The London dock strike was an
industrial dispute
Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Strikes became common during the In ...
involving dock workers in the
Port of London
The Port of London is that part of the River Thames in England lying between Teddington Lock and the defined boundary (since 1968, a line drawn from Foulness Point in Essex via Gunfleet Old Lighthouse to Warden Point in Kent) with the North ...
. It broke out on 14 August 1889, and resulted in victory for the 100,000 strikers and established strong
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...
s amongst London dockers, one of which became the nationally important
Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union
The Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers Union (DWRGLU), often known as the Dockers' Union, was a British trade union representing dock workers in the United Kingdom.
History
The union was founded in 1887 as the Tea Operatives and Gen ...
. The strike is widely considered a milestone in the development of the British
labour movement
The labour movement or labor movement consists of two main wings: the trade union movement (British English) or labor union movement (American English) on the one hand, and the political labour movement on the other.
* The trade union movement ...
, symbolising the growth of the
New Unions of
casual, unskilled and poorly paid workers, in contrast to the
craft union
Craft unionism refers to a model of trade unionism in which workers are organised based on the particular craft or trade in which they work. It contrasts with industrial unionism, in which all workers in the same industry are organized into the sa ...
s already in existence. The strike helped to draw attention to the problem of
poverty
Poverty is the state of having few material possessions or little income. Poverty can have diverse in
Victorian Britain and the dockers' cause attracted considerable public sympathy.
Background
Colonel G. R. Birt, the general manager at the
Millwall Docks
Millwall Dock is a dock at Millwall, London, England, located south of Canary Wharf on the Isle of Dogs.
History
The scheme was developed speculatively by a partnership of John Kelk and John Aird & Co.'The Millwall Docks: The docks', in Sur ...
, gave evidence to a Parliamentary committee, on the physical condition of the workers:
''The poor fellows are miserably clad, scarcely with a boot on their foot, in a most miserable state ... These are men who come to work in our docks who come on without having a bit of food in their stomachs, perhaps since the previous day; they have worked for an hour and have earned 5d.; their hunger will not allow them to continue: they take the 5d. in order that they may get food, perhaps the first food they have had for twenty-four hours.''
Prior to the strike, few dockers were organised, but once it began, the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union recruited a substantial section of the London docks workforce. The principal demand of the agitation was for the ''dockers' tanner'', meaning a rate of sixpence an hour. The strike was noted for large, peaceful processions which impressed middle class opinion and won sympathy for the strikers' cause from figures such as
Cardinal Manning, who acted as meditator between the striking workers and the dock owners. He was seen as fair and impartial by both sides. Upon the resolution of the strike, the dock workers collected
£160 for Manning in appreciation of his work, and Manning donated the money to a local hospital to provide a bed.
Notable organisers who came to prominence during the strike include
Ben Tillett
Benjamin Tillett (11 September 1860 – 27 January 1943) was a British socialist, trade union leader and politician. He was a leader of the "new unionism" of 1889 that focused on organizing unskilled workers. He played a major role in founding ...
,
John Burns
John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...
,
Tom Mann
Thomas Mann (15 April 1856 – 13 March 1941), was an English trade unionist and is widely recognised as a leading, pioneering figure for the early labour movement in Britain. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a ...
,
Ben Cooper
Ben Cooper (September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020) was an American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in westerns.
Stage
Cooper appeared on Broadway in '' Life With Father'' (1939). He debuted in ...
,
Will Thorne and the seamen's leader
Joseph Havelock Wilson. The most notable politician to come to the fore during the strike was the
Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to:
Active parties
* Progressive Party, Brazil
* Progressive Party (Chile)
* Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus
* Dominica Progressive Party
* Progressive Party (Iceland)
* Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kn ...
lor
John Benn. As an increasingly prominent local politician, he was invited to stand for
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...
as the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
candidate for
St George Division of Tower Hamlets. He was subsequently elected in the
1892 general election, becoming the first of four generations of the Benn family to serve as
MPs.
The London Dock Strike was preceded by several other developments which marked the emergence of a new mood amongst the unskilled. The strike of match-girls at the
Bryant and May match strike, and the successful organisation of London gasworkers by Will Thorne
''The First Dispute:The Eight Hour Day'' GMB History
accessed 22 Jun 2007 were amongst these omens. The dockers' strike was more dramatic than these disputes however, because of the sheer number of workers involved, the poor reputation that dockers previously enjoyed, and various other aspects of the dispute.
Dispute
The dock strike began over a dispute about 'plus' money during the unloading of the ''Lady Armstrong'' in the West India Docks
The West India Docks are a series of three docks, quaysides and warehouses built to import goods from and export goods and occasionally passengers to the British West Indies on the Isle of Dogs in London the first of which opened in 1802. Follow ...
. 'Plus' money was a bonus paid for completing work quickly. The East and West India Docks Company's (E&WIDC), general manager Lieutenant Colonel John Lowther du Plat Taylor
Colonel John Lowther du Plat Taylor CB VD (1829 – 5 March 1904) was the founder of the Army Post Office Corps and the Post Office Rifles.
Du Plat Taylor trained at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, but left in 1844 before he was commis ...
(of 49th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers) had cut their 'plus' rates to attract ships into their own docks rather than others.
Evaluations
From the Catholic Church's point of view, Cardinal Manning's involvement in the strike, as a mediator trusted by both sides, could be seen as foreshadowing the encyclical
An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from the Late Latin (originally fr ...
''Rerum novarum
''Rerum novarum'' (from its incipit, with the direct translation of the Latin meaning "of revolutionary change"), or ''Rights and Duties of Capital and Labor'', is an encyclical issued by Pope Leo XIII on 15 May 1891. It is an open letter, pa ...
'' ('Of New Things') issued by Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII ( it, Leone XIII; born Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci; 2 March 1810 – 20 July 1903) was the head of the Catholic Church from 20 February 1878 to his death in July 1903. Living until the age of 93, he was the second-ol ...
two years later, on 15 May 1891. Addressing "the condition of the working classes", the Church's policy set out in that encyclical explicitly supported the right of labour to form unions, but rejected socialism and affirmed private property rights. ("Each needs the other: capital cannot do without labour, nor labour without capital. Mutual agreement results in the beauty of good order, while perpetual conflict necessarily produces confusion and savage barbarity".)
Robert Speaight
Robert William Speaight (; 1904 – 1976) was a British actor and writer, and the brother of George Speaight, the puppeteer.
Speaight studied under Elsie Fogerty at the Central School of Speech and Drama, then based in the Royal Albert Hall, ...
, a biographer of Hilaire Belloc
Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc (, ; 27 July 187016 July 1953) was a Franco-English writer and historian of the early twentieth century. Belloc was also an orator, poet, sailor, satirist, writer of letters, soldier, and political activist. ...
, noted that Cardinal Manning's involvement in the Dock Strike made a major impression on Belloc, 19 years old at the time, who was to become a major speaker for the Catholic Church during the early 20th century. As retrospectively told by Belloc himself in ''The Cruise of the Nona'' (1925), the example of Cardinal Manning influenced him to become a trenchant critic both of unbridled capitalism and of many aspects of socialism.
See also
*Stepney Historical Trust
Stepney is a district in the East End of London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The district is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name appli ...
References
Sources
* Duffy, A. E. P. "New Unionism in Britain, 1889-1890: A Reappraisal," ''Economic History Review'' (1961) 14#2 pp 306–319.
* Lovell, John. ''Stevedores and dockers: a study of trade unionism in the Port of London, 1870-1914'' (1969)
* Oram, R. B. "The Great Strike of 1889." ''History Today'' (Aug 1964_ 14#8 pp 532–541.
*Ben Tillett
Benjamin Tillett (11 September 1860 – 27 January 1943) was a British socialist, trade union leader and politician. He was a leader of the "new unionism" of 1889 that focused on organizing unskilled workers. He played a major role in founding ...
''Memories and Reflections'' (London, 1931)
External links
The Great Dock Strike
at the PortCities project
How social hierarchy determined the outcome of the 1889 London dock strike
Trade Union Ancestors
*
{{Authority control
1889 labor disputes and strikes
1889 in England
History of Catholicism in England
Labour disputes in England
Labour disputes in the United Kingdom
Poverty in England
Water transport in England
1889 in London
Social history of London
Economic history of London
Port of London
Maritime strikes
August 1889 events