Name: Teesside during the 1926 General Strike.
Start: 2026-05-19T19:00:00+01:00
Location: Friends of St Cuthbert’s Church, Billingham Green

Teesside during the 1926 General Strike.

The 3rd May marks the anniversary of the start of the 1926 General Strike, one of the most significant events in the history of the British labour movement.
Although it lasted just nine days, the strike left a lasting mark on the relationship between workers, employers and government, and helped shape the world of work we know today.
When the Chancellor, Winston Churchill brought Britain back onto the Gold Standard at a much inflated rate industrialists were faced with falling profits, reduced exports, and an outdated infrastructure. The Coal Mine owners responded by cutting wages and extending working hours. In October 1925 the government, to avoid unrest, subsidised miners’ wages for six months, but when the subsidy ended mine owners still demanded the drastic wage cuts and longer hours; they closed the pits, locking out the miners until the miners agreed to their demands.
A.J. Cook, the secretary of the Miner’s Federation of Great Britain refused to back down, using the phrase “Not a penny off the pay, not a minute on the day.” He called for support from the TUC, who reluctaltly agreed to support the miners, a General Strike was planned for May.
The government didn’t hesitate to use all means at its disposal to break the strike, recruiting 'volunteers' to strikebreak, the deployment of troops and warships and printing the government’s propaganda paper The British Gazette.
Industrial heartlands like South Wales, Durham, Yorkshire, and Scotland were the epicentres of the Strike, which saw mass demonstrations, mass arrests and police violence whilst the communities organising relief for the families of those on strike.
Teesside by contrast, although an area of transport and heavy industry rarely appears in any of the histories, giving the impression that the General Strike had little impact on our area.
Tony Fox will use contemporary documents to describe Teesside during the nine days, detailing the events and the response by the authorities.
Entry is Free but a donation to the Friends of St. Cuthbert's Church will be most welcome. Refreshments will be available.
for further details email: [email protected]