Catalogue Number
NMLH.1996.64.1
Object Name
Banner
Title
'South Dock Branch the pioneer. The only & original dockers banner in conjunction with the south dock men in the Great Strike Aug 14th ending September 18th 1889.'
Place
London, England, UK
People
Ben Tillett, Tea Operatives & General Labourers Association
Events
Great Dock Strike 1889
Date
1889
Description
A red banner with yellow fringing and green edging around the central panel. Both sides have substantial amounts of text. Side 1 has text in gold and black commemorating the 1889 Dockers Strike, around a head and shoulders portrait of Ben Tillett, wreathed in laurel leaves. Side 2 has a cream central panel advertising Tea Operatives & General Labourers Association membership in with black text with no images.
The Great Dock Strike of 1889 is considered one of the great successes of the early British trade union movement. The dockers unionised as the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union, and went on strike over pay, demanding sixpence per hour, a wage that became known as the "dockers' tanner". Ben Tillett, pictured on the banner, was an early union leader among the dock workers.
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