushes us beyond our focus on workers, and as excellent and accessible accounts of both incidents already exist elsewhere, there’s no point in re-inventing the wheel. Instead, we’ll simply signpost to those incidents and you can follow up through the resources noted.
Firstly, the Edinburgh crash. This was perhaps the most straightforwardly attributable to the Strike and the use of volunteers and inexperienced staff. A passenger train met a goods train head on, in a tunnel. Three travellers were killed and 13 injured. Andy Arthur has covered the crash here, and it’s well worth the read. The Railway Inspectorate report into the incident is available from the Railways Archive website, here.
Secondly, the derailment of the ‘Flying Scotsman’ service at Cramlington in Northumberland. This was widely known, at the time and since, as it was a deliberate act of sabotage. Striking miners removed a length of rail, intending to stop the passage of coal trains. Instead the ‘Flying Scotsman’ passenger service hit the section lacking the rail, albeit at reduced speed. It derailed spectacularly, though fortunately there were no serious injuries. This incident is nicely explored here, and a recent theatrical and community-based take on the crash is available here.
The General Strike through the Railway Work, Life & Death project
This section is going to be surprising short! The General Strike left relatively little trace in the railway worker accident record – certainly that’s come down to the Railway Work, Life & Death project database of accidents to railway staff. Of course, that might be a testament to the limited traffic that was moving on the railways, with a great many staff out on strike.
In fact, looking at the period between 3-12 May 1926, there were only two worker accidents investigated. As we’ve commented before, it’s more than likely that there were other incidents which, for various reasons, weren’t investigated by the Railway Inspectorate. That was always the case, strike or not. However, it does feel unusual to have so few cases recorded; not least as the two we’re aware of both occurred in the early hours of the Strike.
How typical was it to have so few incidents during the period of the General Strike? Looking at the two years on either side of 1926, they averaged approximately 15 staff accidents in the strike period, 3-12 May, each year. This might lend credence to the idea the was less traffic moving, therefore fewer people being exposed to risk. This is hardly a comprehensive or systematic look at the topic, of course, but it might be indicative.
Charles Morris, Southampton
So what of one of the casualties – Charles Morris, of Southampton? Charles was employed by the Southern Railway as an acting foreman at Southampton Docks. At 4.15am on 4 May 1926 he was helping unload between ship and shore, at the shed at number 44 berth. Some wagons needed moving, so shunter Thomas McCartney coupled them and instructed the engine driver to move them out.
As the wagons were passing Charles, he noticed that one of the wagon brake levers was pinned down (i.e. applied). Trying to make the movement of the wagons easier, he went to release the brake – but slipped, with his left leg being run over. The report doesn’t relate the outcome, but it would likely have been loss of the leg.
Railway Inspector JPS Main, the state-appointed investigating officer, noted in his report that Charles’ action ‘in attempting to release the brake was really unnecessary and quite voluntary on his part.’ He put the incident down to misadventure. The General Strike appears as a coded note in the report: ‘Owing to the abnormal conditions which prevailed at the time, Morris had been on duty a little over 20 hours when the accident took place.’ By 1926 such long hours were very unusual, hence the comment; and the ‘abnormal conditions’ comment was used in other reports of incidents during the Strike, including the Edinburgh crash.
Charles’ wider life
Charles was born in Hampshire in 1884, to George and Emma Morris. George worked as a platelayer (a type of track worker) for the London and South Western Railway (LSWR), so perhaps it was little surprise that Charles also joined the rail industry. Indeed, at least two of his brothers joined the railway, and later two of his step-siblings were also working for the LSWR.
By 1901 Charles was still living with his parents and siblings in Eastleigh – a strong railway town. By this point, Charles was working for the LSWR as a porter. In 1906 he married Clara Annie Ford; they had three children over the following years. By the 1911 Census the family had moved to Southampton, and Charles was working as a dock labourer for the LSWR. (We perhaps tend to forget or overlook the fact that plenty of railway companies had shipping and dock interests, alongside other branches of the organisations, such as hotels.)
Charles joined the National Union of Railwaymen’s Southampton branch in January 1918, as a dock foreman. However, it seems he left the Union in February 1920. Might this explain why he didn’t ‘come out’ (i.e. stop working) in May 1926?
Unfortunately it’s been impossible to find out what happened to Charles after his accident. He died in 1938, survived by Clara. This means that we don’t see Charles appearing on the 1939 National Register – this might have given us a clue about what Charles did following his accident. If his leg was, as suspected, lost in the accident, then the Southern Railway (the successor company to the LSWR) might have found him alternative, ‘light’, employment (especially if he was deemed ‘loyal’ in the General Strike), better suited to life with a disability.