This post includes copies of the exhibition panels from the Ashford General Strike Centenary Exhibition. Some panels are included entirely as images. We are in the process of extracting text from the panels.
The 100th Anniversary of the General Strike,
May 1926
This exhibition explores Britain’s only national general strike, from its roots in the coal crisis to its impact on everyday life. Over nine days in May 1926,millions of workers withdrew their labour in support of locked out miners. Using national context and the local experience of Ashford, the panels show how the strike was organised, how communities responded, and why it remains a powerful moment in working class and trade union history.
Nine days that stopped Britain
4–12 May 1926: the only national general strike in British history
Just before midnight on 3 May 1926, Britain’s main trade union body, the Trades Union Congress (TUC), called on workers across the country to stop work. They were backing more than a million coal miners who had been locked out after refusing pay cuts and longer hours. By the next morning, around 1.5–1.7 million people, including railway workers, dockers, printers and engineers, had joined the strike.For nine days, the country fell unusually quiet. Trains stopped, newspapers were limited,and streets were calmer than normal. The government had prepared extensively, recruiting volunteer workers to keep basic services running and deploying police and, in some areas,the army. The TUC repeatedly urged calm and discipline, and most communities remained peaceful.The strike ended on 12 May when the TUC believed renewed talks over coal were possible. The miners’ lockout, however, continued for months. Those nine days left a lasting memory as one of the largest acts of industrial solidarity in British history.
Coal at the heart of it
Why miners’ pay and hours became a national question
In the early 1900s, Britain depended on coal for almost everything, including heatinghomes, powering factories, and running the railways. But the coal industry was in trouble.Many of the best coal seams (a natural layer of coal within the ground) had been heavilydug during the First World War, and owners had not invested in new technology. Othercountries, like Germany, the United States and Poland, were selling cheaper coal, andwhen Britain returned to the Gold Standard in 1925, it made British exports even moreexpensive. As profits fell, mine owners pushed for longer hours and lower pay.By 1926, miners were earning far less than before the First World War. They rememberedthat during wartime state control, conditions had briefly improved. Now they wanted fairwages and national agreements that would protect them. Their slogan “Not a penny offthe pay, not a minute on the day” showed they felt they had already given up too much.For railway towns like Ashford, this wasn’t just a mining issue. Coal powered the locomotivesthat Ashford’s engineers repaired and its drivers operated. So when miners faced wage cuts,the effects spread quickly. A fight over pay hundreds of miles away could change workshopschedules, reduce overtime, or cut into family incomes. Coalfields and rail towns weretightly linked if miners were under pressure, railway communities felt it too.
From ‘Red Friday’ to the Samuel Commission
Subsidy, inquiry and a fragile runway to reform (1925–26)
In July 1925, something happened that people later nicknamed “Red Friday.” The
government wanted to avoid a major clash with coal miners, so it agreed to give the industry a temporary subsidy, to keep miners’ wages at their current level. At the same time, it set up a Royal Commission, led by Sir Herbert Samuel, to investigate how to fix the struggling coal industry. The idea was that everyone would have time to come up with long term solutions before the subsidy ran out on 30 April 1926.
When the Commission finally reported back, it suggested big changes: reorganising the
industry, modernising it, and creating a national system for setting wages. But the report also left room for temporary pay cuts while these reforms were put in place. Miners didn’t trust this. They didn’t want to accept lower wages now in exchange for promises of improvements later, especially after years of falling pay. Mine owners, meanwhile, pushed ahead with plans to introduce new, lower paid contracts.
As the deadline approached, tensions rose. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) began
preparing to support the miners if wage cuts were forced through. Railway and transport unions agreed they would stand with them.
By early 1926 it was clear that neither side would back down. Britain was heading for a major industrial showdown focused on fair pay and conditions.
THE TRIGGER
A newspaper leader that didn’t print and talks that fell apart
By early May 1926, talks between the government and the Trades UnionCongress (TUC) were at a critical point. Late on the night of 2–3 May, negotiations were still ongoing when the Daily Mail prepared to print a strongly worded editorial titled “For King and Country,” attacking the planned strike and the unions behind it. Printers at the paper refused to set and print the article, seeing it as a direct attack on organised labour.
Within hours, the Prime Minister broke off talks, claiming that the refusal to print the article showed unacceptable “interference” with press freedom. With negotiations collapsed, the TUC authorised the first wave of unions to stop work.
The response was immediate. ASLEF’s June 1926 journal recorded both theshock and the speed of events: trains halted across the country as railway workers answered the call with near‑total discipline. The sudden hit in operations that followed was the result of careful organisation and collective decision‑making.
HOW IT UNFOLDED
Nine days of discipline, volunteers and competing newspapers
Across Britain, local strike committees worked quickly to keep their communitiesorganised. They arranged pickets, issued food permits, and shared reliable information at a time when rumours were everywhere. The government produced its own newspaper, the British Gazette, while the TUC responded each day with The British Worker, turning both papers into running commentaries on a tense but mostly peaceful national stand off.
On the streets, people saw unusual sights: armoured cars, police escorted buses, and makeshift tram services run by volunteer workers. These images often dominate later memories of the strike, but behind them was a very deliberate TUC message: “Stand firm. Keep order.”
Reports from towns and cities across the country showed that most people followed that guidance, maintaining calm even as propaganda and confusion swirled around them.
By 12 May, private discussions involving Sir Herbert Samuel suggested that new talks on the coal crisis might finally be possible. The TUC chose to end the general strike to make space for those negotiations, stressing that the miners’ pay and conditions were still the key issue that had to be resolved. Although the strike ended, the miners themselves remained locked out and continued their fight for months afterwards.
ON THE RAILS
Railway solidarity and the realities of safety
Railways played a crucial role in the General Strike. With members of ASLEF, the National Union of Railwaymen, and the Railway Clerks’ Association all acting together, trains across Britain almost completely stopped. Both passenger services and freight movement shut down, and reports from the time say that railway workers showed near total support for the strike. TUC bulletins praised the discipline shown in depots, sheds and yards, where workers kept the atmosphere calm and organised.
But the strike also revealed how complex and skilled railway work really was. Some companies tried to run “skeleton services” using volunteers or staff moved from other jobs. Within just 24 hours, The British Worker recorded several serious accidents in places like Edinburgh/St Margaret’s, Cramlington, Bishop’s Stortford, Victoria, and Hull where untrained or inexperienced crews struggled with the demands of the railway.
For railway unions, these incidents proved their point: the footplate, the space where drivers and firemen worked, was not somewhere you could simply step into untrained. Operating a locomotive safely required skill, teamwork and training, and the strike made that clearer than ever.
ENDING THE STRIKE
12–13 May: the stand down and the miners’ long struggle
On 12 May, the TUC announced the termination of the general strike, publishing Sir Herbert Samuel’s memorandum and corresponding letters that mapped a route back to talks in mining: a renewed short subsidy, national wage machinery, and reorganisation, with safeguards for the lowest paid. The hope was a fair settlement without coercion.
But miners were not automatically reinstated, and local employers in many sectors sought to impose conditions on return. The British Worker warned against victimisation, while negotiations on reinstatement terms rolled forward industry by industry, railway by railway. The miners’ lock out continued for months.
RAILWAY TOWN, UNION TOWN: ASHFORD
Works, station and a tradition of organisation
Since the mid 19th century, Ashford Railway Works shaped almost every aspect of local life: housing, schools, skills and social networks. By the 1920s, under the Southern Railway, Ashford remained a major centre for locomotive and wagon construction and repair. As a railway town, union membership formed part of Ashford’s civic DNA.
Engine drivers and firemen were organised through the Associated Society of LocomotiveEngineers and Firemen (ASLEF). Guards, porters, shunters and many workshop grades belongednto the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR), the forerunner of today’s RMT. Clerks andsupervisory staff were organised through the Railway Clerks’ Association (RCA), now the TSSA.Together, these organisations represented the full working railway, spanning construction, maintenance and day to day operation.
When the General Strike began in May 1926, the town’s railway identity mattered. Drivers, firemen, fitters, boilermakers and clerks alike understood both the national stakes and the local realities of safety and service. Long traditions of organisation and negotiation shaped Ashford’s response, ensuring that action was collective, informed and orderly rather than improvised.
ASHFORD AND THE GENERAL STRIKE
Railway Power, Local Action and National Attention
The 1926 General Strike had a marked impact on Ashford, reflecting the town’s importance as a railway centre and its long tradition of organised labour. Material from the Modern Records Centre shows Ashford appearing repeatedly in national union records and contemporary reporting, underlining how closely events in the town were watched. Drivers, firemen, fitters, boilermakers, clerks and yard staff placed Ashford at the centre of railway union efforts to support the miners and defend established pay and conditions.
Documents in the strike collection highlight the role of the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) in Ashford, alongside ASLEF and the Railway Clerks’ Association. Branch material shows that railway workers in the town were not peripheral participants but part of a coordinated national stoppage.The volume of Ashford related material points to sustained organisation rather than a brief or symbolic withdrawal of labour.
Newspaper and union reporting emphasised disruption to rail services and the tension surrounding attempts to keep trains running. As a major railway town, Ashford was treated as a test of whether the railways could function without their trained workforce. Attempts to operate services using volunteer labour were widely criticised, and The British Worker reported a series of accidents linked to inexperienced crews, reinforcing union arguments that railway work was safety critical. The aftermath brought further consequences. Some workers were refused immediate reinstatement, extending the impact of the strike beyond the nine days of action and revealing the lasting personal cost of participation.
LEADERSHIP AND LOCAL ORGANISATION
Richard ‘Ted’ Bumstead, Basil Noble and the Strike Committee
One of the key figures in Ashford during the General Strike was Richard “Ted” E. Bumstead. Born in Ashford in 1883, Bumstead worked his way from engine cleaner to locomotive driver and had chaired the Ashford branch of ASLEF since 1912. A respected trade unionist, he was also a Justice of the Peace, an unusual dual role that reflected the trust he commanded across the town.
During the General Strike, Bumstead served as Chairman of the Ashford Strike Committee. Under hisleadership, local action followed the TUC’s call for calm, discipline and public responsibility. His wider record of service on the Urban Council, education bodies and wartime committees, and his award of the MBE in 1918 reinforced his authority as both a workers’ representative and civic leader.
Alongside Bumstead stood Basil Noble, a coach builder at Ashford Works and one of the town’s most prominent labour figures. Noble was Chairman of the NUR Ashford No. 2 branch for 27 years, providing long term organisational stability and leadership. He had taken part in both the 1919 railways trike and the 1926 General Strike, linking two pivotal moments of industrial action through personalexperience and continuity.
Beyond the workplace, Noble played a significant role in local politics. He served as a County Councillor, was the Labour parliamentary candidate for the town on three occasions, and acted as President of the Ashford Parliamentary Labour Party. Living at 15 Mead Road, Noble was firmly rooted in the local community, combining trade union leadership with sustained political activism.
Together, Bumstead and Noble embodied Ashford’s distinctive character: a railway town where organised labour, civic responsibility and political ambition were closely intertwined, and where local leadership helped shape the response to national industrial conflict.
ASHFORD IN THE NINE DAYS
Meetings, marches and a peaceful town
Ashford moved quickly from planning to action. On Monday 3 May, a mass meeting at the Corn Exchange set the local tone. On Sundays 9 and 16 May, large processions wound through the town to Victoria Park, where crowds, estimated locally at 1,700 in the march and 2,500 in the park, heard speeches and music urging solidarity and restraint.
Fund raising events, including a strike dance at the Ashford Exchange on 8 May, supported those affected. Letters and notices encouraged residents to “buy only what is required.” While national headlines focused on confrontation elsewhere, Ashford’s experience was typical of many railway towns: organised pickets, orderly demonstrations and public spaces used for gathering rather than conflict.
RAILWAY UNIONS IN ACTION
Unions and the reality of a stopped railway
ASLEF’s June 1926 report praised railway crews across Britain for their strong and united response during the General Strike. In Ashford, the empty engine sheds and yards sent a clear message: railway work is a safety critical craft, and when skilled drivers and firemen stop, the whole system stops.
The RCA (now TSSA) highlighted a parallel truth. Clerks, timetable staff, inspectors and office workers were essential to running trains, handling freight, issuing tickets and managing communications. Their withdrawal exposed how deeply administrative and supervisory labour underpinned the railway’s daily operation, even when trains themselves were not running.
The NUR, representing guards, shunters, porters and permanent way staff, played a crucial role in ensuring that yards, sidings and infrastructure remained safely shut down. Their action, alongside ASLEF and the RCA, demonstrated that a railway could not function piecemeal: operations, safety and administration were inseparable.
Across Britain, attempts to run services with volunteer labour or redeployed staff led to serious incidents. The British Worker reported several accidents within a short period, including a collision in South London involving a train from Ashford. These events reinforced long standing union arguments, shared by ASLEF, the RCA and engineering unions, that railway work required training, experience and coordinated teamwork
KEEPING THETOWN GOING
Permits, pickets and everyday life in Ashford
Ashford’s local committees followed the TUC’s national message closely: keep order, avoid provocation, and protect essential services. Pickets were placed at key gates around the town, and people adapted in practical ways. Some residents walked long distances to reach workplaces that remained open, while shops displayed notices asking customers to buy only what they needed so supplies could be shared fairly.
Local reports emphasised the calm, steady atmosphere. Rather than drama or conflict, Ashford showed everyday teamwork: neighbours helping neighbours, clear communication, and a shared determination to keep the town fair and peaceful while making its point. Although many special constables were enrolled as a precaution, Ashford remained quiet throughout the nine days. Orderly queues, small meetings and unusually quiet streets characterised the strike locally.
Alongside this discipline ran a quieter story of care and mutual aid. Collections, relief schemes and social events raised money for families who had lost income. “Help the Miners” campaigns linked Ashford with mining communities facing a much longer lockout. Women played a central role, organising food, clothing and meetings. In parks and halls, solidarity appeared in small acts of shared meals, songs and spare money passed to those in need. In Ashford, the General Strike was as much about looking after one another as withdrawing labour.
RETURN TO WORK AND LEGACY
Reinstatement, memory and what endured
After the strike ended on 12 May, many expected work to restart immediately, but returning was not straightforward. Some employers attempted to introduce new conditions or required workers to sign forms protecting the company’s right to act against strikers. The British Worker and railway unions warned members not to sign anything individually. Instead, unions kept their members out until a fair settlement was secured, insisting on collective, unconditional reinstatement on existing terms, reflecting solidarity across grades and a shared concern for long term safety and standards.
By 15 May, railway representatives and managers reached an agreement. Staff would return as work became available, under nationally agreed rules rather than the discretion of individual employers. Other industries took longer, negotiating their own settlements in the days and weeks that followed.
For miners, however, the struggle was far from over. Their lock out continued through the summer and autumn as they fought proposed wage cuts and longer hours under plans to reorganise the coal industry. They had been central to the dispute from the start, and their battle continued long after most workers had returned.
The General Strike did not resolve the coal question. In 1927, Parliament passed the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act, restricting general and sympathy strikes. Yet the labour movement endured. In towns like Ashford, memories of 1926 live on in union records, collections and family stories, nine disciplined days when local organisation mattered as much as national headlines.
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