The General Strike 1926

The Bath and North Somerset story

Despite Bath’s reputation as a tourist destination, it was also home to many industries and active trade unions.

Industry was mainly based in a strip along the river including a range of factories such as Stothert and Pitt who made cranes, Horstman gears and big railway goods yards (handling coal from Somerset coalfields amongst other things).

After the First World War, Trade Unions were active in the city and as the economic situation worsened discontent and the number of strikes increased.

The Bath Trades and Labour Council (BTLC) was founded in 1891 to strengthen and support trade unions in the city. Its minutes (records of meetings) show its involvement in a range of activities to improve the lives of working people and their families.

After the First World War, it campaigned to make the toll bridges of Bath free and requested that medical examinations of children in schools be held in private. It also demanded that the city council subsidise milk as a public health measure and in 1923 noted the poor quality of milk in the city and demanded that all milk be pasteurized. A recurring theme is the treatment of unemployed workers in the city: there are complaints about men being forced to queue for hours in the rain at the Labour Exchange.

As the economic situation worsened the organisation was increasingly involved in supporting striking workers:

In 1919 the BTLC supported the local branch of the National Union of Teachers who won a pay award from the City Council and the 300 employees of Bath Cabinet Makers and W&T Lock who refused new work conditions, went on strike and achieved their demands.

The BTLC also supported locked-out furnishing trade workers, women cleaners at Bath Technical College and the Dock Wharf, Riverside and General Workers Union during a transport strike.

In 1921 the BTLC supported locked-out Somerset miners and agreed to host the Albion Glee Club from the South Wales Miners Federation, which held fundraising events for labour movement causes.

There was a growing atmosphere of unrest in the city, just as there was nationwide.

Somerset Coalfields

The coal mines of north Somerset stretched from Pensford in the north to Coleford in the south, and from Bishop Sutton in the west to Peasedown in the east; the nearest were some six miles southwest of Bath (See below)

Map of north Somerset Collieries (Radstock Museum)

The average coal seam in the Somerset field was only 60cms thick, twisted and contorted, with faults and broken layers making working conditions particularly difficult and dangerous.

In the early 1800s there were around 60 major working collieries and 30 smaller ones in the coalfield. Coal was transported via the Somersetshire Coal Canal or by the improved road system. The railways arrived in the latter half of the 19th century, and coal was transported more efficiently.

By the 1920s there were still twenty-plus mines in operation and working conditions remained extremely dangerous and difficult.

Somerset miners still used the ‘guss and crook’ (a waxed rope worn around the waist with a length of chain attached that went through the legs with a metal hook on the end). The hook attached to a sledge (putt) which was loaded with coal. The guss and crook caused extreme chafing and damage to the men’s legs as they hauled the putts out. Somerset miners suffered as a result of being crouched, crawling or stooping in the confined space of the coal seams as well as experiencing the chronic medical conditions endured by all miners of the time such as damage to their hands, eyes and lungs.

Unlike miners from other coalfields, the Somerset miners had not received formal lockout notices or proposals to lower wages or lengthen hours in the build-up to the General Strike.

On 4 May 1926 some 5000 members of the Somerset Miners Association from 20 local coal mines heeded the call of the TUC and came out on strike in support of miners from other coalfields.

The General Strike in Bath

• Bath Council prepared thoroughly for potential strikes while the trade unions were relatively poorly prepared (this was a national picture).
• In Bath many workers from a variety of trades came out on strike
• Large meetings were held, often with large numbers of men walking in from the Somerset coalfield. Gatherings in Bath were peaceful.
• The only trouble in Bath was caused by strikers trying to stop a bus which was being driven by a strike breaker ‘Bath bus hold-up’
• In Bath many volunteers gave help and support both to keep the city going and to support the miners and their families.

Some of the reported events in Bath: (Bath Chronicle and Herald newspaper)

3 May Coal is rationed in the city and shop lighting banned. Somerset Miners Association (SMA) reports volunteers doing the work of strikers.

4 May Many volunteers register (to take place of strikers). BTLC lets the Mayor know that miners from Radstock are coming to a meeting at Sawclose and assures there will be no trouble.

5 May Limited trains are running. ‘Bath bus hold up’ is reported, no arrests are made and other buses are subsequently driven by volunteers with police protection.

6 May Meeting of 3000 men at Sawclose. Plumbers join the strike but painters are still deliberating. The Coal Emergency Officer checks Bath coal stocks and concludes that they are sufficient.

7 May Many people come forward as volunteers especially drivers with vehicles. Bath Electric Tramways post a notice saying that anyone not reporting for work by 12 noon on 8 May will not be guaranteed their job.

8 May Printers Union issues a rebuke to members who have resumed work.

9 May Rev Harris of Argyle Congregational Church is reported as saying that the strike is ‘due to the capture of Trade Unions by a revolutionary element calling themselves Socialists’.

10 May From the Minutes of the Somerset Miners Association:

• Current membership 4000.
• Strike-pay being distributed at 8/- each miner, 4/- wives, 2/- children.
• 4000 miners’ children under 14 being supported.

11 May The Co-operative Society records no difficulty sourcing or distributing supplies.

12 May End of the General Strike. Contrary to the miners’ wishes the TUC calls off the strike. In Bath there is a meeting in Sawclose in the afternoon, for which several hundred miners walk to Bath. They are unaware that the strike has ended and 2,409 men are still on strike.

13 May Another meeting held in Sawclose which officially accepts the ending of the strike.

14 May Several hundred miners walked from Radstock to Bath.

Despite the ending of the General Strike, Somerset miners and those from all the other coalfields around the country remained in dispute with the mine owners and did not return to work.

From May to November 1926 many groups in Bath and Somerset worked to raise funds and provide services to support the miners. The Radstock Co-operative Society gave a loan of £6000, reduced the price of bread for miners and organised fund-raising concerts. A Somerset Coalfield Distress Fund for Mothers and Children was established. Local Labour women’s groups and a strong Women’s Co-operative Guild with branches in Twerton, Central and Walcot carried out fundraising and many women visited the coalfields to see conditions for themselves.

By September the Somerset Miners Association had reduced strike pay substantially and it stopped in November. In late November 1926 poverty and the threat of starvation became so extreme that the remaining strikers were driven back to work.

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