The general strike in 1926 was mainly out of sympathy for the miners. Because of certain changes internationally, it became difficult to export coal at a price that remained profitable for the mine owners. Therefore they cut the wages of the men from £6.00 a week to under four pounds; they also expected the coal workers to do longer hours. The miners came out on strike when yet another wage cut was proposed, and to support them several trades followed. Many shops stayed open and milkmen delivered the milk, but it had to be got from the farms and, as the railway workers, as well as printers, dockers, and steel workers were striking this needed volunteers from the middle class. The country was divided and it was feared things might deteriorate into revolution. However, it started on the 4th of May and ended on 12th, after desperate talks. Most families could not afford for their men to be on strike for long and so it failed. The miners however stayed out for a lot longer though in the end they achieved very little.
Apart from research done on-line, which is very good, particularly Wikipedia, I have read about the strike and watched films. The BBC series of the Forsythe Saga was excellent in portraying how this short but potentially dangerous strike affected everyone. When writing of this period, I collect all sorts of trifles in my head and use a fraction of them when writing my stories. I’ve seen documentaries of the early 20th century and all these little threads are there somewhere in my memory so that I know what I want to write, but my stories are works of fiction and only a few bits and pieces of history will make it to the page, because otherwise it sounds like a documentary. Because I’ve been storing all this stuff for years, I mostly only have to check dates and particular incidents as the general picture is there.
There was a great deal of sympathy for the mine workers at the time and collections were made to help the families, but they must have suffered a deal of hardship. Mining is always a difficult and dangerous job, but profits have to be made if work is to proceed so there was a certain justice on all sides. Mining is not particularly profitable even in these days of machinery because of fierce competition from overseas; also, in our modern world there are sources of energy considered to be cleaner. Thus the mines have slowly been run down, some of the pits closing before they were played out, and we had another miners’ strike in the Thatcher era. It has and will cause hardship in areas where the mines were and often still are the main source of employment.
The strike is just a tiny part of my story, but it was a huge thing for the country, something no government would ever wish to see repeated. Like wars, it did more harm than good, but it makes for interesting reading so I have used it in more than one of my books. Mainly, I am writing about people, ordinary folk who go through difficult times; there is laughter, tears, romance, and sometimes death and loss, and a sprinkling of adventure.
Enjoy,
Rosie Clarke