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Tonypandy 1910

Journal of the Scottish Association of Socialist History
Vol 4, No 3 Summer 1968, Edinburgh

Extract from: The Workers' Martyrs of the Great Unrest 1910 - 1914
David McKenzie, Department of History, University of Dumfries

Tonypandy, 1910
Following a dispute over the pace of work on a new seam, miners at the Ely Colliery in Tonypandy were locked out by the owners. In response, the South Wales Miners Federation balloted its members and by 1 November 12,000 men were on strike across Glamorgan, in all the pits operated by the Cambrian Combine. In an attempt to break the strike, the owners brought in strike breakers under the protection of police from both the local force and from elsewhere in South Wales and from Bristol.

The presence of so many extra police not surprisingly led to an increased level of picketing by the locked out miners and several skirmishes between miners and police in which the police were hard pressed to hold their own.. By 6th September the local Chief Constable, Capt.Lionel Lindsay, had become so concerned that he telegraphed the War Office to ask for support from the Military. The Home Secretary, Winston Churchill on hearing of the request authorised the sending of an additional 500 officers from the Metropolitan Police, together with a company from the Lancashire Fusiliers and a squadron of the 18th Hussars. The troops were not deployed immediately but held in reserve in Cardiff. The Home Secretary also sent a personal message to the strikers - 'We are holding back the soldiers for the present and sending only police but should the disturbances continue, be aware they will be committed.'

On 7th September a major clash erupted between police and strikers in the Town Square of Tonypandy with many injuries on both sides and serious damage to property, with particular attention being given to businesses operated by directors of the Combine. The level of violence so alarmed Capt. Lindsay that he again telegraphed the Home Secretary demanding that the military be committed immediately. Early on the morning of 8th September, Col. Currey in Cardiff was authorised to dispatch troops in support of the civil powers. The Hussars were sent immediately to patrol the various mining communities in the area. They patrolled throughout the day without incident, but on returning to their quarters in the evening one contingent came to the village of Porth just as a disturbance was breaking out. They intervened and dispersed the crowd by repeated charges, leading to several injuries to strikers. Eventually the Hussars were supported by a contingent from the Metropolitan Police, who drove the crowd from the streets with baton charges. By the end of the day five strikers and two policemen were dead, with many injuries on both sides.

News of the deaths spread rapidly and on the 8th September a huge gathering of strikers gathered in the Town Square of Tonypandy where they were addressed by speakers from the South Wales Miners' Federation and from other unions in Liverpool and Manchester. As the speeches continued the crowd became aware that they were being surrounded by troops and police. Groups of strikers approached the police and troops angrily calling out to them that they too were sons of working men, that the rich ordered one set of workers to kill another. The police stood firm, but as the crowd moved towards the troops, a shot rang out from the Fusiliers and Thomas Jones a miner in the front rank of the crowd fell dead. The anger of the crowd, already high, reached a new pitch and they continued to press forward, despite a further ragged volley of shots, rapidly overrunning the troops and in their fury wresting from many of them the guns that had just killed their comrades. The order was immediately given for the troops to withdraw, which they did with some difficulty, before into the mel[FONT=Arial, sans-serif]éé[/FONT] charged a group of horsemen of the Hussars. Many strikers were cut down as the cavalry rode through the crowd of strikers before continuing without pause into the larger crowd of men, women and children behind them. As the screams of the crowd rose, the men of the Metropolitan Police looked on in horror.

The Hussars, having ridden through the crowd, regrouped to return. Before they had the chance to do so, some of the watching police broke ranks and ran into the crowd, attempting to give aid to the dead, dying and injured. Witness reports given to the 1912 Inquiry, record one officer standing up with the body of a small boy in his arms and screaming incoherently at the impassive Hussars. The officer in charge of the Met Police contingent, Inspector James Parnell, observing the scene before him rapidly ordered some of his men to place themselves between the cavalry and the crowd while the rest were detailed to give aid to the injured. A sergeant was despatched to seek medical help and to report back on the situation to the Chief Constable and to the Metropolitan Commissioner of Police in London. For the time being, the threat of further disorder was gone as dazed men and women moved among the dozens of bodies looking for family and friends.

A nearby school was requisitioned as a field hospital, while bodies were taken to the adjoining chapel, which became a mortuary. By the next morning the death toll was clear. In addition to Jones, four more men had died from gunshot wounds, while two more remained gravely ill. A further eight had died from injuries received inflicted by the charge of the Hussars, either from sabre cuts or from being trampled by the horses. Only two of these were men, of the remainder, three were women and three were children of 9, 7 and 5 years of age. One family was completely dead, with grandfather, son, his wife and son all lying in the mortuary. A further 15 were seriously injured. The number of minor injuries were unknown as many had left the area without seeking treatment for fear of being arrested.
The news of the death of 13 men, women and children at the hands of the army rapidly spread around the kingdom. Riots broke out in several towns as working men gathered to protest what were widely seen as murders. As unrest spread, the King cabled the Home Secretary saying

Accounts from across the Kingdom suggest that the situation is more like revolution than strike actions.

It was not to end in Tonypandy.