The General Strike 1926
Whilst cataloguing a new acquisition to the India Office Private Papers, I came across some interesting items relating to the General Strike of 1926. The Garrod Papers consist of the family archives of William Francis Garrod, a Chaplain in the Indian Ecclesiastical Establishment from 1930 until 1947, his wife Isobel and their four children. The collection also contains letters between Garrod and Isobel before they got married and moved to India, and it is in these letters that Garrod described his experience as a volunteer policeman during the Strike.
Oxford Daily Strike Bulletin 10 May 1926 (Garrod Papers) - Copyright of heirs to proprietors of Oxford Monthly (discontinued 1972)
Emergency Bulletin (shelfmark Mss Eur F142/82) - Copyright of heirs to Chandler & Co
The General Strike was one of the biggest industrial disputes in British history. It started with a dispute over the pay and working hours of miners, and spread to workers from other industries who came out in support of the striking miners. Between 4 May and 12 May 1926, thousands of bus and train drivers, dock workers, print workers, and workers in the gas, electricity, building, iron, steel and chemical industries went on strike. Protests by strikers took place in towns and cities around Britain, often coming into conflict with the police. The Army was mobilised to protect food lorries and volunteers began doing some of the work of strikers, such as driving buses.
Volunteer recruitment poster (shelfmark 1851.d.30.) - Copyright City of Westminster
The Government’s efforts to find volunteers to fill jobs temporarily is clear from a file in the India Office Records. The India Office’s Military Department put together lists of Indian Army officers who happened to be on leave in Britain at the time, and who could be called on to temporarily fill civilian jobs. A letter was sent to everyone on the lists stating that they were at liberty to offer their services to the local authorities during the ‘present emergency’. However, they were not to wear their uniform, and any volunteer employment was not to be allowed to interfere with their return to duty in India at the end of their leave.
List of Indian Army Officers on leave (shelfmark IOR/L/MIL/7/12530)
Circular letter to Officers on leave (shelfmark IOR/L/MIL/7/12530)
In four letters to Isobel, Garrod describes travelling from Oxford down to Southampton docks. At 10am on Tuesday 11 May, he was sworn in as a Special Constable along with a number of other Oxford men. Equipped with an armband and a truncheon, the men patrolled the docks in two 12 hour shifts, and were garrisoned on the cross-Channel steamer Alberta. Garrod was on the night shift patrols and described it as ‘frightfully boring’. He wrote that the docks were busy, with very little likelihood of any trouble, and that he got a cheer from some strikers when he walked through the dock gates.
Letters from the Garrod Papers
Garrod’s time as a Special Constable was brief; the strike was called off on 12 May and he returned to Oxford a few days later.
City of Westminster poster 17 May 1926 about coal and light restrictions and the resumption of household refuse collections (shelfmark 1851.d.30.) - Copyright City of Westminster
The Garrod Papers will be available to view in the Asian & African Studies Reading Room from next year.
John O’Brien
India Office Records
Further Reading:
Garrod Family Papers [Collection reference: Mss Eur F730]
Papers published during the General Strike May 1926 [Reference: Mss Eur F197/536]
General Strike news-sheets 1926 [Reference: Mss Eur F142/82]
General Strike, May 1926: arrangements for emergency duties by personnel of India Office [Reference: IOR/L/MIL/7/12530]
A collection of posters and pamphlets issued during the general strike, 1926, in the City of Westminster (London, 1926) [General Reference Collection 1851.d.30.]
The National Archives online guide: The General Strike