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Liverpool Bloody Sunday
Bloody Sunday Liverpool 13 August 1911 - eye-witness account
From: The Collected Letters of Joseph Connell SJ
Letter to Very Rev Joseph Browne, English Provincial, Society of Jesus
2 January 1910
My Dear Joe,
...
I am delighted to be returning to St Francis Xavier. I hope with all my heart that our life long friendship will remain unchanged, despite your recent elevation placing you as my superior in the Society.
...
You will know that my previous experience in Liverpool laid upon my mind a conviction, a truly crushing conviction, of the misery of town life to the poor and, more than to the poor, of the misery of the poor in general, of the degradation even of our race, of the hollowness of this century's civilization. It made even life a burden to me to have daily thrust upon me the things I saw.
I have prayed that this time I may be allowed to achieve something of an improvement in the desperate lives of my new parishioners. I confess I have no inkling of how I might do this, but I am confident that when the times comes and I am challenged, our Lord will show me the way.
...
Letter to Lady Charlotte Fitzgerald
12 October 1911
Dear Lady Charlotte,
I have to confess to being surprised by your letter of 25th ult. since I was unaware that my work here in this city was known to anyone outside it. Your kind remarks about my achievements were of course gratifying to my vanity, but your most generous donation will be of incalculable benefit to the lives of the poor wretches to whom I have given my life these past years. As to your inquiries, I will do my best to recount my own impressions of the distressing events of the past months.I cannot give you a full picture. My work amongst the poor of this city has led some to regard me with some suspicion and so I do not move in the circles you ascribe to me. However I will do my best.
You will I am sure have seen reports of the recent strikes and perhaps of the involvement of Mr Mann in them. It would be uncharitable on my part to deny Mr Mann's genuine concern for the conditions in which the poor are forced to live in this city. I am sure he means well. However his language and his actions have had the most damaging effect on the situation here.
He first came to Liverpool so far as I am aware, at the beginning of June, about the 12th or 13th. At that time there was already unrest amongst workers on the White Star Line. The Olympic was held up in Southampton and the Baltic in Liverpool. He declared a strike and almost immediately hundreds more men refused to sign on to other ships. His language, endorsed by the men he whipped up was unequivocal: 'War declared: we strike for liberty'.
The big shipping companies tried to negotiate, but Mr Mann's strategy throughout the summer was to offer concessions while at the same inciting further disputes. His position was strengthened when the cooks and stewards on the liners joined the strike. Then the dockers began refusing to unload ships until the striking crew were reinstated, before adding their own demands for union recognition and rates of pay. They were in turn supported by the carters. It reached the point that any firm that did not concede faced total shutdown and by the end of July all the shipping companies had given in.
It was not just on the docks that Mr Mann's pernicious influence was felt. Throughout this period many other groups of workers took their chance and went on strike. It seemed that as one strike ended so another began. The goods porters at the North Docks station came out on 5 August and within two days all goods stations (of three different rail companies) were at a standstill. Passenger traffic was not affected but Lime Street and Central stations were picketed as the companies transported freight by passenger train. The struggle was no longer confined to the waterfront. Fresh food supplies from inland as well as from abroad rotted in the heatwave in station yards.
The rail unions did not support the strike but Mann's strike committee took control nevertheless and the entire system of distributing food and essential supplies came to a stop. Nothing moved without either a military escort or a permit from the strike committee – I am told even the Post Office applied for permits. The middle of August saw thousands of troops stationed in the city supported by police drafted in from Leeds and Birmingham.
You will have detected from my language that I am not sympathetic to Mr Mann and his supporters. Despite that, the actions of the police at the rally on Sunday 13 August were unforgivable. There had been many such rallies since the strikes had begun, but this was by far the largest. It was at first well managed and orderly. Several large marches from different parts of the city were planned to meet at St Georges' Plateau and this was proceeding with almost military precision, even though many of the marchers were women and children. Many of the marchers were singing as they came in. Nothing seemed likely to disturb the day, so long as all kept their heads. Unfortunately this was not to be. I am afraid that what I saw that day will remain with me for the rest of my days.
The Head Constable has claimed that the violence began when some unruly types, 'roughs' in his words, tried to overturn a cart behind the Empire theatre. It grieves me to say this, but this is simply not so. I was in that area and saw no such disturbance. I did however see a large group of policemen, being addressed by a senior police officer and then issued with long wooden staves. It was clear to me, both from the demeanour of the officer addressing them and the rowdy behaviour of the men that they were in search of trouble.
I did not see that trouble begin but I was later told by several parishioners, all of them trustworthy, that a gang of policemen, presumably the group I saw, charged into the side of a column of marchers coming down Lord Nelson Street towards the Plateau. In the end hundreds were injured, many with head wounds. I am told that upwards of 200 were taken to hospital. I know of many more who were injured but did not seek treatment for fear of arrest.
The rally broke up in confusion but even those trying to escape could not escape beatings. I was shepherding a small group of women and children to safety when we were surrounded by a group of half a dozen police, all in a state of high emotion. I am sure I would have been been beaten myself had I not been wearing clerical garb. A Methodist Minister was indeed among those attacked and savagely beaten about the head. Fighting continued across the city and into the night.
This has been described as a riot by the Head Constable. I agree with only one reservation – the rioters on that day were Police Officers, men upon whom we should be able to look for help and support but who, on that day, were out of control, indisciplined and seeking to break heads. I would have said that this was a breakdown in discipline by officers not normally based in the city, had I not seen them being incited to violence by one of their own.
Although things appeared to quieten down, this was not the end of the matter. On the 15th, after a large crowd tried to release prisoners from a convoy of vans, four men were killed when troops opened fire. Two of these, Michael Prendergast and James Sutcliffe were from my own Parish, yet their funerals were attended by many Protestants. The same thing happened at the Protestant funerals of the other two men which I attended, along with many parishioners. A small blessing perhaps, but in Liverpool at least, it seems that the sectarian violence of only a few months ago has been set aside, although for how long this will persist I do not know. Nor did the strikes end. Indeed the shipowners and rail companies locked out their workers completely. All goods traffic halted and the city ground to a halt as factories closed for lack of coal and shops began to run out of supplies.
As you will know, the rail dispute then spread across England and it seems that much of the army was engaged in Manchester, Sheffield, London and elsewhere. Eventually the trades union officers bowed to pressure from within and declared a national rail strike. Very quickly however they settled for a Commission of Inquiry and the national rail strike ended late on 19 August.
Here in Liverpool it was much more difficult. The violence had hardened everyone I seems. Although the trains were supposedly moving again no one would load or unload them until the tram workers were reinstated. Something had to give with miles and miles of shipping and trains still waiting to be unloaded. This was becoming of national importance. Eventually Mr Askwith of the Board of Trade worked his magic and matters stuttered to an unsatisfactory conclusion. I would not be at all surprised if Mr Mann or someone like him started it all up again, although having seen the intransigence and stupidity of the dock and rail company owners and the City Council it seems just as likely that they will provoke some dispute in order to get rid of those they consider troublemakers and agitators.
I will forbear from writing further, but should you wish, I will write at a later date with my impressions of how matters are progressing amongst the poor of this city after the effects of the strikes and disturbances have faded somewhat.