Events 2 - The Great Dock Strike of 1889 - London Docklands History for GCSE - The London borough of Barking and Dagenham.

The Great Dock Strike of 1889
Events 2

From the outset it was clear that the employers of the dock companies led by CM. Norwood intended to break the strike and starve the dockers into submission.

They brought in replacement labour referred to as 'blacklegs'. The dockers replied by organising an army of pickets whose job it was to persuade men still at work and blacklegs to come out on strike.

Ben Tillett recalled, 'We had 16,000 pickets on at one time under their Captains, Lieutenants, and Sergeants, divided and sub-divided with military precision.'

Tempers flared and there were accusations of intimidation and violence. The newspapers of the day including The Times were, on the whole, sympathetic to the strike, but there was also substantial opposition.

E: Sir, - During this week I have witnessed the most open intimidation practised by the men on strike - howling crowds going from dock to dock and warehouse to warehouse, stopping business and threatening vengeance on all who did not comply with their demands, until now there are thousands who are out who had no desire to strike, but were compelled to do so ... those who dare to work for their wages are being brutally maltreated and threatened with worse if they dare attempt to work in defiance of the strikers' wishes.

I saw several men severely injured today on Tower Hill (the blood being made to fly in all directions) by gangs of strikers ... What are the authorities for if not to protect peaceable citizens in earning an honest living?

A LOVER OF FREEDOM'

The Times, 24 August 1889

F: Sir, - As one of the newly-appointed permanent men who have remained at work in the London Dock during the strike, I beg respectfully to bring under your notice the following facts, which will account for so many men leaving their work.

They have done so under the influence of extreme terror, being unable to enter or leave the dock with safety, and have in many instances been robbed and most brutally assaulted... They are satisfied with their pay...

On Friday evening five of them were so violently assaulted on leaving the dock that they were unable to come to work on Saturday.

The papers all speak of the orderly conduct of the strikers, and no doubt their processions through the streets are conducted in a peaceable manner; but let the writers come down to the dock-gates and see the terror stricken men ... finding at every gate a mob waiting for the express purpose of half murdering them, and they would alter their opinion...

As I myself have been savagely assaulted, I speak from experience. I am, Sir, yours respectfully,'

The Times, 27 August 1889.

G: 'It was impossible not to admire the self control of those who could in ten minutes have sacked every shop within a mile and satisfied the craving of nature. Contrast this crowd with the French mob which cried hoarse with passion "Give us bread". Not so the English docker, independent still in his direst straits. "Give me work" he says and in this case a rider is added and "pay me fairly". That is the grit of the whole matter, a fair wage.'

East London Advertiser, 24 August 1889.

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