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The Battle of Tilbury

Extract from “A Gathering Storm” by George Dangerfield Published New York, 1935

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The Asquith 1913 government got off to a bad start. In November, the bad tempered Transport dispute, which had been simmering since July, took a turn for the worse. In August, the dockers had reluctantly returned to work, persuaded yet again by Sir George Askwith, to agree to a commission of investigation into working conditions and pay levels. The Report of that commission, published at the end of October, made some mild criticisms of employment practices and arbitrary decisions favouring non-unionists, but found almost entirely in favour of the Port of London employers in terms of wages. Despite by an agreement to abide by the Commission's findings, this led to an immediate walkout of the men, coupled with calls to rail workers and seamen to join them.

Askwith immediately called both sides together in an attempt to resolve matters. His attempts were thwarted however when on November 3rd, a group of non-unionists was escorted by a token group of four police officers and a party of about 60 men from the Civilian Force attempted to start work at Tilbury. As they approached the dock gates, they were metby a large body of strikers determined to prevent them gaining access. Blows were exchanged between strikers and the Civilian Force escort and this rapidly developed into a full blown brawl in which no quarter was given. The police attempted to intervene and separate the parties but were swept aside as were most of the men attempting to work. Inside less than 30 minutes, dozens lay injured. At one point the strikers appeared to be gaining the upper hand. The Civilian Force men were pressed back against a brick wall around the dock when suddenly the wall gave way and collapsed. Despite more injuries to both sides, the battle continued unabated, with bricks from the wall being hurled by both sides.

The strikers had by now surrounded the men of the Civilian Force and were subjecting them to heavy beatings, when two shots were heard. The two parties separated, each thinking they were under fire from the other. As they fell back one body remained with wounds to head and shoulder, a member of the strikers. On seeing this the men of the Civilian Force took to their heels and, running into the docks, secured themselves inside an empty shed. By then, alerted by the police, a unit of Marines was on the scene and took control, allowing both Civilian Force and strikers to withdraw.

For the first time a civilian had been killed by someone acting for an employer, rather than by an agent of the State seeking to maintain public order. The Transport Workers' Federation immediately called for the person responsible to be arrested and charged with murder. The Chief Constable of Essex, Edward Showers was hauled up to see the Home Secretary with a demand for an explanation of how this situation had come about. His not unreasonable, if testy, rejoinder that previous requests for support had been rejected unless a disturbance was already in progress and that had the Marines not been in the vicinity on route to their ship matters would have been much worse, was not well received. He did not however explain his decision to allow police officers to effectively work alongside a private militia in the maintenance of public order. This was something that would later have serious implications for both Showers and the Home Secretary. The Shipping Federation made no comment. The soi-disant Commandant of the Civilian Force, Charles Blenkinsopp, only issued a brief statement to the effect that 35 members of the Civilian Force had been injured, nine requiring hospital treatment, during a disturbance in Tilbury.

The day following, the House of Commons was in uproar. Labour and Liberal members alike, horrified by the idea of weapons being used on the streets of London by a private militia, demanded that the Home Secretary attend the House with an explanation.