Custom House, Leith/Leith dockers on strike in 1913

Category

Library Item

Item no

35597

Title

Page from Leith Miscellany, volume III, Custom House, Leith/Leith dockers on strike in 1913

Artist / maker

Shepherd, Thomas Hosmer

Engraver

J Henshall

Date

1829

Type

Engraving; Photograph

Leith Custom House was built by Robert Reid between 1810-1812. It was the venue for the collection of duty payable on goods imported through Leith. The building is situated on Commercial Street. From the 1980s it was used as a storeroom by the National Museum of Scotland. It is currently managed by the Scottish Historic Buildings Trust and available for creative and artistic events.

This picture appeared in the 1829 book of engravings of Edinburgh, 'Modern Athens'.

The Leith dockers' strike lasted from 26th June to 14th August 1913. The Dockers wanted an increase in pay (a penny per hour on the day rate), better conditions (an increase in piecework rates for handling 'dirty cargo'), a ban on hiring non-union workers and shorter hours. The Leith Dock Employers Association brought in 450 non-union workers to break the strike, housing them in ships owned by the company. The police, brought in from other areas as well as Leith and Edinburgh, prevented the dockers from entering the perimeter and only six were allowed to picket at any one time. The railway workers, seamen and Lothian miners joined the strike. Dockers at Grangemouth, Granton and Kirkcaldy all refused to handle cargo diverted from Leith. In July female ropeworkers also went on strike followed by the shipmasters.

There was mass rioting from 16th to 18th July, and replacement workers were attacked. Naval ships were sent in by the authorities to try to end the strike, against the wishes of the sailors. Around the same time the Edinburgh Tramwaymen and Boilermakers also went on strike too and on 20th July 1913 they held a demonstration together with dockers, seamen, firemen, other trade unionists and the children of striking workers, in a procession of about 4,600 in total.

Some of the other workers called off their strike before the dockers but still pledged financial support. However, by the sixth week of the strike, those charged with rioting had been found guilty, and a mass meeting of dockers were informed that more strike-breakers were coming from Newcastle. They voted to end the strike and returned to work under the same conditions as before.

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Events > Demonstrations > Strikes