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 The General Strike 3rd ~ 12th May 1926

 

The greatest strike in the history of Great Britain,

and possibly the greatest that the world has witness

 

 

  “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the star

 By OscarWilde

 

 

 

Background to the Strike

 

It is hoped that in the coming weeks, that more information will be discovered and added, regarding what took place by the 

Loco-men of Brighton during the General Strike.

During the General Strike, Brighton was totally paralysed with the transport being brought to a total stand still. This was due 

to a large railway work force and Brighton become the worse effected town on the South Coast with neighbouring loco sheds 

which also supported this strike. The Southern Railway employed a work force of approximately 73,000, with only 12,000 

railway workers from the various grades and departments reporting for work during the entire General Strike.

However I have discovered some information regarding the 'Battle of Lewes Road', which took place on Tuesday 11th May, 

1926, where it is presumed, that members of the Brighton Branch of A.S.L.E.F. may have been involved in this demonstration. 

It is known that some of the demonstrators who were arrested and sentenced worked for the Southern Railway at Brighton.

Below is some background information into the General Strike nationally, which is followed by a major event that happened 

in Brighton during the General Strike, which involved trade union members from the various trade unions that worked within 

the town.


 

-----------

 

The strike was called by the Trades Union Congress (T.U.C.) in support of striking coal miners in the North of England, 

Scotland and Wales. The miners were making a stand against an enforced pay-cut. It was the latest in a long series of 

industrial disputes that had dogged the coal industry since the end of the First World War and created real hardship for 

mining families. 'Not a minute on the day, not a penny off the pay', was the miners' slogan.

Although the dispute began in the mining areas, one of the trigger events took place in London, when the Daily Mail's Fleet 

Street printers refused to print a leading article criticising trade unions. Other print workers also downed tools. The T.U.C. 

activated its plans for sympathetic strike action and called out all trade union members in essential industries.

From the early hours of Monday 3rd May, some two million workers went on strike across Britain. In London, the main 

groups of striking workers were the dockers, printers, power station workers, railwaymen, and transport workers. The aim 

was to bring the capital to a halt and force the government to intervene on the side of the miners.

For its part, the government brought in the army to ensure that essential services continued and food supplies got through. 

Army barracks were set up in Hyde Park, which was also turned into a milk and food depot. People who disapproved of the 

T.U.C. 'holding a pistol to the nation's head' took action themselves, volunteering to work in place of the strikers. London’s 

buses, trams, trains and delivery vans were kept running by a skeleton staff of non-unionised workers and university students.

On Wednesday 12th May 1926, the T.U.C. General Council visited 10 Downing Street to announce their decision to call off 

the strike, provided that the proposals worked out by the Samuel Commission were adhered to and that the Government 

offered a guarantee that there would be no victimization of strikers. The Government stated that it had "no power to compel 

employers to take back every man who had been on strike." Thus the T.U.C. agreed to end the dispute without such an 

agreement.

The miners maintained resistance for a few months before being forced by their own economic needs to return to the mines. By 

the end of November most miners were back at work. However, many remained unemployed for many years. Those that were 

employed were forced to accept longer hours, lower wages, and district wage agreements. The strikers felt as though they had 

achieved nothing.

 

BRIGHTON AND THE GENERAL STRIKE

Extracted and adapted from the book of the same tittle by Ernie Trory

plus some additional info from the notes by M. Bance

The General Strike descended with full force on Brighton on Tuesday 4thMay. It came suddenly and relentlessly. When the 

inhabitants of Brighton awoke, there were no trains, trams, no buses and no newspapers. It was an unfamiliar world. The 

tensions which led to the General Strike were exacerbated by the policies of the Brighton Corporation and the fears of members of the Middle Classes. Their concerns, however, were misplaced: local socialists and unemployed people of Brighton were not revolutionaries but had a strong feeling of sympathy with the industrial unrest that existed around the country, and when the strike began to take full effect on the 4th May only 6,000 workers, a small proportion of the town's workforce, came out. Of these, transport workers were seen to represent the greatest threat, and succeeded in stopping service on the town's external railway links and internal tramways. This was largely due to the hundreds of railway workers employed in Brighton and the solidarity of Brighton workers with strikers elsewhere was virtually complete.

The Organisation for the Maintenance of Supplies. Now absorbed into an official government organisation was hard at it, and ardent 

young men of the “Sporting type” were dashing about in lorries and on motorcycles. All members of Brighton Police Force had orders to 

sleep “at their posts” and to increase their mobility. Motor coaches were drawn up in readiness to convey them to any point in the 

borough where their services might be requires. The Special Constabulary had been called up and extra recruits were being enrolled at the 

Y.M.C.A. in the Old Steine, and at Preston Circus Police Station.

Typewritten bulletins, giving the latest wireless messages, began to be issued from the Electric Shop in North Street and from the 

headquarters of the Brighton & Hove Conservative Association in the Old Steine, limited consignment of the London morning papers, 

which had arrived in Brighton that morning, remained untouched on the station. The distributors had refused to handle them.

Meanwhile the Labour institute in London Road was a hive of industry. Here it was that the Council of Action, and most of the Strike 

Committees, held their meetings. Notices relating to pickets were displayed outside the building, where later were to be seen two telegrams 

from Mr. C.T. Cramp (N.U.R.), the railway leader, congratulating the workers of Brighton on their stand and urging them to work together.

On the morning of Wednesday 5th May, five thousand copies of the British Gazette, Government-sponsored organ of the coal–owners, 

were brought into Brighton. Some were posted in prominent positions around the town, only to be torn down by angry strikers. The T.U.C. 

replied with the British Worker, and the local Council of Action produced Stand Firm. There was also The Punch, produces by the 

Brighton Communist Party, a duplicated paper that appeared to be on sale everywhere, but printed nowhere.

Brighton was solid. In no other town in the South of England was there such a complete stoppage. The strike order specified a call –out in 

“two grades” or “lines” but the difficulty was to keep the second line in. Engineering was in the second line and the railways in the first 

line. So the engineers in the railway workshops came out on the first day. The engineers at Southdown Motors came out on the second day. 

Everywhere men and women were leaving work in sympathy with the miners – even domestic servants and hotel employees were walking 

out.

There was a dramatic event moment on Thursday 6th May in the vicinity of the Town Hall about noon, when the big procession of about 

2,000 strikers, headed by a brass band. The strikers were marching on to the Town Hall in response to the council considering the use of 

volunteer labour on the trams, they wanted to lobby transport committee and to try and persuade them not to use volunteers to operate the 

trams. As the procession made its way down to East Street, there were several hundred men in ranks as they swung round the corner out of 

North Street, a solid mass of marchers. Drawn up in a cordon guarding the approach through Bartholomews to the Town Hall. Where the 

Tram Committee were sitting in council, members of the Brighton Police Force waited apprehensively. Behind them, scores of reserves 

were disposed in strategic positions. The front line stiffened as marchers approached, but the demonstration continued on in an orderly 

fashion, leaving the minions of law and order on their right.

On the following day, at same spot a procession of about 200 strikers were marching towards the sea when a quite shocking thing 

happened. A woman driving a two-seater car spotted the procession and deliberately increased her speed and ploughed through the 

procession, scattering the strikers and making others flee for their lives. The police who were at the scene made no attempt to apprehend 

her Instead the police drew their truncheons and set about the strikers who tried to mount the footboard to stop the car and then dragging 

them off the car. In the confusion, the woman continued to drive on at a great speed, turned swftly into North Street and disappeared.

On the Saturday, the Brighton Herald came out in a four-page issue, produced with the aid of Special Constables who worked all Friday 

night and into the early hours of the next morning. The Sussex Daily News was produced with less difficulty but the printing was of a very 

low standard, many copies being unreadable.

 

 The Battle of Lewes Road


on Tuesday 11th May 1926


Not the Battle of Lewes, which took place on 14th May 1264 between the forces of Simon de Montford and King Henry III, but 

a strike action the Brighton and Hove Herald called the ‘Battle of Lewes Road’. A violent and bloody incident leading from 

The General Strike called by the Trades Union Congress in defence of mineworkers who were being asked to accept a 

universal seven-day week and a drop in wages of up to 25%.

In the following week more police were recruited to form 

a mounted group of special officers. They were made up 

of local farmers, sportsmen, hunting men and retired 

cavalry officers and together made a disciplined force 

which the strikers nicknamed the ‘Black and Tans’, an 

allusion to the special constables who had gained such a 

terrible reputation for violence during the Irish troubles 

of 1920.

The first serious incident occurred on Tuesday 11th, May, 

when the mounting tension burst into a storm outside the 

tram depot in Lewes Road. From early morning, the 

impression had gained ground that there was going to be 

an attempt to start the trams again. Actually, the plan 

was not to get trams out of the depot, but to get the 

blacklegs into the depot for training.

At noon, Superintendent Taylor, acting under 

instructions from the Chief Constables, Charles Griffin, 

took a strong body of officers and men to the tram depot 

in Lewes Road, after picking up a convoy of volunteers 

(which included a group of middle-class volunteers, and 

students) and a number of blacklegs at the Pavilion 

Buildings. These volunteers were only there to be 

trained, but the crowd believed that an attempt was to be 

made to bring the trams back into service. By the time he 

arrived at the tram depot in Lewes Road where 4,000 

people, strikers, sympathisers and inquisitive onlookers, 

had gathered. The Chief Constable and asked the crowd 

in front of the gates to disperse. This they refused to do. 

The Chief Constable, Charles Griffin, ordered the road 

to be cleared and sent in 300 foot police and 50 mounted 

specials advanced in wedge formation, the later led by 

“Sergeant” Harry Preston, proprietor of the Royal 

Albion & Royal York Hotels and a friend of the Prince of 

Wales, with Harry Mason, a well-known professional 

boxer acting as his second in command. This motley 

collection of men, who were former: - ex-cavalry men, 

ex-black & tans and ex-yeomanry. They were carrying, 

‘ugly looking shillelaghs with knobbed ends’. They 

gradually forced the strikers back until they reached the 

Saunders Recreation Ground. Someone in the crowd 

threw a bottle at a constable; blows were exchanged 

between officers and civilians; stones and bricks began 

to fly through the air; and the police came to a standstill. 

In a few moments ‘The Battle of Lewes Road’ was in full 

swing. The Herald described, ‘flying stones, the panic 

rush, the thud of blows, the shrieks of frightened women 

and children’. They also reported the peculiar sight of 

mounted police constables wearing plus-fours!



A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

I was an eye-witness to the following which I actually saw on Tuesday May 11th outside the 

Corporation Tram Depot, Lewes Road at about 12.15 and afterwards. About 150 police 

constables were marched up to the depot and after a brief halt outside the main gate, they 

were evidently detailed their duties, some inside the depot, some on the north side, and some 

on the south side of the main gate of Depot. No arrest were made (and no reprisals on behalf 

of the strikers or other occurred) until the uniformed mounted police came up and were also 

halted outside the main gate. Chief Constable Griffin then gave orders to the police both 

mounted and foot to clear the road each side of the main gate, the mounted police then drew 

their batons and charged into the crowd, not studying woman, children or cripples (myself 

being limbless ex soldier with one leg) the police were striking out right and left, and in my 

opinion under that provocation alone caused the crowd to retaliate which was the direct 

cause of the arrest. No warning by the police was given to the assembled crowd to clear out. 

This happened just after the children had come out of school and for this reason only, was 

why so many children were present, the Lewes Road was open at this time to traffic, and 

pedestrians. People ran for their dear lives to get out of the mounted police's way, children 

being lifted into the recreation ground and men, youths and boys scaling the fence for no 

other purpose than avoiding getting struck by the police.

Then came the stone throwing from the people in the recreation ground at the police. The 

Chief Constable then gave orders for the recreation ground to be cleared, and heedless of life 

or limb, nearly all mounted constables galloped away up Lewes Road into a panic, they 

entered the ground the south side of the Barracks by the married quarters after clearing the 

recreation ground the position was much quieter and the Chief Constable Griffin then came 

and warned the crowd (for the first time) to clear away as we were doing no good by waiting 

about. Very few special constables if any took part in clearing the road at the commencement 

of the trouble, but we actively on the seen afterwards.

"After the charge and arrests the volunteers tram workers were allowed to go through the 

gates. No trams were running that day. Police activity was not very notable throughout the 

remaining hours of that 11th day, in the vercinity of the Brighton Corporation Tram Depot."

"You may use this letter for any purpose you wish, it is all god's own truth. Wishing you ever 

success"

S. Staphnill, 41, Southall Avenue, Moulscombe


A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

On Tuesday May 11th I was in Lewes Road opposite the big gates of the Tram 

Depot. I saw Mr. Marsh come out and he said "They are coming out here with 

mounted and foot police and determined to run the cars. I advise you to go home, 

keep the road clear." The people moved off the road on to the pavement. He also said 

"I told the Council plainly, they run at their own risk I will not take the 

responsibility. " I sat upon the fence opposite the big gates when I saw the police 

coming. up came the police; I saw the chief of the police get out of his motor car, he 

looked 

around him, I did not hear him say a word and I was within 10 yards of him. He 

blew his whistle, the horses then began to push the people who were on the 

pavement, not in the road, back to the wall. I saw the first man taken near the gates 

by 5 policemen. When he got to the gates 2 more came up, one hit him in the back of 

the neck the other jobbed him in the back with his knee. I was on the fence and a 

policeman came up to me "Get out of this or you will have this on your nut". I got off 

and went into the children's playground, above the pond. Then a policeman came up 

to me on horse with his truncheon raised and said " Get out of this." I am old 

enough to be your Grandfather. He backed his horse on to me and I fell back, he 

then hit me with truncheon as I lay flat on the grass, but missed me as he could not 

get down low enough from his horse.

I am 77 years of age and live in my present house for 50 years.

H. Hickmore, 41 St. Martin's Place

 

A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

On Tuesday May 11th at about 11 a.m. a large procession of strikers (Tramwaymen, Busmen, Railwaymen etc.) marched along Lewes 

Road towards the Tramway Depot, headed by a band. This sight was not unusual, there having been processions of a like character at 

various intervals throughout the strike. Ten minutes later, several hundred police and special constables followed in the same direction. 

There were on foot or speeding along in private cars and charabancs, a noticeable feature being a posse of about 36 mounted specials in 

semi military uniform who were each armed with long batons and were carrying them in a very prominent position. This sight was very 

unusual and was provocative in the very first instant. The spectacle had attracted large crowd who followed behind the police and I, 

being keenley interested, joined with the crowd and was fortunate in getting a view from a cart standing about 100 yards from the Depot. 

A scuffle occurred outside the Depot as soon as the police arrived. This was quelled and good order reigned for a few minutes. Suddenly 

the mounted specials, who were lined up facing south, wheeled round and made for the north entrance of the recreation ground. This 

ground was covered with people, quite a good sprinkling of women and children being evidence. The charge of these horsemen, 

brandishing their batons, was not to be withstood and something like panic pervailed, the crowd scattering like rabbits for shelter. not 

content with this, the horsemen made an organised drive down the main road, going quite a distance up the side turnings, riding 

indiscriminately on the pavements and threatening, and in many cases striking, those who could not evade them quickly enough. I myself, 

with members of the family, standing well back on our forecourt, were threatened by mounted hooligans who rode on the pavement. a 

sergeant on foot was injudicious enough to say that he would go" through blood and fire" to get at me and would "bash me to pieces" if I 

dared to come outside. I was then inside the shop. This statement I will swear on and will say that there was not the slightest excuse for 

the whole affair, which was a deliberate piece of organised tyranny on the part of the local authorities

Gustave de Lacy, 136 Lewes Road Brighton

 

Orders were then given to the mounted specials to “relieve the 

situation.” Unable to enter the recreation ground from Lewes 

Road, they charged through the crowds in Hollingdean Road, 

scattering men, women and children as they went, and gained 

admittance by the side entrance. After a violent struggle in 

which people were knocked down by horses, blows were 

struck; stones and bottles thrown the strikers were driven back 

and were overcome and dispersed. The manoeuvre was 

continued until the crowds were forced back, leaving the 

Lewes Road clear from the Bear Hotel to Preston Barracks. 

Many men on both sides were injured and 17 arrests were 

made.

The echoes of the fight in Lewes Road had hardly died away 

when a fresh disturbance broke out in London Road; outside 

the Labour Institute (which was situated at No. 93).Car after 

car, laden with police and specials, raced to the scene of 

action, followed by hard-faced mounted men, their batons 

swinging from their saddles. Those at the end of the 

procession were met by cars returning with fresh victims of 

police brutally. During this disturbance saw another 5 people 

being arrested.


A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

I the undersigned, as an eyewitness of the arrest of bob Thompson, 

28, Stanley Road, state that he did not strike or attempt to strike a 

policeman. I was within a few yards of the occurence and saw the 

policeman grab him by his hair hurry him to a car whilst the 

crowd around were calling out shame


Alice Jacobs, 98, Osborne Road

A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

Hearing a great noise, I came to the front of my house, which is situated at the 

bottom next to a stone masons. i saw policemen driving the people, women and 

children, close to the railings and putting up their arms to protect themselves 

were threatened with arrest. I, an old woman was threatened if I did not go 

indoors. I opened my door and let several into my house. Gladstone Place 

being a cul-de-sac the people were driven from the main road. When standing 

at the window the horse policeman rode up on the pavement and deliberately 

struck an old man across the back with his stick. Others were kicked and a 

regular attempt was made by the police to trample the people down. I am 

willing to take my oath on this.

Mary C. Bannister, 1, Gladstone Place


 

PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN

Driven by Captain Davies, and accompanied by Mr. Brooker 

(Traffic Superintedent)

The first tram with it's protected expanded metal mesh about to 

leave the Lewes Road Depot.

 

 

A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

On Tuesday morning May 11th, I was outside of the Tram Depot when Mr. Marsh came out and stated that 200 mounted and foot police 

were coming and appeal to the crowd to go away and said for god's sake men don't let their be any trouble, go home. I went into the 

recreation ground and stood opposite the main enterance of the Tram Depot. I helped to get children over the wall into the ground for 

safety, and advised women with prams to clear away. Along came the poice on foot, then a motor covered over with a brown tarpaulin, 

after this volunteersto take out the cars. The foot police moved the crowd towards Falmer. Then something happened, the specails, 

mounted, and foot police seemed to go mad. They rushed the crowd and arrested a man against the depot wall and pushed him into gate, 

jobbing him in the back. Then the mounted special and regular police rushed the recreation ground pushing men, women and children 

against the wall. I saw a little girl about 10 years of age screaming and tearing her hair out. I said "don't be affraid and you will be 

alright with me." I turned to those on horse back and sai " I appeal to you as Englishman, as a man, as an Ambulance man, to let these 

women and children go." One reared his horse up and I pushed the little girl into safety and told her to run off. The mounted special then 

said "Get Out" and a regular policeman mounted cut me a blow across the right shoulder. He then rushed out of the gate in Hollingdean 

Road right across the road on to the pavement where his horse slipped and there were women, and children in prams, also a lot of 

children they had driven out of the recreation ground standing on the pavement. He then drove us down Hollingdean Road into Lewes 

Road and then up Gladstone Place where I pushed into a gateway and fell down an area stepsin mendeavour to get out of the way and 

into safety. The way I got home was, when the dinner bell of Bennets went, the stonemasons men went home I mingled with them and so 

got home.

A. Packham, 16 Roundhill Street, Brighton

 The collapse of the General Strike was not expected. Morale was so high and organisation so strong that in some parts of the 

country, before it was known that the T.U.C. had accepted term tantamount to “unconditional surrender,” demonstrators were 

organised to celebrate the “Victory.” The men who had sacrificed so much to prove their solidarity with the miners were 

completely bewildered when it was realised that their heroic stand had brought them defeat. The employers were not in 

pressing home their advantage. Many in Brighton saw the act of calling off the strike by the General Council of the T.U.C. as 

a betrayal. Those who must have felt it most keenly were the strikers who lost their jobs when the management of the local 

transport companies refused to reinstate them after the strike, one such company was Southdown Motors, when the strikes 

returning back to work, were told that they must state whether they belonged to a trade union or not. Some of the strikers 

within Brighton were dismissed by their employers for taking part in the General Strike and were black listed by other 

employers within the town.

The following morning the 22 prisoners who had been arrested 

at the two disturbances were brought before the bench. They 

had been remanded in custody from the previous evening, 

when, with indecent haste, an emergency Magistrates Court. 

They were marched through the town from the police station to 

the town hall where they appeared before the emergency 

magistrates’ court. They had been summoned and the men 

immediately charged with incitement to riot, throwing bottles 

and stones, assaulting the police etc. They were legally 

represented by A. J. Grinstead, a Labour Councillor, who did 

what he could in the difficult circumstances. All 22 received 

sentences of hard labour, from one to six months; others were 

heavily fined (see below).

The trail lasted about six hours and during the lunch interval 

news was received that the General Council of the T.U.C. had 

called of the strike. On resuming, A.J. Grinstead submitted that 

the case should be adjourned, adding: “I think I may say, sir, 

that we are all desiring that if there is peace, it should be a 

general peace.” The magistrate ruled against an adjournment, 

and with the vicious sentences already referred to were 

recorded.

There was a large crowd outside the Town Hall as the 

prisoners, handcuffed together in twos and threes, were 

brought out by the police. They were hurried into large private 

cars with more police brought up the rear of the procession. 

Some of the men smiled at relatives in the crowd, who waved 

handkerchiefs in acknowledgement. The cars turned on to the 

Sea Front in the direction of Portsmouth.

A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

On Tuesday morning May 11th, I was in Lewes Road with my wife looking for my 

little boy Albert who would be coming home from school. Seeing the police coming 

along the road my wife and I began walking up gladstone Place to get out of the way; 

when; around the corner came a special constable on a horse with 2 0r 3 policemen 

and several specials. The one on the horse rode up on the pavement, he was shouting 

something and I kept walking. I was about the third house up when he reached me. 

He said " where are you going." I said "Home." He then raised his stick which had a 

big knob on the end and struck me a blow across my back. I said nothing because I 

thought if I did he would arrest me. Up came a policeman in uniform and said 

"Where do you live" I said No. 37. He said "Why don't you get away home." I said 

"Thats where I am going." My wife had to run into the road as she was nearly 

knocked down by the horse. I had a bruise on my back about 6 inches long.

S.A. Scutt, 37, Gladstone Place

A eye-witness accounts of the Battle of Lewes Road

In regards to this affair in Lewes Road, the whole affair was treacherous as being 

an eye witness and coming through it. women and children knocked about by 

those heroes on horseback, just as the children were coming home from school 

and I myself being on crutches just got half way through the crowd outside the 

Depot when they made a charge, they came through as if they were made, one 

special on horseback jumped over the wall into the recreation park where women 

and children were for safety and other went into the park and frightened the little 

children to death. also some of the foot police were very insolent to the women 

who were looking for their children. my two children 5 & 7 have been under the 

doctor owing to fright and delirous caused through the men on horseback.

Y.J. Harrison, 29 Coombe Terrace

 

The names of the 22 demonstrators who were arrested


and received a magistrates sentenced on


Wednesday 12th May 1926


The charges out of the disturbances in Lewes Road and London Road were dealt with at a sitting of the Brighton Magistrates on the 

morning of Wednesday 12 May. There were 22 prisoners concerned in 42 charges as follows:-

1 George Richardson. 49, 167Havleock Road, Southern Railway Employee, unlawfully committing an offence against the Emergency 

Regulation 1926, duty made pur to the Emergency Powers Act, 1920. In that he did an an act calculated or likely to cause disaffection among the civilian population, to with incite certain persons to riot, on 11thMay, £5 fine paid..

2 William Batchelor, 26, 86 Picton Street, Southern Railway Lifter, 1 month, like offences, &

3 Arthur James. Mitchell, 56, 42 Hendon Street Kemptown, Labourer, 2 months like offences.

4 Albert Lawrence, 48, 17 Franklin Street, Goods Porter, a like offence, assaulting Detective Sergeant Thomas Wells while in the 

execution of his duty, on 11th May, and assaulting P.C. Robert Minton, while in the execution of his duty, on 11thMay, 6 months.

5 John Lawrence Knight, 43, 31 Millers Road, Southern Railway Driller, throwing a dangerous missile, to wit a stone, with intent to 

injure (Emergency Regulations, 1926), and assaulting Detective Sergeant Thomas Wells while in the execution of his duty, on 11th May, 4 

months.

6 Percy Isaac Sawyer, 35, 66 Ewart Street, Southern Railway Hammerman, throwing a missile, 3 months.

7 Joseph Alfred Vinall, 21, labourer, inciting to riot, discharged mental.

8 Fred King, 39, 74 Franklin Street, Labourer (Tramways), inciting to riot, assaulting Special Constable Bernard Dutton Briant, while in 

the execution of his duty, and assaulting Special Constable Dudley Marriott Broughton Vanqulin, while in the execution of his duty, on 

11th May, 6 months.

9 William Joseph Knight, 32, 45 Arnold Street, Tram Conductor, inciting to riot, on 11th May; inciting to riot on 5th May; assaulting P.C. 

Alfred Phillips while in the execution of his duty on the Old Stiene, on 5thMay; and assaulting P.C. Thomas Humberstone while in the 

execution of his duty, on Maderia Drive, on the 5th May, 6 months.

10 John Walkden 24, 41 Park Cresent Road, Southern Railway Labourer, inciting to riot, and assaulting P.C. Archibald Soul while in the 

execution of his duty, on 11th May, 4 months.

11 Charles Marchant, 19, 12 Southover Street, Bottle Washer, inciting to roit, 40/-.

12 George Edward Newton, 29, 67 Hartington, Labourer (Tramways), inciting to riot on 11th May; assaulting P.C. James Beedle, while 

in the execution of his duty, on 11th May; inciting to riot on 5th assaulting P.C. Thomas Humberstone while in the execution of his duty, 

on Maderia Drive, on the 5th May, 6 months.

13 Sidney Arthur Higgs, 25, Welder, inciting to riot, on 11th May.

14 William Jones, 41, 6 Tichbourne Street, Boot Operative, inciting to riot, on 11thMay; inciting to riot on 5th may; assaulting P.C. 

Thomas Humberstone while in the execution of his duty, on Maderia Drive, on the 5thMay; and assaulting P.C. Alfred Phillips while in 

the execution of his duty in the Old Stiene, on 5th May, 6 months.

15 Horace Grosvenor, 39, 38 Ladysmith Road, Tramway Motorman, inciting to riot on 11th May, 2 months.

16 Algernon Sidney King, 39, 95 Ladysmith Road, Tramway Motorman, inciting to riot on 11th May, 2 months.

17 William Woolgar, 25, 51 Park Cresent Road, Southern Railway Engine Fitter, inciting to riot, in London Road, on 11th May, 1 month.

18 Percy Alfred Phillips, 25, 6 Islingworth, Labourer, inciting to riot on 11thMay, 1 month.

19 Robert Victor Thompson, 22, 38 Stanley Road, Southern Railway Coach Painter, inciting to riot; assaulting P.C, Leonard Botten while 

in the execution of his duty in London Road; assaulting P.C. Sydney Millen while in the execution of his duty in London Road, 2 months.

20 Walter Birkhead, 21, 4 Kimberly Road, Kitchen Hand, inciting to riot in East Street, and assaulting P.C. Alfred Phillips while in the 

execution of his duty in East Street, on 11th May, 2 months

21 Thomas George Spencer, 18, 51 William Street, Errand Boy, inciting to riot in East Street, and assaulting Special Constable Francis 

Donald Pickett while in the execution of his duty, in Bartholomews on 11th May, Remanded 8 days.

22 Alfred Blakesley, 66 Hereford Street, Seaman 4 months, Note: moved.

 

 

The aftermath of the General Strike in Brighton

 

 The collapse of the General Strike was not expected. Morale 

was so high and organisation so strong that in some parts of 

the country, before it was known that the T.U.C. had accepted 

term tantamount to “unconditional surrender,” demonstrators 

were organised to celebrate the “Victory.” The men who had 

sacrificed so much to prove their solidarity with the miners 

were completely bewildered when it was realised that their 

heroic stand had brought them defeat.

The employers were not in pressing home their advantage. 

Many in Brighton saw the act of calling off the strike by the 

General Council of the T.U.C. as a betrayal. Those who must 

have felt it most keenly were the strikers who lost their jobs 

when the management of the local transport companies 

refused to reinstate them after the strike, one such company 

was Southdown Motors, when the strikes returning back to 

work, were told that they must state whether they belonged to 

a trade union or not. Some of the strikers within Brighton were 

dismissed by their employers for taking part in the General 

Strike and were black listed by other employers within the town.

On Wednesday, 12th May, saw Brighton slowly returning back 

to normal. The strikers were being instructed by their trade 

unions to return back to work. There was much dissatisfaction 

amongst the railway men who were amongst one of the main 

group of workers at the heart of the strike within Brighton and 

the surrounding area.

On the Thursday morning, a victory parade of mounted 

specials was assembled outside the flower market, under the 

command of Lieutenant Colonel Scott O’Connor, to receive 

official recognition from the then Mayor of Brighton, 

Councillor J. Lord Thompson; which was followed by the 

mounted specials having a ‘victory’ parade through the streets 

of Brighton. In the evening a thanksgiving service and a 

celebration dinner was held, the thanksgiving service was 

conducted in St. Peter’s Church, concluding with hymns,“Thy 

hand, O God, has guided” and “Now thank we all our God”. 

The regular policemen were presented certificates and granted 

three days leave. These celebrations caused deep resentment 

amongst the people of Brighton against the police. But during 

the afternoon, there had come some chastening news. The 

railwaymen had again ceased work on the issue of 

reinstatement without victimisation; this stoppage was not 

supported at national level.

 PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN


Above the front and below the rear of the L.M.S. 1926 Strike Medallion, 

which was issue by the L.M.S. Railway company on behalf of the 

Conservative Goverment, and they were known by were know by fellow 

railwaymen as a 'SCAB' badge.
 
I am after copies of images of the 1926 General Strike medallion that 

was issued by the Southern Railway

PHOTOGRAPHER UNKNOWN

The local authority saw the "Battle of Lewes Road" as having served to crush revolutionary politics in Brighton, while for 

working-class activists it was celebrated as a day of heroism and martyrdom. Following the events, there was little complaint 

from workers about the regular police, but much about the allegedly politically-motivated special constables.

The aftermath of the General strike was to be felt for many weeks’ months afterwards. Further repercussions of the General 

Strike were continually making themselves felt.  

On the 2nd June, two engine drivers with many years’ service 

to their credit were prosecuted by the Southern Railway 

Company in respect of incidents alleged to have occurred 

during the General Strike, and both were heavily fined

With General Strike over the Loco-men had to wait another 

eleven months before they saw the resumption of the 

Guaranteed Week, which was re-introduced on the April 

11th, 1927. Therefore the loco-men carried on receiving a 

further 11 months of punishment, for their involvement in the 

General Strike.

Above

Letters from Southern Railway to thanks their staff who did 

not strike during the General Strike. 

The British Government in 1927, passed the Trades Disputes & Trade Union Act., and more commonly known as the 

“Blacklegs Charter” This act made all sympathetic strikes illegal, ensured the trade union members had to voluntarily 

'contract in' to pay the political levy, forbade Civil Service unions to affiliate to the T.U.C., and made mass picketing illegal.

Today, we can appreciate the hardship faced by the strikers. It is harder for us to imagine how much terror the strikers 

instilled in the authorities (the establishment’s fear of ‘mob rule’); the hatred felt by the middle-class, the woman in her sports 

car or the gentleman farmer, riding into battle in his 'plus fours' carrying a club. This was, however, the reality of one of the 

bitterest confrontations of the whole General Strike and it took place in Brighton. 

 

THE BRIGHTON BRANCH OF A.S.L.E.&F. WEBSITE.


 HAS NOW BEEN MOVED TO A NEW SITE CALLED


IGNITING THE FLAMING OF UNITY



https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/



PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE BELOW 

TO TRANSFER TO THIS NEW SITE

 

 



CLICK ON THE ABOVE IMAGE TO TAKE YOU 

TO THE NEW UPDATED COMBINED AND WEBSITE


IGNITING THE FLAME OF UNITY WEBSITE


https://ignitingtheflameofunity.yolasite.com/


THIS WEBSITE COMBINES THE FOLLOWING WEBSITES 

THE BRIGHTON A.S.L.E.&F.,  THE BRIGHTON MOTIVE POWER DEPOTS 

& THE SUSSEX MOTIVE POWER WEBSITES


WHICH EXPLAINS THE EVOLUTION OF THE FOOTPLATE GRADES AND THE 

HISTORY OF THEIR TRADE UNIONS AND THE STRUGGLES TO IMPROVE 

THEIR WORKING LIVES

 

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